The Safari Leica M8 with matching case and 28mm F2.8 Summicron.
(Credit: foto-konijnenberg.nl)Leica has a reputation for making some of the world's finest cameras and lenses, as well as some of the most expensive shooters. Even now, its film-based rangefinder snapper, the M6, still costs approximately $1,500.
The German company's only digital rangefinder, the M8, has been given a makeover and a new price tag. The normal black or silver version of the M8 costs $6,500, but the luxury green iteration is going to set you back $10,000. With the ongoing recession, it's hard to see just who would splurge on such a premium camera.
However, collectors should rejoice at the package: It comes with a matching canvas/leather carrying case and 28mm F2.8 Summicron lens. But for most of us commoners, this shooter is way out of our league.
(Source: Crave Asia)
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, the camera will switch to the higher ISO when the shutter speed corresponding to 1/focal length is reached. For more details see Leica's support page.
We generally recommend installing the latest firmware updates for your camera, so you can get the most out of your gear. For more information on firmware updates for a specific camera, visit the manufacturer's Web site. Before installing any firmware upgrade, always take the time to read through all of the documentation and follow the manufacturer's instructions carefully.
(Credit:
Leica)
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's CEO, Andreas Kaufmann.
The proceeds from the auction of this shooter will help fund the journalists organization, Reporters Without Borders. The funding will help journalists craft their stories and, where needed, support their families.
Not that we aren't supportive of press freedom (after all, we're on the same side), but we think the money could be put to better use elsewhere, such as quake-torn Sichuan, China, or cyclone-struck Myanmar where natural disasters have already claimed thousands of lives.
(Source: Crave Asia)
The Leica M8, the company's first digital rangefinder camera, costs $5,500 without a lens.
(Credit: Leica)Leica Camera, the German manufacturer of high-prestige but high-price photography equipment, has replaced its top executive, Steven Lee.
"The supervisory board of Leica Camera AG today removed Steven K. Lee as member and chairman of the board of management of Leica Camera AG with immediate effect," the company said in a brief statement Friday.
The board also named Andreas Kaufmann to be chairman of Leica Camera's board of management until February 28, 2009. He and Andreas Lobejaeger will lead the company jointly, the company said.
Leica was an influential brand in the 20th century, pioneering the use of 35mm film and supplying cameras to notable figures such as Henri Cartier-Bresson. However, the company has had some missteps making the transition from film to digital photography.
Leica has a cultlike following for its equipment, and the company sets prices accordingly. The M8, its first digital member of its decades-old M family, costs about $5,500 with no lens. And though its core components are upgradable, the price tag for a new shutter and LCD cover upgrade announced recently is $1,775--about the price of an entire Nikon D300 SLR.
According to a Leica representative quoted in Amateur Photographer, one of Kaufmann's first priorities will be to "review all options for the M system's future."
In an interview earlier this month with Amateur Photographer, Lee hinted that Leica is working on an M8 upgrade that would give it a full-frame image sensor, which is the size of a 35mm film image. Leica's M8 today, as well as most entry-level and midrange SLRs, use sensors about two thirds that size.
(Via 1001 Noisy Cameras.)
The Leica M8, the company's first digital rangefinder.
(Credit: Leica)LAS VEGAS--The good news is that Leica designed its $5,500 M8 rangefinder camera so its hardware components can be upgraded to ward off the obsolescence that afflicts digital cameras. The bad news is that an upgrade Leica announced this week at the Photo Marketing Association trade show costs 1,200 euros, or about $1,775.
The price includes shipping and replacement of the camera's glass LCD cover and shutter, said Brian Bell, national sales manager for Canada, in an interview here at the trade show.
The new shutter is quieter and has less tension in its spring, making it more durable and reducing the amount it vibrates the camera, Bell said. The new sapphire crystal LCD cover is more scratch-resistant.
Other core components of the camera, including its image sensor or image processing-chip, also can be upgraded, he added, but Leica hasn't announced any program for that.
(Credit:
Negri Electronics)
This should be interesting. Ever since some purported product photos began circulating nearly a year ago, the "M8 MiniOne" media player from China-based Meizu has gained notice--and a measure of notoriety--for a design that looks strikingly similar to the iPhone. And now it's reportedly headed for the U.S. market, making its first appearance at January's annual CES trade show in Las Vegas--which Engadget and others speculate will send Apple's copyright attorneys scurrying to file intellectual property claims as fast as you can say preliminary injunction. In fact, even the wallpaper depicted in the image shown here is apparently a matter of some dispute. So much for international detente.
The Leica M8, the company's first digital rangefinder.
(Credit: Leica)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 reading the piece. It's healthy to be reminded that the mirror-and-shutter mechanism of an SLR camera in action sounds like "a cow kicking over a milk pail" compared with the "kiss" of a Leica shutter. And Lane's always good for a clever turn of phrase. Of the 2006 announcement of Leica's first digital model, the $5,000 M8, he said, "It was like Dylan going electric."
Decades ago, Leica cameras were notable for being snappier and more compact than rivals. In Lane's view, these qualities endow them with an ability to, if not anticipate the future, at least to capture the spontaneous, surprising moments that make up day-to-day life. His finds his views confirmed with a half-day trial of an M8.
Where the details get fuzzy for me is why a Leica rangefinder camera is better suited to spontaneous shooting than a modern SLR. Lane seems to think the compact size, unobtrusive shutter and see-what's-coming-into-the-frame viewfinder provided a technical foundation that inspired a certain type of shoot-from-the-hip photographer. Certainly the unpleasant shutter lag of most compact cameras make them a poor choice for anything faster-moving than a tree or a sleeping baby. But I still need more convincing that the Leica's advantages have arrived intact in the modern age. Maybe I need to take that half-day tour with an M8, too.
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