I'm Not Sure About My X1

[oakvilleonca]

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It was with great anticipation that I set out this morning with my new Leica X1 and my trusty Panasonic LX 3 to take some photographs at our local marina.

 

Sad to say the results did not meet my expectations. Why you may ask?

 

Well:

 

The lens is no better than my LX 3. I spend hours comparing various processed photographs and could not see any real differences. Certainly not equal to 4x the price of the LX 3.

 

The flash keeps popping up when I go near the button (it should have been recessed).

 

The screen is absolute useless in daylight to either shoot pictures or to see them.

Thank goodness I found an old Leica viewfinder. Still, it does not help to see what pictures I have taken. Even when one shoots indoors the screen refresh rate is slow.

 

For a while I was getting wildly over-exposed photos because the I had brushed against the top dials and changed their settings.

 

One cannot shoot in RAW alone. Why on earth do you have to have jpeg files at the same time?

 

The battery was almost dead when I got home after about 50 shots. Perhaps I should have turned the camera off more quickly.

 

I heard that focusing was slow but just how slow I can't believe. this camera is build for still life photos.

 

I shoot mostly landscapes but found that the lens was nothing special. Crisp but not better than the LX 3.

 

The emperor has no clothes!

 

So where to from here? I will try again in a few days but I fear that I have made a mistake.

 

The Leica "magic" has yet to appear. What was magical and really well done was the container that the camera came in. I have never seen anything like it.

 

Was this camera rushed into production? Did any ordinary photographers actually test it?

 

Does the same hype and mystique apply to the M9 with the same disappointing results?

 

John

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[jsrockit]

Hit the marina at night and I bet you see a difference between the two cameras... Also, with respect to the lens, did you make large prints of both?

[elansprint72]

And to think, you could have bought a D700 for the same money. ISO 25600 too.

[wda]

John, sorry to hear your first impressions. Don't expect miracles immediately. It takes time to discover the 'sweet spot' settings for your kind of work.

 

Battery: it is small, of necessity, but like most Li batteries it will improve after a few recycles of charge/usage.

 

Lens: I cannot compare with the Panasonic camera but look at the facts. The advantage lies in the size of the sensor and the X1 definitely wins this one. The Elmarit is a very fine lens but this may not show so readily in landscape pictures. 5x4 would clearly be superior in that field. But if you can contrive to get some interesting foreground features I believe you will be more impressed with the results. Also, the X1 is more likely to yield bigger high quality enlargements than the LX3 provided you have set the controls for optimum results and have not suffered camera shake.

 

Exposure errors: Yes, I too have been caught out by inadvertent brushing of the aperture dial. Now I have settled into an automatic routine whereby I zero the controls and check them before starting to shoot. I now do this almost without thinking about it. Rather that leaving the Aperture set to 'A', choose another setting while leaving the Shutter speed dial on 'A'. Slight inadvertent changes are likely to be less error-prone.

 

Focusing: try selecting one of the high-speed focusing modes. Or preset manually. However I would not have thought AF speed was critical in Landscape photography!

 

Raw alone?: I agree entirely. I hope Leica will fix this with a firmware upgrade.

 

Take heart; experiment; persevere! And GOOD LUCK! If all else fails, you should avoid being crushed in the stampede when you offer the X1 for sale!

[PayPerView]

I got mine two days ago. I am a new to Leica photographer and quickly went from an M8 (back to Leica for shutter repair) and was lucky to get an M9 and X1 within a week or so of each other.

 

I agree with most of your impressions of the X1, although the battery life for mine seems to be fine.

 

I do think the X1 is a fantastic camera and as another poster has stated, it does take time to hit the 'sweet spot' but for me, considering the other cameras I have (M9, 5D II and 1D3S, the LX3 is a better choice or at least a better choice right now.

 

I want to be careful not to disparage the X1 too much. It is fantastic and worth the money if you have the money and use it as it's meant to be used.

 

Clearly is much better than the LX3 for lower light and for larger prints. But for snapshots with reasonable light, smaller prints and web shots, The LX3 does it all for me.

[Guest stnami]

However I would not have thought AF speed was critical in Landscape photography!

Depends on what one includes within the frame, ie for my part of the globe stuff moves in the landscape/environment

[ezc203]

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I'm sorry to hear that you and your X1 are not getting along!

[Mark2]

if u are disappointed with the image you can try the Canon 5D Mark 2. Its much more superior but heavier. Why don't you sell it if you don't like it?

[leicafan!]

