Leica C1

blueviewcameraman

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
1 votes

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

nikonf301

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $200.00 from ebay

Summary:
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.

Strengths:
Great built and lens. Quite shutter unlike SLR

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

Similar Products Used:
Yashica T4D, Ricoh R1, Olympus Mju

Customer Service:
Ask for viewfinder rubber and was excellent service

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $329.00 from digital-foto

Summary:
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.

Strengths:
great pictures, easy to use

Weaknesses:
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.

Customer Service:
Does not exist in USA I was told.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $300.00 from foto regis mexico

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

Strengths:
buena optica exposicion

Weaknesses:
marcas de los dedos en el metal en las camaras negras

Similar Products Used:
rollei prego 70 rollei afm 35 contax t4

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.33 of 5,
3 votes

Price Paid:  $400.00 from Cameraworld

Summary:
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.

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

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

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.

Customer Service:
Camera World is reliable. Never dealt with Leica itself though.