After a six-month delay Leica has finally announced UK delivery of the Digital-Modul-R ? a digital back for the Leica R8 and R9 SLRs.

Developed with Kodak and Imacon the back consists of a 10-million-pixel CCD imaging sensor and is designed to give the R8 and R9 dual film and digital capability.

If you have not already pre-ordered the £3,298 kit you may have to wait ?several months?, according to a UK spokeswoman who added that deliveries will be made on a ?first ordered, first served basis?.

Initially due to arrive in December Leica held back the launch of the kit until it had resolved problems with the software.

Commenting on its arrival in the UK Leica Camera Limited?s managing director Roland Wolff said. ?With this module, Leica has achieved something that no other maker of professional SLR cameras has attempted. We wanted to be able to give Leica R users the real advantage of being able to switch between digital and film without sacrificing their existing camera equipment.?

Leica has confirmed that the back?s firmware will enable it to capture images in JPEG, TIFF and DNG (digital negative) formats.

For details call Leica Camera Ltd on 01908 256400.