Exercise? I get bored with physical exercise. But with the current Covid lockdown, physical exercise is one of the few reasons to be able to get outdoors for a short time. And the chosen mode of exercise on Tuesdays is walking with Macfilos contributor John Shingleton, aka Mr X1.
John does like walking; he goes for long perambulations daily, very often at sunrise (when I’m fast asleep, mine is a much more sensible inactivity methinks), and one day last week he did over 12,000 steps according to his iPhone. But I will admit that those sunrise images that he catches look good, even if I only ever see sunrises vicariously in books or on a screen.
Me? I spent a few decades of my life as a lunchtime runner, as I reckon that’s an acceptable alternative to walking. Even now, I don’t mind hiking or trekking when there is an end goal, but just walking in itself doesn’t do it for me. With that in mind, the weekly hike with John, aka physical exercise, needed a jolt. So I decided to include a touch of mental exercise this week, taking with me a Leica C Lux compact digital and seeing what I could catch.
I bought the C Lux a year ago, anticipating that these virus restrictions would be over soon, and that its ability to range from short wide-angle through to long zoom might make it an ideal travel camera. I was lucky enough to catch it mint condition at less than half price of new, and determined its shutter count to be only 147. A bargain, until I realised that it had developed a viewfinder problem that needed repair. In fact I might have caused that viewfinder issue, but that’s another story for another day. EVF repair done, it has still been a bargain, just not a really big bargain.
That said, it was time to take it out for some exercise.
Zoom Capability
I set the camera to my favourite PannyLeica environment of +2 sharpness, -2 noise reduction, standard image. From the top of the headland I grabbed two images of a fisherman on the rocks below, one at a moderate 46mm equivalent focal length, and one at the maximum zoom of 360mm equivalent. Images shown here were jpegs essentially straight out of camera, just a 30 second click or two in Windows 10 to enhance them. No Lightroom or similar. Lazy photography, yes, but I wanted to see what output I could get in simple terms from the camera.
For a small camera with a modest one-inch sensor, I’m very happy with the output. It fits my criteria as a compact travel camera. Here are another two of the fisherfolk viewed from another headland, again 24mm widest angle and 360mm maximum zoom.
Coping with harsh light
Now we are all aware that small sensors with millions of tiny pixels get challenged by harsh light and wide dynamic range. With this in mind, I caught two shots of a rock fisherman where the sunlight was reflecting off the water. Shadows and reflections pushed the camera to its limit at 360mm equivalent. But again, I came away quite happy with the result.
The subject matter was about a hundred metres down below on the rocks, and with the sound of the surf he surely wouldn’t have heard me if I has asked for a classic fisherman pose. That given, I did like the first of the two images, with the harsh light forcing a silhouette of the fisherman (RAW rather than jpeg might have provided for some detail to be recovered – that’s a test for next time).
Back to basic image making
An hour later, at the end of the walk it was back into town and a Covid-restricted ‘standing-only, not-sit down’ coffee. While Mr X1 went into the coffee shop to order the drinks, wearing his ninja Covid mask as per the rules, I quickly captured a few street signs. Again, quite happy with the output from the jpegs, but otherwise puzzled by why it is that the frequent flyer coffee card that we oscillate each week always seems to end with the bonus coffee being on Mr X1’s turn.
Not brick wall photography
Now, I know that brick walls are a favourite for some to test lens definition. Heaven help me if ever I photograph a brick wall. But the nearest thing to it is a long shot of the Crowne Plaza Hotel near the foreshore of town. Remember the Eagles hit “Hotel California” where you can check in but can’t check out. Well, at the Crowne Plaza you can’t even check in, the balconies were all empty on a sunshine morning. Anyway, here are some images , from a wide angle 24mm through a mid-tele 180mm, and out to a full-zoom 360mm, all-auto jpegs. Upon inspection, I’m happy with what that zoom provides.
Not the Hotel California – In lockdown it’s empty, no one can even check in.
Back home into lockdown
So, after that it was back home to check out what the Leica C Lux had provided. Into the brown leather couch I lazily slumped, transferring the images from camera to iPad. Elsewhere in the the house the better half was in her studio mid way through a covid diversion.
Overall, for me, the Leica C Lux has probably scratched the itch for a compact travel camera with an excellent extended range of focal lengths and quite acceptable output. I’m one for carrying a camera which is as compact as possible when travelling.
