Apple’s Jony Ive and Marc Newson design special edition Leica M

Posted by Chris Roubis on 9th, Oct, 2013

Jony Ive, design mastermind at Apple, and Marc Newson, the creative force behind the thoroughly unconventional Pentax K-01, have collaborated with Leica to design a special edition Leica M for a good cause. The unique M will be sold at auction, at an event raising money for The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The one-of-a-kind camera is the product of 85 days’ work and nearly 1000 prototype parts.

The finished result is a good deal more restrained than Newson’s last attempt at camera design, and betrays Ive’s obsessive focus on details which is usually showcased in Apple’s line of computers and mobile devices. But despite the eye-catching brushed aluminum shell and rounded accents, the finished camera is still unmistakably a Leica. What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments.

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Press Release
Additional Images

Press Release:

Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson to join more than 40 rare and exceptional objects in (RED) Auction at Sotheby’s New York

Money raised through the (RED) Auction will go towards the fight against AIDS in Africa

A truly unique Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson will join more than 40 other rare and diverse items in the (RED) Auction on November 23rd 2013. Based on the Leica M, the camera will be auctioned to raise money for The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Hundreds of models and prototypes were made in the development of The Leica M for (RED). The body and lens ultimately being machined from a custom engineered alloy. Presented with a perfectly textured anodized aluminum outer shell, the traditional leather waist, synonymous with Leica, has been replaced with a laser machined aluminum body. More than 21,000 hemispheres create a new and extraordinary aesthetic, while a total of 561 models and nearly 1000 prototype parts were made during the 85 days it took to create of this incredibly special camera. Delivering an uncompromised photography experience, the camera features a full-format CMOS sensor, high performance processor and new Leica APO-Summicron –M 50mm f/2 ASPH lens.

Jony said; “Leica represents the confluence of precision engineering, world-class lens technology and design principles which elevate both function and form. Designing this very special camera for the (RED) Auction has been a privilege for myself and Marc, and its sale on November 23rd will generate funds so critical to the fight to end AIDS.”

“With nearly 1000 prototype parts and more than 725 hours of manufacturing time, the winning bidder will own a piece of exquisite imaging history. The attention to each and every detail of this camera – from its outer shell to the magnificent optics – will delight a collector who appreciates the absolute pinnacle of craftsmanship”, said Marc Newson.

Dr. Andreas Kaufman, Chairman, Leica, said: “We loved the collaboration with Jony and Marc. Their design sets a new and unprecedented standard in modern photography. As the only one ever to be produced, and boasting their unrivalled aesthetic, this Leica camera will truly create its own historic category when it goes under the hammer this winter.”

The fundraising auction comes as the war against AIDS faces a critical battle: to deliver the first AIDS Free Generation since HIV was diagnosed 32 years ago. In 2003, new childhood HIV infections peaked with more than 1,500 babies born with HIV every day. For only 40 cents a day, mothers can be treated to prevent transmission to their unborn children, and just over 900 babies are now born daily with the virus. By 2015, that number can be almost zero.

Additional images

Leica M Typ 240

Comments

I photograph in the streets of downtown Manhattan, around SOHO. A camera this stylish would be very practical for blending in and being accepted.

The camera we will use today is an ugly piece of retro mechanical equipment with a user interface only it’s mother can love and software that is careless and no joy to use.

Let us hope that camera designers learn from this effort.

Once again, form over function.

That IS class…!

Is it April 1st?

I will call it like I see it. Ugly. Looks like a bad 3-D rendering.

what a pig..

Horribly nouveau riche.

Hmmm…
It looks like a triumph of design (as in styling) over function to me. The flush/recessed control dials would, I imagine be difficult to find and use accurately when the camera is held to the eye. Similarly, the placing of the buttons on the back would appear to mitigate against their easy and fast use when the camera is held to the eye.

I have a number of pairs of Leica binoculars, and they are lovely to use, but sadly, this camera doesn’t do it for me.

Leica won’t be laughing when Jony Ive returns to HQ and designs an Apple branded version…

All these comments are SO negative. Will there be a range of lenses to mach?

I can’t help wondering what it will look like when “this Leica camera will truly create its own historic category when it goes under the hammer this winter.” !!

