The brilliant people from Leica are always trying to push the boundaries of photography. Their cameras produce stunning images, rich in color and detail, but this time they’ve unveiled a new M10 camera that was specifically designed for black and white photography. Called the Leica M10 Monochrom, this beauty is the latest model in the company’s black and white ranger finder cameras.
It might shoot only black and white, but the M10 Monochrom has all the traits of the excellent M10-P platform and it even features a brand new 40-megapixel full-frame monochrome sensor. The camera also doesn’t sport the iconic red Leica logo, with a chic synthetic leather covering that emphasizes its monochrome chops, and the only splash of color coming from the 3-inch, 1.03-million dot LCD touch-enabled monitor, that also offers Live View functionality.
Why would you want to buy a full frame camera that can’t shoot any color images? Well, there are a quite a few reasons to do that.
First, at the heart of this camera is a newly developed 40-megapixel black-and-white CMOS sensor. Yes, its sensor was fine tuned with black and white photography in mind. It has a light sensitivity between ISO 160 and 100,000 and an impressive buffer of 2GB that allows continuous shooting of up to 10 frames per second.
The Leica M10 Monochrom is also the first monochrome camera to come with built-in Wi-Fi, allowing you to transfer faster your latest shots straight to your smartphone using the firm’s Fotos 2.0 app. The new Leica also boasts the quietest shutter release of any M-system camera, which means it’s perfect if you want to take some retro-stylish stills at certain events.
The camera is on sale already for $8,295 and it’s compatible with all Leica M lenses and also with the Leica R lenses with an optional adapter.