The Leica zoom lens ramps out from pleasantly wide to a long way distant. It doesn’t open up greatly, but the firmware seems to get it right, and I’ve always thought that general travel photography doesn’t really require fast glass since a greater depth of focus can be desirable.
A further advantage of the C Lux for me is that it uses the same batteries as the D Lux 109 (which is still my favourite, only 12 megapixels, but good pixels, and it just feels right), so I can always travel with one as a back up for the other, and not bother to transport double the number of reserve batteries and chargers.
Now it’s just a matter of waiting, waiting, waiting for travel opportunities to resume.
Read more from Wayne Gerlach
Leica C-Lux: The camera that fits a quart into a pint pot
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Hello Tony. It’s INTJ Introvert, big time. Thank you for remembering, but not for reminding!
Aaaarrrggghhh. You’re making my head hurt.
I’ll have to mention you in my next session with my therapist.
🙂
Well Wayne now you have outed yourself -according to your hilarious (both as an article and its responses) 2020 article, the Leica C has you as an Int-Ex – now you can have it both ways! Long zoom as a solitary introvert- short as a middle range extrovert. Or is it the other way round? I forget….
Hi David A,
When I worked for Leica Microscopes we had sales meetings where guest speakers from the various Leica factories ( Wetzlar, Heerbrugg, Cambridge, Rochester, or Vienna were invited. Never known any one to knock back a free trip to Australia.
One year we had a compound Microscope specialist and she brought her boyfriend. He was a designer from Wetzlar and when he spoke, at our insistence, he showed designs that were light years ahead of anything seen.
Anyway the last word was had by the accountants so none of this went in to production.
On the same trip I was using my Leica M6 and the product specialist for Heerbrugg microscopes asked me why I was using such an old camera. I told him it was a current model and that he should be using one too.
When asked about duplication of products between factories he told me the only way they found out about Leitz Wetzlar products was at trade shows. Otherwise it might as well have been a different company.
Don’t get me started on their software.
Cheers
Philip
Gday Philip. I’m sure with your experience you could relate a number of Leica instrument anecdotes. Please consider sharing with us.
I have a friend who is a very accomplished surveyor. He uses Leica instruments for his work, enough that he was presented with a freebie Leica X1 when they were first released a decade ago. I still remember how nice it was then, looking at it but wondering why it didn’t have a built-in viewfinder.
In my life through the biosciences I didn’t see much Leica gear. Most microscopy was either Zeiss or Olympus. Budget considerations I suppose.
Philip, thank you for sharing your experiences. I have given up trying to understand Leica’s lack of design consistency in matters like the omission of a tripod socket on the base of a Leica CL handgrip; and inconsistent positioning of memory cards. We are not talking about space technology. It is as if there is no over-riding design leadership or coordination of their different products.
Another example. Even the choice of skin material on their Made in Germany cameras makes one wonder if they have any really experienced and serious photographers on their payroll. (My new M8 slipped out of my hands while unboxing it. Hence my reliance on hand-grips). Relying on Beta-testers is too late. Good design pedigree should be injected from the very start of a new project.
I love the “retail” shots as a reminder of what makes you stand out. Does Bob Dylan own shares in the cocktail bar btw?
I think it’s very easy to become snobby about sensor size and pixels when we should be looking at content/subject and composition before the “mine’s got more than yours” discussion.
Reminds me that I should get the DL-109 out for a bit of exercise!
Well, Le Chef, your reference to All Along the Watchtower is impressive. Admirable. I hadn’t thought of that one.
I agree completely with you about your sensor size / pixel number comment. It is the qualities of the image that is of over riding importance, not the camera used to catch it.
And I see you refer to your D Lux 109. As I said at the end of the article, the D Lux 109 is also still my favourite for travel, so here is a bit more detail of my convoluted thinking. When all this covid stuff is over and we are able to travel again I will continue to use my D Lux 109 as my primary travel camera. The C lux will be the backup. I’ve always carried a back up since learning of a friend who found her Leica compact drowned in a saltwater puddle in the bottom of a small boat in the Galapagos. She was most unhappy to have to wait until she got back to a retail store, and they only had cameras from the big two for her to replace the Leica.
Further, my diabolical plan relates to the ability of the D Lux 109 and the C Lux to use the same batteries, It means that I can use in-camera charging of the C Lux to juice up the batteries. Just needs a cord, and use the same adapter plug that I would take for my phone and iPad. Yes, using a C Lux as a battery charger for the D Lux 109 is pretty perverse!
