Renowned German camera manufacturer, Leica is foraying into the horology world with the impressive Monochrom Edition watches that are testament to the timeless elegance and precision of German engineering. Drawing inspiration from the Leica M11 Monochrom camera, the timepieces pay tribute to the principles of black and white photography: light and contrast.
The Leica Monochrom Edition comprises two models: the ZM 1 and the ZM 2 that play with shades of black and grey. Both are handcrafted and developed in collaboration with Lehmann Präzision GmbH, from the initial vision through to the final implementation.
From the onset, Leica ZM Monochrom Edition’s minimalist design is devoid of any bright color, with the exception of a red dot from the Leica camera’s shutter button, which finds a place on the crown.
The watches tout satin-finished stainless steel case and PVD coated bezel that absorbs light to reveal depth. This breathtaking design ingenuity is complemented by the domed sapphire crystal beneath which lie the sandblasted aluminum dial topped with black rhodium-plated, diamond-cut, and sandblasted indices.
The Leica ZM1 and ZM 2 Monochrom watches have a lot in common, including hours, minutes and small second display, the transparent caseback, 60 hours of power reserve, and their water resistance of up to 50 meters. The watches are a symbol of Haute Horologie, which besides the casing, shows in the in-house, self-wound mechanical movement and the signature push-crown.
The crown stops the movement when it’s pushed down, resetting the seconds and making the time setting atypical to what the other watchmakers rely on. This places the Leica ZM monochrom edition in a league of its own. The Leica ZM 2 distinguishes itself from the ZM 1 a tad bit with the GMT hand for indicating a second-time zone. It is paired along with a day/night indicator that makes reading two time zones easier with a single set of hands.
The watches come with a handstitched strap made of black calf leather, matching the leather cover of the Leica M11 Monochrom camera in style and durability. The Leica ZM 1 and the ZM 2 are expected to ship in May, starting at €11,550 and €15,450 respectively.
Cameras have been a critical part of smartphones for many years, and manufacturers have come up with ways to highlight that fact. In addition to the increasingly larger sizes of camera sensors themselves, many smartphones have adopted a design that figuratively and literally elevated those cameras, sometimes to the point of being obnoxious. It’s not unusual to see phones with humongous camera bumps that take more space than they should, some with more tasteful designs than others. This new Leica-rebranded phone, for example, has a large circle on its back, and it actually only has one camera there. That, of course, is all intentional and by design because this Leitz Phone 2 is meant to recreate the feeling of a digital camera, even including having a lens cover.
Named after the company’s founder, the Leitz Phone 2 is both a rebranded Sharp Aquos R7, which was co-developed with Leica, as well as definitely something more. It shares many things in common, including its exclusivity to the Japanese market. These boil down to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, 6.6-inch screen, and a single camera on its back. The last bit is pretty much a bold move as far as modern smartphones go, and Leica went even further to differentiate itself from the general market trend.
That single camera has a 1-inch 47-megapixel sensor, one of the biggest in the industry today and a bragging right for certain companies. Unlike other smartphones, though, it stands alone in the Leitz Phone 2 but is still enclosed in a humongous circle that nearly spans the width of the phone. There is nothing else on that plate other than a depth sensor and an LED flash, making it almost like a tremendous waste of space. That, however, was meant to make it look like the lenses of digital cameras, perhaps like the ones that Leica makes.
In fact, everything about this Leica-branded smartphone is about making you think and feel like you’re using a digital camera. The flat side edges have knurled surfaces that give you a better grip when taking photos. On the software side, Leica has added effects that mimic the results of its three iconic lenses, namely the Summilux 28, the Summilux 35, and the Noctilux 50. It even has a shutter sound that should be familiar to fans of the brand’s cameras.
While the idea of trying to recreate an authentic camera feel is laudable, it almost feels as if Leica also went overboard to some extent. There’s a magnetic lens cap for that large camera, something that is necessary for digital cameras but almost useless for smartphones. It does let the owner flaunt their brand loyalty, but at the expense of speed when you have to remove the cover to take a picture with your phone. Plus, you also run the risk of losing that cover along the way.