Any dSLR with a fixed focal length lens will likely give you better performance and image quality for less money - the only thing that the X1 has going for it is its size. I have been toying with a couple of ideas lately for a more compact, cheaper camera setup and thought the following SLR based systems might give good results (I use a 35 on an M8 primarily so my focal length choices are based on getting a similar field of view):

 

Canon setup:

Canon 1000D = £294.99

Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 = £384.99 (for closer to a standard lens)

Canon EF 20mm f2.8 USM = £345 (for closer to the X1s field of view)

 

Nikon setup

Nikon D90 = £599*

Nikon AF-S 35mm f1.8 G DX = £168.99 (standard)

Nikon AF 24mm f/2.8D = £322.55 (X1)

 

*Could drop the Nikon body to a D3000 (£299) if going for the wider lens to keep the cost down

 

What does everyone think of these as quality wide aperture alternatives to the X1 if size is not the top priority? I suspect that a lot of X1 users are buying the camera, not for its size but, because its a cheaper way of getting a 'proper' Leica?

[h00ligan]

I appreciate your willingness to share your honest thoughts in a forum where that may have been uncomfortable. I definitely agree (I don't own an X1) that you should give it a bit of time before you make the decision to return (if you can) or sell on (in which case you shouldn't lose too much money)

 

If you are shooting a lot of landscapes at higher fstops - I can see where you may be left wondering about the differences. As a former owner of the dlux 4 though, I find it hard to fathom there would be the same amount of noise (noise that was present even at low iso and lower resolution). I returned the dl4 (lx3) for that reason - the noise was unacceptable to me... as was the lack of control over depth of field with the little sensor. Please do update us as you make more attempts and again thanks for sharing.

[jpmac55]

It was with great anticipation that I set out this morning with my new Leica X1 and my trusty Panasonic LX 3 to take some photographs at our local marina.

 

Sad to say the results did not meet my expectations. Why you may ask?

 

Well:

 

The lens is no better than my LX 3. I spend hours comparing various processed photographs and could not see any real differences. Certainly not equal to 4x the price of the LX 3.

 

The flash keeps popping up when I go near the button (it should have been recessed).

 

The screen is absolute useless in daylight to either shoot pictures or to see them.

Thank goodness I found an old Leica viewfinder. Still, it does not help to see what pictures I have taken. Even when one shoots indoors the screen refresh rate is slow.

 

For a while I was getting wildly over-exposed photos because the I had brushed against the top dials and changed their settings.

 

One cannot shoot in RAW alone. Why on earth do you have to have jpeg files at the same time?

 

The battery was almost dead when I got home after about 50 shots. Perhaps I should have turned the camera off more quickly.

 

I heard that focusing was slow but just how slow I can't believe. this camera is build for still life photos.

 

I shoot mostly landscapes but found that the lens was nothing special. Crisp but not better than the LX 3.

 

The emperor has no clothes!

 

So where to from here? I will try again in a few days but I fear that I have made a mistake.

 

The Leica "magic" has yet to appear. What was magical and really well done was the container that the camera came in. I have never seen anything like it.

 

Was this camera rushed into production? Did any ordinary photographers actually test it?

 

Does the same hype and mystique apply to the M9 with the same disappointing results?

 

John

 

John - your X1 experience pretty much covers all of the cons mentioned by others only you're the first that I've seen add so so image quality to the list. That could be a blessing or a curse.

 

I really enjoy my Leica Dlux4 (LX3) but it struggles to match the X1 image quality. Who knows, perhaps my copy is inferior to yours?

 

I doubt I could ever feel good about being talked into keeping such an expensive camera. I would give it time but If you like the LX3 and don't recognize a difference, I would return the camera but that's me.

[cfc247]

most of the comments of the op are relatively valid, but the point about IQ and lens are misleading. the dlux4 relies heavily on the camera's processing to correct lens distortion and sharpens the image, hence the RAW files are not as good as the Jpegs from the dlux4 (yes, I have used it extensively for a year). In contrast, the RAW files on the X1 are at another level in terms of resolution, DR, luminance, etc., evidence of a better lens and sensor combination.

 

It just sounds like you haven't given yourself a chance to learn what the X1 is capable of.

[mattnnz]

My thinking regarding regarding the image quality of the X1 is that it should provide images that are suitable for making larger prints as well good low-light performance. Combine this with manual settings and a P&S form factor that doesn't require you haul around a bunch of kit, you have why I have bought this camera. We shall see. Mine should be here April 1. Since I am more of a beginner, I blame myself first and equipment second for poor results.

[Ecaton]

Have a look at the contender. The X1 is the digital CM successor, Ricoh's GXR the digital CL one. http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-x1-forum/120002-x1-images.html

[nippa]

Having a DLux4/LX3 I know that the OP should be seeing an image improvement with the X1.

