Leica Camera Inc. is discontinuing the Leica Student/Educator Program with immediate effect. Leica Camera Inc. will honor all written pre-approved applicants who have not received their ordered products yet. No new orders will be accepted under the Leica Student/Educator Program. The program was available in the US and Canada.
I’m Chris Peterson, editor and publisher of Glacier Park Magazine, an ad-free quarterly magazine of Glacier National Park, a million-acre wildlife preserve in Northwest Montana. The Park celebrated its 100th birthday in 2010 and in commemoration of that birthday I did a 100-mile hike in the Park, from the southern end to the north end (111.5 miles to be exact).
On the journey I lugged two cameras and several lenses. For wildlife and birds I carried a Nikon D300 and 200-400 AFS lens at all times on a monopod (it was like a 10-pound cherry on top of a bulging 45-pound pack).
I also carried my coveted Leica M9 with a 50 mm summicron and 21 mm elmarit aspherical. The 21 is a fantastically sharp lens and perfect for the Park’s tight glacier-carved valleys. The 50 mm is a wonderful all-around lens, but alas, I set it down on the very first day and forgot to pick it up. It sat there for 14 days before I swung around later and found it sitting along the trail right where I left it. Despite being rained on several times, the lens was no worse for the wear (try that with an autofocus slr lens).
As previously reported, Leica is offering a V-Lux 20 mail-in promotion for a free limited edition brown Leica leather case valued at $125 and a Leica leather SD card holder valued at $35. The promotion is valid in the US only and will expire on December 31, 2010. You can take advantage of this deal at one of our sponsors: B&H, Popflash, Berger-Bros or The ProShop (drop me a line if you want to become a sponsor of LeicaRumors.com).
Steel grey Leica M9 is currently in stock at B&H, Popflash.
Reddotcameras (UK) seems to have both black and steel grey Leica M9 cameras in stock.
The ProShop currently has no waiting list for the new Leica 35mm Summilux lens (they had one sitting in their store for days).
Other Cyber Monday deals can be found here.
The “Leica M9 dream kit” was selling for $32k two weeks ago. Some of the lenses are gone and now the price is “only” $23,999.00. Offers are still accepted.
The official opening of the Leica store in Sao Paulo will be on December 9th, 2010. The store already has a twitter page and a website “under construction” at http://leica-store.com.br.
Epson R-D1
Rob Clark (executive director of Epson Europe Marketing Division) mentioned in an interview with AP that Epson is working on various new digital camera technologies and the company sees a possibility for a new version of the Epson R-D1 digital rangefinder:
“Whether we come out with another version of the R-D1 is a possibility”
The Epson R-D1 was the world’s first digital rangefinder camera and was introduced back in 2004.
