Leica X1

[BJL]

An f2.8 lens with a sensor capable of good results at high ISO is not necessarily a deal killer for the X1.

Agreed. I expect there are many like me for whom an aperture faster than f/2.8 is mostly a last resort, accepting less DOF than desired too get enough speed. With the good high ISO speed performance of that sensor (whoever designed it!), I would rarely want to go beyond f/4. Though with IS, this would be even more true!

[autgard]

I had only two hopes for the X1. None came trough, though.

1: Optical Wiewfinder. How hard can this be??? The Canon G-series has it. Small, inadequate, but its there.
With a zoom lens. Now, how hard is it to put an optical wievfinder on an fixed focal length camera, with a
lamp for autofocus??? Its been done for years and years in P&S cameras with zoom.
Why not on a fixed focal camera???

2. Fixed lens. This might seem odd, but the "switch on and extend lens"-process is not unobtrusive.
And discreet should be the X1's primary area of excellence. And it doesent even look good.

Why can nobody give us:
Fixed focal lenght at ca 35 mm.
Just a fixed, ultra sturdy lens barrel/lens.
Speedy "quieter than wet wool" switch on-action.  
Crisp, crisp and crisp shutter action.
OVF, for extremely quick framing.
Fast autofocus.
Decent ISO performance.
Pocket size.
AND finally: prices this side of NASA budgets.

Anyone give me this and I'll fork out a couple of thousand, easily.
But not the X1.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

I can answer the AF-question in part.

SLR-s have special devices for autofocus illumiate by a beam splitter under the mirror. So the mirror projects the image on a special device, similar to a split image device. On mirrorless design there is no natural way to use an AF-device, because it essentially needs a mirror so they need to use contrast detection, which is very accurate, flexible and... slow.

Panasonic seems to get it working decently, so it is clearly not impossible.

Best regards
Erik

I had only two hopes for the X1. None came trough, though.

1: Optical Wiewfinder. How hard can this be??? The Canon G-series has it. Small, inadequate, but its there.
With a zoom lens. Now, how hard is it to put an optical wievfinder on an fixed focal length camera, with a
lamp for autofocus??? Its been done for years and years in P&S cameras with zoom.
Why not on a fixed focal camera???

2. Fixed lens. This might seem odd, but the "switch on and extend lens"-process is not unobtrusive.
And discreet should be the X1's primary area of excellence. And it doesent even look good.

Why can nobody give us:
Fixed focal lenght at ca 35 mm.
Just a fixed, ultra sturdy lens barrel/lens.
Speedy "quieter than wet wool" switch on-action.  
Crisp, crisp and crisp shutter action.
OVF, for extremely quick framing.
Fast autofocus.
Decent ISO performance.
Pocket size.
AND finally: prices this side of NASA budgets.

Anyone give me this and I'll fork out a couple of thousand, easily.
But not the X1.

[BJL]

I quote myself to issue a possible correction:

With the good high ISO speed performance of that sensor ... I would rarely want to go beyond f/4. Though with IS, this would be even more true!

I have since read that the X1 might in fact have IS; several people claim to have seen it in the menus. But if so, it is strange how little Leica has said about that. As low profile as the recently announced Olympus E-600.


P. S. To autgard: an OVF is available as an accessory for the X1, as in this photo:
http://a.img-dpreview.com/news/0909/Leica/...inhand1-001.jpg

But not built-in: Leica has joined Sigma [DP1,DP2], Olympus [E-P1], Panasonic [GF-1] in judging that most customers for "large sensor digital compacts" prefer the size reduction of having only a single built-in "composing tool", as all four companies offer only a LCD built-in, with an EVF or OVF as an optional accessory.

[Ben Rubinstein]

Thing is that if you aren't going to offer a decent OVF then you need at least to provide a modern screen which the X1 does not have. One reviewer has already stated that you will need the optional viewfinder for shooting outdoors in bright light. Why anyone would pay $2000 for that level of build in 2009 is beyond me.

[autgard]

Thanks for the pointer. However, I believe it doesn't have a focus confirmation light.
(possibly a beep). The speed of framing and composing will be good with the OFV in the pictures.

The Olympus EP-1 reason for having detatchable OVF is that the camera has interchangable lenses.

Why the Sigma and Panasonic GF-1 has detatchable EVF's?? I agree with PJL, is probably space issues??
Maybe price issues? Rumors of a GF-2 with an integrated EVF has popped up around the net, so we will see.

/news/0909/Leica/...inhand1-001.jpg[/url]

[Nemo]

The main problem is for me manual focus operation. It is not practical on the X1.

Two suggestions easily doable by firmware programming:

1. Ricoh's manual focus system:

You can pre-select three distances (1m, 3m, 5m) and pressing a button or turning the wheel you will jump from one of these pre-selected distances to the next. A variant is a button which would leads to the hyperfocal distance, for your selected aperture.

2. Clasical DoF markings simulation:

On the LCD you get a line with the distance scale (from 0 to infinity). Then, a mark points to the selected focus distance, AND two additional marks (at the left and to the right) point to the limits of the DoF for the selected aperture and distance. In this way you can select a hyperfocal distance, or a particular DoF range (for instance, from 1m to 5m). Then, turn the LCD off and make pictures.

Leica should adopt one or the two solutions for a fast manual focus operation without LCD or viewfinder assistance, just like you can do with lenses with DoF markins.

... and...

The menus are a little complex. Not as simple and clean than those of the M8/M9. It is some odd mix of the menus of a Panasonic and the M8. Too many "direct access" buttons (at the left of the screen, on the 4 buttons into the wheel...). A simpler and cleaner design would have been better.

The letters and numbers on the wheels and buttons are painted, not engraved. I don't like that on the buttons' surface either. It is a better solution to have it engraved on the camera's surface, in the space between buttons, avoiding erosion due to use.

[Seth Honeyman]

.... The X1 seems to be a true successor of the M legacy - a small, unobtrusive camera with high specifications....

I think its more like the original Barnack "Ur" cameras.  Fixed lens, small form factor and meant to be taken on a hike.