Oops!

Rangefinder Camera. So, where is the ocular piece to look through ?

I think you’ll find it at the back, top left.

Sure, saw that … but it looks obsturated to me. Does it have a cover of sorts ?
(and what about diopter adjustment?) 🙂

Such oddities make me thank heavens that I can’t afford them…

Beautiful camera – lousy English …

“and no FEWER than 1000 prototype parts.”

🙂

Quite correct, your English is lousy. As written, “nearly 1000” means less than 1000. “No fewer than 1000” on the other hand means 1000 or more. Your version is the opposite of what you thought your were correcting. Oh, and a trashy piece of bling, not beautiful at all.

@epo001 Biowizard wasn’t correcting “nearly 1000” at all, he was correcting “no less than” from the first paragraph. As it happens, it’s an idiomatic usage which isn’t incorrect, though normally Biowizard would be quite right. But epo001 you have pointed out a factual contradiction where the article initially states more than 1000 prototype parts, then subsequently that it was fewer than 1000.

How does “nearly” necessarily mean less than? Isn’t 1010, for example, near 1000?

regarding “lousy English”

sorry but i habe to say this..you need to write and read german to truely understand and feel the soul of Leica…

ts like reading Shakespeare in chines instead of English

Beautiful!

Lots of interesting things *missing* too:
http://lavidaleica.com/content/leica-red-m-revealed

It’d look so much purer if they left the lens off. Lenses are ugly lumps that add nothing to the refined elegance of the duo’s concept. Eliminates all kinds of optical aberrations too.

Ok, purist … but those two buttons in the front …NO! The one is too close to the lens, and their placing kills every sense of harmony . Again, NO!!!

Who cares about buttons, there is a red dot. How ugly the whole thing is, beeerk.

It’s worth typing Marc Newson into google and searching images it strikes me that the majority of the stuff he’s designed is all a bit samey to me.

it’s sterile. the normal version is designed much better.

but then the one who will buy it will surely not buy it to take pictures with it.

Brushed aluminium with rounded corners… Jeez, didn´t see that one coming.

Why the screen is black!!!

Designed to slide into condoms easily.

Probably it’s not very comfortable to hold anyway it will be kept in a safe always.

The silver and black Hasselblad 500 c/m was a beautiful camera design – very functional too.

Still far from the Fuji x-series, sorry I also own a legacy Leica, but past was past and present is now and carries its facts

I’m reminded of Teletext & Ceefax when I see this.

Is the sensor inside from the new iPhone 5s and will this M work only with iTunes and have built-in instagram? 🙂

Is apple in such a bad shape that Ive needs a second job 😉

Is Leica in such good shape that they can afford Ives?

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuh…………

Does the lens come with a hood – or would that spoil the lines?

Maybe front part of the lens casing slides out as a hood?

Anyway, except for the red dot, these guys have succeeded in making a $7,000 Apo Summicron look like a lens designed for a NEX. In the photo, the rest of the camera somehow reminds me of a jelly bean.

I’m sure it is much nicer in real life.

Is taht an electric shaver or what?

when I see how you write “taht”, i presume you need glasses, hahaha. The joke was good, heh

bettr keybiard would sudffce…ekhm…
I meant: better keyboard would suffice 😉

Doesn’t look like anything special to me. This man gets way, way too much credit. Heck, I even read all the time how Ive supposedly created the iPod when that’s simply not true. Tony Fadell is the creator of the iPod. He led the design and production of the iPods.

Ive is not the only designer at Apple. Many people at Apple have had their ideas incorporated into the design of Apple’s products, such as the engineers, especially as products got thinner and lighter. Lets face it, Steve Jobs had the most influence on final design and would not have allowed some of the poor design choices Ive made for iOS 7, such as ridiculously thin and hard to read default fonts and blinding white backgrounds. I don’t think he would have went for the plastic iPhone 5C either when the current iPod Touch looks far better and more higher end.

No offense to the guy, I’m sure he is competent leading a design team, but lets dispense with the misinformation and especially the hype surrounding him.

I wanted to also add that I’m a big fan of Apple’s products and own quite a few but fairs fair when it comes to Mr. Ive and what I said. It’s the truth.

