All photos Leica D-Lux 8 |
This will be a multi part review with material being added as I gain experience with the camera. Nobody lends me cameras to review. I am not beholden to any entity that makes or sells photographic equipment or services. I have read many published reviews of the Leica D-Lux 8 but found most of them to be brief and superficial in content, revealing very little about the strengths, capabilities and weaknesses of the camera.
Hence this extended real world user review.
In the heyday of compact, fixed lens digital cameras about
14 years ago most camera makers offered many compact models from basic,
point-and-shoot to very advanced.
Smartphones killed off most compact cameras but a few
remain. Some of these have qualities which might make them attractive to
enthusiast and expert photographers who like to take control of the photo
capture process in the quest for quality results.
Some of these models have enjoyed a mini revival recently with
demand greatly exceeding supply.
These include the Fujifilm X100.6, Ricoh GR3 and variants
and the Leica Q2 and Q3 and variants which are back-ordered even at the
eye-watering price which Leica is asking for them.
Apparently Leica wants to be able to offer enthusiast
photographers a red-dot model at a more modest price and so we have the D-Lux
8.
I pre-ordered mine as soon as the Sydney store would allow and received it two weeks ago.
The D-Lux 8 has no direct competitor in the new camera
market as I write this in August 2024. It is the only fixed lens compact with a
wide aperture zoom lens, built-in always ready EVF (not one of those
annoying pop-ups) and a set of controls
suitable for enthusiast and expert use.
Canon discontinued the G1X.3. Pana-Lumix has not come up
with an LX100.3 and there are no rumors of such a model. Sony still has the
RX100.7. This is an interesting device which crams an amazing zoom range and list of features into a tiny
package. But it has the never-ready pop-up EVF and the RX100 series are so
small they are unable to provide an enjoyable user experience in the way that
the LX100/D-Lux series do.
This post is a collection of early use impressions. Subsequent posts will provide a serialised
detailed user review of the camera.
My initial impressions of the DL8 have been mixed, with some positives and several irritating negatives. Fortunately none of these has been a deal breaker. I want to get these out of the way in this post so subsequent exploration of the DL8’s characteristics can focus mainly on the positives, of which there are plenty.
First up we have the price. Leicas are expensive. AU$2790
for a compact is a lot but Fujifilm is asking AU$2799 for the heavily
backordered X100.6 and Ricoh is getting AU$2100 for some GR3 variants which
have no viewfinder, optical or electronic.
Question: What’s in the box ?
Answer: Not much. We get the camera with a hotshoe cover,
lens cap and wrist strap, a Leica BP-DC15 battery which is actually a re-badged
Pana Lumix BLG-10E, an accessory flash
unit and a little string to tether the lens cap. In a very elaborate box
within a box we find, after much undoing, the printed Quick Start Guide.
And that’s yer lot.
The battery is charged in camera by USB type C but there is
no power adapter or USB cable in the box.
I guess they figure most households already have a USB-C
charger and cable for their i-Pads and other devices, especially now that USB-C
has been mandated for most devices by the European Union.
Fortunately Pana Lumix and third party batteries and
separate charger units are readily available so we can charge batteries while
using the camera.
Some people say they are happy to use the D-Lux as it comes, without a handle, but I much prefer to fit a handle. Leica charges AU$270 (! ! !) for their nicely made but basic handle which does not allow access to battery or memory card when in place.
It appears there are plenty of owners like me because I see
lots of aftermarket accessory grips being offered for the DL8. Most of these
are much less expensive than the Leica supplied one and do allow access to the
battery and memory card when fitted. Several also incorporate flanges for a
tripod head fitting.
The thumb support is very small and smooth. It feels
insecure to me so I am in the process of experimenting with ways to enhance the
level of support.
Already several suppliers are offering thumb rests which
slot into the hotshoe cover.
I notice that these sit high on the back of the upper body
so they do not impede access to the function buttons. But they DO impede access
to the shutter speed dial. This is quite stiff to prevent unintended turning. I
need to use both my thumb and index finger to turn the dial. But with an
accessory thumb support in place I cannot get my thumb onto the dial. Buyer beware.
I cut an 8x15mm rectangle out of a self adhesive felt floor
protector intended to go under the legs of a chair and stuck that onto the
thumb support. This improves handling and will do for the time being.
With the accessory handle and improved thumb rest in place
the camera feels much more comfortable, stable and secure in hand.
