Leica has released a fresh round of firmware updates for a surprisingly wide selection of its M cameras, covering both the M10 and M11 generations, and while the update itself is fairly small, there is one very specific reason Leica owners may want to install it: support for the new new Leica Summicron-M 66 f/2.

For the current generation, firmware version 2.6.4 is available for the Leica M11, M11-P, M11-D and M11 Monochrom, as well as the Leica M EV1. Leica has also pushed new firmware to several cameras in the older M10 family, including the M10, M10 Monochrom, M10-P, M10-P ASC, M10-R and M10-D. Depending on the camera, the firmware version differs, but the important addition across the updates is the same: a lens profile for the Summicron-M 66 f/2.

Leica's own release notes for firmware 2.6.4 are refreshingly short. Under the rather optimistic heading of "NEW", there is essentially one addition: "Lens Profile: Summicron-M 66 f/2." There is also an advisory recommending the use of UHS-II SD cards with the M11-generation cameras, with Leica noting that UHS-I cards can cause technical issues in rare cases, but as far as actual new functionality goes, this update really is about that new 66mm lens.

And I have to admit, there is something wonderfully ambitious about releasing firmware support across this many cameras for a lens that only 660 people in the world will ever be able to buy new. The Leica Summicron-M 66 f/2 is not exactly destined to become the next 35mm Summicron that appears on the front of every other M camera you see. Leica is producing just 660 examples worldwide, making this one of the most exclusive modern M lenses the company has produced. Still, new firmware is new firmware, and if you happen to be one of those 660 owners, it is certainly nice to know that everything from an M10 to an M11-P is ready for it.

The Summicron-M 66 f/2 itself is one of Leica's more interesting releases of recent years. Announced earlier this month, it forms part of the company's Classic Line and is a modern reinterpretation of the incredibly rare Elcan 66mm f/2 developed by legendary optical designer Dr Walter Mandler at Ernst Leitz Canada during the late 1960s. The original lens was created for the US Navy for covert reconnaissance photography, and Leica says only around 200 examples were produced, making originals exceptionally rare today.

That rather unusual 66mm focal length also sits in an interesting position within the M system. It gives photographers something tighter than the traditional 50mm standard lens without pushing all the way into more conventional short-telephoto territory. Leica describes the new lens as combining soft bokeh with high contrast when used wide open, while stopping down reveals the high resolving power that was fundamental to the design of the original Elcan. There are some wonderfully eccentric historical details too, including an aperture ring that rotates in the opposite direction from standard M lenses.

There is also something quite pleasing about Leica extending support for the lens back to the M10 generation rather than restricting it to its newest cameras. The M11 family gets firmware 2.6.4, while the older bodies receive their respective firmware packages, meaning photographers who have held onto an M10, M10-R, or M10 Monochrom are not being left behind simply because they are using an earlier digital M. For a camera system built around lenses that can remain useful for decades, that feels appropriate.

Of course, for the overwhelming majority of Leica M owners, installing this firmware is unlikely to result in any noticeable change whatsoever. The chances of casually stumbling across a Summicron-M 66 f/2 are going to be fairly slim when the entire worldwide production run amounts to just 660 lenses. But that almost makes the update more entertaining.

Leica has gone to the trouble of updating two generations of digital M cameras to accommodate one of the rarest lenses in its current catalog, and there is something very Leica about that. You may never own the lens the firmware was designed for, but at least your camera is ready should one unexpectedly fall into your hands.

Alina Marazzi's The Girl with the Leica opened at the Venice Film Festial this month, and most of the coverage so far has focused on what it gets right and wrong as a biopic.

The mannered performances, the jazz-age dance numbers, the tangle of lovers and émigré friends circling Emilia Schüle's Gerda Taro; all good things for a film reviewer to explore.

But as a writer for Digital Camera World, I'm more interested in a detail buried in the plot that might matter more to anyone who's ever taken a photograph and had it uncredited.

Here it is in a nutshell. Gerda Taro, a refugee from Nazi Germany, and André Friedmann, a Hungarian Jewish émigré, photographed the Spanish Civil War together in the 1930s. They decided that their work would sell better under an invented American name: Robert Capa.

Friedmann eventually kept the name for himself and became one of the most famous photojournalists of the century. Taro died in 1937, aged 26, run over by a tank during the retreat from Brunete.

For 70 years after that, a meaningful chunk of what Taro had shot stayed filed under Friedmann's name, in his archive, only adding to his legend.

Why Robert Capa?

At the film reflects, the pair selected "Robert Capa" with care. In the drama, we see Taro and Friedmann explaining to their friends that Jewish names hurt their sales, while more "marketable" ones improved their fees and assignments. So they constructed one. Confident, glamorous and entirely fictional.

It worked. Picture editors bought it, readers bought it and eventually history bought it, too, crediting one invented man for two real photographers' work, long after only one of them was left alive.

For anyone who's ever argued over a shared credit line, or had a picture desk shorten "additional photography by" down to nothing, it's a historic version of a familiar problem.

A byline is supposed to be a matter of fact. Here it was more like a marketing decision, made under pressure by two people trying to survive as Jews in Europe. And yet long after the war was over, no one felt bothered enough to correct the record.

Then in 2007 in Mexico City, three boxes of negatives, misplaced for decades, finally surfaced.

Once those negatives had been physically examined, frame by frame, historians were able to work out which "Robert Capa" images were shot on Taro's camera and which on Friedmann's. This was serious forensic archival work, seven decades after the fact.

Marazzi's film dramatizes the moment this attribution issue was created: Europe in the mid-1930s, when a joint invention felt more like a survival tactic than an erasure.

I haven't yet seen the movie myself yet, but Lee Marshall's review for Screen Daily argues that the film's impressionistic style keeps Taro 'beyond our reach', even as it tries to restore her.

Perhaps that's fitting for the woman who shot some of photography's most famous work, but whose name spent 70 years failing to get the recognition it deserved.

The Girl with the Leica doesn't yet have a theatrical release date. It will next be featured as part of Filmfest Hamburg on September 29 in Germany. Find out more at the film's official website.

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See where "Robert Capa" ranks among the 50 best photographers ever.

There's plenty of Leica glass that could reasonably fight for the title of "best Leica M lens", but after spending serious time with the Leica Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 Asph I think this might just be the one.

Leica has faster lenses, more technically ambitious Apo (apochromatically corrected) glass and, of course, some legendary 50mm options. But very few combine character, practicality, speed and versatility quite like this 35mm Summilux.

This latest version takes a focal length that has always been synonymous with reportage photography and gives it one crucial modern advantage: the ability to focus all the way down to 0.4m.

That is something I probably would not have appreciated as much a few years ago because I was, for the longest time, a dedicated 50mm shooter. I loved the slightly tighter perspective; the way a 50mm forces you to think about framing and the separation it can give a subject without feeling overly compressed.

If I was leaving the house with one lens, chances are it was a 50mm. However, picking up the 35mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Asph changed my thinking surprisingly quickly.

There is something incredibly natural about 35mm. It is wide enough to tell you where somebody is, yet still tight enough to isolate a subject when you need to. For documentary photography, travel, street work and everyday life, I have come to realize just how difficult it is to beat.

The real game changer with this version, however, is close focus. Leica extended the minimum focusing distance from the traditional 0.7m rangefinder limit to 0.4m, with the closest range accessed using Live View, the Visoflex or an electronic finder rather than the optical rangefinder.

That might sound like a relatively small specification change, but in practice it completely changes how versatile this lens feels.

Suddenly you can photograph the wider scene, move closer for a portrait and then get right into the smaller details without changing lenses. Food, hands, objects on a table, textures, signs and all those little moments that help tell a documentary story become much easier to capture.

Optically, it is equally difficult to fault. In my original review, I described it as probably the sharpest 35mm lens Leica has produced, but what I like most is that it does not feel like a lens designed purely around test charts. Wide open at f/1.4 it has atmosphere and depth, with that slightly softer, more characterful rendering that makes Leica glass so appealing.

Stop it down and the personality changes, becoming wonderfully crisp and controlled for documentary work, landscapes, architecture and travel.

Leica has also moved to an 11-blade diaphragm with this generation, helping produce smoother out-of-focus rendering, while the optical construction uses nine elements in five groups and a floating element design to maintain performance at closer distances.

Sample images

Perhaps more importantly, none of that comes at the expense of what makes an M lens appealing in the first place. The Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 Asph remains compact, beautifully balanced and small enough that leaving it permanently attached to an M body feels completely realistic.

At around 46mm long and 338g, it gives you an f/1.4 aperture and that extended close-focusing ability without turning your rangefinder into something that suddenly feels front-heavy or cumbersome.

The integrated hood also reduces viewfinder obstruction compared with some of Leica’s older, larger hood designs, something I found genuinely useful when working quickly through the optical finder.

And that, ultimately, is why I think the Leica Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 Asph might quite possibly be the best Leica lens on the market right now. Not because it wins every specification battle, but because it is one of those rare lenses that removes the need to think about what else might be in your bag.

I spent years believing 50mm was the focal length I would always come back to, yet this 35mm Summilux has made me question that completely.

It gives me enough width for documentary storytelling, enough subject separation at f/1.4 for portraits, enough optical quality for serious professional work and now enough close-focus capability to capture the small details as well. If I had to put one lens on a Leica M and leave it there permanently, this would probably be it.

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Leica Camera Group has revealed its financial results for the 2025/26 financial year, reporting revenue of €573 million ($667m / £492m) despite what the company describes as a challenging international market.

While that represents a 3.8% decline from the record-breaking €596 million generated in the previous financial year, Leica says it has maintained its strong position in the global premium imaging market.

The results cover the period between April 2025 and March 2026, with Leica pointing towards geopolitical uncertainty, unfavorable exchange rates, and increasingly strict customs regulations as some of the major pressures facing the business. Photography remained the company’s primary revenue driver, while its Mobile division continued to deliver strong growth and demand across Leica’s Sports Optics business remained stable. The company also reported positive developments across its watches and accessories, Smart Projection home cinema products, and spectacle lens businesses.

The year was also an important one for the Leica brand itself, following celebrations marking 100 years since the introduction of the first Leica camera. Leica says strong demand for its limited-edition anniversary models, the reception to 24 international exhibitions, and continued interest in Leica Pre-Owned products helped demonstrate both the strength of the brand and the loyalty of its worldwide community. The company’s Leitz Photographica Auction business also continued to underline just how collectible historic Leica equipment has become, with a rare Leica prototype selling for a price that placed it among the most expensive cameras ever auctioned.

Product development was another major part of Leica’s strategy during the financial year. October 2025 saw the introduction of the Leica M EV1, the first M-series camera to feature an integrated electronic viewfinder, while January 2026 brought the Leica Noctilux-M 35, a compact and exceptionally fast M-System lens that uses elements manufactured through Leica’s precision glass molding technology. Leica also expanded its camera range with the rugged Leica SL3 Reporter and the Leica Q3 Monochrom, a dedicated black-and-white version of its popular fixed-lens full-frame camera.

Andreas Voll, CEO of Leica Camera AG, says:

“Leica is a company that stands for precision, craftsmanship, design, and photographic culture like almost no other. The company’s business performance demonstrates the Leica Camera Group’s successful strategic direction, with innovative premium-segment cameras and efforts around appealing to new target groups. With the Leica M EV1 – the first camera in the iconic M series to feature an integrated electronic viewfinder – as well as Leica’s first internationally available smartphone, the ‘Leica Leitzphone’, and the Leica Cine Compact 1 smart mini-projector, we have added key innovations to our premium product portfolio.”

The company is also continuing to invest heavily in its physical retail presence. Leica reported particularly strong growth in its home market of Germany and expanded its international store network into regions previously without a dedicated Leica presence.

Its combination of Leica Stores, e-commerce, auctions, and other direct sales channels has been refined over the past two decades, with online business contributing around 5% to the Group’s year-on-year revenue increase.

Leica has released a new firmware update for the Leica Sofort 2, bringing improved Bluetooth security and a handful of under-the-hood fixes to its hybrid instant camera.

Firmware version 1.2.1 is now available to download, and while this is certainly not the sort of update that suddenly transforms the Sofort 2 with new Filmstyles, Lensstyles, or photographic features, it is still an important update for owners – particularly anyone who regularly connects the camera to the Leica Fotos app.

The headline change is encrypted Bluetooth communication. Leica says the new firmware makes the Sofort 2 fully compliant with Article 3.3 of the EU Radio Equipment Directive (2014/53/EU), with the Bluetooth security update forming the most noticeable part of the release. There is one thing owners need to know before installing it, however: once firmware 1.2.1 has been installed, the Sofort 2 will need to be paired with your device again.

That is particularly worth knowing with the Sofort 2 because connectivity is quite a big part of what makes this camera interesting. The hybrid instant camera can pair with the Leica FOTOS app via Bluetooth, allowing images to be transferred to a smartphone while also enabling remote control. Images stored on a smartphone – including photographs captured using other Leica cameras and stored inside the Leica Gallery – can also be transferred to the Sofort 2 and printed.

Beyond the Bluetooth changes, Leica simply lists "bug fixes in the firmware," without going into detail about exactly which issues have been addressed. So, don't expect firmware 1.2.1 to dramatically alter how the Sofort 2 shoots. Instead, this looks to be primarily a security, compliance, and stability release – but considering how much the Sofort 2 relies on its digital connectivity, I would still consider this an update worth installing.

For those unfamiliar with Leica's instant camera, the Sofort 2 takes a rather different approach from a traditional instant model. It is a hybrid digital and instant camera built around a 4.9MP sensor and a Leica Summar lens providing approximately a 28mm full-frame equivalent field of view. Crucially, you can review your photographs before deciding which ones deserve to become physical prints, rather than committing a sheet of instant film every time you press the shutter. It also offers 10 Filmstyles and 10 Lensstyles for adding different looks and effects.

Firmware 1.2.1 can be installed conveniently through the Leica Fotos app or manually through the Sofort 2's camera menu. Leica notes that registered users and Leica Fotos users should also receive notifications about new firmware releases. Those installing manually should make sure the battery is fully charged and avoid switching the camera off or removing the memory card or battery while the update is running.

The Leica Sofort 2 firmware 1.2.1 update and its accompanying release notes are available now from Leica's official download page.

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The Leica M11 might be gone, but I don’t think it will be forgotten anytime soon. In fact, I would argue that the original Leica M11 will eventually be remembered as one of the most important digital M cameras Leica has ever made.

Not necessarily because it reinvented the rangefinder, but because it appeared to be the camera that convinced a much wider generation of photographers to finally take the plunge. For many people watching from the sidelines, the M11 became the camera that started their Leica journey.

When Leica launched the M11 in 2022, it also made a very deliberate attempt to show that an M camera could compete technologically with the best full-frame cameras from Sony, Canon and Nikon.

At its heart was a new 60MP full-frame BSI CMOS sensor, giving photographers the sort of headline resolution normally associated with some of the most technically advanced mirrorless cameras on the market.

Yet Leica being Leica, it did things slightly differently. Its Triple Resolution Technology enabled you to shoot at 60MP, 36MP or 18MP while still using the entire sensor area – meaning you could have maximum detail when you wanted it, without being forced to deal with enormous files every single time you pressed the shutter.

That might sound relatively ordinary today, particularly as the same technology has continued throughout the wider M11 family, but at launch it helped change the perception of what a modern Leica M could be.

This was still the beautifully simple, manually focused rangefinder that photographers had loved for decades, but underneath it was a thoroughly modern digital camera.

There was internal storage, USB-C connectivity, vastly improved battery life and enough resolution to crop aggressively without immediately destroying your image. Leica hadn't abandoned what made the M special; it had simply dragged the digital side of the camera firmly into the modern era.

But I think the M11's biggest contribution had very little to do with specifications.

Around its launch, something interesting started happening online: more content creators, YouTube photographers and prominent photography personalities seemed to be talking about Leica, buying Leica cameras and, perhaps most importantly, showing what it was actually like to live with one.

Suddenly the M-System wasn't being discussed exclusively by lifelong Leica owners and rangefinder devotees. The M11 was appearing alongside Sony Alpha cameras, Fujifilm bodies and Canon EOS models in videos watched by photographers who may never previously have considered spending Leica money on a camera.

The hype surrounding the M11 undoubtedly helped Leica reach a different audience.

Sample images

And I think that mattered enormously. Leica has always carried a certain mystique, but mystique can also create distance. The M11 somehow made the brand feel more accessible without actually becoming affordable.

Watching photographers that you followed online forget about autofocus, pick up an M11 and start talking about slowing down, manually focusing and rediscovering photography created a surprisingly powerful pull. It made people curious.

Some undoubtedly bought into the hype, while others discovered that rangefinder photography genuinely suited them, but either way the M11 seemed to become a gateway into Leica ownership for a new generation.

The standard Leica M11 has now bowed out, with the Leica M11-P becoming the natural successor and taking the same basic formula further with additional refinements. Yet I think the original deserves its own little chapter in Leica history.

There will always be technically important M cameras, and there will always be collectible ones, but the M11 arrived at exactly the right moment, when photography culture was increasingly being shaped by creators, YouTube and social media.

It was the Leica that caused a stir, convinced photographers to jump ship and made an entirely new audience wonder whether their next camera should have a red dot on the front. The M11 might be gone but, for a lot of photographers, it was where Leica began.

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Take a look at the best Leica cameras along with the best Leica M lenses for rangefinders and the best Leica SL lenses for mirrorless bodies.

If you have been waiting to get your hands on Leica’s new APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100mm f/2.8, the wait is almost over, with orders now opening across the US and UK. In the US, the lens is priced at $2,700 and can be ordered through B&H, Adorama and Leica USA. UK photographers, meanwhile, can secure one for £2,110 from Wex Photo Video, London Camera Exchange and Clifton Cameras. B&H currently lists the lens as coming soon, while Adorama is already showing limited quantities available.

The APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100mm f/2.8 is a particularly important addition to Leica’s growing SL lens lineup because it is the first 100mm macro lens developed specifically for the SL system. It also has some serious Leica heritage behind it, taking inspiration from the APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 100mm f/2.8 introduced back in 1987 for its SLR cameras. This new version brings that concept firmly into the autofocus L-Mount era, giving SL photographers a true 1:1 macro lens without having to look outside Leica’s own lens range.

At its heart is a 100mm focal length combined with a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture and a true 1:1 reproduction ratio, which means subjects can be reproduced at life size on the camera sensor. The lens can focus as close as 30cm / 11.8 inches, making it ideal for everything from insects and flowers to watches, jewelry, and detailed product photography. Inside are 17 glass elements arranged across 12 groups, with Leica using an apochromatically corrected optical design to suppress chromatic aberrations and maintain strong sharpness, contrast, and color accuracy across the focusing range.

Macro lenses can sometimes feel like fairly specialized pieces of glass, but that certainly isn't the case here. A 100mm focal length also makes this a very tempting portrait lens, offering plenty of compression and separation between your subject and the background, while the f/2.8 aperture and Leica’s optical design should produce beautifully smooth out-of-focus areas. In fact, I suspect plenty of photographers will end up buying this as much for portraiture as they do for macro work, which makes that $2,700 / £2,110 asking price a little easier to justify.

Leica has also made sure the APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100mm f/2.8 is practical to use in the real world. There is autofocus alongside a dedicated focus limiter, allowing photographers to restrict focusing between 30cm and 50cm or from 50cm to infinity, which should help prevent the lens from hunting through its entire focusing range. The full-metal body is protected against dust and splashes, while Leica’s AquaDura coating helps repel moisture and dirt from the outer lens surfaces. It weighs 801g without the hood, measures around 137mm in length, and accepts 67mm filters, while compatibility with Leica’s 1.4x and 2x L-Mount extenders gives it even more versatility.

The Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100mm f/2.8 might not be cheap, but this feels like one of the more interesting additions to the SL-System in quite some time. It gives Leica photographers a proper native 1:1 macro option, but more importantly, it isn't limited to photographing tiny subjects. Between its 100mm focal length, APO correction, f/2.8 aperture, autofocus, and typically robust Leica construction, this could easily become one of those lenses that moves between the studio, portrait shoots, and the great outdoors without ever feeling out of place. If you want one, I would be getting an order in sooner rather than later.

Check out our guides to the best Leica SL lenses and to the best L-mount lenses

Leica has reached deep into its military archives for its latest M-mount release, resurrecting one of the rarest lenses in the company’s history with the new Leica Summicron-M 66 f/2.

Joining the Leica Classic Line, the unusual 66mm lens is a modern reinterpretation of the Elcan 66mm f/2, a specialist optic originally developed by Ernst Leitz Canada for the US Navy during the late 1960s. Only around 200 examples of the original were reportedly produced, making it one of the rarest lenses associated with the Leica M-System.

The original Elcan was designed by legendary optical designer Dr Walter Mandler following a commission for a compact lens capable of delivering exceptional resolving power for covert reconnaissance photography. According to Dr Mandler, Head of Development and Vice-President of Ernst Leitz (Canada) Ltd. in Midland, Ontario, at the time:

“The Naval Intelligence Service wanted a lens that looked like any other but delivered an unparalleled level of resolution.” The strange 66mm focal length was therefore anything but arbitrary, instead representing a carefully calculated compromise between resolution, fine contrast and a body compact enough for discreet photography.

The lens also comes with a fascinating Cold War backstory. Historical accounts suggest that examples were used beyond the original US Navy commission by Western allied partners, while many Elcan 66mm f/2 lenses were paired with the Leica KE-7A, a military version of the Leica M4.

Perhaps most remarkably, the original camera and lens sets were supplied with instructions explaining how to destroy the equipment in the event that the photographer was captured, which gives some indication of just how sensitive the assignments involving these cameras could be.

Sample images

For the new Summicron-M 66 f/2, Leica has retained the character of the original optical design while updating it to meet modern standards. There are some wonderfully unusual historical touches too, including an aperture ring that turns in the opposite direction to conventional M lenses, a military-style distance scale and engravings inspired by the original Elcan.

The tiny engraved “60” on the side indicates a precisely measured focal length of 66.0mm, while Leica says the f/2 maximum aperture combines soft bokeh with strong contrast before delivering maximum resolution and fine detail when stopped down. Sitting neatly between a traditional 50mm and longer portrait focal lengths, it should also offer a natural perspective with just a little additional compression.

Naturally, something this unusual was never going to be produced in huge numbers. Leica will make just 660 examples of the Summicron-M 66 f/2, each carrying a special serial number alongside the optical calculation number B1047 and Leica’s internal material number.

The Leica Summicron-M 66 f/2 will be available worldwide from September 3, 2026 from Leica and authorized dealers, priced at $10,900 / £8,410.

Collectors may also want to keep an eye on the Leitz Photographica Auction in Wetzlar in November 2026, where the very first example, serial number 001, will go under the hammer.

Check out our full guide to the best Leica M lenses

Imagine it’s 1996. In the camera business, the runaway success story is the stylish-looking Canon Elph – an APS film camera that quickly becomes one of the best-selling compact cameras of any type, at least in the USA.

Although the new APS film system receives enormous publicity, 35mm cameras still account for the vast majority of camera sales.

One of the biggest sellers continues to be Canon's inexpensive, autofocus Sure Shot series of 35mm compacts, because they offer autofocus, built-in flash and a competitive price of around $100–150, Kodak’s Advantix APS series and the Olympus Stylus 35mm models round out the pack.

In SLRs, Canon had become the leading manufacturer by the mid-1990s – and its Rebel G (known as the EOS 500N in Europe) is a major reason. But Nikon’s N50 (sold as the F50 in Europe) competes directly with the Rebel and sells in substantial numbers, too.

Remember, it’s 1996 and digital cameras make up less than 1% of camera sales. In '96, the market leaders are Canon’s PowerShot 600 (0.57 megapixels), Sony’s DSC-F1 (0.35 megapixels) and Kodak’s DC120 (0.84 megapixels). Most are powered by AA batteries, all have small (typically 1/3in) CCD-type sensors and all sell for between $900 and $1,000.

And then there was the Leica S1.

At a time when Leica’s M6, Nikon’s F5 and Canon’s F1N reigned supreme, it was said that the resolution of Kodachrome 25 was equivalent to a digital resolution of between 20 and 25 megapixels (depending on who you asked).

Yet, in an age where nobody had yet managed to offer a true, 1-megapixel camera, the Leica S1 offered an unbelievable (but true) 26.4-megapixel photographs! There was, however, a big catch: it was a scanning camera that could not take a photograph in the conventional sense.

Introduced at the 1966 Photokina, though not available until the next spring, the incredible Leica S1 was like no other camera ever made. Certainly like no other camera made in the 1990s.

The lens projected the image onto the 36 x 36 mm focal plane and a precision stepper motor slowly moved the sensor across the image plane. The sensor itself had three parallel rows, with each row being sensitive to one of the primary colours.

Each row contained 5,140 photosites, spanning the full 36mm width of the image. After roughly 5,140 scanning steps (and 185 seconds), the complete image measured 5,140 x 5,140 pixels or 26.4 megapixels.

Because each sensor row recorded each color separately, no Bayer filter was needed and colors did not need to be interpolated. Thus, the system offered exceptionally accurate color with virtually no moiré, no false color artifacts and remarkably fine detail.

It was a studio-only camera intended for museums, art galleries, advertising photography and anything else that required absolutely top quality work of static subjects, where speed was not so important.

To function, it was powered by an external (plug-in) power supply – and it needed to be connected to a computer, as it had no internal memory or storage card. I guess you’d properly call it a camera plus high-end scanner hybrid.

It featured a clever, interchangeable lens mount, so optics from Leica, Nikon, Canon and others could be used, making it more attractive to organizations that might already have a set of lenses.

Although the distinctive sweeping metal “arms” were intended to help aim the bulky beast, it would usually be found mounted on a heavy tripod or copy stand as it weighed approximately 7.9lbs / 3.6kg, without a lens!

Some say that as many as 1,500 S1 cameras were made but, according to Leica’s own records, only about 160 complete S1-series cameras (including the Alpha, Pro and High Speed variants) are believed to have been manufactured, making it one of the rarest Leica cameras ever built. Almost all were sold to museums, universities and other such organizations.

New, it cost $21,500 (or roughly $43,000 / £24,800 / AU$66,900 today). For comparison, the Nikon F5 sold for $2,000 and the Canon EOS-1N was $2,500 at the time.

But the Leica S1 was not meant to compete with other cameras. It filled just one function, but it filled it better than anything else at the time – making spectacular, high-resolution digital images at a time it was simply not possible any other way.

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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Take a look at the best Leica cameras and the highest resolution cameras you can buy today.

Leica’s gorgeous new Metal Gray cameras have been trickling onto the market over the past few months, but if you’ve been holding off until you could actually buy one, that moment has finally arrived.

The Leica Q3, Leica M11-P and Leica D-Lux 8 in Metal Gray are now all available to order in both the US and UK, with B&H carrying the complete trio Stateside and Wex the same in Britain. Better still, B&H currently lists all three as in stock, while Wex has the Q3 and D-Lux 8 in stock and describes its M11-P allocation as “limited stock – selling fast.”

I’ve been a big fan of this new finish since Leica revealed it, and I think Metal Gray might be one of the best colour options the company has produced in years. It manages to look more contemporary than traditional silver while being a little more interesting than black, with Leica pairing the grey paint with contrasting black controls and its diamond-pattern leatherette. Importantly, these aren’t numbered special editions either; Metal Gray is joining Leica’s regular colour palette, so you’re getting the same cameras underneath, just wearing what I think is a particularly handsome new suit.

The Leica Q3 Metal Gray is probably going to be the star of the collection for most photographers, and it is available from B&H for $7,350 and Wex for £5,749. Underneath that new exterior is the same superb 60MP full-frame BSI sensor and fixed Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens, along with Leica’s Triple Resolution Technology, hybrid phase-detection autofocus, optical image stabilisation and even 8K video. It is one of those cameras that can realistically become your only camera, particularly for travel, street and documentary photography, and the Metal Grey finish arguably gives the already beautiful Q3 even more character.

Then there is the Leica M11-P Metal Gray, which is the one I’d be quickest to move on if it is already on your shopping list. It costs $10,400 at B&H or £8,250 at Wex, with the latter currently warning that stock is limited and selling fast. The M11-P combines Leica’s traditional manual-focus rangefinder experience with a 60MP full-frame BSI sensor, Triple Resolution Technology and a huge 256GB of internal storage. It was also the first camera to incorporate Content Credentials at the point of capture, while its absence of the famous red dot makes it one of the most discreet digital M cameras around – something that suits the understated Metal Gray finish perfectly.

If those prices are a little too eye-watering, the Leica D-Lux 8 Metal Gray gives you the same aesthetic for substantially less. It is currently $1,915 at B&H and £1,550 at Wex, and packs a 17MP Four Thirds sensor together with a wonderfully useful Leica DC Vario-Summilux 10.9-34mm f/1.7-2.8 ASPH lens, equivalent to 24-75mm in full-frame terms. You also get an OLED viewfinder, DNG RAW capture, 4K video and Leica FOTOS connectivity, all wrapped up in a compact body that is much easier to carry around every day. For someone wanting their first Leica without jumping straight into Q or M money, this is arguably the sweetest entry point of the three.

So, if Metal Gray has been the Leica finish you’ve been waiting for, I wouldn’t hang around much longer. For the first time, the entire camera collection is readily available to order from major retailers on both sides of the Atlantic, rather than being something you have to hunt down or wait to arrive. The Q3 would be my pick as the best all-rounder, the M11-P is undoubtedly the purist’s choice, while the D-Lux 8 gives you the look for considerably less money. None of them are cheap, of course – this is Leica we’re talking about – but if you were already planning to buy one, now you can finally choose your Metal Gray favorite and actually get your hands on it.

There are very few cameras that could survive seven decades without completely reinventing themselves, but the Leica M is one of them.

While the rest of the camera industry moved from rangefinders to SLRs, then DSLRs and eventually mirrorless cameras packed with autofocus, subject detection, and increasingly clever electronics, Leica has spent much of the past 70 years refining essentially the same idea, as Mike Chudley has recently discussed in this YouTube video.

The story begins with the Leica M3, launched at Photokina in 1954 and the camera that established the M-System as we know it today. It introduced Leica's bayonet M-mount and combined its viewfinder and rangefinder into a single window, creating a design that would become instantly recognisable. Remarkably, that basic concept remains alive today – Leica even points out that an M lens dating from 1954 can still be fitted to its latest digital cameras.

Of course, the M has evolved along the way. The M2 introduced 35mm frame lines, the M6 brought integrated exposure metering, and the digital era eventually delivered cameras such as the M9, the first full-frame digital M rangefinder, followed by the CMOS-powered M (Typ 240) and today's 60MP M11 generation. Yet despite enormous changes beneath the skin, the traditional M shooting experience remained wonderfully familiar: manual-only focusing, physical controls and that unmistakable optical rangefinder.

And that is really what makes the Leica M so unusual. With a rangefinder you can see beyond the frame lines and watch subjects enter your composition, while there is no viewfinder blackout when the shutter fires. There is no eye-detection autofocus deciding where the camera should focus, either. You are responsible for distance, focus, exposure and timing, and I think that is exactly why the M continues to appeal in an age when almost every other camera is trying to make photography easier.

Ironically, Leica has now shown that even its most sacred traditions are not completely untouchable. The Leica M EV1, launched in October 2025, became the first M camera to replace the traditional optical rangefinder with an integrated electronic viewfinder.

It still uses manual-focus M lenses and retains the familiar M form, but adds a 5.76-million-dot EVF, focus peaking and magnification to make accurate manual focusing considerably easier. It is probably the biggest change to what we consider an M camera since Leica entered the digital age.

Yet even the M EV1 proves the wider point. Leica has changed sensors, added meters, introduced digital technology and now even experimented with an EVF, but it has stubbornly protected the fundamental idea behind the M-System: a compact, beautifully built camera that puts the photographer firmly in control.

Modern Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras will beat a traditional M on almost any specification sheet, but that has never really been the point. After more than 70 years, perhaps the Leica M's greatest achievement isn't that it refused to evolve – it's that Leica knew exactly which parts were worth changing, and which ones were better left alone.

I have always had a slightly complicated relationship with Leica's Q cameras. I loved shooting with the Leica Q2 Reporter when I reviewed it around its launch, and I have spent plenty of time with the Leica Q3 as well. Both are exceptional cameras in their own right, but there was always one thing stopping me from completely falling for them: that 28mm lens.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Leica's Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH. In fact, optically it is superb, and on both the Q2 and Q3 it makes for an incredibly capable combination. The problem was simply me. At the time, I was almost exclusively a 50mm shooter, so moving to 28mm always felt like I was standing just a little too far away from the photograph I actually wanted to make. The camera was brilliant, but the way it saw the world did not quite match the way I did. The Q2 and Q3 could simulate longer focal lengths through their crop modes, but I always wanted that tighter field of view to be there optically from the start. Then, in September 2024, Leica threw something of a curveball.

Rather than simply updating the Q3 again or releasing another special edition, Leica launched the Q3 43. Fundamentally, it was the Q3 that people already knew, complete with its 60MP full-frame sensor, autofocus system and compact form, but on the front was something completely new: an APO-Summicron 43mm f/2 ASPH. fixed lens. Suddenly the Q was no longer a camera that effectively told you that 28mm was the Leica way of seeing the world. There was another choice. And for me, that changed everything.

I had always thought that if Leica produced a Q with something closer to a 50mm lens, it would make far more sense for the way I photograph. Leica did not quite give us 50mm, but I actually think its decision to go with 43mm was more interesting. The company reasoned that 43mm provides a perspective close to natural human vision, allowing the photographer to see something, raise the camera, and photograph it with relatively little change in perspective. Leica described the focal length as closely mirroring natural perception, and while arguments about exactly which focal length best represents human eyesight will probably continue forever, I completely understood what Leica was trying to achieve.

It also meant Leica did not simply take the existing Q3 and bolt a longer version of the same lens onto it. The APO-Summicron 43mm f/2 ASPH. gave the camera a completely different identity. Some photographers inevitably questioned why Leica had gone from the f/1.7 Summilux on the 28mm Q3 to an f/2 Summicron, but I think that misses the point slightly. This was an apochromatically corrected lens designed specifically for the Q3 43, and Leica clearly wanted outright optical performance as much as outright speed. The company says the lens was engineered to deliver high sharpness and contrast even at its maximum f/2 aperture. More importantly, it opened the Q system up to photographers like me.

Twenty-eight millimetres is fantastic for environmental work, travel, street photography and situations where you want to place a subject firmly within its surroundings. But not everybody sees photographs that way. Some of us naturally isolate things. We see a person across the road, a detail on a building or a moment happening slightly further into a scene and instinctively want to tighten the frame. With 43mm, the Q suddenly allowed you to do that without immediately reaching for a digital crop. That, I believe, is why the Q3 43 mattered far beyond being another Leica launch.

To be clear, Leica did not invent the idea of putting a more normal focal length onto a premium fixed-lens camera. Ricoh had already launched the Ricoh GR IIIx in 2021 with a 40mm-equivalent lens, specifically in response to photographers wanting an alternative to the 28mm GR III. What Leica did differently was take that idea into the very top end of the market and prove that photographers were prepared to spend serious money on it. I do not have Leica's internal sales figures, so I cannot tell you categorically how many Q3 43 bodies were sold compared with the regular Q3. But I can tell you what I saw.

Around the launch, getting hold of one appeared incredibly difficult. Stock disappeared, retailers had waiting lists, and for a while the Q3 43 seemed to be one of those cameras that people were desperate to find. Then something happened that really stuck with me. I was out shooting in London not long after launch and saw six Leica Q3 43 cameras being used in a single day. A week or so later, I saw another two being used on a beach in Cornwall.

Eight cameras might not sound remarkable when you are talking about Canon, Sony or Nikon, where thousands upon thousands of bodies are circulating. But eight examples of the same brand-new Leica, a camera costing several thousand pounds, appearing in front of me within roughly a week? That got my attention.

