New D-Lux 3 owner...

[Simon Lewin]

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Delighted with the D-Lux 3 that I received on Xmas day!

 

Need to get shooting with it - but if anyone has any tips please let me know.

 

I want to get a 2GB card for it - does the quality of card really make a difference to the speed of data writing? Are there any specific brands I should look for?

 

Also, I primarily want to shoot in B&W - is it best to do this 'in camera' or shoot in colour and convert in Photoshop?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Simon

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[macgarvin]

Simon

 

Apparently the card may make a difference - others have reported saving of RAW images at around 5 seconds, I get around 2.5 seconds with a San Disk Extreem III @GB card and the cost is not excessive. Unlimited multiple shots runs at around 2 images a second with JPG set to high quality.

 

If you have photoshop, always always do the b/w conversion there - it gives you far more flexibility for playing with colour balance to then get the most dramatic b/w conversions, allows you to do 'apparently' b/w effects such as platinum prints, selinium prints etc. And you can then play with colour renditions as well.

 

enjoy!

[Django]

hi simon,

i also just got the d-lux 3 and am also using the sandisk extreme III 2GB SD-Card macgarvin mentioned. no problems so far and nice speed even when writing raw!

 

generally, don't get fooled by the card's name (e.g. ultra, extreme, etc.) but take a serious look at the card's writing speed, e.g. the sandisk extreme has writing speed of 20 MB/s.

[stunsworth]

Hi Simon, I have the Panasonic equivaent the LX2. Personally I shoot in RAW and then convert to b&w in Photoshop.

 

The camera is noisy above about ISO 200, but at 200 and below it's perfectly acceptable. For such a small camera the lens is v good IMHO. The worst flaw is not having a viewfinder. Even with image stabilisation it's difficult to take sharp shots at slower shutter speeds with the camera held away from the body in my experience.

[Guest malland]

Actually, the grain — think "grain", not "noise"! — can be attractive at ISO 400 and 800, but not that good at 1600.

 

I bought a Leica D-Lux 3 three weeks ago to complement my Ricoh GR-D because I wanted to be able to shoot at 40-50mm-equivalent in addition to shooting at 28mm and 21mm with the GR-D. But when I got my GR-D, which has a flash- shoe where you can place an external viewfinder, I thought that I would be using my VC28 and Leica 21 viewfinders. But in using the camera I found that I prefer using the LCD monitor because it leads to a more "fluid" and "looser" shooting style: the few days I had an external viewfinder on the camera I found I never used it at all, prefering to frame with the LCD. And mind you I use reading glasses (but not for shooting), which means that I never see the image on the LCD that clearly but I can just about make out the what the aperture and shutter speed is.

 

Perhaps the transition to using the LCD was relatively easy for me because I've been using a Leica M6, which, unlike an SLR, one tends to bring up to one's eye only for framing the shot, not for deciding what to shoot, if you know what I mean. Similarly with the D-Lux and GR-D, I like just seeing the scene and then framing on the LCD and then continuing to look at the scene directly when pressing the shutter. Indeed, I've gotten to like framing with the LCD so much that I'd be reluctant to get a DSLR because these cameras don't have a live LCD preview. I would also miss this in the Leica M8.

 

I have not found it difficult holding the camera steady holdign it away from my face to look at the LCD; but I did think it would be a problem because the camera is so much lighter than the M6. Funny, but I have been able to shoot both with the GR-D and the D-Lux 3 at 1/8th of a second often without any problem.

 

—Mitch/Bangkok

Flickr: Photos from Mitch Alland