After Canon, it was on to my other favourite manufacturer Leica. Since we're in the land of Leica, it was no surprise their presence was large. The booth was beautiful and everyone dressed really nice.
The first place I stopped was the new Titanium Leica M9. It's beautiful of course. It costs $25,000 or so with a new Summilux 35 ASPH. I would like to know if anyone that buys one of the 500 actually uses the camera to make photos. I'm not into limited edition Leica's for that reason. I would have loved to see the new framelines, but there was no touching it.
I tried out a 50mm f/0.95 for obvious reasons. It's big (for Leica) and heavy. There was no making art with it at a trade show, but it was well worth the time to check out. I also tried out the 50mm Summilux. A lens that doesn't appear to be available anywhere I try. It's small light and wonderful.
The Leica S2 also had a big presence. Everyone wants to touch the $20,000 big sensor camera. I actually ran into a guy shooting street with one the first night in Cologne.
Leica had a great gallery of black and white portraits made with the S2. The images were beautiful.
I skipped the rest of the cameras at Leica, I don't have much interest in the rebranded Panasonic cameras.
Why does Leica matter to Canon?
I think when Canon does release a mirrorless Camera, it's going to be more Leica than Panasonic. It wouldn't surprise me to see Canon introduce at least one body with a larger sensor than APS-C.
Leica has returned to profitability, and it's easy to see why.
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