Some regard smartphones as having gone overboard in terms not only of camera design but also of the number of cameras themselves. In that regard, the Sharp Aquos R7 and this Leitz Phone 2 are rather bold deviations that truly put the focus, forgive the pun, on the important aspects of photography using a single lens. Unfortunately, their limited availability makes sure they’ll be nothing more than collectors’ items and a passing fad.
A weird combination of outrageous and scarily beautiful, this Xiaomi 12S Ultra Concept absolutely pushes the limits of what’s capable when it comes to smartphone photography. Designed as a purely conceptual successor to the flagship 12S Ultra, this monster of a phone comes with not one, but TWO 1-inch sensors in its camera layout. The phone looks almost identical to its predecessor, with the exception of a redesigned camera bump that now allows you to mount a massive Leica lens onto it like you would a professional camera. Why? Well, why not, Xiaomi would rather have us ask. The phone is purely conceptual for now, although reports indicate it took a staggering $41,000 to build out this concept.
A stunning example of top-notch engineering, the 12S Ultra Concept really blurs the line between smartphones and professional shooters. To do this, Xiaomi had to ditch one of its cameras, namely the periscope lens located at the center of the circular bump. The centrally located periscope zoom lens gets replaced with a 1-inch CMOS sensor, giving the phone 2 individual 1-inch sensors located in that camera bump. That second sensor is devoid of any camera lens ahead of it. Instead, it supports mounting an external lens, namely this purpose-built one from Leica.
This new format took a bit of work. With most cameras, the sensor remains exposed to the elements once you pop the lens off – a pretty major factor that influenced the 12S Ultra Concept’s design. Xiaomi circumvented this by covering the entire camera bump with a sapphire crystal, preventing the exposed sensor from any damage while also keeping the housing IP68 waterproof. The camera bump also now houses a metallic ring around it, which lets you snap and lock the Leica lens to it.
More than being a product that Xiaomi will sell to consumers, this concept is really a testament of what’s practically possible with smartphone designs. If you told me 10 years back that you could easily fit TWO 1-inch sensors into a smartphone camera, I’d ask you to book an appointment with a psychiatrist. Now, Xiaomi just casually demonstrates how ridiculously effortless it is to pull off. The conceptual phone didn’t need to make ANY compromises to pull off this feat. It looks exactly like its predecessor, albeit with a few tweaks and adjustments to just the camera bump. The rest of the phone remains exactly the same, with the exception of the textured back panel that feels like a great hat-tip to cameras in general!
There’s no way this phone was built to be sold, but here’s the catch. Just like the myth of the 4-minute mile, Xiaomi’s proven that building a smartphone with such a staggeringly good camera is possible… which means it’s just a matter of time before other companies try giving it a shot. I could totally see Sony jumping into this, given how they already have a dog in the mirrorless camera race. Would I actually consider buying an Xperia with the ability to snap on Sony Alpha E-mount lenses??? Probably?!
It’s that time of year again when big brands try to make a big splash in upgrading your home with the latest and greatest in consumer electronics and home appliances. The past two years were filled with devices that tried to fill the needs of the times, offering different ways to sanitize and protect your home against harmful microorganisms. Things have fortunately settled down, and industries have started to recover, putting their attention and resources into products that help make life less stressful and more enjoyable. There are plenty of such products up for show at IFA 2022 in Berlin, and so we distilled the lineup into our top picks for products to keep an eye on this year.
Zendure Superbase V Portable Home Battery
Thanks to natural calamities and resource shortages, power blackouts have become more common these past few years than ever before. Power banks might be enough for phones and even some laptops, but they are useless to power anything else, especially for extended periods of time. Gasoline-chugging generators do exist, of course, but the dangers they pose both to people and the environment make them inefficient and costly in the long run. Clean Energy Tech startup Zendure is putting its best foot forward this year with a new energy system that can power your house or even your car in a sustainable way.
