THE INCREDIBLY LONG LEAD-IN & DISCLAIMER
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First of all, let me say I'm not qualified to review cameras.

If we’re talking about computer and related hardware for example, I've purchased literally millions of dollars’ worth of gear and used it in demanding applications, and also intensively used hundreds of times that of other people’s equipment over the last <30 years.

In terms of photography however, I've had probably just over a dozen or so digital cameras in the last decade including about half a dozen compacts, most of which I didn’t even bother to learn to use properly. I’m also an unavowed ‘snapper’ despite the fact that I take quite a lot of pictures – you couldn’t call me a professional-grade photographer by any stretch of the imagination. Of that dozen or so, I’ve owned three DSLR’s in the intervening period, all of which I’d used probably in the single digit occasions then given away after sitting in the closet for months/years, as well as the Leica M (specifically the 8.2), which again had outings in the single digits before I got rid of it. I do know the technical ins and outs of picturetaking – but honing my practical skills matters very little to me for the most part, and most importantly of all, if I were honest with myself I would have to say that I’m just not that interested in photography as such. Cameras as gadgets - sure, me likey, but obviously that doesn’t result in a view of any particular substance.

So this ‘review’ is more in the engadget / thisismynext etc sense of things, i.e. largely a layman's "feeling" take, no matter how convincingly I manage to write. In fact, although as a practicing industrial designer / engineer / ICT systems integrator / etc I’m certainly more qualified to talk tech and optics than e.g. a journalism major, in many ways this is even less of such a layman’s review, because as I said I’m not really that hugely interested in taking arty pictures and neither do I strive to that like a good little hipster :p

With that disclaimer and apology in mind, let me tell you about how I arrived at this purchase and why I gave the other alternatives the can.

What I was looking for was something which was still usable as a point-and shoot (because that will be its primary role) in terms of function and size, while having a much better sensor than the one in the Canon S90, my current pocketable P&S, while having a much more higher-end image. While it didn’t need to be pocketable, it needed to be manageable in terms of a relatively compact size and light weight living with my daily detritus. At the same time I didn't want a Micro 4/3rds because I already have a Sony NEX-5 with all the 'native' lenses you can get for it and I almost never use it, and also more importantly, the image thing I mentioned before.

I’m aware that there are other ‘slightly bigger sensor’ compact cameras such as the Olympus XZ-1 but I was pretty adamant I wanted an APS-C class sensor for the implied notable increase in image quality. Of course, the lens is (more than?) half the game as well but given a fairly decent lens, I figured the sensor would be the other critical component. What came out of this uneven list of wants was the Fuji X100, the Leica X1, and of course the ‘real McCoy’ M9. The M9 was written off very quickly because I've had the M8.2 and it did not work out in terms of bulk and automation. Which left the X100 and the X1 as the only anywhere near viable candidates.

Why the review for the Leica, when I could have bought the better-specced, arguably more retrotastic Fuji X100? Well, firstly this is experience I've had with the other digital Leica's I've had, and it's a simple reason. I mostly take photos of other people, and people think you're a better photographer when you turn up with a Leica.

And it's also not the case in terms of 'when I could have bought', because I also picked up the X100. And the reason I’ve got rid of it is pretty simple - too big. The Fuji is in many cases absolutely the better camera than the X1 when you shoot to its strengths, and if you can't afford an M and the equivalent lens I’m sure you could do a lot worse (not that there's a lot of choice) in terms of having the vintage vibe and getting great pix. But having had the Leica M combo already, the Fuji is too close to it in terms of size - for me it's just too large, and I pretty much knew from the moment I unpacked it that it’s not going to get used.

So, a summary of the super-sophisticated reasons that dictated the ultimate choice of this camera:
- Big Sensor
- Label Snobbery
- It's Smaller Than The Other One

With the tone and (total lack of) authoritativeness of this particular post firmly established, it's time to head on to the actual not-review of the X1.


