Underwater photography has been a thing of pure beauty for many years and while some of us might be used to using underwater housings for the likes of the best mirrorless cameras on the market, or you used one for your best DSLR back in the day – but have you ever thought of popping your best Leica camera into one and hitting the open waves?
I thought not, but now thanks to the masterminds at SUB13 the company has announced is it developing 26 underwater housings, divided into 13 housings for the Leica M6 and another 13 housings for the Leica M6 TTL.
This sounds bonkers to me as a Leica user, and I'm sure there are many better solutions for 35mm analog users to capture everything under the sea than plunging in with your prized Leica M6 – but each to their own!
Each unit will feature a fully functional film advance lever crafted from titanium. This intricate internal actuator is positioned behind a curved viewing window made of sapphire glass, allowing owners to observe the complete motion of their film advance. The housing’s lever is precisely designed to mirror the radius of the viewing window below, seamlessly blending form and function.
The units are rated to a depth of 313 feet (95m) and include a fully functional frame counter viewing window, manual aperture control, and an aperture viewing window with 2x magnification sapphire glass cyclops, as well as manual focus control.
One port accommodates seven different Leica M lenses, while each unit is machined from a single piece of 6061 aluminum, with all hardware made of solid titanium that is sandblasted, hand-polished, and PVD-coated.
This is a limited production run of just 26 housings designed for 13 M6 Classics and 13 M6 TTL units available, while as a special feature, the Leica M7 can also fit into the M6 TTL housing – costings are yet to be confirmed and I have reached out to SUB13 for comment.
Prototype One is currently in testing, with an expected release in October 2024.
