Leica hit the headlines this week with the launch of its new Leica M11, a camera that's quite possibly its best rangefinder yet – and also one of its most expensive. With a hefty body-only price of $8,995 / £7,500 / AU$13,500, it's sparked the age-old debate – can Leica cameras ever justify their price tags, or are they now simply luxury status symbols?
Leica cameras are expensive by any measure, but they’re also renowned for their exquisite design, exceptional build quality, superb image quality and unique shooting experience. Over the years, I’ve used and reviewed many Leica cameras from the M, SL and Q series, and have thoroughly enjoyed using them. But would I buy one? That's a tough, and surprisingly complex, question to answer.
I love shooting with Leica cameras because they’re beautiful in every way. But I don’t own one myself and, right now, have no intention of buying one. I mainly shoot with Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras because of their versatility and the wide range of quality optics they offer. And that all comes long before even thinking about high prices Leica cameras and lenses command.
But that doesn't mean that Leica cameras can never justify their price tags for other photographers. After all, if that was the case, the company could never develop and launch cameras like the M11. Like most of Leica's lineup, the M11 is a niche camera with a very distinct character – and it's this, alongside other factors like their longevity and price appreciation, that are important factors to discuss when considering whether or not Leica's pricing is genuinely excessive.
How expensive are Leica cameras, though? Given its range was given a small price hike back in April 2021, it's time for a quick temperature check on the red dot tax...
How much?
Leaving aside the D-Lux range, which are made in collaboration with Panasonic, Leica's cameras are certainly among the priciest of their kind.
At the lower end, they start with the Leica TL2 ($2,595 / £1,720 / AU$2,900), but quickly move through the savings-shredding gears with the full-frame, fixed lens Leica Q2 compact ($5,700 / £4,500 /AU$8,500). Then there’s the Leica SL2 , which is more like a standard full-frame mirrorless camera, but still costs $7,000 / £5,500 / AU$10,300.
Perhaps a more revealing comparison, though, is between the Leica M11 ($8,995 / £7,500 / AU$13,500) and Sony A7R IV ($3,500 / £3,200 / AU$4,670), two cameras which quite possibly use the same 61MP sensor. They're very different prospects in other ways, but the scale of the price difference shows the impact of that famous red dot. Even the Sony A1 , which on paper blows the M11 out of the water, is cheaper than Leica's new camera at $6,500 / £6,500 / AU$9,000.
With special-edition M-series cameras frequently pushing into five-figure territory, it's clear there's still very much a Leica premium. But can it be justified? That depends on a few different factors, starting with design and build quality.
Less is more
Leica cameras are handmade in Germany with top plates that are often made from a single piece of machined aluminum or brass, with a brass baseplate. The craftsmanship and attention to detail are still second-to-none, and they’re quite simply built like tanks.
M-series cameras are also so small, quiet and unobtrusive that they’ve become a firm favorite of professional street, reportage, fashion and portrait photographers for more than 70 years. This is a group for whom cost isn’t a deciding factor, but the shooting style and image quality on offer are still of the utmost importance.
The signature shooting experience of most Leica cameras focuses on the fundamentals of exposure – ISO, aperture and shutter speed. These are the three most important controls on every camera, and with Leica M models you have direct access to these, with other settings neatly hidden away in a brilliantly-designed camera menu. This means there are just a few buttons on the back of the camera alongside a D-pad.
Not only does this design simplicity look amazing, it also allows photographers to focus purely on the settings that matter with nothing else getting in the way. This overturns conventional camera wisdom, which usually states that the more complex the camera is, the higher its price tag. But minimalism like this requires the clever design of both the camera and user interface. And like Bang & Olufsen's speakers, this simplicity is something that many are willing to pay for – particularly when their camera pays their bills.
Do Leicas take better photos?
Very few, if any, professional cameras these days are objectively ‘better’ at taking photos than their rivals. Typically, professionals buy a camera for its features, size, weight, control layout and, to some degree, sensor size and resolution – all with the intention that the camera fits their style of photography and way of shooting.