OUT OF THE BOX
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The outer box unfolds to reveal what is best described as a dresser table of sorts. The magnetic-closure flap on the front of the tall oblong box reveals a smaller box at the top, along with two drawers (complete with small string handles) below that.

So you open the top box, and wrapped preciously inside is the X1. The drawers contain the manuals - Including a leaflet printed in the same manner as the other documentation regarding the V2.0 firmware update already installed on the camera - charger, battery, USB cable, neck strap (I’d rather it came with a wrist strap), and a very small pouch I don’t know what to do with - perhaps it’s for SD cards.

Pretty much everything reeks of class in the way that e.g. regular compacts and the lower-model Leica’s don’t – and tells you that you’ve bought something a bit special.

One item that’s not in the box – and one that might reduce the impact of the ~$2,000 price-tag a little for some (and bear in mind that while you might be able to pick this up a little cheaper in some places, only purchasing through a Leica dealer guarantees you Leica support, as the included paperwork beats you over the head with) – is a [Air Quotes]complimentary[/Air Quotes] copy of Adobe Lightroom. As of the time of writing, the currently widely available version was available to download on registering the camera, licensed for a maximum of two computers. Both PC and Mac versions were available to download, and as a Lightroom user primarily even on the Mac (as owner of Aperture licenses) I considered this particular inclusion a major plus.


BUILD/DESIGN
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On examining the unit for the first time, you’re struck by two things: How sparse the design is, and that it feels on the light side for something of this size and certainly for something of this level of solidity, on a par with the lightest mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras with a pancake lens – and to hold it along with e.g. the Leica D-Lux, a notably more compact camera, you don’t really notice a huge change in heft. To highlight the relative lack of mass in a real-life situation, a Leica D-Lux compact camera in its leather case is 440g (0.97lbs). The X1 in its leather case is 530g (1.17lbs).

While the X1 has more controls than the aforementioned D-Lux, itself a fairly sparse-looking camera, because the X1 body is larger it looks even more devoid of visual clutter – which is, of course, ‘very Leica’. If I were being honest the low & wide aspect of this camera does slightly throw off the Leica Look because an M-series camera is much taller but nevertheless, this is quite the handsome beast and its Leicaness is unarguable (the Label Snob is satisfied). Overall quality is solid as you might expect for a camera of this calibre, and there is generally a pervasive feel of a precision build.

Continuing to look at the front brings about something I have a particular phobia against – lens caps. I knew what I was getting into here so I expected it, but what I didn’t expect on a ‘high-end handy’ Leica was a lens cap with no lanyard tie point - I expect to therefore lose this cap really soon. As also with the D-Lux, the ring surrounding the lens onto which the lens cap attaches to twists off completely to reveal a threaded accessory attachment ring, and this particular writer is praying for an automatic lens cap of some sort that isn’t tapped with the ugly stick.

Going around to the back/top, all the major control dials are logically laid out and easy to each by the thumb and index finger. When braced by a wrist strap, it’s perfectly feasible to shoot one-handed for quick shots. The shutter and aperture dials snick from detent to detent with a quality action (although the dials are a little too easy to move – see later), and buttons are largely rattle-free. The back has two thumb-spinnable dials which controls menu movement and function adjustment, along with a range of buttons for picture/mode control. The (plastic, and probably the most fragile-feeling part of this camera, although it’s not really liable to break off anytime soon) door for the USB and HDMI ports is also on this side.

The hot shoe on top accepts (of course) Leica system flashes as well as the optional optical viewfinder. There’s also a very small light just below the hot shoe which shows when the camera has focused – this is primarily for use with the aforementioned viewfinder as the light glows in your peripheral vision when it is fitted.

