The spanish website DSLRmagazine announced via twitter (Click here /via noisyc) that Leica is working on two new models (one low end and one high end camera). In a second tweet they added that while the models will be shown at Photokina in September they will probably not be ready for the mass production. The may will go the Fuj marketing route that usually displays a model months before it’s ready.
Leica already said many times that they will make a mirrorless camera without the rangefinder optical system. And that it would be a high quality product (of course).
34 Responses
Lose sales in those adepts of rangefinder. What is going to get a Lumix L2 or Digilux 5, some time should have been. Now Leica does not innovate, copy.
Regards.
Don’t forget that Leica is putting most of its high-end emphasis on its S medium format system. So when they say one high-end camera and one low-end camera, they could simply mean another S model and another re-badged Lumix with nicer leather…
don’t forget the extra software they throw in with the Lumix rebadge. 🙂
Rebadged GX1 for 2X the price to be specific.
Leica already make mirrorless models – the M9. All they need is to replace the rangefinder with an EVF and add live view, and they have a high-end full-frame mirrorless. Done. People would buy it.
Technically, the term we use for mirrorless actually means EVF viewing AND no mirror, but point taken.
I can’t, however, see the point of a Leica branded mirrorless camera that doesn’t use a rangefinder. The reason I like shooting rangefinders is because you can look outside the image block and because focusing is so damn fast for medium lenses (I don’t have an M3; I have a Canon P and 7, so long lenses are somewhat hard).
If Leica don’t implement a rangefinder in their mirrorless camera, then they have to copy Fuji and make a hybrid and then emulate rangefinder as it is much faster and accurate than focusing via blown up images from the sensor.
Without that, the only thing they had to sell is the m-mount, but who knows if they will utilise their current lenses; even if they do, they surely can’t do much better than what is already being done in the RD-1 and the A12 mount for Ricoh GXR.
I’ve moved mainly from my Nikon FE/D200 setup because I like smaller lenses, but the golden egg I’m waiting for is a modern digital rangefinder NOT made by Leica as I cannot swallow their prices. But it needs to be a real rangefinder or have excellent emulation of one from the sensor WITH an optical viewfinder, otherwise, I don’t get the point.
And I take it you want it to be FF or otherwise you would’ve bought an Epson R-D1?
The RD-1 is very nice, but again, it isn’t nice to have my lenses suddenly act like different focal lengths. They work, but not how I’d like.
Pana-Lecia again! The GX-1 with a red dot that cost twice as much
And sold for a bargain basement price of $4,000. They really need to fill that gap. LOL
Hahaha.
Similar case that with L1 and Digilux 3. Same cameras but very diferent prices.
leica is great..
i rather buy an expensiv M9 than a cheap E-PL3 that is worth nothing after 4 years.
And have you…?
BTW About the loss of worth, look how much a M8 is going for now…
The M8 is 5 1/2 years old, what do you expect? It’s held its value at least as well as other high-end digital cameras from around the same time.
yep i have.
what is likely to happen is some kind of a X1 with interchangeable lenses . I assume this would be the “high-end” product and the other one being a Panasonic clone with a smaller tha APS sensor
Time will tell
Harold
what if Leica releases M8 replacement with that new Fuji sensor inside?
So this is January, and a rumor tells us that 9 months from now, Leica may announce some cameras that will not be available in less than a year.
Did I get this right? Was there any information in there?
And then people start making predictions about what that may be?
I see zero reason why I should care about anything Leica makes. The only special thing about their M series is that it’s the only digital rangefinder that is still sold worldwide. The Epson is ancient and only sold new in Japan. And I mean REAL rangefinder, not a camera that looks like a rangefinder.
Yes their lenses are very nice but like everything else they make, they are completely overpriced. There is about a 50% Leica tax that applies to everything they make
Just look at their M9. It has an LCD that’s about 5 generations behind current LCD technology. Hell, a $100 camera probably has an LCD that is better than in the M9 that costs $7,000 USD. They charge $1,000 USD just for a different paint job.
Look at their X1 which has an F2.8 lens with a poor LCD screen and a horribly slow autofocus speed. It sells for $2,000 USD. Meanwhile Fujifilm releases the X100 with a hybrid OVF/EVF and an F2.0 lens and that costs $1200 USD.
Leica should stick to making rangefinders and manual lenses because the market is too saturated, too competitive, and too technologically advanced for them to compete with anyone.
The mirrorless market, sans rangefinders, requires a lot of technology and Leica is dead last in that race. Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, Canon, Nikon, Samsung, Fujifilm, they can all turn around and say,
“Where’s Leica?”
Dead last is where they are.
The lenses may be a poor value but they aren’t overpriced. There are long wait lists…so maybe they are priced too little.
Poor percieved value != overpriced
Overpriced? If you care about labour conditions you might realize that leica is about the only maker that costs right. See the recent bussinesinsider about apple 12 yo working well over 12 hous a day. I bet there are more people in the Leica product line that actually own a leica than in the apple product line that actually own an iphone.
Btw, i am desperate for a FF M reasonable solution. Adding a 5n to my M8.2 and RD1 did not make me happy thoughit is a nice little camera. 5n is not a dramatic change over the epson and a downgrade over the M8.2. I might skip the fuji for that reason…
quoting businessinsider is like quoting theinquirer 🙂 linkbite, that’s what it is. it was in foxconn factory, foxconn makes stuff for pretty much everybody, including apple
I would say all cameras and lenses produced in Japan are also assembled under pretty decent working conditions. Of course, this only applies to the high-end cameras and lenses from the Japanese makers. But then the Leica X1 is rumoured to be sub-assembled in Asia (not to speak of the re-badged Panasonic products).
Admin
Leica Noct 50 0.95, is get a serious contender from SLR Magic Hyperprime 50 0.95 ,.build quality and sharpness is as good as the Leica Noct’ 10.695$,.,it has pleasing ;rendering color, and bokeh is smooth,..I just look at Stevehuffphoto.com for the sample
where are those Zeiss n CV ?
As far as I know the D Lux 5 has a slightly different firmware and it comes with Lightroom 3 ( worth USD 150) and then you pay a bit for the red dot. If you do not need/want that you have the luxury of choice/going the Panasonic way.
The M9 is still the smallest full frame 35mm camera in the world and a joy to use and they make the best lenses in the world (when I still had a Canon 5D I used Leica R glass with an adapter). Very curious to see whether they have managed to come up with a little digital CL http://www.cameraquest.com/leicacl.htm, that would be wonderful.