Leica is known for its premium products – and prices that match. So it should come as no surprise that the Leica S3, its upcoming medium format camera, will apparently be retailing for a cool five figures. The rumor is that the Leica S3 will be available in Germany for the eye-watering price of €18,600, which works out at about $20,000 or £15,400 for US and UK Leica lovers.
The Leica S3's predecessor, coincidentally named the Leica S2, had a 37MP sensor (which isn't particularly special now, but was considered huge at the time). A twelve year gap between camera models is quite unusual in this fast-paced industry, so will the S3 be able to impress after such a long wait?
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The technical specifications and price of the Leica S3 were recently leaked by rumor website Leica Rumors, and they certainly look intriguing. The S3 will have an effective resolution of 62.7MP (but the specifications also state that it will apparently be capable of producing 64MP photos). In addition, the buffer will be capable of up to 14 DNG files and unlimited JPEGs.
Interestingly, the Leica S3 will reportedly only be compatible with CF cards and UHS-I SD cards. This seems like a potential oversight from Leica, considering that the industry is moving towards the superior capabilities of XQD and CFexpress cards. With cameras such as the Nikon Z6 and Nikon Z7 taking XQD cards, and the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III shipping with a CFexpress card, it seems strange that a 62.7MP medium format camera released in 2020 would only use SD and CF cards.
While admittedly pricey, with a 64GB XQD card usually running you over £100, the lightning-fast read and write speeds of these new card formats would be perfect for the huge files that will no doubt come from the Leica S3. Plus, we can't imagine that Leica thought that these cards would be cost-prohibitive for consumers interested in its $20,000 camera…
However, these specifications are from leaks and rumors, so must of course be taken with a pinch of salt. We'll await the release with interest!
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