My Digilux 3 Is Coming

[pelican]

I ordered a Digilux 3 from Hong Kong and it's coming on Wednesday. I'm so excited about it. I already have M8 and Dlux 3 as well. What should I expect from this camera? Could anyone share tips and tricks? Are you happy and satisfied with your Digilux 3? Thanks.

[dugby]

Well congrats on all 3 Leica's. (i sought-of know how u feel as I have a D1, D2, D3 and DL2 Leica/Pana versions to chose from on a daily basis....but alas no M8 yet).

Much has been written on the D3 and L1 optimising. Just do a search back through this forum.

[rjans]

Originally Posted by pelican

I ordered a Digilux 3 from Hong Kong and it's coming on Wednesday. I'm so excited about it. I already have M8 and Dlux 3 as well. What should I expect from this camera? Could anyone share tips and tricks? Are you happy and satisfied with your Digilux 3? Thanks.

It will give better quality pictures than the D-Lux 3. Make sure you upgrade the firmware to version 2 if not yet on the camera. Shoot as much possible in RAW. Capture One can also be used.

Best

[lemalk]

Congratulations on the Digilux 3 - it's a really versatile camera that produces some great images.
It may take a little while getting used to it (much like the D-Lux 3) but I'm really happy with mine.

Hope you take some great pictures with it.

[burkey]

'Glad to hear about your new DL3. I agree, raw is the best and Capture One seems to work very well for me with files from the DL3 as well as my RD-1. Hey, don't overlook the built-in flash. It's great for fill especially on bounce. I've been shooting a lot lately with the RD-1 and a G9. However, this is shot I took yesterday of my son using the DL3 with bounce flash. Raw file was processed through Capture One.
Have fun and post your images when you can.
. . . Burkey

[Telecentric]

Great camera. I use mine a lot. I echo what others say here in making sure you have firmware v2.0 installed and going through all the menu set up options to configure it to your needs.

I try to avoid using ISO settings above 400 as they are pretty noisy, especially 1600. High ISO images do clean up nicely if you use RAW and then a tool like Noise Ninja - as always it is a case of ensuring the exposures are spot on first. The auto ISO setting is very useful and allows the camera to choose its own ISO between 100 and 400.

I use mostly RAW (but on this camera you can only get RAW in combination with a jpeg, not RAW on its own) and convert them using Camera Raw in Adobe Photoshop CS3. I will use jpeg-only if I am doing a high volume sequence of shots as the image buffer can fill up quickly when capturing a sequence of RAW + jpeg images and lock you out. If you are only doing a short sequence with RAW + jpeg then that is fine. Mind you the jpegs are pretty good in their own right, it is just that I can squeeze the maximum quality out of the images when using RAW.

When doing jpegs have a look at the film modes - I especially like the Nature setting and the Dynamic one (great on dull days). There are a set of B&W film modes too which have proved useful at times.

The mega OIS feature in the supplied 14-50mm lens is very effective, especially in mode 2. One odd thing about this lens is that the if you put your ear to it with the camera switched on you can hear the gyro system used by the OIS running - it seems to run all the time! The lens is really good optically and build quality is great. Being an f2.8-3.5 it is fast for a standard zoom and in combination with the Mega OIS is very versatile.

Olympus lenses work just fine on the camera too, though they don't have the aperture ring of the Leica branded lenses and you have to resort to setting them through the dial on the back of the camera.

I can recommend the Leica 14-150mm f3.5-5.6 Mega OIS and Leica 25mm f1.4 as well (if you can find them) they too are excellent.

The built in flash has the handy feature of having a bounce setting as mentioned above and I can confirm that this is very useful.

Finally I just love the fact that the camera has classic styling and controls (aperture ring and shutter speed dial). Oh and the little red dot on the front.

Anyway I think you have made a great choice.

[pelican]

I got my D3 this morning courtesy of a good friend in Hong Kong. Here are my test shots taken at our outlet home store in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines. No post processing.

[PedroSimao]

Originally Posted by pelican

I ordered a Digilux 3 from Hong Kong and it's coming on Wednesday. I'm so excited about it. I already have M8 and Dlux 3 as well. What should I expect from this camera? Could anyone share tips and tricks? Are you happy and satisfied with your Digilux 3? Thanks.