It suggested to me that the Q3 43 was reaching beyond the traditional Leica audience. These did not feel like cameras being bought simply because somebody wanted another Leica for the collection. The Q3 43 made sense as a standalone photographic tool, and I suspect it brought plenty of photographers into the Leica ecosystem who might never have considered an M camera or an interchangeable-lens SL. That is where I think its wider influence becomes particularly interesting.

Within months, the premium fixed-lens camera market suddenly felt far more important. Fujifilm unveiled the GFX100RF in March 2025, taking its 102MP large-format sensor and putting it into the first fixed-lens GFX camera. Its native lens remained a 28mm-equivalent design, so it was not copying the Q3 43's focal length, but the philosophy was remarkably familiar: take extremely high image quality, pair the sensor permanently with a carefully optimised prime lens and build the whole thing into a camera that photographers could carry without an interchangeable-lens system.

Then Sony returned to a category it had effectively left dormant for almost a decade. In July 2025, it launched the Sony RX1R III, combining a 61MP full-frame sensor with a fixed 35mm f/2 Zeiss lens. Sony even added Step Crop Shooting for 35mm, 50mm and 70mm framing, leaning heavily into the idea that a high-resolution sensor and one exceptional fixed prime could provide more flexibility than the words "fixed lens" might initially suggest.

Can I prove that Leica's Q3 43 caused Fujifilm to build the GFX100RF or persuaded Sony to resurrect the RX1R? No, and development cycles mean those cameras would almost certainly have been taking shape long before the Q3 43 reached customers. But I do think Leica helped validate where the market was heading. It showed there was serious appetite for an expensive, highly specialised camera that deliberately removed the choice of interchangeable lenses and instead concentrated on giving photographers one excellent way of seeing. That is an important distinction.

For years, camera development was largely about giving us more. More lenses, more focal lengths, more megapixels, more video modes, more autofocus modes and more buttons. Cameras like the Q3 43 work almost in the opposite direction. They give you an incredibly capable sensor and then deliberately restrict one of the biggest choices a photographer normally has. Here is your lens. Here is your field of view. Now go and make photographs. And photographers clearly embraced that.

Today, the situation is very different from those first frantic months after launch. In the UK, major retailers now show the Q3 43 either in stock or available in limited quantities rather than with the long waits that surrounded it early on. Park Cameras currently lists it as in stock, while Wex has recently shown limited stock. It has gone from being the Leica everybody appeared to be hunting for to an established part of the Q family.

I think that is perhaps the greatest compliment you can give it. The Q3 43 did not feel like a novelty that Leica produced simply because it could. It became a genuine alternative to the regular Q3. And that changed the conversation around fixed-lens cameras.

The question was no longer simply whether you could live with a fixed lens. It became which fixed lens you wanted.

That sounds like a small difference, but I think it is enormous. Leica effectively turned focal length into a model choice rather than a limitation. Instead of choosing between a compact camera and an interchangeable-lens camera, photographers could start choosing between different interpretations of the same compact-camera philosophy.

The original Q3 remains an incredible camera and, for photographers who naturally see the world at 28mm, it probably remains the better choice. But for those of us who always wanted to step slightly closer without physically doing so, the Q3 43 finally made the Q concept click.

I wanted a Q with a tighter lens for years. Leica eventually gave me one, just not quite the 50mm I expected. And in doing so, I think it helped reshape what the premium compact camera could be.

Shop Leica Q3 43

DK-Optic has launched a rather beautiful new 50mm lens for Leica M-mount cameras, but rather than chasing the ultra-sharp, clinically perfect look we have come to expect from modern optics, the new Chiaro 50mm f/1.9 is looking firmly to the past. In fact, its inspiration comes from one of the most celebrated British lenses of the 1930s: the Dallmeyer Super Six 2-inch F1.9.

The Chiaro 50mm f/1.9 takes both its optical character and styling cues from that classic lens, while DK-Optic says it has rebuilt the concept using modern materials and contemporary manufacturing tolerances. The result is a manual-focus, full-frame Leica M-mount lens designed to deliver the softer tonal transitions, atmosphere, and natural sense of depth associated with vintage glass, rather than simply prioritizing outright resolution above everything else.

Things get particularly interesting when shooting wide open. DK-Optic says that around f/1.9 the lens produces a noticeably softer, more characterful rendering, before becoming progressively clearer and more defined as the aperture is stopped down. That gives photographers the ability to effectively change the personality of the lens depending on how it is used, which is exactly the sort of behavior that has made classic lenses so appealing to photographers in the first place.

There are also two versions to choose from, and they offer more than just a cosmetic difference. The Blue Coating model is designed to provide stronger color reproduction and contrast, while the uncoated version deliberately embraces the flare, glow, and light bleeding associated with much older optics. Both versions are limited to just 150 examples worldwide, making this a pretty exclusive proposition for Leica M shooters looking for something a little different from the usual modern 50mm. Each version is priced at $1,599.

Underneath that vintage-inspired exterior is a relatively simple six-element, four-group optical design, with an aperture range of f/1.9 to f/22 and a minimum focusing distance of 0.75m. Importantly for Leica users, the lens is coupled to the camera's rangefinder, while its compact 52mm-diameter, 46mm-long body weighs just 178g.

There are plenty of technically brilliant 50mm lenses available for the Leica M system, but the Chiaro 50mm f/1.9 is clearly trying to offer something different – a lens where imperfections, flare, softness, and character are not problems to be corrected, but part of the reason you would want to shoot it.

Check out our guide to the best Leica M lenses

When you think of the world’s largest camera manufacturers, your mind probably jumps straight to Canon, Sony or Nikon. Leica? Probably not.

Leica is the luxury option; the beautifully engineered German camera brand that makes expensive rangefinders, exquisite M lenses and cameras assembled with an almost obsessive attention to detail. But I recently started counting Leica’s current cameras and something rather surprising happened: I got to 16!

Yes, Leica currently makes 16 distinct camera models. Look at the M-System alone and you have the Leica M11, M11-P, M11-D, M11 Monochrom and the new Leica M EV1 on the digital side. And it still manufactures the M6, MP and completely mechanical Leica M-A for film photographers.

That's eight cameras before we have even left the M-System.

Then there is the SL mirrorless system. Leica currently offers the SL3, SL3-S, and recently introduced Leica SL3-P, giving photographers and filmmakers three distinctly different full-frame professional bodies.

The SL3 concentrates on high-resolution 60MP photography, the SL3-S takes a faster 24MP hybrid approach, while the SL3-P sits between them with a 44MP sensor and some seriously impressive photo and video credentials. Suddenly we are at 11 cameras.

And we are nowhere near finished. The Q family now consists of the Leica Q3 with its 28mm Summilux, the Q3 43 with its more natural 43mm perspective, and the Q3 Monochrom, which takes the same fundamental idea and builds it around a dedicated 60MP black-and-white sensor.

Add the Leica D-Lux 8, a premium compact camera, and the Leica Sofort 2, a luxury hybrid instant camera, and there it is: 16 cameras currently sitting within Leica’s portfolio.

What makes that number even more remarkable to me is that 14 of those 16 cameras are arguably aimed squarely at serious photographers, advanced enthusiasts or working professionals.

I would probably exclude the Sofort 2 and, depending on how strict you want to be, the D-Lux 8 from that description. Everything else is a serious photographic tool.

Leica is not inflating its range with dozens of inexpensive beginner bodies separated by tiny specification changes; it has film rangefinders, digital rangefinders, an EVF-equipped M, dedicated monochrome cameras, professional mirrorless hybrids and some of the most capable fixed-lens full-frame cameras money can buy.

So, does that secretly make Leica the largest camera manufacturer of them all? Literally, no. I am not suggesting for one moment that Leica produces more cameras by volume than Canon, Sony or Nikon, nor that it has suddenly overtaken the Japanese giants in market share.

But judged by the sheer number of serious current camera bodies available from what we continue to think of as a small, specialist luxury manufacturer, Leica suddenly looks enormous. Sixteen cameras is not a boutique selection any more. That is a proper ecosystem.

I think our perception of Leica simply has not caught up with what the company has become. We still talk about Leica as though it essentially makes “the M”, with perhaps a Q sitting alongside it.

Yet today you can buy a completely mechanical film camera with no battery, a metered film rangefinder, a 60MP digital rangefinder, a screenless digital M, an M with an electronic viewfinder, a dedicated monochrome body, a 30fps full-frame mirrorless camera, an 8K-capable professional hybrid or a fixed-lens full-frame compact.

Few manufacturers cover such wildly different interpretations of photography while retaining such a clear identity across all of them.

There is also something rather refreshing about the way Leica has done it. Rather than trying to build one camera that supposedly suits everybody, Leica seems increasingly happy to make highly specific cameras for highly specific photographers.

Want color? There is an M for that. Want black-and-white? There is an M for that, too. Hate rear screens? Leica has you covered. Want an EVF but still want M lenses? That now exists. Want autofocus and interchangeable lenses? Buy an SL. Want the whole experience condensed into one body and one lens? Buy a Q. Want film? Leica will still sell you a brand-new mechanical camera in 2026.

That is why I think Leica might be the camera giant hiding in plain sight. Not the largest by sales, production numbers or market share, but perhaps one of the largest when it comes to the breadth of genuinely serious photographic choices coming from a single premium brand.

For a company whose reputation is built around exclusivity, simplicity and doing things the old-fashioned way, Leica has somehow ended up producing 16 distinct and diverse cameras at the same time. And the strangest thing is that almost nobody seems to have noticed.

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Take a look at the best Leica cameras, along with the best Leica M lenses for rangefinders and the best Leica SL lenses for mirrorless.

The Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 belongs to Leica’s Classic Line, a collection that revisits some of the company’s most important and characterful lenses while updating them for modern production and contemporary digital cameras.

It is important to clarify exactly what this lens is, because its appearance could easily lead someone to assume that it is merely the current Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH. housed within a more traditional barrel. That is not the case.

The Summilux-M 50 f/1.4, model 11714, is a true reinterpretation of Leica’s historic pre-aspherical Summilux design. It does not contain an aspherical element, nor does it attempt to offer the same highly corrected rendering as Leica’s current Summilux-M ASPH.

Instead, Leica has returned to a traditional seven-element, five-group optical formula inspired by the second-generation Summilux-M introduced during the early 1960s. Modern glass, coatings and manufacturing tolerances have naturally been applied, but the fundamental intention remains classical.

This gives the lens a very different purpose from Leica’s current aspherical alternatives. The modern Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH. is designed to produce strong contrast, excellent sharpness and a highly controlled image from its widest aperture. The 50 Summilux f/1.4 is intended to offer a more expressive and artistic interpretation, particularly when used between f/1.4 and f/2.8.

That makes it a fascinating lens in the modern era. Most contemporary optics are designed to remove every visible imperfection, resulting in images that are technically excellent but can sometimes feel clinically precise. The Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 takes a different approach, allowing some of the glow, softness and gentler contrast associated with vintage lenses to remain part of the image.

However, this is not a lens that is permanently soft or limited to producing one particular look. Once stopped down, it becomes considerably sharper and more controlled, giving photographers the choice between a vintage aesthetic and a more modern result simply by changing the aperture.

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Specifications

Mount: Leica M-mount
Lens design: 7 Elements in 5 Groups
Maximum aperture: f/1.4
Minimum aperture: f/16
Angle of view: 45°
Minimum focusing distance: 27.6" / 70 cm
Filter size: 46 mm (Front)
Dimensions: ø: 2.3 x L: 1.8" / ø: 58 x L: 45mm
Weight: 14.7 oz / 417 g

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 key features

The Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 is built around a 50mm focal length, which remains one of the most natural and versatile choices available for the M system. It provides a field of view that works equally well for portraiture, street photography, documentary work, travel and general everyday use.

Its maximum aperture of f/1.4 makes it particularly suited to low-light photography and provides plenty of control over depth of field. More importantly, the aperture is central to the character of this lens. Changing the f-stop does not simply adjust exposure or the amount of background blur; it noticeably alters the overall personality of the image.

The optical construction consists of seven elements arranged in five groups, with no aspherical element. This is central to the way the lens renders, especially at wider apertures. Rather than attempting to deliver completely uniform sharpness and contrast at f/1.4, it produces a gentler result with a subtle glow and smoother transition between focused and defocused areas.

A 12-blade aperture diaphragm helps maintain rounded out-of-focus highlights as the lens is stopped down. The bokeh is one of the lens’s defining features, particularly between f/1.4 and f/2.8, where backgrounds take on a soft, almost painterly appearance.

The lens focuses down to 0.7 meters, which is the traditional minimum focusing distance for many Leica M lenses. Unlike the latest close-focusing Summilux-M ASPH., there is no extended range below 0.7m, but the entire focusing range remains compatible with a conventional optical rangefinder.

This also means there is no point at which you are forced to move from the optical rangefinder to Live View or an electronic viewfinder. The lens operates consistently from infinity down to its minimum focusing distance, whether mounted on a classic film M, a digital rangefinder such as the Leica M240 or an EVF-based camera such as the Leica M EV1.

The silver-chrome model 11714 is constructed from solid brass and weighs 417g. It uses an E46 filter thread and includes Leica’s six-bit coding, allowing compatible digital M cameras to recognize the lens and apply the appropriate metadata and in-camera corrections.

A removable round hood is available and follows the vintage styling of the lens. Unlike the integrated pull-out hoods found on many of Leica’s newer close-focusing lenses, this hood adds some length and bulk to the package. However, considering the weight of the solid-brass lens itself, the hood is unlikely to make a meaningful difference to the overall balance.

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Build and handling

The Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 looks absolutely fantastic. Its silver-chrome finish, engraved markings and traditionally shaped controls immediately distinguish it from Leica’s more modern lenses.

The build quality is outstanding, as you would expect from Leica. The solid-brass construction gives the lens a dense and substantial feel that is quite surprising when you first pick it up. It is relatively compact, but at 417g, there is no mistaking its weight.

This is not necessarily a criticism. The weight contributes to the sense that you are using something designed to last for decades rather than a lightweight accessory that might be replaced with the next generation. Nevertheless, photographers looking for the smallest and lightest possible 50mm lens should be aware that this is a heavy optic for its dimensions.

Mounted on the Leica M EV1, the lens felt extremely solid and well balanced. The additional weight at the front was noticeable, but it never made the camera uncomfortable to use. It also paired beautifully with my Leica M240, where its traditional appearance felt entirely at home on the older digital M body.

The scalloped focusing ring is one of the lens’s most distinctive physical features. It gives the barrel a genuine vintage appearance while also providing a comfortable and secure surface for focusing.

The focusing movement was extremely smooth, with the precise level of resistance needed for making small adjustments at wider apertures. Compared with my modern Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH., I felt that the focusing ring moved slightly farther around the circumference of the lens barrel.

In practice, however, the difference was not particularly dramatic once the lens was mounted on a camera. In fact, I appreciated the little bit of extra movement because it gave me more room to make fine adjustments and achieve critical focus, particularly when shooting at f/1.4 or f/2.

This was especially useful on the Leica M EV1, where the electronic viewfinder and focusing aids made it possible to see exactly where the plane of focus was falling. The longer, smoother movement made precise focusing feel deliberate rather than slow.

The aperture ring was flawless. Each setting clicked smoothly and positively into place, with enough resistance to prevent accidental changes without making the ring difficult to operate.

The recessed, or dipped, design of the aperture ring also contributes to the vintage appearance. It feels very different from the larger and more exposed aperture controls found on many modern lenses, yet it remained easy to adjust with the camera held to my eye.

There was never any uncertainty about whether the aperture had moved. The clicks were clear enough to feel through my fingertips, allowing me to make adjustments without lowering the camera or checking the markings.

My review sample did not come with the removable lens hood, so I was unable to assess how the complete setup handled with it attached. The hood follows a traditional round design and will add a little extra bulk to the lens, although its effect on the overall balance should be minimal given the weight of the brass barrel.

Despite using the lens without its hood, I experienced no meaningful ghosting or flare issues during my time with it. However, I should add that I rarely photograph directly into the sun, so photographers who regularly place strong light sources within the frame may have a different experience.

For my style of shooting, the lens performed extremely well without the hood. Those who frequently work in more challenging lighting conditions may still find it worthwhile, both for reducing stray light and protecting the front element.

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Performance

The performance of the Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 is defined by its ability to produce two very different types of image.

At f/1.4, the lens delivers the dreamy, artistic rendering that will likely attract most photographers to it in the first place. There is a gentle glow around fine details, contrast is softer and backgrounds dissolve with a beautiful fluidity that is rarely seen in highly corrected modern optics.

This does not mean that images are simply blurred or lacking in detail. The subject can still appear clearly defined, particularly when focus is placed accurately, but the transition away from the point of focus is softer and more gradual.

Portraits benefit enormously from this quality. Skin, hair and clothing retain enough detail, but the image does not feel overly harsh or digitally clinical. Backgrounds are rendered with a painterly softness that helps separate the subject without making the result look artificial.

The 12-blade aperture contributes to the attractive bokeh, but the overall rendering comes from more than the shape of the diaphragm. The traditional optical formula produces a very different transition between sharp and defocused areas compared with the current aspherical Summilux.

At f/2, the central area becomes more defined, but much of the glow and atmosphere remain. This may be the most balanced aperture for photographers who want stronger subject detail without completely losing the classical rendering.

By f/2.8, the lens continues to become sharper and contrast increases, although images still retain a noticeably gentler character than those produced by a modern aspherical design. This is where the Classic begins to bridge the gap between its two personalities.

At f/4, the rendering becomes noticeably more controlled. Fine detail is stronger, contrast is higher, and the frame begins to appear more uniform. There is still a touch of the lens’s vintage character, but the result feels increasingly modern.

Once the lens reaches f/5.6, it becomes very sharp in the center and impressively detailed across the frame. This is where the transformation becomes particularly apparent. A lens that produces soft, expressive images at f/1.4 suddenly becomes a highly capable general-purpose 50mm optic.

