Last week I reviewed the Sunwayfoto GH-Pro 2 Plus geared tripod head. While trawling through online presentations I noticed several positive reviews of the Leofoto G2, an even lighter and more compact geared head. So I bought one and have been running initial tests with it.

Geared tripod heads have been used by studio photographers for many years. But those studio heads are large, heavy, expensive and not really suitable for photography on the go.

Hence the popularity of compact three way heads and in recent years ball heads for landscape and location photography.

Although the total number of cameras sold each year has declined dramatically since 2010 there are still many makes, models and types of camera available. This can make the process of deciding what to buy quite challenging.

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Canon introduced the RF-S 10-18mm f4.5-6.3 IS STM ultrawide zoom for APSC RF mount cameras in 2023. This is a nice compact stabilised lens but is constrained by the small and variable aperture which limit its appeal indoors and in low light.

One of the main complaints by users and reviewers about the Canon RF mount crop sensor system has been the paucity of lens offerings.

When the EOS R7 and R10 were announced in 2022 only two zooms were made available. Since then Canon has added two more zooms.

The most versatile type of photographic device in my experience is a top-of-the-range bridge camera with a built-in EVF and a full set of controls for an enthusiast user.

But this camera type has been almost completely abandoned by camera makers.

I was an early adopter of the Micro Four Thirds [MFT] camera system starting in 2009 with the Panasonic Lumix G1. I abandoned Canon DSLRs of the time because of their woefully unreliable autofocus.

In recent times the number of fully featured, enthusiast level compact cameras available new has declined remarkably.

The unique selling point of the Leica DL8 and its precursors,  the DL7, LX100 and LX100.2 is the Leica DC Vario-Summilux f1.7-2.8,  10.9-34mm  Asph zoom lens.   

Designed by Leica in collaboration with Panasonic, the lens first appeared on the LX100 in 2014.

This post summarises my preferences for setting up the DL8  for still photography.

In keeping with Leica tradition there is no mode dial and no beginner modes on the DL8.

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