Leica and Panasonic are known for working together on the compact camera front. And now multiple trusted(!) sources confirmed that they are working together to realize Leica’s first mirrorless (and non rangefinder) system camera! The camera will be launched pretty soon (likely in January-February).
The sources told us that they will share the specs soon. It means dear Leica fans…stay tuned on MirrorlessRumors! 🙂
24 Responses
I suspect a big disapointment here (again…)
Leica is definetely not willing to risk to cannibalize M240 sales with a truly leica camera at a lower price – with a range finder or not…
The Leica M series does not sell like hotcakes; there is nothing much to risk here. If it is a clearly differentiated product, like an M43 with its fast autofocus, smaller sensor, and different line of lenses, there would only be a marginal cannibalization of M sales, yet a large overall increase in sales volumes. Sounds like a very reasonable proposition.
It is not a question of sales volumes for M240 but margin (this is what shareholder are looking…) Indeed they will increase a lot their sales with a nice small product but don’t expect to have something more than a rebadged pana or a vario-style concept..
A rebadged Pana M43 is what I’d also expect. And why not? These are extremely capable little cameras, with some excellent optics available for them. In the prosumer market, they are just held back by the strange perception that Panasonic is no camera manufacturer. Hence, a Leica label exactly is what they need and deserve.
The real question is whether it’ll be a GX7 or GM1 clone. I predict it’ll be a GX7 + 15mm F1.7 combo that costs around 2000 USD.
Price is too low. Rather 3000 USD. At the end it is a Leica, even with 4/3 sensor!
Probably another Leica Vario style camera: All very sub-par except pricing. I´m not interested in Leica anymore.
My 2 cents?
It’s a Panaleica GM1
maybe even paired with the new 15mm PanaLeica.
Admin – do you think there is ANY chance this will be an m43 ILC? Having Leica cameras in the m43 world would give m43 a lot more kudos and attention, especially if they came up with a nice rangefinder style body ALA the GX7 / X-E1
We heard the same rumblings…
http://lavidaleica.com/content/new-leica-mirrorless-january-february
GX7 rebadge… this is something I’d bet a few bucks on…
I cannot wait to see what Leica will rebrand.
On my poll on page 4 of the dpreview Leica Talk forum, 11 voters believe its a rebranded Gx7, and 7 voters believe its a rebranded Gm1, but there are other opinions ( no rebranding, .. ) too
Say that it is a m4/3 and about the same price of the Vario. Now you will have a Leica body that can mount mostly non-Leica lenses.
If a GX7 or GM1, I fail to see what you will buy with a 2500 tag, or more. Yes you could have the Leicasonic 15mm included, but what would you buy if the body has the same features of a Lumix?
I don’t see how Leica can rework bodies which are already at the top of their possibilities. I’d rather expect a unique body, although having the same sensor. For instance a GM1 with built in EVF, like in the Panny patent. But would Panny sell it to Leica as an exclusive?
I failed to see ANY reason for ANY rebadged Pana-Leica cameras, when it is so much cheaper with Panasonic logo. However, people still buy them for their own absurd reason, hell just take a look at those Hasselblad “Loser” and “Sucker” cameras, people still buy them even if it is just the same camera with a bit of cladding.
Only dumb people who want to impress other dumb people buy rebadged cameras…
This whole rebadging is also less than ethical:
Sony Zeiss lenses: Not manufactured by either Sony nor Zeiss, Zeiss design but made by Cosina.
Leica lenses for Panasonic: same thing not manufactured by Leica.
This whole sillyness is like buying a Big Mac made by Burger King (Or a Whopper made by McD’s)
Bleh…
Or rich people who do not have to worry about wasting a couple of hundred bucks. To them, buying a rebadged for extra is like many of us springing for pepperoni on a Pizza.
Add to the equation that Leica isn’t an expert in the digital camera department (they have tumbled with major flops in their previous M digital bodies… at this rate Panasonic, Olympus, Sony, Canon, Nikon, Fuji and Pentax have better chances of doing a better camera than Leica these days).
If they miss this chance to go m43 and choose a APC-C I guess they are, for some internal reason and pride, determined to cut their own path and cater to niche market by refusing to go m43.
They have a great partner and great sensors in that system and the system is selling in OK volumes.
I bet they could even tweak the sensors for Leica if they needed them to be tweaked.
They have the AF lenses ready for the system 25, 42,5, 15mm, all they are missing is a 8mm Leica prime.
They can even charge a few thousand for the body, especially if its German Leica made and redesigned. M43 is pretty pricey in the high end offering like it is.
If they go APS-Cd and try to fight Fuji…. wow very bad idea IMO. it will be years of teasing for them to release a complete lens lineup and iron out all the bugs that others already have.
leica has already rebadged a 43 camera years ago …..identical sized sensor , difference was a mirror
Lots of conflicting information. These comments came from the CEO of Leica just a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/digital-forum/308841-ceo-alfred-schopf-future-products.html
When asked will there ever be a Leica compact system camera:
“We will have one, definitely. And it will, of course, be quite different to M system. We want to have autofocus with such a system and we may well have an APSC size sensor rather than a bigger one…….It will be a German built camera, however I’m not sure we can make all of the lenses made in Germany because we are talking about a different price range to M system so I could imagine that we do some fixed focal length lenses in Germany and maybe with the zooms we will co-operate with a partner”
He stresses that Leica won’t be building on Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds format.
That sounds as if everything is still 3~5 years away…
all wrong type 701 may be APS-C or Full Frame @thenewcamera
it will , of course be a gm1 with the tiny kit zoom , with a nice red badge it will cost twice to 3 times the panasonic branded one …..its basically an iq test , or
a test of ones income over common sense