Leica’s cameras are renowned for a lot of things. Powerful hardware? Check. Beautiful design? Check. Expensive as heck? Check. What they aren’t known for is having rugged build. That changes soon with the newly-announced Leica X-U, the German outfit’s first ruggedized shooter.
Waterproof (up to 49 feet for 60-minute stretches), dustproof, and shockproof (for drops up to four feet), this thing can survive the hazards of the outdoors like no previous Leica before it. Heck, it can even operate in zero-degree environments, ensuring you can take it anywhere any day of the year.
Despite being ruggedized, the Leica X-U still makes for an eye-catching shooter, combining the classic Leica aesthetics with an anti-slip thermoplaster material for the body and anodized aluminum for the plates both top and bottom. Under that tough shell, it pairs a 16.5-megapixel APS-C sensor with a fixed Leica Summilux 23mm lens and a fast f1.7 aperture, ensuring you can capture high-res memories of all your outdoor adventures. It has a dedicated shutter button for taking underwater pics, along with a failsafe double locking system for the battery compartment and memory card slot to ensure everything stays sealed when you go in the water.
Features include 1080p video at 30 fps (sorry, no 4K), max ISO range of 12,500, a 3-inch LCD around the back (no optical viewfinder), anodized aluminum dials, and, according to the company, exceptional low-light performance. It measures 5.5 x 3.1 x 3.4 inches (w x h x d) and weighs 22.4 ounces.
Slated for availability end of the month, the Leica X-U is priced at $2,950.