How to make the premium, high-end Leica M9 even more exclusive? Simples: slap some Swarovski crystals on the outside. No? How about recruiting Audi's top design dog to carve it out of titanium and charge 20 grand? Sold!
A limited-edition version of the full-frame 18-megapixel Leica M9 made entirely of titanium is being shown off at camera show Photokina this week. It's the brainchild of Italian car designer Walter de'Silva, the chap who has vorsprunged the technik out of assorted Audi and Volkswagen jalopies.
Inside, the camera includes new LED illumination of the viewfinder, cutting down on the amount of light required from the window at the front of the camera. It also comes with a shoulder holster, because as fans of The Office know, there's nothing cooler than a shoulder holster.
A Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH lens also encased in titanium comes with the camera, along with Nappa leather straps, in an Alcantara microsuede casket. You also get a behind the scenes coffee table book, which may or may not be made of titanium too. Better reinforce your furniture just in case.
Just 500 cameras will be on sale, each costing a sumptuous £19,800 -- a mere four times the standard M9's paltry £5,000 price tag. If you do want to add the M9 to your collection of previous titanium Leicas, break out the platinum chequebook and get your butler to bookmark Leica's website by the end of November. If you've got any spare change, check out our most expensive tech ever.