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Leica's new top-end rangefinder gets more electronic

COLOGNE, Germany -- Leica may not have the mass-manufacturing clout of Samsung or the retail footprint of Canon or the electronics know-how of Sony. But the German camera maker has got one thing in spades: a brand.

And nowhere is that brand more obvious than at Photokina, the camera show that takes place every two years here in Germany, Leica's home turf. Canon and Nikon had bigger crowds, but the Leica had the better ratio of booth visitors to customers as it introduced a new top-end rangefinder camera with new electronic abilities, a lower-end rangefinder that's not quite … Read more

Bring your Leica underwater--for $8,000

Underwater casings are common for dSLRs and compacts, but this is the first time I've come across a housing made for rangefinder cameras. In this case, it is for the premium Leica M8 digital rangefinder, which costs about $4,500.

This boxy case allows users to access most of the controls and is rated to be able to dive to depths of about 148 feet. However, given the complex operation of rangefinders for focusing, we wonder how well it will perform underwater.

If you have $8,000 to spare, you can get a housing, put your M8 in it, … Read more

Leica M8 gets an update

Leica has released a firmware update to its M8 digital rangefinder camera. The firmware update, version 2.002, for both the M8 and M8.2, adds several improvements and corrections. New profiles have been added for the 6-bit coding for several new lenses, the 21mm f1.4, the 24mm f1.4, and the 24mm f3.8. It fixes the display of image numbering, the display of the fastest sync speed in the menu, and eliminated black frames that may have occurred in the Discreet mode. Also when Auto-ISO is used along with lens dependent setting of the slowest shutter speed, … Read more

A $46,600 camera for a good cause

In collaboration with Leica, auction house WestLicht Photographica is looking to fetch $46,600 for a first-series production Leica M8 digital rangefinder. While it is not clear if this camera was the very first unit assembled in its maiden year of 2006, it has the serial number 3100000.

Hardcore fans of the German company are going to have a field day trying to outbid each other in a furious war on June 7 in Vienna to lay their hands on this ultra-exclusive camera. The prize will come in the original M8 box with a certificate of authenticity signed by Leica'… Read more

Why there are so many Leicaweenies

Today's camera news (my own included) can be an unvarying diet of statistics, feature lists, price points and techno-blather. I am therefore happy to note that The New Yorker, a magazine that specializes in sprawling, multi-thousand-word pieces, has chosen fit to investigate the cult of Leica.

Anthony Lane, by day a snarky movie critic for the magazine, has unleashed upon the world a history of Leica cameras and the photographers who have used them. The lavish prose (and an overt admission) reveals Lane to be one of those with a Leica fetish, but that shouldn't discourage you from … Read more