The Panasonic/Sigma/Leica alliance wasn’t the only thing that Leica spoke about yesterday during the Photokina press event. They’ve also officially announced the new Leica S3 medium format camera.
There still aren’t really many details, but it does increase the resolution from the S2’s 37.5MP up to 64MP. sure, it might not be quite as high resolution as the GFX 100S Fuji announced yesterday, but that’s still pretty impressive.
Leica says that the Leica S3 marks the tenth anniversary of the Leica S2, which was announced at Photokina 2008. They say that it also offers “impeccable performance in any lighting situation” with ISO sensitivity up to ISO 50,000.
It also offers “4K cinema resolution” as well as 1080p HD. Whether “4K cinema resolution” is 4K UHD or 4K DCI remains to be seen, though. But whatever it is, Leica says that it can utilise the entire sensor, not just a cropped section.
This SLR isn’t exactly going to be a speed demon, though. It shoots those massive 64MP files at a lowly 3 frames per second.
And unlike most recent announcements, the Leica S3 is not a mirrorless camera. It’s an SLR. As such, it has an optical viewfinder which Leica says is “large and bright”.
There’s no word on price yet, but the Leica S (Type 007) costs around $20,000 (body only), so I wouldn’t expect it to be cheap. That GFX 50R is looking a little more “affordable” now, huh?
The Leica S will become available in Spring 2019 at Leica Stores, Boutiques and dealers. Keep an eye on the Leica website for more information.
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