Walter De Silva and the future designs of Leica

[Paul J]

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Personally I really liked the aesthetic styling of the M9 Titan. As a design piece it is magnificent being wonderfully balanced in the past and future. It's a great moment in design history when two brands can come together like this. I know how controversial it is though and I completely understand and appreciate why but at the same time growth and refinement is a good thing. Otherwise we'd all date women that dress like out mothers. I must admit though, I like the 'idea' of the finger loop, I would love to see that integrated in a way that allows use of standard strap lugs but also having the option to use the finger loop. However...that holster thing was just wrong on every level. I wondered how someone with such good taste, who is obviously quite cool, come up with something so terribly uncool. I digress...

 

There was, at the time, speculation that it could be lending styling cues to the next iteration of M camera but with the controversy I doubted it.

 

I just learned that Walter De Silva was responsible for the very sexy looking Hermes Ltd Edition. I have to say, while it looks a lot more feminine in design I do really like it as a design piece. It's more subtle and refined looking and doesn't stray too far from the original except for the lack of hot shoe. I also feel he has had input in the X2 with the choice of leatherette borrowed from the Titan and the silver ring around the lens.

 

So I found the news quite interesting in the sense that it has obviously been a successful and far reaching collaboration and the thought of him working on the next M camera is really quite exciting and judging by the ongoing working relationship, he may quite possibly be involved.

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[01af]

I sincerely hope that Walter de'Silva is going to be a temporary episode because I don't like his designs. He puts form over function.

[ALD]

I sincerely hope that Walter de'Silva is going to be a temporary episode because I don't like his designs. He puts form over function.

 

I think that overemphasis went into function for too many years. Ultimately the understanding of the function was so well understood that the time had come to look at the form. Ultimately the camera lines flow better and the cameras look really good now. The Hermes edition is outstanding but there should be a flash hot shoe sliding away cover.

[IkarusJohn]

The Hermes edition is pretty cool (not entirely sure about the tan/orange leather, but that's a Hermes thing, I guess). I don't like the M9 Titanium - it was a nice idea, but somehow it just doesn't look balanced to me.

[johnbuckley]

There definitely are aspects of the De Silva design that I hope are incorporated in an M10. Though when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone 4 and compared it to a Leica, I don't think he had the M9T in mind -- I think he was harkening to the classic M form. It does seem like perhaps a better design partner would have been someone who works at Porsche...

[Jeff S]

I think he forgot to carry his design motif to the back of the Hermes camera. Note that the views shown on the Leica site (unlike all other Ms pictured) and elsewhere ignore the rear view. I caught a glimpse of it in one of the videos, and the black LCD surround and buttons look out of place next to the sleek chrome accents elsewhere. Regardless of what one thinks of the overall design, the back of the camera is all function and no form.

 

Jeff

[StephenPatterson]

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Any man who would design a new shell for the M9-P that not only removed the frame preview lever but also the hot shoe is, in my humble opinion, the anti-Christ.

 

I realize that these Hermes limited edition cameras will never see the light of day, and so there is no need to think about previewing frame lines or using external view finders or flash. Still, I do feel it's an abomination. And please don't get me started on the complete waste of 100 copies of the Noctilux which again will more than likely never capture a single image. Why on earth these special editions have to include lenses when no dealer on the planet has any in stock amazes me to no end.

[Paul Verrips]

For the limited editions, i don't care much about the design, because i'm not going to buy it. For the normal production M, i hope Leica sticks to their normal M design.

[lars_bergquist]

Designing a car, and designing a camera, is or should be two entirely different things.

 

A car is built on a platform with one wheel in each corner and an engine somewhere in between. That is the given. Enter the designer, who is free to free-form sheet metal on top of that platform, as long as the result speaks to the more primitive instincts of the mass market. Apart from that, there are few constraints. Above all, there's lots of air inside.

 

A camera, and especially a M camera with its overriding constraint of compactness, is different. It is chock full of technology. There's ergonomy to consider too. Remember that Oskar Barnack invented the controls layout of the 35mm camera, and all attempts to materially depart from that layout until now has resulted in impaired functionality. Electronics remove some mechanichal constraints, but there remain our Paleolithic two hands, and two ditto eyes with a nose between hem. We can't redesign ourselves because of a whim.

 

For purely whimsical, i.e. arbitrary reasons, Mr De Silva insisted on three functional impairments: Removal of the strap lugs, of the frame preview lever, and of the frame illumination window (the last because he insisted that the Leica Dot must sit in the exact midline of the body – who has seen a car with its hood ornament to one side?!) The rest of his immemorial achievement has been taking a functional, lean and businesslike design and changing into a clumsy, ugly piece of fashion trivia. In ten years the Ti camera will be seen to be as laughably monstrous as a 1954 Buick. A 1954 M3 is not laughable.

 

Serious camera design is exemplified by the S2. It is obvious to our eyes and hands that this is a camera to take pictures with. There are some bad technical decisions there, but no bad design decisions.

 

The old man from the Age of the M3

[andyedward]

For the limited editions, i don't care much about the design, because i'm not going to buy it. For the normal production M, i hope Leica sticks to their normal M design.

 

+1

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

[250swb]

De Silva's designs remind me of somebody who might arrange all the books on the bookshelf according to the colour of the dust jacket. Very colour co-ordinated and pretty, but putting them in alphabetical order would be more useful for more people. Like all concept car design's they have a large element of form over function, the difference being with a Leica is scale, and the intimate need to hold the camera and use it, and big concepts do not necessarily translate into small objects. The Titan is ugly and made for show, and that should have been the end of his input.

 

Steve

[jaques]

I am surprised anyone thing the M9 titanium is a good design- I find it very ugly. Give me an M3 or m6 any day- or even the new black chrome MM.

 

The Fuji-Pro looks unbalanced to me- but even it is far better than the M9Titanium. It is funny- but Hermes version of the titanium design models looks better than what they finally chose as the finished Titanium design.

[lars_bergquist]

Yes Jacques, because there is more M in them.

 

The Hermès M6 was actually quite handsome, because it was still all M6. The difference was all finish, and body covering.

 

The old man from the Kodachrome Age

[rosuna]

The problems of De Silva's designs are twofold:

 

1. The basic dimensions and proportions of the camera are set by Leica's engineers, so all changes De Silva made were merely cosmetic ones. The M8/9 has problems of design, but De Silva cannot work on them. The camera feels too fat in my hands, too many buttons at the back, etc.

 

2. Regarding aesthetics, De Silva's designs have a serious problem: the top right corner of the camera, the viewfinder corner. Leica put a step there, and it is not a beautiful solution but it balances a little the camera. De Silva reinstated a flat corner (like that of the M8) and this makes the whole design unbalanced and laking elegance.

[lars_bergquist]

It makes the camera look like a damn Audi.

 

The old man from the Kodachrome Age

[rramesh]

It makes the camera look like a damn Audi.

 

The old man from the Kodachrome Age

The Audi A5 coupe and the Hermes De'Silva have very similar lines. At least he didn't put the logo in the middle of the lens.

[Jeff S]

In ten years the Ti camera will be seen to be as laughably monstrous as a 1954 Buick.

 

Enough people love the Skylark to pay close to $200,000 at Barrett-Jackson. Monstrous does not always equate to undesirable.

 

Jeff

[ynp]

I liked the silver Noctilux from the set, and I hope that Laica will be selling them separate form the Hermes set.

After the experience with the lugless Titan I do not want any Audi-Leicas.

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[pico]

[...] Otherwise we'd all date women that dress like out mothers.

 

I don't care if the new Leica looks like a woman dressed in a burqa, unless we know that underneath is Madonna naked. That's like nothing, like seeing your sister nude.

[lars_bergquist]

Enough people love the Skylark to pay close to $200,000 at Barrett-Jackson. Monstrous does not always equate to undesirable.

 

Jeff

 

There is always a market for monstrosities, as long as they are ostentatious enough. Well, maybe one niche is as good as another ...

 

The old man from the Kodachrome Age