Leica M9 Monochrom

Shooting with a LEICA is like a long tender kiss, like firing an automatic pistol, like an hour on the analyist's couch. 
Henri Cartier Bresson
On May 10, 2012, in Berlin, Germany Leica announced theM Monochrom. I was there for the launch event, along with hundreds of invited journalists and guests from around the world. I had a bit of a head start though because I'd received a pre-production camera for testing about 10 days before. Though that time had been filled with teaching a two day printing seminar followed by a two day wildlife field workshop (and obviously I couldn't let anyone see the new camera), I did manage to spend enough time shooting with Henri to garner some initial impressions.
– Henri was the camera's project name prior to launch; named afteryou know who.
– Note that the camera is actually called theM Monochrom, not theM9 Monochrome. Though it is based on theLeica M9body, there is no 9 in the name, andMonocromis spelled the German way, without an "...