Lens is good, Sharp...clean
Snap shot quite good.

slow....
colour so soft..

Good Leica product, I used about 1 month not bad, great piz...than DC.

Customer Service

nil

Similar Products Used:

Canon DC...
Panasoinc Lumix FX-01

sharp lens, very quiet operation

tiny controls difficult to use

Review of Lecia C1 point and shoot After 50 years I finally arrived at the point where I could afford a “LECIA” albeit a point and shoot. But I must say I am very disappointed. After years of using SLR’s and “other” rangefinder cameras one develops a sense of timing about shooting. There is a slight lag in a SLR that you learn to take in to account shooting. I was not prepared for the lag time of modern auto focus auto exposure cameras. With computers able to process information in nano seconds I never thought I would be counting the time between pressing the shutter release and the actual firing of the shutter in seconds! Obviously this is not a camera for action. Now to the design..It seems that those who design equipment, cars, cameras etc. Never actually ever used them. All of the control buttons are flush to the top deck of the camera. Which would be fine if we were all tiny elves! But a normal mans hand do not fit the tiny holes for the power switch. Secondly you have to look at the camera to position your finger on the shutter release, you can’t feel it, a no no in camera handling! And then there is the “ ‘Ve know Vat is best for you” Philosophy of exposure control .You can not preprogram exposures. The camera shuts off after 4 minutes of non use and restarts always in the auto mode. You then have to hit the mode button, another one built for elves, for the control you want to use. I will give it this , the lens is sharp! But what else would you expect from a Lecia? The reasoning behind the design is probably to simplify taking pictures. My wife who is a photo luddite can not use the camera, it is too complicated in its simplicity In order to use this camera I have had to resort to finding small buttons at craft shops and glue them onto the mode, power and shutter release buttons. Since the power button it self is 1/8 inch in diameter, this is no small feat. Very disappointed. with this “Lecia”

Similar Products Used:

MOstly SLRs and ELectro RF's

Great built and lens. Quite shutter unlike SLR

Red eye reduction a bit disappointing. Body is slick and a bit big+heavy for compact cam. Noisy and slow zoom.

My first leica camera and it does not dissapoint me. I love this camera when shooting without flash. The flash is a strong one. My suggestion on using this camera: 1) use the widest one, 38mm for great picture. 2) use flash only for close subject (people), less than 3 meters to avoid red-eye. Great quality when shooting outdoor or bright indoor (for all focal length) or dim indoor with smallest focal length. I have the black version looks awesome. Yashica T4D (old one) has similar quality but noisier. When in B mode, push and pull trigger as fast as you can because the camera has bright lens.

Customer Service

Ask for viewfinder rubber and was excellent service

Similar Products Used:

Yashica T4D, Ricoh R1, Olympus Mju

great pictures, easy to use

Broke in 2 years. No repair service in USA. I have never had a camera break so soon. I bought it for its' reputation but they have tarnished their name with the poor service offered.

Bought the camera in late 2001 and it broke in 2 years. Film would not advance and Leica said they don't repair them in USA so the only choice was to buy a new one at a small reduced rate. They only had a rebuilt C1 and $179 for a C2.

Customer Service

Does not exist in USA I was told.

buena optica exposicion

marcas de los dedos en el metal en las camaras negras

camara exelente la mejor camara pont & shoot de el mercado casi con la calidad de una SLR

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rollei prego 70 rollei afm 35 contax t4

Very attractive design, nice aluminum body, well built, longer zomm than Minilux zoom.

Not always sharp or in focus, incorrect exposure, pricey.

Bought it in June, 2000, had to exchange it right away because of bad LCD. Thought it was still made in Germany. The pictures came out fair, but not as expected for the Leica name and the price paid. Used 400 speed films in a trip to China, all the pictures were over exposed. Switched back to 200 speed seems better. But very disappointed after a recent trip abroad: almost all of the indoor ones were not in focus even with the built in flash and worse than probably the cheapest P&S. Seems it can take pretty good outdoor pictures in a sunny day when the lighting condition is good, plus using 200 speed films. Just ordered a new Yashica T4 Zoom to replace it and hope the Carl Zeiss lens and Contax/Yashica reputation will help for the sharpness, focusing, exposure and the overall performance.

Customer Service

Camera World is reliable. Never dealt with Leica itself though.

Similar Products Used:

Olympus stylus Epic Zoom, Olympus infinity SuperZoom 3500, Leica Minilux Zoom, Contzx T3, Canon EOS 650, Nikon N80, and old old Carl Zeiss Ikon.

-Design -lighweight -practical -good pictures in some situations but not excepcional like the price and the Leica name suggest.