One thing I’m unhappy about from a build-quality standpoint is the built-in flash, which is the circle on the top left side of the camera body. It’s a simple mechanical push-to deploy, push-to-store setup exactly like a ballpoint pen, and it just doesn’t feel like quality in a camera like this. The Canon S90, a camera smaller than two-thirds of the volume of the X1 can build in automatic flash deployment/retraction. You’d think a motorised snik-snak of the flash snapping into action would be more at home on this camera than the plunger action of a typical Parker.

There are also other slight oddities. Inserting the battery is more of a nail than thumb aspect, because unlike most other cameras whose battery compartment is slid open by the pad of the thumb, the X1’s battery compartment on the bottom (which also houses the SD slot) has a latch that is easier to open by the nail than the thumb. It does feel higher quality to be honest and it won’t break nails (unless you’re really unfortunate) but it is yet another quirky aspect of this camera.

A number of other options are available – a handgrip for additional stability, very nice leather flapover case as offered for lower-end Leicas which I ordered, a slightly bulkier ‘ever ready’ case in the vein of the M-series cases that allows the camera to be used while still cased (with a pouch for the viewfinder), and a system case that can store the camera and all the available accessories.


FEATURES & USABILITY
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The X1 is a compact camera which brings to the forefront manual controls. The dials on the top control shutter speed and aperture, so that you have immediate access to ‘traditional camera’ controls. However, it’s perfectly feasible to leave both shutter and aperture dials in ‘A’ (auto) mode and just let the camera make the decisions.

To power the camera on, you take the lens cap off and slide the ring under the shutter-release to 'S' (single) from 'Off', then exert the usual half-press on the shutter to focus.

What follows to anyone used to a current compact camera is what seems like a very long period of whirring (in fairly worst-case low light, as much as <3 seconds), then finally a ping indicating that you have focus. Then you can take the shot.

Now having taken the shot, you might realise something - that you probably slid the mode ring too far from 'S' to 'C' (Continuous). So it's taken a bunch of similar pictures before you were able to take your finger off the shutter, and now you've got to wait about five seconds for the buffer to flush before you're able to take the next picture - and you've probably missed a really nice shot in the meanwhile. To add insult to injury, you then also realise the dials moved when you took the camera out of the case so that you weren't shooting in Auto mode at all but at F16 & 1/2000sec - which means what you did manage to take will likely be fatally underexposed. Yeah. Not so great. This is just an example, but basically all the top controls are a little too accessible and too easy to move, and you've really got to watch them like a hawk when handling this camera. It’s even possible to switch it on by mistake when slipping it into the flapover case (the lens will not try and extend in the case if you have the lens cap in place though).

However, having both the aperture and the shutter speed control on the top and everything else on the back does mean that you’ve only got these places to look at to confirm the settings you’ve made, and it does make a relative n00b’s, let alone a pro’s life much easier than some other cameras where the controls can be on various parts of the body. And that does definitely help to clarify the process of manually controlling your exposures.

The X1 has two other salient dials - at the back, a large vertical one encircling all the buttons on the right hand side of the back, while another horizontal dial is above it. The vertical dial usually handles up-down selections, e.g. menu scroll up/down, while the horizontal dial handles side-to-side actions, such as manual focusing or scrolling through recorded pictures in Play mode. While the horizontal dial has no issues, the vertical dial is a little too shallow and it’s quite hard to spin smoothly because the buttons inside the dial ring gets in the way of your thumb as you spin – once again, not the best design but this time for the opposite reason to the top dials – not accessible enough.

There are dedicated buttons for ISO, White Balance, EV, flash and focus modes as well as a couple of other controls. There are three focus modes: A(uto)F(ocus), AF Macro and M(anual)F. Macro works from 30cm upwards so along with the focal lengths does reduce the possible uses somewhat, while AF works from about 60cm. MF displays a magnified preview in the centre of the frame while distance scales are shown at the bottom, and I found myself using it a surprising amount of the time to frame my pictures, not just because of the glacial autofocus.