Cameras like the Leica M11 offer a unique hands-on experience and discreet shooting in a small and lightweight package. Full-frame mirrorless cameras can be extremely small, and Leica has capitalized on this by maintaining its traditional Leica M design aesthetic, alongside tiny manual focus lenses that offer excellent image quality.
Autofocus is amazing these days, thanks to incredible speed and features such as Eye AF, but if Leica M series cameras offered autofocus and features like image stabilization, the size and weight of M bodies and lenses would need to drastically increase. Not only would this completely detract from what Leica M series cameras are all about, but it would also inevitably drive the cost even higher.
The refined shooting experience offered by Leica M cameras is about as close to traditional film shooting as you can get with a digital camera. But rather than being a step backwards, it’s more about maintaining a shooting style as much loved as it is unique. And although there’s no video shooting available with the M11, it’s all about the ‘pure’ photographic experience – a true photographers’ camera.
Appreciation society
Another factor in the 'value' debate what happens to a camera's price after you've bought it. There aren’t many cameras made these days that can become more valuable over time. Like fine wines, Leica cameras aren’t manufactured in huge numbers like Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus or Sony models, so there’s an inherent scarcity and exclusivity in each model.
And then there are the limited edition models that are not only collectable, but can increase in value, making them as much an investment as a great photographic tool. The limited-edition Leica M10-P Edition 'Safari' camera, for instance, was released in 2015 and limited to just 1,500 units.
You can buy used versions of this seven-year-old camera on eBay today for fractionally more than the original price, which equates to a ‘free’ camera if you purchased at launch and sold it today in good condition. It'll likely be a similar story with this year's Leica Q2 '007 edition' . By contrast, it’s safe to say that your average camera would be worth around a third of its launch price after just three to five years.
But let’s also try putting cost into perspective for ‘standard’ Leica M models, too. How often do you upgrade your camera? Every 2-4 years, or in some cases sooner? If you’re spending a few thousand dollars or pounds every time you upgrade, it only takes a couple of upgrades before you’ve exceeded the cost of a Leica M.
Leica fans are known to hang onto their cameras for much longer, sometimes a lifetime, rather than slavishly following the upgrade cycle and buying every new model as they’re launched. So, when you divide the initial cost over a longer period of years, the cost effectively comes down and can ultimately be lower than the more mainstream brands – it’s certainly food for thought.
Price of admission
From my point of view, Leica cameras such as the M11 and their lenses are far too expensive. But this is far from a simple conclusion and leaves me with a degree of inner turmoil, because I also appreciate why they’re expensive – and that’s a dichotomy we all have to come to terms with.
On the one hand, Leicas are overpriced for the tech they offer. But on the other, it’s a luxury camera brand where cameras are hand-built in Germany using high-quality materials. If Leica was to mass-produce cameras like the M11 to reduce cost, the quality of the materials would also need to be reduced and the design would inevitably take a hit, too. So would Leica then lose much of what makes its cameras so unique and special?
Leica cameras provide a unique set of characteristics that appeal directly to the needs of a niche set of working professionals, as well as lucky amateurs who can afford them and are used to paying for premium brands. But there’s still more to consider; Leicas hold their value much better than other cameras, and in some cases, they can increase in value because of their scarcity and limited edition, so can even be seen as an investment.
The limited-edition ‘Drifter’ M Monochrom with a snakeskin finish, produced with the musician Lenny Kravitz, is one such example. And in this situation of scarcity and collectability, a Leica camera essentially pays for itself. So, if you can stomach the initial cost and you need the shooting style afforded by them, Leica cameras can be a fantastic option, for some. For the rest of us, we may just have to keep on dreaming.
Bath vs Leinster live stream: watch European Champions Cup rugby from anywhere
Leinster scored one of the biggest ever Champions Cup victories in the last round of the competition, to put them on the brink of the knockouts. It's the final round of the pool stage, and you can read on as our guide explains how to watch a Bath vs Leinster live stream in the 2021-22 European Rugby Champions Cup from anywhere in the world - including ways to watch the game absolutely FREE .