Hi! i have the Panasonic L1, exactly similar to yours DigiLux 3 - I bought the L1 because it is all black

my advices
1- do the firmware upgrade to version 2.0 (the only one so far) - the 3rd mode of stabilization works perfecly, specially if you take photos to moving objects such as cars
2- regulate the EV compensation to -1/3 EV at least - the camera trends to overexpose a bit, this compensates this trend

I am thinking about buying the R-D adapter and the summilux R 80 mm - people say it is the perfect combination

and congratulations - you purchased a fantastic DSLR camera

Bye

Pedro

[Thomas Edwards]

...nice pictures...would be great to get your impressions of the digi3 vs the m8 for those contemplating taking the same route...

Congratulation. Great camera. I'm a real fan. Definitely do the fimware upgrade... and follow the instructions! Try the various film modes - the black and white is spectacular.

[dugby]

Congratulations on the D3.

Would I be correct in guessing your D3 was set to "Auto White Balance"....?

If I am correct, may I suggest you try using either Manual WB, or using a RAW processor to correct the WB.

I have found that even with V2.0 firmware, the AWB is not that great.

[minh]

RR

Originally Posted by lemalk

Congratulations on the Digilux 3 - it's a really versatile camera that produces some great images.
It may take a little while getting used to it (much like the D-Lux 3) but I'm really happy with mine.

Hope you take some great pictures with it.

[rsolomon]

Digulux 3 is a great camera.... and so verstile with the R adapter. i understand there are no plans on the table at this time for a digilux 4 -- anyone hear anything different ?

i have also own an R9 - love that camera, and recently sold the DMR. i must admit at this point im more excited about a Digulix 4 with a few more featers : better high iso, move the stabilazation into the body, a few more lens choices from leica, then i am about the R10.

if the R10 turns out to be a massive, heavy camera i just wont buy it - i rather have the digilux 3 or 4

BTW: if you have the opportunity to pick up an R9 at a good price i would grab it - it will most likely be the last film SLR from Leica - and it 's a rolls royce of a camera

[Peter Enkel]

Originally Posted by Thomas Edwards

...nice pictures...would be great to get your impressions of the digi3 vs the m8 for those contemplating taking the same route...

I have owned a D3 for some 4 months now and I am delighted with the results to date using the kit lens and a number of Sigma lenses including their 135 - 400mm DG telephoto.

However since I also use an M6 with a comprehensive range of lenses (max 135mm), I now wonder that since these could also be used with the M8, whether I should have bitten the expensive bullet and gone for the M8 instead.

So, I too would be very interested to learn your impressions of the two and invite comments from other Forum members. Cheers!

[stunsworth]

Hi Peter, I have a Leica M8 and the Panasonic version of this camera - LX2.

No comparison between the two . The LX2 is easy to carry around, but the M8 is much, much better in terms of image quality.

[Peter Enkel]

Thanks Steve. My camera is the Digilux 3 so I may have made an error in my description? Therefore, do your comments still apply?

[stunsworth]

Sorry Peter, I must be going gaga. I misread the heading. I don't have a digilux 3 I'm afraid, so can't offer a comparison with the M8.

[benburling]

hi, im a big fan of the digilux 3 - my photos appeared recently in the LFI magazine in an artical proposing the future of the model and what it has achieved.

heres a link to my photos, all in the last year are DIGILUX 3

Flickr: Ben Burling's Photostream

[Thomas Edwards]

Originally Posted by benburling

hi, im a big fan of the digilux 3 - my photos appeared recently in the LFI magazine in an artical proposing the future of the model and what it has achieved.

heres a link to my photos, all in the last year are DIGILUX 3

Flickr: Ben Burling's Photostream

...very nice pictures, thanks for posting...will have to look again at my latest edition of l-fi...as a mere hobbyist, think the digi3 kit (with 25lux and 14-150) makes for an extremely competent dslr kit...have decided tho to also go the m8 route to take what i liked best about the digi2 one step higher...