With a capacity that can reach up to 64kWh thanks to its expandable design, the Zendure Superbase V Portable Energy System has enough juice to give power to a house in an emergency. It even has a power outlet for charging EVs. Despite its large capacity and size, it can still be moved around like a cart on wheels. More importantly, the semi-solid state battery inside can be charged using solar power, offering a more sustainable solution to electricity problems. It’s a win-win solution for both humans and the planet.
Leica Cine 1 Projector
Along with cutting cables, some homeowners have also started getting rid of TVs that take up space even when not in use. While still waiting for the perfect rollable TV, home projectors have become more attractive and more practical solutions, especially when you want a bigger screen without losing wall space. Famed camera maker Leica is jumping into this market, and its first attempt is as classy as anything that bears its signature “Coke” logo.
The Leica Cine 1 short-throw projector utilizes triple RGB lasers to deliver picture-quality 4K images and videos on an area equivalent to a 100-inch TV. Despite all that power, the projector manages to keep a compact size that will fit in any room arrangement. Even better, it also bears Leica’s design language, with a sleek aluminum body with an automatic dust cover to protect the lens. Stylish and functional, this home projector promises to add life to a space, both through its design and through the videos it will play.
LG OLED Flex Bendable TV
TV innovation hasn’t been standing still, especially if you’ve been keeping track of recent buzzwords. While curved TVs haven’t exactly become the norm, they’ve become a force to reckon with in the market. Not everyone is convinced that they need a curved TV, though, or at least not all the time. LG’s latest trick is to give people the ability to choose between the two whenever they want.
Utilizing its expertise in flexible OLED panels, the brand’s new 42-inch TV can lay flat or bend to a curve with a push of a button. Designed primarily with gaming in mind, the LG OLED Flex LX3 has plenty of features that benefit even non-interactive content like movies and TV shows. Now you no longer have to make an upfront decision to go flat or curved, freeing you to enjoy content in the best way possible.
LG MoodUp Color-Changing Fridge
Once upon a time, appliances were simply functional pieces of equipment and nothing more. These days, they have not only become smarter but have also become an expression of the owner’s personality and interests. Bespoke home appliances are becoming a little bit more common, but they can also be a little bit too specific to a certain style or theme. LG’s new fridge, however, tries to shake things up a bit by letting people choose the doors’ colors on a whim.
The LG MoodUp refrigerator’s doors are covered with LED panels that can change their color depending on your, well, mood. You can select different colors for each door or you can set it to follow a motif based on seasons, locations, and moods. These panels can also serve as visual notifications, like when you left a door open. The refrigerator also has a built-in speaker that you can use to play music from your smartphone via Bluetooth. Of course, the colors of the doors can sync to that music as well, truly pushing the mood up on any occasion.
JBL Tour Pro 2 Earbuds
Truly Wireless Stereo or TWS earbuds have come a long way over the past years. Spurred by the retirement of the headphone jack on smartphones, these tiny audio devices have seen plenty of innovation in terms of features and designs. In contrast, the cases that hold these earbuds have remained practically the same, mostly changing only in shape. The JBL Tour Pro 2 tries to change that and make the earbuds case as smart as what it holds inside.
Portrait Of Young Caucasian Stylish Man On Sunny Day In The City.
The earbuds themselves are what you would expect from the brand, featuring features like adaptive noise canceling and spatial sound. What truly sets it apart is its smart charging case, which has its own 1.45-inch touch screen that lets you control the earbuds without having to take out your phone. It’s not an earth-shattering new feature, but it does level up the experience for the first time.
Philips Hue Lightguide Bulbs
Lighting can make or break the mood in a room, not to mention affect people’s productivity in that space. Since the smart home explosion a few years back, lighting was the first to be connected to the Internet, giving people better control over the hues in their homes or offices. As one of the pioneers of that smart lighting market, Philips Hue has to constantly innovate and mix things up to fend off the competition, and its new statement lighting collection tries to step up to that challenge.
