Yes! This one could almost pry me away from my (several) beloved 35mm SLR's. It's a little big, and a little pricy, but a beautiful piece of work.

Mhm... it's a great camera. But if you want an advice (and if you're not buying it just for its name or its design) wait 1-2 months and buy the Sony F828 (8 megapixels with extended dynamic range, very low noise, 28-200mm Zaiss Vario-Sonnar t* lens...). Leica is good but it doesn't have any experience in making digicams... Another big name that has the same problem is contax with its (poor) TVS digital (anoter nicely designed one by the way).
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0312/03121102leicadigilux2upd.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/sonydscf828/page2.asp

It's not about the specs it's mainly about the fact that this (Leica) camera can be operated like a good old analog camera - by means of setting rings on the lens and a shutter speed dial, no need to press tiny buttons or fiddle around with menus. Sony can call me again if they offer something similar... :)

BTW, Leica may not have as much experience with digicams as Sony has but they don't have to - that's why they cooperate with Panasonic. You know, Sony doesn't have as much experience with lenses as Leica either - that's why they cooperate with Zeiss...

I don't know, all those buttons on the back make me wonder if it really will operate like a manual 35mm camera.

Focus and Zoom operate normally on the sony f828. I think you'll have to use buttons only for lens aperture. By the way, Sony is one of the best digicams manufactors. :D They usually use the same ccd as nikon, but they seem to be much more experienced on the postprocessing side as their output is much more clean and they have Zeiss lenses that are better than the ones mounted on nikon compact cameras (for example the 5700 has a strong purple fringing). Also with the new models they got a good color balance (that wasn't true with earlier ones) and the f828 has all the professional features that I need, like all-manual settings and raw output (the f717 is more "point-and-shoot"). :)

OK, I want it too. But let's go quiet further...

It fits to me because of NO electronic zooming, yeah !!! The commands are alike the others Leica : zoom, aperture and focus on the lens, speed on the top of the camera body. And so what ? Digital controls are well organised around the LCD display on the back. Normal or not ?

It means that this camera has LEICA brand, hey :-)

On another range : I wonder about the battery... Lithium Ion, ok. Provided with the camera ? Couldn'y find the way to be sure of it... Happy to read on DPReview that the battery charger is provided. What about the battery capacity, for a Raw format camera ???

What about a 512 Mb SD card ? Can it be used with the camera ?

Contax put firewire connexion on its N model, why Leica-Panasonic can't make it ?

Mmmmmmh, those old brands have a character, just remind it....

Hi Folks,
I'm trying to find a few sample images taken with a Digilux II. Not sure that any are up on the net, yet, but if anyone finds any, please post a link for us here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DLUGers/ (Digital Leica User Group)

As soon as I find some I'll also post them there. We have one member who should get a D2 soon to test and will also post a review for us, but patience is not my strong point..:-)

Take Care,

Duncan

Hello guys,

Just want to say that I own a SONY F717 and I don’t agree that the camera is a point-and-shot like kenpex says in his early post. The camera (F717) is the best prosumer camera available in the market, you can check dpreview and innumerous sites and discussions on the internet. Also the new 828 has high levels of image noise. Of course it’s a better camera in general but does not compensate the price difference. Regarding LEICA D 2 it’s a beautiful piece of art, but I think that the lens are fixed ??? If you take a look the image sensor is 2/3 like SONY F717 and SONY 828 but in the 828 they have diminished the pixels size so they can fit in the same sensor (2/3) resulting on higher noise levels like I said before. When the time comes I will buy a good DSLR Nikon because I also have a NIKON f90 (35 mmm) with several lens and it never let me down. The Leica D2 will cost the same as a D100 and you can not compare both. Nikon it’s better. If I was rich (which I’m not) I would buy a Leica D2, Nikon D1x (or the future D2x) and in 35 mm I would have a Leica M7 and some Nikons. Now … wake up !!! Meanwhile remember one thing, SONY has the technology (that’s why Nikon was using their CCD sensors) and ZEISS lens. If I were a CONTAX CEO, I would allied myself with SONY and create a CONTAX with ZEISS lens a SONY tech – unbeatable camera, don’t you agree ?

Although the F828 looks like an amazing camera, look at some of the sample photos on the net. At ISO 64 the images are fantastic, but creep up to ISO 100 and the noise is quite noticeable. Go to ISO 200 or 400 and noise is flat out unacceptable. Sony just crowded more photo sites on the same size chip, resulting in shallower pixel pitch, which means higher noise. Image quality, after all, is what we are after, right? Drop the same $$ and get the EOS 300d (way low on spec but some of the best digital images around) or spend $500 more for the 10D. Those two cameras use the same CMOS chip, and both are class leading in noise control. Sony should stick to TVs and video games.

lecia has USB 2.0 connection, and this is faster than firewire. USB 2.0 is not the same, old USB connection that we have on our old pentium III etc... computers or on those compact digital cameras.

Does anyone think the price on the D2 will come down?