Leica X Vario: Frequently Asked Questions

Archive

On this page, I collect some questions regarding the Leica X Vario. Please note that while Leica users may laugh at some of the questions, new owners coming from "ordinary" digicams may have their issues with handling a Leica, which is different in many ways... For the convenience of the readers, some questions may be redundant with items listed on my experience and characteristics pages.

For further questions and answers see also page Questions & answers for the Leica Vario X Type 107 compact zoom camera on leicarumors.com.

Overview of Questions

Answers

General, Body

My two free attempts at downloading Adobe Lightroom failed. What can I do?

When you click the link that Leica provides for downloading Adobe Lightroom, you will be notified that you have only two attempts for downloading the software. My first attempt was very slow and got stuck after about 405 Megabytes. My second attempt created an XML error message. That was it! What could I do to get my free copy of Adobe Lightroom. Luckily, Leica sent me a serial number with each download attempt (the same in both cases). Therefore, I tried the following procedure: I downloaded a test version of Adobe Lightroom 5 (which was much faster), installed it, and entered the serial number provided by Leica. This worked! However, now Adobe sends me some advertising e-mails. Nevertheless, I informed Leica about the trouble I had, but it looks as if I will not get an answer...

What is the "true" weight of a Leica X Vario when used in practice?

"In practice" can mean a lot of things, of course. In my case, the Leica X Vario is equipped with a battery, an SD card, the EVF 2, the protector, the lens hood without cap, and the shoulder strap when I walk around with it. Our kitchen scale measures 760 g for all this with the Leica shoulder strap, and 772 g with the Peak Design shoulder strap, including two anchors.

Are there any cheaper alternatives to the original Leica X Vario lens hood?

There are probably several, but there is one, which looks nearly identical to the original one and is sold by enjouyyourcmera.com in Germany: JJC Aluminum Lens Hood for Leica X Vario - inkl. Lens Cap (ca. 36 EUR).

When I review a JPG Superfine photo on my LCD screen it is listing at best 4.3 MP, I am missing anything? I do not see an uncompressed sub menu.

For JPEG images, the file size depends very much on the characteristics of the scene that you take a photo of. For example, a recent JPEG Superfine photo of mine with large more or less uniform areas has a file size of 4 MB. Typical JPEG Superfine photos, however, have a file size between 6 and more than 7 MB in my case. As a rule of thumb, the more details, the bigger the file size. (Original posting in l-camera-forum)

Reply: Thanks , you are right I have some files in Superfine JPG reaching 6.5 MB but never close to 8 and for sure never 16MP.

My reply to this: They are never 16 MB because JPEG is a "lossy" compression format. If you save an X Vario JPEG in TIFF format without any compression you will get 48 MB (3 * 16 because of RGB = 3 colors).

I just saved a TIFF with LZW compression (lossless) to get an impression of the gain and received 19 MB - but again, the compression depends on the scene. My largest JPEG Superfine files seem to take around 7.6 MB (just a quick-and-dirty inspection...). Typical "high quality" JPEG compression rates are about 1:6 to 1:10.

Where can I find more tips and tricks for using the Leica X Vario?

There is a very helpful thread in the Leica forum at dpreview, in which users post their tips and tricks for the Leica X Vario.

I can't find any in-built lens correction profile for the camera in Adobe Lightroom. Am I missing something?

I received an email with the following question: "I am having some difficulty figuring out how to process the DNG files in Lightroom 5.6. I can't find any in-built lens correction profile for the camera. Am I missing something?" Since I do not shoot RAW and do not use Adobe Lightroom regularly (thus, I am not familiar with it...), I had to figure this out for myself. In addition, I own already LR version 6, but I think that there was not much change in this respect...

So I took a few photos in DNG format, imported them into LR 6, and went to the development module. There I scrolled down to the "Lens Correction" section, where I clicked the "Profile" tab. Initially, I thought that I have to check "Enable Profile Corrections", but that was not true. These corrections are only meant for the Leica M (and other Leica models) and Leica lenses - you can see this in gray on the following screenshot:

But this screenshot also points to the answer of the question: There is an "i" (info) icon at the bottom, telling that a built-in lens profile was applied (automatically). Thus, when you load DNG images from a Leica X Vario into LR, the embedded profile is applied to the images automatically. As far as I know, you can't even deactivate this, you would need a different RAW converter for this… Anyway, I somehow knew this, but wasn't sure - so I tried it out in LR...

If you click the "i" icon, a popup appears that tells more explicitly what has happened :

All in all, you need not search for the built-in lens profiles because they are already applied automatically.