The new Philips Hue Lightguide Bulbs mix the old and the new with large glass bulbs in modern shapes like ellipses and triangles. Diffused light comes from an inner tube that you can, of course, control with your smartphone. Whether hanging from pendants or sticking up on stands, these bulbs give some character to a space, even when they’re turned off.
Electrolux AEG Kitchen Innovations
Electrolux is one of the most trusted names in the home appliance market, and it continues to push the envelope to meet the changing needs and trends of the times. Sometimes that means jumping on the smart home appliance bandwagon. Other times, it means making a commitment to sustainability and resource efficiency.
Designer: Electrolux
The AEG 7000 GreenZone refrigerator, for example, boasts using 70% recycled plastic for its inner liner walls, while the AEG 8000 series has new cooling technology that tries to preserve food longer so that they don’t go to waste. For those who love cooking at home, the AEG 800 Bridge/FlexiBridge with eXTractor sucks up vapor and recycles the air back into the kitchen, removing the stress of lingering odors while preparing your favorite meals.
Tineco Toasty One smart toaster
Everything’s becoming smarter these days, from the lights to washing machines to even toothbrushes. There’s always room to add a little intelligence to consumer electronics, especially when it means relieving our brains from having to fret over mundane stuff. It might sound excessive at first, but a smart bread toaster with a touch screen can be pretty convenient.
The Tineco Toasty One can toast two slices of bread like other toasters, but it can have different settings for each of them. It can even detect the condition of the bread to automatically set the right heat for the desired crispiness. Of course, you can input your own preference, and it can remember different settings for up to eight people. OK, it might be overboard for some, but the toaster’s somewhat cute design definitely fits the kitchen of the future.
Bluetti Green Power Generators
Portable power generators that replace fuel generators are becoming more popular these days. Having emergency power that is clean, green, and safe is almost critical in this day and age, whether it’s for spending the weekend outdoors or living through a power outage. Bluetti is one of the most trusted brands in that growing market, and it’s showing off its latest solution to keep the lights on in the darkness.
The new Bluetti AC500 modular portable power generator steps up the game with a larger inverter that can dish out 5000W. When paired with B300 or B300S battery modules, it can provide an astounding 18,432Wh of power for the whole house. What makes it different from most battery-powred generators is that you can decide just how many modules you want to bring along, simplifying its portability. Plus, you can also charge it using solar power, creating a more sustainable solution to your electricity problems.
ASUS ZenBook 17 Fold OLED
Smartphones aren’t the only ones that are getting a foldable treatment. Although it’s happening more slowly, even tablets and laptops are getting foldable screens as well. There might still be some hesitation and doubt on whether it’s a fad or the next wave in computing, but devices that can change their forms will definitely become more common in the near future.
The ASUS ZenBook 17 Fold OLED is one of the pioneers of this still nascent market. A 17.3-inch 2.5K screen that can fold into two 12.5-inch Full HD screens gives a whole new meaning to multitasking. Whether it will survive the test of time and hard work remains to be seen, but its launch marks the start of something new.
Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Fold (16-inch)
Credit where credit is due, Lenovo is actually one of the first to demonstrate that it really believed in the foldable laptop hype. The first Thinkpad X1 Fold, while functional, didn’t exactly meet the hype and imagination of the PC market. Its next-gen iteration, however, inches closer to that ideal.
The new 16-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold refines the design of its predecessor, making the body thinner while also increasing the screen size. It also comes with a new cover stand and an improved Bluetooth keyboard that should make the device more usable. No longer will you feel like you’re carrying around a prototype device and are instead using the computer of the future.
Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theater Soundbar
As TVs become thinner, the need to relocate speakers has also become greater. You can, of course, cram smaller speakers inside those thin frames, but that often comes at the expense of sound quality. Soundbars have become one of the solutions to this problem, offering a way to have an elegant speaker near an equally elegant TV. And when it comes to elegance, there are few names you can trust more than Bang & Olufsen.
