A couple of weeks ago I wrote a tongue-in-cheek review of the rumours concerning some sort of cooperation between Leica Camera AG and the Russian KMZ company, original manufacturers of the iconic FED, Zorki and Zenit brands. Tales of a mysterious autumn 2016 Russian visit by Dr. Kaufmann and a team from Leica have been bandied around for several months but no one knows anything for sure. One Macfilos reader, John Young, commented that my story was “utter rubbish: a total fake story with no basis in fact.”
He could well be right, and I don’t suppose we can read anything into the total lack of any sort of denial from Leica itself. Yet the rumours persist. Leica Rumors has published a translation of an article called “Renaissance of the Legend” published on ZenitCamera.com — a site which doesn’t look all that professional or official to me. Previously it had been reported that there would be a Zenit camera based on the Leica SL, Now, there’s a new angle.
The suggestion now is that the rumoured Zenit D1 could be a retake of the Leica M9 and could be produced as a limited edition. I some ways this makes more sense. Frankly, though, this is all pure speculation and we will just have to wait to see if anything transpires. If we work on the principe of no smoke without fire, then it is quite possible that something is afoot.
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