The Leica Oskar Barnack Awards will be returning in 2016. Photographers can submit their applications and projects at www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com for the chance to win one of several prizes, amounting to a total cash value of over €80,000. Entry for the 2016 Leica Oskar Barnack Awards begins on March 1, 2016 and runs through April 15, 2016.
Full press release:
Lomography announced a new Jupiter3+ 1.5/50 lens for L39 and M mounts.
Technical information:
Sample photos (flickr):
Press release:
There is a new project on Kickstarter from ExperimentalOptics for a 42mm and 50mm f/0.75 lenses for Leica M cameras. Read all the details here:
“The most challenging endeavour when making a new lens is, well, the lens, its optical construction. Experts on supercomputers can spend years calculating the perfect formulae, and the faster the lens gets, the more difficult the task. Luckily we don’t have to do that.
The lenses we use are finished, built and have been well-proven. They come from one of the most traditional, prestigious names in lens manufacturing: The Oude Delft, a highly acclaimed optics company from the Netherlands.
We have been able to secure a very small batch of these very rare lenses – in pristine condition. We are an expert company able to fit them with an M mount bayonet. The work we do is thus purely mechanical (including, of course, checking and cleaning the original lenses inside and out).”
Additional pictures:
Today Leica announced a new X-U Typ 113 waterproof and shockproof camera (already in stock). The main features and specs are:
Pre-order links:
Sample photos from the Leica X-U can be found here:
Detailed technical specifications, press release and additional pictures:
Overstock.com now has a ton of Leica gear for sale on their website. The price are completely out of whack – the M 262 for example is more expensive ($6,972.99 vs. $5,195) but the Leica APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH lens is cheaper ($6,719.99 vs. $7,260). The Noctilux is also cheaper ($9,181.99 vs. $9,675.60)
Macphun released Aurora HDR Pro v1.2 with support for the Leica M Monochrom (Typ 246) camera. The new version also brings support for Photos for Mac extensions, better RAW file handling for a variety of cameras and improved performance when used as a plug-in to Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Additional information can be found here.
Some additional information on the upcoming Leica X-U Typ 113 waterproof and shockproof camera: the official announcement will be on January 20th, the EU price will be €3,290 (£2,599 in the UK). Here are the technical specifications:
