The Leica Digilux 2 is the most beautiful
The Leica Digilux 2 is the most beautiful digital camera I’ve ever seen.
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Reader comments
MorganMar 01, 2004 at 11:09AM
I'm glad some manufacturers are moving away from the boring brushed metal look. That's on its way to becoming the new beige box.
DanMar 01, 2004 at 11:20AM
I thought about getting one, but even though it looks so good, it doesn't perform all that well for the price they're asking for it. Maybe the next gen :(
MattMar 01, 2004 at 11:50AM
This might be a beautifully designed camera, but it's easy to be drawn in by the Leica name and pedigree. Unfortunately, this camera is no pedigree; it's a Panasonic DMC-LC1 with a different skin (Panasonic make Leica Digital compacts). Only if I had money to burn would I go for this camera.
samMar 01, 2004 at 12:01PM
It's not *just* a gimmick, though. Having all the main controls physically available, rather than through menus, is a pretty big interface plus compared to many cheaper cameras. Bit of a shame this isn't a cheaper camera, really.
(I have a cheap camera and it sucks having to fiddle about with the buttons on the back every time you want to tweak the exposure settings.)
As for the pedigree - I don't know whether Leica's analogue camera-making pedigree would necessarily mean anything much even if they actually did make digital cameras... anyway, didn't they traditionally make decent but vastly overpriced just-because-of-the-name analogue cameras?
CheapbastardMar 01, 2004 at 2:01PM
"The Leica Digilux 2 is the most beautiful digital camera I've ever seen"
Looks like a free camera we got for looking at a timeshare in the Poconos.
corieMar 01, 2004 at 2:26PM
Leica is best known for their really good, sharp lenses, along with sturdy, last-a-lifetime camera bodies. Yes, they are expensive, though well worth it, I would think. I wish I could buy myself one-- I've dreamed of owning a Leica for years. I'd be curious to play with one of their digitals, particularly if the interface is easier to use than your standard crappy digital menu system...
BobbyMar 02, 2004 at 1:27AM
This camera is easily worth its price for the craftsmanship of the controls and lenses.
Also, the partnership between Leica and Panasonic doesn't mean Panasonic is making Leica's, it means that Leica is building components for Panasonic. This is a true Leica, one of the top 2 names in photography, next to Hasselblad of course.
RycatMar 02, 2004 at 2:45AM
From a purely aesthetic standpoint I think the best thing about the Leica is that it does not imediatatly look like a digital camera.
HWheelMar 02, 2004 at 9:34AM
Dan said that "it doesn't perform all that well for the price." I've been waiting for the reviews. What have you heard? Where?
FrankMar 02, 2004 at 10:38AM
It's being reviewed at luminous landscape. Watch for more at dpreview.com too. So far it looks good, but at $1600 retail for the Pani and $1995 for the Leica, it should be - a $900 Canon DSLR will out perform it when ink hits paper, but the interface and lens are excellent.
Buzz AndersenMar 03, 2004 at 12:51AM
As the owner of a Leica M6 and several top notch Leica lenses, I really want to like the Digilux 2. The price compared to the Canon SLRs is really hard for me to get past though.
HWheelMar 03, 2004 at 9:33AM
Frank. Thanks for the heads-up review at Lumimous-Landscape., a very much respected site despite Mr. Reichmann's quirks and fascinations with various topics. (Actually, it's the Panasonic LC-1 he's reviewing, but I get the gist of it.) It seems that there are always minor differences between the Panasonic and Leica models, so despite the good-to-great review, perhaps we can expect more from the Leica Digilux 2.
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.