Remember these relics: shutter-speed dials; metering-mode switches; and mechanical rings for aperture, zoom, and focus control? Stone Age technology, sure, but here’s an amusing factoid: they work a whole lot better than the motorized, menu-ized, electro-fantabulous cybercontrols that dominate new digital camera design. Enter Leica and its 5-megapixel, 3.2X zoom Digilux 2, which boasts all of those Stone Age controls. It thereby outclasses nearly every other consumer digital model, but alas, it ends up falling far short of being the old-school enthusiast’s dream digital camera. Plus, it costs as much as a higher-resolution, entry-level digital SLR with a couple of lenses, which will rightly be a tempting alternative for many. If you’re willing to give up that swanky, red Leica badge, you can find the nearly identical Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1 for about $250 less.

View Source

No Comments »