Up until a few weeks ago, I had never used a Leica. I don't think I'd ever even held one or knew much about them other than the occasional story of an outlandishly expensive iteration on a camera previously on the market. I had preconceived notions about the kind of company Leica was, about their goals, and about their strategy. I expected very little, regardless of what they were going to show me.
Here's one of the perks of being a world famous photographer: having a major camera company make you a one-of-a-kind camera. When Czech street photographer Josef Koudelka made his jump from film to digital, Leica helped make his transition easier by creating a one-of-a-kind panoramic version of the S2 for him.
Just when we started to think the big two had given up on making mirrorless cameras for the US market, Nikon goes and changes our mind. After announcing the Nikon 1 J4 for Asia and Europe in early April, the Japanese company has announced that the mirrorless shooter will come to the US after all, and it will be joined by a new entry-level Nikon 1 S2.
Leica recently ran a series of billboard advertisements promoting the S2 medium format DSLR and V-Lux 1. The billboards were quite unique in that they were individually made to show the wall they were placed on, with the details of the wall blown up to highlight the 12x optical zoom of the V-Lux 1 and the 37.5 megapixel sensor of the S2.