At f/8, the Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 Classic delivers images that are clinically sharp while still maintaining a very pleasing overall look. Fine textures are rendered clearly, contrast is strong, and detail extends well across the frame.

I have always considered f/8 something of a sweet spot for many Leica lenses, and that is certainly the case here. The images have the precision expected from a modern optic, but they do not lose all of the tonal character that makes the Classic so appealing.

At f/11 and f/16, the lens provides greater depth of field and remains useful for scenes where keeping more of the frame in focus is the priority. As with any lens, very small apertures can introduce a degree of diffraction, particularly on high-resolution digital sensors, but the results remain highly usable.

What makes the Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 so interesting is that none of these aperture settings feels redundant. Each part of the aperture range offers a slightly different visual signature.

At f/1.4, it is dreamy, glowing and expressive. Between f/2 and f/2.8, it begins to combine atmosphere with stronger definition. At f/4, it transitions toward a more controlled image, while f/5.6 and f/8 provide the sharpness and consistency expected from a modern premium lens.

This gives photographers a level of creative control that goes beyond depth of field. You need to think not only about how much of the scene you want in focus, but also about the type of rendering you want the lens to produce.

There is a certain responsibility that comes with that choice. A technically perfect image is not always the most visually appropriate result, just as a dreamy vintage glow will not suit every subject.

For a portrait, available-light scene or intimate documentary moment, f/1.4 may provide exactly the right atmosphere. For architecture, landscapes or detailed street scenes, stopping down to f/5.6 or f/8 will deliver a much more precise result.

That versatility makes the 50 Summilux-M f/1.4 more than a novelty lens. It would have been easy for Leica to create an optic that offered a distinctive vintage look wide open but became unremarkable when stopped down. Instead, this lens provides a genuinely useful range of rendering styles.

Critical focus at f/1.4 naturally requires care, particularly on a traditional optical rangefinder. The shallow depth of field means even a small focusing error can place the sharpest area in front of or behind the intended subject.

The Leica M EV1 made this considerably easier. Its electronic viewfinder allowed me to confirm focus with greater confidence and encouraged me to use the lens at f/1.4 and f/2 more frequently than I might have done on an optical rangefinder alone.

That said, the lens also felt excellent on the Leica M240. Its smooth focusing action and slightly longer movement made careful rangefinder focusing very satisfying, while the 0.7m minimum distance remained entirely within the coupled range.

Sample images: Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 lab results

We run a range of lab tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.

We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration).

Sharpness:

Wide open at f/1.4 sharpness is disappointing - you'll need to stop down to f/2.8 before center and mid-frame sharpness become impressive. However, corner sharpness still lags behind by some margin, with the lens only becoming sharp across the whole frame at f/8 and narrower.

Fringing:

Fringing is evident in the corners of frame at all apertures.

Distortion: -1.99

There's moderate barrel distortion, and while not severe, we'd expect better from a 50mm lens.

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Verdict

The Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 stands out as a top performer, particularly for photographers who want a more vintage look and feel in an increasingly clinical world of picture taking.

It offers something genuinely unusual within Leica’s current lens range. This is not an existing modern optic wrapped in a nostalgic design. Its classical optical formula, non-aspherical construction and traditional mechanical controls make it fundamentally different from the current Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH.

Between f/1.4 and f/2.8, images have a distinctive glow, with gentle contrast, beautiful transitions and wonderfully artistic bokeh. From f/5.6 onward, the lens adopts a much sharper and more modern personality, with f/8 producing particularly impressive results across the frame.

This dual character gives the lens the best of both worlds. It can create images that look as though they were made with a genuine vintage Summilux, yet it can also deliver the detail and precision required from a contemporary Leica M lens.

The photographer simply needs to be clever enough to recognize which look is appropriate for each scene. Choosing the aperture becomes a creative decision rather than a purely technical one.

Its handling is equally impressive. The solid-brass construction feels outstanding, the scalloped focusing ring operates beautifully and the aperture ring provides smooth, positive clicks throughout its range.

The weight will not suit everyone. At 417g, it is a heavy lens despite its compact dimensions, and adding the traditional removable hood will make the package slightly larger. Its price also makes it a serious investment, particularly when there are more affordable 50mm M-mount lenses available.

However, those alternatives are unlikely to offer this particular combination of classical rendering, modern manufacturing and exceptional mechanical quality.

The Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 is a lens for photographers who value character as much as technical performance. It rewards those willing to explore its aperture range, think carefully about the look they want and accept that perfect optical correction is not always the same thing as a perfect photograph.

For the right photographer, it is not merely a vintage-inspired lens. It is a genuine creative tool that can move effortlessly between romantic softness and modern precision.

Light Lens Lab has officially opened orders for its new 35mm f/2 Apochromatic lens for Leica M-mount, bringing another intriguing premium optic to photographers who want classic manual-focus handling combined with decidedly modern optical ambitions.

The lens has been teased previously, but it is now available to order, including a special Titanium Limited Edition that will only be offered for preorder between now and September 10 2026.

This 35mm f/2 also marks the beginning of what Light Lens Lab calls its new Apochromatic Series – and the optical specification certainly suggests the company is aiming high.

The design incorporates four aspherical elements alongside multiple elements manufactured using ultra-low-dispersion and anomalous partial-dispersion glass, with the intention of controlling chromatic aberrations while delivering high levels of sharpness across the frame.

A newly developed high-transmission multilayer coating has also been employed, to further suppress chromatic aberration and purple fringing.

Light Lens Lab says the lens has been designed to deliver excellent distortion control, edge-to-edge performance and smooth out-of-focus rendering, while maintaining natural transitions between areas that are in and out of focus.

That combination should make the 35mm f/2 an interesting proposition for Leica M photographers who want a lens capable of producing plenty of detail without sacrificing the character and rendering that often make rangefinder lenses so appealing in the first place.

Perhaps one of its most interesting features, however, is just how close it can focus. The new 35mm f/2 has a minimum focusing distance of just 0.3 meters, considerably closer than the traditional rangefinder-coupled focusing distance offered by many Leica M lenses.

Light Lens Lab has incorporated a floating optical system designed to maintain consistent image quality throughout the focusing range, which should make that close-focusing capability genuinely useful rather than simply an additional number on the specification sheet.

Naturally, taking full advantage of 0.3m focusing on a traditional Leica M body will require Live View or an electronic viewfinder once you move beyond the rangefinder-coupled distance.

There is plenty going on mechanically, too, with Light Lens Lab saying that its high-precision optical and mechanical components have been developed in-house. Miniature bearings are used within the focusing mechanism to provide smooth and accurate operation, and buyers can choose between two different barrel designs.

There is a smooth version without knurling for a particularly clean and understated appearance, or a close-focus-knurled version that adds additional grip. Both versions use exactly the same optical design, although the smooth barrel is a limited-time configuration that will only remain available to order until the end of December 2026.

Anyone placing an order should be prepared for a little patience, however. Light Lens Lab says the complexity of manufacturing its apochromatic optics means each lens will initially be produced and assembled individually.

Smooth-barrel versions are expected to begin shipping from September 30 2026, with fulfillment continuing through November, while the knurled model is scheduled to begin shipping in December 2026 and continue into January 2027.

With four aspherical elements, floating optics, enviable close focusing and that compact Leica M format, this looks like one of Light Lens Lab’s most ambitious lenses yet – and certainly one I would be very interested to put on the front of an M camera.

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There are few cameras I would be more nervous about attacking with a spanner than a Leica M, but apparently there is now a tool for that – or, more accurately, an entire kit of them.

Currently eBay is packed with inexpensive aftermarket repair tools designed to help owners dismantle and service classic Leica cameras at home, raising an interesting question:

With the cost and waiting time associated with professional servicing, is it finally worth learning how to perform your own CLA?

CLA, for those unfamiliar with the term, stands for clean, lubricate and adjust, and it is something that mechanical Leica cameras can benefit from as they get older.

The interesting part is just how accessible the specialist tools have become. Current eBay listings include 6- and 9-piece wrench and clamp sets advertised for Leica M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M7 and MP bodies, with prices starting at just over $20.

I found one 9-piece kit on eBay UK for around £21, while another aluminum-alloy set was listed at £27.57. In the US, similar kits currently range from around $23 to $42 depending on the set and seller.

These aren't simply generic screwdrivers, either. The kits contain specialist-sized tools intended to remove components such as flash-socket rings, film-advance parts, viewfinder and rangefinder fittings, rewind controls and other circular fittings without resorting to the sort of pliers-based brutality that makes Leica collectors shudder.

Some sets are also advertised for screw-mount Leica cameras, while there are individual specialist tools available for more particular jobs. In other words, obtaining the equipment required to start taking apart a classic Leica has never been less difficult or expensive.

And that is where things become tempting. A mechanical Leica was built to be maintained – and these cameras have already demonstrated that, with the correct servicing, they can remain usable for many decades.

If you are mechanically minded, understand how a rangefinder works and are comfortable working with tiny precision components, spending $20-$50 on a set of tools could open the door to maintaining your own camera rather than shipping it away every time something becomes stiff, dirty or slightly out of adjustment.

With the price of virtually everything increasing, there is certainly a financial argument for learning the skill.

There is also the time factor. Sending a Leica away means packaging up a camera that might be worth thousands, waiting for it to be assessed, and then waiting again for the work to be completed.

Leica itself maintains a worldwide repair network staffed by factory-trained technicians, and says its service is intended to maintain the quality, precision, longevity and value of its products.

That expertise is precisely what you are paying for – but having the ability to carry out straightforward maintenance yourself could be enormously appealing to experienced DIY users who don't want their camera out of action whenever it needs attention.

Personally, my DIY abilities are enough to make the decision extremely easy: I would happily pay somebody who knows what they are doing. Give me a $25 Leica repair kit, and there is a very good chance that my innocent attempt at a CLA would rapidly become a much more expensive professional repair.

Removing the correct part is only the beginning. Knowing what to lubricate, how much lubricant to use, what should be left alone, how to correctly tension and adjust mechanisms, and how to calibrate a rangefinder afterwards is where the real skill lies.

Owning a Leica wrench does not suddenly make you a Leica technician in much the same way that owning a scalpel doesn't make you a surgeon.

There is also something else to consider: these cameras have value far beyond simply being photographic tools. A Leica M3, M2 or M6 can be an extremely valuable piece of equipment, and one slip of a tool can damage a screw, mark a top plate or turn a relatively simple service into a search for replacement parts.

When Leica talks about professional servicing preserving the quality and intrinsic value of its products, that point shouldn't be ignored.

However, I don't think these inexpensive tools should be dismissed – quite the opposite.

For photographers who already repair cameras, watches or other precision mechanical equipment, or those prepared to properly learn the process on something considerably less valuable before touching their prized Leica, they potentially open up an entirely new side to camera ownership.

There is something rather satisfying about the idea of not only shooting a 50- or 60-year-old mechanical camera, but also possessing the skills needed to keep it running for another generation.

So should you service your Leica at home? For most owners, I still think the answer is no. A proper professional CLA remains the safest and, in my opinion, best option for a valuable Leica.

But the fact that the specialist tools required to tackle these jobs can now be bought for the price of a couple of rolls of film certainly opens the door a little wider for those far more DIY-savvy than me.

With servicing costs rising and photographers increasingly reluctant to be separated from their cameras for extended periods, I can understand exactly why people are tempted. Just remember: the cheap part is buying the tools. Knowing how to use them is where the real investment begins.

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Just under a month ago, I wrote an article titled: A goat versus Gaza: Leica's award shortlist highlights one of the biggest challenges in photography contests.

The point of my piece is that when it comes to merit, it's difficult to separate an image from a warzone against an image of a goat, especially when the former provokes such strong emotional reactions.

Well, turns out there were even bigger challenges to come for the organizers of Leica's 2026 Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA).

First, some context. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, athletes, artists and cultural figures from the former have been locked out of a range of international contests and events, regardless of their personal politics or whether they actually live in Russia.

FIFA, the IOC and Wimbledon's organizers have imposed blanket or partial bans on Russian participation, arguing that neutrality is impossible while the war continues and that representation risks being used as propaganda by the state.

Cultural institutions have followed suit; canceling exhibitions, performances and more, with a special focus on people tied to Russian state bodies.

Now Leica has done the same, removing Valery Melnikov– a Russian documentary photographer based in Moscow – from its Oskar Barnack Award shortlist.

His series, Mariupol: Open Wounds, had previously been selected by the jury and published alongside the other 11 finalists in July.

Now it's gone, following what Leica describes as a legal and compliance review, and following weeks of pressure from Ukrainian photographers and critics.

What the series focused on

Situated on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, Mariupol was once the tenth largest city in Ukraine. In 2022, a three-month-long siege by Russian forces largely destroyed it.

Still under Russian control today, the BBC reports that residents regularly experience clean water shortages, frequent power cuts and severe shortages of basic medicines.

Melnikov's project focuses on residents who stayed in Mariupol after Russia's siege of the city in 2022, and on what he calls the unbearable humanitarian consequences that followed. It's serious, sustained documentary work: he's been shooting in the region since 2022 and, by his own account, it's a personal project rather than a commissioned one.

The trouble is context – or rather the lack of it. Ukrainian photographer Serhii Korovainyi, who has covered the war extensively, complained there was no mention of who killed tens of thousands of civilians in the city or who destroyed it.

The Kyiv Independent went further, describing Melnikov as a Kremlin media-linked photographer and detailing his association with Rossiya Segodnya, the state media group that owns Russia Today, for which he's worked since 2009.

Melnikov doesn't dispute this connection; he says it's always been public knowledge and that it didn't stop the jury from selecting his work in the first place. And it's undeniable that he has a point. Since being shortlisted, the facts haven't changed – only the scrutiny.

As someone who's visited wartime Ukraine as a journalist, and who has Ukrainian family members myself, it's tough to be unbiased. But if I try to leave my personal feelings aside, I can see there is a fundamental issue of principle here. Does the context belong to the image or to the caption?

Melnikov's photographs, on their own, show injury, loss and endurance. But they don't, in themselves, assign blame. And his critics argue that omission isn't neutral in a war where responsibility is disputed and where Russia continues to occupy the city he's photographing.

Institutions that platform such work, the argument goes, inherit some responsibility for the framing around it, whether they intend to or not.

That's not, however, a standard that the photography world applies consistently. Plenty of war photography arrives without an editorial essay attached and juries have traditionally judged the image itself, not the photographer's employer.

What's the criteria?

If access, affiliation and biography become part of the selection criteria after the fact, maybe contests need to be far more explicit about that from the outset, rather than making the call once public pressure builds.

On a practical level, photographers who get sustained access to occupied territory rarely do so without some relationship to the authorities controlling it.

Try shooting in Gaza, for instance, without being at least cordial with Hamas. That doesn't automatically discredit your images, but it does imply a need for clear, consistent policy on affiliation before a contest shortlists anyone.

So far, Leica hasn't said if it will revise its selection criteria for future editions of LOBA – and it's not obvious what a workable policy would even look like.

Excluding anyone with state media ties would rule out a great deal of conflict photography produced under authoritarian regimes, where independent access simply doesn't exist. Meanwhile, does the BBC for instance count as state media?

The rabbit holes are many.

What's certain is that the 11 left on the shortlist, including Saher Alghorra's Gaza series and Anush Babajanyan's work on the Aral Sea, will now be judged and exhibited under a cloud that has nothing to do with their own images.

Moreover, the old assumption that a jury judges the photograph and leaves the photographer's politics at the door clearly no longer holds in all situations.

Anyone entering, commissioning or judging documentary work needs to bear all this in mind, if similar controversies are to be avoided in the future.

The Leica M240 was launched back in 2012 and, looking at it through the lens of 2026, I think it is remarkable just how far ahead of its time this camera really was. It arrived as Leica’s new-generation full-frame digital rangefinder, built around a 24MP CMOS sensor that, at the time, felt seriously impressive.

Today, when 40MP, 60MP and even 100MP cameras are increasingly commonplace, 24MP might not sound particularly exciting, but I would argue that it remains more than enough for the vast majority of photography. For social media, online publishing, editorial work and even decent-sized prints, those 24MP files still have plenty of resolution to work with.

But the specification that fascinates me most today is one that many photographers probably dismissed back in 2012: FullHD (1080p) video. Video on a Leica M seemed almost unnecessary at the time – and there were certainly plenty of Leica purists who wondered why it was there at all.

Fast-forward to 2026, however, and we live in the age of the content creator, where photographers increasingly want one camera that can shoot great stills while also grabbing a few clips of B-roll for Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or other platforms.

Suddenly, Leica putting video into the M240 doesn’t seem quite so pointless. In fact, I think Leica was way ahead of the curve – and I should know, because I own an M240 myself, and it has become the camera I use every single day.

There is another Leica M240 feature that I think deserves far more attention: the ability to change the rangefinder framelines from the traditional white to a much more prominent red. It might sound like a tiny thing on a specification sheet but, having actually used it, I think it is brilliant.

Those vibrant red framelines stand out against practically anything I point the camera toward, making it incredibly easy to see my framing quickly and decisively.

It has genuinely changed the way I compose with an M camera, particularly when working quickly, and it is one of those seemingly small features that you only fully appreciate once you have lived with it. I wish Leica had kept the option on its later M cameras.

Then there is the baseplate. Leica has always had its own ideas about how photographers should access storage and batteries, but the M240 had a wonderfully simple trick hidden underneath: the rubber SD card cover could be removed from the baseplate, enabling you to swap cards without taking off the entire plate.

Again it sounds insignificant until you are actually shooting, but it makes changing cards considerably quicker. On current Leica M cameras you no longer remove a traditional baseplate, but accessing the SD card still means removing the battery first. In some respects, the older M240 actually feels more convenient.

Yes, modern cameras increasingly offer USB-C transfer, and you can connect a cable and offload images without physically removing the SD card at all. That is undoubtedly useful in the right circumstances but, when I am actively shooting, I would much rather pull out a full card, slot in a fresh one and carry on.

Connecting cables, transferring files and managing storage while out working feels far more cumbersome than a straightforward card swap. Sometimes progress is not necessarily about adding more technology; occasionally, the simplest solution was already sitting there more than a decade ago.

