Do film photographers dream of Leica cameras?

[howardstanbury]

<p>(If they don't have one, that is.) <br /><br /> <a title="Leica C11, closed by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2814/9240196001_b7d37ce010_c.jpg" alt="Leica C11, closed" width="800" height="536" /></a> <br /><br /> The red dot, the famous and iconic logo, that cursive script. It's all there on the latest addition to my collection; and the thing is, the camera was a steal – 20 pounds/30 dollars on eBay from a seller a few miles down the road in the next county. <br /><br /> A quick search on photo.net shows a singular lack of interest in this little old lady. Someone tried teasing interest in the Leica group a few years ago, but to no avail, there was studied silence, tumbleweed even. <br /><br /> And of course it is not surprising. The Leica C11 was Leica's only step into the failed APS film format, a simple point and shoot that was launched at the 2000 Photokina. There was a Q&A panel and the question was asked, <em>The APS market seems an incongruous one for Leica, why?</em> <br /><br /> The answer – and there was no more reported discussion – was, <em>We will certainly concentrate on 35mm but we have to decide what to do in the compact market. We wanted a small compact camera with the features that are in the new C11 and found we could not make that in 35mm, so we knew we could in the APS size. The consumer's perspective is different to ours here, They go into a shop and largely buy a camera on looks, some really don't care who has made the camera, it will also bring new people to the Leica family.</em> <br /><br /> So here I am more than a decade later a (fully ?) fledged member of that family, on the lowest of low rungs. Given the lack of interest in the manufacturer's forum, and the recent discussions of APS cameras here under Modern Film Cameras, this seems the natural place to present this camera. <br /><br /> Back in May, Rick Drawbridge did a nice presentation on the Fujifilm Fotonex 1000ix Tiara (<a href="/bboard/”http:/photo.net/modern-film-cameras-forum/00bgSe”">here</a>), and I have one of those for comparison: <a title="Tiara and C11 side by side by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7434/9263120817_90a54167e2_c.jpg" alt="Tiara and C11 side by side" width="800" height="566" /></a> <br /><br />The Fuji was launched a year earlier and is, I would say, the more attractive camera – credit-card sized (the C11 is closer to the iPhone), if you ignore the thickness, while the Leica offers a zoom lens. The Leica's translucent plastic carry box is laughable compared to the Fuji's soft leather. I haven't been able to pin down the launch price of the Leica, but the Fuji was $350+ in 1999. I have seen a price of $250 on the Leica a couple of years after launch. The Fuji has lost more value, but it is the better camera in my opinion. <br /><br />The Leica feels like any other premium Japanese compact point-and-shoot in use, with fiddly buttons to set dates and times or switch modes. I'd expect the product of a German camera company to be more substantial but I guess this was put together for Leica by a Japanese company (Fuji perhaps?), rather like Panasonic work with them now.<br /><br /> <a title="Leica C11 rear by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3729/9240183851_c63051541f_c.jpg" alt="Leica C11 rear" width="800" height="520" /></a> <br /><br /> The C11 offers a 23-70mm (35-105 equivalent) 1:4.8-1:9.5 aspheric seven-element zoom lens, shutter speeds of 1 – 1/600s, and an 'infrared scanning type autofocus'. Focus is from 60cm to infinity and a self-timer button offers the option of 1, 2, or 3 exposures at the end of the set time. Mid-roll change (MRC) is possible with the camera, an option that seems quaint now given the limited choices in film. Similarly, as I rarely order prints, I work with the camera in its native H mode (16:9) rather than the cropped C (4:3) and P (3:1) modes. <br /><br /> The built in flash is guide number 9 and the camera can be set in a number of modes to utilise or suppress the flash with or without red-eye reduction. One of these modes also sets the focus to infinity. <br /><br /> Using the camera, the slowness of the tele end of the zoom was a problem, often resulting in camera shake (my technique could be at fault too, but a bit of shade, an f/9.5 aperture don't help). In bright sun and a wide zoom the results were far more satisfactory. Here are some samples – all on Kodak Advantix Ultra 200. <br /><br /><a title="Old Headington, St Andrews churchyard by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5500/9240187689_a49c3a1575_c.jpg" alt="Old Headington, St Andrews churchyard" width="459" height="800" /></a><br />1 <br /><br /><a title="St Andrews church by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5341/9242967032_9a46e3c534_c.jpg" alt="St Andrews church" width="459" height="800" /></a><br />2 <br /><br /><a title="St Andrews roof and tower by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5470/9240184891_2a5cc013e8_c.jpg" alt="St Andrews roof and tower" width="800" height="459" /></a><br />3 <br /><br /><a title="Roses by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3716/9242969732_77508e6848_c.jpg" alt="Roses" width="800" height="459" /></a><br />4 <br /><br /><a title="Waiting at Harcourt Arboretum by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7284/9242972388_df4b144159_c.jpg" alt="Waiting at Harcourt Arboretum" width="459" height="800" /></a><br />5 <br /><br /><a title="Camera shaken peacock by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2892/9242974482_94be725968_c.jpg" alt="Camera shaken peacock" width="800" height="459" /></a><br />6 – camera shake! <br /><br /><a title="A peek behind the display by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3800/9240194097_c9761a46a4_c.jpg" alt="A peek behind the display" width="800" height="459" /></a><br />7 <br /><br /><a title="Inquiring peacock by FlickrDelusions, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbury/9240190317/"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3737/9240190317_242cb2b94a_c.jpg" alt="Inquiring peacock" width="800" height="459" /></a><br />8<br>

<br /><br />So, is this the camera the stuff of dreams? No, not really. It does an adequate job but does no justice to the Leica brand. It's no surprise it disappeared when the APS film tide went out and Leica moved on to design some new compact 35mm film cameras to take its place. Somebody else can tell us about those!</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>It does look nice, and there's no doubt at all that a red circle can dress up a camera mighty powerfully. ;)</p>