The marque’s new Beosound Theater is unsurprisingly another proof of its expertise in blending audio quality and aesthetics. Whether standing alone or paired with a TV, the soundbar looks stylish and attractive, unlike common boxy soundbars. Inspired by sailboats, the Beosund Theather’s curved body looks like it’s floating on air, giving it a sense of grandeur and adventure that matches the heart-racing sounds that come from it.
Yaber Pico T1 portable projector
While short-throw home projectors are gaining popularity as alternatives to traditional TVs, another kind of projector is making its way into people’s travel bags or even pockets. Pico projectors offer the opportunity to enjoy videos or make presentations anywhere, as long as you have the right light conditions. Given how projectors work, it’s hard to find the right balance between portability and performance, something that Yaber gets mostly correct.
The Yaber Pico T1 itself is like a shorter but thicker smartphone, and it can easily fit into your jeans’ pocket. It does output at a resolution of 960×540, but it can do so at a screen size of up to 100 inches. The downside is that it doesn’t have an internal battery, so you’ll have to connect it to a compatible power bank. That said, all its accessories still fit nicely in a pouch that you can conveniently carry around if you want a cinema on the go.
Huawei
In spite of and despite all odds, Huawei continues to bring quality products to meet the needs and demands of today’s consumers. From powerful smartphones to professional laptops, Huawei brings a plethora of choices across different markets and tiers. The Huawei nova 10 and nova 10 Pro, for example, bring a 60MP front-facing camera that’s sure to excite selfie lovers with limited budgets.
For those more focused on productivity, the Huawei MatePad Pro brings a tablet to rival the iPad Pro with a 120Hz OLED screen and a Huawei M Pencil stylus. The new MateBook X Pro, on the other hand, packs a 3.1K 14.2-inch screen into a Windows-powered laptop powered by the latest 12th-gen Intel Core processors. Whether it’s for lifestyle, entertainment, or productivity, Huawei has a product that has one of the best bang-for-buck offers in designs that make you feel you’re really getting more for less.
Phone designs have become increasingly common these days, so it’s not surprising to see some try to set themselves apart, one way or another. Some are met with much success, like the OPPO Find X5 Pro’s futuristic minimalism and the Realme GT2 Pro’s fashionable Paper Tech design. Others seem to still be trying to come to terms with their design language, while still others are apparently stumbling in their efforts to stand out from the crowd. Xiaomi’s next flagship will attempt to flaunt Leica’s massive brand to appeal to mobile shutterbugs, but it might be doing the camera maker a slight disservice considering how controversial the Xiaomi 12 Ultra’s camera design is so far turning out to be.
Designer: HoiINDI
Smartphone designs have mostly gravitated towards emphasizing the most important part of a smartphone next to its display. Trends come and go, but the importance of cameras in our smartphone-centric culture has never wavered. But as those camera sensors become more powerful and bigger, the space they occupy has also become larger, forcing designers to think of ways to balance looks and function. In the Xiaomi 12 Ultra’s case, it seems that only one side won, at least based on renders made from leaked information.
This isn’t the first phone that uses a circular enclosure to house the camera in a group, with the Huawei Mate 30 coming out with that design back in 2019. It might, however, be the biggest by a wide margin, occupying nearly a third of the phone’s height and leaving little room on its sides. If Xiaomi intended to call attention to the Xiaomi 12 Ultra’s cameras, this definitely does it, but not in a flattering way. Despite marketing materials, Leica’s iconic circle logo might not even be immediately visible, which is probably the best for the brand.
The Xiaomi 12 Ultra is in the running for the most divisive camera design this year, going head-to-head with the Honor Magic4 Ultimate from March. Xiaomi’s camera bump doesn’t feel like it’s about to jump out at you, sitting on the phone’s back in a static manner. In contrast, Honor’s design has the entire phone’s rear elevated from four directions to meet the height of the larger circular camera bump, potentially creating some unevenness that would affect the phone’s stability on a flat surface or even in your hand.
