"The Dalai Lama of Design meets the Pope of products!", to paraphrase that bollocks that Bono once came out with about when Jobs and Gates met!
Want a Leica camera from Jony Ive? There CAN BE ONLY ONE
Apple design saint Jonathan Ive will design a single special edition Leica M camera, in what must surely be the world's most hipster industrial design collaboration to date. The iPhone man will rework the latest model in the classic German camera-maker's M range, Leica owner Andreas Kaufmann said on Monday. Only one, lonely …
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Thursday 20th September 2012 17:32 GMT Shagbag
Sycophants
I must be part of those who think his designs aren't that great. Sure, he's a better designer than me but the camera looks shyte... which suggests he's more of a show pony and can't really do much outside of brushed aluminium.
It kinda reminds me of that twat who keeps cutting things in half and dropping them in formaldehyde. Another one who's more 'PR' than substance.
If I had their PR people on my case, I could dump in a Tesco bag, call it 'art' and sell it as a 'one off' for £££s. I just need the PR people. 'Jony' and whats-his-name have them. I don't. That's what separates them from us.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 09:18 GMT Frederic Bloggs
Re: So copying^Hbeing inspired by something is OK then?
Note the extra words after "copying" viz: "design ideas".
Clearly Mr Job's iXXXX is not yet a Leica Rangefinder Camera. Although that may change. I suspect Leica would ignore any Applely Flavoured Products unless and until any iLeica starts to command the same price premium.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 16:01 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: So copying^Hbeing inspired by something is OK then?
Spot the difference:
Steve Jobs looked at a *camera* and used some thoughts about the *camera* to style a *phone*.
Samsung looked at a *phone* and produced a similar looking *phone*.
Last time I looked Leica and Apple weren't competitors in any market.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 07:56 GMT Anonymous Coward
Oh dear
The Leica M series was an example of trying to keep a design going way beyond its time, with pop-up viewfinder frames trying to compensate for the fact that interchangeable lenses really don't work very well with rangefinder cameras that have more than quite a small range of focal lengths. If there is one phone product the Leicas really resemble, it is surely BlackBerry. Good at the core function (taking pictures/making phone calls/sending messages), quirky design, but boatloads of compromises that make them less than pleasant to use.
This new one is exactly like a BB 9900, with a modern feature (Leica rear screen/BB touch screen) grafted onto a design which, it it really worked properly, wouldn't need it. And $7000 for something whose sensor and electronics will be outdated in 2 years time?
The great thing about film cameras was that you could upgrade the sensor (film) as improved versions came out, and you could upgrade the lenses as they improved. A 1930s Leica could take better pictures in the 1990s than when it was new because film had improved so much and you could fit a better lens. But digital camera bodies are essentially disposable once the sensor is no longer state of the art.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 21:47 GMT keithpeter
Re: Oh dear
I shall continue to use my M4-2 with an older 50mm collapseable summicron until they, or I, stop working, or until film is unobtainable or unprocessable. Tri-x rated at 160 iso and developed in 1:50 rodinol for 9 minutes. Good shadow detail, tight grain and a good long curve. I can still do a film change while walking just about, but a little out of practice now I have to admit.
Leica have always done one-offs. They sell them to the rich people.
Now: the M4-2 was made in Canada, and I have a blackberry phone.... must be a connection.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 10:08 GMT Ivan Headache
Re: So it'll be a German camera
Not me.
Look at Braun design history and you will find only 2 items that look ever-so-slightly Apple; A desk-top cigarette lighter from 1970 and a loudspeaker from 1975 (both designed by Dieter Rams).
Inspired by and ripping-off are not the same.
Ive is inspired by Dieter Rams's design philosophy. In my world that is no bad thing.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 10:16 GMT Dave 126
Re: So it'll be a German camera
John Ive has always given credit to Dieter Rams, and Dieter is fine with that. So whats the issue?
