I'm thinking abt getting a minilux and would like to hear anyones experience?

-- Dennis KW Lim (kweilim@hotmail.com), April 10, 2002

Answers

Erwin Puts has a page about the qualities of the lens (Summarit 1:2.4/40mm). Click here

-- Bert Keuken (bkkn@wanadoo.nl), April 10, 2002.

Oops, sorry!

The Leica Minilux and Summarit 1:2.4/40mm

-- Bert Keuken (bkkn@wanadoo.nl), April 10, 2002.

Bought a minilux a couple of weeks ago and got the first print results 1 day before shooting 2 rolls during the wedding of my daughter. The results were very very good and nearly, for this occasion, as good as my M6 shots. This camera is worth every dime and got me once more hooked to Leica.

-- André Bosmans (a.bosmans@pandora.be), April 10, 2002.

I've had a minilux with fixed lens for one year.

Quality of the lens is excellent for a P&S. I really got some stunning pictures with my Minilux. Amateur Photography (a UK weekly) rated it as having the best lens available among top notch P&S with fixed lenses last year. I'm not impressed by the quality of their tests though. As suggested above, see Erwin Putts for more.

You can switch to semi-auto (aperture priority) and manual focus (by estimating distances: No rangefinder), which for me is critical.

Ergonomics is OK, but not great: When you turn the camera on, you have a fully automated mode (flash will fire if needed) which I never used: I had to set my setting every time I turned the camera on, and it took a long time.

Some Minilux (zoom and fixed lens) develop a fault with the obturator which cost about $150 to fix. I have given my Minilux to somebody and it developed the problem since then...

Xavier Colmant

-- Xavier Colmant (xcolmant@powerir.com), April 10, 2002.

Very nice point and shoot camera. I use to own one got hooked, now I am up to an M7, 2 M3s an M2 shall I go on?

-- John Abela (jamriman@yahoo.com), April 10, 2002.

I've owned one for about a year also. Optically the Minilux is excellent. I have read countless reports of it having a less-than- durable shutter which costs quite a bit to repair. If the Minilux were a $150 P&S it wouldn't even be discussed, but an $800+ camera is too expensive to be considered disposible, yet I would think also at that price one should expect more durability. I bought my Minilux second-hand, mint-in-box for about $400, to be kept in my luggage as a last-ditch backup replacing a Rollei 35S which was used for that purpose for many years but is a guess-focus-only camera and so a problem at wide apertures close-up. At the price I paid and for the purpose I intend, the Minilux is a good choice. I would not even consider buying it new and using it as my main camera. For the same $850 I could get a Bessa R and one lens.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), April 10, 2002.

The Minilux takes great pictures, but I found it to be a bit "redundant", and that holds true even more now than before.

At its weight and size, you might as well endure a little more size and weight and take your M + compact lens along. It's by no means a pocketable camera (well, maybe your large winter jacket's pocket), and it's quite heavy. If you don't own an M-body and are shopping for a high-end point-n-shoot, the Contax T- series (particularly the T3) are more portable.

Bear in mind that most Leica users prefer no-flash photography, and this setting must be manually set every time you turn on the camera. A big hassle, and typical of the ergonomic mess of the Minlux. And one last thing-- it's very un-Leica like in its decibel rating-- you can hear the thing from across the room!

-- JM Woo (wooismyid@deletethis.yahoo.com), April 11, 2002.

You can do a lot with an aperture priority camera having a fixed focal length. Especially if the lens is a 40mm/2.4 Leica lens. Throw in some B&W film and you might just get some of your most memorable photos, since you no longer have to worry about zooming, metering, focusing, etc. and can enjoy the beautiful output of a superb lens. I used two different cameras at my son's wedding last January, a Contax N1 (24-85, 70-300) for color and a Minilux for B&W. With the Minilux the number of successful images was much greater. Don't know why, it just was. You could buy an M7, 35mm and 50mm Summicron for about $4,300 or a Minilux for $475. What more can you really do with a 35mm/F2 and a 50mm/F2 that you can't do with a 40mm/F2.4 in a much more convenient package?

-- Phil George (p.george@telus.net), April 11, 2002.

late again, but here goes. great camera, with 2 problems:

like many autfocus p&s, it is excricitaintlgy log between shutter press and exposure. At least, if you are used to the immedicay of the m-series. 1st version, fixed lens (which is great, optically), the settings do not stick -- that is, fill flash (or whatver) must be reset every time you turn the thing on. that, and some other fetures, imprved in later version.

-- L Smith (lacsmith@bellsouth.net), April 11, 2002.

Dennis, you might like to scroll down and look up previous Minilux questions (also look up LUG). My Minilux took me to various countries, produced very sharp pictures with lots of detail, and survived a drop from a ski lift...BUT developed the infamous EO2 fault, which necessitates a new shutter. I don't believe this camera is made to last, so I agree with others: get an M, which will last forever, or for a carry-anywhere-don't-worry-about-point-and-shoot-camera, scout around for a cheaper (and lighter) leica mini 2 or 3, Yashica T5, or Olympus stylus/mju.

-- David Killick (dalex@inet.net.nz), April 12, 2002.

I got a Contax T3 to slip into a pocket when even an M body and 35mm Summicron was too big. It's been a constant companion and responsible for some of my favourite images, I really appreciate the T3's size and weight advantage over the Minilux, plus the flash can be permanently turned off. Woody Allen said that 90% of life is just turning up, I guess 90% of photography is just having a camera to hand when you need one!

-- Gary Ferguson (garyfergus@email.msn.com), April 13, 2002.