Leica M Edition 60

[sanmich]

The case has the strap lugs, and it is what remains hanging around my neck. The camera is in my hands when I'm loading film...

G

Sorry, I didn't understand.
Well, I much prefer the other way around: pull out the bottom case, ten the back/baseplate. The camera hangs safely around the neck.
trying to reload a camera with one hand while holding it with the other is a pretty sure recipe for gravity to start messing with things.
expensive things...

 

[Godfrey]

Sorry, I didn't understand.
Well, I much prefer the other way around: pull out the bottom case, ten the back/baseplate. The camera hangs safely around the neck.
trying to reload a camera with one hand while holding it with the other is a pretty sure recipe for gravity to start messing with things.
expensive things...

Even if I have a neck strap on a camera, I'm holding it in my hands when I'm loading film. The neck strap often gets in the way (particularly on the Leica CL) at which point it's more likely to make me drop the camera than just holding it and putting the film in.

I've been shooting seriously with many, many cameras since 1968 ... but I cannot remember a single time I've dropped a camera while loading it. Any camera. I've only dropped a camera at all four times in all these years, and on one of those occasions it was due to a child literally running into my elbow as I put the hand strap around my wrist... !

G

 

[shadowfox]

If it was priced more sensibly, this clown would buy one... 😛

So will this one.

I applaud Leica for being the leader in innovation. This is a bold step not just within camera manufacturing perspective. And this is a confirmation that my support of the LCD-less digital camera design is shared by some powerful decision makers at Leica.

I just hope there are 600 rich folks who gets the concept and clean the shelf. 😀

Then it's up to Fuji or Ricoh or Sony to pick up the gamble and bring down the price to some semblance of reasonability.

 

[Emile de Leon]

I like this idea..
Make it smaller..
Add some strap lugs..
And I'm in..

 

[michaelwj]

Leica has said that it may make a standard model with no LCD if this is well received.

Here's hoping its well received then so us mere mortals can afford one. Call me a clown, but I want one (if I'm going to be picky, I prefer the typical M styling over the Audi designs)

It should be less expensive than the screen one though once in production. But I doubt it, they charge more for no colour, so it'll be about 10k for no screen. Monochrom with no screen, double up for 13k!

Michael

 

[michaelwj]

I just hope there are 600 rich folks who gets the concept and clean the shelf. 😀

I hope there are well over 600 rich folk so they're forced (or at least likely) to put it into production. I dare say that most of them are likely to be already spoken for.

Michael

 

[FrozenInTime]

On the less serious side : No chimping 🙂
photokina-exclusive-leica-signs-macaca-nigra-as-spokesprimate/

 

[JHP]

I hope the interest in this camera will spur a new mass production version for the plebs (us)...

 

[alan davus]

I hope the interest in this camera will spur a new mass production version for the plebs (us)...

Hear,hear!!

 

[mfunnell]

I hope the interest in this camera will spur a new mass production version for the plebs (us)...

Not happening. As I've said elsewhere:

Each feature removed would cost an additional US$5000 😱 By the time they remove the whole camera that small piece of thin air is starting to cost a lot of money! Then they'll remove the air, one GAS at a time 🙄

...Mike

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

This is not "innovative." It was suggested/discussed among rf fotogs years ago and didn't require any manner of technicity to execute.

It's not the 'same as shooting film.' It's not even 'the next best thing.' You still get a digital file. Film is film.

I still think it's ironic that the (typically) well-heeled 'Leica photographer' is the only one who seems to be proud of his Simplemindedness and inability to deal with "distractions" like buttons, dials, and... IMAGES. These same people drive Mercedes and audis with gps and Bluetooth hookups at 80mph, but when they need to snap an immobile homeless person or a bokehful leaf or a Pomeranian, they somehow require absolute mental zen. Personally, I think it's half leica-Jedi mind trick and half pretense... and half something else.

 

[semilog]

Yes, yes, and yes. It's about everything Leica... except photography. The missing strap lugs say absolutely everything that one needs to know about this meticulously extruded turd.

This is not "innovative." It was suggested/discussed among rf fotogs years ago and didn't require any manner of technicity to execute.

It's not the 'same as shooting film.' It's not even 'the next best thing.' You still get a digital file. Film is film.

I still think it's ironic that the (typically) well-heeled 'Leica photographer' is the only one who seems to be proud of his Simplemindedness and inability to deal with "distractions" like buttons, dials, and... IMAGES. These same people drive Mercedes and audis with gps and Bluetooth hookups at 80mph, but when they need to snap an immobile homeless person or a bokehful leaf or a Pomeranian, they somehow require absolute mental zen. Personally, I think it's half leica-Jedi mind trick and half pretense... and half something else.

 

[airfrogusmc]

This is not "innovative." It was suggested/discussed among rf fotogs years ago and didn't require any manner of technicity to execute.

