Leica Digilux
The Leica Digilux is a Leica brand digital camera that conforms to the Four Thirds standard .
Cooperation with Fuji
In the mid-1990s, Leica entered into a strategic alliance with Fujifilm . The first Digilux cameras emerged from this partnership in 1998 . The cameras from this series were largely identical to the Fuji models; they were called Leica Digilux , Leica Digilux Zoom and Leica Digilux 4.3 . The partnership was not considered fruitful and was discontinued in May 2001.
Cooperation with Panasonic
Leica Digilux 1
In spring 2002 Leica launched the Digilux 1 digital camera in cooperation with Panasonic (formerly Matsushita) . This became the first product from this strategic partnership. Because of its relatively high speed and other qualities, Leica called the Digilux 1 a reportage camera and wanted to remind of the legendary Leica I from 1925 . In addition to the retro design , the large 2.5 "display with the unique fold-out light shaft catches the eye. As with classic cameras , the controls are in the form of buttons and dials on the camera housing and do not have to be selected via a menu first.
The Digilux 1 is considered to be the first independent Leica digital camera (earlier digital Leicas were OEM products).
Technical data Digilux 1
- Bright aspherical Leica lens with 3x zoom
- Image sensor with 4.0 million pixels
- Optical viewfinder
- ISO hot shoe for additional flash unit
- 2.5 " LC display with 205,000 pixels (including foldable light protection)
- Numerous manual setting options for individual creative freedom
- Some of the controls that are familiar from classic cameras
- Secure-Digital (SD) storage format
- Lithium-ion battery with up to 3 hours of operational readiness
Leica Digilux 2
The Leica Digilux 2 is a semi-professional digital camera and came onto the market at the end of 2003, it was developed in partnership with Matsushita / Panasonic . The most outstanding feature of this camera is the high quality of the built-in mechanical zoom lens (Leica DC Vario-Summicron). The Digilux 2 as well as the Digilux 1 were designed by the designer Achim Heine .
The Digilux 2 has no optical viewfinder, but an electronic viewfinder display. The then high price of around 1,500 euros was criticized because the largely identical Panasonic DMC LC-1 was around 300 euros cheaper.
technical features
- 5 megapixels (2560 × 1920 pixels )
- Electronic viewfinder image with 235,000 pixels (TTL)
- 2.5 ″ LCD monitor on the back with 211,000 pixels
- Real-time histogram display (before recording)
- 2.0–2.4 / 7–22.5 mm (28–90 mm equivalent to 35mm film ) Leica DC Vario Summicron (with TTL-AF)
- high-quality metal construction, intuitive classic operating concept
- mechanical lens adjustment for zoom factor and focus (of your choice)
- RAW support, as well as JPEG
- SD / MMC memory card format, USB 2.0 Hi-Speed standard connection
- unique folding TTL flash unit (enables indirect flash)
- ISO - hot shoe for external flash units
- Multi-segment exposure metering , integral and spot metering
- Shutter speed range from 8 s – 1/4000 s
- Long-life lithium-ion / 1400 mAh battery supplied (approx. 5 hours)
- The charger supplied also works as a power supply unit; however, when used as a power pack, the accumulator is not charged.
Leica Digilux 3
Leica Digilux 3 is a digital SLR camera in the Four Thirds standard . It was presented by Leica at Photokina 2006 .
The camera is based on the Olympus E-330 and in particular uses the same horizontal mirror system and the same LiveMOS sensor with 7.5 megapixels. It is practically identical to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 , from which it differs in the color (chrome-plated), the upper housing plate, the calculation of JPEG images (with more subtle, according to Leica "more natural" colors) and the scope of equipment. The design of the eyepiece and the eyecup was also adopted from the E-330, so that the same accessories can be used (e.g. the Olympus EP-7 eyecup).
The camera allows you to save images in RAW and JPG format.
The zoom lens presented together with the camera is the first to have an aperture ring for the Four Thirds standard. The transmission protocol has been extended to transfer the aperture data from the lens to the camera.
