If you have always sighed to own a Leica camera but quailed at the price of the new ones, there is an opportunity for you now in the secondhand shelves of Camera Electronic.
Ignore the gold-washed Leicavich 35mm camera - that's just an ex-Soviet Fed faked up for the sucker market. Buy it for a talking point, if you fancy, but know what it is.
Look more closely, however, at the Digilux 2 sitting behind it. The camera with the silver finish and leather strap.
It's not new - and it's not ex-Wetzlar - but it
is a genuine Leica made in collaboration with Panasonic of Japan and it has a genuine Summicron lens ( probably made in Yamagata ). All this is good.
The camera will not have the screen or the resolution of a new
Leica Cl or
M10. You cannot expect that. It has nowhere NEAR the number of numbers in its price tag as those modern cameras, however - and there is your advantage. The rest of it is made to very high standards indeed and can serve very well.
And, it has a Vario-Summicron that will deliver the same magnification ratios as a 28-90mm lens would on a 35mm camera. Plus a useful macro focusing range.
The battery is large for the size of the camera and can be supplied readily - they are still available from a number of makers. Card is a standard SD. there are signal sockets for ins and outs on the left hand side of the camera.
What's not to like - for pocket money you can own a Leica. A Summicron zoom instead of a no-name eBay lens.
