For a couple of years, I've been wanting to get a new camera. Photography is one of my passions, and combine this with my love of travel, a digital SLR is a constant companion. I have also been using my boyfriend's point-and-shoot Panasonic. It's small enough to fit in my handbag and comes out during lunch break walks around London. Unfortunately, I will be leaving London soon, but that is a topic for another post.
My current camera is a digital SLR Canon Rebel. I've never been completely happy with the camera, even though I've calibrated it and set the white balance. Generally, it's been a good camera and has allowed me to have control, whilst giving me the option to change lenses. However, what I was not happy with was the colour of the images it captured. This seemed most evident to me in the "blue" colour range. I particularly remember a trip to Greece, and we had gone to the Aegean Sea, noted for its beautiful deep blue-green waters. Unfortunately, my digital SLR Canon Rebel refused to capture the beautiful blue. It's also done the same for photographs of the sky. Many may not have noticed this, but I did, and it really did annoy me. Why? Because my film SLR took the most amazing photographs and captured colour perfectly. Because a digital camera should be able to capture the colour and not compromise.
That leads me to this discussion and one reason that I have decided to go for the Leica V-Lux 3, after spending quite a few hours doing research. Leica cameras are an expensive brand, and there are comparable models out there, but after doing some research on other websites and comparing photographs of the results, I have made the decision to purchase the Leica V-Lux 3. (The comparable camera models are not quite as good when you compare them like-for-like, and I felt that spending some extra money would be worth the cost.) Even though the camera is not really a DSLR, I decided to try it anyway. Besides, carrying a lot of camera kit around on holiday and only using one lens mainly anyway, I decided that I would like a camera that is a bit lighter. The Leica Lux-3 does seem like Leica's marketing for the travel market.
My only regret is that I do not have the money to buy the Leica M8 or the Leica M9, which look like amazing cameras. However, if I could buy one, I certainly would not be taking it on holiday for fear of having it stolen or damaged. In that instance, I would not be getting all of my money out of it.
My Leica V-Lux 3 arrived earlier this week, but I was unable to test it properly until this weekend. I hopped on a train today and visited London. I used the automatic setting on the camera for most of the day. I still need to play with the settings more and discover how to change the aperture on manual settings. Some of my photographs look a little blurry, but this was probably due to incorrect shutter speed, slight over-exposure in the automatic setting, or simply focusing on the wrong area. However, I am pleased with the camera and very pleased with the colour. The image below was taken with my new camera using the automatic setting; I really could not spend ages setting manual settings in front of a busy street in front of a department store in central London, particularly as I am still learning how to use the camera. I absolutely love these rich colours.
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