Leica Digital Classic - the 10 Year Old Leica Digilux 2

Penfan2010

All-Pro
Location
NJ, USA
Name
Ed
I sold off my Leica M8 several months ago after the novelty of having a digital rangefinder wore off, and tried my best to shoot with my film M3 to keep the Leica love going. However, shooting film can be a bit inconvenient, as we all know. Thought my Leica usage would completely stop again as a result. But then I came across a few great Digilux 2 articles over the last two weeks (including, inevitably in the D2 world, great overviews by Thorsten Overgaard and John Thawley) and was so amazed by the photos and smitten by the very Leica analog look of the camera that I had to find one. I got a great model on eBay for a crazy price, and it arrived yesterday. While a little on the large side, it is no more bulky than the Fuji X-Pro 1, is much lighter than an M3 or M8, and does have wonderful control placement. The EVF is not as bad as it is made out to be, and the integrated focus assist when shooting in Manual Focus mode works well, as does the AF. It has a far simpler and more intuitive layout than my old X-Pro 1, and has a fast medium zoom just like my X-10, but with the benefit of an EVF. And like my old E-PL1, the flash can be pointed upwards to act as a bounce flash (See the photo of my son).

It's easy to see why this camera has become something of a cult classic; great images, indeed, despite the supposed limitation of its 5 MB sensor. Not bad for a 10 year old digital camera. All shot on JPEG at ISO 200; minor PP on LR 4.4. Most of these also posted over on Leica Place.


L1070756.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070817.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070772.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070826.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070720.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070749.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070724.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

L1070814.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


A few BW conversions on LR.

L1070778.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070832.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Megapixels are over-rated. All other things being equal, more of them can help us print bigger, but I'll bet few of us print bigger very often than what I good 5 MP camera will allow us to print.

I loved the Olympus Camedia C-5050, and finally sold it not because of image quality but because of the laggy operation. But the thing was built like a tank and produced very nice 5 megapixel files.
 
This really is a great camera; it's almost like a "poor man's X-E1 with kit zoom" (though with a faster maximum aperture), with a simpler, more intuitive control lay-out, and the additional ooomph of Leica designed glass. More from this morning, all ISO 200 JPEGs with slight PP on LR4.4

L1070873.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070853.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070855.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070865.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


L1070876.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Back
Top