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In case the newly announced Leica M simply isn’t astronomically expensive enough — or charity-minded enough, as it were — Apple’s senior VP of design Jony Ive is working with the German photography company on a one-off version set to be auctioned for charity. Given the M’s baseline price of €6,200 (about $8,100), we’re guessing the one-of-a-kind version designed by one of the world’s most influential designers is going to fetch a pretty penny at auction. Like, “sell off one of your extra homes” kind of money. Leica head Dr. Andreas Kaufmann announced the collaboration last night during a Leica event at Photokina — an event that Ive himself was reportedly set to appear at — where he said that the auction will be done with U2 frontman (and longtime friend of Ive) Bono Vox. The latest Leica M debuts in early 2013, though we won’t see the fruits of Ive and Leica’s collaboration for some time as the camera’s design has yet to begin.

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Apple’s Jony Ive tapped to design one-off Leica M for charity auction originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s going to have to temporarily share its design wizard Sir Jonathan Ive, with high-end camera maker Leica, as Ive will be creating a special, super limited edition of one version of the new Leica M announced by the company yesterday according to PetaPixel. That’s bound to be a drool-worthy camera, and this might represent the perfect storm of tech design fanboyism.

No details about what the new Leica will look like or whether it’ll differ considerably from its stock base model, but only one will ever exist, and that’s likely enough to get the kind of people who can afford this sort of thing salivating. The single edition will be auctioned off, with all proceeds going to charity.

The new Leica M, unveiled yesterday, offers a 24MP full 35mm format CMOS sensor, and introduces 1080p full HD video capability to the M line. Presumably the specs will remain unchanged on the Ive-designed version, but that’s not really what one lucky rich person’s going to be paying for here. For those of us stuck looking at even the Leica M not designed by a British knight as little more than a fantasy, there’s always another, much more affordable way to mash up your love for Apple with your love for Leica: This sticker, which hopefully gets an upgrade for the iPhone 5 soon.

Yesterday, Canon stole the show, but today’s darling of Photokina appears to be the just-announced Leica M camera. Show attendees flocked to the “new M” demo counter this morning, nudging through the crowd for a chance to check out Leica’s first live-view equipped M. This new feature is powered by a new 24-megapixel CMOS sensor, and also enables 1080p video capture at 24 and 25 frames-per-second — another first for Leica. Live-view and HD video shooting may not seem like banner features for a €6,200 (about $8,100) camera, but considering they’ve never been offered before, these additions seem to be highlights for hopeful M10 owners.

The camera itself is quite beastly, in typical M fashion, and appears to have just as much heft as the M9. There’s a new Gorilla Glass-equipped 3-inch, 920k-dot display, that’s plenty sharp and quite responsive in live-view mode. Adjacent to the display, you’ll find a new LV button, which, as you may have guessed, launches the new realtime display mode. There’s also a playback button, along with direct access to ISO, image deletion and menu settings. Up top, there’s the Leica trademark shutter speed dial (aperture control is on the lens), letting you select from bulb all the way through 1/4000 second. There’s a full-size hot shoe up top with an accessory connector for the EVF 2 attachment, and a second proprietary connector on the bottom to interface with the accessory grip, which adds USB connectivity and built-in GPS.

We can’t comment on image quality just yet, but there’s no question that the “new M” marks Leica’s commitment to finally bring otherwise commonplace features to its popular (and pricey) rangefinder line. Look for this latest model to hit stores in early 2013, but you can take a closer look today in our hands-on gallery below and video demo after the break.

Update: This post originally stated that the new Leica M had yet to be named, however the company has confirmed that the new camera will simply be named, “The Leica M,” without numbers. “The Leica M also marks the beginning of a new era in the Leica product naming policy. In [the] future, Leica M and S model names will omit the number suffix to emphasize the enduring and long-term significance of the respective systems.”

Continue reading New Leica M camera has live-view and 1080p video capture, we go hands-on (video)

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New Leica M camera has live-view and 1080p video capture, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 05:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do you need a stylish, undoubtedly expensive German camera early in 2013? Perhaps right now? Leica’s got you covered on both fronts, announcing today that its Leica M line is finally getting an official followup to the venerable M9 rangefinder in “early 2013.” The new M is outfitted with the company’s first 24-megapixel (full-frame, naturally) Leica Max CMOS image sensor (à la the A99 and D600) — what Leica calls “a completely new development in sensor technology.” That sensor will snag you a sensitivity range of IS0 200 to 6,400 (expandable to 100). Even more exciting, this latest M can mount Leica’s legacy R glass (!) with a new adapter (available separately) and it can also shoot video in 1080p HD with 24 / 25p frame rate. While it retains the classic M-series styling, rear now features a 3-inch 920k-dot display, protected behind a layer of Gorilla glass. Leica’s also making special note to highlight that the new M features live view functionality on the embedded screen and with an optional EVF.

The M-E model (which appears to be a refresh of sorts on the M9) comes paired with a slightly less-potent 18-megapixel full-frame CCD sensor. Beyond that, it doesn’t appear to pack any video functionality and features a much smaller 2.5-inch 230k-dot display. Neither model comes with any additional numbers in their titles title, however — that’s a conscious decision on Leica’s part to rework its naming policy. “In [the] future, Leica M and S model names will omit the number suffix to emphasize the enduring and long-term significance of the respective systems,” the announcement says. We’re calling it “The iPad 3 approach.”

The cameras were revealed along with a slew of new products that Leica’s showing during Germany’s Photokina convention, including a range of new accessories (the Leica R-Adapter M, the Leica EVF2 electronic viewfinder, the multifunctional handgrip-M with optional finger loops, and the Leica Microphone adapter set). Although there’s no word on pricing for the new M, we’d expect it to sell for somewhere between a cool 7 to 10K given the $5,450 price of the M-E and the approximately $7,000 sticker tag on the M9 — hey, at least both snag you the prestige of the red dot and a pro-bono copy of Adobe Lightroom. The M-E will be be available from Leica dealers before the month’s out, while the M will ship out early next year — both in your choice of black or black / silver. In the meantime, hit up the source link below for the full tech specs on both shooters.

Joe Pollicino contributed to this post.

Continue reading Leica launching new Leica M in early 2013, stripped-down M-E available this month

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Leica launching new Leica M in early 2013, stripped-down M-E available this month originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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