The Leica M7 Hermès Edition.
Hermès + Leica M7 = Photographers & Fashionistas join in universal drooling!
Germany’s Leica and Parisian Hermès, two prestigious icons team up to create a luxury item at its finest and most exclusive. The price tag on this rangefinder camera starts at US$12,950 and only 200 in production means the Leica Hermès Edition M7 is a coveted hardcore collectible.
Arguably, the most attractive camera to appear on planet earth, the Leica Hermès Edition M7 is to die for. Looking at camera’s image, the sleek cuts and curves of that baby, I think I can smell Hermès’ finest leather, a million bytes away.
The Leica M7, a non-digital 35 mm film camera comes with a silver 35 mm f/1.4 Summilux-M wide angle lens that is, as we all know, a powerful manual camera. If you’re going “Wuwu-what is a f1/4?”. Then you’re a Fashonista or a a fashion follower (who probably reads French Vogue and W Magazines and buys clothes at Top Shop) and you’re reading for the fashion and not the camera.
At US$13,000 (practically a yearly GDP budget of a small African country) the only people who will purchase the Leica M7 Hermès are the truly affluent few, who most likely, will buy this precious piece of machinery, not for its powerful photographic imaging but mainly for its status symbolism.
Bu
ying a Leica nowadays is becoming more of a status branding rather than appreciation for the technology. I just saw a photo of Scarlett Johansson with a Leica M8 around her neck, is it judgemental to assume she has no idea what the difference is between a rangefinder or a SLR camera? Is the beautiful Johansson using the Leica M8 because she wants to expand her photographic artistry or is she using it the same way she uses a pearl necklace, for accessory?
Leica has been a powerful fashion tool, just ask famed photographer Anne Leibowitz. However is Leica is going in the right direction with assimilating into the world of fashion at the expense of its reputation as one of the best, heck let’s just say it is the best, camera brand in the world? Whatever you answer is, Leica’s presence has changed photography and life in profound ways, may it be dressed in Hermes leather or not.
Leica Hermès Edition in a very expensive nutshell:
*Orange and étoupe leather finish
*Silver anodised LEICA SUMMILUX-M 35 mm f/1.4 ASPH.wide-angle lens
*Classic round lens hood in silver anodized metal
*LEICAVIT M rapid winder in silver chrome
*All control elements of the LEICA M7 Edition ‘Hermès’ have been manufactured exclusively in metal
*A real leather carrying strap, handcrafted by Atelier Hermès to match the colour of each camera
*Each set is delivered in a linen-covered, silk-lined box
*Engraved with the Leica name in classic script: the red Leica logo has been omitted to preserve the colour harmony of the leather covering
*All control elements of the LEICA M7 Edition ‘Hermès’ have been manufactured exclusively in metal, and the back of the camera is finished in silver chrome
*The red colour of the engraved AUTO and settings on the shutter speed dial has been replaced by the specific shade of the camera’s leather
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