ITALIAN STYLE FOR LEICA M10 LIMITED EDITION

TO CELEBRATE THE completion of its ambitious Leitz Park complex in Germany (see our feature, p18), Leica has introduced a limited edition version of its M10 digital rangefinder camera, styled by Zagato.

If you have a spare $31,300 lying around, you could be one of the 250 owners of the M10 Edition Zagato which has been created by the famous Italian automotive styling house.

Founded in Milan in 1919, Zagato has created coach-built bodies for Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Fiat, Aston Martin, Bentley and BMW. Today the company is run by the founder’s grandson, Dr Andrea Zagato, who has created the special Leica M10 using the company’s favourite material – aluminium. The M10 Edition Zagato has aluminium top and bottom plates, an aluminium bodyshell and aluminium external controls. This all adds up to a weight saving of 70 grams over the standard production M10. Instead of traditional leather inserts, the body’s grip surfaces feature very fine grooves made in the aluminium which create quite a distinctive look. Also different from the standard camera is the provision of an integrated handgrip.

The body is matched with a special version of the Leica Summilux-M 35mm f1.4 ASPH prime lens which has an integrated metal hood and a redesigned focusing knob which is shaped to echo the distinctive Zagato ‘double bubble’ roofline, a feature of many of its automotive creations. Additionally, the lens has the ‘Zagato’ logo marked around its front ring.

On the inside, the limited edition camera is the same as the serial production model, including a 24 megapixels full-35mm CMOS sensor, continuous shooting at up to 5.0 fps and built-in WiFi.

Australian availability of the M10 Zagato Edition is via the Leica Store in Sydney’s QVB centre. Visit www.leica-store.com.au