From Those Wonderful People...

Who brought you the M3 Leica.

They haven't stopped. Well, they haven't stopped making the M-series Leica cameras because there are a number of models of them in the shop right now, and an equally wonderful cabinet of lenses to go on them. Come down and buy a round dozen for the weekend...No, we're not talking about the M-series Leica rangefinder camera system.

We're talking about the new Typ 601 Leica SL camera - and the start of a new series of lenses for it. And also, surprisingly enough, the start of a lot of old series of lenses for it.

Okay - haven't seen one yet but here's a précis of 10 attractive points:

1. Its a mirror-less design with touch screen LCD and a very high-resolution eye-level finder built in.

2. Full frame sensor - 24 MP-CMOS.

3. No low-pass filter.

4. ISO 50-50,000.

5. Enough buffer to juggle 33 DNGs or 30 JPEGs and DNGs.

6. 4K video works inside plus smaller resolutions at a myriad for frame rates.

7. 2 card slots  for SD - one very fast indeed and one standard speed.

8. 4, 7, or 11 FPS on the continuos shooting mode.

9. Top LCD display with relevant shooting information.

10. Solid milled aluminium body.

As you are already at your computer reading this, you can rush over to D P Review and look at the images of the Typ 601 in their preview. There are also images of two of the lenses that will be made especially for this mount.

And here's the kicker. Leica realise that they have made a lot of other lenses in the past. Leica S, M, R, and T lenses come to mind, as well as the older screw-mounters. The T lenses will go onto the Leica SL straight away - Leica will make adapters to allow their other optics to be mounted on it. SO you are Leica all the way from early on to the future - you can participate in the current craze for a Hollywood movie series...

Leica have announced that the Typ 601 body will be on sale from the 19th of November 2015 together with the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90 f:2.8-4 ASPH.

Looks as thought there will also be a big 'ol 90-280 lens and a 50 1.4 prime coming in 2016. - so save up your pop bottles and cans for the recycling works and make sure that you put a little away in the piggy bank in anticipation. This will be a hot camera.