"I have always regarded Apple products – and the kind words Jony Ive has said about me and my work – as a compliment. Without doubt there are few companies in the world that genuinely understand and practise the power of good design in their products and their businesses. - Dieter Rams
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/8555503/Dieter-Rams-Apple-has-achieved-something-I-never-did.html
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Thursday 20th September 2012 13:00 GMT Dave 126
Re: Easy peasy
http://www.luxury-insider.com/luxury-news/2012/05/object-of-lust-hermes-leica-m9-p-edition
Paul Smith is known for his textile designs, and his contribution was, as noted, cosmetic. This is a Hermes edition M9, with styling by Walter de Silva, the man responsible for the new-look Audis and VWs. Curiously, he has chosen to remove the hot-shoe.
I link to this because it suggest Jony Ive might have more input than simply choosing the colour of the camera. Ultimately, I don't see him changing the function in drastic way. Bear in the mind the object is not to produce a photographic device; the object is to part a rich person from their money in the name of charity, mutual back-slapping and brand advancement.
I look on with amusement. My toys are all black ABS, powder-coated steel and anodised aluminium.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 08:18 GMT Kristian Walsh
Leica "glass on the back"?
News to me.
Still, Steve Jobs said it, so it must be true.
In any case Leicas were made like that for functional reasons. Even the crazy film-loading was in order to prevent light leaking in through a rear door (which, with 1930s materials, could not be made both sturdy and lightfast). These days, it's just a fetish, though.. (seriously, unscewing a base-plate to change an SD card?)
Anyway, I can imagine Ive is happy to take on the challenge - if only to step outside the narrow confines of Apple's design language for a bit. Ive did some really clever designs before the current "thin aluminium rectangle with radiused corners" regime...
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Thursday 20th September 2012 08:48 GMT Steve I
Re: Leica digicams.
"...if you really want a Leica you're far better off getting a Panasonic. That way you get the Leica lenses (the really good bit) and the same Panasonic internals that Leica use, only without the antique design, the bulkiness and the ludicrous price.2
No - if you want a Leica rangefinder, you have to buy a Leica rangefinder. There is no Panasonic version.
Thumbs down only if you don't understand.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 10:23 GMT Dave 126
Re: Leica digicams.
Panasonic don't make equivalents to these Leicas... however, Sony are seeking to rival the Leica 'Rangefinders' with their RX1 - a big, full frame image sensor in a compact body and fixed 35mm f/2 Zeiss lens for $2800. I don't know how it compares, but maybe one to look into if you'e in the market for such things.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 08:56 GMT Fihart
Leica, Schmeica
I love real Leicas (the original shaped ones that Oskar Barnack designed for 35mm film). Even Russian copies are cool.
I'm left cold by more recent Leicas. The last 35mm (M series rangefinders and the ugly SLRs) were over-engineered and became so expensive that you could get a functionally identical and equally durable Canon or Nikon for 25% of the price.
As for Leica digitals, some appear to be restyled Panasonics. At prices that clearly make no sense, given the very short shelf-life of all digital cameras
The brand has become a victim of collectors (or investors) -- I trust that those who bid for this latest trinket get their fingers burnt . Cameras are for photography. For that, a Samsung will do just fine.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 09:41 GMT Ru
Re: Leica, Schmeica
The "Leica" compacts are indeed rebadged panasonics. I have a sneaking suspicion that a fair number of the Leica-marked lenses on other compacts are merely licensed... the design may or may not actually be by Leica, the branding certainly is, but the manufacture is not. Zeiss do the same. Leica's M and S are the "real thing" and do indeed have world-class optics; shame about the price, etc.
Anyhoo, if you're bored, have a quick read of this.
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Friday 21st September 2012 08:47 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Leica, Schmeica
Not true Fihart, the D-LUX4 and the LX3 have identical lenses and electronics. Panasonic make the electronic components for both, Leica make the lenses for both. The real differences are in body design, and firmware... for the price the LX5 is a great camera, and a baby Leica.
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Thursday 20th September 2012 13:38 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Bono Related Charity?
If it's Product RED then there are always better ways of giving money to charity. In RED a product is authorised to carry the logo and a percentage (not specified) of the profits go to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Whereas you could just donate money to a charity directly and not have to pay the overheads of RED.
RED has in the past even gone so far to say that it exists to 'raise awareness' of issues. Which is largely done by giving slebs stupidly expensive goodie bags to attend an exclusive party somewhere.
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