Apple's Jony Ive to design limited-edition Leica camera for charity

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple's lead designer Jonathan Ive will reportedly design a one-of-a-kind limited edition Leica M camera to be auctioned off for charity.

Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, president of German camera maker Leica, said at a special event this week that a limited version of the new Leica M designed by Ive will be put up for auction, according to PetaPixel. Only a single unit of the camera will ever be produced, he said.

Further details on the camera, including the auction date or which charity will receive the money, were not given. But given the interest in Leica cameras and Apple products, it's likely to fetch a large sum at auction.

Leica


Kaufmann's announcement came at the Photokina event in Germany, where Leica announced its new M and M-E cameras. The new $6,950 Leica M features Live View with a rear LCD display, as well as 1080p video recording and the use of a CMOS sensor. The Leica M-E is the company's more affordable rangefinder priced at $5,450.

Ive's acclaimed work at Apple has brought him a number of honors over the years, most notably when he was awarded knighthood in his home country of the U.K. He's also been named smartest designer in tech by Forbes Magazine, Designer of the Year by the Design Museum London and Royal Designer for Industry by The Royal Society of Arts.

Ive was so close to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs that the late CEO left Ive with "more operational power" than anyone else at the company, Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson.

"There's no one who can tell him what to do," Jobs said. "That's the way I set it up."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    This'll be fun to see.
  • Reply 2 of 24
    I reckon we won't have an iFixit teardown on this one.
  • Reply 3 of 24

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ChristophB View Post



    I reckon we won't have an iFixit teardown on this one.


    But we'll have shuttergate.

  • Reply 4 of 24


    Duplicate post, please remove this one

  • Reply 5 of 24

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Napoleon_PhoneApart View Post


    But we'll have shuttergate.



     


    haha nice one!

  • Reply 6 of 24
    Hmmmm, I wonder why Leica didn't think of going with Samsung's lead designer.

    Oh, wait....
  • Reply 7 of 24
    Yeah, that "affordable" version sounds like a real bargain!
  • Reply 8 of 24
    edit: I'm just realizing that is what [B]anantksundaram[/B] meant.
  • Reply 9 of 24
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    OK so apparently Bono is involved too. Let's hope it's just with the auction and not the design.
  • Reply 10 of 24
    Hmmmm, I wonder why Leica didn't think of going with Samsung's lead designer.
    Oh, wait....

    Zing!
  • Reply 11 of 24


    This is interesting.  The Leica M design is already considered to be iconic.  I wonder if Ive is feeling more pressure for this project than others?  He's got to respect the original design to some extent.  He's limited in what he can do since the mechanicals and electronics are fixed.  And everyone who has an interest in design or Ive's work will be watching and criticizing.  No worries!

  • Reply 12 of 24
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member


    You know the Naugahyde / Suede  is very functional so that will be removed for sure. Stuff like that is only used in software interfaces.

  • Reply 13 of 24

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Apple's lead designer Jonathan Ive will reportedly design a one-of-a-kind limited edition Leica M camera to be auctioned off for charity.

     


    I know you know it already but anyway.


     


    image

  • Reply 14 of 24


    Let's wait and see on this one. In the last 8 months, Apple has been implicated in collaborations with a few individuals and organizations, and they have all turned into false rumors. Leica is quite reputable but ...

     

  • Reply 15 of 24
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member


    That's just weird.  A LOT of work for one single camera?  And given that Apple designs usually go through dozens of interactions of prototypes before being ready for production, who's to say that the one and only prototype will be all that great.

  • Reply 16 of 24
    I'm not sure about the capital M by itself which seems a bit anachronistic. It also reminds me of the gmail icon not to mention Peter Lorre's child murderer role in Fritz Lang's movie of the same name.
  • Reply 17 of 24
    Ironically, the iPhone 5 will come alarmingly close to matching the capabilities of Leica's $7K camera.
  • Reply 18 of 24
    Make it so an iPhone or touch snaps into the back and does the processing through a custom app. Then people will have photo streams, easy FB'ing, a retina display and quick communication with their computers.

    Seriously, why has no one done this yetjQuery18107038773188833147_1347993483653?

    [Edit:
    Hey AI, look what happens when I type a double question mark...
    ??

    Hmmm. Okay, a triple question mark...
    ???

    Em-Kay. A recreation of the sentence in question...
    Seriously, why has no one done this yet???

    Okay, you're welcome. Looks like an issue with question marks submitted from the page of the original article. Isn't coding and bug fixing fun?!
    ]
  • Reply 19 of 24


    Originally Posted by Shogun View Post

    Make it so an iPhone or touch snaps into the back and does the processing through a custom app. Then people will have photo streams, easy FB'ing, a retina display and quick communication with their computers.

    Seriously, why has no one done this yetjQuery18107038773188833147_1347993483653?

    Edit:

    Hey AI, look what happens when I type a double question mark...

    ??

    Hmmm. Okay, a triple question mark...

    ???


     


    Yep. Two question marks does that when posting from the main page, but not from the forums proper. That's why you can type anything correctly here.


     


    Tip for future use: Don't type AT&T on the main page, either. It cuts off everything in your post after the ampersand.


     





    Better tip: Don't post from appleinsider.com at all; just come to the forums. image

  • Reply 20 of 24
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post





    Originally Posted by Shogun View Post

    Make it so an iPhone or touch snaps into the back and does the processing through a custom app. Then people will have photo streams, easy FB'ing, a retina display and quick communication with their computers.

    Seriously, why has no one done this yetjQuery18107038773188833147_1347993483653?

    Edit:

    Hey AI, look what happens when I type a double question mark...

    ??

    Hmmm. Okay, a triple question mark...

    ???


     


    Yep. Two question marks does that when posting from the main page, but not from the forums proper. That's why you can type anything correctly here.


     


    Tip for future use: Don't type AT&T on the main page, either. It cuts off everything in your post after the ampersand.


     





    Better tip: Don't post from appleinsider.com at all; just come to the forums. image



    Yep that form is whacked. What they are doing is a post back to the same page and then using Ajax to insert into the database using a URL GET. GET is the same thing as typing into the URL location field of your browser where '?' and '&' have different meaning as a query string parameter. What they need to do is RegEx replace '&' with %38 and '?' with %63 before they make the the Ajax call.

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