Customer Reviews

Leica V-LUX 1 Digital Camera

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an ex-Navy combat photographer, I can only say I wish that I'd had one of these babies back then. Quick and easy to master, it's a snap to shoot single-handed. No extra lenses to lug around. The single Leica 35mm to 420mm lens is all you'll ever need. Whether or not you shoot full auto or on automatic, the results are amazing!! I'm currently shooting ultra-sharp photos of sailboats on the open ocean at 16x magnification off the island of Maui. The camera stablization takes over and "shakes" are a thing of the past. Think what you could accomplish using it for sports photography!! It looks good, feels good, and it rivals anything in it's class for quality. I own Cannons and a Sigma SD-10.....there's no comparison! The Cannon digital Rebel SLR doesn't shoot movies but for the same price, this Leica does! Probably the reason you don't hear too much about this honey of a camera is that the stores have a ton of inventory they've got to sell and if everyone knew how this Leica stacked up against the competition....there'd be a lot of sad shop owners holding the bag. Regards, Dick Sargent

This camera was a total (GOOD) surprise when I received it. I WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND IT AND OPERATE IT ! You have no idea how important this was to me. The camera's "buttons" and menus make sense and the Instruction book is actually understandable. This was important to me because I glaze over badly when I am confronted with a techie piece of equipment. Other shocks about this camera were the incredible amount of USEABLE zoom -- up to 85 X zoom, and the stabilizer control that can actually stabilize the picture at huge zooms. Example: I have quite a clear and full frame picture of a hovering harrier bird that I took with this camera from 300 yards away. Anoither pleasant thing: when you choose one of the "programs" like "portrait", "landscape", "night sky", "candle light" etc. that the ACTUAL DESCRIPTION of exactly what the program does comes right up in clear English language on the screen. This Leica ranks among the best products i've owned.

Being a field biologist specializing in the study of animal behavior, I wanted a camera with high resolution (10 mp), good optical zoom (at least 10x), minimal delay between shutter release and recording on the CCD, fully manual focus option, video capacity, and reasonably light weight for carrying on my neck through the day. The Leica V-Lux 1 fits the bill as no heavy DSLR could possibly do. Similar "advanced" cameras by Canon, Fujifilm, and Nikon have less resolution or smaller zoom, or both, as well as other deficiencies. The Leica has proven to be a wonderful camera with which I have (in only a few months) taken an estimated 4000 photos -- but the price is a bit of a rip-off.

Before explaining the rip-off, I report one annoying and initially alarming problem with the camera. In the field, in the low humidity environment of Patagonia (Chile), drizzle began and while the camera was under my rain jacket and did not get wet, the CCD went screwy. At first it put a purple haze over everything (viewfinder or LCD, viewing or playback, and permanent on the photo when downloaded). This aberration then turned to black and white horizontal lines. Nothing in the manual's troubleshooting section mentions this problem, although p. 5 deals with condensation fog, which I suppose this was an unusual version of. The camera was unusable for half a day, and then the patient spontaneously recovered from its strange malady.

Returning to the rip-off, according to Wikipedia, all the Leica digital cameras (with two trivial exceptions) are actually made by Panasonic in Japan. The excellent lens systems appear to have been developed jointly by the two companies. Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FZ50 is nearly identical with the Leica V-Lux 1, with obvious differences in external finishes and labels, and hidden differences in the firmware, so that Leica processes white balance, noise reduction, etc. differently. If you don't want to pay for the Leica label, buy the Panasonic version at approximately half the price. (Yes, the pricing is really that different.)

If you've already naively bought the Leica as I did -- or decide you want it despite the small difference from the Panasonic -- at least be aware that all the accessories are interchangeable (and again, the Panasonic versions run about half the price). Third party batteries and chargers are cheaper yet. Furthermore, Leica apparently does not post their manuals online for download, so go to Panasonic's website and get a pdf of the Lumix DMC-FZ50.

