Leica has unveiled a new compact mirrorless interchangeable lens camera called the Leica T. It has a unique aluminium unibody that took over two years to develop and meant building a whole new factory and employing Audi just to create it.

Perhaps most important of all is the brand new T-mount lens system. It's all new, no M-mount system to be found here without the use of an optional £300 adapter. 

German manufacturing is world renowned for its efficiency and Leica appears to be on a mission to make its brand name even stronger with its Leica T. Audi helped with the design process which meant building the new Wetzlar factory. The alloy aluminium unibody building process is similar to that used for Apple's MacBooks.

The Leica T comes with a 16.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS image sensor, offers an ISO range of 100-12,500, features the ability to shoot in raw (DNG format), can capture 1920 x 1080p video at 30fps, has 16GB of internal memory and built-in Wi-Fi. The on board lithium-ion battery is said to be capable of 400 shots per charge.

The durable solid aluminium unibody features a pop-up flash, a 3.7-inch LCD touchscreen, and built-in hotshoe for external flash compatibility or optional electronic viewfinder. If, that is, you have a spare £400 for the finder.

The Leica T is due out 26 May and will start at £1,350 for the body only. Two lenses will be available at launch: a Vario-Elmar-T 18-56mm f/3.5-5.6 Asph, priced at £1,250, and a Summicron-T 23mm f/2 Asph, priced at £1,350.