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Celebrated French photojournalist Marie-Laure de Decker dies aged 75

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Renowned French artist Marie-Laure de Decker, who transitioned from modelling to becoming a highly respected war photographer, sadly passed away at 75, according to a statement released by her family on Saturday. After a prolonged illness, De Decker left behind a remarkable legacy in photography.

De Decker was born during the era of French colonization in Algeria, and she initially embarked on a career as a model before venturing into the realm of photography. In the late 1960s, De Decker captured captivating images of artists Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp and writer Philippe Soupault, which would help make her name in the art world.

Why I love my Leica M6

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I prefer writing about work to writing about tools. When I started writing my thoughts on photography it was centred around gear, including reviews of various cameras and lenses, which worked at the time to build up my writing portfolio within photographic circles. Gear talk is quick and easy to produce, and never really changes because it’s all basically fundamentally the same; light gathering capability via lens and film/sensor, lens “effect”, speed and accuracy of operation, mechanics, electronics, ergonomics, usability, and how all of that works together to give a particular user a particular experience.

Leica registers Hybrid Instant camera with the FCC

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Leica has registered an interesting-looking camera with the FCC. It looks like Leica’s planning to take away a little market share from Fujifilm. The new registration is for the catchily-named N5A8262, a digital instant hybrid camera along similar lines to the Fujifilm Instax Mini EVO Hybrid camera (buy here).

The FCC application doesn’t show much, but it does show a surprising amount. As well as the usual WiFi and Bluetooth declarations, the camera’s labels are also included. This includes diagrams for where the labels will be placed that offer some idea of the camera’s construction and appearance.

The Leica Q3 steps up to a 60-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor with 8K video

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Leica has announced the new Leica Q3 (buy here), with some pretty massive upgrades over its predecessor, the Leica Q2 (buy here). For a start, the already high-resolution full-frame 47-megapixel CMOS sensor has been replaced by a 60-megapixel backside-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor. Perhaps the same sensor as that contained in the recently announced Leica M11 (buy here).

It’s also capable of shooting 8K video at up to 30 frames per second, 4K up to 60fps in ProRes HQ at 10-bit 4:2:2. It has phase-detect autofocus and contains Leica’s “triple-resolution technology”, first announced in the Leica M11, which lets it shoot 60-megapixel, 36-megapixel or 18-megapixel images in either DNG raw or JPG format.

The Leica MPi is a Raspberry Pi-powered Leica M2 conversion that’s completely reversible

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While there are plenty of digital Leica cameras out in the world, that’s not enough for some people. For example, people like robotics engineer Michael Suguitan, who has used his considerable talents to stuff a Raspberry Pi and High-Quality Camera Module into a Leica M2. It’s called the Leica MPi, and the process is completely reversible, allowing it to turn back into a standard Leica M2 at a moment’s notice.

As an MPi, it has about a 5x crop factor, which limits Michael’s lens options somewhat unless he wants to shoot super telephoto. He has been using it with a Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 lens in order to get a field of view equivalent to about 60mm on a full-frame sensor.

Lens review: Leica Noctilux 50mm f0.95 ASPH M – A Nocturne

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If I remember correctly, I briefly held this lens in Sydney 2011 Photokina. Good old days when there weren’t too many product releases, and each excited you. Noctilux is like Mount Everest for every Leica lover, the holy grail. We climbers reach the base camp with the Summilux, and we are all waiting for the right moment to climb the top without a sherpa. You have to try it once to feel the power. You don’t have to buy it, just bring your wife or girlfriend to a local dealer and try this lens. Show them the picture. I am confident they will like it.

50mm is my favourite focal length. I almost bought this lens by trading in the Noctilux 50mm f/1.2 ASPH reissue to a local dealer. But I walked out of the store without a 0.95 because that copy suffered a front-focusing issue. I kept searching for another copy in Hong Kong; a copy that focuses accurately will suffice. Thanks to my good friend Andrew for letting me try his lens. Now I know what’s so magical about this lens.

Leica expands its black & white camera lineup with the M11 Monochrom

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Leica has announced the new Leica M11 Monochrom. As the name suggests, this is a monochrome version of its popular M11 full-frame camera. Leica was the first company in the world to release a camera with a dedicated black & white sensor. Now, the M11 Monochrom, they say, represents their fourth-generation camera with a black and white sensor.

Being dedicated to black and white and lacking the Bayer colour filter array, the results achieved by this camera should be very sharp. Without any colour, they also don’t suffer from chromatic noise and should be able to get better ISO performance than their filtered counterparts.

Mitakon recreates Leica’s Summaron M 28mm f/5.6 at a tenth the cost

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Mitakon has announced their newest lens. It’s full-frame Mitakon Creator 28mm f/5.6, which they say “recreate[s] the iconic Leica Summaron M 28mm f/5.6 lens with faithful adherence to the original lens characters”. Except, in this case, Mitakon is doing it at a fraction of the $3,095 price the Leica lens demands. In fact, it’s an entire order of magnitude cheaper, at only $299.

Exactly how well the Mitakon adheres to the Leica original remains to be seen, but this is where Mitakon claims to be aiming its sights. Given the price difference, though, even without the Leica name stamped on it, I expect it won’t be identical in terms of image quality.

2,000 vintage cameras and lenses discovered in old storage unit

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A boss asked his employee if she would clean out an old storage compartment for him after a tenant had moved out. He said that she might find a few old cameras and could keep anything she did find. But when she walked into the abandoned storage compartment, she wasn’t fully prepared for the scene in front of her.

Kristen and her partner agreed to help her boss out, and as old film camera enthusiasts, they were excited to think they might find a few old cameras. In reality, over 2,000 and lenses were waiting for them, many of them pretty valuable.

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