Since I want to take mostly landscape shots with the Leica X Vario, I would like to ask whether there is a useful remote release, which you can recommend or know. Or is the self-timer the only possibility to get long exposures without camera shake?

I do not know of a remote release for the X Vario (it also does not have a thread for a cable release in the shutter button, as the Leica M offers). Therefore, I also do not have a better idea than the proposed one, namely to use the self-timer (usually, I'm too lazy to use it, though...).

Firmware, Manuals, Number of Shots

Is a firmware update available for the Leica X Vario, or even more than one?

On September 15, 2014, Leica released the first firmware update for the X Vario (version 1.1; the initial version was 1.0). X Vario user XVarior who seems to have some connections to Leica promised an update already at the beginning of 2014, but it took until Photokina 2014 to materialize (it has a file date of February 26, 2014...). See page Firmware for more information.

Where can I download the Leica X Vario manual and other information on this camera?

Go to this page on the Leica Website (US version): us.leica-camera.com/Photography/X-Cameras/Leica-X-Vario/Downloads (German version: de.leica-camera.com/Fotografie/X-Kameras/Leica-X-Vario/Downloads)

Can I find out how many actuations my (used camera that I recently bought) had?

This question was asked in forums, but it looks as if there were no ways of finding this out (contrary to other Leica models....)

Lens

The Leica X Vario has a variable aperture lens. How does maximum aperture change across the focal range?

I determined the following maximum aperture values (equivalent focal lengths) for the Leica X Vario:

28 mm: f/3.5, 35 mm: f/4.5, 50 mm: f/5.1, 70 mm: f/6.4 (f/6.4 starts between 50 mm and 70 mm).

Did Leica or anybody else publish MTF curves for the Leica X Vario?

The LFI (Leica Forum International) magazine published MTF curves for the Leica X Vario in its issue 7/2013 (October 2013). Since these are copyrighted, I cannot show them here and only refer you to the LFI magazine. However, I found out that a photo of the respective magazine page was published in a thread about the Leica X Vario).

All I can say here is that the curves look unbelievably good and straight. Maybe they are somewhat "idealized" (they do not look like MTF curves from real lenses to me)...

Update: You can find lens data on Erwin Puts' site The Tao of Leica: Leica X Vario, part 1 • Leica X Vario, part 2

Did Leica or anybody else publish lines/mm data for the Leica X Vario?

Erwin Puts published lens performance data in his blog article Leica X Vario, part 1, particularly resolution values (in lines/mm) versus modulation for various apertures (f/5, f/8, f/16).

PC Magazine also published lens performance data (which are also mentioned on my Lens page). According to them, performance improves with focal length (it is weakest at 18 mm and best at 46 mm).

The lens (and the whole camera...) was also tested by the French photo magazine Chasseur d'Image (no. 357, October 2013) and by Sean Reid (I cannot re-publish the results here for copyright reasons; Sean Reid's site is a subscription site).

Update: You can find lens data on Erwin Puts' site The Tao of Leica: Leica X Vario, part 1 • Leica X Vario, part 2

Does the Leica X Vario correct distortion, vignetting, and more in software - and if so how can I see the effect?

When the Leica T was announced, dpreview.com announced that they found out that, despite other information from Leica, the Leica T does correct distortion, vignetting, chromatic aberration, and whatever in software. This stirred up a huge discussion (or a can of worms as someone wrote). Nonetheless, this strategy was not new to Leica - the X Vario does it already (and some say, to a larger degree...).

As a result of the software correction JPEG images show very little distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberration. The same applies to DNG (RAW) files when processed in Adobe Lightroom. Other raw converters, such as RawTherapy, do not use the correction information provided in the files and show the original photo wihtout any correction. Thus, if you want to see how a photo would look like without corrections, open a DNG file in such a raw converter.

Here you can see examples demonstrating the effect of software correction on distortion (K-Photo, l-camera-forum): www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-t-forum/330724-softwarekorrektur-raw-4.html#post2685524

Sensor

What can be said in short about the Leica X Vario sensor?

The Leica X Vario has a "proven" 16.5/16.2 million pixels (total/effective), probably manufactured by Sony, which has a weak AA filter (contrary to the recent trend to do without such a filter). It seems to do well in high ISO (up to 800...1600, depending on your taste). ISO values of 3200 or 6400 can lead to acceptable results under certain conditions/depending on the use of the photo.

According to colonel (post on the l-camera-forum), the sensor "is a APS-C sensor that is known as an excellent ISO performer (Amateur photographer noted recently that ITHO its still the best APS-C sensor available) and, incidentally, the XV has the latest revision of it, and the weakest AA filter that has been deployed with it."

For in-depth evaluations of the sensor see here (below).

