New white Leica X2 limited edition was introduced for the upcoming Leica Store in Japan that will be located on the 5th floor of the main building located at 171 Shinsaibashi Daimaru Shinsaibashi, Chuo-ku in Osaka. Only 100 pieces of this limited edition camera will be produced.
On a related note, it seems that there will be also a new Leica Store coming soon to Manila:
It has been a week since the new Leica M type 240 started shipping worldwide. Here are the latest updates:
Even though the M9 technology is now over 3 years old, DxOmark tested for the first time the sensor inside the Leica M-E camera. This is their conclusion:
Leica III Mod. F LUXUS ‘Karl Henkell’
The next WestLicht Photographica Camera Auction will take place on May 25th 2013. Here are the highlights for the Leica brand:
Unique outfit of original Leitz gold plated ‘Luxus’ camera with brown lizard leather covering and 2 gold plated lenses (Summar 2/5cm no.190131, Elmar 3.5/3.5cm no.182545). History of this outfit:
It comes from the estate of the famous German producer of sparkling wine Karl Henkell (Henkell Trocken) who used the camera until 1944, then it went to his son Otto Henkell who passed it on to his eldest son and present owner Hans Henkell. The camera is well documented in the Leitz archive. It was originally delivered on February 11th, 1931 to Besier Wiesbaden as a Luxus (vergoldet) Ic non standard outfit with 4 lenses, it came back to Leitz on April 30th, 1931 for repair and was converted in Leica II Luxus on May 2nd, 1932, on December 21st, 1933 it was updated in Leica III Luxus. A copy of a photograph showing Karl Henkell in October 1933 with his (still) Leica II Luxus is included. The Summar 2/5cm no.190131 was delivered on December 28th, 1933 to Foto Tauber, Wiesbaden as gold plated Sumuskup, the date is very close to the last conversion into Leica III, so we believe that the camera and the Summar were delivered together on December 28th, 1933. The Elmar 3.5cm was delivered as a sample lens to a Leitz representative (Barsing, Reise) in 1934 and went back to factory in January 1938. We think that this lens was then used for being gold plated and acquired by Karl Henkell.
Year: 1931/33
Serial no.: 55493
Opening Bid: 150,000 EUR
Estimate: 250,000 – 300,000 EUR
M2 Black Paint + New York Motor Drive
very early black painted M2 with lever rewind, converted to accept the New York Motor Drive 14000, including original New York Motor Drive no.02474 and maker’s box with matching number of body and motor, both in mint condition.
Year: 1958
Serial no.: 948983
Opening Bid: 8,000 EUR
Estimate: 14,000 – 16,000 EUR
Leica MP chrome
Chrome MP in near mint and perfect working condition, with matching Leicavit MP, matching chassis number inside the camera (cap), original everready case.
Year: 1958
Serial no.: MP-354
Opening bid: 30,000 EUR
Estimate: 50,000 – 60,000 EUR
David Farkas (from Dale Photo & Digital) has now officially opened the new Leica Store in Miami:
After the first batch of Leica M cameras has already shipped, here few more links with sample images and first impressions from around the Web:
Today Leica Camera released firmware update v1.1.0.2 for the new M which contains vignetting correction improvements for the following lenses:
