Addy444 Posted August 14, 2011 Share #1 Â Posted August 14, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi -i've been offered a cheap Digilux 1 in near mint condition -can anyone tell me if the quality is any good? The lens looks to be a leica lens but has anyone got one of these ancient cameras and can tell me what its like? I'm not interested in pixel peeping -just want a nice quality Leica camera with a good lens and the ability to have that "Leica " image definition. Â Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 Hi Addy444, Take a look here Opinion wanted on Digilux 1. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Lucklik Posted August 14, 2011 Share #2 Â Posted August 14, 2011 I bought the D1 2002 and used it last year (for the first time after years) again, Because I was so pleased that I wrote a article on mu blog. Fotograferen met een Leica Digilux I digisaurus | kleinbeeld The trick is to use white-balance on manual. The exposure also have to be very accurate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted August 14, 2011 Share #3 Â Posted August 14, 2011 The lens has just the name Leica printed on it but it is very good indeed (i use it essentially at f/2) and the camera makes very nice images at 100 iso. Better use "poor man's raw" settings then, i.e. set contrast, saturation ans sharpness to "low" and adjust afterwards in PP if you can, failing which you stand the risk to get too much noise in shadows and blue skies. 200 & 400 iso are too noisy for color works imho. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted August 14, 2011 Share #4 Â Posted August 14, 2011 ..The trick is to use white-balance on manual. The exposure also have to be very accurate. Not that much. Try poor man's raw and your skies will be less blotchy than in the Budapest picture of your link above. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted August 14, 2011 Share #5 Â Posted August 14, 2011 Very nice little camera for its day. Good, crisp pictures. Actually has an optical viewfinder that's pretty accurate. Â My only complaint with it is that the battery drains in about two weeks even if you're not using the camera. And IIRC, you can only charge the battery in the camera. Â Definitely a winner in my book. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted August 15, 2011 Share #6 Â Posted August 15, 2011 There are battery chargers for Digilux 1. Mine are from Lenmar but cheaper chargers can be found under the reference CPS001SU. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted August 15, 2011 Share #7 Â Posted August 15, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Another Digilux 1 benefit is that it has enough residual IR sensitivity to be used with a deep red filter for IR photography. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ravduc Posted August 15, 2011 Share #8 Â Posted August 15, 2011 I have the Digilux 1,2 and 3. The Digilux 1, I haven't used for a while mainly because of all the cameras that I seem to accumulate on an ongoing basis. The D1 is worth having and using. It tends to produce out of focus areas which have a painterly look. Some would call this blotchy or posterized. I personally like this affect but not all the time. The prints from this camera have a ``distinctive look`` much different than the D2 or D3. The auto focus is very fast and the camera is well built with an excellent lens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted August 15, 2011 Share #9 Â Posted August 15, 2011 I have the Panasonic version - like some others I've not used mine for a long time, I keep intending to list it on ebay. The camera and lens was made by Panasonic. Actually the lens may have been made by a third party - the same lens also appeared on a Canon and Olympus in production at the same time. But the important thing is it's a very nice lens. Â It's only 4MP so you will be restricted in terms of print size, although I've made plenty of A4 prints from my images. Best to use it on low settings as LCT says, and also shoot TIFF instead of Jpeg if you want the very best image quality. Shooting at more that 100ISO will result in very noisy images - can sometimes look OK in black and white, but it's really just a 100 ISO camera. Â Compared to some alternatives it's a bit of a brick but if you can live with the size, the low MP and work within its limitations then its still a fine camera. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addy444 Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share #10  Posted August 16, 2011 Thank you for all your comments and help -I'm going to see if I can try it out first before I part with the cash -its not much at £100 (boxed and everything with it) and I think at that price its worth a try --I know its not like the Digilux 2 that the serious Leica photographers keep talking about -although to be fair when I used one last month I found the best settings to be 100 "film" speed -anything above that became rather grainy when viewed on a computer large screen. However the Digilux 1 from what you are saying is the same -but that doesn't bother me ---after all I want a camera to use -and I am not too bothered about it being a poor man's Leica either. Some of the best pictures I have ever seen were from the early photographers when they were using very basic cameras. Like many of the photographs taken by people on this site -its the person behind the camera that makes the picture not the price or model of the Leica they use -although of course that does help! Thank you all for being so helpful -I will update you if I buy the Digilux 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted August 16, 2011 Share #11 Â Posted August 16, 2011 I think 100 GBP is not cheap for a Digilux1. If I were to sell the Fuji I have lying around somewhere I would be glad to get more than 30 Euro for it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solar B Posted August 26, 2011 Share #12  Posted August 26, 2011 I loved my D1 and have fond memories of using it , for film like feel images i  think it delivered and eclipsed the D2 and D3 , in some abstract regard it kind of  crosses a fine line between digital and the film world something akin to the earliest CD players i used to listen  to in the eighties ... i found its results to be strangely analogue.  Brian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted August 28, 2011 Share #13  Posted August 28, 2011 I think 100 GBP is not cheap for a Digilux1. If I were to sell the Fuji I have lying around somewhere I would be glad to get more than 30 Euro for it...  A quick look on ebay shows that they typically sell for over £100. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addy444 Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share #14 Â Posted September 1, 2011 does anyone know if I can take Black and White images on the Digilux 1 with the in- camera settings ? or do I have to process the images in a photo programme? Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted September 1, 2011 Share #15 Â Posted September 1, 2011 I don't think so but suffice it to go to Image>Mode>Greyscale in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements which comes in the Digilux 1 package. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobitybob Posted September 2, 2011 Share #16 Â Posted September 2, 2011 I've got a Digilux 1 and it doesn't do B&W, you need to post process for this. By the way, if you haven't got one, you can still download the instructions from the Leica website. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addy444 Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share #17 Â Posted September 5, 2011 Thank you -------now does anyone know what the max size of SD card is I can use in the Digilux 1 ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted September 5, 2011 Share #18 Â Posted September 5, 2011 2GB in theory but the card will record more than 999 jpeg images while the counter of the top plate peaks at 999. I then prefer using my old 1GB cards or even earlier 512KB. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addy444 Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share #19 Â Posted September 6, 2011 Thanks for the advice and information -will upload a picy when the camera finally turns up ! --In the meantime I will buy a 1GB SD card. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted September 6, 2011 Share #20 Â Posted September 6, 2011 Enjoy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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