Leica M8 combines old-world charm with new-world tech

Camera fans worldwide no doubt appreciate Leica's attention to quality and detail when it comes to making high-end film-based rangefinder cameras. This month, the famous German company will introduce its first digital rangefinder camera at the Photokina trade show in Cologne -- the same location where the first Leica M3 was announced in 1954. The Leica M8 doesn't just have a pretty body, nor is it resting on the laurels of its predecessors: it's got a 10.3 megapixel resolution, with a low-noise CCD image sensor that starts at ISO 160 but that can also kick up to ISO 2500. The Leica M8 can take gorgeous shots with an exposure time that drops down to 1/8000 of a second, and to 1/250 of a second with a flash. The cam also has a focal length extension factor of 1.33, which helps to mitigate the problem of "vignetting," or a fall-off in brightness that would occur without the extension factor. Oh, and there's one more thing: did we mention that the M8 works with "virtually all" Leica M series lenses produced since 1954? We don't have any firm information from Leica about what the availability or price of the M8 will be, but estimates on the internets suggest that it will set you back about €4,500 ($5,708) -- and this totally amazing camera will probably be worth every euro cent.

Read - Press release
Read - DPR's hands-on preview

[granny down east @ Sep 14th 2006 9:44PM]

It is beautiful in a 50s sorta way. I had an M3 back in the day and loved it. I hope this lives up to the fine Zeiss lens my old Leica had.

[Adam Filipowicz @ Sep 14th 2006 10:22PM]

whats so great about rangefinder cameras?

[Dan @ Sep 14th 2006 10:25PM]

Wow. Amazing. Well worth the price I'm sure. Leica is simply the best. I was stoked to see Julia Roberts shooting with a Leica in "Closer".

[grub @ Sep 14th 2006 10:27PM]

ah man, bad news, BAD BAD news... for my bank account that is....
Look at that price, it just ain't fair

[mb @ Sep 14th 2006 10:32PM]

Hmm... feature set not hitting even a Canon 30D (or even 20D given 160ISO) with a price tag hitting the full-frame pro DSLRs.

Is there some sort of unseen novelty to owning a camera that doesn't even have a thru-lens viewfinder?

Oh, heh, sorry, it's Leica.

[mastershake916 @ Sep 14th 2006 10:37PM]

nice job engadget, adding another advertisement in the corner,

[Brain @ Sep 14th 2006 11:34PM]

omg, so perfect! O.O
Ad away, we see/hear 300 some ads a day anyway.
But with Leica, if you don't show it off, you're a rock

[Mithun Paul @ Sep 15th 2006 12:14AM]

wowie,
that is some piece of art, love the way they design these things. The way they carry over their old school aesthetic is really fantastic. lovely............

[Sam @ Sep 15th 2006 12:21AM]

Rangefinders are super quiet compared to DigiSLRs with their flip up mirrors and shutters.

[vrf @ Sep 15th 2006 1:34AM]

For serious photographers only.

I choose food, instead.

[Kris @ Sep 15th 2006 4:08AM]

Great pixle quaility but a steap price

[Kris Lee @ Sep 15th 2006 7:58AM]

This is not first digital rangefinder camera!

First digital rangefinder is made by Epson. It is Epson R-D1.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0403/04031101epsonrd1.asp

[omellet @ Sep 15th 2006 8:45AM]

They're trying to sell it as an "extension" factor of 1.33, but it really means a cropping factor of .75, so your wide-angle shots won't be quite so wide.

[Jordan @ Sep 15th 2006 10:36AM]

"This month, the famous German company will introduce its first digital rangefinder camera"

They didn't say that it was the first in the world, just that it was Leica's first.

Slow down, captain correction.

[Chris @ Sep 15th 2006 11:06AM]

I'm not trying to be a troll here, but some of these comments are just a tad asinine.

For all the folks commenting about the stats not measuring up to a 30D, or that a "real" photographer (whatever that is) would choose another camera over this one, I submit to you that this is a specialized tool. A rangefinder camera is unlike a DSLR. It's highly favored by photojournelists for it's relative silence and unobtrusiveness vs. DSLR's, which scream, "Look at me! I'm a CAMERA!"

A photographer will use the best camera for the given job. That's why different cameras exist in the marketplace!

Another reason why this camera is so expensive is that it's lovingly manufactured in Germany, where labor costs are higher than that of Asia, where most Canon / Nikon / Pentax / etc. cameras come from.

In a marketplace where product cycles are insane, and cameras are "obsolete" monthes after their purchase, it's refreshing to know that a company still cares about their products, and supports them years after they've been discontinued, which is very much the case in Solms, Germany.

[tr @ Sep 15th 2006 4:43PM]

this camera looks so...nice. i'm still in the realm of film, and i think subconsciously, i don't want to go to digital, because the cameras look so...digital. there was something about old rangefinders and SLR's that got me into photography in the first place, and i just can't see that "something" in most modern digital cameras.


"nice job engadget, adding another advertisement in the corner,

Posted at 10:36PM on Sep 14th 2006 by mastershake916"

hey, why don't you get a clue, and stop blaming engadget. i don't know if you know this, but engadget is part of the weblogs inc. network, and styledash just happens to be a new blog on the same network. if you visited any of the other blogs in the network, you'd see the same triangle ad. and does it bother you that much? it's no more distracting than the ads i see for McAfee software at the top, or the ING Direct ad at the bottom.

[ShredSled @ Sep 15th 2006 5:03PM]

That camera is beautiful.

[Aman Gupta @ Sep 17th 2006 9:07AM]

And about the wide angle point, leica also released a super-wide angle lens to tackle that problem.
I can only lament for those people who comment bad without knowing anything.