Review 2 of 45
Price Paid:
$400.00
from B&H Summary: 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” Strengths: sharp lens, very quiet operation Weaknesses: tiny controls difficult to use Similar Products Used: MOstly SLRs and ELectro RF's
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