March 1914, Wetzlar. Oskar Barnack completes the prototype of his Liliput camera, the “Ur-Leica.” It shoots 36×24 mm (Full Frame) stills, using 35mm cine film positioned horizontally.

March 1925. The Leica I begins serial production and is introduced at the Leipzig Fair. The format is called Leica Format.

1930. The Leica I gets a 39 mm diameter threaded mount for interchangeable lenses and looking back, can be called a primordial  ILMC—Interchangeable Lens Mirrorless Camera.

1932. The Leica model C standardizes on a Flange Focal Depth of  28.8 mm.

1954. The first M series Leica Camera, with a bayonet mount, is introduced at Photokina. Flange Focal Depth is now 27.8 mm and the mount’s Inside Diameter is 44 mm.

July 16, 2020, Wetzlar. Leica Camera introduces the latest in their long line of beloved M cameras. The M10-R has a new, 40 Megapixel sensor. Image noise is reduced, dynamic range increased, time exposure now goes to 16 minutes for those night sky shots, and ISO ranges from 100 to 50,000. The shutter is quieter and causes less vibration. This is a still camera. It doesn’t do video. It’s the camera you want on set for unobtrusive, silent BTS, tests, pre-vis, scouting and production stills.

The current Leica M Full Frame rangefinder family now includes M10, M10-P, M10-D, M10 Monochrom and M10-R.

The Leica M10-R runs around $8,295 in black or chrome.

Technical Details

• Lens mount: Leica M bayonet with contacts for 6-bit communication
• Flange focal depth: 27.80 mm
• Lens adapters: Leica L, Leica R, PL mount, and more.
• Sensor: 40 Megapixel CMOS. Full Frame 36 x 24 mm.
• Stills Resolution: DNG: 7864 x 5200 (40.89 MP).
• JPEG: 7840 x 5184 Pixel (40.64 MP), etc.
• Stills formats: DNG RAW 14-bit, JPEG 8-bit
• Media: SD cards up to 2GB. SDHC cards up to 32GB. SDXC cards up to 2TB.
• Sensitivity:  ISO  100 – 50000,  adjustable  in  1/3 stop  increments, choice  of automatic or manual control.
• Rangefinder: Bright line frame viewfinder with automatic parallax compensation
• Eyepiece: Calibrated to -0.5 diopter, fixed. Additional -3 to +3 diopters available.
• Frame lines: Two bright lines shown with each lens used: For 35 and 135 mm; 28 and 90 mm, or 50 and 75 mm; automatic switching when lens is attached.
• Viewfinder: Four-digit digital display
• Rear: 3″ color -TFT LCD monitor with 16 million colors and 1,036,800 dots, approx. 100% image field, glass cover of extremely hard, scratch-resistant Gorilla glass.
• Shutter: Metal blade focal plane with vertical movement.
• Shutter speeds: Aperture priority 125s to 1⁄4000s.
• Manual: 8s to 1⁄4000s in 1/2 steps; 8s to 125s in whole steps.
• B: For time exposures up to maximum 125s (in conjunction with self-timer T function, i.e. 1st release = shutter opens, 2nd release = shutter closes)
• Power: 1 lithium ion rechargeable battery, nominal voltage 7.4V, capacity 1300mAh.
• WiFi:   802.11b/g/n  (standard  Wifi  protocol),  channel  1-11.
• Camera body: Die cast magnesium body, synthetic leather covering. Brass top panel and base, black or silver chrome-plated finish
• Dimensions (width x depth x height): 139 x 38.5 x 80 mm
• Weight: approx. 660 g (with battery)