Which brings up an interesting thing about using the X1. Control-wise, almost everything has a certain logic to it, moreso than certain other definitely more sophisticated cameras I’ve used, and once grasped it becomes second nature pretty soon – and this is e.g. one of the very few digital cameras on which I can manually focus with a high degree of usability, and also actually use the ISO controls in order to consciously control the exposure while taking a picture casually. That is a fairly rare thing to me in a compact camera and this ease of use does definitely put the X1 alongside far larger machines in terms of practically allowing exploration of the full exposure envelope of a camera.

Onto the other major features… or more precisely, the lack thereof. In what may strike to some as an odd thing, this high-end compact also lacks many of the features taken for granted by users of lesser high-end compacts.

There is for example no movie mode. For me this was not a drawback at all - I find that I use the movie mode in perhaps once or twice in a year, and I’m pretty happy to turn to my phone if I need moving images.

There’s no ‘scene mode’ assistance. It’s either full auto, aperture or shutter priority, or manual, along with an ability to change the exposure (slightly) for faster action or larger depth of field by using the vertical dial on the back of the camera when using the full-auto mode. You can choose between three exposure metering modes: multi-field (i.e. averaged over the frame), centre-weighted (self-explanatory) or spot (a very narrow area in the centre of the frame).

The X1 also doesn't have an optical image stabiliser, and really not even an effective electronic one. The 'image stabiliser' mode takes two pictures and does some interpolation - which I have to say, usually works out far worse than a compact just shooting in a low-light mode *without* image stabilisation. Old-school steady hands seem to be the only real answer, or investing more of your hard-earned cash in the screw-on grip which should allow you to hold it better (not that the X1 is particularly hard to hold steadily).

The flash is reasonably effective in snapshot situations but surprisingly is slightly weaker in terms of light reach than the very compact Canon S90(!). Still, it is definitely better than nothing - or in the case of some compact mirrorless cameras, struggling with a clip-on flash. However, with the X1 you can jack up the ISO (max 3200 – no crazy numbers here) and still get fairly usable images, so a flash isn’t always completely necessary.

That’s pretty much it – apart from the self-timer mode (accessed via the power-off / shot-type dial around the shutter release), there really isn’t that much more to what the camera can do, feature-wise.

While there are no huge individual gotchas in terms of the fundamental functionality of the machine, there is one overarching problem which affects utility as a whole: Speed. Compared to many compact cameras these days, the time taken for everything to happen is slower – the shutter lag excepted (it is very responsive in that respect). The camera starts up slower, the focus is slower, shuts down slower. Even data transfer from the camera is slower. Now some could argue that some elements of this encourages more thought to be put into each picture. While that is actually true to some extent, the fact that you don’t get a choice in the matter is what is more egregious; this is a slow-reacting machine, period. Also, once you get beyond the outstanding controllability of the manual modes of the camera, there are in fact some dumb usability choices, such as the need to take off the lens cap and let the camera fully power up before being able to view a stored image.

And how long does it crank out pictures for? Well that’s also slightly on the short side - Leica quote a 260-picture battery life, which is probably on the low side for a compact camera, but by no means unusable (many other very usable cameras, such as the Canon S95, have a lower-rated shot life per charge).

All that said, apart from the speed - which is a fairly major issue - this is overall an unusually usable camera in terms of the core aspects of taking full control of your picture-taking experience, and I would think that this is pretty much what Leica had in mind.


LENS, SENSOR & PICTURE QUALITY
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The Leica X1 has a 12.9 megapixel (4272 x 2856 pixels at the highest resolution) APS-C sensor – i.e. a sensor that is fitted to many DSLRs as well as some mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras – one that is much larger than any sensor to be found on compacts today, the largest of which, generally speaking, is the 1/1.7”. Go to the Wikipedia page for “Image Sensor Format” and you’ll get a graphic example of how gigantic an APS-C sensor is compared to a 1/1.7” sensor.

