Hasta La Gadget!

This is an odd one: Leica has announced a new flashgun, the SF 58. As you may guess, it has a guide number of 58, which is pretty bright.

This can, and probably should, be used with Leica’s SLR cameras. However, it is pictured with the M8, a rangefinder, and the kind of camera almost never used with a flash.

An SLR is a do-anything workhorse. You can hook it up to a telescope or a wide-angle lens and it works great. A rangefinder, though, is more of a precision tool, only operating between the wide angle and the medium telephoto. Any lens longer than about 100mm is hard to use as the viewfinder is not magnified like the light traveling to the film (or sensor). Those lenses tend to be fast, too, and the lack of a flipping mirror means that the cameras are whisper quiet.

Combine these and you see why the Leica M series is the tool of choice for close-range stealth in low, available light. So why ruin it all with a flash?

We don’t know. But if you are interested, or own a Leica SLR, you can enjoy a zoom range of 24–105 mm, a choice of regular of soft modes, a swiveling head and a USB port for future firmware upgrades. The price? This is a Leica. Pick any reasonable number and add a couple of zeroes.

Press release [DP Review]