Dr. Spichtig On The Digital M

[johnbuckley]

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Perhaps others have long-since posted this, in which case I apologize. But it is only today, following the long U.S. July 4th holiday in which I was, happily, using my M7, not spending time reading on this forum posts on the M8 (;-), that I have found Dr. Spichtig's remarks at Leica's Annual Shareholder Meeting. I thought you might benefit from reading his references to the Digital M, which while breaking no new ground, and deliberately so, evince a real confidence in the part of management about how special this new M really will be. Here's what he said:

 

"I would now like to proceed to the fourth component: our product portfolio. Our products are at the core of the value creation. The company only has a future if we can rouse our customers‘ enthusiasm with outstanding and innovative solutions. The definition of the product range was therefore the top priority for me when I started working for Leica Camera AG. Our dynamic market environment is full of ideas for attractive products and possibilities of their technical realization and sales potential. We take every opportunity to exploit the potential of our brand with first-class products.

 

Undoubtedly, the innovation with the greatest potential for the company is the development of a digital rangefinder camera. We are planning to launch it in the second half of this year. We have already announced that it will be a ‘real‘ Leica rangefinder camera in terms of weight, size, material and design, with the decisive difference that it will take digital photos. All the originality and fascination of Leica M photography will then be available to the digital world. It was important for us to follow the principle of system compatibility. Nearly all the lenses of the Leica M system ever since its introduction in 1954 can also be used for digital photography.

 

However, I will not give any further details on the name, price and availability of the product today. We have learned from past experience and only make statements when they can be relied upon a hundred per cent. However, I can assure you already that the product we are creating is something really special and will give the company a lot of tailwind. At the present there are no more points in the product development process that seem unsolvable. We are well on the way to being ready to market a technically extremely sophisticated product."

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[ptomsu]

Thanks for this info! This is really exciting and I do hope so much for Leica that they can meet this.