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November 8, 2009
One recent development in camera technology is the rise of relatively compact cameras with large sensors that addresses the consumer desire for a carry-around camera with large sensor, compact body, and a single fixed lens with really good optics. Can Leica deliver on this desire with its ethos of operational minimalism and a camera that feels and looks like a camera before the digital revolution?
Gary Sauer-Thompson, firehose, Adelaide, 2008
I still shoot with an old film rangefinder Lecia M series (an M4-P) that requires me to use a hand held lightmeter. I'm one of those waiting for a genuine digital rangefinder --one that brings the "M camera experience" into the digital age.
The Digital Photographic Review says that Leica is the:
sole survivor of the once-mighty German camera industry is one of the very few genuine 'heritage' brands left. The company's long-running reputation for sheer engineering quality and optically-superb lenses is legendary - many a budding snapper has aspired to own a 'real' Leica, eventually. Unfortunately though, this quality is (inevitably) accompanied by heart-stopping prices, meaning such aspirations are often left unfulfilled for many years.
Leica has finally nailed the digital M rangefinder series. The just released M9 can be regarded as a true digital inheritor of the M series' legacy. So a rangefinder digital photography---working with a basic camera and not a computer with a lens attached--is now possible.
How about the "point and shoot" category? There are some sample images of the Leica X1 --the new point and shoot 'baby' Leica. The quality of the images recorded throughout a wide range of ISO settings look good, though the noise and lack of detail appear at the higher ISO values (from 1250 upwards). It's quality and control in a smaller package.
It does appear that Leica has made a serious "point and shoot" camera rather than a snobbish accessory--- something pocketable for travelling and spontaneous opportunities. The X1 has clearly been designed as an instrument for taking photographs, pure and simple, and features a pared-down, traditionalist design in service of that goal. The more analog control approach taken by Leica with the X1 (and the M9) is a distinctly different approach to digital cameras than that taken by the Asian camera manufacturers. But it does have its limitations.
We will have to wait if this is the desired carry-around camera with large sensor, compact body, single fixed lens with really good optics. The price, as always with Leica is always a big turn off. That is not stopping a lot of people from buying the M9 though. Whether I can afford an X1 (or an M9) is another matter.
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