Promotional Bundles for Leica S (Typ 006) and Leica SE (Typ 006)

Leica announced a special promotion of the Leica S (Typ 006) and the Leica S-E (Typ 006). Both cameras come equipped with the 70mm f/2.5 Summarit-S ASPH lens. Prices are $14,075.60 for the Leica S bundle and $11,435.60 for the Leica S-E bundle. These are savings of more than $10,000 over the normal cost of these Leica S models. The prices include the current 12% exchange rate savings which are in effect until the end of July.

Leica S

Leica S-E

Permanent Fix announced for the CCD Sensor Corrosion Problem of the M9, M9-P, MM and M-E Models

According to Leica, the recognition of a corrosion-related problem on the cover glass of the sensors of the above-mentioned camera models (see information from 10.12.2014), they have been working with their sensor supplier on a long-term technical solution.

The development phase of a new generation of sensors has now nearly been completed. In the next phase, independent users will be testing the new sensor in practical situations to guarantee that the imaging characteristics of the cameras remain unaltered.

After completion and evaluation of this testing phase, they will begin the replacement of corroded sensors by the new-generation sensor.

As the goodwill arrangement for the replacement of affected sensors applies irrespective of the age of the camera, and also to sensors already replaced in the above-mentioned camera models, repairs will continue without interruption until the new sensors are available.

Please understand that sensor replacement can only be offered for cameras affected by the concrete problem and that preventive replacement is not possible.

Winners of this Year’s Oskar Barnack Award

Official Leica Press Release: JH Engström is honored with the award for his photographic project titled Tout Va Bien

The depiction of the relationship between man and their environment in a series of photographs captured with incisive powers of observation is and remains the mission of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. Leica Camera AG is presenting the prestigious awards for the 35th time and now, in 2015, has increased the value of the cash prizes once again. The winners of this year’s competition have now been chosen.

First place in the main category, honored with a cash prize of 25,000 euros and a Leica M camera and lens, goes to JH Engström for his series titled Tout Va Bien.

JH Engström, Sweden

„Tout Va Bien“

Tout Va Bien does not handle a concrete subject in the traditional sense. The Swedish photographer JH Engström intends his project to be seen much more as visual poetry – a photographic narrative with strong autobiographical elements. Despite this, it does not exclusively depict aspects of his own life. Tout Va Bien is a sequence of widely differing images. The winning series includes both portraits and landscapes, as well as bizarre snapshots like the photograph of the birth of his twins. The photographer also switches between exposures in black and white and color. Engström plays with contrasts and leaves it to viewers to find their own ways of reading and interpreting each picture. The complete project comprises 90 images and will be published in book form by Aperture in July.

JH Engström, born in 1969 in Karlstad, Sweden, spent the early part of his career as a photographer between Sweden and France. After working as an assistant to Mario Testino and Anders Petersen, he studied film and photography at the University of Gothenburg and graduated in 1997. Engström has already published a number of different books of photography – these include Trying to Dance (2003), Haunts (2006), CDG/JHE (2008), From Back Home (with Anders Petersen, 2009), La Résidence (2010) and Sketch of Paris (Aperture, 2013) – and has won numerous international awards.

The Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award, first presented in 2009, has been won by Wiktoria Wojciechowska for her series ‘Short Flashes’. In her winning series, the Polish photographer Wiktoria Wojciechowska focuses on fleeting moments of everyday life in China. Over a period of several months, she portrayed Chinese cyclists pedaling their damp ways through the incessant rain of the sprawling megacities of Beijing and Hangzhou.

Wiktoria Wojciechowska, Poland

„Short Flashes“

The project was shot as the streets were almost flooded in the typhoon season of 2013 and 2014. Alone, and without speaking a word of Chinese, the young photographer explored this new terrain without any means of communicating with the people around her. She identified with and felt the anonymity of the nameless cyclists and scooter riders who whizzed past her on the streets. This was the source of her idea for giving these people an identity – picking them out from the masses – and preserving them in captured instants. Her snapshot-like images tell the truths of genuine moments. Because, in contrast to posed and tightly controlled portraits, these spontaneous and unnoticed exposures show the reality and authenticity that exists between ingrained behavioral patterns.