Leica D-Lux 4 Digital Camera (Black)
by Leica
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Category: Digital Camera
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: LeicaRelease Date: 2009-11-30
Model: D-Lux4 Black
Color: Black
Product features:
- 10.1-megapixel resolution and 24-60 Summicron lens f2.0
- Small, compact design with 3.0-inch TFT LCD screen
- 50 MB built-in memory; capture images to SD memory card, SDHC memory card and MultiMedia cards (not included)
- Adobe Photoshop CS5 Upgrade [Old Version]
- Serif PhotoPlus X3
- Aperture 3
- Manfrotto 7302YB M-Y Tripod with Ball - Replaces 725B
- Pixelmator [Old Version]
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Leica D-Lux 4 Digital Camera (Black)
Customer Review: Frustrating and Awe-Inspiring--Final Verdict is Ambivalence
Summary: 3 Stars
As of today, Dec. 1, 2009, this is a REVISED version of my original review:
* * * *
I actually set out to buy the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 but it was out of stock at all reputable or even semi-reputable merchants, so when a sales rep at Willoughby's took time to phone me and offer to ship me that very day the Leica D-Lux 4 (which is essentially the same as the Panny but without the Panasonic's built-in grip and with a much longer warranty) for the same price as the Panny, well, that was hard to turn down. So I made sure I could add a grip to facilitate one-handed shooting. I can. And I bit.
The D-Lux 4 arrived and I have put it through several rounds of at least casual tests. Here are the highlights and the lowlights.
First off, I loathe and despise the lens cap. What were they thinking?!?! When someone buys a compact camera, they are usually intending to use it as an SLR *replacement* (read: a camera one can walk around with and pull out and have ready to go at a second's notice in those spur of the moment photojournalistic situations, *not* a camera you have to spend five minutes prepping and fiddling with to be able to even snap the shutter). Before I figured out to just ditch the lens cap (more on that below) I wasted a lot of time removing the lens cap each time to take a picture. And I grew to greatly resent the insane amount of time I had to spend trying to get the lens cap put back on the lens--since if I weren't careful I ended up grazing my thumb over the surface of the lens in the process. &%$#
To make a long story short, if you want to use this as a "quick draw" camera you pull out on a moment's notice to instantaneously capture those decisive moments (and it is small enough to carry in a purse), then I would suggest buying the Canon Deluxe Soft Case PSC-85 velcro closure case for it and just ditching the lens cap. When you're shooting, you won't want the lens cap on anyhow. And when you've got the camera in the case, the case will protect the lens. (The Leica brand ever-ready case, by contrast, is incompatible with this camera if you've got the Leica grip affixed and, also, has some other design flaws that you can read about that in my review of the Leica case.)
So Leica should have figured out to build in one of those those auto-retractable iris covers for the lens, but I finally found a work-around that works for me.
Probably the most significant positive is the camera's low-light capabilities. My Panasonic Lumix DMC FX-01 could never get much of anything in the dimly lit bar I visit weekly with friends. And I refuse to use the flash in such situations, since then pictures have that icky washed-out look. Not to mention it annoys your subject(s) and renders all shots posed rather than candids. The Leica D-Lux 4 handles beautifully in low light. OK, a little noise, but not so much that you can't bear to look at the shot you've taken. I'd rather take the shot and have it be a bit noisy than not take it at all. One never knows when that'll be the last shot one gets of this, that or the other pal. People move out of town... My old Panny,even set at its highest ISO setting and with exposure compensation turned all the way up to +2 just could do nothing in low light. As in, we're talking a black rectangle for the resulting image capture. The D-Lux 4 is a camera I am now so grateful to have in my life, for the low-light capabilities alone.
I love the wide angle. That was a primary selling point for me. Although this is not a perspective corrected lens, so prepare for, say, door frames to take on that fish-eye look if they're at all near the edge of the frame in your image. There's no substitute for wide-angle. I like the wide-angle lens.
But I regret the almost total lack of zoom. Be prepared for that before you commit to buying it. Brace yourself. I thought I had braced myself, but apparently not enough. I experience regret on the lack of the camera's zoom almost every time I shoot with it.
Battery life has been fine. No complaints. Charger works fine, and quickly.
Joystick takes some getting used to but when it works, it works. As in, I can use it to adjust exposure compensation without having to burrow through menus. That I like. But I get frustrated there's some seeming logical inconsistencies with which modes one can use the joystick to adjust the aperture in and which modes one cannot.
I like the ability one has to limit how high the camera will take the ISO. Nice. And any camera worth its salt will (as this one does) let the user specify the camera is disallowed from using "digital zoom," since digital (as opposed to optical) zoom is a scam. All that is is in-camera cropping.
On balance, I feel ambivalent. I would say I feel grateful to have the camera in my life because of what it can do. For low-light shooting, it's great. But I don't enjoy this camera. It's so bulky it takes up over half my purse (time, I guess, to become one of those women who carry those obnoxiously large handbags--ugh). And many shots I find I just forgo since it is such a hassle to wrestle the camera out of the somewhat snug case. And I find myself often frustrated I can't get what I need due to the lack of zoom.
But it has been only recently I finally solved the lens cap problem. So I am going to continue to shoot with the camera and I anticipate liking the camera more and more now that I am over my lens cap resentment. At this point, I've taken several thousand shots with it and have found the camera good quality and the shots I have taken the best shots I've been able to get out of a "compact" [sic] camera.
Description of Leica D-Lux 4 Digital Camera (Black)
Compact CameraDigital Cameras
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