Designer: Parvez Khan (Technizo Concept) for LetsGoDigital
That said, Honor arranged its camera lenses in such a way that they look a bit more symmetrical and balanced. Most likely due to technical considerations, Xiaomi’s lenses are all over the place, creating an almost disorganized appearance. It could even trigger certain psychological conditions in people because of the clearly visible and uneven holes. It’s definitely going to be a head-turner, but not everything that calls attention does so in a good way.
Admittedly, smartphone design is a delicate balancing act between opposing forces and directions. At the same time, it’s a problem created by manufacturers themselves. As they cram more and larger hardware inside phones, they will be forced to figure out a smart design for them. More doesn’t always mean better, especially from a design perspective, and the Xiaomi 12 Ultra proves it.
GoPro may have made the action camera a household name, but the brand is no longer the dominant player in the market that it popularized. In addition to audacious clones, there have also been other brands that dipped their hands in the same cookie jar, sometimes with interesting twists and turns. Although it initially started out with 360-degree cameras, Insta360 has started making a name for itself in the action cam market in the past few years. Its latest take builds upon the foundations of a modular action camera that lets you decide how and where you want to start recording those precious memories and daring stunts.
The Insta360 ONE RS definitely doesn’t look like your typical action camera. Most of these recording devices come as narrow boxes, while Insta360’s version is wider and is visually busier. And that’s just the default look because the Insta360 ONE RS can actually take on many forms, depending on how you combine the different lenses and accessories available for it.
If the Insta360 ONE RS almost looks like a Fisher-Price toy you can disassemble and reassemble, you won’t be too far from the mark. The camera’s modular system allows you to combine different parts and attachments together, though there are some that are basic to any combination. The wide red battery is, of course, necessary for powering everything, and you’ll need at least one camera lens and the “core” that contains most of the processing power as well as the touch screen monitor.
Other than those three, it’s almost fair game what you connect. In particular, you can have a few choices when it comes to lenses, including a typical 360-degree camera that has two lenses back to back, a new 4K Boost Lens, and a 1-inch wide-angle lens developed in collaboration with famed camera maker Leica. Additionally, you can actually combine the lens and the core in any position, so you can have the screen facing in the opposite direction like a typical action cam, or you can have it face the same direction as the lens for a vlogging setup.
The true test of Insta360’s modular promise actually comes with this second-gen camera. It is actually possible to mix and match parts from the older ONE R with the ONE RS, so you don’t have to buy the whole ensemble if you simply want to upgrade the lens or the core. It’s definitely a bold move that goes against conventional action camera business models where companies want you to buy new ones just to get new features, even if the older models are still completely serviceable.
Children are curious. I genuinely believe kids learn more from copying everything we do rather than what we say. And they want to copy us by using the same gadgets we do. For example, my husband picked up his passion for photography from his dad. His dad’s love of tinkering with cameras and picture taking converted this into a lifelong of passion for his son. Understanding this inherent need to pass on our love to our children in a constructive way, Milo x LEICA is a camera that encourages fun, intuitive exploration in children of all ages.
LEICA is known for creating bespoke cameras that are almost collectible. While this clashes with the idea of handing them over to a kid, the quality of the output they deliver are sure to encourage the kids into taking up this hobby with increased frequency. The form of the camera is designed to encourage exploration – with soft rounded edges and a viewfinder that resembles a donut. The design names the viewfinder the visual inspection tool – letting the kid peek through it to discover the world they want to click a picture of. The aesthetics use a soothing yet vibrant white-yellow combination, sparking joy in all they do. Functionality-wise, the camera has a viewfinder, a button to click, a battery level indicator, and a lot that shoots the printed paper out once we click the photo.
Instant cameras are the gatekeepers of our memories. In a world going quickly digital, each printed picture is a gateway into a memory that we can cherish more often. The Milo x LEICA lets us do just that, making photography a fun activity and allowing your child to click pictures that go on and decorate your fridge every day!
