Leica Cameras m8, m9, x1, s2, d lux, v lux have been responsible for digital rangefinder compact cameras popularity and increasing brand value of Leica in recent past. These models have been in demand by clickers who love personal photography and professional photo shooters. Leica caters needs of both avid personal photograph lovers as well as professional photographers. Here we bring a detailed review of different existing, newly launched and upcoming models in 2012 by leica camera. All the latest updates including v-lux and d-lux Leica camera are brought exclusively for ETB readers, So keep visiting and stay tuned
Leica M8
Introduced on 14th September 2006, M8 is the first digital camera in Leica’s rangefinder M series. The main specialty of this camera is resolution of 10.3 Mega Pixels. It uses Kodak KAF-10500 CCD image sensor. M8 is slightly thicker than the M7. M8 is made up of metal body of magnesium alloy of high-strength. Top and Bottom plates are strong brass blocks with silver or black chrome finishing. This camera has sensor of the size 18 × 27 mm with 1.33x Crop factor because of this 28mm lens will perform like 35mm while mounted to M9. Sensor doesn’t have infrared filter it is better if you place IR-cut filter in front of lens. Moreover Leica wants to omit Anti-Alias filter giving reason of more resolution power of lens. M8 comes with vertical travel, metal curtains, Focal Plane shutter and to cock shutter it is equipped with built-in motor. M8 offers speed of shutter from 8s to 1 / 8000. M8 offers two exposure modes manual exposure and aperture priority auto exposure. Focus mode is manual. M8 uses of 6-bit coding system so electronic devices in M8 can identify the lens in use. For preventing increased vignetting because of closer lens mount it uses offset micro-lenses on CCD. M8 offers additional LCD Display of size 2.5” and 230000 pixels and Uses file format Adobe DNG. It uses Lithium Ion battery and supports SDHC or SD memory cards and USB 2.0
The main specialty of this camera is resolution of 10.3 Mega Pixels. It uses Kodak KAF-10500 CCD image sensor. M8 is slightly thicker than the M7. Other main features are listed below.
* Sensor of the size 18 × 27 mm, 1.33x Crop factor.
* Maximum resolution of 10.3 Mega Pixels.
* Leica M Mount Lens.
* Fixed hot shoe flash, It uses M-TTL flash system.
* Vertical travel, metal curtains, Focal Plane Shutter.
* To cock shutter it is equipped with built-in motor
* Speed of shutter is 8s to 1 / 8000.
* Center Weighted averaging, TTL exposure metering.
* Manual exposure and aperture priority auto exposure modes
* Manual focus mode
* Reverse Galilean with manual or automatic selection of corrected parallax frame lines
* Additional LCD Display of size 2.5” and 230000 pixels
* 160 to 2500 ASA / ISO range
* Lithium Ion Battery
* It is made up of metal body of magnesium alloy of high-strength. Top and Bottom plates are strong brass blocks with silver or black chrome finishing
* Use of 6-bit coding system so electronic devices in M8 can identify the lens in use
* For preventing increased vignetting because of closer lens mount it uses offset micro-lenses on CCD
* Uses file format Adobe DNG
* It supports SDHC or SD memory cards and USB 2.0
Leica M9
Digital camera Leica M9 is the second camera in Rangefinder M series. Leica M9 is available in steel-gray lacquer and black lacquer. Introduced on 9th September 2009, it is equipped with 35.8 × 23.9 full frame image sensor from Kodak and sensor has rotation facility. This camera offers resolution of 18.5 mega-pixels. It is equipped with metal curtains, vertical travel focal plane shutter with a speed of 32s to 1 /4000. Focus mode is manual. It offers manual and aperture priority auto exposure modes and additional color LCD display of size 2.5” and 230000 pixels. For storage capacity you can use Up to 2 GB SD and up to 32 GB SDHC. This camera weighs around 585g with battery. It supports JPEG file formats and offers fine and basic, 2 levels of compression. It supports DNG raw file format, both, 8 bit gamma or 16-bit linear. You can choose speed from 1/8 to 1/125 in full stops. You can also configure it to change with focal length of lens automatically. If the exposure is more than 2 seconds, it applies dark-frame subtraction automatically. That means after you shot, with the closed shutter, M9 provides subsequent identical time exposure. It means you will be standing for a longer time but with longer exposure you will get better images. It uses Li-ion rechargeable, 3.7 V, 1900 mAH battery
M9 being second ranger finder M series by leica comes in steel-gray lacquer and black lacquer. this camera offers following features.
* 35.8 × 23.9 full frame image sensor of Kodak
* Sensor rotation
* Maximum 18.5 megapixel resolution
* Leica M Mount lens.
* Metal curtains, vertical travel, focal plane shutter
* 32s to 1 /4000 Shutter Speed
* Manual focus mode
* Manual and aperture priority auto exposure
* Additional color LCD display of size 2.5” and 230000 pixels.
* Up to 2 GB SD and up to 32 GB SDHC
* 585g weight with battery
* 80 to 2500 ASA / ISO range
* It supports JPEG file formats and offers fine and basic, 2 levels of compression. It supports DNG raw file format, both, 8 bit gamma or 16-bit linear.
