Leica 35mm P&S

From your experience, how do Leica P&S compare to more popular 35mm P&S like Olympus XA, Stylus, and Nikon L35AF?

I recently purchased a Leica Z2X from KEH for $79 at bargain condition and would love to know in what tier do y’all rank Leica P&S

(particularly the Z2X) compared to the trendier P&S. I've noticed P&S film cameras have sky rocketed in price.

Attached are some images of my first roll(Portra 400). I’ve never used any other P&S other than this one so I have no reference to compare.

I am actually very happy with how the photos turned out. Would love to hear some thoughts on this camera. Thanks in advance!

*note none of these images have been edited

Leica offered a number of P&S film cameras. Some were excellent, comparable to the other midrange P&S you mentioned. Some were best-in-class, premium cameras. Some were merely adequate: no better or worse than similar (but far less expensive) Minolta, Olympus or Canon bargain models. One paid more for the Leica name and snob appeal, but didn't always get quality that matched the price.

Your Z2X was not considered one of Leica's best P&S efforts. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either: just an average zoom-lens P&S that sold for double the price of the same performance from any other brand. As you can see from you own use, for casual P&S shooting it is quite serviceable, and at $79 today is much more reasonably priced than when it was new. If you like it, enjoy it!

In terms of direct competition at the high end P&S market, nobody really considered zoom lens models. Contax had one, Leica had a couple, but the real interest was in pricey compact models with super-premium fixed focal length prime lenses of approx 35mm f/2.8. In this realm, the Leica Mimilux series with 40mm f/2.4 Summarit went head-to-head with the Contax T series, Nikon 35Ti, Konica Hexar, and cameras one step down in price like Yashica T and Ricoh GR. All of these had superb lenses, but most had annoying quirks that made them slow/fussy to operate, and they were obscenely overpriced at the time for what they were. They remain ridiculously expensive today.

The Olympus Stylus, XA, and Nikon L35AF were another step down in price, at the sweet spot midrange. Less "classy", but much more popular, these sold in the millions. Most people would have a hard time seeing any difference in lens quality between them and the ultra-premium models, especially in snapshots using color negative films. Your Z2F, if not for the Leica name, would have slotted in just below this group, mostly because of the very slow f/4.0-f/7.6 zoom lens. If you don't mind a slow lens, the Z2F is a nice mid-pack P&S.