Would you buy a Digital Leica CL ?

[CameraQuest]

All this Mini M talk has got me thinking.

Would you buy a full frame digital Leica CL body for $3000?

I would.

Let the poll begin -

Keep in mind the $3000 price is there only as a low ball price for the red dot and Leica nameplate.

Other manufacturers would market a camera with similar specs for a LOT less.

Stephen

 

[back alley]

my fuji x-e1 already does what a dcl would...i would think.

 

[biomed]

I lusted for the CL when they first came out. I would really have to think about a digital version. Being recently retired, $3K is a bit over my budget, though it would be nice to use my collection of CV lenses on a compact FF digital body.

Mike

 

[sparrow6224]

I voted no, I'd use the $$ on a D800. While it's by all reports making progress, my beloved Leica people have not thus far produced/solicited/chosen a sensor that is competitive with what FF cameras from Nikon, Canon, Sony can provide in terms of image quality/resolution/noise management at high ISO levels. I currently use a D700 for my digital work. It creates technically superb images. When I wish to do the creating, I use b/w film.

Actually, thinking about it, there should be another category: No, I'd save up for the M Monochrom instead. I would choose THAT answer. It produces the only digital b/w images I've seen that compete with film in terms of richness of texture. Or so it seems to me. I'd have to see the prints, I suppose, to know for sure.

 

[lynnb]

That's beyond my budget - but the CL has always been popular for its small form factor and I think it would sell like hot cakes if they made one. Even if it gets replaced by an updated sensor model every 3 years.

 

[Rodchenko]

Over my budget, but that would be a camera I would love to own and use.

 

[robert blu]

Good idea, but I already spent money, a lot of money on my Leica x1 and 3.000 $ = 2.500 EUR would be too much.
robert

 

[Godfrey]

The Leica CL is actually my favorite M-mount camera. Size, shape, weight, controls, etc are all just right for me. I know the Ms are better made, have more rangefinder baseline, etc, but the CL has always been as sweet a camera as they come in my hands.

I bought another CL again last Fall, and it felt like I was home again. A CL with 40, 90 and 21 mm lenses is an almost perfect kit.

I've been saying since 2002 that if Leica made a digital CL I'd buy one as soon as I could raise the money. I'm not changing that now. ;-)

G

 

[Rodchenko]

Even better - a Minolta Digital CL-E? 😉

 

[reiki_]

Even better - a Minolta Digital CL-E? 😉

And only if it would be as pretty as the original 🙂 .

 

[maddoc]

... with frame lines for 40mm (or even better with menu-selectable frame lines that also adjust while focusing) then it could become interesting for color pictures. 🙂

 

[ruby.monkey]

Option 2b -> Yes, but purely on its own merits.

 

[thegman]

Not for me, $3k buys a lot of camera(s) I'd rather have.

 

[Murchu]

Yes, if I had the money, and if it gave me the experience that shooting a film M currently does. Probably a big ask with regard to the latter, as I had and sold a film CL as I loved the size, but not the viewfinder, and I reached for my film M's first.

 

[--s]

No way. Digital requires a large rf base.
Besides, my film CL is hardly ever used, big M feels so much better.

 

[zuikologist]

No way. Digital requires a large rf base.
.

Interested to know why. Focus accuracy beyond film requirements?

 

[--s]

When I got the M9 I first noticed that the Summilux 50 asph. is out of alignment, something I never saw on film. Now, aligned and matching the M9, the Lux is an incredible performer, what I also never saw on film.
film emulsions swallow some of the unsharpness, while a sensor needs focus spot on.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Could they get FF digital into a CL body? I suspect not.

Also, wouldn't it make more sense to cut costs by concentrating on live view, sans RF, rather than making another RF body? With a crippled (short-base) RF at that? Where's the logic in cannibalizing M (RF) sales?

Cheers,

R.

 

[johannielscom]

Rather keep the 3 G's and go with what I've got.

 

[Kent]

Would be a very interesting thing, but too expensive.
I stick with my M8. 😉