I really enjoyed seeing what you pulled in with the C-Lux. I was having an acute attack of C-Lux GAS a little while ago, but two things pulled me back: (1) some iffy review comments about the decline in IQ above 200mm equivalent, which the Sony RX100vi can handle comfortably and with a tillable screen and smaller size into the bargain. (2) I took my diminutive Leica C (also with 200 zoom) from yesteryear out for a new trial run and was as impressed as in all honesty I need to be. Simply superb IQ, and it has one scene mode that I haven’t found on any other camera (yet): “through window” – which works a treat on trains and buses. So, I continue to ogle the lovely midnight blue C-Lux, but I don’t want to trade IQ for greater zoom. I might defect to the Sony RX100vi, but really the C112 is marvellous. Thanks for the temptation all the same.
PS. Isn’t Mr X Mr Q2 nowadays? All the best both of you in Australia’s COVID plague. Carry on shooting!
Hello John. You mention a few relevant points.
I agree that the camera does struggle a bit above 200mm. The lens doesn’t perform as well as that on the V Lux 114 at long zoom. That said, it is about one quarter the bulk of the V Lux. Physics is physics I guess.
In regard to the RX100vii, it only goes out to 200mm equivalent…..and that is exactly the reason why I put the mid range shot of the hotel into the article! That is what you’d get with the RXvii, but I’d suggest that the C Lux would be comparable at 200mm, and still have the advantage of pushing out twice as far if you really wanted it.
t’Editor Michael did wonder whether we should include a section comparing output to the RX100vii, but we agreed to keep the focus on the C Lux. But… You win the cigar!
In fact, I like the better pocketability of my RX100v and the flippy screen is good. However, I find the pop up viewfinder to be a bit of an annoyance – I like the always-there readiness of the C Lux.
Which brings me to your reference to the C typ 112. Yes, they’re a brilliant little camera. I’ve used one trekking in the Himalayas and shown the output here on Macfilos. Much less bulky than either the RX100 series or C Lux. Truly a pocket rocket.
The lens barrel from the side looks great. I don’t remember the LX100 when extended looked anywhere as good. And why was a built in view finder excluded on the X Vario!
When I try to divine Leica design philosophy, I reach no conclusions. Questions to Leica go unanswered. Quite a lot of body design is outsourced, delegating a fair bit of freedom to non-Leica designers. (Leica CL film camera, comes to mind). So it is little wonder that lessons learned from actual users experience are not fed into the next-in-line designs. (I am not including lens design in my sweeping statement).
Yes Farhiz, I’m with you 100% – if the X Vario had a built in EVF I’m sure I’d still have mine. I don’t remember ever using the pop-up flash – it would have been good to have an EVF a la the CL digital in that location. The designers missed an opportunity there.
They are a great camera, with exceptional image output. That Leica short zoom had wonderful abilities.
And Yes, David A, agree on both counts.
Leica glass, even on compacts, delivers the goods. Is it the glass itself, the lens designs or the coatings? One or all of them?
But camera design? See comment elsewhere regarding the potential of an EVF rather than a pop-up flash in the top corner of the X Vario. Could someone at Leica please go back to the mothballed X Vario production line and just melt the EVF from The CL digital into the top corner of the XV?
Excellent review, Wayne. Very very versatile camera, for sure. Was there a reason you opted for Leica over the Panny version? I think I’d have done the same, from memory the price difference wasn’t as high as normal?
Cheers, Jason.
Reason for the Leica over the Panasonic? My camera tech here in Sydney is a very clever, thoughtful guy. He knows both versions and assures me that the Leica versions do have a different firmware, especially in their jpeg engines and colour rendering. Subtle, but different. I do realize that there will be others who agree with that, and just as many others who disagree.
I’ve tried the Panasonic Tz110 (same as the Tz100 and Zs 100 in other parts of the world) and I think I can tweak the white balance settings to a more Leica-like look for jpegs. But hey, it’s very subjective and I might be kidding myself. That said, it was the TZ110 that triggered a confidence to shell out for the C Lux.
Further, that red dot is infectious – it would only need spike proteins and it could be a virus!
Wayne, what’s it like being married to an Artist! What a great way to get thru COVID. The later start to your photo day also allows for ordering alcoholic beverage with lunch. Currently my ONA Prince I stay w primes, Q, X2 or 1 and Gr. Never could get the hang of zooms. Looks like we starting w some mask orders again even if vaccinated, so are the telling me the shots don’t work? Hope you get out of lock down soon.
