Back to the origin of photography, the eye of Germany, Leica X2 top portable computer hands-on play.

? It's hard to imagine a portable camera with only one focus, no classified menu at all, and a screen of only 27 inches and 230 thousand pixels, which can be set more expensive than the current 5D2. However, seeing the red coke label on the fuselage, everything seems quite reasonable.

However, just the label of coke can attract a group of die-hard users? Before using this Leica X2 made by Leica in Germany, I was actually skeptical about the imaging ability of this camera, but after a few days of getting along, I was deeply attracted by the characteristics of this top-class laptop.

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Appearance:

Personally, I think that although Sigma DP family initiated the generation of portable APS-C film, what really caused the trend was X 1, the predecessor of this X2. Without X 1, perhaps Fuji would not try to launch X 100 with similar characteristics, and it would not lay the foundation for Fuji to make up its mind to go retro design.

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X2 continues the design of X 1, which comes from the traditional M-series paraxial camera with circular arcs at the corners. The fuselage skin occupies about 2/3 of the area, but the design of the observation window is less than the Leica classic design. In addition to the shutter button, there is an aperture and shutter dial at the top of the machine. In addition to flashing lights, hot boots can also expand the electronic observation window. There are five shortcut function keys on the left side of the screen on the back of the machine. On the left side are integrated direction and shortcut keys and double dials.

The shape of the built-in flash is funny, and the upper cover is round. Although the ejection mechanism is similar to Panasonic GX 1 and Sony NEXF, it cannot be fixed with fingers. In addition, the whole fuselage is almost made of aluminum, including the two turntables on it.

Hardware:

Leica X2 uses the same photosensitive element as X 1, which is an APS-C CMOS element with 16MP. The matching lens is Leica El Mei Lite 2.8 24mm ASPH. The equivalent focal length is 35mm, the lens structure is 6 groups and 8 lenses, and the recent shooting distance is 30cm. It is a little inconvenient to shoot some close-up objects with life. The number of ISO parts ranges from 100 to 25600, and the highest number of ISO parts in continuous shooting is three or eight per second.

Operating experience:

Consumers who are used to Japanese high-end portable cameras other than Fuji X 100 should be a little dumbfounded when they see Leica X2 for the first time, because although there is a double dial on the top of the camera, there is no mode dial. Where is the common PASM? In fact, for X2, when both turntables are in the A range, it means automatic mode, while rotating the aperture means aperture priority, rotating the shutter means shutter priority, and turning both turntables out of the A range means full manual mode.

However, since the aperture and shutter have their own turntables, what are the two turntables on the back of the fuselage for? The author feels more subtle about the German UI logic ... The dial above can quickly select from various menus instead of the direction keys, or zoom in and out as a photo preview, as well as the focal length selection of manual focusing; The circle outside the arrow keys is better. Its most important function is to adjust the long shutter when the shutter exceeds 1 sec.

As for the switch integrated with the shutter, there are two modes: S and C. At first, I thought it was single focus and focus pursuit, but S and C refer to single shot and continuous shooting mode. It seems that I have been brainwashed by Japanese cameras for too long.

As for the menu UI, it's a bit difficult for me to get started, not because it's complicated, but because X2's menu doesn't arrange different types of functions into its own columns like Japanese cameras, but arranges all the function settings in a whole line. Although similar functions will be placed nearby, when looking for specific functions, we must look at them one by one.

Unlike Japanese cameras, manual focusing only has a small box in the middle of a small 2.7-inch screen with a resolution of only 230,000 pixels. To tell you the truth, I find it a bit difficult to use. Maybe manual mode is more suitable for electronic observation window.

As for focusing, Leica provides four modes, namely single point, 1 1 point automatic selection, spot metering and face recognition (shock! ), the single-point mode only provides the center-point focusing mode. It is a little uncomfortable to return to the center-point focusing for a while with a camera that is used to choosing the focus freely, but the center-point is already the most basic ability to take pictures and compose pictures. X2 still allows the camera to move after focusing to compose pictures.

