LeicaMini

Place the Leica Mini in context and you land in the early 1990s, when premium compacts and motorised zooms split the market in two. Catalogued as a autofocus compact, it pairs the Leica Elmar 35mm f/3.5 with a 35mm film path. Worth knowing up front: Leica's first true compact — actually built by Minolta in Japan.

Format

35mm

Year

1991

Lens

Leica Elmar 35mm f/3.5

Shutter

1/2s – 1/350s

Min. focus

0.7 m

Flash

Built-in auto

Battery

1× CR123A

The Leica Elmar 35mm f/3.5 sits in the daylight sweet spot: sharp wide open, well-corrected against flare, and small enough to disappear in a jacket pocket. Standard 35mm keeps it compatible with whatever Kodak, Ilford, Fuji or CineStill stock you find on the shelf today. A single CR123A lithium cell powers everything including the motor; still cheap and stocked at most camera shops. The built-in flash will fire whenever the meter decides it should, so learn the override before your first night out. Minimum focus is 0.7 m, close enough for a coffee cup or a face but stops short of true macro. Worth knowing in the field: Genuine Leica-branded Elmar lens, just in a polycarbonate shell. Best for street, travel and environmental portraits — 35mm is the all-rounder documentary photographers default to.

The Leica Mini hasn't been swept up by the algorithm yet, which is the entire window — get one before the rest of the internet catches up. A footnote that often comes up: Was Leica's answer to the booming 90s point-and-shoot market.

• §1Leica's first true compact — actually built by Minolta in Japan.
• §2Genuine Leica-branded Elmar lens, just in a polycarbonate shell.
• §3Was Leica's answer to the booming 90s point-and-shoot market.