leica

When Nick Ut took a photo of a badly-burned girl running from a napalm attack in 1972, that perfectly timed photo became emblematic of the horrors of the Vietnam conflict, and one of the most powerful ever taken. Yet, what most people don't know is that he wasn't alone on that shooting trip, and the photographer at his side missed out on capturing that moment due to the vagaries of changing film.

Just after announcing the M Monochrom black-and-white-only rangefinder in Berlin this weekend, Leica CEO Dr. Alfred Schopf looked at me with a subtle, confident smile: "If we had done the proper market research," he said, "we probably never would've made this camera." And when you consider the Monochrom M, his words aren't hard to believe. Reactions to the unique new camera, which is incapable of capturing color images, swings wildly (and predictably) on the web from unadulterated lust to pure vitriol. But the fact of the matter is that very close to zero of those internet commenters have actually spent any time shooting with what is an undeniably interesting camera. I have, and I'm a little bit in love.

The black-and-white-only M-Monochrome may have dominated the new cycle yesterday, but it's actually not the only camera Leica announced. The follow-up to the X1 stil very similar to its predecessor in form, but it has gotten some substantial performance upgrades.

Most of us will never own a super-limited camera that costs as much as a decent car, but they're sure fun to look at. The white Leica M9-P is set to launch in July, and will only be available in Japan. Released to commemorate the opening of Leica Daimaru Tokyo, the asking price will be  2,620,000 Yen ($31,600), and it'll have a silver chrome upper, white lacquer finish, and "white paste box calf leather".