This has a major advantage over the smaller sensor in that while both may have a similar number of megapixels, the amount of light falling on each pixel area is dramatically different, and as a result the larger sensor captures more light information per pixel.

On a first test shoot, coming from a technologically advanced compact or even a mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera like the NEX, you could be forgiven for wondering “What the **** is this ****?” because there’s a distinct flat dullness to the images when compared with the jacked-up sharpness and colours of many compact cameras.

A lot of this, especially if you’re shooting right out of the box, is due to the camera processing. The X1 is capable of shooting in JPEG or DNG (Adobe RAW), either in a JPEG-only mode or JPEG+DNG (Out of the box, surprisingly its JPEG-only shooting, and in a somewhat ‘flat and boring’ Standard processing mode for JPEGs). Definitely choose the latter - the JPEG compression is often bad, and for some may be responsible for even more of the 'what the ****' first impression of this camera. Having said that, you can play around with the way JPEGs come out of the camera – although none too satisfactorily in my opinion.

So the out-of-box impression may not be great, but zoom in a little closer into even the JPEG, and the justification in terms of whether this is a RAW/DNG-worthwhile camera - i.e. whether it's actually worth shooting uncompressed images that is more suitable to further scrutiny and manipulation in the bundled Lightroom (or Photoshop) – will be pretty apparent. And in fact, this is a camera that you will almost definitely want to post-process pictures of due to the potential of the raw captured image, and also because of the limitations of the JPEG processing.

The 24mm Elmarit lens (equivalent to a 35mm lens on a traditional 35mm-film camera) while not particularly ‘fast’ at a maximum aperture of F2.8 - is a very evenly-performing, sharp lens. When stopped down even a little it delivers pin-sharp, distortion-free images right to the edges – and even at the maximum aperture of F2.8, while it doesn’t work miracles it does still deliver excellent overall detail.

The capable lens and large sensor works well in tandem: The difference between a compact camera and the X1, especially in challenging light conditions, is quite major – image details which are almost glossed over or lost in noise are clearly captured by the Leica. Against a mirrorless interchangeable compact with an APS-C sensor and a similar pancake lens, well - the differences are not *as* discernible, but even given a similar sensor the quality of the Leica lens is undeniable.

Image noise, one of the main enemies of the digital photographer, is also pretty well controlled – I was expecting to see far more of it on a ‘Panasonic’ (which, I suppose, unlike the lower-end Leicas, the X1 actually isn’t and that’s just my prejudice), but the relative lack of noise allows higher ISO’s to be used quite liberally in low-light areas before it becomes a real image liability.

The default full-automatic exposure (even in the 11-point frame-averaged autofocus mode) tends to minimises depth of field, which you could argue hinders snapshots since given a large difference in distances in the picture much of it *could* be out of focus (including the intended subject, if you’re not watching the aforementioned hunt-prone autofocus behaviour), but it does definitely mean that the pictures taken with the X1 even in fully automatic mode has a different character to it than other compacts I’ve used, since it is much more prone to throwing the background out of focus for what will usually be a more pleasing image. If you don’t like that, given the usability mentioned in the previous section it’s easy to switch to aperture-priority mode.

Overall the X1 delivers excellent image quality with quality/character that’s far closer to a DSLR than a compact camera – and of course, given the price tag it well should. Like a DSLR it also needs - to a degree - access to post-processing software to make the most of the images since what it throws out as default may need some massaging to “pop”.


LESS OF A CONCLUSION, MORE AN EXTENDED RAMBLE
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So what exactly do we have here? A professional's backup tool, a prosumer's friend or a label snob's plaything?

A number of pro-orientated blogs seem to take a "want to like it but can't quite" stance. I’d read some of these reviews the X1 going in, both in terms of the lacklustre initial opinions and those concerning the V2.0 update. So I was absolutely prepared to find this somewhat unusable, coming from a compact-user-by-choice’s perspective.