Are there any in-depth evaluations of the Leica X Vario sensor?

DxOMark tested the Leica X Vario (so they say...), but actually, they mostly tested the sensor. Here are the respective links to the test:

Specialties

What does the auto review "Zoom" setting do? In cannot find it in the manual...

Apart from the "Off", 1, 3, 5 seconds and the "Hold" settings, there is also a "Zoom" setting for auto review, and I wondered what this means, because I could not find a description of it in the manual. Here is my "missing manual" description, that is, what I found out:

The whole image is shown for a short while (depending on whether you shoot DNG+JPG or JPG-only) and then a magnified section (center) is shown fullscreen for a about a second.

The insufficient processing power seems to cause that the whole image is shown for 3 seconds when the file format is DNG +Superfine; for JPG Superfine is is about 1 second. The magnified section is shown for about one second in both cases.

What can the auto review "Zoom" setting do for me?

The auto review "Zoom" settings allows me - most of the time - to easily decide whether a just taken photo is out of focus or not.

Of course, I can press the "Play" button after each shot and enlarge the photo to check whether focus is correct. But this is cumbersome, and admittedly, I am too lazy for such a procedure. Here the "Zoom" setting of the auto review function comes in handy - at least, if you're not in a hurry.

Could you please explain how to restore to factory settings? Is this the same as setting the camera to "Default Settings" in the "User Profile" menu?

I had a look into the manual and found the following:

RESETTING ALL MENU SETTINGS TO THE FACTORY DEFAULTS:
Select "User Profile" in the menu, and "Default profile" in the submenu.
Note: When resetting to the factory default settings, your settings for the date, time and language are not reset

All in all, I would conclude that both are indeed the same.

When the camera is on, and I move it / rotate it say up or down, I hear a rattling / hunting noise. Can anyone advise if this noise is normal and is also present in their XV?

Long version of the question: When the camera is on, and I move it / rotate it say up or down, I hear a rattling / hunting noise. When I off the camera, or when the camera is on play mode (reviewing images) there is no noise. What appears to be the case is that the rattling noise appears to be the camera adjusting for focus (I'm guessing) but I have not noticed such noise before even when using the camera for a few months. Can anyone advise if this noise is normal and is also present in their XV?

I answer this question together with the following question.

My XV definitely makes some type of noise when I move the focus and zoom rings. Moving the focus and zoom rings when the camera is off produces absolutely no noise. Since I've never handled or seen another XV, I'm curious to know whether this is normal.

Long version of the question: I'm not sure I would call it rattle, but my XV definitely makes some type of noise when I move the focus and zoom rings. When I'm outside I don't hear it much, but it was definitely the first thing I noticed after I turned the camera on for the first time. Moving the focus and zoom rings when the camera is off produces absolutely no noise. When it is on, it sounds like the camera is making hundreds of quick changes. Since I've never handled or seen another XV, I'm curious to know whether this is normal. Maybe I'm talking of something completely different than the OP.

First of all, both types of lens noises are OK - there is nothing wrong with the camera. In the following, try to explanations what these noises reveal.

Viewfinder Image Brightness (Question 1)

If the camera is turned "on" and you do nothing except for pointing the lens to different targets, you can here a "rattling" noise. It is created by the iris blades (or aperture blades - or by the shutter, because it is a leaf shutter...) that move to adapt the brightness of the viewfinder image. You can see the blades move when you look at the lens while moving the camera.

When you look through the viewfinder and move the camera, you can observe how the image gets lighter or darker, depending on the target. This happens rather smoothly, sometimes, however, with a slight delay. All this suggests that there is an electronic gain control involved.

People with very good eyes might even recognize that DOF changes. However, I am not able to recognize this...

Focus (Question 2)

When the camera is turned "off," you hear only mechanical noise when you turn the focus ring. When the camera is "on" and you move the focus ring (manual focus) you can hear the "working" of the step motor, which moves one small lens element. I put the lens cap on the camera when checking this so that there is no confusion with the first noise. In autofocus mode, you can hear the step motor work, when you half-press the shutter button for setting distance and exposure.

These observations confirm that the X Vario lens uses a "fly-by-wire" mechanism for focusing, even though it may feel as if focusing were mechanical.

Zoom (Question 2)

According to colonel/harold1968, the Leica X Vario's zoom works purely mechanical. An indication of this is the fact that the lens changes it length (a little) already when you zoom while the camera is turned "off." However, when I turn the camera "on," put the lens cap on the lens to avoid confusion with other "noise sources", there is more to hear than when the camera is "off." It sounds like something is being moved when the camera is "on," sometimes even with a little delay. At the end of the zoom movement, you can also hear the "rattling" noise of the iris blade, because the camera adjusts aperture for the viewfinder after zooming. Only lens designer Peter Karbe knows what exactly is happening...

