X1 v X2 - shoot out on holiday

[AJB]

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Leica X1 v X2 direct comparison on holiday in Mallorca

 

And some comparisons with Canon system cameras in the family (600D and 40D with various lenses of L and DO variety. We have been using both Leica’s a great deal on holiday in Mallorca over the past two weeks. Both have shot over 1,00o images. This includes challenging low light conditions, and equally challenging high motion conditions: mostly shooting sailing yachts from a powerboat. Plus plenty of street photography, some landscapes and architecture.

 

Observations. Some claim that the X2 has a much longer battery life. We have found this to be only marginally true. You need a spare battery for both camera’s: you will exhaust a fully charged battery in under a day’s shooting in either camera, especially with the screen on. The brand new X2 compared with a newish but used X1 appears to have a 20% battery life improvement when compared back to back.

 

Screen is equally poor in both cameras and is shamefully bad compared with current Canon offerings. It is usable for manual focus, but only just.

 

Lots of users moan about the X1 flash popping up when not wanted (e.g. on withdrawal fro case) and the dials rotating. Both of these re non-issues really in our experience. If the flash pops up your finger feels it as you withdraw from the case, and it goes back down again. The X1 dials do move: and you get used to it very quickly and check your settings before you use the camera. We can see it is an nuisance if you shoot on automatic all the time, but if you choose your own settings it is a non-point.

 

X2 autofocus is supposedly a lot quicker. Reality is that it is a bit quicker and nowhere near as quick as a fast autofocus SLR with good lenses. Difference between X1 and X2 is noticeable though. Not sure that it makes any difference in real world photography. Both cameras must be set up in advance for action shots (at sea for example), and neither gets close to an SLR for grabbing the moment when your boat, the target boat and the sea are all moving!

 

Leather case is very nice and convenient. But needs redesigning to at least accommodate the optional grip and maybe the additional viewfinder. For street work the grip s really a must: makes the camera a great deal easier to hold. We both like the OVF but find that it makes using the camera less rather than more discreet in use. Swiveling screen on canon 600D is vastly superior.

 

IQ of both cameras appears identical in RAW. X1 slightly more pleasing to both of us in Superfine JPEG. Entirely subjective of course.

 

Side door on the camera is redundant these days: we take the SD card out of camera and plug straight into Mac Air. If there must be a side door, let it house the SD card. Not that handy to unscrew the hand grip when you want to take the SD card out.

 

X2 in use had occasional issues with the lens not extending fully. Cured by switching off and on again. No evidence of obstructive grit or anything.

 

Use of X1 and X2 has been very interesting on this trip. My son is a very enthusiastic SLR user and he has lugged about a rucksack with one body, and four L / DO canon lenses, plus a small tripod spare battery, etc. He has never needed his spare battery during a day – despite firing more images than my wife and myself put together and scrutinizing everything on screen. Leica needs to wake up on battery life. However, I never want to be in a position of carrying a rucksack full of lenses around ever again.

 

Canon IQ with good glass is undoubtedly superior in many cases. But often surprisingly marginal. Canon far better for Macro. Also far better for sport images such as boats. Leica more pleasing for street etc.

 

X1 and X2 have little to choose between them. X2 is clearly a bit better, but as I paid about £800 for an X1 less than 6 m old, with OVF, grip, leather case, boxed and guaranteed with 8Gb SD card thrown in, versus practically double that for new X2 in basic form for my wife I think used X1 represents better value in the cold light of day.

 

However, Leica buyers are not especially price sensitive and for us it was a brand trial. We are both sold on the portability and convenience of small high quality cameras and will put our names down for an M10 when we get back. I expect the wait will be longish, so we may buy a used M9 in the meantime. The lenses are eye wateringly expensive, but I fear y son has taken permanent possession of my Canon glass!

 

Internat connection is too slow here to upload images Will try when I get back, as we did quite a lot of direct comparison shots.

 

AJ

[jlindstrom]

Interesting report & findings. Thanks for sharing, looking forward for the phtos when you get to a decent internet-connection. Especially so, since I happen to love Mallorca also having visited it 3 times..

