Leica T First Impressions Review

A new Leica, you are either now salivating or yawning.

From the excellent DP Review we get a first impressions review

Preview based on a pre-production Leica T (Typ 701)

This year marks Leica’s 100th birthday as a camera maker and, to celebrate, the venerable German manufacturer has launched an all-new camera system. Perhaps unexpectedly, though, Leica hasn’t taken the obvious route and embraced the current fashion for ‘retro’ design with an interchangeable-lens version of its X Vario APS-C compact. Instead the Leica T is an innovative camera that combines photographer-friendly twin-dial control with a bang-up-to-date touchscreen interface.

Before we go any further, though, let’s get the pricing out of the way. The Leica T is going to set you back £1350 for the body alone – a fraction more than the original X1. Two lenses will be available at launch; the 18-56mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom (27-84mm equivalent) will cost £1250, and the 23mm f/2 prime (which offers a 35mm equivalent angle-of-view) will be £1350. This places it in the same price bracket as the 36MP full frame Sony A7R as one of the most expensive mirrorless camera systems on the market, and means that only well-heeled photographers are likely to get their hands on one. Leica exists in a particularly rarefied space and, while the T is designed to appeal to a different type of buyer than either the X compacts or the M system, it is not in any way intended as a mass-market product.

This is a pity, because the Leica T turns out to be a really attractive camera. Its body is hewn from a single block of aluminum, which makes it an extraordinarily tactile, and rather beautiful object. It has five controls on its top plate – shutter button, video record button, power switch and two dials – but absolutely everything else is controlled via the large 3.7″, 16:9 touchscreen. This, you can’t help but feel, is the kind of camera that Apple might make, if it were so inclined.

Leica T key features:

16MP APS-C CMOS sensor
ISO 100-12500
3.7″ 1.3M dot 16:9 touchscreen LCD
Twin top-plate control dials
Approx 5 fps continuous shooting
1920 x 1080 Full HD movie recording at 30 fps; built-in stereo microphones
Built-in Wi-Fi for easy image sharing, and remote control by smartphone or tablet
Optional 2.36M dot electronic viewfinder with built-in GPS unit
Built-in 16GB memory
Brand new Leica T mount
18-56mm f/3.5-5.6 and 23mm f/2 lenses
11-23mm f/3.5-4.5 and 55-135mm f/3.5-4.5 coming later in the year (at photokina 2014)
Available in anodized black or natural aluminum finish

Lenses and accessories

The Leica T launches with two lenses, a zoom and a prime. The Vario-Elmar-T 18-56mm f/3.5-5.6 is a compact zoom that offers a 27-84mm equivalent range, while the Summicron-T 23mm f/2 ASPH is a small prime that offers a classic 35mm equivalent moderate wide-angle view. Both use a thoroughly modern design approach, with a fully-electronic mount, near-silent internal focusing, and electronically-coupled manual focus.

The all important detail is how much, well this site is offering them for £2,600, eye watering

For more reviews and information

Tech Radar

Amateur Photographer

Steve Huff

 

Best compact camera 2012

There are hundreds of digital compact cameras out there, with advanced, superzoom and rugged camera options all being available.The right choice, of course, depends on what you want from your digital camera. Maybe you’re looking for a high-end compact camera or perhaps you want something more basic to help someone else get started in photography. The term compact camera covers such a wide range of camera types, Tech Radar have done a good job here in bringing together 33 recommended camera

I think it is always a good idea to cross reference reviews and here is a list of the cameras What Digital Camera recommend, as they say

Given that all the cameras we’ve listed here scored over 90% they earned a WhatDigitalCamera.com ‘Gold’ award – our equivalent of an Oscar award. Put simply they’re the best compact cameras on the market today. Go here for the full review

Another trusted source is Amateur Photographer, I think I first read this magazine when I was about 15, so decades ago follow this link to find their views

Finally Digital Cameras Top Ten Reviews have an easy to understand chart with links to fuller reviews, go here for their wisdom

Photographers have rights too – it’s official, Teresa May says so

From the pages of the excellent BJP comes this

“Security guards have no right to prevent street photography,” says Home Office

“The Home Office and the British Security Industry Association have published a new set of guidelines for security guards confirming that photography in public places is legal and cannot be restricted, More than a year after Home Secretary Theresa May launched a review of the UK’s counter-terrorims and security powers, a new set of guidelines have been published for security guards, who, in an increasing number of cases, have been accused of preventing professional photographers from working in public places.” Author: Olivier Laurent   if you want more go here
This from Amateur Photographer magazine,  “The four-page guidance is entitled Photography and Hostile Reconnaissance and has been drawn up by the Home Office in conjunction with the British Security Industry Authority (BSIA)”   Download it here

You have to laugh really, doesn’t Theresa May have more to deal with at the moment than telling a bunch of knuckle headed jobs-worths that taking pictures is perfectly legal, and what difference will it make that she says so. Do you think she will next gather those who guard our borders and explain that their job is to check the credentials of people entering the country?

May’s review, whose findings were unveiled in January 2011, called for the “guidance provided to private security guards be reevaluated to ensure that it sufficiently reflects the right of the public to take photographs.