Kidney for sale My first Leica

OK Hivers it’s only a Leica D-Lux 7 compact so my body parts are still mostly intact.

So why Leica? The simple answer is Black and White there is something about the internal firmware of Leica cameras that produces amazing B&W contrast, yes if you work at it you can produce something similar in Lightroom or PhotoShop but I’m lazy and don’t really have the eye unlike Hive account@scubahead but set up the Leica in high contrast monochrome and a few in camera tweaks and boom. And there is always the famous red dot logo on show.

So Hivers what about the camera. As I said it’s a used D-lux 7 so not the cheapest Leica compact I could find but not in the stratospheric levels of the newer digital M series or some of the old classic film cameras, small side fact the most expensive camera ever sold at auction was a Leica O series film camera at 14.4 million euros.

The D-Lux 7 has only just been discontinued and the one I managed to find was only a year old with some accessory’s, so a lot more modern than my Olympus Pen Mini. Which may sadly be relegated off the street photography top slot.

As cameras go the D-Lux 7 is solid and very well built being part of the collaboration between Leica and Panasonic technically it is a brother to the Panasonic LX-100 II. The cameras have slightly different body and software but the mechanics are the same. Size wise it’s very similar to my much older Olympus Pen Mini.

The D-Lux 7 is true compact with a built in 24-75mm F1.7-2.8 Summilux lens. So covers most street Photography situations. It has a micro 4/3 MOS sensor similar to my Olympus cameras so I’m not a complete sell out on the small camera format.

Time to go out and take some photos once it stops raining one small down side of the D-lux 7 is it’s not weather sealed like my Olympus OMDs so using it in the rain or damp is an issue. So I guess it’s YouTube and how best to set up the camera for monochrome photos.