Leica's new crazy expensive digital camera doesn't have an LCD screen

A digital camera with no LCD screen? Who the heck would buy such a camera in 2016?

That's the question, Leica surely asked itself when it decided to create the M-D (Typ 262), its newest rangefinder-style digital camera, which doesn't come with any kind of display on the back.

If you believe Leica's spiel, a camera without a screen distills "photography in its purest form." A screen, apparently distracts the photographer during the photographing process.

In other words, the M-D gives you a slower, more old school way of shooting more akin to shooting with a film camera. The photographer is forced to think about composition while looking through the viewfinder, adjust settings with the shutter speed dial on top and the ISO wheel on the back.

Instead of wasting time reviewing photos after each shot (called "chimping" because you hunch over your camera like a chimp staring at the screen), you can move on and take more shots.

IMAGE: LEICA

It's an earnest effort to preserve the art of photography, but it's just ridiculous especially considering its $5,995 price.

The whole point of a digital camera with a screen is that you can review photos after each shot. That's an advantage, not a disadvantage. 

That's like Apple making an iPhone that only makes great voice calls because all of the iPhone's other features distract from the actual phone feature.

As for specs, the camera's got 24 megapixels and uses Leica's Maestro image processor. No JPEG shooting with this camera; it only captures photos in RAW format DNG files. Its 3 fps shooting is also not impressive at all.

Nevertheless, while the M-D is too expensive and featureless in my opinion, if you can afford it, nobody's going to stop you.