Much like buses always come in threes it seems that cameras always come in fours. Last week both Canon and Pentax released four cameras and now Leica have joined in with four more. Leica has been very quiet this week (save for a new website) so some camera announcements were overdue.
Leica is most known for its film camera business. It created the first practical 35mm camera and its rangefinder and SLR models were very popular in the 60s and 70s. The cameras were popular not only for their technological wizardry inside but also for their traditional design which has become extremely collectable and is now considered retro. Leica is no stranger to the digital arena, not for its cameras but for its lenses, supplying Panasonic in particular for a long time.
Leica has been relatively slow on the uptake of digital cameras, perhaps more because they emphasise on expensive, high quality film cameras. Nevertheless the four cameras are all digital and are the M8, Digilux 3, V-Lux 1 and D-Lux 3. Panasonic cameras are the basis of the last three in terms of design and specification but the sensors and lens are adapted to Leica's need, instead of just Leica re-branded Panasonic cast-offs. And after all, the cameras were designed by both companies but released by Panasonic first. Very little details of pricing and availability have been announced.
Leica M8
The M8 is the first in the M range to go digital, the rangefinder family having been film until now. Rangefinders aren't a very common type of camera, working on the principle of the photographer working out the focus distance themselves (aided by Leica's viewfinder system) and setting the lens to match. While sounding similar to the SLR system there are benefits. There is no bulky mirror box needed so the M8 can keep its slim compact design, and many consider the rangefinder system to give more accurate and personal results.
Even though the M8 is digital now it can still use all of the lenses in the range, which has been around since 1954. The sensor is 10.3 MP (designed by Kodak) and includes a new Leica based colour profile and low-noise capability - ISO can be set from 160 to 2500. Shutter can be set as quick as 1/8000 of a second and flash is very quick too, 1/250 of a second flash synchronisation is available.
As already suggested the M8 keeps the elegant design traits of its predecessors. Its all metal magnesium alloy body is very similar to the M7, with the only differences being the addition of an 2.5 inch LCD screen and the removal of film controls. The camera can shoot RAW and JPEG, takes SD and SDHC cards and has a RGB colour histogram. Without a full review I can't suggest many downsides straight away but price is one - it will cost £2990 just for the body and this will be released in November. Quality really does come at a price. Full specification.
Leica Digilux 3
Also a digital first for the company, Leica have shown they can do SLRs too with the Digilux 3. Based around the LINK Panasonic L1 the camera is very interesting because it doesn't use Leica reflex lenses but FourThirds lenses instead. This was designed by Olympus and Kodak as a purely digital design for better results with dSLRs, but it isn't very widespread at the moment.
Despite its Panasonic insides the Digilux 3 looks very Leica with its retro design. The 7.5 has been improved for Leica with faster and more efficient image processing and it can do both RAW and JPEG images. The camera will be released as a full kit with the Leica D F2.8-3.5 14-50mm lens that has Optical Image Stabilisation. This is the same lens that the Panasonic comes with.
Full specification.
Leica V-Lux 1
Moving down the camera and price scales is the V-Lux 1. The Panasonic base is the DMC-FZ50 bridge camera and it has the same 10.1 MP sensor and 2 inch tilting LCD. The big changes are in the lens, giving it a manual zoom ring, Optical Image Stablisation and a very wide focal length of 35 to 420mm - Presumably Leica think that if you give people this much potential in a lens then it gets over the obvious limitations of only having one lens choice on the camera. Full specification.
Leica D-Lux 3
Finally there is a new compact camera, based on the Panasonic LX2. Available in silver of black the camera has a 10MP sensor, although this varies on picture format. In 16:9 it uses the full 10MP but this is reduced for 4:3 and 3:2 format (8MP and 7MP respectively). 16:9 is the default since it has a widescreen 2.8 inch LCD but format mode can easily be changed with a dedicated button. Again the sensor is Leica adapted (and can shoot in RAW) and so is the lens, with a reasonably wide focal length of 28-112mm and a zoom wheel on the lens barrel. Full specification.
Other releases
To go with the M8, three accessories were released - two lenses and a finder. The Leica Tri-Elmar-M 16-18-21 mm F4 ASPH has three focal lengths for wide-angle photography and very close focusing. The Leica Elmarit-M 28 mm F2.8 ASPH is now the smallest M lens available and has a very fast speed of f/2.8. Finally the Leica Universal Wide Angle Finder M has been designed for use with the Tri-Elmar to help crop your shot. It has frames for each focal length for accuracy and two extra for 24mm and 28mm lenses. To compensate for the age old problems of the viewfinder being so far away from the lens there is parallax compensation. (Click on the product name to go to the spec sheet)
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