[Leica] New Leicas

[Jem Kime <jem.kime@cwcom.net>]

Having just rejoined the group I'm not sure whether Leica's entry into the 
APS format has been chewed over?
As the release date is today I can officially (or rather sociably) release 
the information to you all.

New at Photokina, the Leica C11.
Taking some stylistic lines from the C1, the little camera appears almost 
uglier (sadly) to my eyes than its bigger sister. Available in black or 
silver.
It offers an triple Asph zoom lens (in 7 elements) from 23mm to 70mm f4.8 - 
f9.5. Equiv. to 30 - 90mm in 35mm 'speak'.
Size is 106 x 61.5 x 35, weighing 210g. It comes in a 'fashionable 
transparent plastic box' - well we haven't had that before! Rather like my 
Fujichromes!
Built in pop up flash with pre flash and 'night portrait' mode too for 
including background ambient lighting.
Autofocus to 0.6m.
Most interesting line in the press statement is last, "Using the APS format 
in our compact cameras, we now have the opportunity for designing handy and 
ergonomic zoom cameras" explains Stephan Daniel, Hd of Product Management 
for Leica.
Price 210 GBP

There is also a replacement for the Digilux Zoom available, this is the 
Leica 4.3.
I don't believe this is a reference to the format of the old TV system. It 
does look quite similar to the previous digi models so I'd presume it's 
another Fuji product. Its offerring now 2.4m octagonal pixels slanted at 45 
degrees providing 4.3m pixel image files so obviously some interpolation is 
going on there. Leica assure 'pin sharp' pictures to 13 x 18cm. 3x zoom 
lens equivalent to 36 - 108mm on 35mm format. Six elements in six groups 
with one aspheric surface.
Along with the Digicopy attcahment as made for the Digilux Zoom, there's 
now also a digimacro accessory available, both held in place with the same 
bracket. This takes pix down to 13 x 17mm , it includes a coated achromat.
The revised digicopy attachment features a twin element achromat and one 
field lens.
Here's the most interesting bit (last para. again) that this camera also 
facilitates a limited 'video' function. 80 seconds worth of video can be 
recorded at 10 frames a second (we normally see 24/25 on TV) at a low 
resolution but with sound! So the first moving image Leica since the 
Leicina Special was discontinued and this now has audio to boot!
USB connection for either Mac or PC. Smart Media storage (32mb comes with 
camera). 78mm x 98mm x 33mm, weight 245g.
Adobe Photoshop LE comes with it as previously.
Price 719 GBP

Hope this sparks some conversation.
Jem