Leica's new M-D rangefinder is definitely for the elite with no budget constraints as the camera is seriously living up to its promise of being old-school and lacks features as basic as an LCD screen.
Priced at a little below $6,000, the company has come up with taglines that are supposed to differentiate the already differentiated product from the other feature-packed cameras dominating the gadgets arena.
True to the words "a step back to the future," the new Leica rangefinder is more challenging than rewarding, especially when it comes to learning the nuances of the camera, which houses a huge ISO dial where you'd otherwise expect an LCD screen. The lack of an autofocus system, or even a traditional manual focus for that matter, leaves you with no option other than to line a couple of images in the optical viewfinder and then just hope your timing and precision have done the trick.
If you're looking for a video mode or a Wi-Fi, look elsewhere. Leica means it when it says "photography in its purest form," which is code for no frills. It believes that all the frills take away the real essence of photography. So, for the price it demands, you won't even get the support for JPEG files as the crazily expensive camera captures the shots in RAW format or as .DNG files.
What does the Leica M-D house then? It has ISO settings ranging from 200 to 6400, a 24-megapixel full-frame sensor, a rangefinder peephole, manual control dials for shutter and aperture and a memory card slot. Well, that's about it. As an added bonus, it's possible you'll get a lasting battery life as there are no frills drawing juice from the rangefinder. And, of course, you'll also be paying for the much-coveted Leica brand name.
While it makes more sense to go for a feature-packed LCD camera at a lesser price, if you've already been there and done that, and have a hankering for traveling places with an old-school Leica camera strung around your neck, then go for it.