Do I need to worry about the lens hood cover? Mine is tight and when I pull it off it pulls on the lens hood and thus the lens itself.

An X Vario owner wrote in the Leica forum ar dpreview.com: Hi Gerd, Do you worry about the lens hood cover? Mine's tight and when I pull it off it pulls on the lens hood and thus the lens itself. I wonder about the long-term impact of that stress on the lens.

My lens hood cover is tight as well. At the beginning, I was really worrying like the poster. But with some usage the cover seems to get a little less tight - or maybe I got just more used to it. It seems to help a little bit when you turn the cover while pulling it off or putting it on. Anyway, I do not worry about it anymore... Maybe, a plastic cover would have been a better solution, but probably not for Leica...

What can I do when the battery lock slider is broken?

Call the Leica service and decide for one of the following options:

Arrange with them that you can sent the camera to Leica for a repair
Ask them to send you a replacement part so that you can fix the issue yourself.

I do not have any experience with the first option, and therefore cannot tell any details of how this can be done (perhaps you get an RMA). When the battery lock slider of my camera broke, I decided for the second option, inspired by a posting in the German X camera thread of the l-camera-forum (in German). This required some to and fro calling, because the person on the phone could not decide this and had to ask a technician - who eventually agreed that the part could be sent to me.

My repair was finally successful, but it had its pitfalls. Perhaps you better decide for the first option... For details see page Damages to the Camera.

How can I achieve that the sun has rays, which aperture should I set?

You get the best sun rays, when you set or have the camera set an aperture of f/16. Usually, I therefore set the aperture manually to f/16. The rays are still acceptable if you go to about f/11 (or better, f/12), but no longer if you set an aperture of f/8. See page Sunrays with samples at different f-stops for illustration.

How can I cancel the deletion of pictures?

When I press the DELETE/FOCUS button in "PLAY" mode, I find only the two options "Single" and "All", but no possibility to cancel the deletion process. This is particularly annoying, when I pressed the button inadvertently or just for curiosity. How can I exit the "Delete" menu before deleting? Luckily, this is described in the Leica manual on page 162: Just press the DELETE/FOCUS button again.

Why is it not possible to shoot RAW only - is there any chance that user will be given the choice of shooting in RAW format only?

This question and the debates about them seems to exist since the Leica X1 - and the X Vario and newer X models follow in this vein. Since I rarely use the RAW format (DNG), I do not know whether this is really a "big" issue (some users seems to view it as such...). But obviously, Leica seems so have good reasons to do it this way (although other companies offer RAW only option).

In a recent posting (October 2014), user mjh offered the following explanation: The JPEG stored alongside the raw file serves as a high-resolution preview so the camera doesn’t have to create it on the fly. The alternative would be to embed this preview in the raw file, to no obvious advantage.

User timde elaborated on this in a subsequent posting: Normally, when shooting "RAW Only" the camera will embed a low-resolution JPEG preview image into the RAW file. This is done to allow review on the LCD as a RAW file cannot be displayed itself. The benefit of using a higher resolution JPEG (RAW + JPEG) is the ability to review critical focus/exposure (histogram etc) and other things more accurately. The JPEG files are also smaller which is better for Wifi sharing etc.

By the way, I stumbled over the following thread Indistinct Ricoh GR raw image on LCD screen: Ricoh Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review. There you can see what can happen or how some users react, when it is the other way round, that is, when no JPEG is stored together with the RAW image (it's refers to the Ricoh GR, which also allows to store RAW+JPEG...). Quite instructive... (See also the Ricoh GR FAQ)

Flash

Is the tiny pop-up flash of any use?

Several users reported that the pop-up flash is useful for brightening backlit objects (use manual flash activation for this). So far, my own attempts in this respect regrettably failed...

Focusing

I cannot find the infinity setting in the focus menu? How can I set the distance to infinity?

You cannot find it because there is none. You probably owned a digicam without a distance ring or with focus-by-wire? The Leica X Vario is different: Simply move the lens' distance ring to infinity ( if it is set to AF, turn the ring to the left just over the "click"). Note that you can do this even if the camera is turned off.

Note: The focus menu is accessed using the "Delete/Focus" button on the left of the camera back.


Focus set to AF		Focus set to infinity

How can I calculate depth of field for the Leica X Vario and what is its circle of confusion?

