Leica has provided an upgrade to the M9 with quite a number of improvements in performance and magenta color shift correction for affected wide-angle lenses, ISO setting-related vignetting correction, and bug fixes.

Download Firmware Upgrade at: Leica.

Leica M9

Michael Reichmann at Luminous Landscape has written, IMHO, the first ever honest (and courageous) Leica article [not that other Leica articles are not honest, just too unabashedly and embarassingly gushing in their praises that they overlook major weaknesses in this venerable model] casting a non-judgemental but critical look at how the next version Leica M can be improved in this digital age.

Thank you, Michael, for the courage to say that the rangefinder should probably be laid to rest. That it does not make sense to design a flat camera and then have users buy plastic add-ons for better handling. That one should not have to screw off the base plate to change battery and memory card… In other words, let common sense rule!

Read Michael Reichmann’s article at: Luminous Landscape

Read my response to the Open Letter »

The Online Photographer has chosen a different tack in awarding its top award for the best cameras of 2009. It asked 2009 contributors to mention their favorite camera of 2009.

Not surprisingly, the Olympus E-P2 and Panasonic GF1, the Digital Interchangeable Lens (DIL) cameras [aka "mirrorless" DSLRs], were two favorites for their compactness and light weight as compared to a DSLR.

Other winners: Panasonic GH1, Pentax K-x, Leica M9 and Sony A850. Oh, and the Fujifilm GF670 / Voigtlaender Bessa III 120-roll film camera [FOMC]?

Leica M9

“I also used electrical tape to tape over the red dot and white M9 inscription. To me, this hides the M9’s profile even more.”

We’ve added another Leica M9 [Specs] digital rangefinder camera review to our Reviews Matrix.

Ashwin Rao has published his review of the Leica M9 over at SteveHuff Photo. Under the highly complimentary title “The Leica M9 – Travel Camera Extraordinaire,” Ashwin’s stated goal is “to convince you that the Leica M9 is THE travel camera to have and use.”

You can read Ashwin’s full Leica M9 Review at: SteveHuff Photo.

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Leica M9

“Learn to see in a different light. And that, my friends, is the beauty of a Leica M9.”

Photocrati has published their review of the Leica M9 [Specs], a full-frame (36 x 24mm) digital rangefinder camera with 18MP resolution, no anti-alias filter, a new thicker UV/IR filter in front of the sensor, ISO 160-2500, continuous shooting 2fps, 2.5-in. (230K dots) LCD, RAW.

[ Read the Leica M9 Review at: Photocrati ]

Leica M9

“There is a quality and look to the images that no other camera system can produce.”

BJP has published their review of the Leica M9 [Specs], a full-frame (36 x 24mm) digital rangefinder camera with 18MP resolution, no anti-alias filter, a new thicker UV/IR filter in front of the sensor, ISO 160-2500, continuous shooting 2fps, 2.5-in. (230K dots) LCD, RAW.

[ Read the Leica M9 Review at: BJP ]

Leica M9

“But I’m going to be a bit of an iconoclast and propose that the M9 is in fact an ideal landscape camera in many situations.”

Luminous Landscape has published a very interesting “Landscape Experiment” using the Leica M9 for landscape photography. The Leica M9 [Specs] is a full-frame (36 x 24mm) digital rangefinder camera with 18MP resolution, no anti-alias filter, a new thicker UV/IR filter in front of the sensor, ISO 160-2500, continuous shooting 2fps, 2.5-in. (230K dots) LCD, RAW.

[ Read the Leica M9 review at: Luminous Landscape ]

Leica M9

“As with all digital rangefinders used to date, one of the main issues is how erratically inaccurate object to camera distance measuring can be.”

BJP has published their review of the Leica M9 [Specs], a full-frame (36 x 24mm) digital rangefinder camera with 18MP resolution, no anti-alias filter, a new thicker UV/IR filter in front of the sensor, ISO 160-2500, continuous shooting 2fps, 2.5-in. (230K dots) LCD, RAW.

[ Read the Leica M9 Review at: BJP ]

A Google Map showing where Leica is delivering all their M9s (dealer location). Up to the street view in some cases.

View the map ]

Leica M9

“Leica’s new full-frame digital rangefinder is a quality extravagance.”

PDNGearGuide has published their review of the Leica M9 [Specs], a full-frame (36 x 24mm) digital rangefinder camera with 18MP resolution, no anti-alias filter, a new thicker UV/IR filter in front of the sensor, ISO 160-2500, continuous shooting 2fps, 2.5-in. (230K dots) LCD, RAW.

[ Read the Leica M9 Review at: PDNGearGuide ]

Editor: It’s not really a review, not even a preview, but fun to read anyway on a slow news day.

Leica M9

“The [Leica] M9 gets the essentials absolutely right.”

Wired has published their hands-on preview (not sure what else to call these “opinions”) of the Leica M9 [Specs], a full-frame (36 x 24mm) digital rangefinder camera with 18MP resolution, no anti-alias filter, a new thicker UV/IR filter in front of the sensor, ISO 160-2500, continuous shooting 2fps, 2.5-in. (230K dots) LCD, RAW.

[ Read the Leica M9 Preview at: Wired ]

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

The future is clearly compact digital cameras with large sensors, like the Panasonic GF1 [Specs], pictured above. But, the first generation of such digital cameras face some real technological challenges and many are wondering why. To find out, Dan Havlik, PDN’s Technology Specialist, talks to representatives from Sigma, Olympus and Leica to find out what is so tough about putting a large image sensor into a small camera body — and what they see for the future.

[ Read the full article at: PDNGearGuide ]