Hanns-Peter Cohn

Leica CEO 1999-2005

Birth of the Leica S2

". . . The really big change will come when and if Leica finally makes the leap into medium format.

Spurred in part by Swedish camera-maker Hasselblad's recent introduction of its XPan 35mm rangefinder/panorama camera - a move that threatens to cost Leica customers - the German firm is beginning to look seriously at trying to take market share away from its Swedish competitor by introducing its own high-end entry into the hot medium-format market.

Recently, over a relaxed dinner in Prague, where we and others had flown to present a commemorative Leica M6 to Czech President Vaclav Havel, Cohn was surprisingly frank when I asked him whether Leica ever would expand its product line to include a medium-format camera. Without hesitation Cohn noted that the technology to produce a Leica version of the Hassy or other such camera (one assumes it would not be called the Leicablad) is not that difficult. The real hurdle, he noted, would simply be the design of the larger-format camera, and the mechanical retooling necessary to produce such a camera to Leica's legendary high standards.

And yes, he said, he intends to move Leica in that direction. . . " - from a Washington Post article by Frank Van Riper in the year 2000