Being in Japan (GMT+9) means that I didn't get the official Leica M9 announcement until the following day. Yes, I had read through some of the leaks that had been posted on the net prior to the official announcement. This camera has caused a lot of strong reactions (both positive and negative) on the photography gear related forums on the net. Here's my take on the whole thing, if your an Obi Wan Kenobi and like your elegant weapons from a more civilised age then this camera is for you. If your a Han Solo and prefer a good Blaster then you'll be wondering what the fuss is all about, I say stick with your Nikon D3 or Canon 1D Mark III! If you more of a Luke Skywalker (like me) who likes to use both Light Sabres and Blasters, but is on a tighter budget, you'll skip this one, but wait until the cheeper Zeiss Ikon or Voigtlander Besa full frame digital range finder comes out for less than half the price! (disclaimer: I have no inside knowledge as to when or if the companies will release a such camera, just my wishful thinking, hopefully it might be noticed)
Seriously if someone bought me a Leica M9, I wouldn't knock it back. If I was shooting reportage or street photography professionally I'd get one without thinking twice. At $6000US for the just the camera body, it is very steep for an amateur with little disposable income... Well, if you are on a budget you and don't mind the 1.3x crop then you might be able to pick up a second hand Leica M8 or M8.2 for a song. Couple it with a Carl Zeiss Biogon T* 2,8/28 ZM lens and you've got a pretty good reportage set up.
It's nice to see a camera maker releasing a camera that returns to the philosophy of “the simpler the better” without all the gimmicks that most of the other camera makers are cramming to the cameras, making them harder and harder use. At the same time I can see how I could make good use of one of the so called gimmicks, that is video in a dSLR. Well, at least we have a choice again between feature packed or just getting the highest quality still image...