The Goods: Our Favorite New Premium Photo Gear

 

Leica M (Typ 240) à la carte
Starting at $6,380
leica-camera.com

À La Camera
Have you ever wanted to design your own Leica rangefinder camera? Now you can with the new Leica M (Typ 240) à la carte program. The starter camera in the à la carte program is a Leica M (Typ 240) with two gigabytes of buffer memory, which is twice the capacity of Leica’s standard Leica M (Typ 240) model for double the amount of continuous burst shots. The fun part comes with the personalization options, which let you choose from a variety of snazzy finishes for the camera body, including black chrome, silver chrome, or black enamel. There are also new stylish trim and camera strap options, including colored cowhide in gray, red, dark blue, khaki, brandy, boysenberry, and coffee bean. Or you can opt for classic options embossed with exotic lizard and ostrich leather patterns. There are ways to customize the technical features in your M à la carte camera, too. Choices include the addition of a frame selection lever that simulates six different focal lengths in the viewfinder and the option to include or omit video shooting capabilities. You can even choose the type of glass cover plate to protect the camera’s LCD screen: a scratch-resistant glass cover in Corning Gorilla Glass or a nearly indestructible sapphire glass cover.

Epson Legacy Papers
Price TBD
epson.com

Premium Papers
While less and less people are printing their photos, recent studies show those who do are asking for higher quality papers. Epson has answered that call with one of its most luxurious photo paper lines to date. Called Epson Legacy Papers, the new lineup was designed in collaboration with professional photographers and European papermakers and aimed at those who intend to exhibit photo prints in galleries or sell them to art collectors and investors. The Legacy line introduces four papers that use a microporous inkjet receiver layer to produce deep, rich blacks, expanded color gamut, and smooth tonal gradations with high image permanence. The line includes Legacy Platine, a 100 percent cotton fiber paper with a bright OBA-free, smooth satin finish; Legacy Fibre, a 100 percent cotton fiber paper with a bright OBA-free, smooth matte finish; Legacy Baryta, a baryta paper with a white, smooth satin finish, utilizing two barium sulfate coatings; and Legacy Etching, a 100 percent cotton fiber paper with a bright OBA-free, textured matte finish.

Lensbaby Composer Pro II with Edge 50 Optic
$425
lensbaby.com

Clever Baby
Lensbaby is always coming up with clever products for seeing and capturing the world in unusual ways and the Lensbaby Composer Pro II with Edge 50 Optic is no exception. At its heart, the Composer Pro II with Edge 50 Optic is a 50mm f/3.2 lens comprised of eight elements in six groups, all housed in a metal body. It features a nine-bladed aperture diaphragm and accepts 46mm threaded filters. But it’s what you can do with this tilting, bending optic that makes it so fun. With the Lensbaby Composer Pro II with Edge 50 Optic you can easily control depth of field in camera so parts of the image are razor sharp while others are dreamily defocused. The lens also has a cool pull-out macro feature that allows you to focus as close as eight inches. Combined with the Composer Pro II and its off-axis ability, the Edge 50 can isolate a slice of sharp focus that extends through an otherwise blurred image. Try the Lensbaby Composer Pro II with Edge 50 Optic for landscapes, street photography, close-ups, or for anything where you want to create a decidedly “off-kilter” look.

Freehands Gloves
$25
freehands.com

Hands Free
Here’s a simple but, ahem, handy accessory for cold weather shooting: Freehands Gloves with flip-up fingertips to give you better control over your camera. These unlined fleece gloves feature a tactile palm grip for a better hold, an elastic wrist cinch, and a plastic hook to snap the pair together. There’s also an improved flap design that overlaps to keep the cold air out when your fingertips are covered and reinforced flap edges to improve the durability of these rugged gloves. Magnets are used to hold the tips out of the way when folded back while you snap beautiful, wintery photos.

"Magnets are used to hold the tips out of the way when folded back while you snap beautiful, wintery photos."

THE GOODS is a new feature in Shutterbug that spotlights the hottest premium photo gear out there. If you have a product you’d like considered for The Goods, e-mail images and info to editorial@shutterbug.com.

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