Leica Minilux...yes/no?

[sara]

...my ongoing find for a compact point and shoot camera.

It looks kind of bulky but that needn't be the disadvantage if it is a good camera.

Also the battery, I saw it's 3V Lithium Battery (CR123A) - is that hard to get nowadays?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I like my Leica Mini for a compact P&S.

The CR123a battery is not hard to find, and has a long shelf life.

 

[chrishayton]

Id buy a Contax T2 over the minilux. bit smaller and less prone to faults.

 

[micromoogman]

If you have the money, the Contax T3 is better still.
The Minilux has a terribly small viewfinder with no indications for focusing/shutter speed. But it has a nice layout for the manual controls, aperture and focusing. Very good lens too!
But there are other alternatives like Olympus Mju II, Yashica T4 that are cheaper and with good lenses.

 

[retow]

Have a look at the Fuji Klasse S or W, available new with factory warranty. Premium build quality and excellent Fujinon lens.

 

[OlliL]

Since my Minilux died on me, during the second roll and, as micromoogman said, the viewfinder isn't anything more than a bad joke. I won't recommend this camera.

If you want something with a (nearly) similar focal length, I'd look at a Contax, or even a Fuji Klasse (S).

 

[Monz]

I have a non-zoom Minilux with 40mm/f2.4 Summarit lens. Excellent carry-around camera. The viewfinder is small but it's a autofocus camera; so the viewfinder is adequate for framing. The shutter assembly is a weak point in the design. It the shutter goes, you are looking at an expensive repair.


The Ninja? by *monz*, on Flickr

 

[kully]

I recognise that black tape 🙂

The shutter assembly is the weak point (I think it's just a cable ribbon in the assembly). Back in 2008 it was ~£160 and a few months at Solms for it to get replaced. I wonder how many spares of this Leica have.

I like(d) the fast focus.

 

[ulysses.o]

I love my minilux personally, i've shot many great images with it and rarely been disappointed. the one feature that never seems to let me down is the auto focus.
with a point and shoots you want reliable focusing, along with some manual features, for a decent asking price. this does just that.
not to mention the build quality is amazing oh and i can usually crank out 38/39 frames out of most 36 rolls (that alone has paid off my cam).
i've handled both the olympus and t4, and both to me feel like party jokes. those motors aren't reliable long term and the focus is terrible in low light. if your looking for a great toss around a club camera the olympus or t4 are the cameras for you.

also the flash is great, the lens is superb, cant complain about the viewfinder since i don't look through it when i walk.
but if i could afford a t3 i'd get that
some people have the terrible E02 error code and give up, i've never had that problem but i hear it's common, i heard once that it might be caused by the the battery life indicator. supposedly when the camera says the battery is at half power it really means it's less than 25% and should be replaced, the lack of power to the motors then drive the leicas shutter off the cliff.

look for some more reviews, and check out the minilux flickr river. at the end of the you really just have to feel one out, may the force be with you.

<a href="http://www.flickriver.com/search/leica+minilux/interesting/"><img border="0" width="80" height="15" title="Flickriver: Searching for most interesting matching 'leica minilux'" alt="Flickriver: Searching for most interesting matching 'leica minilux'" src="http://data.flickriver.com/images/flickriver-80x15.png"></a>

 

[Jamie123]

Start out with something relatively cheap like an Olympus mju II (or a Yashica T4/5 or Konica Big Mini if you're lucky enough to find a cheap one).

The biggest difference, IMO, between the cheap P&Ss like the MjuII and the more advanced ones isn't the quality of the lens but the quality of the viewfinder and the level of manual settings you can apply. The Minilux looks very bulky and if the viewfinder's not good I'd say stay away from it. I made the mistake of buying a Nikon 35Ti a while back but sold it soon after as it was way too bulky and heavy for my taste. Now I have a Fuji Klasse W which I was lucky enough to get for little money and I love this thing. It's not the smallest P&S but it's relatively light. The viewfinder is great and I'm loving the focal length.
If I went for 35mm my ideal camera would probably be a Contax T3 although it's quite a bit more expensive than the T2. If you like wide a Ricoh GR1 is also an option.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

An alternative is the plain "mini" with the magic word "Elmar" on the lens. And it comes in a variation called the Minolta "Riva Mini" or (in the USA?) "Freedom Mini".

