D-Lux 3 as a Backup for the M8

[photolandscape]

I am trying to decide what sort of camera to get as a backup to my M8 when I travel to Peru and Chile this summer. I'll be in some extremely remote areas, including Easter Island. I can't imagine anything that would drive me crazier than getting there and having some sort of M8 meltdown, and have no way to continue to take photographs.

Money is pretty tight. I recently sold my Panasonic DMC-LC1. I really liked it, except for the excessive barrel distortion at wider angles, and the ridiculously long time intervals between being photographs due to the lack of an adequate buffer.

The D-Lux 3 looks really attractive--10MP file size, small, discreet, affordable, excellent lens (I presume). But are they available? Does anyone out there have experience with it, good or bad?

Thanks.

[stunsworth]

If money's tight get a Panasonic LX-2 - that's what I have in the camera bag with my M8 at the moment :-)

[carstenw]

Is an M6 out?

[Eoin]

I picked up a DMC-LX2 the pan version of the leica. It's a very capable little camera with many functions but it's a PIA to use when you're used to the M8.
Image quality @ 200 ISO and below are excellent, but I'm in two minds about the raw colour quality at the moment and I don't know if it's the camera or the lack of support in OSX(Mac).
I can see the blues are off, almost violet in colour but yet if I use it in jpg mode colours are spot on.

The buttons are a little fiddly as are the menu options but it's just a matter of getting used to it. All in all , excellent little camera, not on par with the M8 and Leica glass by any stretch of the imagination but it will get you some very nice keepers if the M8 were to go bye byes in the middle of nowhere. Raw file sizes are 20mb if memory servers me right so get a 2gb card minimum for it.

[photolandscape]

Thanks for all the good information. I'm leaning towards getting one--either the D-Lux 3 or the Panasonic equivalent. It's funny how CarstenW's suggestion--how about considering an M6 as a backup to the M8--caught me off guard. My last film camera was the XPan, and I still miss it. An M6 is certainly something I'll consider--although I sold my scanner a while back, but it hadn't even occurred to me to think of a film camera like the M6.

[giulioz]

I have a black DMC-LX2 for sale, if interested contact me off-line.

Giulio

[gesper]

I have a DLux 3 as back-up to my M8 and absolutely love it, better than any other P&S I have owned (Canon and Sony). It supposedly has different ("better") software than the Panasonic, plus, for me, I love the psychological comfort of being able to see that red dot.

Technically it is supposed to be the same as the Panasonic if you are shooting RAW, but some of the sample comparison shots I saw before buying showed the Leica to be better, even with RAW.

[giulioz]

Originally Posted by gesper

Technically it is supposed to be the same as the Panasonic if you are shooting RAW, but some of the sample comparison shots I saw before buying showed the Leica to be better, even with RAW.

There might be different in-camera default settings when you shoot jpeg, but when you shoot raw the cameras are exactly the same. I agree about the red dot having a psychological effect ;-)

[j_w_davies]

They're not the same if you shoot RAW.
This week's Amateur Photographer magazine (UK) compares E330, Digilux 3 and L1. L1 has a noticeably more noise than D3 at 1600 with RAW (they only show jpegs at other ISO). E330 was sharpest. Previously they had compared V-lux and Panasonic F50?, Panasonic had a lot more CA in RAW than the Leica.
So, I'm guessing the D-lux 3 and LX2 aren't the same either.

[audidudi]

Originally Posted by photolandscape

Does anyone out there have experience with it, good or bad?

I do! IMO, it works very well for what it is and does indeed serve as a great backup camera while traveling.

However, you might also consider the less expensive DMC-FX01/C-Lux1. Unfortunately, it has only 6M(very small)P, no RAW, and minimal manual control. On the other hand, it's also smaller and therefore much easier to carry in a pocket than the LX2/D-Lux3 (a big plus is the fact that its lens fully retracts and has a built-in cap) and Panasonic sells a marine case for it that makes it possible to shoot in just about any weather or environment, including underwater (where I managed to get a few surprisingly good shots while snorkeling using just the built-in flash).

Leica Camera AG - Photography - C-Lux 1

I just returned from a vacation on Kauai and the FX01 was useful complement to (and not just a backup for) the LC-1 and L-1 cameras I also brought along. In fact, I shot quite a bit with it outside of its marine case and left my LX2 at home in my briefcase...