Leica D-Lux 4 firmware v2.10 released

By LR admin | Published: December 11, 2009

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Leica D-Lux 4 firmware v2.10 was released today. The following improvements have been implemented:

1. Improved auto white balance performance.
2. Auto Focus speed-up.
3. Recording function with an aspect ratio of 1:1 has been added.
4. A white balance (WB) bracket function has been added.
5. [HIGH DYNAMIC] has been added to scene mode.
6. [LENS RESUME] has been added to the [SETUP] menu.
7. [MENU RESUME] has been added to the [SETUP] menu.
8. The exposure compensation and the auto bracket compensation can now be set up to ±3EV.
9. Position of the guide line can now be set.
10. It is now possible to display the highlights in playback mode.
11. It is now possible to record the user’s name in the picture.
12. Digital red-eye removal has been modified.
13. Items saved in the custom set have changed.
14. Improved auto white balance performance in sunset mode.
15. Improved recovery operation from unremoved lens cap.
16. Improved operation of MF ASSIST/AF area selection.
17. Improved display of Manual Exposure Assistance.

Posted in Leica Compacts, Leica D-Lux| 13 Comments

Invitation to submit entries for the ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award’ competition for 2010

By LR admin | Published: December 11, 2009

Full press release:

December 2009 — Leica Camera AG, Solms, extends their invitation to submit entries to their international photography competition for professional photographers, the ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award’. Applications from interested photographers will be accepted exclusively online at www.leicaoskar-barnack-award.com between 15 January and 15 March 2010. The competition also includes the awarding of a ‘Newcomer Award’ that addresses all (prospective) professional photographers aged 25 and under.

An international jury awards the ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award’ / ‘Leica Oskar Barnack

Newcomer Award’ to photographers whose unerring powers of observation capture and
express the relationship between man and the environment in the most graphic form in a
sequence of between ten and twelve images. Entry submissions must be a self-contained
series of images in which the photographer perceives and documents the interaction between
man and the environment with acute vision and contemporary visual style – creative,
groundbreaking and unintrusive. All photo series submitted will be displayed in a specially
dedicated online gallery on the Leica website.
The ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award’ is a prize of 5,000 euros or, alternatively, Leica camera
equipment to the same value. The winner of the Newcomer Award receives 2,500 euros. The
prizes will be presented in the course of the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie
photographic festival held in Arles, France.
Further information, the terms and conditions for entering and specific requirements for
submissions will be available on the Leica website from 15 January 2010 and at www.leicaoskar-barnack-award.com.

The competition history:
From 1914 on, Oskar Barnack (1879–1936), the inventor of the Leica, increasingly used the
prototype camera he developed, today known as the Ur-Leica, for photography. He captured
various events in entire series of photographs and became one of the earliest photographers
to document the relationships between man and the environment. For instance, his
photography of the floods in Wetzlar in 1920 is now considered to be the first reportage
series ever shot with a 35-mm still-film camera.
The competition named after this photographic pioneer was first awarded in 1979, on the
occasion of the 100th anniversary of Oskar Barnack’s birth.

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The first Leica S2 has shipped

By LR admin | Published: December 11, 2009

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Delivery of the LEICA S2 has begun. The first camera goes to Jim Rakete, the prominent photographer from Berlin.

Jim Rakete is considered to be one of Germany’s most famous photographic artists. His work is particularly characterised by perceptive portraiture of musicians, actors and actresses and also numerous politicians. His connections with Leica are founded on many years of mutual friendship. His first contact with the S2 this year was such an intense experience that he spontaneously made the decision to buy the system. Jim Rakete: ‘The S2 is a camera that embodies the best characteristics of good tools – it never tries to tell me what to do. It fits my hands like a glove, and doesn’t make any superfluous suggestions when I’m shooting. For me, it’s an absolute superlative in digital quality – for the first time in ages you can really feel the depth of focus in your shots’.

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Noctilux does NYC

By LR admin | Published: December 10, 2009

Posted in Leica Lenses| 3 Comments

Would you step on top of your camera?

By LR admin | Published: December 8, 2009

If you have an M9, you certainly could – see Justin Stailey from Leica US stepping on top of a M9 (if you are annoyed by the interviewer, just skip to the 2:09 mark and yes I know, they got the wrong M9 picture at the beginning of the video):

Posted in Leica M9| 16 Comments

Leica X1 production decreased, M9 increased

By LR admin | Published: December 8, 2009

kamerabild-logoKamera & Bild reports that Leica has decreased the production of the Leica X1 camera and increased the production of Leica M9. As mentioned in the article, new cameras sell best right after the official announcement and long waiting times could discourage some potential buyers (Google translation):

“New models sell best in the beginning and one can therefore wonder whether it was in a panic that Leica chose to release two new models at the same time. Or did not believe that Leica M9 inch for around 65,000 crowns would go to sell.”

Leica X1 is expected to hit store in January. The current waiting time for Leica M9 could be 2 months or even longer based on the current delivery schedule.

AmateurPhotographer reports that Leica UK has exhausted their M9 supplies (not sure why this made the news, since this is the situation everywhere):

‘We are currently out of stock… We had an initial delivery at launch, and then we’ve been receiving deliveries at regular intervals each month to fulfil as many customer orders as possible.’

Posted in Leica M9, Leica X| 2 Comments

Leica Interim report as of September 30, 2009

By LR admin | Published: December 6, 2009

The full pdf file can be found here.

  • Leica M9 was in development for 2 years (code name “P864” – full frame sensor is 24×36=864)
  • Leica X1 was in development for 1 year (code name “Louisa”)
  • Total number of employees: 1,072, (11 more since a year ago)
  • Sales details:

leica-sales

  • Leica stores: “In cooperation with national partners Leica Camera AG has opened further Leica stores. After Berlin, Tokyo and Paris, in June 2009 Moscow become the fourth metropolis where the Company’s international store concept could be implemented. September saw the opening of a store in London and October the opening of second Leica stores in both Tokyo and Paris.”
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