<p>But I have never had dreams about anything but old Contaxes.... I'm just not a bottom loader.</p>

[sgust]

<p>Is there even APS film available any more? My first camera was a Canon Elph 370z, also a APS camera, it was eventually given to my mom after I got my first SLR. I remember telling her a few years ago that she could throw it away because there wasn't any film for it anymore.</p>

[SCL]

<p>I just sold a bunch of APS film on the big auction site. Came across it in a local charity shop.</p>

[Karim Ghantous]

<p>I'd consider that a bargain. I never was a fan of APS, as I loved the romance of 35mm (a century of cinema and photojournalism!). I eventually softened my stance, but still have not shot a roll of any APS film, unfortunately.</p>

<p>APS has one huge advantage: because the film stays in the cassette, you can scan the whole roll with ease. And you don't have to ask yourself the question of whether you should cut the negs or not.</p>

<p>In fact I would like to see a resurgence of APS. It's much more practical than half-frame 135 and its default, portrait aspect ratio. Watch: Lomography will bring it back!</p>

<p>Those Canon Elphs were amazing - so small! And they felt good in the hand. I've never used one but if I see one cheaply, I might.</p>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>It's a laughable bit of marketing miscues, but hey, that shot of the roses looks pretty darned good!</p>

<p>But I still don't want one. </p>

[starvy]

<p>I never really was into APS but the red dot is certainly attractive! The images have a sense of crispness that is rather pleasing to the eye.</p>

[barryreid]

Ha, the only APS camera that was worthy of dreaming of was the Contax Tix, which tuly was a thing of beauty! But still gave results as horrible as any other APS compact.

[dave_s]

<p>Parenthetically, I don't know if anyone got the <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7082.Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep_">literary reference</a> in your subject line, which I assume was intentional. They made <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/">quite a good movie</a> from it, under a different name.</p>

[howardstanbury]

<p>Dave, yes it was - well spotted.</p>

<p>Barry, thanks for alerting me to the Contax - quite a thing of beauty<br>

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/CONTAX_Tix%28Silver%29.jpg/800px-CONTAX_Tix%28Silver%29.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="600" /><br>

(From Wikipedia)</p>

<p>No more APS film is being made and I can't imagine even Lomography bringing it back. APS is the antithesis to Lomo afterall. No endearing colour shifts or cutesy effects.</p>

<p>It's nice to have the red dot, but it will take a lottery win or anonymous benefaction to get me higher up the ladder. Maybe the Minolta CLE would be a way in for me. It could sit alongside my XE-1.</p>

[c_watson1]

<h1 >Do film photographers dream of Leica cameras?</h1>

<p>Nope. Not me.</p>

[lolver]

<p>Would prefer a Nexus-6 myself.</p>

[aplumpton]

<p>The apparent convenience of APS size or elsewhere the 35mm half frame cameras (the excellent Olympus Pen camera) or even smaller film sizes of yore forget that even 35mm is a minimum size for reasonable print quality at modest sizes like 8 x 10. If the rangefinder camera system attributes of a Leica III series, M series or CL (Minolta CLE) could be found in a 120 size camera of relatively small size, that would be more appealing I think than any red dot, Zeiss or Canikon labelling. However, f2 and f1.4 optics, if possible at high quality, would make the 120 cameras veritable monsters. Smaller than 35mm film size is OK for cute little cameras, or purse size ones for the lady, but a CLE, a V-C, a Zeiss-Ikon or a used early M body (a used M6 if one can afford it) are I think a minimum for medium to large (11 x 14?) print color or B&W photography, and slide color photography now seems to be becoming something of the past. </p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Great post, <strong>Howard</strong>, and most persuasive, but no, I've never had the least desire to own a Leica. Having discovered SLR's at a fairly early age I never really had a hankering for <em>any</em> kind of rangefinder camera... The later Leicas seemed to offer little more in terms of ergonomic or image quality than their more reasonably-priced contemporaries. I've always suspected that Leica <em>collectors</em>, rather than photographers, dream of Leicas...Still, this little APS number is certainly a small gem of a camera. Speaking as an android, of course...</p>

[duncan_murray1]

<p>Nice! Is it a metal outer? The photos look good - the colours on the portrait and on the sky. I notice on the last photo some brutal noise-reduction has been used - was that by the processors?</p>

<p>I don't dream of Leica's either. Not sure what I'm in the mood for - maybe a Pentax MZ-S? Or a 645NII?</p>

 

[gary_leonard3]

<p>As the song goes, "I dream of Brownie with the light blue jeans...."<br>

I recently bought a Brownie Reflex, just like the one I owned in 1949. Dreamed? No? Wondered what I could do with it today? Yes. I want to see if I can use 35mm film in the 127-size box.<br>

I had two Leicas, a 3f and an M2R. The first one was okay for its time but I was not that crazy about it. The M2 is a fine camera but impossible to load in a hurry. I was a photojournalist and used my M2R a little and my Nikon F a lot, back in the day.<br>

I would like to get a Nicca 3S. Today I am taking my Minolta AL rangefinder out for a spin.</p>

[peter_mark1]

<p>its really nice idea to sell APS film they are reload in camera sites.if you buy any APS folm role checked it first.<br>

http://pdfbookspot.com/</p>

[andrew_brown7]

<p>No, not any more! I only had old ones as it was and traded them all in for a Contax S2 (spot metering); now there was a bad camera and a bad company to try to deal with, so I'm very glad that's gone.<br>

Leica lust has been replaced with three Fs and an F2 resting quietly, I'm ashamed to say, in their cases and the Nex 6 and 7 have taken their lenses. </p>