The new B&W MP camera will costs $1,000 more than the new MP-9 you see here on top ($7999 at BHphoto).
This will be a very important week for all Leica fans. Finally Leica is going to announce a digital camera with “pure” Black and White sensor. And you have to pay quite a lot for that unique feature! According to Leicarumors the Leica MP Black and White camera will cost close to $9,000!!!
One the mirrorless front it is also to report that there will be a new X2 camera with fixed 35mm f/1.4 Summilux lens for….$3,000! That’s $1,000 more than you pat for the current Leica X1 (here at Amazon). It has a 16 or 18 MPX sensor (according to Leicarumors) and an optional EVF: LCD and AF are also improved. Too bad this camera doesn’t come with an interchangeable mount!
35 Responses
Not MP, M9-P! MP is an analog camera.
**(YAWNS)** Wake me up when something more exciting happens at Leica.
@Admin: As Jonas mentioned, Leica MP is a analog camera.
MP = Mechanical Perfection.
M9-P = M9 Professional.
Can anybody explain again why one would want a B&W camera?
Better resolution is a moot point. With good lens most cameras already produce results which often require slight smoothing or blurring to prevent aliasing artifacts popping up.
Better DR? … I’m not sure why that might be important since most users mistake DR for “tonal range” and “color fidelity.” And the two IMO more important than the DR (which is already very good on modern cameras). And the two, since directly related to color reproduction, are not applicable to B&W.
What I’m missing?
No you had it right. Tonal range mainly, because that is all b&w is isn’t it, a range of grey tones, and Dynamic Range as well. I don’t know if you’ve ever converted a color image to b/w with a simulated color filter in photoshop, but the lack of tonal range or bit depth can show up quite easily, too easily.
Sensors are monochrome natively, to make them color a whole bunch of filters are added which lowers ISO performance and the detail. By not making it color it should technically beat out all other cameras on ISO performance and detail. Or at least that’s the word, will have to wait til sample to really tell.
Wow, what a price. A price like that may of been okay in 2005. I hope they fail with this, even though I’ve wanted such a product for ages. Here’s hoping Ricoh might make a lensor block featuring a similar sensor.
“One the mirrorless front it is also to report that there will be a new X2 camera with fixed 35mm f/1.4 Summilux lens for….$3,000! That’s $1,000 more than you pat for the current Leica X1”
And much less than the $4,995 that you’d pay for a 35mm Summilux-M or $3,995 for the equivalent 50mm Summilux-M … WITHOUT camera body !
I’d say that *would* be a bargain in Leica terms.
This won’t be a summilux-m 35 asph, but rather downsampled version of summilux-m 50 asph: they don’t need to cover 36×24.
It seems the x2 be aps-c, so it will sit next to the x-1 in leica’s lineup. Will they finally implement fast af in that camera? It seems like it will accept an EVF, that’s good (the x-1 had none), what’s probably not so good is that, being a leica, it will cost an arm and a leg. Will they finally put a decent up to date screen on it also? Soooo many questions…
Being Leica, i don’t expect the camera to be a technological tour de force, so to speak…It will probably be slower and less speced than anything similar on the market (x-pro) but with Leica beautiful craftsmanship…
They should just list the price as “Whatever we tell you to pay” since it’s obviously not connected to anything other than the fact that it has a red dot on it.
Please!!! Pricing of M-Leica’s has for years been comparable to top of the range Canons and Nikons. It’s not so different now if you look at the price of D4’s and 1DX’s. If you think there is no added value photographically, don’t buy it. You don’t have to buy it.
But don’t whine.
Considering that the NIKKOR 35mm f/1.4G costs 1650$ on BH, it is a nice price for a street-ready Leica.
X2 costs as a D800 housing….. For some of my photography an X2 would be ideal. An X-pro1 with 35/1,4 is 2200USD As it is a Leica:
1 – ?-marks for performance AF and high ISO.
2 – guaranteed quality-feel and excellent, intuitive user interface
3 – high 2nd hand value.
Definately mouth watering, but maybe not what you end up buying.
Even though I really like the B&W-sensor thing.. I´ll have to turn this offer down. Im waiting for the Fuji X200 instead with lightning fast AF and better battery life.
Well, Fuji has one of the worst contrast AF on the market, I don’t know who loose, the X1 is faster then the X100 in daylight and in low light X100 says it’s in focus when it’s not, the X1… no.
Is that before or after the AF firmware fixes? The video I saw way back when showed the X1 slower and that was before firmware updates with the X100.
The Leica M3 is their best B&W camera. It has interchangeable sensors from ISO 20 to ISO 3200 😉 And you can find them in Ex + condition for under $1,000.00. Such a deal! For another $2,000.00 you could add a used 35mm ‘Cron — not such a deal! or for about $4,200.00 a ‘Lux — even less of a deal ! 😉 😉
BTW you can also install Color Sensors, making the M3 a very versatile camera 😉
cool beans! i don’t think i’ll ever be able afford the new leicas though 🙂
like the idea of a B&W camera
Good! It will drive Fuji to create a new X200 with 35/1.4.
So will this be the most expensive APS-C body for the 16MP sensor form Sony? :-):-)
So wait…does the X2 have a 35mm lens or a 35mm EQUIVALENT lens?
Lets not forget Kodak had a B&W DSLR out about 10 yrs ago or so,very hard to find and only limited production,mostly sold to Art schools..16M pixels or so I think..I wish Oly caould find out to make a limited production of one…
I think it would be a nice market for Ricoh GXR
Hmm, I really would like the opportunity to upgrade my X100 for a Leica X2. But reading the rumors/speculations here it doesn’t look like the X2 is going to be the contender everyone was talking about when the X100 came out and was supposed to trigger some competition.
But hey! No one knows what will happen tomorrow, maybe they will announce the camera hundred of thousands X100 owners would like to consider as their new upgrade.