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Camera Historica: The Sean Flynn Leica M2

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This is a story about a camera, a rather special camera. Every camera has a history, so they say. But it is not all that often that one has such a rich and documented history. One that was thought to be lost but has been found again. This is the story of Sean Flynn’s Leica M2.

I have been very lucky throughout my career to have found some amazing cameras, but every now and again you come across something that sets itself apart. This is one of those cameras. The vast majority of the cameras I see have no record, you literally have no idea where they have been. But this camera is different, it has a well documented history that was thought to have been lost. But through a bit of digging and a lot of luck the history of this camera has revealed itself.

Leica launches a pair of APO-Summicron full frame 75mm & 90mm f/2 prime lenses

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Leica has just announced a pair of APO-Summicron lenses for its full frame mirrorless cameras. Those would be the Leica APO-Summicron-SL 75mm f2 ASPH and Leica APO-Summicron-SL 90mm f2 ASPH. While designed for full frame, they will also work on Leica’s crop sensor cameras, too. These lenses aren’t cheap, though. One’s a little under five grand, the other’s slightly over.

This Leica costs $100,000 – and it’s not even a real camera

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I guess most of us expect the items with Leica’s logo to be expensive. But this “fake Leica” that doesn’t even take photos will surprise you with its price tag. It’s a stainless steel sculpture, a mash-up of several Leica models. It’s made by Chinese artist Liao Yibai and reaches whopping $99,995.

Update: rare $13,000 Leica returned to The Camera Store

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Earlier this month, Calgary-based business The Camera Store was robbed for pricey Hasselblad X1D camera and three lenses, and a rare Leica MP Safari kit. Thanks to the fast reaction of the community and the police, the Hasselblad gear was returned to the store only 48 hours after the robbery. And now, just in time for Christmas, the rare $13,000 Leica found its way back to the store, too.

Leica cameras aren’t expensive enough so they made a Limited Edition run of 100 red ones

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For the Leica shooter in your life who has everything, what do you get them this Christmas? A red Leica M, of course. Although, you’ll be paying about an extra $1,400 for that paint job. The normally $5,595 Leica M will cost you close to $7,000 in its fancy red uniform. But you’d better hurry, they’ve only made 100 of them.

Leica announces 75mm f/1.25 manual focus lens and it’ll only cost you $12.8K

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I know things with Leica written on them are supposed to be expensive, but wow. Leica has been producing Noctilux lenses for over 50 years. It kicked off in 1966 with the Noctilux 50mm f/1.2 at Photokina in 1966. That lens today has been updated with an f/0.95 aperture. Leica say that the new Noctilux-M 75mm f/1.25 ASPH is even better, and even more expensive.

At $12,795, one would hope so, too. Designed for the 35mm “full frame” format, the Noctilux-M 75mm contains 9 elements in 6 groups with 11 aperture blades. Leica says the elements are designed from material with high anomalous partial dispersion and low chromatic dispersion. This allows them to reduce aberrations to a “hardly detectable” level, Leica told Digital Trends.

Leica CL officially launched: 24MP, 10 fps continuous shooting and 4K video

Leica has officially launched CL, the latest addition to their APS-C L-mount series. In terms of design, it leans on the traditional models and even shares the name with their camera from 1973. But of course, it’s a mirrorless digital camera with modern features. It features a 24.2MP CMOS sensor, and it’s capable of shooting up to 10fps. ISO ranges from 100 to 50,000, so Leica CL promises good results even in difficult lighting conditions. According to DPReview, it’s “(almost) what the TL should have been.”

Along with the new Leica CL, the company has launched a new lens too: Elmarit-TL 18 mm f/2.8 ASPH. It’s an AF pancake wide-angle lens designed for the APS-C L-mount cameras.

Panasonic launches compact & lightweight Leica 200mm f/2.8 Micro Four Thirds lens

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Panasonic, today, are also announcing a new Leica 200mm f/2.8 lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. Panasonic say it offers the “sharpest-ever corner to corner image quality in Lumix history”. They also say that it’s designed with high speed and low weight in mind for handheld shooting.

With the launch of a new superfast 60fps camera, a new lens obviously aimed squarely at sports and wildlife shooters shouldn’t be much of a surprise. It has the equivalent field of view to a 400mm lens on a full frame sensor, with a fast aperture, fast autofocus, image stabilisation and it even comes supplied with a 1.4x teleconverter.

Leica resurrects Thambar 90mm f/2.2, their 1935 soft-focus lens

So far, it seems 2017 has been the year of comebacks. Leica is another brand bringing the vintage gear back, and they’re resurrecting their 1935 soft-focus lens, Thambar 90mm f/2.2. The classic lens returns with the old design and the soft-focus look of its predecessor. However, there are still some changes and improvements coming with the modern version.

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