Leica Leica X type 113

I have never done underwater photography and if I did, I wouldn't want to risk an expensive Leica. The X-U costs almost as much as the Q, and still lacks a built-in viewfinder. I would buy a used X113 or perhaps a Sony RX100 series of Leica D-Lux, but the X-U isn't really on my radar at that price point and still APS-C and no EVF.

A pro photographer friend of mine keeps promising to take my X-U underwater. He shoots mostly models under water, but occasionally does nature too. Hopefully he'll get to this soon.
 
Asiafish
With regard to x vario.....it did not pose any problems for you that the camera a bit bulky and lens on the slow side?

I passed up some good deals on this camera and I rather regret it.
 
Asiafish
With regard to x vario.....it did not pose any problems for you that the camera a bit bulky and lens on the slow side? I passed up some good deals on this camera and I rather regret it.

The XV is not bulky, but the front is heavier than the back which makes it feel unbalanced. The lens, at f3.5 max aperture, often missed shots in alleys with poor lighting, if I didn't raise the ISO in advance. Here's one that barely made keeper.
image.jpeg
 
A pro photographer friend of mine keeps promising to take my X-U underwater. He shoots mostly models under water, but occasionally does nature too. Hopefully he'll get to this soon.

I have to admit, I find it very curious that nobody except that nice girl from Leica Store Miami seems to have taken it underwater. I've seen a few X-U shots on Flickr, but few of them seem to do anything underwater in anything deeper than a puddle. By the way, I visited Leica Store Miami about a week ago and was very impressed by the sales experience.

I'm curious, Dale, what made you decide on the X-U instead of a regular X type 113?

The two reasons for me to buy an X-U are:

- To take it underwater so that I can enjoy very high quality underwater photography from my boat.
- To get a nice taste of the Leica photographic style.

Since you have the experience of having owned so many Leicas, do you think my second goal would be achieved through an X-U?
 
I have to admit, I find it very curious that nobody except that nice girl from Leica Store Miami seems to have taken it underwater. I've seen a few X-U shots on Flickr, but few of them seem to do anything underwater in anything deeper than a puddle. By the way, I visited Leica Store Miami about a week ago and was very impressed by the sales experience. I'm curious, Dale, what made you decide on the X-U instead of a regular X type 113? The two reasons for me to buy an X-U are:
- To take it underwater so that I can enjoy very high quality underwater photography from my boat.
- To get a nice taste of the Leica photographic style. Since you have the experience of having owned so many Leicas, do you think my second goal would be achieved through an X-U?

Yes and yes. I love the 'X' images, which to me look more like good art than technically accurate images (sorry for the very imprecise analogy). From all I've seen, I'd say the X-U images are exactly the same as the regular 'X', shooting on land. No compromises. Like the X1 I had from 2010 to 2012, but better.

The reason I got the X-U is when I decided to dump the 'Q', they gave me $2800, so I decided I'd put that toward the (then) $2950 X-U, and have the weather/water/dust sealing just in case. No regrets BTW.

To me, shooting the X-U is an absolute pleasure for common daily use - street, landscape, informal portrait, etc. It fits my hands very well, is relatively light, and with my Oberwerth carry bag, very hip looking.
 
Asiafish
With regard to x vario.....it did not pose any problems for you that the camera a bit bulky and lens on the slow side?

I passed up some good deals on this camera and I rather regret it.


Of course the slow lens was restrictive in low light, and of course it bulky, but I knew that going in.

I still can't think of another camera that is better for moderate-good light walk around use. I regret selling mine and may get another (or X-113).
 
isnt there a 'digital distance scale' in manual focus mode? like fuji has?

Even better - to get to manual focus you merely twist the lens barrel from 'A' to the other positions - i.e. from about 0.75 ft to infinity. And it gets better - the screen gives an enlarged area while focusing so that a precise visual focus is possible.
 
All that is very cool. My question was imprecisely formulated. I meant x vario....how could that be prefocused ?
 
All that is very cool. My question was imprecisely formulated. I meant x vario....how could that be prefocused ?

It's no different from any camera - either use the distance setting on the lens ring (zone focus) or use the focus assist on the monitor.
 
cmon guys! the distance setting on a regular lens ring has both distances AND where corresponding apertures fall along that scale, thus they can be easily 'prefocused' per a given in-focus range at each given aperture. it does not appear that the lens on the xvario has that feature as there are no aperture values on the lens so there is no way to tell where say the 'range of focus' at f8 differs from f3.5. thats what OP is asking about, 'focal range' per each aperture, not exact focus 'distance'. we are looking for DOF, not exact focal distance from a specific subject. (on other digicams like fuji, the lcd/evf provides the missing 'scale', which 'in focus' area changes as one changes the aperture, thus again providing the photographer with an understanding of what AREA will be 'in focus' at any given aperture).
 
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so i guess the answer is no, there is no way to judge DOF for zone focus purposes on the xvario. i didnt know that and it could be important to potential purchasers who want to use a camera in a certain way.
 
so i guess the answer is no, there is no way to judge DOF for zone focus purposes on the xvario. i didnt know that and it could be important to potential purchasers who want to use a camera in a certain way.

It is a live view camera, so if you're using the enlarged center view for manual focusing, it should help.
 
yeah, but again, and not to beat a dead horse, i find it confusing that a company with their 'simplicity' mantra--and their pship with consumer oriented panasonic--would not include a simple method to do what leica shooters are known for doing: zone focusing. either on the lens or like panny and fuji, with a software scale. doesnt seem so difficult to me, and its exclusion seems to defy 'leica logic'. yes there are other solutions, but imo, none as efficient as a simple DOF scale.
 
yeah, but again, and not to beat a dead horse, i find it confusing that a company with their 'simplicity' mantra--and their pship with consumer oriented panasonic--would not include a simple method to do what leica shooters are known for doing: zone focusing. either on the lens or like panny and fuji, with a software scale. doesnt seem so difficult to me, and its exclusion seems to defy 'leica logic'. yes there are other solutions, but imo, none as efficient as a simple DOF scale.

Interestingly enough, the Leica S and SL both have a really cool software scale on the top LCD. It reads out the focus distance and the front and rear in-focus measures based on depth of field. Perhaps they can add something like this to the X-series in a firmware upgrade.
 
yeah, but again, and not to beat a dead horse, i find it confusing that a company with their 'simplicity' mantra--and their pship with consumer oriented panasonic--would not include a simple method to do what leica shooters are known for doing: zone focusing. either on the lens or like panny and fuji, with a software scale. doesnt seem so difficult to me, and its exclusion seems to defy 'leica logic'. yes there are other solutions, but imo, none as efficient as a simple DOF scale.

Maybe I misunderstand, but my fixed-lens X-113 has markings for the focus distance, i.e. center of focus (center of the DOF), but there's nothing there to indicate DOF, let alone DOF for different apertures. How would such a thing be implemented on a primitive camera like the X, or the X Vario? My $20000 MM+Noctilux was no better - in fact worse because of the rangefinder. The X Vario, unless I'm mistaken, is more complicated because of the zoom lens.

BTW, I don't think I've ever had a digital camera that I could set to manual focus and infinity and be in sharpest focus at long distances. You would think that the maximum setting for distance would always be infinity, but that hasn't been my experience. BTW, the X-113 has an infinity setting on the lens barrel, and when you rotate the barrel from less than infinity to infinity, there's a friction stop there, so presumably that really is infinity, but I don't remember testing it.
 
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