Leica V-Lux 1 Camera

[dennis_mansour1]

I am thinking of buying this camera. The largest size photo I do is 11x14. I

would like to see if it can do that and the Quality be Very good. I dont want

to invest 2500. for the Digilux 3 coming out. The V-Lux 1 is appr 800. Any

ideas on this camera ? Thanks, Dennis

[mike_ilnyckyj]

I would take a look at the Panasonic versions of those Leicas. I was considering getting the FZ50, which is the same as the V-Lux 1 and about $200 less. From what I've read, the FZ50 and the Leica version are identical except for the on-camera image processing.

 

The reason I didn?t get the FZ50 was the Panasonic image processing. Unless you?re always going to shoot in bright light, the noise reduction in jpegs is ridiculously bad with no option to turn it off. Check out the comments here: http://www.pbase.com/cameras/panasonic/lumix_dmc_fz50.

 

That being said, the FZ50 is an extremely nice camera; the controls are very well placed and it feels very solid. I?m still very interested in seeing sample shots from the Leica version, but I wouldn?t pay $800 for it.

 

I ended up buying a Sony R1 (should arrive today).

[jcuknz]

It depends on how close to finished result you shoot. You cannot afford to crop very much when printing to that size though the camera is quite capable of it with a good editing programme. Other factor is how much fine detail you include in the picture. But I have printed 11x14 from fewer pixels.

[dennis_mansour1]

How is the Sony R-1 ?

[steve_solomon2]

Greetings! I too, was considering the Leica V-1 or Panasonic FZ50, however, when I read about the noise characteristics of Panasonic's Venus III engine, I got a bit nervous, since I sometimes have to shoot in low light, and that engine has a "noisy" reputation above ISO 400. A better choice for available light might be the Fujifilm S9000 or S9100.

Good luck,

Steve

[daniel_murphy1]

I have the Leica V-Lux 1, and it's very nice. The cost is discounted now, you can get a considerable rebate. Check B&H if you're in the US. The wide end of the zoom is not super wide at 35mm equivalent, but you can get a WA adapter. The photos will come out just over 11x14 at 240 dpi from camera, and look really good. Yeah, there's some noise at higher ISOs, but there's some very good noise reducers for that. I really like this camera, I used the Panasonic version too, which is hard to come by now. If you want a cheaper alternative to an SLR and slighty smaller I would recommend it.