Futuristic yet classic – the Leica T looks at a price of 1,500 euros at first glance, making it clear that it is not a camera, but a noble model. If you look at the labeled on / off switch, the company name and model name, nothing interferes with the smoothly polished and elegant outer skin. The Leica T feels good – it is not balanced in the hand. With 410 grams, the camera is relatively heavy and the right grip for strong men’s hands is a little too petite.
Operation
The smooth surface of the Leica T is not really easy to grasp even for small women's hands. Somehow you always have the impression that the noble camera could slip from your hand, which is why you prefer not photographed with one hand - with two it works well. Especially since the thumb can then more easily grip the two large wheels, which are almost flush into the solid aluminum housing, on the back. Their functions are very fast thanks to the 3.7-inch monitor. Because what Leica has thought of as an operating concept can be seen.
Hardly direct access
The Leica T takes quite a long time to get started with 2.5 seconds, but it is hardly possible to make a clearer reference to the touch-sensitive operation: the camera works with tiles, which depending on how extensive the functions are, the direct switching Or in submenus with additional settings.
WLAN with problems
Here, Leica is based on individuality and offers the possibility to occupy the MyCamera main menu with the tiles of the most frequently used functions in a personal order. If you have a little trouble here, you will quickly find a very fast way of working and get used to the fact that the drums are the same in the menu and do not have an independent function. This is different when photographing: The left-hand wheel is assigned the ISO ISO 100 to 12.500 ISO code.
Autofocus
The right wheel, on the other hand, is used to adjust the exposure or time, or in the automatic program selection of the appropriate exposure settings. In manual mode, the left dial dial changes to allow the time and aperture to be changed comfortably - the ISO setting can only be reached via the menu. The whole thing is so intuitive that you do not have to think about it and the possibility of using the right dial with an individual function is hardly necessary.
In principle, the Leica T is slower to operate than competitors with more direct access due to the concentration on the touch operation. Leica would have paid an exposure compensation as a direct access.
The "concentration on the essentials" is what Leica calls it, and with the claim to renounce the clear form language of the Leica T on Schnickschnack. Correspondingly, the very sharp monitor is not foldable without question, and the viewfinder for the accessory shoe, which also delivers the GPS receiver for the position data, is only optional. The right side flap accommodates the card slot for the SDHC memory cards - Leica sipping 16 gigabytes of internal memory, which is currently rather a rarity. There is also the appropriate image management and the possibility to copy images from the internal memory to the memory card.
The well-made manual we had to consult for the picture reproduction: To start this, one must once with the finger from the top down to the monitor over the strokes - once you have read it, it works well, but intuitive it is not. Too bad that you can not play the good preview and slideshow function on a monitor: The HDMI interface is missing.
For this, one can integrate the Leica T into the domestic network - at least theoretically: In our test, the connection to the WLAN network failed after several attempts, and after turning the camera on and off, the camera needed each time several attempts for the network detection. The actually well-considered access via browser could not be established, and also the app did not work the detection in our test.
Even with the camera belt Leica goes new ways: T-Snap they baptize the click system with which thin pins are pushed into the camera. However, the system is not intended for quick changeover to the optionally available retractable hand strap, since the thin pin is needed to initiate the reliable mechanical connection.
The silicone camera strap, which is comfortable, but not particularly comfortable on the skin, is somewhat needed. In addition, the silicone material attracts the dust and quickly looks unsightly. Instead of different color silikongurte we would have expected rather noble leather in the accessory program.
System cameras from Leica with autofocus have so far only in the medium format range. Now comes the first with APS-C sensor and thus almost in the classic Leica format. However, the Leica T's autofocus does not score in the test: it is sluggish and not always quite accurate - it signals this via red instead of green measuring field displays in the display. This requires a little more patience and does not promote snapshot security.
The autofocus of the Leica T still works well in daylight outdoors, but with diffuse internal light it produces a clear error rate. As usual, Leica also offers arming via the touch function of the monitor, which then works quite reliably. In the laboratory, our impression is confirmed: With 0.75 seconds autofocusing and shuttering, the camera is significantly slower at 300 lux than the current competition - at 30 lux it takes 1.17 seconds to capture the image sharply on memory card . This clearly costs points in the test system.
Image quality
With the standard image function, the camera uses an intermediate memory, as usual, and allows no matter how fast the inserted memory card is, 4.2 serial images per second. After twelve pictures is finished, and at the bottom of the monitor, it shows numerically how many images fit into the buffer.
In the video mode, the Leica T records full-HD quality and 30 full-color images in an MP4 file. Here the relatively sluggishly designed autofocus is an advantage, because the camera carefully adjusts and pulls the sharpness gently and continuously with clear objects.
This is unfortunately also true for the automatic white balance - so that you have to live with different light scenes within a scene. This is also noticeable when taking pictures, because the moods of two images taken just a little later with slightly different focal lengths interpret the camera quite differently.
Leica incorporates a 16-megapixel APS-C-CMOS sensor in the T-model, which promises a good compromise between resolution and detail at higher ISO values. Settings for sharpness, contrast, or color are hidden behind the styles.
The ISO comparison makes the results from the laboratory very clear: The Leica T is really good to ISO 800 with sharpness and noise - not a brilliant overflighter, but more than just competitive. ISO 400 can be used as standard sensitivity. From ISO 800 the usual slight detail losses can be seen. In the case of higher sensitivities, the noise is then clearly increased, and the detail drawing is significantly lost
Conclusion
The manufacturer from Wetzlar currently offers two optics for the T bayonet: As standard optics, there is a 3x zoom of 18 millimeters (equivalent to 28 mm small picture). Zoom and sharpening rotate gently, but the optics do not meet the price demand in the measuring laboratory. Good, but not very good: The edge shading is still ok with about one aperture and the chromatic aberration in the wide angle at 1.9 still acceptable.
For 1,450 euros one would expect more light intensity (3.5-5.6) and a perfect imaging performance into the corners. In the wide-angle position, however, a clear edge drop appears to be negative, as is the case with the shade. This also applies to the second lens, a 1,600 euro-expensive 23 mm, but with aperture 2 also light-strong fixed focal length. In this case, the test pattern was not optimally centered and chromatic aberration was visible.
The Leica T leaves a split image: the operation is very consistent and logical. However, experienced amateurs will miss direct accesses to quickly change a value without having to look at the menu. On the other hand, this reduction also has a very nice side because the less is implemented perfectly. So it is hardly noticeable that the camera does not have a foldable monitor - despite the price of 1,500 euros.
The Leica T simply makes a successful, extremely valuable impression with a good haptic also of the adjustment elements, and so forgives that the camera should be somewhat more grip. With image quality, the T delivers a compelling APS-C level, with good usability up to ISO 800.
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The same applies to the optics, both are ok with usual weaknesses in the wide-angle corners but without an extra like top-quality light at the zoom to justify the high price.
In the end, there is a clear minus: the slow autofocus and a clear plus: the convincing feel and processing.
Leica T
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