Leica T

Leica unveils the new unibody T system

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It’s been a century since Leica unveiled its first camera, the 1914 Ur-Leica. To celebrate, they’ve announced a new interchangeable lens system, the Leica T. The centenary offering builds on Leica’s legacy of iconic design and fastidious craftsmanship. But rather than following the trend for retro design, Leica has forged its own path, partnering with Audi to create a compact, minimalist design.

The camera is mirrorless, with interchangeable lenses built around an APS-C format 16.3-megapixel CMOS sensor without an anti-aliasing filter. But it’s the craftsmanship and design of the Leica T that has people talking. The camera’s unibody is machine milled from a 1.6 kilogram block of aluminium to a 94-gram chassis. This unibody provides a rigid platform for the sensor, so the fine movement implicit in the design of a camera made of multiple parts does not affect the resulting image.

Leica released a promotional video to demonstrate its dedication to premium materials as well as its obsessive German craftsmanship, which they dubbed ‘the most boring film ever made’. The 45-minute film is the last step in the T’s construction—the pain-staking, hypnotic process of a white-gloved technician methodically hand-polishing the camera body. It’s a salute to the design and build philosophy behind Leica products in general, and the new T in particular.

Andreas Kaufmann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG, outlines the back-story of the system on the Leica website. “A core element of the Leica T is it’s outstanding design,” he says. “It’s reduced to the essentials of a camera.” Nothing on the camera is extraneous; including it would seem the final milligrams of aluminium, which are discarded in the 45 minutes of hand polishing.

However, Kaufmann isn’t just talking about the physical appearance of the camera, but also the Leica T’s clear and intuitive operational system. Anyone comfortable with a smart-phone will find the Leica T intuitive because of the large touch-screen interface.

The large 3.7-inch, 854×480-pixel screen contains most of the camera’s control functions, which are available without having to drill down into sub-menus. The only components that break the T’s smooth body are the two milled dials on the top plate that control exposure, the power switch and the video record button. The screen as well as the exposure dials are customisable.

The “perfection is simplicity” philosophy is obvious in the operating system, allowing the photographer to focus on photography; capturing images without unnecessary distractions.

The Leica T has a new T mount system, available with two T lenses benefitting from Leica’s 150 years of precision optics. The Leica Vario-Elmar-T 18–56mm f/3.5–5.6 and Summicron-T 23mm f/2 aspherical lenses are made in Japan under Leica supervision, the fastest and quietest autofocus lenses Leica offer. The zoom lens offers the flexibility to explore landscapes, documentary pictures and portraits, while the 23mm (the equivalent of 35mm in full frame format) is the classic Leica focal length for reportage.

Leica has labelled this lens a Summicron, which is a designation not given lightly. The lens is small, discreet and very sharp.

Other lenses are scheduled for release later in 2014, and an optional M lens adaptor is available for users with legacy lenses.

For photographers who prefer to compose images through a viewfinder than a LCD screen, there is an optional electronic viewfinder. Designed exclusively for the T system, the Visoflex electronic viewfinder has an integrated GPS function for geo-tagging images and the ability to tilt to enable shooting from different angles. It’s also helpful when shooting outdoors in bright conditions.Stuart Robertson—a photographer who is undertaking a worldwide project Peace in 10,000 Hands—was given the Leica T for nine days for a test run. “The T is easy in the hand and exemplifies the craftsmanship and attention to detail that Leica is now renowned for,” he says.

The Leica T is also the first from the manufacturer to have integrated Wi-Fi, enabling the photographer to transfer pictures directly from a Leica T to a mobile or desktop device, share pictures quickly and easily on social media or by email with the Leica T app. The camera is also packaged with Adobe’s Lightroom software.

Camera covers, skins and straps in on-trend colours are part of a collaboration with design partner Audi, creating an eye-catching, personalised look to each camera that fits with its brand position. The cases are a little tricky to remove when accessing the battery or SD card. And why would a photographer want to cover up the hand-polished milled aluminium chassis anyway?

“I can definitely see the Leica T as an option for people who love photography, love Leica, love design, love the quality,” says Robertson. “Mirrorless is on a bit of a storming run now I think and people are realising that it’s a genuine contender.”

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