Amateur Photographer - UK (2021-01-16)

82 http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

Testbench DIGITAL CLASSICS

lens has a zoom control operated, not
by nudging levers, but by an actual collar
around the lens. Likewise, apertures are set
not by press buttons, but on a lens ring, and
there’s a real shutter-speed dial on the top
plate. Focus is controlled by a rotating ring
around the lens too. There’s no rangender of
course. That might have taken retro design a
step too far. But, as you manually focus the
lens, a small magnied rectangle appears in
the centre of the screen to aid accuracy.
Switching the automation back on is
simple. Turn the focusing ring past innity,
press a dimple on the edge of the ring and it
click-stops into AF or AF-Macro modes, while
the zoom control remains satisfyingly manual.
Set the shutter speed dial to ‘A’ and you
have aperture priority. Set the aperture ring to
‘A’ and you have shutter priority. Set both to
‘A’ and you’re all set for program automation.
A lever on the top plate selects spot,
centre-weighted or multield metering.
There’s a built-in ip-up ashgun, but it’s
unlike most others in that the touch of a
button on the back of the body adjusts it to
be used in either direct or bounced modes.
Out and about with the Digilux 2 its
handleability was terric. I found it a lot like
handling an old Leica M3 rangender camera.
Admittedly, however, in bright sunlight picture
composition was largely down to guesswork
given the inadequacies of the electronic
viewnder. Having only 5MP to play with, and
knowing there would be less than usual
leeway for later cropping, I found myself
concentrating more than usual when framing
subjects, but the quality from the Leica lens
was superb. When processing the Digilux
images in Photoshop I found myself
converting them time and time again to
mono. I guess Leicas and monochrome
photography just go hand in hand.
When it was launched, the Digilux 2 cost
£1,300 (the equivalent of £2,070 today), and
it still commands £300-350, which is a lot of
money for an 18-year-old digital camera. Is it
worth that money? Honestly? Probably not.

Butspeakingpersonally,I reckontheDigilux 2

is worthpayingwhateveryoucanaffordjust

to owna classicthatwasverymuchthe

forerunnerof theLeicaD-Luxcamerasand

witha designstillechoedin today’sfull-frame

LeicaQ andQ2.

Whatcamenext

In 2006,Leica,stillin partnershipwith

Panasonic,announcedtheDigilux3. It was

therstpurelydigitalLeicawitha mirror

reexsystemandinterchangeablelenses.

Thelensmountwasa bayonettypethatused

theFourThirdssystem.Thecamerastill

retainedsomeof thesleek-bodiedgoodlooks

of itspredecessorandit undoubtedly

representeda stepforwardin Leica/

Panasonicdesign.But– andhereagain,this

is justmyopinion,feelfreeto disagree– it

wasa stepawayfromthecharacteristiclines,

soreminiscentof theclassicLeica

rangendercameras,rstseenin theDigilux

1 andperfectedin theDigilux2.

ThePanasonicconnection

Aspartof thepartnershipwithPanasonic,the

Japanesecameracompanymadeitsown

versionsof theLeicacameras.Essentially,

thePanasonicDMC-LC1is a Digilux2 in a

slightlyredesignedblackbodythatsellsfor

halfthepriceof theLeica.Soif youwantthe

LeicaexperiencewithouttheLeicaprice,go

forthePanasonic.Underthesurfaceit’sthe

samecamerawiththesamegreatLeicalens.

Butforthepuristor,let’sfaceit, admittedly

prejudicedcameranutslikeme,there’sone

thingthatthePanasonicsimplyisn’t:

it isn’ta Leica.

The quality of the Leica lens is clearly evident in this picture, shot with the Digilux 2

The Digilux 3,

equipped here

with an Olympus

Zuiko 14-42mm

Four Thirds lens

The Panasonic DMC-LC1

is a Digilux 2 in a

slightly different body

PICTURE

COURTESY OF DPREVIEW.COM