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My Leica X1 Review . . .


tedmna

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Very well written review. Honest and straight forward from a shooter's perspective. You don't mention barrel distortion that I have seen mentioned on at least one thread here. I realize that this is not uncommon in some of the wider lenses and that it is easily corrected in software via PP but it does say something about the quality of the optics. Yours is the first post I have seen that mentions the chromatic aberration. Finally, you seem to be familiar with Ricoh cameras but don't make any comparisons between the X1 and the GXR A-12 for IQ, inherent speed, ease of handling, etc.

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Finally, you seem to be familiar with Ricoh cameras but don't make any comparisons between the X1 and the GXR A-12 for IQ, inherent speed, ease of handling, etc.

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

The reason I didn't mention the Ricoh is that I have yet to see one. Except for the X1, all the cameras I've "tested" were my own! :D At this point I have no plans to buy the Ricoh, but I hope that a positive response from the Leica review will help my chances at getting a camera from Ricoh to test.

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John, I did add the GXR A-12 to the first paragraph. Thanks!

 

Yet in the last paragraph you still seem to know with certainty that the X1 has the best IQ of all compacts. Maybe you could list the ones you actually used, to make things clearer.I hope Sean Reid is coming with a X1, GXR with A12, DP2 comparison soon (the latter will not win the high iso contest, but still has a couple of things going for it).

Considering your not over enthusiastic comments about the lens performance (my interpretation), it would be interesting to see how the optical performance compares to Sigma's DPs, their lenses have gotten nothing but praise yet.

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Nice review, thanks.

I can confirm most of your experience with the exception of the low light results.

It would be interesting to specify the aperture, ISO and the exposure time. In my comparisons in real conditions with very low light, the X1 was well ahead of MFT. Especially with regard to the color noise and resolution. I tried it at 1/15, 1/30 sec. and f/2.8 at ISO 800/1600 (under deduction of the benefits of light intensity). It seems to me when you have enough light so far been to be, so that the MFT only generates a low level of color noise. Can comprehend these ideas or is my X1 a better version?

 

Please excuse my lousy English. I'm on the mend ...

 

Peter

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Yet in the last paragraph you still seem to know with certainty that the X1 has the best IQ of all compacts. Maybe you could list the ones you actually used, to make things clearer.I hope Sean Reid is coming with a X1, GXR with A12, DP2 comparison soon (the latter will not win the high iso contest, but still has a couple of things going for it).

Considering your not over enthusiastic comments about the lens performance (my interpretation), it would be interesting to see how the optical performance compares to Sigma's DPs, their lenses have gotten nothing but praise yet.

 

Fair point--I have not tried the GXR. Hopefully Sean will clear up this issue.

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Nice review, thanks.

I can confirm most of your experience with the exception of the low light results.

It would be interesting to specify the aperture, ISO and the exposure time. In my comparisons in real conditions with very low light, the X1 was well ahead of MFT. Especially with regard to the color noise and resolution. I tried it at 1/15, 1/30 sec. and f/2.8 at ISO 800/1600 (under deduction of the benefits of light intensity). It seems to me when you have enough light so far been to be, so that the MFT only generates a low level of color noise. Can comprehend these ideas or is my X1 a better version?

 

Please excuse my lousy English. I'm on the mend ...

 

Peter

 

Peter,

 

My comparison was done at different ISO's on purpose: 1600 for the X1 and 640 for the G1, to compensate for the speed difference of the f1.7 Panasonic and the f2.8 Leica. In those conditions, the two produce similar noise, even with software compensation for underexposure. There is no question the comparison favors the X1 when ISOs are the same.

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Good overall review, thanks for posting. Now if only Leica could actually PRODUCE cameras in quantities that match customer demand they will be rolling in money. A big if considering the absurdly slow pace of rollouts and production. The best camera is one you can actually BUY.

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