D Lux 3 - Poor Quality Pics

[Zingari]

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OK Guys I am new to Leica so thought I would start with a D Lux 3 as a trial after using a Casio 4MP for years.

 

Problem is the Leica is just 'not doing' it in terms of colour balance and brightness etc.

 

Starting off in the 'Auto' setting I find that my pics are dull as if taken on a cloudy day when clearly its not the case. Moving to 'P' colour/brightness go the opposite way on a sunny day the camera will fail to deal with glare and distort the colour. Similar story with 'A' setting - both relying on the camera aperature/speed settings rather than adjust.

 

Couple of pics from a recent car show. First pic in 'AUTO' and it was a bright day, second taken in 'P' a hazy day.

 

What I am doing wrong? My 5yr old Casio can produce better.

 

 

[farnz]

Zingari,

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

Your second shot of the van is badly overexposed and started me wondering what metering mode you were using. On such a bright day I'd expect the interior of the van to be dark but it is well-exposed and the rest of the picture is overexposed so were you using centre-weighted or spot metering and inadvertently metering on the van's interior perhaps? If you had used multi-segment metering I would expect the picture to be better exposed.

 

Likewise in the first picture I'm guessing that DL3 has metered off the dark windscreen and therefore overexposed the rest of the picture, which indicates centre-weighted or spot metering.

 

Another thing to check: if you have some positive exposure compensation dialled-in then it will deliberately overexpose your photos.

 

Pete.

[Zingari]

Pete

 

Many thanks for the reply. Checked and the spot metering mode has been on 'multiple' throughout so it should have balanced the whole second picture? ISO is set at 400

 

The first pic was AUTO set and therefore cant adjust the metering mode and ISO is automatic?

 

Hence I just dont get it?

[andybarton]

Try shooting something neutral and relatively flat in all the different modes and analysing what you see.

[farnz]

Pete

 

Many thanks for the reply. Checked and the spot metering mode has been on 'multiple' throughout so it should have balanced the whole second picture? ISO is set at 400

 

The first pic was AUTO set and therefore cant adjust the metering mode and ISO is automatic?

 

Hence I just dont get it?

Ah, in that case you need to hold the camera in your left hand and give it 3 or 4 sharp smacks with the heel of your right hand on the top deck. After that it should behave perfectly. (Just kidding. )

 

Pete.

[Zingari]

Pete - I was thinking of a 4lb lump hammer!

 

In AUTO mode I was expecting a lot more and certainly better than a 5 yr old Casio! Is it possible to have these cameras serviced or firmware checked in case the sensor is faulty?

[farnz]

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Zingari,

 

I had a DL2 and now have a DL4 but although I haven't owned a DL3 I'd expect substantially better photos in auto than the two you've posted so you might like to contact Leica's Mayfair branch (I believe that the branch at Milton Keynes regrettably is to close soon) and enquire about available services for your camera.

 

Pete.

[lesh]

Even with me at the controls, my D-Lux 3 does pretty well - so yours should too.

Suggest you try different settings, before giving up. Try spot metering till you see a reasonable result then re-compose. With no exposure compensation, try a set of bracketed exposures to see what the results are.

There's a lot of things you can do with this camera, keep trying different settings. I think you'll eventually find it's worth persevering.

[Zingari]

Thanks chaps - agree that in AUTO it should be better! My next plan is to loan it to a neighbour who is a DSLR buff to see what he can do with it and show me!

 

Failing that anyone in the UK who is up for borrowing it to see if they can get to the bottom of it let me know.

[Tom Barry]

Are you certain you have not accidentally set positive exposure compensation? Or, that instead of "multiple" you have accidentally set spot metering (the icons look similar)? For an experiment, set center-weighted metering, use Program mode and make sure there is no exposure compensation set. You should get a decent result.

[Zingari]

Thanks Tom - I'll give it a go but I think the second pic was in Program AE but with multiple metering.

[manie_de]

If I read the EXIFs correctly, then in the first shot the metering mode was "Pattern" and in the second shot it was "Spot" and therefore the first picture is correctly exposed and the second pic is overexposed because of the dark interior of the van/car in the middle !!!

 

Martin

[Zingari]

Martin - thanks but as far as I was aware I was not using spot metering in either! The only issue I have with the first picture is that it looks dull when it was not a dull day.

 

Am I right in thinking that if I shoot say in aperture priority then the camera will authmatically adjust the speed to achieve the correct exposure unless I manually alter it?

[andybarton]

If you use aperture priority, you set the aperture and the camera chooses what it thinks is a suitable shutter speed. Shutter priority is the opposite of course.

 

Manual exposure means you set both aperture and speed, regardless of whether it's correct or not.

[Zingari]

Thanks Andy - thoughts as much. So as long as I am not at the extreme the camera should be able to produce the correct exposure. I'm off on hols soon so am going to loan the camera to a neighbour who is a DSLR buff to give it a go and take his opinion as I expect on auto pics that are vibrant and not dull - at least before I photoshop them etc.