Leica CL a personal CL review ...

[ramarren]

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First Bicycle Ride with CL

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It was time for my regular bi-weekly doctor appointment at Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, down at the south-west end of San Jose where it meets Los Gatos, and where Highway 17 and Highway 85 cross. This is about fourteen miles away by bicycle and the path there and back wiggles through some lovely neighborhoods as well as runs a good stretch of Gazos Creek Trail, alongside the creek. The round trip distance generally runs 25 to 30 miles depending on exactly what paths I take. 

 

I decided to see if my new Leica CL with my two 'standard' lenses would be a carry-able proposition on this kind of bicycle ride. First positive indicator was that the camera fitted with the mount adapters, half case, and Elmarit-R 28mm lens fits neatly along with the Summilux-R 50mm lens into my Peak Design Everyday Sling 5L bag ... my usual bicycle carry ... and is not overly heavy. 

 

So off I went. It was a pretty warm day ... I started when temps were around 85°F and as I rode along they ran up as high as 96°. But it was nice riding with light wind and a fun route. 

 

I don't stop too often when I'm on a ride, but I made an effort to stop and take a couple of photos while running along Gazos Creek Trail as I approached the crossing which take me over the creek itself and then over Highway 17, near the Hospital complex. 

 

So here's a rather pretty little winding uphill just before I reached the creek crossover: 

 

 

Gazos Creek Trail is nicely maintained and pretty heavily used. I was lucky to be on it at an hour where few others were using it, so no traffic at all!

 

Next I had to cross the creek from south to north to manage the Highway 17 underpass. Here's a view from that bridge down into the creek. 

 

 

Under this vantage point, what you can't see is a bit of a steep little falls as the creek bed is managed to flow over a concrete abutment and fall about 40 feet down ... Thus the windy and steep uphill in the previous photo. 

 

Next, I've negotiated through the park area of the trail, where there are lots of facilities and a couple of small man-made lakes for recreational use. Next we cross the creek again, this time over a steel and wood bridge. Here I'm in the mid-span of that bridge and you can see Highway 17 running alongside the creek. 

 

 

Looking straight down the span, you can see the trail pavement wiggle around and in the distance the highway walking/biking bridge overpass. A bicyclist popped into view just in time for some scale...

 

 

I stopped mid-span over the top of the bridge and snapped a couple there. This view shows Highway 17 below, looking west to the Santa Cruz Mountains.

 

 

This view gives you an idea of the crossover bridge ... they guard carefully against people throwing things down on the road below, as well as keeping people from falling, with high wire-link fencing. 

 

 

Finally over the bridge, you're in a nice little cul de sac of suburban homes. All the roads in this little neighborhood are themed as the names of composers. I thought this intersection would be a nice place for a musician or music lover to live.

 

 

From there, I had to wiggle around a bit and find the path over to the next little community, scoot across the busy South Bascom Avenue, through another nice little neighborhood, over yet another bicycle crossing bridge to the hospital complex. 

 

My route home went on surface streets a little to the east of the trail. I stopped to see whether my 'other favorite' bicycle shop had moved yet—they have, I'll have to visit the new store in Cupertino soon—and back up to my neighborhood via my usual route. Temps had gotten quite high and I was feeling both dry and hungry, so I stopped at a local sandwich shop for lunch and a LOT of water. Snapped a photo of FCC while I was eating my sandwich:

 

 

Looking great, running great ... I turned 1120 miles on it since April today. Tires still have meat, new chain fitted about 70 miles ago. 

 

Home was another four miles on from there. I went inside, stripped off my wet bicycle gear, pulled on my swim trunks, and jumped into the pool for a refreshing swim. Then inside, a quick shower off, and a half hour nap. 

 

BTW: The camera worked flawlessly and was not an issue to carry... I never did get a moment to change lenses, but eh? so what? Life is Good!

[jaapv]

Nice story However, we like to see posts like this in the "landscape and travel" forum instead of in a technical thread. It would get more general exposure too.

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[ramarren]

I didn't even know there was a "landscape and travel" section.

Should I post it there too? I was keeping it as part of my evaluation of the camera... 

[jaapv]

Well, it is nice enough to be shown in an image subforum. Yes, I realized it was meant as part of your review, that is the reason I did not split it off from the thread.

[ramarren]

Continuing on with my first impressions and analysis of the CL in use ... 

 

I've been figuring out my 'standard' configuration for the CL and have edited the functions accessible for right button and FN button down to the minimum set that I actually use. I almost never change the right button from ISO, so that's the only option there, and all the other options I use more occasionally are set on the FN button with one slot to spare. I normally have it either in Self Timer selection mode or EV Compensation mode (for Manual exposure shooting where exposure time is on the left wheel; normally EV comp is on the left wheel). Focus magnification is on the right wheel. Most other options I use frequently enough fit onto the Favorites menu page when I press the Menu button. 

 

I also have two user setups now: standard ones for the R28 and the R50 lenses that I use most of the time. Other lenses I just switch the lens profile to suit. Today I'll create a specialized setup that I will use over and over again for the negative copy work, and edit down the button assignment options even more tightly for that setup. 

 

Configured this way, the camera is fast and quick to use in nearly all circumstances. 

 

G