Christian asked me on the first day of the show if I’d be interested in taking the 18mm Super-Elmar-M ASPH and 24mm Summilux-M ASPH out for a night to do some testing. I asked if I’d be able to post samples and the answer was, “Absolutely. Go see Justin and he’ll set you up.” This is what we call an offer you can’t refuse.
There’s something undeniably sexy, romantic even, about modern digital rangefinders.
For more than 40 years Tom Arndt has trained his Leica MP on his fellow Minnesotans at work and play, especially at the State Fair, in small-town diners, parades and high school gyms. He loves fireworks and the fair’s midway, threshing crews, cabbies, commuters, construction workers, cars with tailfins and kids on bikes.
PMA 2009 is nearly two weeks away, there aren’t any news from Leica front so far; but super wide shooters get your wallet ready, the French has posted a preview of an upcoming Leica M 3.8/18 Super-Elmar.
Over my career, so far, I guess I have bought, or been supplied from my employers , about 30 cameras. Some I remember well, some I don’t. One camera I do clearly remember was my first Leica M series. I bought an M3 with a 28mm Elmarit lens in a small hole in the wall camera store on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong in 1975 for what I thought was a king’s ransom of $550-usd.
Using his Leica like a shotgun fired from chest level, the wide angle of his lens gathered information wholesale as he navigated the crowds attempting to work without notice. Usually zeroing in on one or two subjects within his direct path, the photos also collected information on the periphery that often prove more interesting and unexpected.
Does the LEICA S2 live up to the high level of expectations built up around a high-end professional system? The potential of the S2 was tested under real conditions in a fashion shooting. The advertising and fashion photographer Robert Grischek spent a whole day working with the new Leica digital system, the new LEICA SUMMARIT-S 1:2,5 / 70 mm ASPH. CS and the LEICA APO-ELMAR-S 1:3,5 / 180 mm CS in tough studio conditions.
I think this is the most expensive lens in the world: the LEICA APO-TELYT-R 1:5.6/1600mm is worth 16 million HKD (2,064,489 USD)
Even after playing with the Leica S2 for just under an hour, we can say with some authority that it’s one of the most beautifully designed cameras we’ve ever touched. And this is saying a lot for Leica which already has a storied reputation for creating simple, elegant, and highly functional camera bodies
We imagine that there won’t be many other bells and whistles, but really, who needs them? Once the exposure and focus are set, everything else about a RAW image can be tweaked in post. The price? Seriously, don’t ask. You’re sure? OK. €30,000 for the body, which translates to $45,000.
This introduction, however, stands alone, and Leica’s making some pretty remarkably bold statements about its new S-system. The first device to take advantage is the 37-frickin’-megapixel S2, which sits between Canon’s EOS 5D and EOS 1Ds MkIII in terms of body size. The company designed the camera to provide “the quality of medium format and the handling and flexibility of 35mm,” and the outfit also has nine S-system lenses on tap. As for expectations? Leica says it’ll perform “twice as fast as Hasselblad H-series cameras,” and if that wasn’t straight-up enough, the firm’s David Bell proclaimed that “[Leica] thinks it has the best professional camera system in the world with this.”
