There’s a lot of Leicas to like… so let’s rank the company’s very best

[ Words Lauren Scott ]

Lens stick together

The M3 was often paired with a Leica Summicron 50mm f2 lens, giving a natural field of view and wide aperture.

Love is the snug

The M3 did away with the screw mount and introduced a bayonet type for swifter lens changes. The M mount is still used today.

01 Leica M3

Despite its name, the M3 was actually the first M-series model from Leica (then still going by the snappy name Ernst Leitz GmbH). It became a hugely influential 35mm rangefinder model and cemented the company’s premium name.

The M3 had all the trappings of a top-class professional camera: robust construction, compact dimensions and luscious image quality. It’s remarkable how familiar its design will feel to photographers using ‘retro-inspired’ mirrorless cameras, over 70 years after its release.

The revolutionary M3 was the first Leica camera to include a rangefinder and viewfinder in the same window. This was super-bright, and its

0.91x magnification made it easier to get perfect manual focus.

Leica refined the M3’s design throughout its production, with many tweaks to enhance its functionality and performance: 1955 models shipped with a lever for selecting different frame lines and corresponding focal lengths, the light meter would also be improved, and the maximum shutter speed was doubled to 1/2000sec.

Some Leica fans would nominate the M3 as the company’s most beautiful camera ever. Surely all of them would agree that the M3 started the Leica M-series rolling in fine style, and inspired all the greats that followed.

RELEASED 1954

Glance away A new focus peaking button appeared on the Typ 246 to help gauge focus in live view. There was no red dot logo.

02 Typ 246

Few modern digital cameras are specifically designed for black and white work, but the MMonochrom Typ 246 was. This was Leica’s second mono model, succeeding the original MMonochrom released in 2012, with a24MP sensor a third bigger than its predecessor’s. Its maximum ISO of 25,000 was also a huge jump from the M’s 10,000, and proved perfect for gritty monochrome scenes.

The Typ 246’s sensor was designed to capture more detail and contrast than its colour counterparts, and Leica touted its mega dynamic range as a major selling point for fine-art use. But its £5750 price was steep, even by Leica standards.

The camera’s limitations were a pain or a blessing, depending on who you asked, but many happy users enjoyed its manual controls and rangefinder-style shooting.

RELEASED 2015

03 M6

A milestone film camera in Leica’s history, the M6 followed the design cues of the M3, and its compact build allowed photojournalists and street shooters to capture ever more intimate and close-up scenes quickly and discreetly.

It was the firm’s first rangefinder to feature through-the-lens metering, which helped it become hugely popular.

RELEASED 1984

04 D-Lux

Part of Leica’s core range for over 20 years now, the original D-Lux was the company’s answer to a growing array of compact digital cameras from competitors such as Panasonic. Its elongated solid aluminium body and rounded corners were distinctly Leica, though, and the 200g weight was ridiculously pocket-friendly. The D-Lux 8 came out last year. RELEASED2003

05 Cine 1

Leica has diversified from its photographic roots over the last few years, including luxury timepieces and home cinema products that bear the company’s high prices and craftsmanship. The Cine 1 represents Leica’s projector debut, combining 4K resolution with Dolby Atmos sound to make a formidable (and expensive) entertainment hub. RELEASED2023

ALMOST GREAT…

Leica A 1925 German inventor and photographer Oskar Barnack designed Leica’s first camera on general sale. It was an instant hit, and popularised 35mm film photography.

Leica Q2 2019 Often described unromantically as a ‘solid’ camera, the Q2’s fixed-lens operation was simple and its compact but Wi-Fi-connected form was ideal for travel.

Leica Sofort 2 2023 This hybrid instant camera shoots and prints using Instax Mini film. The 4.9MP sensor is worse than any smartphone’s, but it’s such a classy design…

Leitz Phone 3 2024 Is Leica’s foray into the smartphone market a hit? Hard to tell, as it’s only available in Japan, but it does have a real lens cap – plus software to simulate classic lenses.