That is why I genuinely believe the Leica M240 remains a fantastic camera in 2026. It might be 14 years old, and there are obviously newer Leica M bodies with higher-resolution sensors, better screens and more modern connectivity, but the fundamental photographic experience remains remarkably relevant.

You still get that unmistakable Leica M shooting experience, excellent 24MP files, video when you need it and even a few clever touches that later cameras abandoned. Better still, used examples can now be found for a fraction of what a new Leica M costs.

For anyone who has always wanted to experience a digital Leica rangefinder without paying modern Leica money, the M240 might not simply be an old Leica worth considering — it could actually be one of the smartest Leica buys you can make today.

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Leica is a camera company that has always dared to be different and do things that other camera makers wouldn't dare to do. This approach has proved to be a great success in recent years – and has brought the German company record-breaking profits.

While continuing with both its iconic digital and film rangefinder cameras, Leica has diversified into other areas. It continued to make compact cameras when others gave up on them – partly through its own Q range, but also in collaboration with Fujifilm and Panasonic.

Working closely with other companies has become part of the Leica success story, with Xiaomi on camera phones and founding the L-Mount Alliance for mirrorless lens production.

On a recent trip to the company's Wetzlar HQ for the launch of the Leica SL3-P, I had the opportunity to talk to Andrea Pacella, Leica's VP of global marketing and communications, and quiz him to find out more about Leica's innovative approach…

Not to speak of autofocus; autofocus was invented by Leica. You can see it in the museum – the first autofocus cameras were developed by Leica. The project was called Correfot, and it was a real idea for autofocus. But I don't know if they didn't believe in it, weren't able to produce it industrially, or didn't have enough money to develop the project.

What happened is that the project was shifted to Minolta, who at the time was Leica's partner for electronics. Minolta was the first to launch an autofocus SLR camera with the Maxxum 7000. Leica was not able to hop on the autofocus SLR train, so we progressively lost ground.

Then we entered the 2000s, when Leica was also late on digital. We caught up with the M8 and then the M9, and then we were back on track. We developed the S camera system, which was a DSLR, but it was big, had limited lenses, was medium format, and very expensive, so it was a very niche product.

At a certain point, the idea was: "What do we do? Do we go on with DSLRs?" No, because developing another one was no longer where the market was heading. "Can we only live with the M system?" We didn't know if that was feasible long-term.

Then came the great idea to be among the first to move to full-frame digital mirrorless cameras. If you think back to 2015 when Leica came out with the first SL, the only full-frame mirrorless system on the market was Sony's. Nikon and Canon were still making DSLRs; they were very late.

So we were among the first, and we made a good decision to say, "Okay, we need to serve professional photographers. We need to give our customers an alternative to the M system."

We dared to try it and developed the first SL. That then became the SL2, then the SL3, up to the latest iteration, the SL3-S. So it was the right move to make.

The problem was that when we launched the first SL, there was no established mirrorless market. Sony was only selling the A7 series at the time, and it was half the price of our Leica SL. What changed later was that our competitors saw that Leica was having success in the higher price segment.

In the last five to six years, our competitors also started releasing flagship cameras at high prices – at "Leica prices." Sony added the A9 and then the A1. Canon brought in high-end mirrorless models like the R3 and R1 series.

They all brought in top-tier cameras, and paradoxically, if you look at the price lists – knowing street price is another story – the Leica SL is not the most expensive camera on the market any more. Canon, Nikon, and Sony all have cameras that cost as much or more than a Leica.

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Leica has rolled out a slew of firmware updates for a host of its cameras.

Firmware version 4.1.1 for the Leica Q3, Q3 43 and Q3 Monochrom forms the meat of the news, while smaller and seemingly less important updates have been rolled out for the Leica SL2 and SL2-S along with the D-Lux 8.

The company hasn't gone too in-depth with the details but, from what I can gather, the Q3 cameras get important fixes for bugs affecting auto-shutdown and remote app control, while the SL2 models and D-Lux 8 see their operational stability bolstered.

Leica firmware downloads

Here are the firmware downloads, all of which I’ll explain below:

Download firmware 4.1.1 (Leica Q3 / Q3 43 / Q3 Monochrom)

Download Firmware 1.9.0 (Leica D-Lux 8)

Download firmware 6.3.0 (Leica SL2 and Leica SL2-S)

It’s a good idea to hold off downloading the latest firmware for a few weeks. This should give enough time for any new issues to arise in community chatter, and for Leica to address them. Keep an eye on Digital Camera World and we'll let you know about any problems.

Firmware 4.1.1 (Leica Q3 / Q3 43 / Q3 Monochrom)

The Leica Q3 series brings high-end, full-frame compact digital cameras known for their solid build quality, 60MP sensor, and fixed prime lenses. Firmware 4.1.1 brings a trio of main updates for these cameras:

• A fix for a bug preventing the camera from turning off automatically during wireless charging in “certain situations”. Leica hasn’t elaborated on what these are, but has confirmed the Q3 models now turn off automatically as soon as wireless charging is detected.
• A fix for a bug causing the camera to unexpectedly switch to the default user profile in “certain situations”. Again, we don't know what the exact situations were, but if you were facing it, Leica says the issue is now resolved.
• A fix for a bug causing Bluetooth connection failure between the Leica Fotos mobile app and a Q3 camera after a remote wake-up with certain Leica Looks (in-camera profiles) or AF mode settings applied. Leica hasn’t clarified which Looks or AF settings were triggering the error.

Firmware 1.9.0 (Leica D-Lux 8)

The Leica D-Lux 8 is a premium pocket-sized compact camera featuring a 17MP Micro Four Thirds sensor and a fast 24–75mm equivalent f/1.7–2.8 zoom lens.

Leica says that the latest firmware fixes existing “bugs in the firmware” without going into any details whatsoever. This is likely a routine firmware update to maintain stability.

Firmware 6.3.0 (Leica SL2 and Leica SL2-S)

The Leica SL2 and Leica SL2-S are full-frame mirrorless rigs sharing the same weather-sealed metal body and in-body image stabilization, but featuring different sensor resolution, speed, and video capabilities.

Leica hasn’t published release notes for firmware version 6.3.0, so we don’t actually know what the update entails. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any new information and update this article accordingly.

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Steve McCurry is probably one of the best-known living photographers – famous for his National Geographic shoots and that mesmerizing shot of the Afghan Girl, which he shot in 1984 on Kodachrome using a Nikon FM2 with a Nikkor 105mm lens.

Aged 76, McCurry is still very actively shooting new images today. And when I bumped into him at the recent Leica SL3-P launch in Germany, I was amazed to find out that the legendary Magnum photographer almost always uses just one lens today: a Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4 Asph zoom.

"I do about 95% of all my shooting with that one lens, whether it's corporate, advertising or personal work", he explains.

In fact, he hasn't just gone down to using this one fast standard zoom; he has also stripped down his whole camera kit.

"In the really old days, I used to have a camera bag with all my stuff," he recalls. "Then I went from that to a photo vest with two cameras, both with fixed lenses, lots of film and maybe a third lens.

"My system now is a 24-90mm lens, one body, a few cards and a couple of batteries. I have no bag, nothing – just cards and batteries in a pocket."

McCurry switched from Nikon with the launch of the Leica SL2 back in 2019 – but it wasn't a move that he made on a whim, or simply because Leica was keen to have him on board.

"I did a very careful analysis," he explained. "I took my Nikon, I took the Leica, and I shot test pictures in the studio and went on the street. I took some of my assistants out. We did some portraits. We did kind of a chart, and we did this over some days.

"It became evident that the Leica lenses were crisper, sharper, had better resolution. It just became obvious that that was a direction that I should go in, after all that careful analysis.

"What really matters is the print. I print every day in my Pennsylvania studio. Every day we're printing for books, for exhibitions, so printing is really an important thing. I need a lens that's really going to make pictures that result in great prints, and that's what I'm achieving with this SL series.

"I look at a lot of my pictures from before Leica and after Leica, and I'm noticing that with the Leica SL series, I could make much bigger prints for exhibitions than I ever could with film or with the Nikon".

Despite his former love for Kodachrome, McCurry doesn't chase after the old color slide film look with his digital cameras.

"When I work with my retoucher, I'm just trying to get the picture to look like what I saw when I was shooting. I'm never trying to achieve a Kodachrome look or a film look," he explains.

"I'm just trying to get it right and capture something that feels genuine. It's not really about the color; it's more about the emotion, the storytelling aspect of the picture. So for me, yeah, I love good, rich color – but it has to support the story".

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DK-Optic has released a new lens for Leica M-mount cameras. The Chiaro 1.5-inch (38mm) f/1.9 lens has been designed as a tribute to the classic Dallmeyer Super Six lens design from the 1930s, which shared the same f/1.9 aperture and was famed for its distinctive painterly bokeh and ethereal image quality. It also explains why the lens's focal length is given in inches rather than millimetres, as that's the unit of measurement used by the classic lens. To quote DK-Optic:

“The Super Six 1.5-inch f/1.9 stands as one of the most legendary standard-focal-length lenses in the realm of painterly optics. In its era, it represented the absolute pinnacle of balancing extreme resolving power with dream-like bokeh. The unique “3D Pop” it delivers wide open remains just as highly coveted today as it was decades ago. Driven by pure passion, DK-Optic has flawlessly paid homage to this masterpiece, combining its vintage soul with the extreme precision of modern industrial manufacturing.”

DK-Optic's Super Six recreation stays true to the original, copying the same 6-element, 4-group optical stack, "rejecting the sterile, dry perfection of modern lenses" to instead replicate the vintage lens's image quality characteristics. Wide open at f/1.9, the Chiaro 1.5-inch is said to deliver "mesmerizing 3D spatial separation (subject isolation). The in-focus areas maintain astonishing sharpness, while the out-of-focus areas rapidly melt away into a signature, highly painterly bokeh." Sharpness and contrast increase as you stop down.

The lens is hand-made in DK-Optic's bespoke workshop using techniques like 5-axis CNC machining of core brass components, as well as grinding decades-old new old stock optical glass. The lens barrel is constructed from high-strength 7075 aerospace-grade aluminum, while the core focusing helicoid and aperture mechanics are machined from aerospace-grade brass, which DK-Optic says provides an "unmatched, buttery-smooth tactile feel".

Though a Chinese lens, don't assume the Chiaro 1.5-inch f/1.9 is just another ultra-low-cost optic. It's priced at $1,600, which evidently reflects the bespoke craftsmanship that's gone in to designing and making the lens. Although by Leica M-mount lens standards, even at this price the Chiaro 1.5-inch f/1.9 is reactively accessible.

Last time we looked at the compact camera rankings from Japanese retailer Yodobashi, we saw a brand-new release skyrocketing to No.1. Panasonic's newest premium compact, the Lumix L10, reached the top position just 12 days after its launch. Now, the retailer reports that the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III is the new No.1 compact, despite the fact that it was released nearly seven years ago.

Famously hard to find in stock, the G7 X Mark III can now command second-hand prices higher than its original retail price of $879.99 / £899.99. For example, it's currently out of stock at US retailer B&H, while used examples are listed on MPB for around $1,499.

While there's no sign of the Lumix L10 in the first half of July 2026 rankings, the best waterproof camera returns: the OM System Tough TG-7. The rankings reflect just how diverse the compact camera market has become, but product shortages remain significant, with the top three compact cameras currently on backorder at Yodobashi.com.

Yodobashi's top selling compacts, 1st Half Jul 2026

1. Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III | Black | Silver (backordered)
2. Canon PowerShot SX740 HS / Lite | Silver | Black (backordered)
3. Fujifilm X100VI | Silver | Black (backordered)
4. Panasonic Lumix TZ99 / ZS99 | Black | White
5. Sony ZV-1 II | Black | White
6. Canon IXY 650 / Powershot Elph 360 HS A / Ixus 285 HS A | Black | Silver
7. Panasonic Lumix TX3 / ZS300 / TZ300 | Black | Graphite Silver
8. Leica Q3 43
9. Kodak Pixpro C1 | Brown | Black
10. OM System Tough TG-7 | Red | Black

"Yodobashi Camera Best Sellers Top Ten" announces the best-selling rankings from the shopping site "Yodobashi.com" and all 24 Yodobashi Camera stores nationwide.

Japan's champion: Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III 

The Canon G7 X series has long rivalled Sony's RX100 line, but its appeal is less about winning the spec sheet and more about portability, image quality and ease of use.

The G7 Mark III combines a 1-inch sensor with a compact body and straightforward controls, making it an appealing alternative to both smartphones and larger mirrorless or DSLR cameras.

That balance has helped the G7 X become something of a cult camera. These cameras prove that you don't always need the latest specs – just tools that get out of the way and let you create.

Why is the Canon G7 X Mark III so expensive second-hand?

The G7 X Mark III's popularity has created an at-first-glance unusual situation for an older camera: used prices can now be higher than its original retail price.

But the G7 X Mark III isn't alone in benefiting from the renewed interest in older compacts.

Social media has helped fuel a point-and-shoot revival, with creators and photographers celebrating cameras that offer a different look and shooting experience from a smartphone.

The G7 X Mark III has become one of the standout examples of that trend.

With the camera now difficult to find in stock, that popularity has collided with limited supply – pushing second-hand prices well above what you'd normally expect from a camera release in 2019.

Back after three month: OM System Tough TG-7

The other notable camera in Yodobashi's latest rankings is the OM System Tough TG-7, which re-enters the Top 10 at No.10 after a three-month absence.

Unlike the G7 X Mark III, the TG-7 is built for adventure. It's waterproof, shockproof and dustproof, with a 4x zoom, RAW shooting, 4K video and useful macro mode.

It will be interesting to see if the G7 X Mark III can defend its No.1 spot, and whether the Panasonic Lumix L10 returns to the chart.

For now, though, the G7 X Mark III shows that newer doesn't always mean more desirable – especially when it comes to the point-and-shoot revival.

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I was recently in Wetzlar, Germany, the home of Leica for the launch of the high-octane Leica SL3-P full-frame mirrorless camera.

During one of the presentations, Leica's VP of global marketing and communications, Andrea Pacella, told the assembled influencers and members of the press what the best-selling Leica was. And I was shocked by what I found out.

It wasn't the Leica M range of rangefinder cameras, which built the company's reputation. It wasn't the popular D-Lux 8, which has enjoyed a great success thanks to the rising popularity of compact cameras. And it was not the Sofort 2, Leica's most affordable camera.

No, the best seller is the Leica Q range of full-frame compacts that cost upwards of $7,350 / £5,650. We love the Q3 range but, with those luxury price tags, I was gobsmacked that it was these models that sold so well.

I got to sit down with Andrea Pacella to quiz him on just why the ten-year-old Leica Q range has been such a sales success.

"The idea that there could be a market for a €5,000 compact camera in a world destined to be dominated by the smartphone – where compact cameras were selling less and less – was bold," Pacella explains.

Then he points out that Leica has a long history of bold launches – right from Ernst Leitz II's decision to risk it all on Oskar Barnack's idea of a handheld camera over 100 years ago.

Acts of courage

"There were many acts of courage after that. Launching the Leicaflex SL2, the M3, and crucially, not giving up the rangefinder when it seemed completely dead in the 1970s.

"The M5 was not successful; the market was moving toward SLRs, and the Japanese manufacturers were invading the market with cameras. There seemed to be no more space for Leica," Pacella continues.

"The same courage applied to not stopping production on film cameras when we were selling only a few hundred per year. We kept the production lines, we kept the machines, and we kept the knowledge. Then, when the rebirth of film happened – and now it is a massive hype – we were there. We were the only ones.

"We have taken a lot of these bold, brave decisions in our history; it is rooted in the Leica mentality".

The secret of the Q's success

"We didn't understand it at the time, but the product managers believed in it and eventually convinced us. What made the first Leica Q so successful was that 28mm is the exact field of view people are used to on their smartphones. The angle of view you got on an iPhone was a 28mm equivalent.

"This meant that a lot of people who weren't used to traditional photography, who weren't passionate photographers and maybe didn't even know who Henri Cartier-Bresson or Elliott Erwitt were, or what aperture and ISO meant, found a comfortable, familiar view when they looked through the camera.

"These are small things, but they are incredibly important. The other crucial factor was keeping the form factor of the M system. From a distance, the Q looks like an M. I often describe the Q as a Leica M that is easier to use, featuring a view that everyone is already comfortable with, and costing less than an M lens alone.

"At the beginning, some people would joke, 'You pay for the lens and get the camera for free'. But if you think about how much a standalone M-mount Summilux 28mm f/1.4 lens costs, the lens alone costs as much as the entire Q camera.

"It was a combination of well-thought-out, courageous elements. When you shoot with a Leica Q and see the pictures, you are blown away.

"People started understanding the beauty of shooting at f/1.4 on a full-frame sensor – having the subject in sharp focus while everything else softens away. It gives a pleasure to the eye that you simply cannot get with a smartphone."

Sales figures

Today, Leica offers a choice of three Q cameras: the standard Q3 with its 28mm lens, the Q3 Monochrom with its black-and-white sensor, and the more recent Leica Q3 43. So which is the most popular of the trio, and by how much?

Of the three, it is the Monochrom that turns out to be the niche product.

"The Monochrom was another very courageous act", explains Pacella. "I remember the comments at the time: 'They are crazy. They are arrogant. How do they think they can sell a camera that only shoots black-and-white for more money than a camera that shoots color?'

"The Monochrom cameras are a sort of act of appreciation for our core customers. We don't make them strictly for volume; we could sell the same total number of cameras just by making them in color.

"They don't fundamentally change the overall volume of the system, but they are a thank-you to the people who love that medium."

And the winner is…

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A rare Leica APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. prototype created during the development of the one-of-a-kind Leica M for (RED) is heading to auction. According to Leica Rumors, the lens will be offered at the next Wetzlar Camera Auctions sale, which is scheduled to take place in Wetzlar, Germany, on October 10, 2026.

The prototype dates from around 2012 and was designed as part of the celebrated Leica project led by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and industrial designer Marc Newson.