Marc Newson really should not be allowed near any manufacturer he’s the guy who came up with the hideous Pentax K-01 what should of been a great ILC to a laughing stock that Pentax had to heavily reduce and discontinue it with in a year !!!!

The K0-1 has now become a bit of a cult collectors item

Don’t get me wrong, as a camera it’s great. i just don’t like the look and many felt the same. i just feel if they had taken a leaf out of Olympus or Fuji’s design books it would of been a masssve hit. I said the same on the Pentax Forums and many agree, could you imagine the K-01 looking a bit more like the fuji x series or olympus pens with those lovely limited lens?

Is this South Park?

The next logical move is to let Leica design the new iPhone7 for charity, followed by the iLeicabook Pro.

I love the minimalist design.

Minimalism to that degree only cripples a camera user interface.

The interface on this is identical to the other Leica M cameras, the only thing they’ve done is flattened the top off and rounded everything.

The only bad thing I can see is the dials don’t look that easy to turn being so recessed.

As I said, that’s a crippled UI.

It could have a bad ui, but since I have never touched it, I can’t make any strong claims on that.

I want 🙂

According to exif these were shot with a Phase one…

Who cares? Almost anything in the industry get’s shot with a MF-back.

I tried but I can’t seem to forget that Leica DOES have MF S2 camera… LOL
They should know something to avoid it though… 😉

The S2 is MFDX rather than full MF.

LEICA describes it as MF “Medium format”
and it proved it doesn’t even use it to photograph its own Leica M (red)..
instead they use PHASE ONE.. lol

love the look cool!

So we can call this officially the iLeica, but I do not kind of like ahhh.

Seriously, I think I’m going to vomit!

I had the exact same reaction!

Look fine a and it”s for a good cause. So, what is starting bid, $30,000.00?

Well.. 85 days work, at around $5K per day I’d say, just for labour fee, + special parts, + 500 prototypes … I believe the initial call would be between 200K-300K, with , say, 30K-50K increments per bid , to make a decent figure for the caritative aspect ,so maybe they are looking at results around the $1,000,000 mark. Could be more, but who knows, the design is kind of dull.
Given it’s a unique piece, collectors will flock.

Love or hate the design, but it’s for charity, so who cares as long as it does the trick of garnering money and exposure for the good cause!

Unfortunately though, judging by the comments, nobody seems to think twice about that aspect. In fact, the cynical side of me can’t help but think that neither did the designers – for them it’s most probably just another way to get exposure for themselves/their companies… Makes me think of something Jay Leno once said: “In America, we like everyone to know about the good work we’re doing anonymously”. But well, let’s just hope that there’s some crazy rich people around that will gladly part with heaps of money so that some people can be helped…

Please. Don’t pretend your somehow righteous. Your all about bagging people who missed the good cause thing but the designers who put time in for the cause are attention seeking mercenaries? You don’t have a “cynical side”. You have a douche nozzle side.

maybe time to seek some serenity now in your life?

The facts:
– the press release clearly reads like advertisement for the designers and Leica
– only 16 out of 127 posts here mention the good cause, the others just declare “love” or “hate” for the product, often with bitching either way

So yes, despite my pretentious comment, I stand by it.

Greg is on the mark. Ive has been quoted about being upset that Steve Jobs would take credit for the design of Apple’s products. After watching many product announcements from Jobs I never once saw him do that. On the contrary Jobs was always saying we and referring to the company as a whole.

What’s my point? That designers tend to really crave exposure and recognition, and that often times that becomes more important than designing the best and most useful design.

The fact is, there is nothing special, at all, about the design of this camera. In fact, the design is awful when it comes to the kind of controls phorographers want and need. This is definitely a case of form over substance. The other problem is that the form itself looks awful. I’m sure most serious amateur and professional photographers on this site could have done a much better job.

Perhaps the designers are so hyped in an effort to raise the final price on the camera, rather than themselves?

Hey that looks like a really slick cheese grater.

It also grates nerves.

Another form over function abortion.
First, Sigma wooden edition, then K-01 then Hassy Lunar now this. Is this some sort of disease or attempts to make square wheel working?

