Digilux 2 first impression

jmsfoto · 01-09-2004

Our sales rep brought in the Digilux 2 sample he recieved last night...so here are a few of my 1st impressions...looks nice, feels like an M and looks like one for the most part. aluminum body is light and feels good in the hand. 28-90 lens is a bit large but from the test shots appears to be very sharp...can use full auto/auto focus or manual /mfocus. manual focus patch is a little strange like a large rangefinder patch but is just an enlargement of frame..not bad once you get the hang of it...manual exposure easy has apertures and sspeeds like the M cameras...street price $1850.00 5Mpix ...nice camera I lookforward to more hands on time once they ship, but don't think I will take the plunge just yet...now if only an interchangable lens M body....

Rich Silfver · 01-09-2004

What about the size of it?

SolaresLarrave · 01-09-2004

Is that lens a zoom?

Oddly enough, it's priced lower than the MP... These people shouldn't moan at the drop of film camera sales. They're digging their own tombs by outsourcing their camera production.

Thanks for the info, Mark! And what's there about size? Comparable, smaller or larger than your M7?

jmsfoto · 01-10-2004

Hi, it's about the same size as an m7 , the lens is a 28-90 zoom ..nice camera, i don't know if I could bring myself to buy one . I will stick to my M's

Flinor · 01-10-2004

Can you elaborate a little on the manual focussing? I've read that it has an electronic viewfinder and I've never seen one that had enough resolution to focus accurately with. Yesterday I had the opportunity to play with a Sony 828, a Minolta 7hi (I think that's the model number), and a Nikon 5700 at the same time. The biggest drawback of all of them was the viewfinders. I couldn't manually focus any of them and the finders pixilated when you pan.

Gerry

jmsfoto · 01-10-2004

the viewfinder is electronic and on manual focus a large box apperes in the centre of the screen say about 1/6 the size and is just a magnified area of the orig scene, works ok if you go slow and the scene is well lit, still if you don't have really good vision it could be a pain in the you know what...i don't think i like it too much, still is much better than the minolta 7hi or the horrible(in MY opinion nikon 5700) hope this helps

mfs · 01-11-2004

I saw the Digilux 2 just before X-mas at a Leica Day in a local shop.
The camera resembles an M series both in size, and appearance.
The lens is a zoom, and there is an obvious attempt to attract Leica users. The camera can be used in auto mode (like most digicams), or in manual mode for focussing, aperture, and speed adjustments. I liked that mixture of digital + manual settings.
The focussing can also be manual. As described in an earlier post, it provides an enlarged central area which makes manual focussing easy. However, I found that it really only works for me when the lens is zoomed to a telephoto position. When in wide angle position, there is little to no difference when focussing. This is probably due to the very short focal length of the lens, and the greater depth of field. This was only a minor inconvenience as zooming back to wide angle is very fast and convenient. BTW the focal length markings on the lens are the 35 mm equivalent. A nice touch.
However the U.S. price is $1850, way to high for me!

mfs