In terms of color, X2 doesn't have many post-processing filters like Japanese cameras. It only offers five kinds, including standard, bright, natural, natural black and white and high contrast black and white. Without fancy filters, it can still take photos for post-processing, but it will lose the original image interpretation of Leica in this camera.

Photo experience:

To be honest, on the first day I used X2, I was really curious about its performance, because the 2.7-inch 230,000-pixel LCD was not ideal for viewing photos, because I couldn't see the texture of photos at a glance, and this LCD had purple spots when previewing black and white photos, which made people a little worried.

When I was a complete stranger to X2, I woke up the next day, went directly to the place where I wanted to take pictures, and frantically pressed the shutter. In the case of previewing and watching photos with LCD, I don't have much hope for the photos taken by X2. However, when taking slightly contrasting backlight photos, the author found that the purple edge and glare that often appear in general portable computers are not obvious in X2.

As for focusing, I have never used X 1, so I can't compare it with X 1. However, it is said that the focusing system is much better than X 1. My personal feeling is that X2 focuses fast enough, the right object will focus soon, even if it is not right, it will give up soon, and the photographer's time will not be wasted because the bellows finally announces that focusing has failed.

After going home to check the photos on the first day, I opened the first high-contrast black-and-white photo taken at that time and was shocked by its quality. Perhaps in terms of high ISO performance, the noise performance of the electronically processed X2 is not excellent compared with that of Japanese cameras. But the degree of detail preservation and the level of gray level are impressive. Although it is black and white with high contrast, unlike ordinary cameras, the layering of high contrast black and white is replaced by strong black and white, and the gray of X2 is also colorful.

As for the performance of color photos, the author often shoots with bright colors, and the color of X2 is quite dignified and weighty, which will not completely explode for bright colors, and will give rich color changes to the light and shadow in the shooting subject; However, personally, X2 is more moving in black and white than color photos, so almost all the photos taken this time are mainly in black and white.

The following photos were taken with X2:

Color part:

Original drawing file: Please click on me.

Original drawing file: Please click on me.

Original drawing file: Please click on me.

Original drawing file: Please click on me.

Original drawing file: Please click on me.

Black and white part:

Original drawing file: Please click on me.

Original drawing file: Please click on me.

Conclusion:

I haven't received orthodox photography education, and most of them are based on the habit of constantly taking pictures when I first came into contact with the camera, which really can't give full play to the real strength of this camera. However, I still want to mention this monster-class top portable camera as much as possible. This camera allows me to focus on experiencing photography instead of playing with the camera's functions.

I don't consider which scene mode to adopt, nor do I decide which filter to adopt. I think the fixed focus of 24mm is equivalent to 35mm, which is only a little wider than the standard focus for traditional negative users, and it is quite used to this focus for old players. For a time, I only took a fixed-focus lens with an equivalent of about 50mm all day. Once I had a camera with a single-point fixed focus, I could only use the central point to compose the composition. In fact, shortly after I arrived at X2, I began to recall the restricted time.

When all conditions are getting worse, that is, when photographers want to learn to live, they should know what is good and what is not good in their hands, and don't force themselves to shoot unsuitable subjects. For the author, the focal length of X2 is used for street shooting and snapshot shooting. Because the focus distance and magnification of 30mm are average, it is easy to create a shot by drawing close-up objects as far away from the background and foreground as possible. These questions that I haven't thought about for a long time, when I use X2, I can't help but start thinking again.

I really want to describe X2. I don't think it is a friendly camera. You have to adapt to its strange temper, especially the UI, and give up the fancy camera photo post-production function. However, when you let go of all the constraints on the electronic function of the camera, go back to the simplest and most important thing, follow the light and shadow, piece together the composition, think about the influence of aperture and shutter, and then regain the impression brought by the image from the photo.