Gday John.
Your question of what it’s like being married to an artist. Hhhhmmm. Well, she does have a Diploma in Fine Arts, catching that after a successful life in biomedical science and IT. So there’s a broad base of knowledge that she draws from. That said, I do get advice and commentary on subject matter, composition, perspective, colour etc. And I get that advice whenever I ask for it, and sometimes even when I don’t ask for it. All good fun.
And I see that you are also on the GR team. Three of the first four comments that I’m seeing here as I scan down the page. Scary 🙂 Damn, now I’ll have to start thinking in that direction again. Maybe I should start by getting the X1 out of mothballs.
It looks like a really able camera and produces nice images Wayne but I personaly prefer fixed focal lenses. I currently carry the X2 and one of my GRs in my Ona Bowery camera bag. The two perfectly fit the bag with a few sd cards and spare batteries. I’m sometimes tempted by longer focal length but I guess I’d rarely use them.
Thanks Jean. It was interesting to see Stephen’s comment above, where he finished with the GR honourable mention, and now seeing your comment.
Having seen your GR images on Macfilos I have previously come quite close to hitting “Buy” on a GR, on more that one occasion. I do like what I’ve seen from your submissions, and I’m sure that a GR would be a great compact, pocketable, unobtrusive, travel camera.
So why haven’t I tried one? Well, it’s a personal thing I guess, I just like the ability to use a bit of zoom to compose the image in camera. But I’ll never say never – Let’s see what happens down the line.
I’ve been tempted to buy the panasonic leica 12-60 for a while but it is a biggish lens with the Pana G9 but it’s something I consider whenever GAS arises to complement my GRs and X2
Jean
iPhone is my last resort to use as a camera. feels like trying to hold a bar of soap ( but they made it really thin because, you know, it’s Apple) the screen is barely visible in bright sunlight and with a touch of my finger the color and exposure goes from too dark to washed out, and I have to tap it two or three times before it trips the shutter. Not a happy experience for me. Ricoh GR? Yes, now that’s a camera!
Hello Stephen. I agree with you regarding the horrid haptics of using a smartphone for photography, But they are starting to get really clever. It will be very interesting to see their evolution over the next few years (or indeed the next two years if Moore’s Law holds true). It seems that even Leica are paddling in that duckpond, along with other clever players, so we can probably expect some quite smart technology developing.
Ricoh GR? For sure a great camera. Great output. Just need to be comfortable with fixed 28mm equivalent lens.
Personally Wayne, I like being up at dawn – this morning I ran ten miles, and it was warm, and a little muggy – but the joy is the reduced number of people and cars. So it was enjoyable. This is also the first week since December that I have managed to run three ten milers in the same week since December last year. Perhaps Covid is slowly behind me to a greater degree.
I am personally a little indifferent in my view on travel camera’s, in that I see the point, and why people take them around the world covertly tucked in their pockets, but for me I usually have both my Df and X as I hawk them around in my Billingham bag, which I take everywhere with me. Failing that my IPhone seems to do enough. In fact the second most liked shot on my Flickr account is an IPhone shot.
If I was to want a more compact travel camera, I think I would do a Jean, and buy a Ricoh GR – but perhaps I am thinking of it a little too simply. Or perhaps that is the love of personal choice.
I will admit it does seem to pull nice images Wayne.
Best
Dave
Gday Dave.
Good to hear that you are getting back to better form and winning your own personal battle against the pesky and insidious virus.
Re cameras, yes, everyone has their own way to approach travel photography. Keep on loving your Df and X, and do keep sharing the images that you are capturing.
Relevant to this, I did like a quote that I saw on theonlinephotographer.typepad ‘blog last night viz. “Being comfortable using the camera is much more important than the camera you’re using”.
Keep well.
Thanks for posting this review; I’d been eyeing the C-Lux for some time. Don’t know why, but these days I keep thinking “smaller camera/longer lens”.
What really struck me was the photo of your wife. To beginn with, the theme — artist in her studio, surrounded by her tools — is just wonderful. It gives me a happy feeling. Then there’s the way you handled the mixed lighting.
Then too, this kind of RealWorldPhotography really shows off what the camera can do.
All that said — we just sold our house in Texas and are moving out west for ocean, mountains and forest. One camera to capture interiors of homes we were viewing, as well as nature preserves. I took the Typ 109. I think you said it: only 12mp, but what amazing range you get out of them!
BTW your spouse seems like one amazing woman! I think “power couple here”