proping up the war chest

[Guest stnami]

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Sony.. great point and shoot....cheap...16mm(24mm)......... high ISO, worth putting in any war chest.

[stephen.w]

Interesting choice to bundle it with a 24mm equivalent lens. I agree, looks very promising. A (good) electronic viewfinder, such as the one on the EP2, would've been nice though. The price is unreal.

[jsrockit]

That's a good point Stnami. As long as you think about this as a point and shoot camera and not a full blown manual camera, it is intriguing.

[jsrockit]

I want the red one so I can be anti-stealth! At $549 list and most likely $449-499 street, it's a no brainer as a cheap 24mm P&S camera.

 

[Guest stnami]

As long as you think about this as a point and shoot camera and not a full blown manual camera

Yea, some of us do our best work with a p&s just set it up at f5.6/8 or 1/500th and shoot away ..... that's about the extent of what I do

[andybarton]

What does this have to do with Leica, pray?

 

Nothing.

[noah_addis]

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What does this have to do with Leica, pray?

 

Nothing.

 

Well, it's competition, that's for sure. It may be the camera Leica should have made instead of the X1. It could be very interesting to see how the image quality compares to the M8 and even the M9. The price is better than any of the Leica cameras.

 

Leica has always offered small cameras with great image quality. Portability and stealth are often quoted as advantages to using M-system cameras.

 

I think a new system from another company that offers some of those traditional Leica benefits is relevant to the discussion here. Many photographers I know, especially film Leica M shooters, have been waiting for a small compact camera with a large sensor. This could finally be that camera.

[Guest stnami]

I will echo Noah's sentiments ...............on forums like lightstalkers posters are wanting a small camera with high ISO capabilities and a heap use leica film cameras.

Sony are not the enemy it is the inability of Leica to fullfill the market needs of the 21st century that is the problem. Sure we have the m8/9 but they are out of the PJs price tag these and with more players in the media game the sony will fill a much need gap in the market. A quick shot with auto focus is all thed time many PJs haveon assignment, plus remember many scribes fror newspapers are required to take their own shots and carrying a DSLR is out of the question and manual focusing with a rangefinder is impractical. Unfortunatly the X1 is a lame duck for this segment of the market which is a pity..

[noah_addis]

...Unfortunatly the X1 is a lame duck for this segment of the market which is a pity..

 

Yes. And the new Sony cameras do video. I don't do video, but it's nice to know it's an option.

 

As I've mentioned before I've mostly switched to film for my non-deadline work. I've been using Nikons for the occasional job that needs the speed of digital. But I may be in the market for a small, high-quality digital camera just in case, for example, I'm traveling with film cameras and something newsworthy happens causing me to need to transmit quickly. This little thing seems to fit the bill quite nicely. With a wide pancake lens and an M-lens adaptor for long glass, it could be a wonderful solution for those of us (and yes, there are many among the lightstalkers crowd) who prefer film but need digital for the odd job here and there.

 

It's an exciting development at any rate. Honestly as a long-time Nikon user I was hoping that they would come out with something similar.

[peterv]

Believe it or not, there actually is an Optical viewfinder for the 24 mm.