Leica C-Lux 3 opinions

[RobinBanks]

I've been offered a used one by a friend for what I consider a good price (£140). Is it worth it? The only camera I own is my phone (Sony Xperia Z2) which I find pretty excellent.

Is it worth £140 and carrying a camera AND phone or should I just stick with my phone?

[mike80]

Looks like it came out in 2008 - I would imagine there has been some leaps forward in compact cameras in that time. Whether it compares to your phone I don't really know.

Also, there is probably some premium for the name - you can probably get something newer and better even for £140!

[davepoth]

The only one I could spot was a boxed one on eBay for £199, so it's probably a not bad deal. It's 10 megapixel, which is perfectly adequate for this sort of camera since the pictures will still come out bigger than your monitor.

The question is whether you really want a camera at all. The pictures it will take will look much nicer than the ones from your phone, but as the old adage goes "the best camera is the one you have with you", which these days is your phone.

[RobinBanks]

mike80 said:

Looks like it came out in 2008 - I would imagine there has been some leaps forward in compact cameras in that time. Whether it compares to your phone I don't really know.

Also, there is probably some premium for the name - you can probably get something newer and better even for £140!

That's what I was thinking. It looks from one article that it's based on a Panasonic but with a better lens.

I must admit that I'm only bothered because it would be cool to have a Leica
I'm no photographer - I haven't taken a photo for probably about 8 weeks

[Simpo Two]

I had a C-Lux 2. It's very nicely built but my £65 Lumix XS3 beats it in every other respect, and I expect your phone would too - though a proper camera will have nicer controls. So if it's performance you're after, nope.

[LongQ]

RobinBanks said:

I must admit that I'm only bothered because it would be cool to have a Leica
I'm no photographer - I haven't taken a photo for probably about 8 weeks

In that case it would probably be a perfect travel accessory for you and your reason for owning would likely be broadly similar to the reason that most (but not all) other owners own one.

Probably cheaper than any sort of watch that most people would recognise as a status symbol yet there are parallels in that what they provide for you in terms of functionality is something for which you could pay a lot more or a lot less without any serious risk of missing out on a random interesting photo because you did not have a camera or miss an important appointment because you could not find out what time it was.

Either way the asking price is only half the price of a decent lunch according to Neil Kinnock so what can you lose?

[RobDickinson]

Buy a panasonic and paint a red dot on it.

[RobinBanks]

I'm being a bellend, I think that that is obvious!
It was just offered to me and I have no idea if it's good or not. Somewhere I have a Praktika film thing with a Carl Zeiss lens from the early 1980s but I haven't used it for years.

I kind of like cameras but I get bored quickly. Mostly because I'm a terrible photographer!

The best photos I've ever taken are some landscape shots from my old phone (Sony Xperia Z1).

Thanks for the replies, I think I will give it a miss!

[LongQ]

RobinBanks said:

I'm being a bellend, I think that that is obvious!
It was just offered to me and I have no idea if it's good or not. Somewhere I have a Praktika film thing with a Carl Zeiss lens from the early 1980s but I haven't used it for years.

I kind of like cameras but I get bored quickly. Mostly because I'm a terrible photographer!

The best photos I've ever taken are some landscape shots from my old phone (Sony Xperia Z1).

Thanks for the replies, I think I will give it a miss!

No no! That's the point. As luxury item of, shall we call it jewellery(?), it's not a bad deal!

In fact if you consider the Lenny Kravitz edition of one of their more recent mainline models at something like £18k because they have the things hand rubbed to remove the black finish and expose brass, the Lux 3 deal might be a bargain.

I doubt rubbing it would reveal brass ... but a little brass paint selectively and carefully applied as faux ageing might take its value to a whole new level. Best not to use it, if you want an excuse, for fear of rubbing off the fake brass paint.

I believe the official description is "distressed". My wife tells me that the "distressed" furniture she likes for the spare bedrooms is worth spending silly money on because it is "distressed". Had I known her plan in full I could have easily "distressed" the far better quality stuff that she just got rid of.

[Simpo Two]

LongQ said:

No no! That's the point. As luxury item of, shall we call it jewellery(?), it's not a bad deal!

Indeed. A £5 watch from a market stall will keep perfectly good time - but who of us uses one?

[LongQ]

Simpo Two said:

LongQ said:

No no! That's the point. As luxury item of, shall we call it jewellery(?), it's not a bad deal!

Indeed. A £5 watch from a market stall will keep perfectly good time - but who of us uses one?

True.

It cost far more than that to change the battery on an expensive watch I own. I didn't much like the strap (the thing was a gift) so left it unrenewed in its presentation case for a year or so. Opening it up the entire item had started to corrode. Didn't like some chlorine in the case I was told.

I rather suspect that 95% of top end cameras are sold to people who make very light (no pun intended) use of them - possibly no use at all for the particularly up market lifestyle versions. Think Hasselblad.

Perhaps that is why we get things like the Lenny Kravitz special edition Leica(limited run of 900 announced was it?) where they pre-age it for people giving both owner and manufacturer "heavy usage" credibility.

Maybe Ferrari and others could do the same for their customers. Pre-crashed versions to save the owners the trouble and effort of doing it themselves then double the price to cover the cost of repairs.

It there still a marekt for what used to be called "hip flasks"? (Where they ever hip?)

A digital compact camera might convert quite nicely to a hip flask to give them a second life. Might even attract a recycling grant to set up a business? Premium prices paid for red dots.