I've seen the Minoltas go for silly prices like two or three pounds on ebay. There was one yesterday.

BTW, I've both the Leica and Minolta versions. No difference at print levels but the Minolta has more flash settings compared to the Leica.

My experience of Leicas (or any other non "cult" camera) with electronics is that a lot of repair people won't touch them but the factory in Germany will. But that's based on the R5. Also an estimate from the factory is expensive.

And, there's the Konica A4 from that well known stable or the Rollei AF's all good P&S's.

Regards, David

 

[pvdhaar]

What I remember best about the non-zoom Minilux was the fast autofocus, the perfect flash/ambient balance for portraits, and impeccable image quality. Other plusses were the ability to pre-focus and a clever way to align the aperture and manual focus dial for hyperfocal shooting.

It's one of the few compacts that's quick enough to capture the decisive moment..

Minor quibbles included a tiny viewfinder, noisy AF motors and some button pressing required after switching on to set the flash the way I liked best..

 

[Johann Espiritu]

I personally really enjoy my Minilux (non-zoom), and have been getting great consistent high-quality photos. +1 on the great flash balance on this thing.

Here's an entry from my blog: http://manilacamerastyle.com/post/1067138434/my-favorite-camera

(Lots of other film cameras on the blog too, BTW - http://manilacamerastyle.com, in case you want to see cameras and samples.)

 

[Monz]

What I remember best about the non-zoom Minilux was the fast autofocus, the perfect flash/ambient balance for portraits, and impeccable image quality. Other plusses were the ability to pre-focus and a clever way to align the aperture and manual focus dial for hyperfocal shooting.

It's one of the few compacts that's quick enough to capture the decisive moment..

Minor quibbles included a tiny viewfinder, noisy AF motors and some button pressing required after switching on to set the flash the way I liked best..

Yeah, 6 presses of same button to switch off flash (which is not remembered when camera is swithced off). The film wind is noisy too; so it is not a stealth camera. But the lens is superb. The aperture priority is handy. The camera can be easily used one-handed.

@kully: I was too lazy to remove the tape 🙂

 

[Rayt]

also the flash is great, the lens is superb, cant complain about the viewfinder since i don't look through it when i walk.
but if i could afford a t3 i'd get that
some people have the terrible E02 error code and give up, i've never had that problem but i hear it's common, i heard once that it might be caused by the the battery life indicator. supposedly when the camera says the battery is at half power it really means it's less than 25% and should be replaced, the lack of power to the motors then drive the leicas shutter off the cliff.

I have four of them and all had E02 and all were fixed by the Leica agent. This was what the Leica agent told me: There is a flexible circuit strip (I don't know the technical term for it) that connects the lens to the main circuit board. When the camera turns on and off the lens extends and retracts causing fatigue at the at the point where the strip meets the lens and in time it will fail.

I believe the bit in your post about the faulty power read out is attributed to the Leica CM.

 

[matthewm]

I rather enjoyed my Minilux (non-zoom version). It's actually one of the few cameras I've regretted parting ways with. The viewfinder is definitely small, but, as others said, it's an autofocus camera so as long as your subject is in the center when you focus, you can recompose and it will hit focus 8 times out of 10 at the worst.

Here are a few images I shot walking around NYC last year. It's a great little inconspicuous camera. I now have a Fuji Klasse that I would HIGHLY recommend as well. It's probably my favorite 35mm compact of all time and a darn good performer.

 

[David Hughes]

Hmmm, I remembered last night and might as well stir this pot again.

The minilux is a P&S with a subtle difference in that it can also fire off as aperture priority, or am I thinking of something else? So alternatives ought to be both pure "P" mode P&S and "A" mode as well. There's not many of those about. Isn't there a neat Contax one in both 35mm and one in APS (the Tix FWIW)?

Regards, David

 

[sara]

Thanks guys, I think I may go have a look at the Fuji Klasse or Contax T2...now to start saving up again...sigh! lol

 

[muf]

Consider also the Ricoh GR1v. Smaller, slimmer and takes better pictures. The ergonomics blast the minilux out of the water. It's a jeans pocket camera unlike all the other high end P&S's, which are just a little too chunky to qualify. If high quality+ergonomics matter then it's well worth a look. The Klasse is bigger and chunkier but does takes marginally better pictures.

 

[metalrose]

The lens on Minilux is better than that on T2.
I prefer Minilux.