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Leica D-Lux 7 Vans x Ray Barbee Edition Reps Skating’s Checkered Past

12.06.21 | By
Leica D-Lux 7 Vans x Ray Barbee Edition Reps Skating’s Checkered Past

Skateboarding fashion and footwear brand Vans has been on a tear with numerous collaborations extending the outreach of their legacy lifestyle, a trend we could have never guessed looking back when we used to lace up Off the Wall kicks before heading out to skate when Vans was still primarily a SoCal-specific brand. One of the more surprising of these recent co-branded efforts is with premium imaging brand, Leica Camera AG. Created in partnership with skater, musician, and photographer, Ray Barbee, the limited-edition Leica D-Lux 7 Vans x Ray Barbee digital camera wears Vans’ most iconic checkerboard pattern proudly.

Front of Leica D-Lux 7 digital camera with checkered pattern front.

Back view of Leica D-Lux 7 digital camera with checkered pattern and display screen.

The limited-edition Leica D-Lux 7 Vans x Ray Barbee stands out aesthetically (the design as a whole not only reps Vans iconic pattern, but also has a mod-ska vibe to it), but the camera specs remains indistinguishable from its serially produced predecessor.

Built around a large Micro Four Thirds sensor and fast zoom lens with a full-frame-equivalent range of 24 – 75 mm, the digital camera would make for one capable street photography camera, one perhaps too high end and precious for bringing along for skating adventures, even if its capable of recording in 4K video in 24, 25, or 30 fps as well as recording in 4K photo capture modes.

The joy is in capturing the journey.

-Ray Barbee

Vans complements the collaboration with specially designed T-shirts as well as shoes (including a petrol-colored model with red eyelets and checkerboard lining) adorned with the aforementioned quotes by Ray Barbee and Ernst Leitz II. The Leica D-Lux 7 Vans x Ray Barbee Edition is priced at $1,695.

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.