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Minilux or CM

Not to continue beating up Leica, but I have to say that, if I had just paid $1000 for a CM because it was "Made in Germany" AS A SELLING POINT, and it went kaput, I would be VERY unhappy. In my opinion, anyone who spends $1800 on the new Digilux 2, as an immediate adopter, is mad! What has happened to Leica's famed quality control, or, for that matter, to their publicity department. One would think that they simply cannot afford, in the the midst of this digital onslaught, to screw up. It is a pity, as I would love a CM as a point and shoot. It seems there are now two Leica's. The old Solms
Leica, obsessed--we hope--with quality and endurance, and the new "built in obsolescence" Leica, only they are charging the same as the Solms Leica, based on the red dot alone. I hope I
am totally wrong.

Marc.
 
I own a Minilux and have used it for some time. Just last week I went to handle a CM. There were three big advantages for me in the CM, a couple small ones, and a couple of disadvantages. The viewfinder is much better. Have to go see this one for yourself. Second, the EV dial on the back makes shifting the EV much quicker on the CM. Third, the 1000 second is a godsend compared to the 400 of the Minilux. The smaller ones are that the flash can default to off and hot shoe for external flash. The disadvantage I saw was that the Minilux has a second curtain slow flash synch. The CM does not. I do not think an external flash will be able to provide this either since it is not TTL capable (correct me if I'm wrong). Quality I would suspect is the same so you will just have to decide whether these features are needed or not. Cheers, Scott
 
Scott, the CM does have 2nd curtain slow synch flash. It is hidden in the second "layer" of flash modes. To access them, press the flash mode button and keep it pressed for a couple of seconds; not immediately apparent, I agree!

Regards,

Bill}
 
Thanks Bill, it's always nice to be corrected with good news.
happy.gif
Also of note, the CM seemed noticably lighter and a little smaller.
 
Scott - Did you also fail to make any sense of the manual focusing system (ie rangefinder system)? Also, what viewfinder info is there in the minlux? I gather the CM is much better in this respect....

Adrian
 
The only difference that I saw, and Bill can correct me if I'm wrong, but the CM distance dial on top allows for any distance setting while the Minilux, you have to use one of the 11 preset distances. Both use the dial on the top of the camera. The minilux doesn't give any information inside the viewfinder while the CM does.

scott
 
Anyone know any details about Leica's claim that the CM has "Program Shift?" To me program shift means the ability to shift between aperture priority or shutter priority with one shift wheel (as on the EOS 35mm SLR cameras). However, I see no way to do this with the CM. I'm still considering the CM to complement my Ricoh GR1's 28mm lens.
 
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