New Leica M camera with EVF, more compact design and full-frame sensor rumored to launch this year

For years, there have been rather vague rumors that Leica is developing a new M-series camera that is equipped with an electronic viewfinder. There might be some substance to these rumors as LeicaRumors has now claimed that the new camera will hit the market later this year. This camera won’t be a direct successor to the Leica M11, but rather a new model in the Leica M lineup.

This is not particularly surprising, since the rangefinder is the defining feature of the Leica M series, and also the unique selling point of the camera. Apart from the Leica M series and the Pixii, there’s not a single digital rangefinder camera on the market right now. It is unclear whether Leica will completely eliminate the rangefinder, or offer a hybrid viewfinder similar to the Fujifilm X100 VI, which combines an electronic and optical viewfinder by projecting the information from the EVF into the field of view. The embedded images from a Leica customer survey below suggest that Leica apparently considered both a pure EVF and a hybrid viewfinder during development.

According to LeicaRumors, this camera will also sport a brand-new design with a larger 3.9-inch touchscreen that will replace all the buttons on the back. The camera is said to be slightly smaller than a Leica M11 and replace the ISO dial with an additional programmable dial. An electronic viewfinder could bypass the limitations of a rangefinder, which apply to focusing on objects from a distance of less than 27 inches and the use of long telephoto lenses. An EVF would also significantly reduce the complexity and thus the price and maintenance of the camera. However, Leica would also lose its most important and unique selling point of the M series in the process.