Leica introduced the first digital M series M8 Digital Rangefinder camera and will be available in the shops end of November 2006. I think many of the Leica users will bring back their memories of the past of Leica M3 anolog model rangefinder camera.


It was almost fifty-two years since Leica introduced the first M series camera (the M3) they have introduced what is without doubt a milestone model, the first digital M series.


The M8 has a ten megapixel CCD (with special offset microlenses to reduce vignetting) which produces a 1.3x FOV crop, it is built around the same sold metal design which has become the M series trademark with a solid brass top and base and a magnesium alloy cast main section.


This camera has been built from the ground up as a digital rangefinder but without compromising the size, quality or usability of the M series design.


This professional-standard digital camera "Made in Germany" uses an image sensor specially developed for the requirements of the Leica M system. Almost all Leica M system lenses made since 1954 are also suitable for digital photography, thanks to their high performance level.


The combination of lenses, sensor and high-performance picture editing generates outstanding picture quality with a resolution of 10.3 million pixels.


Detail of the review done by phil Askey and Simon Joinson can be read in http://www.dpreview.com/articles/leicam8/ 