It's not the 'same as shooting film.' It's not even 'the next best thing.' You still get a digital file. Film is film.

I still think it's ironic that the (typically) well-heeled 'Leica photographer' is the only one who seems to be proud of his Simplemindedness and inability to deal with "distractions" like buttons, dials, and... IMAGES. These same people drive Mercedes and audis with gps and Bluetooth hookups at 80mph, but when they need to snap an immobile homeless person or a bokehful leaf or a Pomeranian, they somehow require absolute mental zen. Personally, I think it's half leica-Jedi mind trick and half pretense... and half something else.

Well I for one love being involved in the process. If you want all the bells and whistles there are certainly a crap load of those options but something doesn't have all of that in digital is hard to find. I wouldn't spend this kind of money on one but if it were priced about where the current ME is I would buy it.

 

[froyd]

I think the Edition 60 is wunderbar, but I would love to see a version with a rear LCD.... oh, wait...

 

[Kwesi]

On the less serious side : No chimping 🙂
photokina-exclusive-leica-signs-macaca-nigra-as-spokesprimate/

OMG!!!

This is priceless!

 

[Scrambler]

This is not "innovative." It was suggested/discussed among rf fotogs years ago and didn't require any manner of technicity to execute. It's not the 'same as shooting film.' It's not even 'the next best thing.' You still get a digital file. Film is film. I still think it's ironic that the (typically) well-heeled 'Leica photographer' is the only one who seems to be proud of his Simplemindedness and inability to deal with "distractions" like buttons, dials, and... IMAGES. These same people drive Mercedes and audis with gps and Bluetooth hookups at 80mph, but when they need to snap an immobile homeless person or a bokehful leaf or a Pomeranian, they somehow require absolute mental zen. Personally, I think it's half leica-Jedi mind trick and half pretense... and half something else.

Of course this is innovative. There has never been a camera like this. That it was dreamed of by people who had no idea what it would take to build doesn't detract from the achievement. The Wright Brothers weren't the first people to dream of powered flight but achieving it was an innovation.

This is clearly not a mass market camera. And a production version would not be a mass market camera either. What most people seem to forget is that there is R&D in this! And that is spread over only a few cameras. If these get snapped up then the R&D should be covered and a production version won't have to cost a bomb.

Is it a mind trick? Sure. Most things are. It's not for you, it can still be right for others.

Finally, I think that Leica are having a lend of us, or perhaps just watching closely to see how discussions like this go. A camera like this if sold not as a collectors edition but as a tool is a risk, even if 98% of the parts are in common with the M (240). If it's only saleable for less than a 240 then it's not worth the effort. Like the MM it would need to be attractive to buyers at a price premium. The screen doesn't cost THAT much. If they sell at a discount to the 240 it will be a marketing exercise, a low volume non-profit line which "proves" the purity of their vision.

 

[olakiril]

What most people seem to forget is that there is R&D in this!

R&D for the ISO dial? Or the removal of an LCD? It requires less materials and less machining so I would argue that it is cheaper to produce than M240 if you don't count the external "design".

I would agree with you if the came up with a thinner design. But no, they thought it is better to use a famous designer to change the looks of the camera and then upsell it as a limited edition.

I am in favor of the simplicity but the implementation is just a joke not worth laughing if you ask me. Recently Leica reminds me of Hasselblad's Lunar and Stellar...

I only hope for an RD2.

 

[Scrambler]

R&D for the ISO dial? Or the removal of an LCD? It requires less materials and less machining so I would argue that it is cheaper to produce than M240

Produce yes, but the camera has new parts so yes, R&D. And tooling costs. It isn't a blank sheet design but any change (even a deletion) from the M costs them money (and may also save money: the nett effect depends on volume of sales).

Most significantly, new firmware. And for a production version some way to adjust things via external link, if they haven't already.

IF (a big if) this goes well I can see this being the default Leica, BYO smartphone for a screen. Or at the least an a la carte option.

 

[michaelwj]

R&D for the ISO dial? Or the removal of an LCD? It requires less materials and less machining so I would argue that it is cheaper to produce than M240 if you don't count the external "design".

I'd argue the other way. It may require less materials and less machining, but that's not the point. The cost is associated with NEW machining. Hence the MM price is/was higher than the M9 (both at respective release).
*Of course that's got nothing to do with the special edition cost*

For example, if it costs $100k to get the machining set up, then $20 per M240 replicate ($15 with no lcd - it takes less time). If we sell 100k M240's, then the body only cost $21 each. If we sell 1000 with no lcd then they cost $115 each. Of course you can take away the cost of the lcd ($10) and buttons ($20), but its still much more expensive.

Michael

 

[semilog]

LIMBO, everyone!

LIMBO, everyone!

Of course this is innovative. There has never been a camera like this.

You really know how to set the bar low, Scrambler.