The K-01 made a lot of sense. Most photogs can’t even begin to use the complex control functions built into most DSLR’s today. The K-01 is like a muscle car from the 1960’s, it is all engine with little embellishment. The K-01 has an outstanding APS sensor the rest is basic.

Not as ugly as your comment

Richrma, if you cant use those “complex” features get a point and shoot, the k01 was a disaster in every way.

No, it wasn’t. I was for people who’ve convinced themselves they needed lightning fast AF in all situations, which is nonsense.

Ugh! people don’t get it
Guys this is a revolutionary design !!
No replaceable battery or memory card!
All in an uni-body design. 😉
Its called Dysfunctional Minimalism.
If you dont know what that means try to unplug those notoriously slippery Apple USB cables!

Oh brother, again somebody with weak fingers …

No, someone with clear sight!

Sorry, I agree with the design of this camera but I have to disagree on Apple’s cables. I think they are easily the best designed cables in the industry.

For the most part. While never had problems with the USB side, the zillion-contact side that goes into the older ipod/phone is indeed a bit fiddly.

I agree and I disagree. K-01 is the only Pentax body I decided to keep for my K-mount lenses and I find its design excellent. It’s not as ergonomic as it could be but I don’t use a camera for its great ergonomics but for taking photos and this is an inspiring -not utilitarian- camera to handle. A Leica is not particularly ergonomic either, really. But I do agree that sometimes so-called designers make abominations, uninspiring pieces of fluff, to attract attention for various reasons. By the way, this Leica is not departing from the standard Leica design much anyway… K-01 was a radical design, on the other hand.

I think it is absolutely beautiful. It looks more Ive’s design than Newsom’s – Ive’s products are all about minimalism.
We know it is a product for a worthy good cause. Even while I think it is beautiful it would be too minimal for normal production – no flash contact, no distance markers on the lens would be shortcomings in usability, sacrificed for purity of shape. But in this case they didn’t need to be hindered by practical concerns.
I think it would be great to see them working further on an eventual production version. If this was a camera for Steve Jobs he would consider it an interesting step halfway in the design process. He would probably ask to make a mesh texture that doesn’t trap dirt and will be grippy, for example.
But it sure shows what fresh thinking can do with a classic camera concept. In a way I am reminded of Colani’s then futuristic Canon T90 which also pushed camera design forward (it was the first camera with the design wheel and really fluid forms);

(continued)

or Giugiaro’s (I think) Nikon F3 which looked so much better than other cameras in 1980.
This is a lovely exercise in minimalism.

By the way, I am one of the few who loved Newsom’s Pentax design, I found it appealing with great ergonomics. I don’t have a Pentax but thought it was a breath of fresh air, hindered by the fact that it had to accept Pentax’s normal lenses, so the body couldn’t be made svelte.

Giugiaro’s real revolution though was the Nikon F4S . That prototype of form and function exists through this day in the heavy pro FF’s.

As an M camera owner, it looks weird. I’ve seen white before, no problem. I’ve seen rounded before, no problem. This thing needs something, like maybe some black trim lines, I dunno.

I am living in a ritzy hotel room designed by decorators and architects who never had to LIVE in this uncomfortable and ill-designed place… try living with your “artistry” before unveiling it! Ditto for most special camera designs. It will not be the replacement for the M9 so go ahead and make them for rich folks to feel good about buying. Hey, how about a camera to raise money for cancer or Alzheimer’s? You have not control over those problems… using a condom or avoiding needle-drug addiction will prevent AIDs.

Unless you plan on winning this camera at auction I doubt you’ve got much to worry about apart from your ritzy hotel room. Could you possibly move house to fix your unfortunate ritzy problem? 😉

Not really… the whole damn place is “designer” — seen this problem in too many hotels trying to be “world-class” — another guest at this hotel broke her fingernails trying to get the drawers to open and another had to call the front desk to find out how to use the faucets in the sink! Oh, and the shower built for two with six rain head/shower nozzles has a drain built for ONE! I actually found my recent stay at a Holiday Inn Express to be a bit more comfortable! I Still think the camera sucks ;o) — and YES, I couldn’t bring myself to bid on it even if I could afford it!

Source Article from http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/10/08/apple-jony-ive-and-marc-newson-team-up-to-design-special-red-edition-leica