The lens of the Leica X Vario does not have a depth of field scale. The easiest to calculate he respective would be to visit the DOFMaster Website and perform the calculations there. Admittedly, that is still a lot of work if you want to do it for several focal lengths and apertures. Since the Leica X Vario is not listed in the camera list, you should enter the circle of confusion (coc), instead. The usual value for APS-C cameras would be 0.025, but Leica write a value of 0.02 into the camera's Exif data (except for 18 mm, where it uses a coc of 0.019 mm). Do as you like - the former value provides a little bit more depth of field...

Please note that you need to use the actual focal length for the calculations, not the equivalent one (see the DOFMaster FAQ).

Don Fleming, the maker of DOFMaster lists the formulas that he uses for the calculations. I used these, too, to create a spreadsheet to perform all the respective calculations. See page Depth of Field Tables for calculations of depth of field limits for the Leica X Vario.

Note: I hit on a discusion in the l-camera-forum that DOF is different for digital cameras than for analog (film) cameras. According to an article, entitled Profondeur de champ et capteurs numériques (English version: Depth of field and digital sensors) that was cited there, the coc is to be calculated as the photosite size multiplied by a factor of 1.5 However, before I create new tables, I will first wait how this issue is further discussed in the above-mentioned thread...

For details, see my general page Calculating Hyperfocal Distance and Depth of Field.

What is the hyperfocal distance and how can I calculate or determine it?

The hyperfocal distance is useful for shooting with manual focus and aperture. When you set a lens to the hyperfocal distance, everything will be sharp from half the hyperfocal distance to infinity. Sharpness is defined by the circle of confusion (coc). It is typically set to 0.025mm for APS-C sensors, but Leica sets it at 0.02mm for the Leica X Vario(except for 18 mm, where it uses a coc of 0.019 mm).

The hyperfocal distance depends on three factors: (1) focal length (the exact length, not the equivalent length), (2) aperture, (3) circle of confusion.

You can calculate the hyperfocal distance for a given focal length and aperture using DOFMaster. Set the circle of confusion to 0.02 mm or 0.025 mm - as you like... (the latter provides more depth of field).

Examples:

18 mm, f/3.6, 0.02: 4.56 m (2.28 m to infinity); 18 mm, f/3.6, 0.025: 3.65 (1.825 m to infinity)
44.7 mm, f/6.4, 0.02: 15.8 m (7.9 m to infinity); 44.7 mm, f/6.4, 0.02: 12.6m (6.3 m to infinity)

Please note that the values f/3.5 and 44.6mm are not available in DOFMaster.

You can also determine the hyperfocal distance by inspecting the Exif data using ExifTool. Please note that Leica assumes a circle of confusion of 0.02mm. The values listed seem to correspond to those calculated with DOFMaster.

See page Hyperfocal Distance for a calculation of the hyperfocal distance for the Leica X Vario.

The closest distance of the Leica X Vario is 30 cm at the tele end. How can I achieve larger magnifications with simple means?

The simplest way to achieve greater magnifications at close-up shots is to attach a close-up lens to the X Vario lens (43 mm). I know that you do not want to degrade image quality when you buy a Leica camera. But either you buy a very expensive (used) Leica Achromat, or you are content with a cheap close-up lens that may impact image quality - at the moment, there is no other choice.

Here are a few selected examples of what you can achieve:

	No lens*	+1	+5	+9	+10	+12	+15	+20
Object width (ca.)	120 mm	96 mm	60 mm	45 mm	40 mm	36 mm	31 mm	26 mm
Object height (ca.)	80 mm	64 mm	40 mm	30 mm	27 mm	24 mm	21 mm	17 mm
Magnification (ca.)	0.2	0.24	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.65	0.75	0.9

*) focal length 70mm equiv., distance 30cm

In short, a +5 diopter close-up lens doubles magnification, and is about the strongest "recommended" choice. A +10 or two +5 lenses will give you about 1:2 magnification like a 1:2 macro lens.

For more information regarding the magnification that you can achieve with close-up lenses, see my close-up tests, which also show sample photos.

What is the minimum object size at a focal length of 70 mm (equiv.)

The Leica X Vario can focus most closely at a focal length of 70 mm (equiv.), which therefore is the ideal focal length for close-up photos.

In my own magnification tests, I found out that with manual focus, the minimum object size that fills the frame is about 12 cm x 8 cm (magnification = 0.2). X Vario user Firoze also made some tests on his own and found that when using autofocus the minimum object size is 10.25 cm x 6.8 cm (magnification = 0.23; he measured only the width), which makes a considerable difference. For details see page Close-Up Experiments - No Lens.

How can I improve manual focusing for shots at the wide end?

As Daniel Martin found out (inspired by the noises that the focus motor creates during zooming), you can focus manually at 70 mm (46 mm) and then zoom to the wide end without touching the focus ring. The results seem to be more consistent that those obtained by focusing manually at the desired (wider) focal length. For dertails, se page Manual Focusing.