* You can choose speed from 1/8 to 1/125 in full stops. You can also configure it to change with focal length of lens automatically.
* If the exposure is more than 2 seconds, it applies dark-frame subtraction automatically. That means after you shot, with the closed shutter, M9 provides subsequent identical time exposure. It means you will be standing for a longer time but with longer exposure you will get better images.
* Fake leather covering, KTL dip-painted frame, Die-cast magnesium alloy.
* Li-ion rechargeable, 3.7 V, 1900 mAh battery.
Leica S2
Leica S2 is revolutionary camera in the professional DSLR class. This camera offers resolution of 37.5 mega-pixels. It has a body size of 35mm and sensor of size 30 x 45 mm. It is a remarkable camera which sets a new performance milestone for digital SLRS. Resolution of 37.5-megapixels and 30 x 45 mm sensor is around 56% bigger than full frame and offers powerful images, definitely better than those can be obtained by conventional DSLRs. It has an excellent design which offers some of the most promising features. You can handle it as easily as 35mm SLR. For fast lenses, it has an advanced dual shutter system, in-body focal-plane shutter, in-lens leaf shutters for more flash sync speeds. It has an auto focusing system which is high-precision. These advanced lenses are designed for the best possible performance with the sensor and image processing system provides double speed of medium-format backs. This reduces power usage and gives in-camera JPEG capability. Moreover all these features are packed into a camera which is even smaller than 35mm professional SLR. Imaging processor, “Maestro” was developed by fujitsu and Leica developed autofocus system in-house. Leica claims that they have developed superior lenses which offer unmatched contrast and resolution at all apertures and also at a distance. Other important features includes color OLED display and 3” LCD Display. It is dustproof and waterproof and design is compact ergonomic.
Leica s2 camera
Key Features of the Leica X1
The Leica X1 is an entry level camera from the house of Leica. It has a compact design and it is quite lightweight, making it useful for portable digital photography. The control dials are similar to those of an analog camera. It has a fixed lens of 24mm F2.8 lens. This is a cropped sensor camera and the lens provides an angle of view that is equivalent to a 35mm lens in a full frame camera. You can use this camera as an all purpose camera for almost all situations and light conditions. The camera has a 12.2 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor.
The camera supports multiple modes of operation such as shutter priority, manual exposure, aperture priority and program modes. The lens does not have an exposure lock button and that can be a problem when you shoot in aperture priority mode. The other negative is that there is a delay between the rotation of the manual focus ring and the image captured in the LCD display screen. This can make it difficult to use the camera in manual focus mode. These are minor problems though and can easily be ignored.
It has the quality that you will associate with the great Leica brand and hence the camera is quite highly priced when compared to other brands that offer the same features. This camera is clearly meant for those of us who are dying to own a Leica camera and would not mind paying a premium for the wonderful experience.
leica x1 camera
Leica D-Lux 5 Overview
The Leica D-Lux 5 is a high end camera and it is meant for use by professional photographers. It is by no means a replacement for a digital SLR camera, but rather a more aspirational product for those photographers who have always wanted to own a Leica camera. It is a feature rich camera and you really get your money’s worth for this one. The built in lens is a 24-90mm f/2-3.3 DC Vario-Summicron lens. It is a fast lens that offers superior image quality even when used wide open. It has a 10 megapixel CCD sensor and supports 720 pixel HD video. The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 software comes bundled with the product and that along with the camera features allows a lot of creative freedom for photographers. The camera is best suited for night photography as it has a maximum shutter speed of one minute. It can also be used for macro photography as it has a maximum focal length of 90 mm and you can get as close as 1 cm to your subject making it useful to capture small insects and similar macro pictures. There are 9 ISO settings available in this camera, however at the higher ISOs sharpness decreases significantly. The other features include a 3 inch LCD display screen and O.I.S image stabilization. The camera is priced at around $1250 which is a bit on the higher side. The camera ships with a high quality leather case. There are several optional accessories that are available for an additional price. These include camera bags, an electronic viewfinder and a flash.
leica d-lux 5 camera
Leica V-LUX 30
The Leica V-LUX 30 is a high end zoom camera which includes a built-in GPS which helps to geo tag your pictures with the correct latitude and longitude in which the picture was shot. The lens used is a 24-384 mm one and the camera is designed for travel photography. It has a touch screen based LCD and a 14.1 megapixel CMOS sensor. The camera is suitable for both beginners as well as advanced users and it has a good set of features that will interest both these kind of users. For example, the three different exposure modes – A,S, and M allows experienced users to give a free reign to their creativity, while the auto mode and anti shake system helps beginners get the perfect settings for a great picture. There is an intelligent resolution feature in this camera that helps to digitally zoom upto 21X without any loss in picture quality. As with all Leica cameras, this one also has a higher price tag when compared to peers with the same specifications and the list price of this camera is $750. The camera has an impressive range of software that comes bundled with it and includes the Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere 9 which helps you to justify the high price that you pay for the camera. Although it is touted as a travel camera, it is not shock proof or weather proof and this can be a major drawback for an otherwise near to perfect lens from Leica.
leica V-Lux 30 camera