The lens was developed on behalf of the charitable organization (RED), which commissioned Ive and Newson to create a completely reimagined version of the Leica M rangefinder.

Although manufactured by Leica, the camera and its accompanying APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH. lens featured a radically different appearance from the company’s traditional M-system products, with their exterior surfaces produced using a specially formulated metal alloy.

The prototype heading to auction does not carry a serial number and has a different design from the finished lens that was eventually paired with the unique Leica M for (RED).

This makes it more than just an unusual finish applied to a standard APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH.; it represents one of the experimental stages in the creation of a camera that would go on to become one of the most recognizable Leica special editions ever produced.

The final Leica M for (RED) replaced the familiar leather covering found on most Leica M cameras with a finely textured, laser-machined anodized aluminum exterior. More than 21,000 tiny hemispheres formed the distinctive surface, while both the camera body and lens were created from the custom-engineered alloy. Leica says that 561 models and approximately 1,000 prototype components were produced during the project’s 85-day development period, demonstrating just how much work went into creating the single finished camera.

That finished Leica M for (RED), equipped with a full-frame CMOS sensor and the specially designed APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH., was sold at Sotheby’s in New York in November 2013. The camera achieved a remarkable $1.8 million, far exceeding its original estimate, with proceeds from the wider (RED) auction supporting the Global Fund’s work against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa.

Although this upcoming lot is only the prototype lens rather than the complete $1.8 million camera, its lack of a serial number, alternative design and direct connection to Ive and Newson’s creative process should make it an enticing piece of Leica history.

Wetzlar Camera Auctions has not revealed how much the lens is expected to achieve. Still, its status as a surviving prototype from one of Leica’s most ambitious design collaborations could generate considerable interest when bidding begins on October 10.

According to Leica Rumors, a new limited-edition Lailens LTM 50mm f/1.1 KP lens has been released in Japan, offering Leica M photographers an exceptionally fast, rangefinder-coupled optic with some serious vintage inspiration.

The new lens pays homage to the celebrated Kino Plasmat 5cm f/1.5 from pre-war Germany, attempting to recreate its distinctive character for modern photographers. Production will be restricted to just 70 lenses worldwide, making this a particularly rare addition to the growing market for alternative Leica M glass.

The Lailens LTM 50mm f/1.1 KP reportedly began as a passion project after a young developer connected with the enthusiasm of an experienced vintage-lens collector. Lens designer DJ was then commissioned to develop a modern interpretation of the classic design, preserving the spirit of the original Kino Plasmat rather than simply producing another technically perfect contemporary 50mm lens.

The result is intended to combine the atmosphere of an old optical design with the convenience of a lens that can be used on today’s full-frame rangefinder and mirrorless cameras.

Wide open at f/1.1, the lens promises an extremely shallow depth of field, rich bokeh and a soft, almost oil-painting-like quality. Rather than prioritising clinical sharpness and perfectly corrected results, the Lailens is designed to gently blur fine details, highlights and the edges of a subject, producing images with what its manufacturer describes as a fantastical atmosphere.

It is the kind of deliberately characterful rendering that could make the lens particularly appealing for portraits, nighttime photography and more experimental everyday shooting.

Despite that enormous f/1.1 aperture, the lens measures approximately 44.5mm in length and weighs around 308g, so it should remain relatively manageable when attached to a Leica M camera.

It offers a minimum focusing distance of 0.5m, a 52mm filter thread and a manual aperture range running from f/1.1 to f/16. The official specification lists a 13-bladed aperture, while rangefinder coupling is supported, although the closest coupled focusing distance may depend on the camera being used. Black and silver versions will both be available.

The Lailens LTM 50mm f/1.1 KP is priced at ¥138,800 in Japan and is supplied with a lens hood, front and rear caps, a lens case and an L39-to-M adapter ring. With only 70 examples planned for worldwide production, availability outside Japan may prove limited, but its combination of an ultra-fast aperture, compact construction and intentionally nostalgic rendering could make it highly desirable among Leica photographers and collectors searching for something a little less conventional.

See our guide to the best Leica M lenses

The Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. is now in its third generation, and this latest version brings one of the M system’s most versatile focal lengths firmly into the modern era.

Combining a fast f/2 aperture, a compact aspherical design, an integrated hood, and a new 0.4m close-focusing distance, it promises classic Leica handling with greater flexibility than ever before. I tested it on the new Leica M EV1 to see whether this £4,700 / $6,000 lens can justify its considerable price.

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. Specifications

Mount: Leica M-mount
Lens design: 9 Elements in 6 Groups
Maximum aperture: f/2
Minimum aperture: f/16
Angle of view: 74°
Minimum focusing distance: 1.3' / 40 cm
Filter size: 46 mm
Dimensions: 2.3 x L: 2.2" / ø: 58 x L: 55 mm
Weight: 9.7 oz / 275 g

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. key features

The Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH., model 11618, represents the third generation of Leica’s fast 28mm lens for the M system. It takes the traditional qualities associated with an M lens – compact dimensions, mechanical controls, premium construction and a clear focus on photographic simplicity – and updates them for the latest generation of digital Leica cameras.

Its 28mm focal length makes it an extremely versatile option for documentary, travel, street, and environmental portrait photography. It is wide enough to include plenty of context within the frame, but it does not immediately introduce the more extreme perspective effects associated with wider focal lengths. For photographers who like to work with a single lens, 28mm can cover a surprisingly broad range of subjects.

The fast f/2 maximum aperture adds another layer of versatility. It allows the lens to be used comfortably in lower light while also providing some control over depth of field, particularly when working near the new 0.4m minimum focusing distance. A 28mm lens will never produce the same dramatic subject separation as a fast 50mm or 75mm optic, but the combination of f/2 and close focusing makes it possible to isolate details while still retaining a sense of the surrounding environment.

Aspherical elements are used to help maintain strong image quality while keeping the lens compact. This is one of the core appeals of Leica’s modern M lenses: they deliver impressive optical performance without turning the camera into a large or cumbersome system.

The biggest practical development is the extension of the focusing range from the traditional 0.7m limit down to 0.4m. The lens remains mechanically coupled to the rangefinder between infinity and 0.7m, while focusing between 0.7m and 0.4m requires Live View or an electronic viewfinder.

This model also features the built-in retractable hood that is becoming increasingly common across Leica’s newer close-focus lenses. I particularly like its implementation on the 28mm Summicron-M. It keeps the overall package neat, removes the need to carry a separate hood, and feels entirely in keeping with the compact philosophy of the M system.

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. Build and handling

The Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. is built to an outstanding standard, exactly as you would expect from Leica. Its metal construction feels substantial without making the lens unnecessarily heavy, and every control has the precision required from a fully manual lens at this level.

Mounted on a Leica M camera, it creates a wonderfully compact and well-balanced package. The 28mm Summicron-M feels reassuringly solid in the hand, yet it is small enough to carry for an entire day without becoming a burden. That compactness is an important part of the lens’s appeal, especially when compared with fast 28mm lenses designed for larger autofocus mirrorless systems.

The built-in hood is one of my favourite aspects of the design. It slides smoothly into position when required and retracts neatly when it is not needed. There are no separate accessories to attach, remove, or potentially lose, and the hood does not disrupt the clean silhouette of the lens.

The manual focusing action is beautifully smooth and offers enough resistance to make precise adjustments without feeling slow. Leica has also incorporated a noticeable stopping point when the lens reaches 0.7m. From there, you deliberately push the focusing mechanism further to enter the extended close-focus range between 0.7m and 0.4m.

I found this particularly encouraging in use. You can clearly feel the transition when the camera is held to your eye, so there is never any confusion about whether you have moved beyond the range that can be focused through a traditional optical rangefinder. It is a small mechanical detail, but one that makes the expanded focusing range feel intuitive rather than awkward.

The aperture ring is equally impressive. It is incredibly responsive, with positive clicks that are easy to feel when the camera is held to your eye. This makes it straightforward to make quick exposure adjustments without lowering the camera or checking the position of the aperture markings.

I tested the lens on the new Leica M EV1, and I have to say that the combination works incredibly well. The compact dimensions of the lens suit the body perfectly, while the electronic viewfinder lets you make full use of the close-focus range without changing how you operate the camera.

On a Leica M11-P or another optical rangefinder-equipped M camera, reaching the close-focus range means switching to Live View and relying on the rear LCD screen. That can interrupt the otherwise fluid experience of shooting through the optical finder. The M EV1 eliminates this slightly strange operational change.

With the EVF held to your eye, you can continue focusing smoothly from infinity all the way down to 0.4m. Focus magnification and electronic focusing aids also make it much easier to confirm critical focus, particularly when working at f/2 or f/2.8.

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. Performance

The images produced by the Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. are fantastic. At its maximum aperture, the lens delivers a lovely combination of detail and character. Images remain sharp, but they do not feel overly harsh or sterile, and there is a pleasing transition between areas that are in and out of focus.

Shooting at f/2 also gives the lens a distinct visual quality. There is enough separation to draw attention to a subject when working at shorter distances, but the 28mm field of view continues to provide context around it. This makes the lens particularly effective for environmental portraits, close documentary details and low-light street photography.

As the aperture is stopped down, the rendering becomes progressively more controlled and clinical. Between f/4 and f/8, the lens produces the kind of crisp, detailed and highly consistent results that make it suitable for landscapes, architecture, travel and general documentary work.

I normally tend to photograph between f/4 and f/8, particularly when using wide-angle lenses. However, while testing the 28mm Summicron-M on the Leica M EV1, I found myself shooting much more frequently at f/2 and f/2.8.

That was largely because the EVF made it easier to hit critical focus. Rather than relying entirely on rangefinder alignment or moving to the rear screen when entering the close-focus range, I could keep the camera to my eye and confirm exactly where focus was falling. This made me far more confident about using the lens wide open.

The ability to focus down to 0.4m also changes the way the lens can be used. Previous versions of the 28mm Summicron-M were already excellent documentary lenses, but the shorter minimum focusing distance opens up opportunities for photographing smaller details, food, objects and more intimate moments.

It does not transform the lens into a macro optic, but it brings a useful new dimension to a focal length that is often associated primarily with wider scenes. You can move closer, fill more of the frame and take greater advantage of the f/2 aperture without needing to change lenses.

The 28mm Summicron-M also feels extremely consistent throughout its aperture range. At wider settings, it offers a little more atmosphere and character, while smaller apertures produce cleaner, more technically precise results. This gives photographers a meaningful creative choice rather than simply encouraging them to stop down for better quality.

As expected from a modern Leica aspherical lens, the overall rendering is refined and controlled. Detail is excellent, contrast is strong without feeling excessive, and images have the clarity required to make the most of high-resolution M cameras.

Sample images: Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. 

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. lab results

We run a range of lab tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.

We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration).

Sharpness:

Sharpness is excellent in the center of frame, even wide open at f/2. Move out towards the corners and sharpness quickly drops off, however, though at least there's no further reduction in sharpness when you reach the extreme corners of frame.

Fringing:

There's a little fringing visible in the corners of frame at mid-to-narrow apertures, and wide open you might spot some aberrations in the mid-frame, but it's nothing distracting.

Distortion: -0.33

The lens produces just a hint of barrel distortion, but it's impressively minimal for a wide lens.

Leica 28mm Summicron-M f/2 ASPH. Verdict

The Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. is an extremely versatile lens and one that is capable of producing outstanding images. Its compact construction, fast maximum aperture, and expanded focusing range combine to make this third-generation model the most practically capable version Leica has produced.

The built-in hood is a welcome improvement, the aperture and focusing controls feel exceptional, and the noticeable transition at 0.7m makes the close-focus mechanism easy to understand through touch alone. These details show how Leica has modernised the lens without losing the mechanical simplicity that defines the M system.

Its partnership with the Leica M EV1 is particularly convincing. The electronic viewfinder allows the lens’s extended focusing range to feel like a natural part of the shooting experience rather than an additional feature that requires a change in technique.

On an optical rangefinder body, the need to move to the rear LCD once you pass 0.7m can still feel a little awkward. On the M EV1, however, you simply continue focusing with the camera held to your eye. That makes the 28mm Summicron-M feel more complete and encourages greater use of both its close-focus capabilities and wider apertures.

There is, of course, no escaping the price. At $6,000 / £4,700, the Leica Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. represents a considerable investment. That is a lot of money, no matter how you look at it, and there are significantly more affordable 28mm alternatives available for the M system.

However, as I often say with Leica lenses, this is not necessarily something you buy with the intention of replacing it in a few years. It is a lens that could remain in your camera bag for the rest of your photographic career. Viewed across decades of use, that initial cost may become easier to justify.

The 28mm Summicron-M produces the kind of outstanding images that it should at this price, while its build quality and mechanical operation feel designed to last. The cost must still be seriously considered, particularly when comparing it with other options on the market, but there is no questioning the quality or capability on offer.

For photographers who want one of the finest compact 28mm lenses available, particularly those using the Leica M EV1 or another EVF-equipped M camera, the third-generation Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH. is an exceptional choice.

If you enjoyed this, you might also like our best Leica M lenses guide, Leica Q3 review, Leica M EV1 reivew, and see the best Leica cameras.

I have a confession to make: I was wrong about the Leica M EV1.

Before I had the opportunity to use one, I made no secret of my concerns about Leica replacing the traditional optical rangefinder with a built-in electronic viewfinder. I worried that an M-System camera without a rangefinder might no longer feel like a proper M.

Worse still, I thought removing that beautifully-engineered mechanical system could leave the camera feeling strangely hollow, as though Leica had retained the familiar shell while removing part of its soul.

Well, after finally getting my hands on the Leica M EV1, I think it is time to serve myself a generous slice of humble pie. I was wrong. The Leica M EV1 absolutely is an M camera – and it might be precisely the kind of M camera that many photographers have been waiting for.

I have used every digital M camera the company has produced since the Leica M9, so I have watched Leica’s full-frame digital journey develop almost from the beginning.

I know where the modern M-System started, how it has evolved and, to some extent, where it might be going next. I have seen resolutions increase, batteries improve, screens become more useful and sensors become far more capable, but the basic M experience has always remained remarkably consistent.

That is why the M EV1 seemed like such a risk. The rangefinder is not merely another component inside an M camera. For many photographers, it is the defining component. Remove it and, on paper at least, you appear to remove the very thing that makes an M an M.

Except that is not what has happened.

The first surprise is how familiar the Leica M EV1 feels in the hands. It does not feel like an imitation of an M camera, nor does it feel like a Leica Q3 that has somehow been modified to accept interchangeable lenses. It feels like an M because, in almost every physical sense, that is exactly what it is.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that the M EV1 feels better balanced than the Leica M11-P. It sits beautifully in the hand and retains that reassuring sense of solidity that Leica does so well. Leica currently lists the M EV1 at approximately 495g with its battery, compared with 530g for the black M11-P.

That difference is noticeable, but it does not make the EV1 feel cheap or insubstantial. Attach a lens, and the camera's entire character changes. It becomes balanced, purposeful, and every bit as satisfying to hold as an M should be.

Whether I mounted a compact Summicron, a faster Summilux or something considerably larger, the camera maintained that sense of balance. I had worried that the reduced weight might make it feel like a paperweight with a heavy lens hanging from the front, but that simply was not the case. Once a lens is attached, the M EV1 feels complete.

Then we come to the most controversial part of the camera: the electronic viewfinder.

I have plenty of history of criticizing EVFs. I have argued that they cannot reproduce the clarity, depth and almost three-dimensional “pop” of an optical finder. I have found some electronic viewfinders slow, unresponsive and uncomfortable, and prolonged use has occasionally left me with eye strain or a headache.

The EVF inside the Leica M EV1 gave me none of those problems.

It activates incredibly quickly when I raise the camera to my eye, even when I have previously been composing via the rear screen. Movement looks natural, too. I did not experience that unpleasant, Jell-O-like effect where the image appears to smear or distort until the camera stops moving.

The 5.76-million-dot OLED finder refreshes at 60fps, offers 100% frame coverage and includes a sensor that automatically switches to and from the rear display. More importantly, it feels responsive in actual use rather than merely impressive on a specification sheet.

The ability to magnify the live image is also genuinely useful, particularly when working with some of my more unusual lenses.

Something like the Leitz 135mm Elmarit-M f/2.8 can be challenging to focus critically through a traditional rangefinder, but the M EV1 enables me to punch directly into the sensor image and confirm focus with far greater confidence.

That does not necessarily make the experience better than using an optical rangefinder, but it does make it different – and in certain situations, it is unquestionably easier. Long lenses, ultra-wides, close-focus designs and extremely fast glass all become more practical because you are seeing the image through the lens itself.

Quite frankly, after using the M EV1 properly, I struggled to find the major problem with its viewfinder that I had expected to encounter.

Even battery life has been excellent during my time with it, enabling me to concentrate on taking photographs rather than watching the remaining percentage disappear.

I particularly like what Leica has done with the traditional frameline selector. On a rangefinder-equipped M, that lever previews the different frameline pairs. On the M EV1, it can be configured to control focusing assistance and digital zoom.

With the camera I used, pushing the lever one way allowed me to toggle focus peaking, while moving it in the opposite direction activated the 1.3x or 1.8x digital crop. Those produce approximately 39MP and 18MP images, respectively, giving the old mechanical control a genuinely useful new purpose.

One complaint among some members of the Leica community is that this camera should not carry the M name at all. Without the rangefinder, the argument goes, Leica should have created an entirely separate product category.

From a marketing perspective, I understand that position. The M name has always been closely associated with rangefinder photography – and Leica buyers tend to care deeply about tradition.

But make no mistake: the M EV1 is an M-System camera through and through. It has the body, controls, sensor philosophy, manual focusing experience and direct connection to the catalog of M lenses. It simply places an EVF in front of your eye instead of a mechanical rangefinder.

That does not mean I have no complaints, though.

My first is the internal storage. The M EV1 provides 64GB, matching the original Leica M11, while the Leica M11-P offers a much more generous 256GB. In practice, 64GB is plenty for the way I shoot – and an SD card can always be inserted when more space is required.

