Leica announces $1300 special edition 'G-Star RAW' D-Lux 6

I am in awe at the power of branding. Leica is the master.

The camera has no improvements (except for the margin) over the LX7.

The guy on the video is so full of rhymes with hit.

Yet... I am sure that there will be enough suckers to spend $1,300 for a camera that, at B&H, can be bought without the red dot for $398 AND then argue with sane photographers that it is worth it.

I bow before Leica.

They are the masters

I am in awe at the power of branding. Leica is the master.

So far the camera feels great in my hand because of the extra leatherette but the case is a disaster.

The case has 3 amateurish design flaws & lasted 2 weeks.

1) It has a belt loop but the shoulder strap cannot be removed when worn on the belt!

2) The belt loop is fixed by 4 studs with 3 pulling through the leather in 2 weeks. Even cheap Chinese leather cases have stitched belt loops!

3) The belt loop is fixed far too low on the case so it is top heavy!

Great camera with a great lens but with a key accessories designed incompetently by G-Star to last 2 weeks!

I made it clear when I was buying that I wanted to wear the camera on my belt all day every day.

Photo Riesel replaced the case without any hesitation but I can never actually use the new case.

Totallt unfit for purpose!

Rubbish design& rubbish quality!

Oh my, the video is bordering on hilarious. Easily some of the most pretentious drivel I've heard in years:
"So the challenge becomes more about...sort of...how little design you can add, just to underline the usefullness of an object"
WHaaa?
"Instead of redesigning the camera, we're re-imagining it".
The only thing they're imagining is how much money they can rake off of their devoted clan of suckers.

All of these extensive comments and nary a one about the functionality of the camera or any appreciation for aesthetics - at all. Y'all must not be good photographers, having zero appreciation for aesthetics or fashion. Maybe everyone here applied at Vogue and was turned down? If I were Vogue, I'd check to see what my applicants say online.

This is hilarious. I finally sold all my Leica stuff this year. I started becoming uncomfortable to be seen with it. These days the brand is more recognizable as nouveau-riche jewelry than as bullet-proof tools of photography. Call me vain for not wanting to look like an ostentatious tourist in my own city... (I sure got some amazing M43 gear for a fraction of the Leica investment.)

I love how they are still selling the cameras with tripe like this: "Discretion and unobtrusiveness are particular strengths of the M-System. For instance, the Leica M-E’s shutter action is extremely quiet.... ...a reason why M-Photographers often go unnoticed and simply blend into the scenery."

Really? Even with all that Breitling, Armani, Prada, Fendi, etc... on?? :D

Well... Where did you see an LX7 for $300 and a D-Lux 6 for $500?

Macintosh and Krell audio both make/sell/re-brand iPod docks. At a certain point it's not even a piece of legitimate apparatus, it's merely swag.

This is no new modification for for special clients, this is simply a joke with the customer's intelligence

I seem to remember Saab pasted their name and fascias onto Chevrolet and Subaru during their death throws. People actually bought a few of them. Perhaps people didn't mind paying more for something that looks like what it isn't.

Tsk, tsk, tsk

From a full frame film legend...

To a paltry 1/1.7" (7.44 x 5.58 mm) speck.

How the mighty have fallen...

.

Leica has been doing this kind of stuff for years. The latest is only the most recent of a long line of so-called "collector's items." Why do they do this? Because there are a bunch of suckers out there.

If Leica isn't careful they are going to end up hurting themselves with these silly releases.
Leica has always been a well respected brand, but moves like these are... Well, to put it simply- people are starting to laugh at Leica.

I agree with many of the other commenters that said that Leica should stick to their niche (rangefinders and lenses). The Monochrome, M-9, X-2 and Summilux are what I think of and covet when I think of Leica.

Why do you think Leic as been owned by "Hermes" luxury brand?

There are people willing to pay 2X the price for a branded item...

Okay, there is just one thing you guys have forgotten:
Leica did contribute its lens design to base LX7 and is the fastest arguably sharpest lens in the advanced compact category. Image quality and sharpness is a step above the Fuji X20, for example, as a result. And this is achieved on ten megapixels versus 12. So Leica should be given some liberties to market its own versions.

I wish that the likes of Leica and HB would use their resources and the ability to sell cameras at premium prices to create (or at least collaborate on) cutting-edge innovations instead of pathetic gimmicky niche-market toys.

as for any leica announcement, I have to cite Andreas kaufmann that possess LEICA : “We’re not a luxury brand, but we are elite, and price plays a role in how we see products.”

It's Enerst & Young that posted that: http://www.ey.com/RU/en/Services/Strategic-Growth-Markets/Exceptional-CIS--September-2012-January-2013---Picture-perfect---Leica

This camera is built on asian countries, designed by panasonic, and itj's agreat $450 camera from my point of view.

