The desire for a new piece of gear reaches into the very soul of most of us from time to time. Wherever our interests take us, the cloven hoof of temptation is never far away. How well we each resist this is highly personal and I like to think that I am a fairly resilient person where this is concerned. But every now and again I fall head over heels for something that trundles onto decisions’ battlefield, where it jousts between head and heart for several days. Occasionally I become overwhelmed with a strong impulse to scratch an itch that, if looked at rationally, did not exist in the first place.

Like some other photographers, as time has progressed and digital technology matured, I have become jaded of the megapixel race. I actually grew weary of it by the time 24 megapixel was considered normal. I never print images and, apart from those that are shared on PhotoArk, view them on high resolution monitors or TV’s up to 60 inch. So when 24mp was surpassed I found myself in a situation where new camera models didn’t interest me or fulfil my requirements. I had long planned to buy into Leica’s 35mm format L system but watched the original 24mp SL Typ 601 suceeded by the fantastic 47mp SL2. As good as it was, I could not bring myself to justify the enormous increase in resolution. I would simply be using up valuable resources storing huge RAW files with no purpose to hand. 

These words come very late to the party as far as the Leica CL’s lifespan is concerned. After all, it was released in November 2017, almost four years ago at the time of writing. There is certainly not much I can add to the many reviews and tests that are available on the web, so it would be very easy to let this slide into obscurity. But I am of the opinion that if you take information from the internet, you should contribute something back, however small.

So I finally committed to a new camera system after many months of evaluating what the market has to offer. I decided to buy into in the Leica T or TL system as it is now known. With very few exceptions I have never been the kind of person to jump at new technology, preferring instead to remain behind the curve and reap the benefits of a debugged product that usually has the added bonus of reduced pricing. My purchase of the T is no exception and finally found its way into my hands more than two and a half years after its release. Such a long time in the market place has resulted in huge discounts, particularly as I timed my purchase with the announcement of a slightly updated model, the TL. Given the small generational differences between the two (32GB instead of 16GB internal memory) faster autofocus in C-AF mode (which will probably trickle down to the original T in the form of a firmware upgrade) and a pretty new titanium finish with bevelled edges, I am more than happy with the choice made.

I admit, I am a bit slack when it comes to reviewing my equipment, it usually takes me about a year before I even consider reviewing it. But it does give me plenty of time to familiarise myself and give it a bit of a beating before I start singing its praise.

It's fair to say more and more people are dumping their compact cameras in favour of using the camera on their smart phone. With that in mind we feel it's time to do our very first photographers review of a smart phone; the iPhone 6S. When Apple first released the specs for the new iPhone camera people took to the forums and expressed their disappointment with the same 12MP sensor used in the previous model. It would seem people were expecting a higher 16MP ccd similar to Samsung's and HTC's latest offerings. But in a world of playing top-trumps with statistics people overlook what really matters, the quality of the image. One of Microsoft's Nokia Lumia’s featured a ridiculous 41MP censor which served only to sound impressive, the reality was it failed miserably when compared to the iPhone 5S’ 5MP camera.