It was almost a case of love at first sight when I opened the tiny but sturdy box and put the Viltrox AF 50mm f/2 Air L in the palm of my hand. It’s so small, perfectly formed and tactile. And when I mounted it on the Leica SL3-P it looked the bees’ knees, complementing the rather hefty body in a way that’s difficult to explain. Taken on appearances alone, this is the ideal nifty-fifty companion for an SL or Lumix body. All this is well and good, but even the most attractive lens falls if it doesn’t meet the optical standards we expect. That’s what I aim to discover …
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Viltrox launches four compact Air primes for L-Mount
Carry less, capture more. That is the philosophy behind Viltrox’s Air Series, and now it reaches L-Mount. Four new primes arrive together. They comprise a 14mm, a 20mm, a 40mm, and a 50mm giving Leica, Panasonic, and Sigma shooters a usable spread from wide-angle to standard. The heaviest weighs in at a fraction over 200 g.
The Great Camera Gear Cull: David Fleet lightens the load
David Fleet, who writes as The Cotswold Photographer, has just published one of the most candid pieces I’ve read on the subject of gear accumulation. In The Great Camera Gear Cull: Why I’m Selling Off Most of My Kit, he explains why he is parting with almost everything except two camera systems. It’s well worth reading in full. Meanwhile, here are the highlights, together with a few thoughts of my own.
A century-old Leica I, stripped down and made whole again
Leica’s own YouTube channel rarely surprises anyone. Then, a few days ago, it quietly uploaded something nobody anticipated: a full 2½ hours of a technician stripping down, healing, and rebuilding a Leica I that once belonged to the Leitz family itself. And what is really strange, there is no narration, just the noise of tools clicking. It’s the sort of soundtrack that could have you zizzing within minutes. No music fills the silence either, just the click of tools and the occasional creak of a century-old shutter mechanism . . .
Under the Radar: De-badging my Leica SL3-P with the help of Field Made Company
I’d been eagerly awaiting the SL3-P for months, and when it finally arrived I did what every Leica owner does on day one: turned it over in my hands, checked the finish, and hunted for the red dot. It wasn’t there, of course — that’s the whole point of the “P” designation, a lineage that goes back to the M4-P of 1980 and was revived more recently on the M9-P, the M-P (Typ 240) and now the digital SL and M ranges.
Exploring Gothic themes in British documentary photography
Dark Tales explores the complex relationship between the Gothic and British documentary photography. The images span a period of more than 80 years that depict Britain from the post-war to the present day. The photographs in the exhibition are on display at Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, UK from 17 September to 20 December, 2026.
Leica Lens List: One place to look up any M or LTM lens
Before I buy a lens I read about it for weeks. That used to mean a dozen browser tabs, a forum thread from 2012, two blog reviews, a dealer listing that never says what the thing weighs, and a spec sheet somewhere with the numbers I actually wanted. By the time I’d found everything, I’d forgotten where half of it was. So I decided to do something about it, and the outcome was my particular labour of love — Leica Lens List.
Lumix L10 vs. Leica D-Lux 8: Will there be a D-Lux 9 next?
There’s a peculiar rhythm to the D-Lux story: every LX100-derived Panasonic refresh eventually gets a red-dot version, as it did in 2014, 2018 and 2024, with the D-Lux (Type 109), D-Lux 7 and D-Lux 8. Therefore, when Panasonic rolled out the Lumix L10 in May 2026, the question was inevitable — will it be the basis for a new D-Lux 9?
Sirui Vision 75mm T1.4 Cine Lens Review: Leica-league glass
Cine lenses, designed specifically for cinematography, share many attributes with their still photography counterparts. They can be fast, sharp, and occupy the same common focal-length range. I recently spent a few weeks with a Sirui Vision Prime 75mm T1.4 lens, putting it through its paces as a short telephoto and portrait photography optic, rather than as a video lens. I was impressed.
Amateur Photographer chooses the coolest camera brands around. Is yours cool?
In a refreshingly unscientific exercise, Amateur Photographer’s Jon Stapley has ranked major camera manufactures by nothing more than vibes. He’s listed the main contenders one to twelve on his decidedly personal frost list. But where do our favourite cameras fare in the cool stakes? Does it mean that you are also super cool for making the right choice?
The camera industry isn’t dying, it’s just recalibrating
Scroll through the camera news of the past few weeks and you could be forgiven for thinking the big manufacturers prefer publishing financial results more than launching new cameras. CIPA charts. Nikkei filings. Canon, Nikon and Fujifilm results, one after another. Buried in all that data, though, is a rather calmer story than the headlines suggest…
Sigma announces two new L-mount lenses: 20-60mm f/2.8-4 and 85mm f/1.2
Sigma has announced two new L-mount lenses for full-frame mirrorless cameras, alongside matching Sony E-mount versions. The 20-60mm F2.8-4 DG | Contemporary is a standard zoom weighing 385g in L-mount form. The 85mm F1.2 DG | Art is, Sigma says, its brightest lens yet at this focal length, and, the company claims, “the smallest and lightest weight in its class for an 85mm F1.2” autofocus lens. Both go on sale on 30 September 2026.
Leica reports revenue dip in 2025/26 financial year
Leica Camera Group has reported revenue of €573 million for the 2025/26 financial year, down 3.8% on the previous year’s all-time high of €596 million. The company points to a familiar set of headwinds behind the fall: geopolitical uncertainty, unfavourable exchange rates and stricter customs regulations across its international markets. Despite the dip, Leica says its Photo division remained the main driver of revenue, with the Mobile division continuing to grow strongly and Sports Optics demand holding steady. Watches and accessories, home cinema projectors and spectacle lenses also moved in the right direction, according to the company.
Has Leica really called time on the megapixel wars?
Leica’s vice president of global marketing has just said something no camera maker usually confirms. Andrea Pacella told Chris George, writing for Digital Camera World, that the megapixel race has ended. That’s a bold claim from a company long needled for charging a premium while boasting about resolution. So I looked for a second opinion, and found two — Photography Life and PetaPixel — each telling a rather different story . . .
Leica 35 APO-Summicron-M: When M lenses learned to focus close
Newcomers to rangefinder photography are always surprised that M-mount lenses have a very long minimum focus distance, usually 70cm and sometimes 100cm. Most modern AF lenses will happily focus down to 30cm or less, yet with an M-mount lens, ancient or modern, you run out of road much earlier, viewing a subject you can’t bring any closer without abandoning the rangefinder entirely. Now, however, there is a solution: Leica’s close-focusing M lenses, but only in combination with an electronic viewfinder. After trying one you may wonder how you ever managed with that 70cm restriction — or even 100cm on older lenses and, even, the modern f/0.95 Noctilux.