The Leica R10

Andreas Kaufmann, Leica’s CEO, had announced at an informal press briefing during the Photokina industry fair in September 2008 that his company was working on a new flagship for its R-series of single lens reflex cameras. The R10 was expected to benefit from the development of Leica’s S2 medium format digital camera and feature a full-frame digital imaging sensor while gaining autofocus capability. It would thereby be able to accept a new line of AF-lenses, possibly including those developed for the S2, as well as the existing manual focus R-system optics. However, in March 2009 Leica announced that it would not pursue the development of the R10 and discontinue the production of its R-series of SLR cameras and lenses altogether.

The Leica press release (24 March 2009) read as follows:

For more than 40 years the Leica R-System has played an important role within the Leica product portfolio. However new camera developments have significantly affected the sales of Leica R cameras and lenses resulting in a dramatic decrease in the number sold. Sadly therefore there is no longer an economic basis on which to keep the Leica R-System in the Leica production program. At the beginning of March 2009 authorised Leica photo dealers were informed by Leica Camera AG that the production of the SLR camera, Leica R 9 as well as R-lenses would therefore be discontinued.

Courtesy of Apolyt.com