Leica S2 Field and Studio Review

For three quarters of a century Leica has been a brand and company associated with the 35mm format. Now, with the S2 system, Leica breaks the mold and creates a new larger-than-35mm digital format as well as well as a completely new camera and lens system built around it. The S2 also is Leica's first pro-level camera with autofocus, and also their first digital camera to be completely designed in-house.
In August, 2009, along with a small group of web journalists, I was invited to Leica's headquarters in Solms, Germany to spend a few days shooting with apre-production S2as well as an M9. Then, in mid-November Leica sent me a production S2 along with 70mm f/2.5 and 180mm f/3.5 lenses. The body and lenses are final, but the firmware in my review camera (1.0.09) is still a work in progress, and won't be finalized until the camera ships in January.
Some minor firmware tweaks aside, at long last this is the final product. How does it shape up? Does it meet the high expectations that so m...