Jamison Gibson-Park starred for the Irish province as they blew Bath away in the reverse fixture last month, scoring seven tries en route to a resounding 45-20 victory.
It's the type of scoreline the Bath faithful have seen far too often in what has been a miserable season in Somerset, but despite being winless so far in the Champions Cup, they're still on course for the consolation prize of a place in the Challenge Cup.
Leo Cullen's men were as ruthless as they were breathtaking in their 89-7 pasting of Montpellier in the previous round, with Josh van der Flier living up to his name with two tries and a highlights real of carries and tackles.
This could be another long afternoon home side, who have lost 10 of their past 12 meetings with the province, and you can follow our guide as we explain all the ways to get a Bath vs Leinster live stream wherever you are right now.
How to watch Bath vs Leinster: live stream European Rugby Champions Cup FREE in the UK
How to watch Bath vs Leinster FREE: live stream European Rugby Champions Cup in Ireland
How to watch European Champions Cup from outside your country
If you're abroad this weekend and try to access your usual domestic stream of the rugby, you'll find that you can't. This is because of something called geo-blocking, where rights restrictions stop the likes of All4 from streaming the game outside the UK.
To get around this, you could use a VPN , which allows you to virtually relocate your laptop, phone or streaming device back to your country of residence - thereby regaining access to all the streaming services and content you normally enjoy at home.
Use a VPN to live stream Bath vs Leinster anywhere
Using a VPN to watch sports coverage from abroad is very simple:
1. Download and install a VPN - as we say, we recommend ExpressVPN
2. Connect to the relevant server location - launch the VPN app, click on 'choose location' and select the right location i UK for All4
3. Head to the chosen broadcaster's live stream - so if you're from the UK, head on over to the All4 website or app
How to watch Bath vs Leinster in Australia
How to live stream European Rugby Champions Cup in the US
BlackBerry 5G phone is still coming – and possibly soon
You’d be forgiven for forgetting there was a BlackBerry 5G in the works, as it was scheduled to land in the first half of 2021, and pretty much all news of it dried up in the second half of the year.
This led many to wonder whether it was actually still coming at all, and the good news is that it is, at least according to OnwardMobility (the company making the phone).
In a brief blog post , the company has explained that it faced “various delays that prevented us from shipping in 2021”, but that the company is still working on an “ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone” with a keyboard, and that it will be providing more regular updates starting this month.
The company hasn’t said when the BlackBerry 5G will actually now ship, but from the wording of the statement it sounds like additional information on the phone might be released soon, so hopefully we’ll have more details before long.
Interestingly, there's also no mention of the BlackBerry brand name in the statement, so it's possible that the phone won't now launch with BlackBerry branding - but that's speculation for now.
In any case, we’re hopeful that it will launch sooner rather than later. Given that the goal was to ship in 2021 (and the first half at that), it’s entirely possible that the device is close to being finished, even with the delays faced by OnwardMobility. But we can’t be certain until we hear more, so stay tuned for updates.
Analysis: what we know about the BlackBerry 5G so far
Given how long it’s been since we last heard news about the BlackBerry 5G, a refresher might be in order.
That said, there’s not really much to know. OnwardMobility has previously said that the BlackBerry 5G will have a top-of-the-line camera and run Android. We also know that it will have a physical keyboard, support 5G, and that it’s aimed primarily at enterprise, government, and security-conscious users who want a productivity-centric smartphone.
Beyond that it’s anyone’s guess really. In fact, we don’t even know what the phone is called, with BlackBerry 5G just being a term we’re using for convenience until we learn the official name. And as noted above, there's a chance this isn't even a BlackBerry anymore.
This lack of information might mean it’s still a long way from launch, but equally it’s not a super high-profile handset, so the makers may have been able to keep things quiet.
Hopefully we won’t be waiting too long for it to launch, but if you can’t wait then there’s always the new Astro Slide – a potentially similar handset that was announced at CES 2022 .