The Leica S2 is like a reality TV, none of us wants to admit to watching because we have “real lives”. And in real life the Leica S2 is unavailable for purchase, unproven, untested, unknown software report, unknown performance, and the list goes on and on. Then there is the rumored price of $20,000 USD. And to add drama to the mix, the Leica S2 is the only new system coming to market - and on the eve of F&H’s closure, Leaf’s liquidation, the likely demise of the HY6 and Sinar’s unknown future. So we watch and wonder - will the S2 be a hero or a zero?

As a ZD dSLR owner, obviously I buy into the concept of the all-in-one medium format + digital back form factor. In that particular area I think the ZD is brilliant. If Phase One announced a ZD II and priced it reasonably, I might even become a Phase One fanboy. So I watch the S2. I think the Leica is doing alot of things right, but all those “right” things can be undermined with one bad thing - price. The “right” price is under $11,999 USD - and preferably that includes a kit lens too. Meanwhile, Phase One lists P40+ digital back at $20k MSRP, Hasselblad sells H lenses at $3-$7k per pop, etc., etc. - lets be realistic, the S2 will not be bargain priced. But, I still watch...

FOTOCARE 2009

July 13, 2009 was the Fotocare expo in New York City. Leica advertised their participation in the show (see the screen shot to left), and with that hype I expected to see some good web reporting coverage on the Leica S2. As it turns out, press coverage was lackluster - at least compared to when Canon or Nikon launch their latest & greatest creation. There was not even an honorable mention on DPreview or Luminous-Landscape.

I started checking all the usual gear sites and user forums to see if anybody went and saw the S2 firsthand. The search process required more digging than expected, so the fruits of those efforts are published here.

ON THE FORUMS

As it turns out, one L-Camera forum member did go to the show and actually handled the Leica S2. He was kind enough to post his first impression in this thread. And another forum member from Luminous-Landscape also attended and took a picture of the Leica S2 eye piece. These threads digress into the usual Leica gibberish. I would not invest too much time into reading every nary little detail. The picture below is the eye piece picture taken with an iPhone. I know it is in bad taste to copy the picture, but it is cited above and these things tend to go MIA as threads get archived and people clean up their servers. So the image is semi preserved here for future generations to gaze upon :)

PDN GEAR GUIDE

Thus far the search results are pretty boring, but yesterday PDN Gear Guide published a quick report. Leica has not released the S2 to the press yet, so PDN’s write it up pretty thin, but it is more interesting than what it being written in the forums. Click here for PDN Gear Guide’s Leica S2 write-up. It is two pages, so enjoy. Aside from Leica’s own marketing material, PDN’s article is about the most substance available at this point.

DAVID FARKAS PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG

On May 17, 2009 David published side by side images of the Leica S2 and D3X, and then a second set of the Leica S2 side by side with the Mamiya 645AFD. It is interesting to see that the Leica S2 smaller than the Nikon D3X. The Leica S2 looks notably smaller than my ZD -w which has a chunky prism housing atop its shoulders. He goes onto show some lenses and the gear packed into a Crumpler bag. To David’s credit, there 20 pictures posted, so plenty of gear images to drool over. David works for Dale Photo & Digital which is a large Leica dealer, so they get some extra attention from the Leica reps.

OTHER LEICA S2 NEWS

About a week ago there was a press release saying Leica and Phase One had severed their strategic relationship, so the latest question is - what software will be used for the RAW images? Despite the press announcement, a Leica trade show rep said it may still be a Danish company (ie - Phase One) or perhaps Adobe. The raw image editor software is a critical piece of the equation and can make or break a camera; hopefully Leica has a very good “Plan B”.

Awhile back when the Phase One / Leica relationship was announced (around Photokina 2008 IIRC), supposedly the Phase One dealers would be distributing and supporting the Leica S2. Leica has since stated that the S2 will be sold through Leica’s dealer network. Which brings us to the critical question - what is the price? Still no official word from Leica as July 15, 2009. Supposedly price will be announced in August and the forum crowd expects a $20,000 USD price tag.

Somewhere along the line, somebody at Leica said that Leica estimates the digital medium format market at 10,000 units per year. Fact or fiction? Who knows... Anyway, Leica is aiming for 10% market share or better, thus 1,000+ units per year. That equates to $20M per year plus lens and accessory sales, so $50,000,000 per year in S2 sales  is my uneducated guesstimate.

And that is about the grand total of Leica S2 news available on the web. Key points to remember - supposedly pricing in August and the camera will be released in September 2009. For technical information, specifications, etc., here is Leica’s S2 webpage. If this today’s article did not fulfill your gear appetite, check out the “Around the Web” page. It collects RSS feeds from nine of the major gear websites and there are typical 10 to 20 new articles per day.