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Leica M9

digital full-frame rangefinder camera

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ349975 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Leica M9 is a full-frame digital rangefinder camera from Leica Camera AG. It was introduced in September 2009. It uses an 18.5-megapixel Kodak image sensor and is compatible with almost all M mount lenses.

Features

The M9 uses an 18.5-megapixel Kodak (KAF-18500) CCD image sensor that was developed specifically for the camera.

The M9 boasts frameline pairs for 28/90, 35/135 and 50/75 and it supports most M-mount lenses—with only a few older models not suitable due to protruding elements of the lens into the camera body.

Reception

The M9 was introduced by Leica on 9 September 2009, in New York City. The launch (which also introduced the Leica X1 and Leica S2 models) included a live video webcast, and featured a guest appearance by the musician Seal.

In 2011, Leica verified a malfunction that may prevent the camera from saving images to certain SanDisk cards and issued a firmware update in July 2012, that made "further improvements of SD-Card compatibility".

Leica M9 Titanium

In 2010, Leica released the Leica M9 Titanium camera body (a variant of the M9), which was designed by Walter de Silva. The body and supplied lens (a Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE) are both built from solid titanium. The M9 Titanium is available in a limited run of 500 cameras and costs about $31,300.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Leica M9” as digital full-frame rangefinder camera. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2009, 2011, 2012, 2010—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2009. The account is most persuasive where Leica, digital and full-frame can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as digital full-frame rangefinder camera. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q349975. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2010.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

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  2. Expand the search: follow Leica M9 primary sources, Leica M9 archive and Leica research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Leica M9” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.