Under Water With Leica

Thursday last was the nearest thing to a circus I can remember. It had the ringmaster, the clowns, the pretty girl in spangly tights, and the tightrope walker. There may have been elephants but I left before they passed out the brooms and buckets...

Never mind who the ringmaster was, or the pretty girl, or the elephants...the whole thing turned on the tightrope artist and his main trick; pouring water on a fully functional Leica camera. The tightrope part was doing it and having a job with Leica Australia next day We have been informed that he still has his lunch pail.

Obviously he knew that the trick was going to work - tipping a glass of water over a new Leica SL camera with a 24-90mm f2.8 lens - before he did it in front of the audience. I have seen evidence that he practised it earlier on...so it wasn't just a one-off stunt. This gives me a great deal of confidence in the weather sealing of the Leica SL camera but it does raise an interesting question...

Did he pour the water on it knowing that Leica had made a waterproof camera? Or did Leica make a waterproof camera knowing he was going to pour water on it? Is this man safe near other machinery?

Leaving this speculation aside, here's a marvellous thing that a visitor brought in on the night. It is also a waterproof Leica but a little more serious about it. it's a specialised housing made for an older screw-mount Leica. Pressure-cast aluminium, I should say, and looks to be a 50's or 60's job. There is a substantial O ring seal and dedicated gunsight.

I cannot tell you if the Photo Marine II has ever been used, but the owner has a lot of experience in marine work. We're also at a loss to explain the bottle green colour of the Leica inside the housing. It is very nearly attractive, though I doubt we will see it duplicated in the new SL range.

Note: the Leica SL we saw on Thursday is not a diving camera - it withstood a glass of water on the shop floor, but would not do so if put under water pressure. And we have no information as to whether it would withstand custard or soup.