LEICA C-LUX 1

Review and Photo example of the LEICA C-LUX1.

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The C-LUX 1 is a compact digital camera released by Leica under the OEM contract with Panasonic. The original camera was the LUMIX DMC-FX01. It is a bit thick to begin with, but it seems to have been successfully adapted from the Panasonic camera’s appearance to the Leica-style exterior design.

Released in 2006, it is already in the category of an old compact digital camera.

The image sensor has 6 million pixels, and as a slightly old compact digital camera, it is sufficient in performance. The display on the rear LCD is a little overexposed, so the highlights look blown out, but when viewed on a PC, it is displayed correctly, so the quality of the rear LCD display feels old.

ISO 100 is difficult in dark places, and perhaps because it was around the time when cameras started to be equipped with the MEGA OIS image stabilization function, its effect is rarely clearly felt.

The lens is a Leica DC VARIO-ELMARIT lens, 6 groups, 7 elements (4 aspherical lenses), with built-in optical image stabilization (Mega-OIS), f=4.6-16.8mm / F2.8 (wide end) to F5.6 (telephoto end). At the wide-angle end, barrel distortion is noticeable when shooting a grid-like object, depending on the shooting distance.

In 35mm equivalent, it is a 3x zoom lens of 28mm to 102mm, and 28mm on the wide-angle side was the standard focal length in 2006, but a little before that it was 35mm, so compact digital cameras from around 2006 are easy to use for snapshots. In later years, the telephoto zoom ratio competes with the 102mm telephoto zoom, and then with 10x, 20x, and 30x zoom, but I personally think that a zoom range of about 3x is easy to use.

The C-LUX1 was released in black and silver. The black is a glossy black that remains the same until the C-LUX3, while the silver is a matte silver with a calm look. This matte silver is used for the C-LUX1 and C-LUX2. The C-LUX3 comes in black and white.

The battery is the BP-DC4, which has the same model number as the D-LUX 1, D-LUX 2, D-LUX 3, and D-LUX 4, but it is different from the C-LUX2 and C-LUX3, so please be careful.

Compatible batteries such as the Panasonic DMW-BCC12, Ricoh DB-60, DB-65, and Fujifilm NP-70 also seem to be compatible in terms of shape and voltage. There are also reports that the Sigma BP-41 is compatible, but there is also information that some of the claws are in different positions, so caution is required. In addition, we do not recommend the use of compatible batteries, and if you do use them, please do so at your own risk.

Please note that the camera supports memory cards up to 2GB, but does not support larger capacity SDHC or SDXC cards.

I purchased this camera second-hand and it arrived in a fairly worn original Leica box, but it appears to have been handled quite carefully and is in excellent condition with no noticeable scratches.

Specification

Items	Value	Note
Effective pixels	6-Megapixels
Lens	Leica DC VARIO-ELMARIT Lens 7 elements in 6 groups (4 aspherical lens elements) Built-in optical image stabilizer (Mega-OIS) f=4.6 – 16.8mm/F2.8(wide end) – F5.6(tele end)	35mm equivalent: 　　　28 to 102mm
撮像素子	1/2.5 CCD sensor
Finder	none
Back LCD	2.5 type
Memory-card	SD Card	Supports up to 2GB No built-in recording memory
Battery	BP-DC4	Compatible Battery Panasonic DMW-BCC12
Size(mm)	Width x Height x Depth 95 ×52 ×26
Weight(g)	162 (Include battery and Memory card)

Model history

Model name	C-LUX 1	C-LUX 2	C-LUX 3	LEICA C typ1122	C-LUX typ1546
focal length	28-102	28-102	25-125	28-200	24-360
Pixels	6.37	7.2	10.1	12.1	10.1
Sensor	1/2.5	1/2.5	1/2.33	1/1.7	1inch
Finder	なし	なし	なし	内蔵EVF	内蔵EVF
Back LCD	2.5	2.5	2.5	3.0	3.0
Battery	BP-DC4	BP-DC6	BP-DC6	BP-DC14	BP-DC15
Memory-card	SD	SDHC	SDHC	SDXC	SDXC
Release year	2006	2007	2008	2013	2018
Colorカラー	Silver Black	White Black	White Black	Dark red Gold	Navy Gold
OEM Model	DMC-FX01	DMC-FX30	DMC-FX37	LF1	TX2