Even so, considering where the M EV1 sits within Leica’s current lineup, I would have preferred to see the 256GB capacity carried across.

My second complaint could potentially be addressed through firmware. I frequently shoot DNG+JPEG, with the JPEG set to black-and-white. When that configuration is selected on the M EV1, both the LCD and EVF display the monochrome preview.

I would love the option to show the black-and-white preview on the rear screen while retaining a color image in the EVF. That would enable me to assess the monochrome interpretation when reviewing on the LCD, while the finder could provide a more natural, optical-style color view when the camera is raised to my eye.

It would be a small change, but one that could make the EV1 feel even closer to the traditional rangefinder experience.

Those are relatively minor complaints, however. The bigger question is whether replacing the optical rangefinder has taken away the spirit of the M-System.

No, it has not.

In some respects, I think the M EV1 strengthens the system. It creates a more accessible route into M photography for people who may be intimidated by rangefinder focusing. It also offers a natural next step for existing Q-series users who love the compact body, manual controls and EVF experience but want access to a wider range of lenses.

Would I buy one instead of my optical rangefinder-equipped Leica? Put it this way: if Leica releases the M EV1 in silver, the answer could very easily be yes.

I adore my Leica M Typ 240, and I am not ready to abandon the optical rangefinder. But when that camera eventually becomes too long in the tooth, the M EV1 may well be in my sights.

I have been genuinely blown away by how well its EVF performs and by how little the camera compromises the feeling of shooting with an M.

I thought removing the rangefinder would leave the Leica M EV1 feeling hollow. Instead, it has shown me that the soul of the M-System may not be contained in one mechanical component after all.

Perhaps it was hiding in the lenses, the proportions, the simplicity and the act of slowing down to focus for yourself.

Whatever it is, the M EV1 still has it.

Shop the Leica M EV1

It’s not often that a photojournalist rubs shoulders with major crime bosses and comes away unscathed. But that’s exactly what British photographer Jocelyn Bain Hogg did for four years, documenting some of the UK’s seediest characters during the late 1990s, culminating in his celebrated 2001 book, The Firm.

During this time, Bain Hogg somehow gained the trust of London’s most notorious criminals, including Freddie "Brown Bread" Foreman, a well-known enforcer connected to the Kray twins, and Joe Pyle, a central figure in the feared Pyle gang, who ran the city’s unlicensed boxing industry.

Now, over 20 years after its publication, The Firm returns to the limelight, but not as we know it. Until September 03, Leica Gallery London will display previously unseen images from the series, revealing more about the turn-of-the-century UK underworld.

“The reason the pictures resonate is because I never ever lied to them [the criminals]," Bain Hogg told Photography News.

“From the start I made it clear I didn’t want to photograph their own presentation – no posed pictures and no complicity. I soon realized that they actually enjoy being presented in this hard, real way”.

According to Photography News, the exhibition prints have been pulled straight from Bain Hogg’s “yellow and black Kodak boxes,” after decades collecting dust.

And with the cobwebs blown away, we see these gangsters in all aspects: from dysfunctional family life to how they carried out business and mourned the loss of criminal associates.

“Do not judge your subjects but be interested by them. Allow them to ‘speak’ through the pictures, never ever put yourself or your bias first,” said Bain Hogg.

Jocelyn Bain Hogg – The Firm is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00, running until September 02. For more information, visit the Leica Gallery London listing page.

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Leica’s latest Metal Gray cameras have officially arrived in the US, with preorders now open for both the Leica Q3 and the compact D-Lux 8. The Leica Q3 in Metal Gray is priced at $7,350, while the smaller and considerably more affordable Leica D-Lux 8 comes in at $1,915. Both cameras are currently available to preorder through B&H Photo, with listings also live at Adorama.

The Leica M11-P is also avaible to proroder from Adorama, B&H also have it on offer, but it has a delay between 2-4 weeks once purchasing.

Where to pre-order

These are not completely new cameras underneath, but rather stylish new versions of two existing Leica favorites. The Leica Q3 combines its metallic-gray body with contrasting black controls, while the distance and aperture scales on its fixed lens are engraved in red. The D-Lux 8 receives a similar treatment, with both the body and its FN buttons finished in metallic gray while the remaining controls stand out against a darker background.

The Leica Q3 remains one of the most desirable full-frame compact cameras currently available. It features a 60MP full-frame BSI sensor with selectable 60MP, 36MP and 18MP resolutions, paired with a fixed Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH. lens. It also offers a hybrid autofocus system, optical image stabilization, a tilting display, a 5.76-million-dot OLED viewfinder, and video recording at up to 8K resolution.

In other words, this is still the same wonderfully capable Q3 that photographers already know, only now wearing what may be its smartest outfit yet. The metallic finish gives the camera a slightly more contemporary look without taking away from that unmistakable Leica identity, and the red lens engravings add just enough color to stop the design from becoming too understated.

The Leica D-Lux 8 is the more accessible option, although “accessible” remains a relative term when discussing a $1,915 compact camera. It uses a 17MP Four Thirds sensor alongside a Leica DC Vario-Summilux 10.9-34mm f/1.7-2.8 ASPH. Zoom lens, providing a versatile full-frame-equivalent range of 24-75mm. It also supports DNG raw files, 4K video recording, a 2.36-million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder and connectivity through the Leica FOTOS app.

B&H currently lists the Metal Gray Q3 as a new item coming soon, without providing a firm shipping date. The Metal Gray D-Lux 8 is also available to preorder, with the retailer estimating availability in mid-August 2026. Leica originally announced worldwide availability beginning July 16, although exact delivery dates will naturally depend on the retailer and the size of its initial allocation.

Neither camera offers anything dramatically different from its standard black counterpart when it comes to image quality or performance, but that is not really the point. Leica has always understood that a camera can be both a photographic tool and a beautifully designed object, and the new Metal Gray Q3 and D-Lux 8 may be among the best-looking examples of that philosophy yet.

Leica has unveiled the 12 photographers shortlisted for its 2026 Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA), one of photography's longest-running and most generously funded prizes. And while all the work is predictably excellent, I have to admit: I found initially skimming the list a little disorienting.

Saher Alghorra's Witnessing Gaza documents a war in its full brutality: scarcity, starvation, violence, loss. A few names down the alphabetical list sits Todd Antony's black-and-white study of buzkashi, the Central Asian sport in which horsemen fight over a headless goat carcass.

Both are, by any reasonable definition, excellent photography. Both are also competing for the same prize, judged against the same criteria, on the same afternoon in October. That's not really Leica's fault; it's baked into pretty much every major photography award. But it's still worth thinking about, I think.

LOBA's mission

LOBA aims to recognize photographers who capture the relationship between people and their environment, which is a pretty broad remit. But there's no escaping the fact that breadth has a cost.

When Alghorra's series sits on the same shortlist as Antony's, or as Laila AnnMarie Stevens's tender Clayton Sisterhood Project about her own family building a life in North Carolina, the jury isn't just comparing photographs; it's comparing categories of human experience.

Is a perfectly composed, technically daring image of a goat-wrestling contest "better" or "worse" than a raw, urgent image from inside a warzone? That question is near-impossible to answer, and yet five judges are going to have to answer some version of it anyway.

Conflict and crisis

This year's list makes the tension unusually visible because it leans so heavily toward conflict and crisis, such as Anush Babajanyan documening the Aral Sea's collapse and the communities adapting around it.

Set against that, gentler work like William Keo's Extramuros, a study of French banlieue youth, or David Sládek's two-decade portrait of one Slovakian village, risk looking slight… even when they aren't.

Again, this isn't an issue unique to LOBA. World Press Photo, the Sony World Photography Awards, Prix Pictet – practically every major contest with a general remit has the same structural issue.

Interestingly, the newly launched Women in Photography Grant avoids it entirely, at least for its first year, by judging a project proposal rather than a finished body of work – there's nothing yet to weigh against anything else.

That winner will be announced alongside the Main Prize and Newcomer Award on October 08 at a ceremony at the World of Leica in Wetzlar, with all 12 shortlisted series going on show afterwards at the Ernst Leitz Museum until February 04 2027.

Ultimately, whomever wins the Main Prize this October, the real result of this shortlist may simply be a useful, uncomfortable reminder.

Photography contests aren't judging photographs in isolation. They're judging what we, collectively, think photography is for in the first place.

This article has been amended following the removal of a contestant from the contest.

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The Leica SL3-P is the third full-frame mirrorless camera in the SL3 range – so what does it offer that its relatively recent siblings don't? In short, it tries to outperform both of them, with a set of specifications that make it the first can-shoot-anything camera that Leica has ever produced.

It comes with a new speed of AI-assisted autofocus and burst rate that puts it right up there in contention with the likes of Canon, Nikon, and Sony. It is also the most video-centric camera that Leica has ever produced – with 8K RAW open gate video shooting being the headline feature that outguns some of its better-known hybrid rivals.

In terms of resolution, it takes a middle ground between the existing Leica SL3 and SL3-S – offering a BSI sensor with a 44MP resolution (compared to the 60MP and 24MP of its siblings). It is a sensor that we believe has been used on the Panasonic S1R II, which offers a similar specification, but with some significant differences.

But what does this camera actually deliver? We have extensively field tested it and put it through our lab to find out…

Leica SL3-P: Specifications

Price

The Leica SL3-P is now on sale at $6,690 / £5,150 / AU$10,500 for the body on its own.

Three kit versions of the camera are also available with a choice of either one or two zooms from Leica's SL lens range:

• SL3-P with Vario-Elmarit-SL 28–70mm f/2.8 ASPH. - $7,790 / £6,100 / AU$12,600
• SL3-P with Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–70mm f/2.8 ASPH. - $8,390 / £6,480 / AU$13,500
• SL3-P with Vario-Elmarit-SL 24–70mm f/2.8 ASPH. and Vario-Elmarit-SL 70–200mm f/2.8 ASPH. - $10,995 / £8,560 / AU$17,600

It is not a cheap camera – but given its specification and the usual luxury price tags you expect from Leica, one of our team commented that it was not as expensive as she thought it would be. There are certainly hybrid mirrorless cameras from Japanese manufacturers that cost as much.

In terms of Leica's own range of full-frame mirrorless cameras, it is priced to sit in the middle. The lower-resolution SL3-S body costs $5,665 / £4,500 / AU$9,300 and the 60MP SL3 body is priced at $7,485 / £5,920 / AU$12,500 – compared to these, the SL3-P certainly looks like by far the best value for your money.

Leica SL3-P: Design & Handling

Curiously, the Leica SL3-P makes do without the iconic red dot Leica logo on its front – giving it a visual distinction from the SL3 and SL3-S, which, from the outside, look almost exactly the same as the new model.

The three all-metal bodies share the same size, weight, LCD screen, viewfinder, monochrome status panel, twin card slots, battery and more – so having this as a distinguishing mark for this new poster boy of the Leica range makes some sort of sense.

However, the "P" designation has historically been used for stealth, less-branded versions of existing models (such as the M11-P). However, the SL3-P is much more than a minor, cosmetic update of an existing model.

Sure, the minimalism continues on the camera itself. Only four of the buttons or dials on the SL3-P have any type of label to suggest their purpose - and that's the Play, Function, Power and Menu buttons on the rear. This, however, is exactly the same as found on the SL3 and SL3-S.

The simplicity, of course, means you are given the ability to customize practically every button and input to the way you want to use the camera – although these choices do run the risk that you will end up with your camera being harder to use rather than easier, if you don't know what you are doing (and harder to pass to someone else to use).

Leica has worked hard on the UX of the camera, however, and the menu system takes a subtle, monochrome approach to the layout which keeps everything looking impressively clean as you scroll through the options.

There are some clever implementations - such as being able to toggle quickly between video and photo options. Also, as you toggle between video settings, for instance, it gives you a headline number of options you have with that setting – so as you select 8K settings, the unavailable options simply aren't shown.

Again, this is a boon when you know what you are doing and what is available - but not necessarily helpful for the first-time user.

One thing I love is the big diopter control for the electronic viewfinder – its mechanical dial isn't fiddly to use in the way that eyesight adjustment is on other models, and you can even see where it is set (so you can quickly set it to where you need it if you lend your camera to someone else).

Another big plus point is the app. I get rather tired of camera apps that are not reliable and difficult to use. Leica has obviously spent a lot of time getting Fotos so that it looks good and works without any fuss.

I was impressed at the speed at which I was able to set up the SL3-P with the app, and download images that I had taken, and review the settings I had used

Leica SL3-P: Performance

I shot some 3,500 photos with the SL3-P. shooting in a range of different shooting scenarios, including street portraits, studio fashion, garden flowers, travel and motorsport. It gave me a thorough chance to put the camera through its paces.

I was impressed with the improvements to the autofocus system. With portraits and motorsports, in particular, providing strong proof that the AI detection options work well – with eyes being reliably in focus, and 150mph racing cars looking sharp in every frame.

There are only six AF detection modes to choose from, two each for people, cars and animals – so not as many options as with some rival cameras (there are no options for planes or insects, for instance).

I was also able to test out the camera's remarkable 40fps burst mode on the Nurburgring track. This worked well - but was perhaps overkill for the subject in hand, as the movement through the frame is not as great as the track speeds suggest.

Part of the issue here is with the buffer. The maximum frames it can shoot at 40fps which is just 70 RAW files - so just over 1.5 seconds' worth, which is not enough time for the vehicles to enter the frame and pass you. In this instance, a 15fps setting would have been more appropriate - but even then I would still have only got 70 frames before the buffer filled up.

The most impressive part of the camera is the quality of the images... It could be the color science, or a secret sauce created between the way the DNG RAW files are handled and the SL lenses – but the image looked much better straight out of camera than I would have expected. That's a quality that we should all be willing to invest more money in than most of us actually do.

Leica SL3-P: Sample photos

Leica SL3-P: Sample video

This review does not do a deep dive into the video performance of the SL3-P, but the video clips shows the performance and in particular shows the excellent stabization that the camera can provide when using heavy zoom lenses with it (the SL 24-90mm and 90-280mm).

It is worth noting that the SL3-P combines two seemingly incompatible features – open gate and weatherproofing.

The IP54 water protection rating is unusual for system cameras (of its rivals, only OM System offers this). But shooting 8K open gate means that the camera is more likely to overheat – and the standard solution for this would be big vents to help the cooling.

It is extremely impressive that we get both in the same camera. Leica quotes typical recording times at 25°C for 8K/30 fps as approximately 20 minutes (25mins for 6K/30 fps, and 30mins with 4K/30 fps).

Although Open Gate recording is impressive, it is limited to shooting at 24p – and if you want to shoot RAW open gate you need to use an external recorder. Nonetheless, the video specs are impressive for a manufacturer that has always been photo-first.

Leica SL3-P: Lab results

We compared the SL3-P to its older brother the Leica SL3-S, as well as to its cousin the Panasonic S1R II in our standard lab tests. Into the mix, we've also thrown in the popular Canon EOS R5 Mark II – which has a similar resolution and specification.

We test resolution using Imatest charts and software, and dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio with DxO Analyzer.

Signal to Noise Ratio

ISO

Canon EOS R5 IILeica SL3-PPanasonic S1R IILeica SL3-S

Signal to Noise Ratio Data

Timestamp (ISO)	Canon EOS R5 II ()	Leica SL3-P ()	Panasonic S1R II ()	Leica SL3-S ()
1	41.46	44.64	43.48	46.75
2	38.03	42.08	39.59	43.47
3	36.5	39.06	36.94	41.24
4	34.29	36.17	33.8	38.6
5	31.05	33.63	31.3	35.6
6	27.51	30.66	28.26	32.84
7	24.01	28.38	26.57	30.11
8	21.39	25.37	23.3	27.61
9	17.89	22.21	20.18	24.64

Dynamic Range

ISO

Canon EOS R5 IILeica SL3-PPanasonic S1R IILeica SL3-S

Dynamic Range Data

Timestamp (ISO)	Canon EOS R5 II ()	Leica SL3-P ()	Panasonic S1R II ()	Leica SL3-S ()
1	12.3	12.82	12.54	12.49
2	12.31	12.82	12.25	12.4
3	12.01	12.46	12.23	12.47
4	12.12	12.46	12.25	12.47
5	11.16	12.07	11.78	12.48
6	9.95	11.26	10.91	12.29
7	8.95	10.62	10.47	11.71
8	7.98	9.76	9.49	10.88
9	7.01	8.95	8.8	10.06

Resolution

ISO

Canon EOS R5 IILeica SL3-PPanasonic S1R IILeica SL3-S

Resolution Data

Timestamp (ISO)	Canon EOS R5 II ()	Leica SL3-P ()	Panasonic S1R II ()	Leica SL3-S ()
1	39	34	40	28
2	39	34	40	28
3	39	34	40	28
4	39	34	40	28
5	39	34	40	28
6	38	34	40	28
7	38	32	38	28
8	35	30	35	26
9	32	28	33	26

The SL3-P performs better in terms of dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio when compared to the other two 45MP cameras, but can not quite compete with the SL3-S with its larger-sized photo sites.

Despite the new Leica performing better than its cousin the Lumix S1R II in these two tests, the Panasonic does provide a higher resolution across the ISO range.

Verdict

There is a lot to like about the Leica SL3-P. Part of its appeal should be the way that Leica has not changed everything, but simply upgraded major internal components to bring us the latest and greatest member of the SL3 family.

I also salute the way in which Leica – a small player in the global mirrorless market – has successfully collaborated with other companies.

The L-mount Alliance means that there is a great range of lenses available for the camera – even if the SL range itself is relatively small. It also has obviously worked with Panasonic on the source of the sensor, to ensure that the camera can be produced profitably.

But there are smaller cooperations embedded in the camera to. It is Leica's latest C2PA camera – enabling you to add content credentials to your files so that you can prove they are not created with AI. It supports Frame.io for cloud collaboration on work projects – and offers in-body de-squeeze when used with Sirui anamorphic lenses.

What I particularly loved about the camera was the photos that it delivered. I think there are three ways to fall in love with a camera. The first is the specifications and looks. The second is in terms of the way it feels in your hands and its general ergonomics. The third is in terms of the results that it delivers. It is the last of these that is the most persuasive for picking the SL3-P.