On the other hand my X1 really doesn't offer any meaningful image improvement over the Lumix GF-1 and 20mm pancake lens. It provides a more interesting colour ( Leica Look! ) and a nice blurry background but the Panasonic lens is a match for sharpness.

 

To my mind the X1 feels like a work in progress.

I've only had it a day and it's clear that the firmware needs tweaking.There are times when I lose control as pictures flash by and buttons beep.

I haven't mastered flash exposure yet ; there seems to be a glitch or I'm thick and don't understand how it works.

I like the images I'm getting and I'm quite happy to live with the idiosyncrasies.

 

Surprisingly ,I'm also happy with focusing speed and battery life isn't too bad either.

The bottom line is that I like the apparent simplicity , image quality and build quality but it's taking me longer than expected to understand it.

[CoolPixeler]

Hi!

I think that first pictures with a new camera are disappointing, we are expecting so much! Even my D3 disappointed me...

I am not a leicaist, even if i did my first picture with a F3 and a M3, long time ago. After that i bought Nikon and Nikon and Nikon.

Last year looking for a good compact i fall in love with DLUX4, a first move back to Leica. Now i am using a X1 for a month.

 

It can do great pictures!

Three weeks ago in China by minus 10°C i did more than 220 pictures with only one battery charge.

Yes the button are a little to soft, yes focusing is sometimes boring and so and so. But today i am absolutely sure that X1 can shoot better pictures at 1600 iso than my previous Nikon D2X at 400 iso.

What bother me the more is the long time needed to write on the memory card.

This morning i shot my cat with the DLUX and the X1. Here are the pictures without any kind of processing.

NEKO my cat by DLX4

LDX4_1440142 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

NEKO by X1 you can the nice bokeh

LX1_10572 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The LEOPARD out of the MAC

LX1_10558 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

All the three picture are upload full size so you can compare.

Have a nice day and enjoy your X1!

[oakvilleonca]

Thank you all for your thoughtful insights and suggestions. I appreciate them.

 

I don't plan to return or sell the camera. It is still early days for me. I agree that any new camea takes a while to get used to and to experiment to see what works best for the kind of photographs that one takes.

 

One of the key reasons that I bought the X1 was that I no longer wanted to lug around a big SLR. I sold my Sony A700 and great Zeiss lens for that very reason. I was not sure that the new macro 4/3's were up to speed yet.

 

I noted that no one mentioned that the screen is useless in daylight and without the viewfinder I would be lost. For me this is a serious negative. With my ancient viewfinder, that looks as if it should be used for eye surgery, my camera now has a way cool retro look.

 

By the way the current photo of a boat hull on my photoblog site was taken with the X1 with perhaps a bit too much post processing sharpening. That was the only change made to the RAW file.

 

I would be interested in hearing what you would use as basic default settings for, say, landscape photographs.

 

Regards,

 

John

 

Shaded Light -

[jsrockit]

 

I noted that no one mentioned that the screen is useless in daylight and without the viewfinder I would be lost. For me this is a serious negative.

 

We have mentioned it numerous times in multiple threads.

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[mattnnz]

Hi!

I think that first pictures with a new camera are disappointing, we are expecting so much! Even my D3 disappointed me...

I am not a leicaist, even if i did my first picture with a F3 and a M3, long time ago. After that i bought Nikon and Nikon and Nikon.

Last year looking for a good compact i fall in love with DLUX4, a first move back to Leica. Now i am using a X1 for a month.

 

It can do great pictures!

Three weeks ago in China by minus 10°C i did more than 220 pictures with only one battery charge.

Yes the button are a little to soft, yes focusing is sometimes boring and so and so. But today i am absolutely sure that X1 can shoot better pictures at 1600 iso than my previous Nikon D2X at 400 iso.

What bother me the more is the long time needed to write on the memory card.

This morning i shot my cat with the DLUX and the X1. Here are the pictures without any kind of processing.

NEKO my cat by DLX4

LDX4_1440142 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

NEKO by X1 you can the nice bokeh

LX1_10572 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The LEOPARD out of the MAC

LX1_10558 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

All the three picture are upload full size so you can compare.

Have a nice day and enjoy your X1!

 

Cute kitty

 

Based on these images I'm glad that I went with the X1 (mine is in the mail). The depth field allowing for an uncluttered background, the rich color, and detail noticeable in the cat's fur and eyes show the X1 really be great camera.

 

 

[diogenis]

The Leica "magic" has yet to appear. What was magical and really well done was the container that the camera came in. I have never seen anything like it.

 

Afaik, only Apple manage to make something magical and that only recently

Give your camera a chance, it's got lot's of potential.