Walter de´Silva on the new Leica M9 Titanium (video)

8 Comments

1. Nobody Special
   Posted October 13, 2010 at 12:28 pm | Permalink

   Well ain’t that special – Leica is tight on money (supposedly) and they won’t build an R10 digital because it would be like swimming with the sharks of Canon and Nikon yet they spend 30ML Euros on the S2that they’ve sold 1000 of so far.

   They spend money on this and employees to manufacture and have de’ Silva design. Although he’s not a camera or Leica photographer. So it’s a nice clean, and somewhat sterile re-representation of an M9. If the purpose is to net Leica money it probably succeeded, but it also shows where Leica’s dreamy imagination is – on a design that was created back in the 1950′s. Yes it’s a nice camera but I’ll assume the sales will soon start to level off as the demand for a FF D rangefinder ebbs. Which leaves Leica back swimming with the sharks.

   Oh, someone should have shown Walter how to hold the camera.

2. peter drijver
   Posted October 13, 2010 at 5:54 pm | Permalink

   Hmmm the strange thing is that there were rumors that leica might come up with someting as clean, logic, german, austere and beautiful as the Erlkönig half-frame Leica -that never really was. That camera has the attraction of a Leica –cleaner and far more elegant than a Robot.
   The da Silva design is not a product of photographers and engineers as the Leica once was: it is a product of a designer as Dieter Rams did the renowned Braun design for many decades that were to inspire Jobs and Ive at Apple half a century later. The da Silva camera is the Bauhaus version of a Leica –and that gives it the flovour of a gimmick. However honest the intentions might have been. So just give us Leicas thats what you do best.

3. Nobody Special
   Posted October 13, 2010 at 7:13 pm | Permalink

   Also worthy of note is that Leica has not really ‘penned’ a new design – outside of the R8/9 bodies – everything else between the SL/SL2 was Minolta based.

   They did come up with the S2 but I’m speaking of a NEW design separate from the M and S line. What else can they do? The M crowd will scream if they change it – and it’s Leica’s big seller and they really put themselves on the ‘hot-seat’ by saying they wouldn’t produce a DSLR – so they’ll really have to pull one out of their hats to prove their worth.

4. Xavier
   Posted October 13, 2010 at 10:03 pm | Permalink

   VW are nowadays beautiful cars and I saw the M9 Titanium, simple, powerful and totally Leica!
   These italians just know how to design !!!
   Thanks for sharing this video, is is great

   • Wait a minute...
     Posted October 18, 2010 at 5:14 am | Permalink

     The only way this can be “powerful” is if throw it at someone. But I’m sure it won’t wake up from the crash. M9′s have been plagued with all sorts of design problems, ranging from its 2-3 generation outdated sensor to QC issues in the sensor and the rangefinder too.

     Sure, an M9 can take good photos. But there are cameras out there that are much better.

5. Phil-ex-leica
   Posted October 15, 2010 at 6:17 am | Permalink

   What matters in the end is the photograph you can view/show – whoever the designer is she should have known better and thought that Leica is out now when it comes to long or macro shots, which excludes its purchase by any serious amateur or pro. A shame when you know where we come from, namely viso, telyt, R, etc. With such a price tag and lack of usability, the M9T is probably good for the MOM or other museums. Just opinion of course.

6. Sam
   Posted October 16, 2010 at 8:04 pm | Permalink

   Someone on da Silva’s team should have told him not to wear tan shoes with a navy suit.

7. Mister Minit
   Posted October 19, 2010 at 3:56 am | Permalink

   Why did they need a design group for those little changes on the M9 Ti???

   Only to be able to use his name, other than that the camera looks the same, so what is it that Walter brought to this specific camera?!