“Programmer by day, photographer by weekend” Cristian Băluță couldn’t find the camera he wanted on the market and so he made it himself. Băluță cleverly took the internal components of the Panasonic Lumix G9 II Micro Four Thirds camera and placed them in a replica of the Leica M body he made. It was a labor of love, and while the photographer admits the result isn’t necessarily the camera of his dreams, the project is incredible.
The “Leica G9 II”, as Băluță calls it, required very careful hardware and software engineering. The programmer/photographer has a wealth of experience working with electronics and has also become frustrated with the state of Micro Four Thirds cameras.
“Then there was this frustration with MFT losing its identity and companies officially killing off their compact lines and rangefinder style cameras. OM System eventually released the OM-3 shortly after I started building it, but it wasn’t rangefinder style nor very compact,” writes Băluță, admitting that his new camera isn’t necessarily very compact either, it’s about the size of a Leica rangefinder M full frame, which Băluță says is “the absolute minimum” he could do.
As for why he chose to transform a Panasonic Lumix G9 II, a relatively new camera released in late 2023, Băluță explains that the G9 II is “the most capable Micro Four Thirds camera” on the market. It has the best resolution, good phase detection autofocus, two card slots and, perhaps as important as anything else, works great with the Panasonic Leica lenses that Băluță loves, like the excellent Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 15mm f/1.7 ASPH. Panasonic and Leica, a perfect match in photography heaven.
Băluță only had a few requirements for his build of the Leica G9 II, but they were far from simple. He wanted the camera to look like a Leica M rangefinder, with a high-quality look and feel, no visible screws and a lens mount that was as centered as possible. The photographer also wanted his camera to have only the most essential buttons and controls, nothing he didn’t personally need for his photography.
Băluță also didn’t already own a Lumix G9 II, so he had to buy a used one for around 1,000 euros for the project. This proved to be quite a gamble, as he says he hadn’t fully researched the camera’s internal design.
“I just thought I’d find a way to make it smaller. And I was lucky,” the photographer says. The G9 II has a decent amount of empty space inside, which would make the transformation much easier.
With the G9 II completely disassembled and all of its critical components measured, it was time to begin the design and planning process.
“The design program chosen was Fusion360. I had no experience with 3D software like this and my strategy was ‘do it first, ask questions later.’ I changed several strategies as I learned, but ended up with a single file and multiple components, one per part. Thinking like a programmer with multiple files and parameters was not at all flexible, as is the case in programming,” explains Băluță.
This strategy ultimately worked, and the photographer soon had files and test 3D prints to help him further refine his design. The perfecting process took months, and then he ordered suitable, high-quality parts.
But the work was far from finished; everything had to fit together, which wasn’t easy, and he had to redesign the electronics to fit into the new camera body, which was also a challenge.
But Băluță persevered and, eventually, the project came to fruition and seems exceptional, although imperfect.
“The biggest problem I have is the dials, they are quite loose and only one of them actually works, the shooting modes dial. The axes of these dials are very short and wide, they can be improved by lengthening them, as one of them already is and works very well. Another problem is that the sensor is not calibrated correctly, it remains on springs. I did many measurements before disassembly but I “I couldn’t find the numbers anywhere in my notes. There are, however, no visible problems in the final photos,” the enterprising photographer remarks.
As the photo examples show, Băluță is right; the final images look great despite minor issues with the entire sensor. He also notes that the camera body gets hotter than expected and that, due to its all-aluminum body, the camera’s Wi-Fi doesn’t work very well. He could have solved this problem by using plastic parts, but he didn’t want to go that route.
In the end, the G9 II, a new battery, specialized tools, necessary components, custom CNC machining, PCBs, and 3D printing totaled just under $2,700, which is significantly less than the cost of a brand new Leica M camera.
“I still don’t have the camera I imagined, but I now know what it takes to build it. This build gave me proof that good equipment can be smaller and more beautiful,” concludes Băluță. It’s not quite the perfect camera, and it’s not exactly how he imagined it, but Băluță says he plans to spend a little more money on the project to iron out some kinks and take it on his next photography trip.
Although the photographer is quite hard on himself, there is no doubt that he has achieved something very impressive with this project. It’s far from simple to take a camera apart and assemble it into a different, thinner, custom body. As for getting the Leica look? We think Băluță succeeded.
Image credits: Cristian Baluță
