All Leica M system lenses leaving the factory from 1 July will carry a new 6-bit coding to enable the planned digital Leica M camera to recognise them.

 

July 16, 2006: All Leica M system lenses leaving the factory from 1 July will carry a new 6-bit coding to enable the planned digital Leica M camera to recognise them.
The coding, which involves six fields, will be placed on the bayonet ring, where it will help cameras that can ‘read’ it to optimise image quality and write additional metadata into Exif image files. The new lenses will still be compatible with the current analogue cameras Leica MP and Leica M7, as well as classic models built after 1954. Lenses in the current range (and many lenses made after 1963) can be retrofitted with the new coding at the owner’s expense. Non-coded lenses will be compatible with the planned digital M camera even without retrofitting, although the additional features cannot be used.
For more information, visit www.leica-camera.com.