How can I move the autofocus field (spot and 1 point autofocus)?

Press the DELETE/FOCUS button for more than a second. Four red arrows will appear, indicating in which direction you can move the AF field with the direction pad (they disappear if you cannot move the field any further in a specific direction).
To reset the position of the AF field, press the INFO button at the center of the direction pad. To return to the normal screen, press the DELETE/FOCUS button again.

Note that the changed position will be maintained if you switch between AF modes. The camera seems to keep the position even after it has been turned off. Only when you press the INFO button (or reset the camera completely) the location of the AF field is reset.

Also note that the LCD screen on the back will become active as soon as you activate the "move mode" and have an electronic viewfinder attached. The active view will switch back to the viewfinder when you press the shutter button or press the DELETE/FOCUS button again.

Exposure, ISO, Modes

How can I set the different exposure modes? I cannot find the respective indicators...

There are indeed no PSAM (or Tv, Ta, etc.) labels on the top dials of the Leica X Vario. But setting exposure modes is easy and logical:

Automatic program: Set both top dials to "A" (red*); you can use program shift to change the shutter speed/aperture combination while retaining the EV value. Turn the thumb wheel for this purpose (at the top right on the camera back).
Aperture priority: Set the aperture setting dial to the desired value, leave the shutter speed dial on "A".
Shutter speed priority: Set the shutter speed dial to the desired value, leave the aperture setting dial on "A".
Manual setting: Set both dials to the desired values; a scale in the viewfinder/on the LCD screen indicates how far off you are from what the camera considers as a correct exposure.


Automatic program		Shutter speed priority

Aperture priority		Manual setting

*) The red "A" label is hard to see in low light - green would have been a better choice...

If I set aperture to f/3.5 on the aperture setting dial, what happens if I zoom to - for example - 70mm where the minimum aperture is only f/6.4?

In this case, the "internal" aperture setting is automatically adapted to the minimum aperture of the respective focal length. That is, if you zoom to 70mm, aperture is set to f/6.4. This is reflected in the viewfinder/LCD display.

I want always shoot with the aperture wide open, even when zooming around - is there an easy way to achieve this?

This is another way to address the previous question. While the program automatic tends to select wide apertures, the simplest way to achieve this is to set aperture manually to f/3.5. The camera will automatically adapt the aperture value when you zoom to wider focal lengths.

I set aperture to a specific value (aperture priority) and ISO to "Auto". When I half-press the shutter button, shutter speed and aperture are marked in red (underexposure) and shutter speed is set to 1/30 sec. Why does the camera underexpose the image despite being set to Auto ISO? updated

This typically happens in low light situations where exposure times longer than the slowest shutter speed set for Auto ISO (in this case 1/30 sec) are needed. You can change the slowest shutter speed for Auto ISO to a slower value using the menu setting "Auto ISO Settings > Slowest Speed". You can also increase the maximum possible ISO value using the "Auto ISO settings > Max ISO" menu setting if you have not done so already. Thus, underexposure does not happen despite the camera being set to Auto ISO, but because of being set to Auto ISO...

Note: The slowest shutter speed was 1/8 sec for the original firmware and was increased to 1 sec with firmware update 1.1. The latter update also introduced shutter speeds faster than 1/30 sec (up to 1/1000 sec).

Probably it is easier to simply change ISO from "Auto" to a higher value (800...12.500) to prevent underexposure (if you have not already done so).

I take quite a lot of fuzzy shots when the lighting is poor. Any ideas what I can do to prevent this?

The Leica X Vario has a slow lens and no image stabilization (like many APS-C compact cameras). As a result, I had quite a few fuzzy shots during my first encounters with the new camera. And I asked myself what I can do to improve my success rate. I will devote a separate page to this topic, but for the moment, here is a short list of ideas:

Increase the sensitivity (ISO) - but not beyond ISO 3200 (to prevent image degradation)
Use continuous shooting (bursts) to minimize shutter depress effects
Use the self timer - 2 seconds should suffice
Set the shutter speed to 1/125 or 1/250, that is, switch from automatic program to shutter speed priority; set ISO to "Automatic" to compensate for the short shutter speed (you can set a highest ISO value to prevent image degradation); this, of course, has its limits when light is too low...
Of course, use a tripod or stabilize the camera appropriately (in my experience, using an EVF is better than using the LCD screen because with an EVF you press the camera against your forehead).

I'm struggling to find information on long exposures, for example, greater than 2 minutes, using the X Vario. Is it possible to do this on the X Vario? Is there a bulb (B) setting or a T setting?

