Leica launches stealthy, limited camera and lens; Meyer-Optik adds colorful options to Kickstarter
posted Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 3:15 PM EDT
Leica "Blue Stain" MP and Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH
To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the Leica Store in Berlin, the legendary company is releasing a special series of the Leica M, dubbed “Blue Stain.” This is a particularly limited edition as the special MP will be produced in a series of ten cameras. Less limited is the accompanying Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH lens, which will be produced in 20 pieces.
Despite its name, the camera and lens aren’t blue, but are rather very dark gray. Blue stain is actually an intermediate step in production which prepares the camera for additional painting. The special editions are sealed twice after the blue stain step rather than varnished and then painted further. Each of the ten cameras and twenty lenses have a unique finish thanks to the production process, with a slightly different texture.
Almost entirely devoid of color, the Blue Stain edition has a black frame counter with red engravings. Besides these engravings, you’re hard-pressed to find any color on the special edition. Of this design, Leica states, “This edition is also a tribute to the city of Berlin. By renouncing any color design in the engravings of the camera and the lens, a habitus which seemed almost unfinished at first glance was created, which forms an optical bridge to the constantly changing and further developing metropolis of Berlin.” If this marketing speaks to you, you can purchase the camera from Germany here. After converting the currency, it comes to just under US$14,000.
Meyer-Optik Trioplan 35+ gets colorful for spring
Not everything German has to be drab. Meyer-Optik is offering new backer rewards for its very successful Trioplan 35+ Kickstarter campaign, which reached its $50,000 goal in an astounding six minutes and has now nearly reached $500,000 of funding with 22 days remaining.
Backers can now choose from “special reward” color options of red, green, blue and titanium. These special colors are available with a pledge of $799 or more.
To learn more about the lens or to back the project, click here.
(Via Leica Rumors and Photography Blog)