The Leica X Vario doesn’t sell very well, so Leica puts its hopes into the “Leica T” (codenamed “Taifun”) with interchangeable lenses, to be announced on April 24. Will the T be a serious challenger to mirrorless system cameras? Here is what sources confirm, ahead of the April 24 announcement:
- APS-C sensor size (1.5x crop factor)
- Two lenses at launch time, a 23mm prime and 18-56mm zoom (35mm and 27-84mm in 35mm equivalent)
- Zoom lens has aperture values of F3.5-5.6, slightly faster than X Vario’s
- Zoom lens has about the X Vario’s size
- Zoom lens specifications calculated by Leica, possibly produced by Panasonic (seems like a perfect all-rounder lens without noteworthy distortions)
- Autofocus certainly won’t be industry’s fastest, but hey, it’s a Leica
- Not really noise-free performance, just try to stick to fast shutter speed; colors though look very neutral and natural out of camera
- Cleaner images than M, but smaller sensor…
- Comes with neither OVF nor EVF, but touchscreen LCD and optional viewfinder
- Exquisite finishing
- Built-in memory card, meaning even without memory card inserted you’ll be able to store a few shots
- Adaptor for Leica M glass available at launch; third-party adapters for Fujifilm etc. expected to be available soon after
Not really sure who’s the target market with these specs. But from what I hear: the optics are outstanding.