I received the new SL Summilux 50mm f/1.4 in late December, right before I left for a two week vacation in the Philippines. I’ve used the SL system for the past year to document travel and moments with family, and I was eager to observe how the new 50mm performed. The 24-90 and 90-280 lenses performed admirably for documenting moments like school events and dance performances, when snappy autofocus capabilities came in handy. But I still gravitated towards M lenses when taking portraits of family and friends, preferring the shallow depth of field offered by apertures faster than f/2.8. The 50SL promised both AF and a shallow DOF - did it deliver?

Fine art photographer and director Mark de Paola presents an exclusive one day workshop at Camera West in Walnut Creek on Thursday, January 26th, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Leica Store San Francisco Saturday, January 28th, 2017 from 9 am – 4 pm. Focused on “Photography Wide Open”, this seven-hour, shooting intensive, workshop is designed for creative photographers interested in stretching their imagination and expanding the traditional definition of portraiture.

Leica has announced a new lens in their M lens line up. With this new lens, Leica takes a more classic approach. The new 28mm Summaron-M models itself after the old 28mm Summaron screw mount lens from the mid-1950s. Known for its extreme compactness and large depth of field the 28mm summary was ideal for reportage photography where it was necessary to zone focus and remain discrete. This is what makes the new 28mm Summaron-M so unique in the m lens line up. Only a little bit larger than a mere lens cap the summaron lens can remain on your M camera at all times without bulking up the body of the camera.

Our Leica gallery in our San Francisco Leica Store has been able to exhibit Fred Lyon's times work of 1940-50s San Francisco.

We were honored to be mentioned on the evening news on ABC 7 with Fred Lyon.

Read more here, and be sure to check out the Fred Lyon Exhibition which will be up through Friday, October 21st.

The Noctilux 0.95 Edition is one of the most unique noctilux lenses ever to roll off Leica's production lines in Wetzlar. Built to resolve past the capabilities that are known in any other fast primes or even the faculties of human vision, the Noctilux is a legendary benchmark of photographic optical engineering. This special "0.95 Edition" is limited, respectively, to 95 units world wide and stands visual representation of the elegantly unique images the Noctilux creates. Featuring the same optical design as the regular Noctilux 50mm 0.95 ASPH this special edition has an added bit of elegance. The exterior of the "0.95 Edition" features Leica's newly developed high-gloss anodized aluminum surface. The markings on the lens are left unpainted except one, the 0.95 f-stop mark.

We are excited to announce a exciting workshop at Leica Store San Francisco coming July 30th, 2016.

Fine art photographer and director Mark de Paola presents an exclusive one day workshop at Leica Store San Francisco Saturday, July 30, 2016 from 9 am - 5 pm.

The new Leica SL is poised to be a perfect instrument for wildlife photography. This full-frame, 24 mp camera will accept all Leica R, M and S mount lenses, in addition to native SL lenses. At present, only one SL lens is available, the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90 mm f/2.8-4 Asph.

Want to get your hands on a Leica T camera system? April 2nd hit the streets of San Francisco with Leica Representative and Akademie Instructor Tom Brichta for a photo walk!

Wayne Serrano is a California-based photographer specializing in editorial, corporate, commercial, documentary and photo-journalistic assignments. He also conducts photography workshops, one-to-one photography sessions and leads photo excursion walkabouts throughout San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area.