Some people seem confused or just plain clueless when it comes to Leica camera product lines and nomenclature. Publishing articles with headlines like these is just plain s****d:
“New Leica D-Lux 8 is coming in May/June and compete with the Fuji X100VI.”
“Leica D-Lux 8 Specs LEAKED: The APS-C Competitor to Fujifilm X100VI Coming May/June”
Obviously, the reported D-Lux 8 specs are also all made up. I cannot believe that I have to state the obvious, but the upcoming Leica D-Lux 8 camera will NOT have an APS-C sensor and a fixed prime lens.
In my first post I clearly explained the situation with the upcoming D-Lux Type 3952A camera:
Two days ago Leica registered a new D-Lux Type 3952A camera in China. The current Leica D-Lux 7 camera is model 3952 (already discontinued at Adorama, Amazon, and B&H Photo) – this indicates that only minor upgrades will be introduced in the new 3952A (like increased internal memory size, new menu/software, etc). The 3952A could also be a new limited edition version. I do not expect any major changes in 3952A like sensor size, design change, etc. simply becuase Panasonic doesn’t have a new LX100 model and if they did, the new camera would have a different nomenclature/model number.
After receiving some additional information, I published my second post:
The newly registered Leica Type 3952A camera will be announced this summer as a new Leica D-Lux 8 model. The interesting rumor here is that the D-Lux 8 will be sold only by Leica and there will not be an equivalent Panasonic LX100 camera. This explains why the new D-Lux 8 is labeled as Type 3952A (the D-Lux 7 was Type 3952).
Nowhere have I suggested that the new D-Lux 8 will have an APS-C sensor or that it will have a fixed prime lens instead of a zoom. I just mentioned that compact fixed lens cameras in general are very popular now and gave the example of the Fuji X100 and Ricoh GRIII:
The demand for small fix lens cameras is currently very strong and models like the Fuji X100 and Ricoh GRIII are almost impossible to get. It seems that Leica decided to capitalize on that trend even without Panasonic.
The above sentence does not suggest a new APS-C camera from Leica, it just gives an example of two popular compact models (hence the use of the word “like”).
Leica will never start a new product line by using the same/existing “Type” numbering scheme. Leica will also never keep the model name D-Lux and change the sensor to APS-C while re-using the same “Type” number.
Of course, Leica already had compact APS-C cameras in the past and they were all under the X product line. If Leica decides to bring back the X line to life, I am pretty sure they will continue to call the new camera Leica X3.
I hope this clarifies some of the misinformation and made-up stories published online.
