Chris Weeks:

I got pretty good with the X-Pro 1.

Chris Weeks berichtet über sechs Monate mit der X-Pro 1. Sehr lesenswerter Artikel, der mich in meinem Gedanken vielleicht irgendwann von der X100 auf die X-Pro 1 upzugraden ermutigt.

Daniel Milnor:

We live in a world where people value photographers based on how many Twitter followers they have and that just isn’t smart.

Interview mit dem großartigen Daniel Milnor im Leica Blog.

Ich find’s großartig ihm zuzuhören. Damals als ich Französisch in der Schule gelernt habe hat man mir immer gesagt was das doch für eine tolle Sprache ist und ich hab’s nicht kapiert. Jetzt verstehe ich’s.
Ansonsten geht’s im Video natürlich um Leica im Allgemeinen und ganz kurz am Ende um die neue M im Speziellen. Und jetzt gute Nacht!

So in the last few weeks some rumors about the Leica M10 came up, which might be presented at Photokina next month. At the moment I don’t plan to go to Cologone, but this camera is making it a hard decision. I’d love to have a look at and through the finder of this camera.

The last part is especially interesting, because the Leica M10 is rumored to sport an electronic viewfinder. As you might know I don’t like EVFs. My distaste for these kind of viewfinders has lessen in the last year but I still have a problem with them.
But my personal preference aside, I don’t think this is going to happen and if, I think this will hurt Leica and the sales of the M10 in a big way. I can’t imagine how an EVF will fit into the Leica philosophy of simple and robust products.
But maybe they revolutionized the EVF, who knows…

Since I tested the M9 last year I want to have one. I’m sure I’m not the only one and a lot of people are looking forward to the release of the M10, not because of the M10 itself, but because they hope the used prices drop. If the M10 has an EVF I predict that this won’t happen because it’s the last true (digital) Leica M camera. Sorry guys.

The M10 could be available in March next year. I’m really curious to see what Leica has in store for us in September at Photokina.

Bruce Davidson about who he is, what he’s done, and where he’s going. Just brilliant.

Leica put together a short video for everyone who wants to see some moving images from the event on thursday.

Since I’m not able to review the Leica M Monochrom for you myself, I thought I could at least put together a collection of reviews which are already out there so you can get an idea of the camera. I’m sure there will be a lot more in the next few weeks, but since then here you go:

L-Camera Blog
Review (de)
Video review (de)

Steve Huff
One hour with the Leica M Monochrom
Full Size Images

Jonathan Slack Review

dpreview.com Hands-on Preview

The Luminous Landscape Review

Bellamy Hunt Testing the M9-M

ShootTokyo Leica M9-M Photos

Steve Huff:

I hate to say it as I love Leica and the guys that work there but I have to say the event was a bit on the dull and lackluster side. Sure there were drinks, food and people to mingle with but the overall presentations were lacking. Not a big deal but I remember a few occasions yawning as it dragged on and on it seems. We were all there for the announcements and the way they were announced was also a bit on the dull side.

So I wasn’t the only one who had to yawn. That’s good and bad.
Steve also makes a few other good points regarding the Leica event and he got to shoot the M Monochrom for about an hour and shows some photos. Head over there and read the whole piece.

So. The Leica Event ‚Das Wesentliche‘ is over and all of the rumors where true. Leica announced the Leica M Monochrom, which only shoots black and white images, but with really great image quality and much better low light performance than the M9. There is also a new lens, the APO-SUMMICRON-M 1:2/50 mm ASPH.
Furthermore there is a new X camera, the X2 and a new V-LUX. You can read about the details here. Leica also announced a Special Edition of the M9-P, the Hermès Editon.

So the M MONOCHROM seems to be pretty cool, altough we not really got to hear much about it. The presentation was really bad in my opinion, everything seemed a bit awkward.

The rest of the evening was good. Kai, Christoph and me talked a lot about all things cameras, drank wine and met some really nice people of Leica.
Today I will walk the streets of Berlin and try to take some decent photographs and also meet up with a few people.

Thank you Leica and I hope we’ll meet again in the future.