According to the technical data in the manual, the longest possible shutter speed is 30 seconds. Thus, it is not possible to have exposure times of 2 minutes or even longer. The X Vario also does not offer a B (bulb) or T setting.

I checked the longest exposure time for both automatic and manual exposure. For automatic exposure, I put the cover on the lens hood to assure a completely dark image. The automatic exposure selected an exposure time of 30 seconds. For long exposure times when using manual exposure, set the shutter speed dial to "1+" (the "thumb wheel indicator" appears on the LCD screen/in the viewfinder), then rotate the thumb wheel to set the shutter speed. The longest exposure time that you can set is 30 seconds. For details on manual exposure control see p. 140 in the manual.

Does the "Auto" setting for the slowest shutter speed in Auto ISO mode choose the speed based on the lens focal length setting? In other words is the Auto setting "intuitive"? new

This question was asked in the Leica Forum by a user from New Zealand. Note that the "Auto" option was added with firmware update 1.1 but not documented. All this stimulated me to find it out myself.

So I went to the "Auto ISO Settings" in the menu, set "Slowest Speed" to "Auto", left the menu and put the lens cap on the lens. Then I varied the focal length (28, 35, 50, 70), pressed the shutter button half-way and looked at the readout (which appeared in red because of the darkness). I got: 28 mm: 1/30 s, 35 mm: 1/40 s, 50 mm: 1/50 s, 70 mm: 1/80 s. In the middle between 50 mm and 70 mm, I got 1/60 s. All in all, this confirms that the slowest speed is based on the focal length setting - and is intuitive (although it does not exactly follow the 1/f rule...).

You can also go into a darker room with a window or so to verify this by turning the camera around. If it is brighter, the readout will get white (correct exposure), and if it is even brighter, the shutter speeds will get faster.

How can I use the program shift function? new

The program shift function is available in P mode only (both top dials set to "A") and allows you to change the shutter speed/aperture combination while maintaining a constant exposure value (EV). This allows you to adapt the shutter speed or aperture to your needs if you do not agree with what the P mode selected.

To measure exposure, you have to briefly press the shutter release button: The shutter speed and the aperture values appear in white. Then release the button - a symbol that the shutter speed/aperture combination can be shifted appears (a thumb wheel icon) - and turn the thumb wheel to set the desired shutter speed/aperture combination if needed (within about 12 seconds). When you shift the shutter speed/aperture combination, this is indicated by an asterisk next to the shutter speed (not to the aperture, as the manual also mentions).

Program shift is cancelled after you took the photo (the asterisk disappears when the automatic preview ends).

The camera offers a shift function for shutter/ aperture in program mode but it seems not to work with autofocus/metering lock. Am I missing something or is this by design. new

This question was asked by Peter Bell in an e-mail, and he added: In autofocus mode I press the button half-ways, get autofocus/metering lock but no reference to the shift function (i.e. no reference to the little shift wheel in the display). This reference appears once I release the button, but with this release I loose the autofocus/metering lock.

My answer in short is: It is by design. You cannot use the program shift function as long as you half-press the shutter release button. I tested this for the Ricoh GR and Sony RX100 M1 as well, and it is the same for both cameras.

So what can you do if you want to use BOTH the AF/metering lock AND program shift? My suggestion is as follows and packaged into a small „procedure":

Measure AF/exposure by half-pressing the shutter release button.
Release the shutter button again -> the symbol for program shift will appear in the display* (it will go away after about 12 seconds when you do nothing).
Turn the thumb wheel to use program shift (within about 12 seconds after releasing the shutter button).
An asterisk next to the shutter speed indicates that you use program shift.**
Half-press the shutter release button again.
>> If you do not move the camera too much, EV does not change, and the shifted values are kept when pressing the shutter release button again (according to my observations; observe the time limit mentioned above!). Sometimes, there can be a small change in the shutter speed (typically, it is negligible), but usually the shifted shutter speed/aperture combination is kept.
Re-frame the photo while keeping the shutter release button half-pressed.
Take the photo. (The asterisk next to the shutter speed will disappear.)

This sounds more complicated than it actually is. Sometimes, I do not half-press the shutter release button correctly when re-framing, and the exposure values change. Then I have to redo the procedure.

Notes on the Leica X Vario Manual

*) The X Vario manual states (p. 140): The shutter speed and aperture are displayed in white. In addition, a reference to the program shift function appears.
This is wrong at least for my X Vario sample. The symbol appears only AFTER I release the shutter button. If the manual were correct, you COULD use program shift AND focus/exposure lock together! The manual NEVER mentions that you have to release the shutter button to be able to use the program shift function.
For the other two cameras, I also have to release the shutter button to be able to use the program shift function.