Alternatives

Check out our full guide to the best full-frame mirrorless cameras

Leica has made some wild special-edition cameras over the years, but few are more striking than this gold-plated Lecia M6. This example that’s come to auction is one of only 350 units in the world and comes with an eye-watering starting price of $20,000. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the camera, listed via online auction marketplace LiveAuctioneers, is entitled "Gold Leica Saltan of Burnie M6 Camera with Summilux lens".

This listing should presumably read ‘Sultan of Brunei’, referring to a very limited run of 24-carat gold-plated Leica M6’s produced in celebration of the Sultan of Brunei’s silver jubilee. It comes with a matching Summilux 50mm f/1.4 lens and a wooden presentation box. The estimate is a whopping $25,000 to $35,000.

It’s certainly not the first time one of these cameras has come up for sale. I’ve found two similar listings at Photographica Auction, where a 1992 piece was listed but unsold and a 1994 piece went under the hammer for €31,200 (approx $35,700 / £27,000). The latter was a slightly later run that featured a 35mm lens, released in celebration of the Sultan’s 50th birthday and limited to only 125 pieces.

It would seem that the camera in the LiveAuctioneers listing has gone to market before. I can see from the images that the serial number is HB-178, the same serial number present on a lot listed by Flints Auctions. Personally, I’m confused as to why the listing doesn’t feature more information, given that I was able to source almost all of the information from elsewhere. Add with the typo, I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable bidding unless I could find out more about the item, first. Then again, finding out more is standard practice; a $35,000 camera isn't exactly an impulse buy...

Regardless, this is an undeniably cool find. And one of the most striking Leica cameras I think I’ve ever seen, and with the legendary German manufacturer’s penchant for dazzling special editions, that’s saying something!

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Compact cameras are enjoying a huge resurgence, but the Canon PowerShot SX740 HS never really went away. Since launching in July 2018, Canon’s travel zoom has remained one of the brand’s most sought-after compact cameras, proving its popularity isn’t simply driven by today’s retro camera boom.

In 2024, Canon introduced the PowerShot SX740 HS Lite, a lightly updated version of the original camera. Despite changing just one small feature, the model has proven just as popular, recently claiming the No.1 spot in Yodobashi’s latest sales rankings in Japan.

While manufacturers often use refreshed models to introduce hardware upgrades, the PowerShot SX740 HS Lite remains almost identical to the original camera released seven years ago. That unchanged formula continues to win for buyers looking for a genuinely pocketable camera with a powerful zoom lens.

Yodobashi's top selling compacts, 1st half June 2026

1. Canon PowerShot SX740 HS / Lite | Silver | Black
2. Sony ZV-1 II | Black | White
3. Panasonic Lumix TX3 / ZS300 / TZ300 | Black | Graphite Silver
4. Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III | Black | Silver
5. Canon IXY 650 / Powershot Elph 360 HS A / Ixus 285 HS A | Black | Silver
6. Fujifilm X100VI | Silver | Black
7. Kodak Pixpro C1 | Brown | Black
8. Panasonic Lumix TZ99 / ZS99 | Black | White
9. Leica Q3 43
10. Sony RX100 VII

Why the PowerShot SX740 HS Lite is high in demand

Remarkable capable yet genuinely pocketable, the PowerShot SX740 HS Lite stays true to what compact travel cameras have always done best. It combines a 20.3MP 1/2.3-inch-type CMOS sensor with a body that’s small enough to slip into a jacket pocket.

Its standout feature remains the impressive 40x zoom lens, covering an equivalent focal range of 24-960mm – giving reach smartphones can’t match.

That reach is the camera’s defining strength, making it an excellent choice for travel, wildlife and everyday photography.

Lite vs original

Canon made just one notable change to the Lite edition: it removes USB charging.

The change comes after Europe introduced USB-C charging requirements for many electronic devices. Canon has not said whether the decision to remove USB charging was related to those rules.

There’s no larger sensor, longer zoom or new shooting modes – just the same travel-zoom formula that has remained popular for nearly a decade.

Panasonic's brief time at the top is over

Just a few weeks ago, Panasonic’s newly launched Lumix TX3 (aka the Lumix ZS300 in the US and Lumix TZ300 in the UK) reached No.1 in Yodobashi’s rankings shortly after its release.

But the latest rankings see the PowerShot SX740 HS Lite reclaim the top spot, while Sony’s ZV-1 II creator camera also moved ahead of Panasonic’s travel zoom.

Interestingly, Panasonic’s premium L10 doesn’t appear anywhere in the current Top 10, despite attracting attention ahead of launch thanks to its larger sensor and stronger stills and video capabilities.

For now, photographers in Japan prioritize portability, long zoom ranges and proven models over newer premium alternatives.

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Leica has officially unveiled the brand-new SL3-P, and it is already shaping up to be one of the most exciting and capable full-frame cameras the company has produced.

Designed for professional photographers and filmmakers who need speed, resolution and reliability in a single body, the SL3-P combines a new 44MP full-frame sensor with Leica’s most advanced hybrid autofocus system to date. It can shoot continuously at up to 40fps with autofocus, capture 176MP images using its Multishot mode and record 8K open-gate video, making it a serious all-rounder for everything from sports and documentary work to portraits, commercial photography and high-end filmmaking.

For anyone hoping to get their hands on one, you are in the right place. Below, I have gathered the best places to buy the Leica SL3-P from retailers across both the US and the UK.

The Leica SL3-P is priced at $6,690 in the US and £5,150 in the UK for the body only. It is available now through Leica Stores, Leica’s online store and authorized retailers, following its official release on June 25, 2026.

Where to pre-order?

At the heart of the Leica SL3-P is a newly developed 44MP back-illuminated full-frame CMOS sensor, without a low-pass filter, which feels like a very deliberate middle ground between outright resolution and the speed demanded by professional photographers.

That already puts it in an interesting position within Leica’s SL range. Rather than chasing the enormous files produced by the 60MP Leica SL3, the SL3-P offers 44MP and 26MP recording options, up to 14 stops of dynamic range, and an ISO range extending from 50 to 200,000. The result should be detailed files with plenty of flexibility, refined tonal gradation, and the sort of natural color rendering photographers expect from Leica.

When maximum resolution is required, the camera’s Multishot mode can produce enormous 176MP images. That will naturally be best suited to more controlled subjects, but for studio, architecture, product, and landscape photographers, it offers another level of detail without requiring a separate high-resolution camera.

Autofocus and speed are arguably the real headlines here. The SL3-P introduces an improved hybrid autofocus system that combines phase detection, contrast detection and depth mapping, with 819 phase-detection points spread across the frame.

Machine-learning-based subject recognition can identify people, animals, and vehicles, while continuous shooting reaches an impressive 40fps with continuous autofocus. That is a significant leap for the SL-System and immediately makes the SL3-P feel far better prepared for sports, wildlife, events, and documentary work where the moment will not wait for the camera to catch up.

Five-axis in-body image stabilization provides up to five stops of compensation, which should make handheld shooting more dependable when working in lower light, with longer lenses or at slower shutter speeds. Combined with the expanded ISO range, this feels like a camera designed to keep working when conditions become less than perfect.

The body design is also a major part of the appeal. Manufactured in Germany, the SL3-P uses a robust full-metal construction with IP54 protection against dust and water splashes. It is unmistakably a Leica, but the presentation is deliberately restrained, with black controls and no red Leica badge on the front.

That more discreet appearance suits the camera perfectly. The SL3-P is not trying to look like a special edition or collector’s piece; it looks like a serious professional tool designed to be used every day, whether that means working in a studio, covering an event or standing beside a racetrack in difficult weather.

Leica has also placed a strong emphasis on making the camera adaptable to the photographer using it. The controls, dials and on-screen Control Centre can be customized, while photo and video modes are clearly separated using Leica’s red and yellow color coding. The interface also rotates automatically when the camera is held vertically, helping settings remain clear and easy to read regardless of how you are shooting.

Composition is handled through a 5.76-million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder, which can operate at up to 120fps, alongside a 3.2-inch tilting touchscreen with 2.33 million dots. There is also a top status display for quickly checking essential settings without needing to look through the viewfinder or open the main menu.

For anyone working with fast bursts or demanding video formats, the SL3-P includes both a CFexpress Type B slot and an SD UHS-II card slot. That combination gives professionals the speed needed for high-data-rate recording, while retaining the convenience and wider compatibility of standard SD cards.

There is a serious amount of video capability here, too. The SL3-P can record up to 8K in an open-gate 3:2 format, using more of the sensor and giving filmmakers far greater freedom to produce horizontal, vertical, or square versions from the same footage.

It can also capture 5.9K video at up to 60p and 4K slow motion at up to 120p, with internal Apple ProRes recording available at up to 5.8K. Support for L-Log, HLG, Leica Pure and Leica Cine LUTs, False Color, anamorphic desqueeze and HDMI RAW output makes it clear that this is not simply a stills camera with a video mode added as an afterthought.

Professional workflow features have not been overlooked, either. Native tethering is available for Capture One and Adobe Lightroom Classic, while Adobe Frame.io Camera-to-Cloud support allows images and video to be transferred directly into a production workflow. Leica Content Credentials can also attach secure authorship and origin information to images, which feels increasingly important as photographers look for ways to distinguish authentic work from generated or manipulated content.

In a market filled with cameras that tend to prioritize either speed, resolution, or video, the Leica SL3-P looks like a remarkably well-judged combination of all three. It is fast enough for serious action, detailed enough for demanding commercial work, and equipped with the video tools needed for modern hybrid productions.

More importantly, it still feels like a Leica: beautifully restrained, built to withstand professional use and designed around controls that should encourage photographers to concentrate on the image rather than the camera. The SL3-P may not be the cheapest professional hybrid camera available, but it could prove to be the most complete and convincing SL camera Leica has made so far.

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This year is the 40th anniversary of the Fujifilm QuickSnap, called the Utsurun-Desu in Japan (which translates as “It takes pictures”). The QuickSnap was introduced in 1986 as a “disposable” camera – though the term was quickly changed to “single-use” for a better public image.

The QuickSnap is credited with being the first camera in what became a huge success story. It was an amazing success, but was it really the first single-use camera? Not quite.

Back in 1886, an American, AP Whittell, created his Ready Fotografer – a lightweight pinhole camera that used a heavy paper box and a roughly 2x2-inch dry plate. The camera had to be cut open to remove the plate for development, rendering it unusable after one shot.

Although it sold for just 25 cents, at a time when regular cameras cost $50, it was an idea before its time and disappeared after just a couple of years.

Things stayed pretty quiet until 1948, which saw the Picture-Box – a cardboard camera that featured a simple lens, an everset shutter (around 1/25 second) and a method to wind the 35mm film. When done, the photographer mailed the camera back to have the film developed and prints made.

The cardboard camera was destroyed in the process, so very few remain today.

ABOVE: Watch this vintage commercial for the Kodak Fling from 1987!

The next year, another American, HM Stiles, invented a way to enclose 35mm film in an inexpensive cardboard enclosure without the costly precision film-transport mechanism. The Photo-Pac took 8 photos on 35mm film and sold for $1.29, including a prepaid mailer for developing and prints. The instructions read: “Aim – Snap – Mail.”

It was more durable than the Picture-Box, as it used some plastic parts, though exactly which bits are unclear today. It too was a bit before its time and, like the PictureBox, the Photo-Pac failed to make a permanent impression on the market.

The Encore Camera Company, in California, made upscale disposable cameras. Rather than bright colors and graphics, the cardboard casings of the various Encore Cameras were designed to mimic leather or lizard skin.

Introduced around 1950, these snap-and-mail disposables took 12 exposures on 127 film and were used by banks and airlines, as premium incentives. Users would insert $1.25 into a slot in the camera’s bottom, along with a 6-cent stamp and a mailing label with their address for the return trip, and mail it away for prints.

The company would then develop the film and return the prints, often recycling the lens and shutter mechanisms into new cameras. Exact dates are not clear, but Encore and its camera were gone by the end of the decade.

In 1951, the IMP camera was a plastic, single-use camera priced at $1.79, pre-loaded with 12 exposures of 35mm film. Like those before it, it offered low-cost simplicity. It was followed by The Pro, which sold for $3 plus a $1 processing fee. And in the early 1970s, the Mini-Mate became the first disposable camera offered with color film!

But the IMP's big innovation was that, while the camera was disposable for the user (and mailed back for processing), the plastic body was actually reusable. The company could reclaim, reload and resell the body, making it an early form of recycling.

In 1972 Technicolor Inc threw its hat into the ring, introducing the “returnable” Techni-Pak camera in 1972. Made in Hong Kong, the Techni-Pak was the first disposable to feature variable exposure stops. The focus-free, 35 mm camera took 20 color photographs and included aperture settings for “bright” and “cloudy”.

Designed so that only Technicolor agents could open the cameras, they were reusable. A reloaded Techni-Pak was returned to users with their printed photographs and the system lasted into the mid-1980s.

In 1973, a Canadian company introduced the 16mm color Lure, which was sold in the United States as the Love. Offering 12 exposures, the Love included a mount for Magicube flashbulbs and users advanced the film in the camera by rotating the mount.

Although a contemporary of the Techni-Pak, the Love was not built with reusability in mind; in order for the film to be processed, the camera had to be “cracked open like a walnut.”

Sales of the Love camera (sold in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom and Italy) dried up by the late 1970s. The design was sold to a Brazilian firm in 1981 and disappeared altogether in the middle of the decade.

The problem for all these makers was that “disposables” were a niche market without a big name like Kodak, Fujifilm, Ilford or Agfa. But that would all change in 1986.

It was then that Fujifilm introduced its QuickSnap line. The QuickSnap is the first truly successful “disposable” or "single-use" camera. Loaded with 27 exposures of Fujifilm's Superia color film, it became immensely popular throughout the 1990s and 2000s, with Japanese sales peaking at over 89 million units in 1997.

Kodak responded the next year with its Fling, but the smaller format of its 16mm film meant lower-quality images (especially in enlargements) than Fuji's offerings, which used the larger 35mm film. Thus, within a year, the Fling was flung and replaced in 1988 with the Kodak FunSaver, still sold today.

Despite being made largely obsolete by the rise of camera phones, both the QuickSnap and the Funsaver have survived the digital transition.

Sales declined to less than 5 million annually by 2012 but rebounded to over 9 million in 2019, cementing its status as a staple for weddings, travel and retro-style photography. It’s estimated that in 2025 single-use camera sales reached $1.02 billion globally.

So they’re not going away any time soon. And even the FLing lives on, spiritually, as the inspiration for the Kodak Charmera's most popular design!

Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.

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Take a look at the best disposable cameras available today, along with the best screen-free digital cameras that ape the experience.

Launched alongside the new Leica SL3-P camera, the Leica Summilux-SL 50mm f/1.4 ASPH claims to be the world's most compact 50mm f/1.4 autofocus lens. At just 75.5mm long and with a diameter of 74mm, it is a substantial shrinking of the original Leica 50mm f/1.4 SL lens launched back in 2016.

In 2023, Leica introduced a smaller version of its Summicron-SL 50mm f/2 ASPH. Now the shrinking process has been applied to the 50mm f/1.4 – and remarkably, it is even smaller than the latest 50mm f/2.

Weighing in at 584g, the Leica Summilux-SL 50mm f/1.4 ASPH can't claim to be the world's lightest full-frame 50mm f/1.4 AF lens, however – but nonetheless this is a remarkable technological achievement for the pioneer of the L-mount lens system. Using state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, the lens uses 11 aperture blades and two aspherical lens elements and promises "high-quality images even in challenging lighting conditions, while also producing precise subject isolation and a soft, natural bokeh."

The new Leica Summilux-SL 50mm f/1.4 ASPH will not go on sale until the end of 2026, but has an anticipated price tag of $4,950 / £3,890.

Despite the delay until its availability, we managed to have a brief session using it at the launch event in and around Leica's German headquarters, using it on the new Leica SL3-P.

Check out our guide to the best Leica SL lenses, and to the best L-mount lenses overall

Over 10 years since introducing the L-mount, Leica has finally launched its first macro lens for its SL range of mirrorless cameras. The Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100mm f/2.8 will be available to buy by the end of the year.

With a design based on the Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 100mm f/2.8 that was launched for its DSLRs in 1987, the new macro lens will offer a lifesize magnification and a minimum focusing distance of 29cm. The full-metal body is 137.6mm long and weighs 862g, without the supplied lens hood.

Announced at the same time as the new Leica SL-3P camera, the macro lens will not go on sale until the end of 2026, and will retail for $2,700 / £2,100.

Despite the wait for its release, I managed to have a brief chance to try out the new Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-SL 100mm f/2.8 during a studio session with fashion photographer Pat Domingo at Leica's Wetzlar HQ in Germany.

The photos I shot are below, with full technical details…

Check out our guides to the best macro lenses, and the best Leica SL lenses

Leica has just launched the third member of its SL3 family of full-frame mirrorless cameras. The Leica SL3-P makes big improvements to both the stills and video capabilities of the range with headline features including the ability to capture stills at 40 frames per second, and a video capability that can shoot open gate 8K.

At the heart of the new L-mount camera is a 44-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor that is said to hit a sweet spot that, in terms of resolution, places it between the 60MP sensor of the original SL3, and the more affordable, faster 24MP SL3-S that was launched last year. It will also fit neatly between the two in terms of price.

The new SL-3P aims to be the Leica mirrorless camera that appeals to the majority of photographers and videographers - and offers some best-in-class features that put it ahead of its two older siblings. Unlike the other two, it does not have the distinctive Red Dot logo on the front (as on some other models, such as the M11-P)

A new hybrid autofocus system combines phase detection (PDAF), depth mapping (object detection AF) and contrast detection AF – to make it suitable to use for fast-moving subjects with six automatic detection modes, for people, animals and cars.

It boasts a dynamic range of up to 14 stops, with an ISO range of 50 to 200,00. A Multishot mode can capture extremely 176 megapixel high-resolution images.

Specifications