Writing about any product featuring the famous ‘Red Dot’ logo means venturing into controversial waters. Leica’s price points are by and large insane in both absolute terms ($8,000 for a manual focus rangefinder) and relative terms (the Leica 50mm Noctilux carries a nearly 100% premium to the coming Nikon 58mm Noct). And this isn’t even getting into the premium ‘Special Edition’ Leica product, some of which winds up being kept unopened as a collectors items despite the natural technological depreciation of any consumer electronics product.

But just as there is apparently a market for $8,000+ cycling wheelsets, the reality is - for better or for worse - there is a market for premium priced cameras featuring that oh so famous Leica logo. And as I touched on a few weeks ago in Saint Louis Wanderings with the Leica M & Noctilux, Leica products can be a sublime pleasure to shoot. They’re not fast - even on the SL autofocus has a tendency, in my experience, to hunt. But they are a pleasure to use and while I wouldn’t venture to attempt to rationally justify the price point, I do personally love many of the images the cameras produce. With that in mind, a small sample gallery from shooting the Leica SL and Leica M10 in our home town of New York City: