Jony Ive and Marc Newson Design Leica M Camera For RED Charity

Apple’s very own Jony Ive came together with his longtime friend and fellow designer, Marc Newson to create the one of a kind, Leica M Camera for charity.

Although the two designers have known each other for years and are both incredibly successful designers, their preferred styles are quite different. This factor might have had some bearing on the fact that in 85 days, the Leica M Camera team used 561 models and nearly 1000 protoypes before they were finally satisfied with the one-off camera that is the official Leica M.

The camera itself is made from bespoke laser machined aluminium with an anodized outer casing. The result is a sleek, Apple-esque design. This is hardly surprising considering that apart from the two competent designers, Apple supplied 55 engineers to work on the camera at one point or another during the project. Functionality wise, the Leica M is a 24 megapixel full format camera with CMOS sensor and high performance processor with a M 50mm f/2 ASPH Lens.

The unique camera has already created such a buzz since it was first announced just over a year ago and many people would like the one-off to become more commercially available. However, with the quality of parts, along with the man hours spent building the beautiful image capturer (2,149 hours of collective work) it’s unlikely that the vast majority would ever be able to afford it.

Ive and Newson’s creation can help many people though by being actioned off at Sotheby’s November 23, 2013. The camera is expected to bring millions of dollars at the auction on its own but there will also be another 40 bespoke items from the two designers. All proceeds will go to the charity, RED. RED is the creation of US rock star, Bono to help the victims of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria.

[Image via Wired]