Hi Steve,
I’ve been on your inspirational (and bankrupting) site nearly daily ever since I googled for Leica camera reviews a year ago, and despite your enthusiasm for the M8/9 and all those wonderful lenses I hopefully will own some day, I thought for my purposes (social and travel) that the Leica X1 would be a perfect match for me. Your reviews and sample pictures helped me deciding on buying one. I’ve not been disappointed and I am always happy to bring it with me where-ever I go. And since the new firmware update it’s even snappier and has greatly improved focus features. And such great IQ… for such a small camera, even at very low light/high iso.
But the question remained if this would also be a perfect travel camera. I own a lot of different cameras in the meantime, and my dslr with zoom would be an obvious choice for flexibility when going on a trip to Asia. But the weight! I really would have loved to bring my Leica digilux-2 too, but that is quite a machine size-wise. How compact, light and easy to use with those manual dials is my Leica X1 in comparison!
So I decided to leave to Cambodia with the Leica X1 (plus Leica 36mm viewfinder and a spare battery) only, despite the camera’s limitations in macro and zoom. In this 35 degrees Celcius tropical moist heat here I hardly notice my camera hanging around my neck, and I smile seeing other travellers sweating through the jungle with their dslr’s and lenses. It’s just too unpleasant to carry 3kg of equipment with you, not the mention the extra bottles of water needed for the effort.
And now back here in my hostel after a long sweaty day out there, looking through my first images on my netbook, I think I can conclude that the compact Leica X1 is my ideal travel camera. Three images as inspiration, converted to black and white, because that’s how I like my photography best. Hope you enjoy them! Thnx for reading.
🙂 Aad Berkhout
(Rotterdam, the Netherlands)
~aadb
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Wonderful pictures. I get more complements on my photos from X1 than my M9. I don’t have a good eye for M9 like steve. Steve is genius. Thanks for sharing.
Great images, Aad! I also really like the first image. I fully agree with you that the X1 has a lot to offer in a small package. I was also in the same boat with you as I bought my X1 mainly because of having read Steve’s reviews on the X1. I have posted a couple images from the X1 on my homepage (http://www.chaiporn.com/Home/Photos/Photos.html).
First image is fantastic. Thanks for sharing. Makes me think about the X1. Ahhhh, that has to stop. D!RK
Nice images Aad and an inspiring story – I too like the Digilux 2 for its lens and ergonomics but not for its size (for travelling), slow electronics / poor ISO performance (but then it is 8 years old !)
I think an X1 may be on the agenda for 2011
Kind regards
Roy
Fantastic photographs! I really like the first one and the last one a lot. I was one of the unfortunate souls carrying a huge Canon DSLR through the Indonesian rainforest last year. Not making that mistake again!
Thanks Aad!
truly inspirational pictures, although i have the idea they look even crisper in your flickr account.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aad_b/5657198018/in/photostream/lightbox/
Dangerous post as well. i think i need the X1 now 😉