-Price. "Elegance in camera, like in clothes, must be paid" -Erratic exposure. -Red eyes (never seen in my old Nikon AF 500) -No time/aperture priority. Inapropiate for a Sports and other "speed" pictures. -The leather case (not gold) of the camera. $75 Extra for this expensive camera.

Bought in September 2000, and after seen the first pictures that I made, I decided to change the camera with another C1, because the pictures were overexposed and not really well sharp. The new C1 work better but I expected really good photos in comparison with an 8 year old Nikon Zoom AF500 (half priced). I was looking for a practical and maybe the best P&S camera, but the results are in my opinion poor. As a train photographer I can't use the C 1 for this task. All "subjects" apperar smuddged (using a 800 asa film!), and I am came back towards the Nikon, and a 1939 Contax II. R

Customer Service

-FNAC staff good. They replace my first camera without problems. -Leica Dealers in Spain also good.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF 500 Zoom. O

Extremely accurate metering for a point and shoot and super sharp little lens.

No manual control, small buttons and readouts, won't function in low light.

Realize that this is a really basic point and shoot that will not allow you to trade shuuter speed for aperture. I use it only when I can't carry an SLR so it has become the camera for Mama and the kids. The buttons and displays are too small for an old man with bad eyes and fat fingers. It also won't work in low light such as indoors without flash. Otherwise it's been a great camera. I'm really shocked to hear the complaints about exposure and focus because exposure has been dead on perfect and the lens incredibly sharp. In side by side tests it gave me MUCH better pictures than the award winning Yashica T4 Super with its Carl Zeeiss lens. I hate not having a vote in the aperture/shutter speed combination but am extremely pleased with the picture quality. My lens seems to give a noticeable overall cool bias to the pictures. It's not excessive and is actually welcome since many of my favorite films are overly biased to the warm side. Surprised that no one else has commented on this. Overall extremely limited in what it does but my camera has performed those few tasks flawlessly. I highly recommend it if a basic point and shoot will satisfy you.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

Yashica T4 Super

sharp leica vario-elmar lens: 7 element/7 group. B settting. multiple flash modes. continuous shooting possible. simple controls, recessed on off button. nice styling, and rugged aluminum body.

center weighted exposure. very bad when you have a lot of dark and light stuff happening in front of you. goes into "B" setting when you shut off flash and attempt to take a pic in low light. this sucks as you have to guess how long you should hold down the shutter release. slightly noisy, not as silent as new Minilux.

i came across this camera recently and was curious about the Leica mystique. was it valid? the C1 is definitely an above average point and shoot. the photos have been coming out fairly nice and crisp. good contrast. and the auto focus is slightly above average. i borrowed a Leica Minilux from a friend recently and snapped a few pics to compare. i didnt understand all the hype about the Minilux, i wasnt too impressed with the pics when i compared them to my C1. roughly the same in my opinion despite the faster lens on the Minilux.

Customer Service

none so far

Similar Products Used:

Minolta Freedom 160. Samsung. Nikon Pronea S (APS). Olympus Stylus. Canon Esprit.

* Like most any P&S, it''s pretty easy to use. * The optics are probably as good as you can get in a P&S camera. * The metal body on mine has proven relatively rugged. It survived a drop onto a gravel parking lot with a scratch and dent, but working perfectly. * This camera takes pretty great outdoor sunlight shots that rival my SLR. * Hey-- it says Leica on it. Definite snop appeal for those who care about such things.

* The stylish body is pretty, but slippery. (A factor which contributed to the dropping incident.) The body looks worse with some dings & scratches. * Use of the flash = redeye. Period. * Every time you turn the camera on, it comes up in the default mode. If you take the time to select alternate settings and decide to power it down to save batteries, you lose your settings. Unacceptable in a camera with this price premium. * The zoom feature is not a continuous zoon-- it goes in discrete steps. This makes precise framing impossible. * Other people often take multipe shots before they realize that the picture has taken.

This is a nice camera that is capable of good pics in the right situation. However, in my opinion, it falls dramatically short on value. I bought the C1 camera based on excellent reviews on this & other internet sites. I also considered the MiniLux zoom & 2ZX, but found the C1 quieter and with better zoom capability. I was attracted to the Leica name & believed that spending the extra money to get a Leica would pay off in better image quality. I''ve used this camera for over a year in a variety of photographic situations. The image quality is good, but I do not believe that it justifies the price. My advice to potential buyers: save your money and buy and Olympus Stylus. The Leica C1 is an okay camera but I do not feel that the additional US$120+ price premium was money well spent. Having said that, don''t give up on P&S cameras. I still believe that a P&S has a valued role in my camera bag, particularly for traveling. I have gotten shots that I would have missed because my fancy SLR was sitting at home.

Customer Service

Not needed.

Similar Products Used:

Olympus, Canon, Nikon