An Insider’s Look at How Leica Makes the M10 Rangefinder Camera

Since its debut in 1954, the M-Series of combined range-finder/viewfinder cameras has been the heart and soul of Leica Cameras. Due to their compact size and full-frame format, they have long been a favorite of street photographers and journalists. “It’s ingrained in the history of photography,” says Andreas Kaufmann, chairman of Leica’s supervisory board. “For instance, the most printed picture in the world is probably the [Alberto Korda] picture of Che Guevara. It was shot on a Leica M2.”

The M10, the latest addition to this lauded lineage, is the slimmest digital M to date and the first to support Wi-Fi. Robb Report recently traveled to Leica’s headquarters in Wetzlar, Germany, to see the assembly of the camera and capture the entire process with—of course—an M10.