Reviews

Last year Fuji brought out a bit of an oddity, a body cap lens. The XM-FL is only available in Japan as at time of writing. In order to get hold of mine I had to resort to eBay and part with seventy-five quid and get it shipped halfway around the world. Two weeks after pressing the button it arrived; possibly the lightest lens-containing parcel I have ever received.

A friend bought a Leica X Vario off eBay from a local seller in Sydney last weekend. The camera was just under a year old, barely used, and came complete with all the packaging and accessories, three spare batteries and a genuine Leica lenshood and handgrip. He paid A$1211 for it (US$924-£634)—a serious bargain. However a glimpse down the eBay listings shows that, while this camera was an outlier, the prices for used and even new X Varios are very weak.

Mike is inundated with film cameras to try. But the Leicas are currently playing second fiddle to a couple of interesting little Olympus cameras picked up at the Biévres Photo Fair......

Mike had the chance to use the new 35mm Zeiss Distagon f/1.4 for a week and believes it offers strong competition for the equivalent Leica Summilux at a far more attractive price.

The Q has been an unprecedented success for Leica and is only just becoming freely available after three years on the market. It has grabbed the limelight like no other Leica compact. Not only that, it has been acclaimed even by those who traditionally criticise any product bearing the red dot as overpriced, overhyped and over here.

The Voigtländer 40mm Nokton is a very fast manual lens that works well on the Leica M and a whole range of mirrorless cameras. It offers a great deal for a very low price.