Finally, I could not find that either Leica or Panasonic markets a teleconverter lens for the V-Lux/Lumix although such are mentioned on pp. 97-99 of "the" manual. (Yes, even the pagination is the same for the Leica and Panasonic manuals.) However, Olympus makes a 1.7x teleconverter with 55 mm diameter screw mount that fits the V-Lux/Lumix. That combines for a zoom of over 20x, and works just fine with my Leica. Panasonic DMC-FZ50 10.1MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)

This is the best sub-SLR (bridge) camera there is out there.
Enough has been written about this camera by others elsewhere so I am not going to go over the same things again.
Here are just a few points that I think are important, or have not been covered before.
1. I saw that some people wrote that if you want to spend this money, you might as well buy a SLR camera kit. That is a misleading idea.
Leica V-Lux 1 comes with a 35 to 430 mm original, best quality lens. There is no SLR kit on the market that does that under $[...], let alone the fact that you don't have to carry two lenses to cover the same zoom range (focal distance).
2. This is the only bridge camera that offers exactly the same controls like true SLR cameras, including dial controls for aperture and speed, placed just like the controls in the Nikon SLR series. Without taking the camera from your eyes you can adjust with your index and thumb, the aperture and the exposure speed (or the Program Shift as the case may be). In the same time, with your left hand you can adjust the zoom and the manual focus rings.
3. Leica V-Lux 1, has some features encountered only in SLR-s much more expensive. In example, on the left side of the lens there is a "forced" Focus button. Even with the focus set to MANUAL mode, one can still touch with the left thumb this button and the lens focuses automatic. Then it remains further in manual mode, so you can continue to adjust it further by turning the focus ring.
3. Here is one example of how great the image stabilization works. Last week I was at my son's convocation ceremony that took place indoors in a sports arena, but it was not lit enough. My son was sitting in the middle of the stadium. I was standing all the way up. With the camera held in my hand and with the maximum zoom, I took about three pictures. One out of three came out perfectly clear. Now consider this: the exposure was 1/16sec which would absolutely require a tripod.
Further I just leaned my right elbow on a railing and then took some more pictures, and they all came out very clear at 1/8 and 1/16 sec!
4. One word of caution: If you are used to other cameras that in Auto mode allow choices on metering, focus area, etc, this camera in Auto mode offers very little options. If you want access to all the settings, you have to set it to "P" (Program Mode) which is also an "automatic" mode that allows all the settings to be changed.
5. If money is tight, but you would really like to get the Leica as opposed to the equivalent Panasonic, if you shop around you find this camera at around $[...]. Also, look on the Leica web site as they are offering a $150 mail in rebate (March-Apr 2008, and again July-Aug 2008, and I am sure they will offer it again), so you end up paying $[...], which all of a sudden looks a lot more as a very good value.
A great, high quality camera.

I agree with other positive reviews of this camera, particularly that provided by the former military photographer. The leica lens performs beautifully. Images are extremely sharp. It is user friendly. For the person who believes some reviews were written by Leica company---I'd say, not a chance. Have you really read them? I mean no disrepect to the reviewers--am only trying to make a point.