Maybe this camera (the panasonix LX7) is worth $1000+ when you add a "Red Dot" and fake leather on it?

What a waste of time marketing video. Obviously the target audience is people who's priority to have and to be seen with an expensive brand. They don't care what effort and craftsmanship have gone in to making this product or whether the camera is any better than the Panasonic version. It wouldn't make any difference if it was an "ugly" design. There is no need for portraying the product as something aesthetic blah blah. The target audience will want to know if it is an expensive product of an expensive brand. I'm sure more than half will have heard the Leica name for the first time. If someone said in this video that this is a very expensive compact camera of a very famous brand would've had the desired effect. They can't care less. So, cut the bull...

I only got so far down this page and found myself agreeing/lining every comment.

Leica have been producing 'Emperors suit of clothes' cameras for yonks and if there are people out there daft enough to pay then good look to them. Hopefully, I'm not that daft...

that's the most smelly commercial bullsh!t I've read today! or even this week.

Why only $1300? I bet Rolex could make a killing by re-badging Timex and Swatch watches.

hahahaha next.

Bullshi*

All my friends who can only afford Panasonics will be so jealous when I pull this baby out of my Gucci man bag.

Just because you wouldn't buy this camera doesn't mean its bad. The camera is aimed at those that want to make a fashion statement and have extra disposable income.

You won't see these buyers hanging on forums to put down the vanilla cameras that other manufacturers produce.

It seems the people here only approve of gear they actually own and everything else is inferior. I feel sorry for you guys who look through life half empty.

What's all the whining about? This camera is not for the average Joe. It is targeting consumers who buy a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes for $2000 and drive them home with an Aston Martin Zagato. For those people the price of the Leica is a bargain. The world is heading to a way of serving the upper 10% only, even Adobe is walking this way. It's becoming a big club and you ain't in it!
(me too btw)

Uninteresting edition of an already uninteresting camera...

As usual, this new one from Leica is a thousand buckaroos overpriced. Same old, same old....

Why don't you just buy a Panasonic LX7 and a G-Star Raw t-shirt?

I like my D-Lux 6 just the way it is. It serves a specific purpose. I don't like Leica AG's bad habit of putting bad marketing ahead of good (or great) photography, tip-toeing around the marketplace with "almost M" cameras that are more status symbol than precision tools. And often at absurd prices. Dressing up a perfectly good D-Lux 6 in odd colors and textures and brand logos doesn't make it a an M. That so many photographers are will to spend five-figures on decades old Leicas just show how irrelevant the new Leica fashion cameras have become. Here's an idea: Buy up and refurbish many of the secondary market used Leicas cameras and donate them to art schools under the condition they remain school property. Go back to making the very best new professional tools and the market will follow.

Ok I have a question.....

If they are re-imagining the camera then can someone tell me why it still looks like a camera???

this Leica reminds me of Hasselblad Lunar which is just a rebadge of NEX-7

Leica should be a case study for stand-up comedians in late night shows. How to produce useless things for rich people making poor photos.

ugh, me wantum exclusive carrying strap. that's right, cavemen will be the primary customers.

the one who invented the Leica name on a red Japanese sun-disc is real genius.

WTF Happened to Leica ? This use to b the bench mark of what all cameras aspire to be & should be .. Now u buy one of these and as u walk of people will giggle and think& whisper " poser " behind ur back

Sony!

Where's my G-Star RX100!

This is so lame. I want to meet someone who has the coin to waste on stuff like this so that I can pick up a few of the $100 bills that fall out when they bend over to tie their shoes...

It used to be Leica's camera's made the name, now the name makes the camera. This is what happens when marketing trumps engineering.

Nice looking camera ...... but not 1000$ nice

Does anyone know any of the customers Leica is targeting with this thing? I'd like to sell them some land...

I have no issue with any of this. The LX7 is a fine compact camera. The D-Lux 6 adds the Leica improved colour processing, a copy of Lightroom and the red dot branding.

This designer special extends the idea further giving the very fetching leather trim (making it a fine looking camera to me) and the designer case and strap.

My ex-wife often blew a grand on some overpriced fancy designer bag. It was part of her costume to help her feel at ease in the various social circles she mingled in. It wasn't my thing, and could have thought of a hundred other things to blow the money on, but it made her happy.

The best camera is the one you always have with you. One approach is a good compact camera. But there's no doubt these have a consumer electronics or tech-geek look about them.

This is a very smart looking camera which could help the stylish, who would normally shun carrying a gadget, to enjoy the benefits of the camera you have with you.