Leica holds a very special place in the hearts of photographers all around the world. The Leica M8 and M9 are constantly touted as being among the best rangefinders on the planet, but what if you want something even more special? What if you want to stand out even further?

While companies like Apple are known to charge about a $100 premium for a new paint job, Leica is going much further with the white version of the Leica M9-P. While the regular black version sells for “just” $7,995, the white version is reportedly going to cost you $31,695. No, that’s not a typo. A swapping of the paint comes in at $23,700 extra. Aside from the paint job, the white version appears to be identical to its black cousin.

Even if you happen to have an extra thirty grand kicking around in your budget for a camera, you probably won’t be able to buy one of these. That’s because Leica is limiting production to just 50 units, meaning that the actual street price could end up being much, much more when it is officially released in July. Some Leica stores in Tokyo reportedly already have it on display, drumming up interest among the wealthiest of photography enthusiasts.

[Source]

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As far as camera phones go, the iPhone 4 does a really good job at capturing the moment. Even so, when you stop to take that picture, you’re quite clearly holding up a mobile phone and not a real digital camera. Why not fool a few folks into thinking you have a snazzy Leica instead?

Apparently, that’s exactly what was going through the head of Joey Celis when he decided to create the Leica M9 skin for the iPhone 4. He’s a professional photographer out of San Francisco and I guess he wanted a little more street cred while snapping pics on his iPhone 4.

The net result is a fantastic custom sticker that, from a little farther away, will likely fool more than a few passive passers-by. You’ll clearly be able to tell from the profile that there’s no lens popping out of the body, but looking straight on looks pretty convincing!

That’s the good news. The bad news is that Celis has no intention of mass producing the skin for public sale. The Leica M9 skin is a one-off project. I think he should submit the design to somewhere like Gelaskins and rake in some dough once Leica permits.

iPhone 4 Leica conversion [Flickr]
Eat your heart out: Joey Celis’ M9 iPhone skin ain’t for sale [Core77]

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