By Chris Gampat, editor at The Phoblographer:
Some engineers should be beaten over the head with Leica M bodies until they figure out what good ergonomics are all about.
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 Picture courtesy of Leica Camera AG. I’m still struggling to find a niche in my mental drawer of caregories in which to fit the Leica X1. So it’s not a p&s, as it has an APS-C CMOS sensor the size of which you’d expect to find in a DSLR. It’s not a system camera (or DSLR for that matter) either, as it has a fixed, 36mm eq. f/2.8 lens. It also isn’t a rangefinder*, obviously, as you frame your picture via the screen as with a p&s. But as I said, it isn’t a p&s … It’s a Leica for sure, as it looks like a Leica and has a Leica lens that was specifically designed for the X1 and that delivers like any Leica lens – tack sharp at any aperture setting, great colors, great contrast, smooth bokeh. BUT – here’s where I’m lost: The pictures I’ve seen so far taken with X1’s lack any of that magic I’m used to see in Leica pictures. The bokeh is smooth, but that’s it. My 20/1.7’s bokeh is smooth as well. Colors and contrast are nice – so is it with my 20/1.7. And then, the lens is not exactly fast, forcing you to start increasing the ISO pretty soon when light gets dim. The X1 surely is a great performer at high ISOs – but let’s say it has a 1-stop advantage over Micro Four Thirds, then there’s still half a stop of speed the E-P1 + 20/1.7 combo has in advantage over the X1. So for me, personally, isn’t anything it pretends to be. It doesn’t perform any better (overall) than my Micro Four Thirds setup, but easily costs twice as much. It also has doesn’t handle any better than the E-P1 from what I gathered from the reviews. So the only thing that’s left in the X1 is that red dot. (Oh, and the flash of course …) Seriously, I’m not that crazy. But others may be, and others seem to be happy with it, so who am I to judge? *I am aware of the fact that technically speaking a rangefinder is merely the coupled optical viewfinder, but I am so keen as to use the term comprising the rest of the rangefinder camera as well. The Phoblographer is giving the Leica M9 their field review treatment. After reading much about Canons and Nikons in the past, this is a refreshing and welcome change. So far, they have only begun with the review (which is usually continually updated over a period of several days), describing the look-and-feel of the camera. In the next days, they’ll be testing it together with a 35 Summarit lens. You can follow their review at their website. Okay, this isn’t actually news, as we already new this lens was coming and had already seen pictures of it. But when something is officially announced – well, then it’s official! The previous Summilux 35 was already a great performer (or so people say), but allegedly suffered from focus-shift when stopping down. Yes, not every Leica lens is perfect! So with this new version, there should be no more focusing problems when using with a digital body. Here’s some links to more detailed news posts about the lens: And of course Leica’s official product site: … with Panasonic. My 20/1.7 is still not back – I had brought it to my dealer due to dirt intrusions over two weeks ago. The only word from Panasonic was a few days later that the guarantee certificate was missing – which was sent to them by mid-week the week before last week. Their luck I don’t need that lens professionally … In response to what I wrote in a footnote in the post linked to above, I don’t think I’m interested in that R8 offered to me by my dealer. Mainly because it’s too much money for a camera that’s huge and bulky and I wouldn’t be using much, and secondarily because for one I have that marvelous Yashica Electro 35 GT for film shooting, and also I’m now officially saving for an M8. Yes, that’s right. I just have to have one … |
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May 25th, 2010, 2:07 pm | 
So Leica have now officially announced the new Summilux-M 1:1.4/35mm lens which has been completely redesigned for improved performance. The new lens features 9 lenses in 5 groups, including floating elements to keep focusing precise at all times.