Not your Daddy’s rangefinder: Leica M offers live view, high-def video

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen, the Leica M digital camera is here, and it is not your Daddy's rangefinder! After the first significant overhaul in three years, Leica's latest M-system camera sports a number of significant new features that are quite a departure from the Leicas of days gone by. The Leica M (Typ 240) now boasts functionality taken for granted by the rest of the market for years, such as full-time live view and high-definition video capture, as well as a few options that are less common.

It also boasts a new naming schema. Taking a page from Apple's book, Leica says it will no longer be giving its products unique names. If you want to tell this camera apart from the next Leica M (whenever that's announced), you'll need to remember that this year's model is the Leica M Typ 240. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue!

 

The Leica M is the company's first CMOS-based interchangeable-lens model since 2006.

With that aside, though, the latest Leica M camera looks like quite the upgrade. The body is now weather sealed, and houses a brand new, 35mm full-frame CMOS image sensor developed in parnership with Belgian image sensor supplier CMOSIS. It's coupled with a Leica Maestro-branded image processor, as seen in the company's S-system cameras. Together, they make quite a pairing, allowing live view, manual focus zoom, focus peaking, and even high-def movie capture. And those are far from the only improvements since the Leica M9.

 

There are a lot of new features in the Leica M, including an accessory port-mounted EVF.

Available from early 2012, the Leica M is priced at around US$6,950 list. That's almost identical to the list pricing for the M9, making it a great value compared to the earlier model--even if it's probably still well beyond the reach of many enthusiast photographers. Body colors will include a choice of black paint, or silver chrome. Want to know more about Leica's newest M-system flagship, and how it differs from its predecessor? Read our Leica M preview!