This is the best sub-SLR (bridge) camera there is out there.
Enough has been written about this camera by others so I am not going to go over the same things again.
Here are just a few points that I think are important, or have not been covered before.
1. I saw that some people wrote that if you want to spend this money, you might as well buy a SLR camera kit. That is a misleading idea.
Leica V-Lux 1 comes with a 35 to 430 mm original, best quality lens. There is no SLR kit on the market that covers that range at the same lens quality under $1000.00, let alone the fact that you don't have to carry two lenses to cover the same zoom range (focal distance).
2. This is the only bridge camera that offers exactly the same controls like true SLR cameras, including dial controls for aperture and speed, placed just like the controls in the Nikon SLR series. Without taking the camera from your eyes you can adjust with your index and thumb, the aperture and the exposure speed (or the Program Shift as the case may be). In the same time, with your left hand you can adjust the zoom and the manual focus rings.
3. Leica V-Lux 1, has some features encountered only in SLR-s much more expensive. In example, on the left side of the lens there is a "forced" Focus button. Even with the focus set to MANUAL mode, one can still touch with the left thumb this button and the lens focuses automatic. Then it remains further in manual mode, so you can continue to adjust it further by turning the focus ring.
3. Here is one example of how great the image stabilization works. Last week I was at my son's convocation ceremony that took place indoors in a sports arena, but it was not lit enough. My son was sitting in the middle of the stadium. I was standing all the way up. With the camera held in my hand and with the maximum zoom, I took about three pictures. One out of three came out perfectly clear. Now consider this: the exposure was 1/16sec which would absolutely require a tripod.
Further I just leaned my right elbow on a railing and then took some more pictures, and they all came out very clear at 1/8 and 1/16 sec!
4. One word of caution: If you are used to other cameras that in Auto mode allow choices on metering, focus area, etc, this camera in Auto mode offers very little options. If you want access to all the settings, you have to set it to "P" (Program Mode) which is also an "automatic" mode that allows all the settings to be changed.
5. If money is tight, but you would really like to get the Leica as opposed to the equivalent Panasonic, if you shop around you find this camera at around $750 - $800. Also, look on the Leica web site as they are offering a $150 mail in rebate (March-Apr 2008, and again July-Aug 2008, and I am sure they will offer it again), so you end up paying $600 - $650, which all of a sudden looks a lot more as a very good value.
A great, high quality camera.

To anyone thinking of buying this camera in 2009 -- there must be better options available than this now 2 1/2 year old model. I tried it because I wanted the 12x zoom, Leica optics, feature set, build quality, etc. but after trying it out over the weekend at the Yankee game and for nature photography (which is what I mostly purchased it for) I was extremely disappointed when I loaded the photos into the computer. Noise levels for images shot at ISO 200 are totally unacceptable. I could not work with ISO 100 because the weather was overcast. But hey -- I need to be able to use the camera in all conditions, not just when the sun is shining. All images are smudgy and soft and start breaking up when viewed at 1/2 size let alone at actual pixel size. As for cropping -- forget it! Also the auto-focus does not work well in a variety of situations. At the upper end of the telephoto range, the camera cannot be hand-held at slow shutter speeds even with the level 2 shake reduction on. Plus for my 52 year old eyes the small viewing screen and the coarse optical viewfinder are definitely no longer state of the art (if they ever were).

For the past few years I have owned the Lumix TZ1 and LX2 and have been happy with them. I have gotten used to their smudgy noise reduction but the Leica V-Lux 1, instead of being better in this regard, seems worse. I was hoping for an improvement in zoom range over the TZ1 (which is a compact automatic which goes to 350 optical zoom but only 5 MP) but from what I have seen so far, this camera is not only not an improvement, I don't even think it is as good. Your money (and mine, once I return this) will be better spent on a newer model camera that has hopefully dealt with some of these problems. I will try the Lumix G1.

This camera was my first entry into the digital Leica world after several decades of being a Leica M film user. I was not disappointed with this camera in terms of picture quality and ease of use. It is not built like the Leica M cameras, but it doesn't need that extra weight and solid metal ruggedness. This is a camera you can take anywhere and not worry about what may happen to it. The Panasonic - Leica relationship is a good thing...outstanding optics and electronics in one package.

I just got this camera V lux-1 few days ago. As soon I received the package, I was very excited and used the camera right away. As of now, I am testing Auto mode with different type of scenes. I have tested indoor scenes using no flash and was very amazed with the quality of the natural colors and contrast of light. The light temperature was very good, just like real natural scenes. I found the focusing speed was fast enough to capture my young restless kids. Lag time was not noticeable.

Having this great quality photo camera, I am very much enjoying taking photos more now. I will update more later after I use this camera more. Overall, I am very satisfied with this great camera.

This is one of the most amazing cameras I've owned, it's easy to use and has a great macro. Well worth the price!