My new camera arrived in the mail early this week. It’s only a few days old and by far the best of the three digital cameras I’ve owned, and in my opinion, the best of any camera in its class. However, I already know that as soon as there’s a substantially better one, preferably one made by Leica, the Digilux 1 will be pushed to the backburner.

First, the good points

• It’s amazingly fast. With manual focus, it takes the picture when the shutter release is pushed. This is unheard of in digital cameras in this price range making it a true “reportage” camera.
• Best automatic exposure of any sub-$1000 digital camera.
• Best color of any sub-$1000 digital camera.
• Manual focus with an actual focus ring.
• Placement of controls and UI make sense and was designed more like a traditional camera.
• Standard flash hot-shoe.
• It’s a beautiful-looking camera. And it’s a Leica.
• When everything’s set to auto, it just takes good pictures and is fast enough to capture the moment. When set to manual focus, manual shutter speed and manual aperture, the photographer has total control.

What I’d like to see in the Digilux 2

• A removable lense format to allow wide angle and telephoto fixed-length lenses.
• A focus ring with increments on the lense. Right now you can’t look at the focus ring and set it for 8 feet. You have to use the viewfinder or digital display to see when it’s in focus.
• F-stop metering on the lense. The aperture is a function of the lense, and that’s where the control belongs.
• Faster image writing. Even though it takes the picture instantaneously (at least with manual focus; a fraction of a second wait with auto-focus), the next shot is delayed for a few seonds while writing the image. Times vary depending on resolution and the size and quality of the card used.
• More pixels. Why not 10 megapixels like the new Leica DIGITAL-MODUL-R?
• Non-retractable lenses. Right now the camera takes a little more than a second to retract the lense when first switched on. Why not turn the camera on, remove the lense cap, and start shooting?
• Better audio reporting — preferably some kind of clicking mimicking an analog camera for when shutter is released, or for long exposures, when the shutter opens and closes. With volume control.
• Some people complain about the camera’s physical size, yet it’s smaller than a Pentax K-1000 with lense. I have no complaint here and have no reservations taking the camera with me everywhere I go.