**The manual seems to err here, too (p. 141): Shifted values are indicated by an asterisk next to the shutter speed or the aperture.
I never saw an asterisk next to the aperture value. But maybe under some conditions this might happen...

Display: Viewfinder, LCD Screen

Can I use the Olympus electronic viewfinder EVF2 instead of the Leica version?

This question has been asked frequently, and the common answer is "yes" because both seem the be identical. However, from time to time users of the Olympus EVF2 report issues such ar green bars or a green screen. I bought the Olympus viewfinder myself, because it is half the price of the Leica version, and experienced such problems myself from time to time. There are no report so far that users of the Leica version have these issues. At the moment it looks as if you have to live with such issues if you do not want to spend more money...

Is the new Olympus electronic viewfinder EVF4 usable on the Leica X Vario and will there be a Leica counterpart for it?

The viewfinder EVF4 cannot be used at the X Vario - and probably never will, because the camera's processing power is too low (as was remarked by some experts). Since Leica uses different viewfinders in its newer cameras, it is very improbable that it will adopt the Olympus EVF4 to update its older models.

Even when I have the EVF mounted (Olympus version), the EVF menu items are grayed out. Does anyone know why?

The question was asked in the dpreview.com Leica forum by barjohn. It refers to the brightness and color reproduction settings for the electronic viewfinder (EVF) and the LCD screen (monitor) in the camera menus.

The simple answer to the question is that only those menu items are active that refer to the display device you are currently using. If you display the menu screens in the EVF, the settings for the EVF are active. If you display them on the monitor, the settings for the monitor are active. The logic behind this seems to be that you can only change the settings for a device that you are looking at (which makes some sense...).

There is one caveat, though. You can use the EVF for taking photos but can set in the menus that the monitor is always used as the display for the menu settings. In this case you will, of course, never be able to change the settings for the EVF. Thus, you have to disable this function at least temporarily in order to be able to change the settings for the EVF. Perhaps, someone knows a trick...

Last, but not least, this phenomenon has nothing to do with whether you use a Leica or an Olympus EVF.

The EVF Brightness and Color Management options aren't accessible on my X Vario. Am I missing something obvious?

This question was asked in the l-camera-forum and answered there. I try to rephrase the answer in my own words.

First of all, you need to attach the EVF to the camera to be able change the brightness and color management options for the EVF. Then turn the camera and the EVF on (if it isn't already on). Next press the "MENU" button (the menu appears on the monitor) and proceed to menu item "Menu on Monitor". Press the right key (flash symbol) on the direction pad and set "Menu" to "Off". Confirm this choice with pressing the "MENU/SET" button.

Thereafter, the menu will appear in the EVF (and the monitor will be black), and the respective options are activated (whereas the menus items for the monitor are now grayed out).

How can I get a preview of the depth of field (aperture preview)?

The manual states nothing about this. By accident, I found out that you can get an aperture preview in aperture priority and manual mode while you half-press the shutter release button (otherwise the viewfinder/LCD screen image seems to use maximum aperture).

How can I get a preview of exposure (and depth of field) in manual mode?

The manual states nothing about this. By accident, I found out that you can get an exposure and aperture preview in manual mode while you half-press the shutter release button (otherwise the viewfinder/LCD screen image seems to use maximum aperture).

Also, a light balance scale (+/- 3 EV in 1/3 EVs) appears that allows you to adjust the exposure settings to values that the cameras recommends. Note that the scale will stay on the screen after you first half-pressed the shutter release button and reacts to changes in the settings even without having to half-press the shutter release button.

The image on my EVF 2 is totally blurred - using manual or auto focus. ... Has anyone experienced this?

In the l-camera-forum, a poster wrote:

As of this morning, the image on my EVF 2 is totally blurred - using manual or auto focus. No problems when looking at the X Vario (LCD) screen, other than not being able to see much in the sunlight... Has anyone experienced this?

A forum moderator replied: You realize, of course, that you adjust the diopters by turning the ring around the eyepiece?

And indeed the poster had forgotten that you can turn the diopter ring to adjust the image. Actually, during my recent vacation I often found that the the EVF image was blurred because the diopter ring had been turned for various reasons. So, depending on how you use the camera, this phenomenon might be not as rare as one might think...

Exif Data

Are there any useful "hidden" Exif data that could be deciphered and how can I reveal them?

Yes, the hidden Exif tags for focus mode and focus distance could be deciphered. You can reveal them using ExifTool. For more information see pages Manufacturer-Specific Exif Data and Exif Data - Inspecting Focus.

Leica X Vario: Frequently Asked Questions

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