Let me get some more gripes, grumbles and irritations out of the way.
The step zoom function seen on LX100 and DL7 models has been
deleted, presumably sacrificed on the altar of “das wesentliche” which roughly
translates into English as “just the essentials”.
I don’t have a problem with the basic concept of das
wesentliche and I agree with Leica that many modern cameras are overloaded with
menus and features which few owners understand or will actually use.
But there can be too much of a good thing and I think we
have arrived at that place with the DL8 which has also deleted the auto-pano
function and offers users no way to return the AF area to center with one press
on any button.
Come on Leica. Some things might not be “essential” but they
sure are useful.
The manual focus ring cannot be used for anything but manual
focus. As I hardly ever use manual focus that ring sits there occupying prime
lens barrel real estate but doing nothing. What a waste.
My next grumble is about the aperture adjustment arrangement.
Look at the photo of my 1964 Pentax Spotmatic SLR beside the DL8.
The aperture ring on the Spotmatic has grippy grooves almost
all the way around the circumference. The aperture markings are from f1.8-16 in
half stop increments so the non-grippy part of the ring with the aperture
markings is just 40mm. On this camera I can get my fingers onto a grippy part
of the ring in each of the four holding modes, landscape, left hand under/over,
portrait, left hand under/over.
On the DL8 the aperture ring is smooth all round except for
two grippy lands on opposite sides of the circle. I can get my fingers onto
those lands in landscape, left hand under holding mode but in any of the other
modes I find it awkward and difficult to do so.
Part of the problem is that the aperture ring has 1/3 stop
increments which necessitates a spaced out separation of the whole stop
markings. The other part of the problem is that the large section of the ring
which could have been grippy, is smooth.
This is not the end of the world, just one of several minor
irritations which this camera places in the way of a streamlined user
experience.
I deal with the issue by mentally assigning aperture
adjustment to Prepare Phase of use. I lower the camera until I can see the
aperture markings, make the adjustment then return the camera to my eye.
This is serviceable but slow, as it involves more actions
each more complex than changing aperture on, for instance, a current model
Canon MILC which only requires one finger to move one centimeter from the
shutter button onto the front control ring.
Several reviewers have complained that the DL8 uses an old sensor, as used in the Pana Lumix LX100.2 and Leica DL7 in 2018. The Pana Lumix G9.2 uses a newer and better 4/3 type sensor with more pixels and greater dynamic range, so why not stick that in the DL8 ? Us mere consumers have no idea and Leica has nothing to say about this.
So we carry on with the old sensor which is disappointing in
a “new” camera model, but which actually performs well in practice as I will
detail in a later post.
My next complaint is about the old style contrast detect
autofocus system used in the DL8. Leica now has hybrid phase detect/contrast
detect AF technology so why not use it in the DL8 ? Again we don’t know.
In practice, AF usually works quickly and reliably in single
shot mode so is probably good enough for the uses to which the DL8 will usually
be put.
However there is one issue with AF on the DL8 which I also
experienced on the Pana Lumix LX100, LX100(2) and Leica DL7. The camera can
mis-focus in some conditions. One of
these conditions is low light
particularly when the background is brighter than the intended subject. The
second condition is when the Active AF area is placed over a part of the
subject with bright specular highlights or other small bright lights surrounded
by relative darkness.
And then there is the fixed monitor screen. The panel itself
is very nice. Clear, bright, sharp and touch sensitive. But fixed ? Is this the
wesentliche cripple hammer again ?
A flippy screen is not essential
but it sure is useful for high and
low shots with the camera in
either landscape or portrait orientation and very desirable if we want to
operate the camera from the front side.
My last complaint is another nit-pick one. In default
configuration camera data is overlaid on a dark strip which obscures view of
the bottom of the preview image on the monitor screen (and EVF in 4:3 aspect
ratio). We can press the center button of the 4-way controller to cycle between
three data presentation styles, one of which gives us a complete view of the
preview image but no camera data at all until we half press the shutter button.
So we can have the data on but the bottom of the preview image obscured or data
off and able to see the whole picture.
Enough with the complaints. The story becomes much more
positive from here on.
I have to say my early experience was dominated by the
numerous negatives to the point I almost
got rid of it. But on further acquaintance the positives have come to the fore
and with them my enjoyment of the camera.
There are many desirable features of the DL8 which I will discuss
in subsequent posts.
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