Leica X1 review digs deep, can't find value
By Tim Stevens 
posted December 18th 2009 7:31AM
posted December 18th 2009 7:31AM
posted December 18th 2009 7:31AM
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Or if you're a professional who needs a small high quality camera that's more quiet than a micro 4/3's one.
I reckon there isn't too many of those though.
@Sarig I agree with you. Plus the best 3-year international professional service and support from Leica. Many consider worth the price tag.
If you ever use a Leica, you will understand why its design has reached the optimum point and accepted by professional for the last 50 years. There must be a really good reason for it.
@kenta Or the fact that there's always a % of the population who assume that higher price == higher quality, whether justified or not, and have the resources to act on that belief.
@Sarig I do think the spin put on the summary is a bit too snarky and judgmental. Certainly there are specific reasons to bu cameras that otherwise aren't great values, like how Leicas used to be used in courtrooms for their near silent shutters. The X1 also nice high ISO performance, and that might mean something to night shutterbugs.
Sometimes buying a camera is an emotional judgment than purely rational one. If you're serious, your camera will be tool you're working with all the time, a companion. Some people, therefore, are pretty picky with certain things on their camera other than value/$. Especially if you make money with your photography, probably makes it easier to justify expensive equipment...
I continue to have absolutely no use for video on my DSLR. I'm a photographer. Not a videographer. I can't afford to upgrade my equipment to work with video, and have no desire to.
Good job still keeping it real Leica.
@zachbeale I've been content with a point and shoot camera for a long time. However with a first child on the way, I wanted to be able to take great photos AND be able to take the occasional video. Thats what made me choose a Nikon D90 over say a competitor without the video feature.
Sure it isn't the deciding feature, but all things being equal, I'll pick the one with a video feature built in.
@lordhamster That's great, but I'm an actual photographer. To actually take advantage of the video system on a video DSLR, I'd need to shoot video as perfectly as possible. I'd need to invest in a new computer system to handle it, new lights to handle the fact that I'm doing video, etc. Furthermore, I can sell prints fairly easily...but you can't print and sell a video.
@zachbeale
I'm a photographer as well, and though I don't shoot video it's good to know that feature is there if I need it. Choosing to omit it, when all of their competitors include it is sheer stupidity. Having the option for video doesn't increase the price and doesn't negatively effect photo quality, so why NOT include it?
That's almost as bad as that Leica a few years back that was just a rebadged Panasonic FZ30, but for twice the price.
Some people will just pay to have a "Leica".
It's like the Panny LX3 vx Dlux4. People swear the Leica is better even though they are suppose to have the same sensor, lens and firmware.
Some reviewers have said the Panny's lense isn't multicoated and the firmware is different, some disagree altogether with that.
@(Unverified) Well, it's not exactly the same here... This is a totally different camera from anything in the Panasonic lineup.
"...a solid performer if your disposable income and aesthetic needs greatly outweigh your common sense."
Trying to start a flame war Engadget?
Panasonic offers 2 years international warranty, and with its 20mm F1.7 aspherical lens it blows leica by 2 F stops.
SORRY PANASONIC OFFERES 3 YEARS INTERNATIONAL WARRANTY NOT 2
@basharar: Whoa, whoa man. No need to yell at us.
Oh come on, you all know that cool round flash is worth at least an extra grand!
I've noticed that most of the people who glorify Leica can't afford one anyway. I've rarely seen anyone shooting with a Leica. Their rangefinders might be great, but it doesn't change the fact that this is a glorified point and shoot, not an M8.
This camera is as ridiculous as Canon charging $1200 for the G11.
@(Unverified) This thing is capable of a lot more quality than a G11. Its APS-C sensor is better than even the GF-1 in high ISO situations. It's not even comparable...
@(Unverified) I mean, what I'm trying to get at is that it's more than glorified P&S like the G11 is, a professional body with a compact sensor, the X1 is actually an APS-C sensor shoved into a compact body... Unlike the G11, it does across the image quality threshold, even if overpriced and plagued by flaws....
When I was in photo class Leicas were quite popular. They're not for casual shooters or professional shooters who a particular purpose like sports or wildlife, but are fine street shooters....
@YpoCaramel Duly noted. But explain to me why this is worth five times more than the similarly set up Sigma DP2? Yeah, I know the Sigma doesn't zoom, but Sigma's prime glass isn't something to sneeze at.
Leica was the best 35mm camera ever made . . . until, say, about 1968, when anybody with computer access could do lens design that would shame the old Elmar, Hektar, and Summar lenses.
But there is no excuse for the styling of this current abomination. Just because Oskar Barnack found this shape functional for his first prototypes is no reason to enshrine it as some mythical ideal.
This looks like it was beaten senseless with the Ugly stick.
@solarbuddy
i dont know if you can even call it ugly, its too basic to be offensive
Doesn't even have the aesthetics, imo. Don't get me wrong, M9 looks fantastic - but this looks like a cheap plastic ripoff of the design. (Yes, it's actually an expensive metal version from the original manufacturer, or at least badged by them... but I'm saying, it looks like a caricature of the real thing.)
"Value proposition? Hardly, but a solid performer if your disposable income and aesthetic needs greatly outweigh your common sense."
Like all the Apple products that you love, Engadget?
@Markos I've had MS products (and CP/M and HDOS before that) since before Bill Gates needed to shave, but I've never encountered anything as sweet as the iPhone 3Gs I reluctantly ordered to replace my aging Treo 680. I'm just saying!
You can't really compare this with other compact camera and it is not for everyone, but if someone says " your disposable income and aesthetic needs greatly outweigh your common sense" for this camera they don't know anything about Leica or what this camera is intended for. This camera has the same quality sensor as the Nikon D300 !
in dpreview it says "Indeed it seems fair to say that the X1 has the best raw image quality of any small camera, especially at high ISOs." also "There's no doubt that the X1 has to be seen as a serious photographic tool"