The Leica Leitz Phone 1’s camera comes with a massive 1-inch sensor. In fact, it’s so comparable to a DSLR, the phone comes with its own camera lens-cap.
Earlier today, Leica announced its first-ever smartphone, the Leitz Phone 1, centered around its revolutionary camera tech. Announced at a virtual press event in Tokyo, the phone sports a familiar clean design that we’ve come to expect with Leica. It houses a Snapdragon 888 processor on the inside, and sports a 20MP primary camera with a massive 1-inch sensor (the largest for any smartphone). To complement the powerful camera, Leica even ships a magnetic lens-cap that lets you conceal it, for protective + privacy reasons.
On the front, the phone sports a large 6.6-inch OLED display with a scalable 240Hz refresh rate (a camera is only as good as its viewfinder, no?) The display even houses a hole-punch selfie-camera, logging in at 12.6MP. Other specs include the Snapdragon 888 processor with 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage, along with an impressive 5,000mAh battery so you could shoot all day long and not worry about depleting your phone’s energy.
While the smartphone market is pretty saturated at this point (with some companies like Samsung releasing more than 20 different smartphones in a given year), the Leitz Phone 1 at least looks really refreshing. That matte black back is a beautiful contrast to the glitzy and glossy smartphones of today, and there’s definitely a lot of praise for that grippy textured-metal frame, that isn’t just great to look at, it’s wonderfully tactile too. Lastly, that Leica logo on the top-right corner is just perfectly executed, tying in with how the German company brands its cameras. The Leitz Phone 1 is currently just limited to Japan, and will be exclusively sold by Softbank. It isn’t cheap, with a price tag of 187,920 Japanese Yen (or $1703 USD)… but then again, the Leica brand-name doesn’t come cheap either.
Photojournalists are spectators by passion and participants as consequence. Stealth is the name of the game for most, but sometimes getting the photograph comes at the price of being found out – the fourth wall’s just gotta give at some point. While remaining anonymous is important when it comes to photojournalism, it’s all about the camera, everything from its lens and shutter speed to its ergonomics and durability makes a difference. I need two hands to count the number of times I’ve accidentally dropped or knocked over my film cameras and consequently paid the price on eBay auctions.
Leica Cameras, a German manufacturing company known for superior build and sharp lens when it comes to building cameras, recently released a special edition of their M10-P “Reporter” camera in celebration of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. Coated in Kevlar armor, a light, polyacrylamide plastic fabric, that has a tensile strength so high, its fibers cannot be stretched. Kevlar armor is traditionally used in making bulletproof vests as the fabric has an incredibly strong molecular structure. Why the need for a bulletproof camera? Well, Leica might not be suggesting that you should use their camera as a bulletproof shield during wartime, but you can feel rest assured that you’ll be handling a relatively unbreakable piece of machinery – it’d probably still take some practice, however, before my heart can stay in my chest after dropping it. The M-10 P “Reporter” wears camouflage with a moss green border and nonslip, diamond-etched Kevlar center, whose black stain will eventually oxidize into the color of the rangefinder’s matte sage metallic case following continued use and exposure to natural UV rays from sunlight.
Just like the photojournalist, the M-10 rangefinder is naturally discreet, with a virtually silent shutter that Leica boasts as the quietest of any M camera in production past and present. From behind the camera, photographers can find a digital display screen that reveals the scene ahead as registered by the lens, menu buttons that can adjust light value settings as well as zoom features, along with the rangefinder’s film advance wheel. The special edition of M-10 P features well-known features from the same models that preceded it such as the 24MP sensor for high-quality photographs, a 2GB internal buffer for improved performance time, an integrated digital level gauge for steady shooting, and Leica’s hand-assembled promise in offering lenses constructed with the highest-grade glass available.
Leica has launched the SL2-S, a sportier and cheaper version of its flagship 47-megapixel, $5,995 mirrorless SL2 camera. With the new model, it’s emphasizing speed, low-light capability and video prowess, with a 24.6-megapixel sensor, up to 25 fps se...
