Leica T (Type 701) review – White balance and colour
Image: The vivid colour setting is quite nice for some subjects, but can be a little overpowering
There are five colour settings on the Leica T, with each accessed via a quick press of the film-mode touchscreen button. As well as the standard mode, there are natural and vivid colour options. Of these, I found that the natural option was a little too muted for my taste, especially as I found that the standard setting provided JPEGs with realistic natural colours. The vivid mode was very vivid. An image I took of some buses on a grey London day looked as though I had selected a ‘colour-pop’ mode, with the vibrant red of the buses appearing singled out against the dull and muted grey clouds and architecture.
There are also two black & white modes – b&w natural and b&w high contrast. Of these, high contrast is my favourite, producing great black & white images straight out of the camera.
Each of the colour modes can be adjusted, with contrast and sharpness available for customisation in all modes and saturation when using the colour modes.
While some cameras have a vast number of colour modes and settings, it is refreshing that the Leica T has a limited selection. I find that I generally only use one or two colour settings anyway, especially as I shoot in raw mode, so for me they are purely a starting point or reference. My only criticism is that you cannot apply a colour filter effect to the black & white film modes.
I found that the automatic white balance worked well in both bright sunshine and overcast conditions. In fact, when I made some comparison images, I actually preferred the slightly more neutral results that the AWB setting produced in bright sunlight compared to the same image taken in the sunny white balance setting.
Image: The natural colours produced when in the default colour mode make the Leica T great for portraits
