Looking to do Leica X Vario street photography? The black sheep of the digital Leica family of cameras is actually an underrated gem. Let’s dig right in for the pros and cons of the Leica X Vario for street photography.
Introduction
Don’t judge a book by its cover. Or in this case, don’t judge a camera by its maximum aperture. The Leica X Vario has been snubbed by many photographers because of the slow lens that starts at f3.5 and never given a chance. It is their loss however because what it lacks in lens speed it makes it up in image quality that often rivals full frame.
Leica X Vario Street Photography
So what do you need to know about Leica X Vario street photography? Let’s get start with IQ.
Stunning image quality
If there is one thing you need to know about the Leica X Vario it is that the image quality is nothing short of breathtaking. One of the most important aspects Leica has worked on is the lens, they wanted it to match Leica M quality at every focal length, the result is really gorgeous IQ from the wide angle to to telephoto end.
So yes it is not like Leica couldn’t do a fast lens, it is just that in this case they wanted sharp and the highest quality lens and they sacrificed speed.
Street ready
The Leica X Vario is great at all focal lengths but since we are talking about street photography it has it covered with a 28mm focal length and f3.5 aperture. While a lot of people think that this is too slow, this is fine for street photography that usually requires a larger depth of field starting at 5.6.
Focusing method
There is something you must know about Leica X Vario street photography the autofocus simply isn’t the fastest. If you like to shoot with AF this will not happen as your subjects will probably move while the camera is trying to focus.
That is not all, there is also no focus peaking possible and no depth of field scale on the lens. So what is there to do? The good news is on the lens there are distance indicators for 1m ,1.5m, 2m and 4m.
Simply gave the table below handy, set your camera at full wide angle (28mm) and you are good to shoot street photography!
| Distance | f3.5 | f4 | f5.6 | f8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2m | 1 m to nearly 30 m | |||
| 4m | a little more than 2 m to more than 20 m | about 2m to nearly infinity | less than 2 m to infinity | 1.5 m to infinity |
This is simplified table from here. The sweet spot for Leica X Vario street photography is 4 meters and f4-f8 where you will have anywhere from 1.5 meters to about 2 meters in focus to infinity.
Low light and night street photography
There is no way around it: the camera is slow when it comes to apertures and there is no stabilization. Since street photography tends to be quick the max shutter speed you want to keep in mind is 1/125th. You can always go slower but this is a good line to draw in the sand that takes into account you and your subject walking.
ISO wise the camera can go up to ISO1600 and max 3200, 6400 starts being a bit grainy but still usable. There is always the flash but the max aperture here is truly limiting so it is not recommended for night and low light street photography
Great OOC and raws
If you like your images straight the camera shoots contrasty and colorful images both in color and black and white. If you like to edit your raw images (these Leica presets are great for this camera) then it provides a lot of wiggle room to get your images perfect as you like them.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed this Leica X Vario street photography review. In short if you can get past it’s shortcomings and use the lens on manual and do zone focusing this is one heck of a street photography camera with image quality that feels like full frame. Click here to run a price check.