The X1 isn’t, to my relative surprise, as unusable as I’d feared. In fact, quite the opposite. It does however definitely require a shift in technique in terms of more attention paid to the composition of the image, and more attention paid to the camera in terms of knowing what the camera is trying to do vs. what you want to achieve. Fortunately this isn’t too hard to figure out in most situations.

What I decided to do after using the Leica and the Fuji exclusively for a while was to figure out whether the fact that I was now paying more attention to the camera and taking pictures with far more manual control was a result of me being 'house-trained' for both cameras. So I configured the Canon S90 in a similar way and used it in Manual while taking pictures in the same locations to work out how different it would be to use - and I found out that it's actually a lot more difficult and much more of a creatively draining process. And bear in mind the Canon is one of the better compacts to use in a manualised(sic) mode due to its assignable ring, shortcut button and other factors.

So the X1 (moreso than the oft-compared Fuji I feel) does seem to get something right in terms of using a camera like this, and appears to me to offer genuine advantages in taking more control of your photos fairly intuitively without getting your head fully into pro-photo-land, while performing at least kinda-sorta acceptably as a point and shoot.

Undoubtedly the combo of a large sensor and a ‘uber-micro-4/3rds / sub-DSLR’ lens along with logically laid out manual controls that is simple to grasp in real-life use is capable of generating great results, but the due care best used in framing a picture is also down to technical limitations of the camera – unnecessary limitations I believe at this price point, such as the slow and 'hunt-y' autofocus, the noticeable delays in function actuation overall, poor macro distance, lack of proper image stabilisation, etc as well as the dislodge-prone nature of the physical controls themselves. It might therefore be more accurate to say that the X1 is capable of cranking out some fantastic pictures *in spite of* itself sometimes.

But you do start noticing differences after a short while even if you’re shooting in full auto. The notable sharpness and details present on the X1 images. The more desirable ‘bokeh’ when you layer subjects. The way a lot more contrast seems to be captured without parts washing out (as long as, once again, you aren't shooting solely in the often terrible JPEG mode). The combined result can be the difference between a throwaway and a lasting memory. And it does often genuinely take ‘different’ pictures, although it’s sometimes hard to put your exact finger on what difference makes it better.

Some reviews conclude that the X1 is more of a fancy adjunct to a DSLR, intended for professionals who know what they’re doing. As a confirmed below-amateur, I’m not actually that convinced it’s the sole appropriate clientele. I’d argue that the manual controls, being exceptionally accessible and usable, can also benefit the relative beginner – especially those who only have experience of digital cameras - in terms of helping them to understand the difference that all the exposure controls can have on the picture, and experiencing / utilising it to their advantage in a much more direct way than in many other compact cameras (Of course, you’d have to be a beginner with a fairly decent degree of disposable income). And in that way, I’d argue that it’s actually suitable for a wide range of skill levels of people, especially if they’re actually interested in the ins and outs of photography.

I have to say that my pre-purchase assumptions weren’t accurate – given the reviews I’d read while doing my buying research, when I picked it up I wasn’t expecting to be that enamoured of the camera, but to hopefully find it usable enough to have on my roster of ‘party cameras’. However I’ve found it considerably more of a pleasure to use than I expected, despite the occasional annoyances caused by the slow reaction of the unit. I can’t put it down entirely to Label Snobbery and therefore have to conclude that the way Leica does things with the X1 has merit beyond opto-bling after all.

Given the speed problems as well as the limitations in the camera’s featureset / configuration, it’s obviously fairly hard to make an unequivocal recommendation in favour of the X1. For this to be in any kind of contention, you have to want this particular blend of features and not consider the cost to be a huge deal.

However, for me it works… much more so than I thought it might. For you, Dear Reader? YMMV but I think I’ve outlined as much as possible for me to help you come to some sort of conclusion about the X1 – although once again, this review, being the work of a complete amateur, should be taken with a definite pinch of salt.