Digilux 4.3 Ancient but is it any good?

[dkCambridgeshire]

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My first digital camera was the Fujifilm version, the Finepix 4700 zoom. It's really only 2 megapixels but upsamples the resolution up to 4.3. In 2001 it had the most vibrant colors and the least shutter lag of all the digitals in the shop. It also came with four rechargeable AA batteries. I could get about 22 photos on a 16MB SmartMedia card.

 

These days your iPhone takes much better photos.

 

Yes ... camera phones can produce super images. However, I'm interested in the early circa 2000 and prior years digital cameras from a historical and collectable perspective. Back in the 20th C I could not afford to buy a digital camera costing hundreds of pounds - but now they are affordable collectables and some are worth buying. The reason I'm especially interested in the Digilux 4.3 is that Leica put a lot off time and effort into designing accessories for the camera i.e. the Digimacro and the Digicopy both of which have achromatic lenses. I'm still hopeful of sourcing a Digilux 4.3 which does not drain batteries. And I'd like to have a 'full house' of Leica Digilux cameras from the 1998 Leica Digilux through to the 2006 Digilux 3.

 

This is the interesting Leica Camera AG 7 page pdf description of the Digilux 4.3 issued c.2000 and probably prior to the Digimacro accessory being available http://www.leicapages.com/pdf/digiluxzoom_e.pdf

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

[JeTexas]

If I remember correctly, the Fuji models had an audio only recording option. They did video as well, but you were limited to something like 20 seconds, and I think my card could only hold two videos. However, you could audio record your interview with someone and then snap their photo for the article. Seemed ingenious at the time.

[wda]

Without wishing to muddy the waters, I believe the earliest Leica digital camera, called 'Leica Digital' was a re-badged, leather-clad version of the Fuji MX-700. This was a 1.5mp camera, similar in shape to the 4.3 later version shown. The first Leica digital compact camera was launched in 1998, the same year that the M6TTL was introduced.

 

The MX-700 was my first digital camera and it won all European consumer awards when it was introduced. It was loved by jewellers for photographing their goods. I still have mine and it still works.

 

Bearing in mind its relatively low resolution by modern standards, it still performs extremely well. It uses SmartMedia cards and has a rechargeable Li-ion battery which held its charge for a long time.Although film-based pictures were the normal at that time, several of my first digital pictures from the MX-700 were published. If anyone is interested I will post a picture of the Fuji original version.

[dkCambridgeshire]

Without wishing to muddy the waters, I believe the earliest Leica digital camera, called 'Leica Digital' was a re-badged, leather-clad version of the Fuji MX-700. This was a 1.5mp camera, similar in shape to the 4.3 later version shown. The MX-700 was my first digital camera and it won all European consumer awards when it was introduced. It was loved by jewellers for photographing their goods. I still have mine and it still works.

 

Bearing in mind its relatively low resolution by modern standards, it still performs extremely well. It uses SmartMedia cards and has a rechargeable Li-ion battery which held its charge for a long time.Although film-based pictures were the normal at that time, several of my first digital pictures from the MX-700 were published. If anyone is interested I will post a picture of the Fuji original version.

 

Yes David that was the first Leica digital camera based on the Fuji MX-700 - introduced in 1998 and named Leica Digilux ... I guess it's OK to call it a Digilux '0' . However, there is another Leica digital camera which precedes the first Digilux. The Leica S1 digital scanning camera dates from 1997 and has a 36mm² 25 megapixel sensor ... and it was primarily designed for use with 'R' lenses although adaptors were available to use Hasselblad and Nikon lenses too. I had an S1 but sold it because would have been too much aggravation to buy an older computer for tethered use. S1 exposures (scans) were of the order of 18 to 185 seconds depending on which of the three S1 versions were used - thus could only be used for static subjects. Museums still use them.

 

Please post your MX 700 picture. I am looking for a Digilux 1.

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

[wda]

... However, there is another Leica digital camera which precedes the first Digilux. The Leica S1 digital scanning camera dates from 1997 and has a 36mm² 25 megapixel sensor ... and it was primarily designed for use with 'R' lenses ...

Please post your MX 700 picture. I am looking for a Digilux 1.

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

Yes Dunk, but the S1 hardly falls into the 'compact' category . I will post a pic of the Fuji tomorrow.

[wda]

Yes David.....Please post your MX 700 picture. I am looking for a Digilux 1.

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

Well Dunk, here is a picture of my MX-700 together with its SmartMedia memory card for those (not you) who might never have seen one. I haven't used it for a very long time, so I tried to charge the battery. Unbelievably, it responded. Not bad for a camera bought new in 1998!

 

The Leica badged version had a partial leather covering on the front left panel which contains the finger grip. Note also the optical viewfinder. To give an indication of size, it is 10cm tall; quite compact. The designers went over-board because the quality of build and materials will outlast its contained technology by decades. I believe the Leica version, called 'Leica Digilux' was the first consumer compact digital camera wearing the red dot.

 

You mention the Digilux 1. That was the first co-production with Panasonic and many wondered why the partnership with Fuji was not continued.

 

Historically, my next digital camera was the Olympus 3030Z, double the resolution of the MX-700. That was more ambitious and I used that for several years before I bought my Digilux 2 in 2004. Because the Digilux 1 offered little improvement over my Olympus digital, I skipped that model but have several friends who enjoyed using that camera.

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[dkCambridgeshire]

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Thank you David ... maybe the MX 700 will be a future collectable when collectors get into their stride with early digital cameras. I already have a Digilux 1 ... should have said I'm looking for the original Digilux which could be termed Digilux '0' (Zero) and also the Digilux Zoom which both preceded the Digilux 4.3.

 

I have a Fuijifilm MX-1700 which presumably followed on from the MX-700. I found it in a job lot of cameras purchased from a charity shop. The battery charged up fine and is holding its charge; the camera was rebadged and maybe 'tweaked' by Leica to become the Leica Digilux Zoom in 1999.

 

Since resurrecting this thread in anticipation of receiving the Digilux 4.3 and then discovering it ate batteries, I have sourced another example which the seller tested before dispatch - so am still hopeful of experimenting with a usable Digilux 4.3 and making use of the Leica Digimacro and Leica Digicopy accessories. I tried the Leica Digicopy slide copying gadget with another camera yesterday and it 'almost' works fine - 'almost' because the image vignettes but its plenty sharp enough. The Digilux 4.3 lens would not vignette the Digicopy image because it will fit the gadget perfectly. This is a bit of a nostalgic indulgence i.e. using cameras I could never afford 14 years ago and getting 'a feel' for the results possible.

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

[wda]

Thanks, Dunk. Interesting times and our notes might help future researchers who joined the digital route much later along the time-line. The historical twinning between Leica and Japan is also interesting to follow. Occasionally a Leica Digilux turns up in unlikely places. So I wish you luck. I am trying to shed surplus non-Leica equipment but am reluctant to lose some important photographic milestones.