 

Reg. the M9/10, do try and find a way to try it out before buying. I know very little about your background, but seems you're quite accustomed to autofocus and thus the manual focus of Leica M might take some getting used to. I have the M9 myself and am more than happy with it, but even after 3 years with Leica M's I'm nowhere near fast enough to catch my baby daughters moves and she's still moving around on all 4.

 

Maybe out of the question, but one thing could be to try a cheap film rangefinder? Something like a Voigtländer Bessa R3A/R4A. They're film based, cheap'ish, take Leica M-mount lenses and have modern features like aperture priority, They have similar focusing to Leicas.. cheap way to see if rangefinder is your thing. Personally did this before getting an M8 way-back-when..

 

-- Juha

[wda]

Thank you for your insightful report, AJ. I have already decided not to upgrade my X1 which continues to help me produce high quality pictures meeting professional standards. It is a constant companion when my M9 goes into action, providing a very competent 35mm alternative to my prime lenses. AF speed has not cost me any significant loss of potential pictures.

 

My OVF and hand-grip are essential to my way of working. Lack of digital information in the OVF is no impediment to my successful shooting.

 

The X1/X2 are not competitive with DSLRs in macro mode; but can give satisfactory close shots more often than not. Life is full of compromises!

[sfowler]

Good information here AJB and looking forward to your shots. I actually never had an X1 so when it was time to buy - I went for the latest and greatest, the X2 and love it. There has been no disappointments at all.

 

I don't think the X2 really was ever designed to be a macro camera. I have added a small filter to my camera to grab theses macro shots when needed. Its not much of an issue for me or to add the 49mm filter to my camera when a macro shot is needed. Here is a macro shot taken with the X2. For me its perfect. Its light and easy to operate and the image quality is to my liking and expectations. Looking forward to your images.

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[AJB]

Juha - thanks for the advice re manual focus. I don't think it will be an issue with what we do:

 

My wife is primarily interested in horticultural shots when we are at home. So she will tend to take pictures of flowers and gardens etc. Fast focus is less critical than really accurate focus and good framing for her.

 

I gave up on film when I had a couple of Pro Canon bodies and it began to take 4 - 5 days to turn them around through a lab. I actually still prefer film, but I have become quite hooked on the advantages of getting images downloaded straight onto my laptop each day, process them (usually in Aperture 3), discard the junk and out sue energy into the good ones. Instant emailing and cloud storage are also a great advantage (when internet is good enough!).

 

I realise that the M10 or M9 will be unsuitable for the action shots I like to take. But I am keeping the Canon gear and it will be fine to take on a boat when we want to cover a sailing event, say.

 

For me portability, most of the time, is absolutely key. Big bodies and big lenses get left behind, I also feel much too much like a tourist when laden with obtrusive camera gear.

 

I would happily pay more for an X2 with built in viewfinder (Fuji X100 seems excellent in this respect) and a somewhat faster lens, say 1.4. I don't really like the extending lens of the X2/X1. It is flimsy and a bit cheap looking: it would be interesting to know who makes it, as this looks like a bought in part.

 

AJ

[Ralf]

Good information here AJB and looking forward to your shots. I actually never had an X1 so when it was time to buy - I went for the latest and greatest, the X2 and love it. There has been no disappointments at all.

 

I don't think the X2 really was ever designed to be a macro camera. I have added a small filter to my camera to grab theses macro shots when needed. Its not much of an issue for me or to add the 49mm filter to my camera when a macro shot is needed. Here is a macro shot taken with the X2. For me its perfect. Its light and easy to operate and the image quality is to my liking and expectations. Looking forward to your images.

 

A nice shot, which filter do you use?

[sfowler]

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A nice shot, which filter do you use?

I use the B + W 49mm +10 Macro Lens, Close Up Glass Filter - NL10

 

It basically attaches/screws on to the tube.

 

B + W 49mm +10 Close Up Filter - NL10 65-076799

 

Hope this helps.