If owning a Leica camera is a mere pipe dream for you, you wouldn't be alone. It'll cost you an arm and a leg to bag a camera with the famed red dot, so it comes as no surprise that social media is showing us another way (besides selling a kidney): faking it. L-mount Rumors has reported a craze in China — which is one of the fastest growing markets for genuine Leica cameras — of customizing Lumix cameras with Leica branding. One model of choice appearing on Rednote and Weibo feeds, such as those in the images above by Photographer Lifestyle at Xiaohongshu, is the Panasonic Lumix S9, which is a full-frame mirrorless camera available in multiple colors. Some pimped Lumix S9s merely have a Leica branding sticker attached, while others go the whole way with believable engraving. It's quite the sight, a customized L-mount camera with both Lumix and Leica branding, but in a way I'm not surprised.
