Which to buy, D-Lux 5 or Olympus EP?

[NZDavid]

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Looking to get a new compact camera for my wife to replace our Ricohs, the GRD Mk 1 and GX8. Would also serve as a digital backup for my films Ms, maybe also the X1 which is away having its sensor cleaned right now. At first my wife liked the idea of an SLR for versatility, but it's really too big and bulky. To be used while traveling and walking, also for garden pictures, interiors and buildings, people -- must do everything and produce high quality results with a minimum of fuss. Not a lot to ask, surely!?

 

Main choices are the Olympus EP-1 or EPL-1 plus 14-42, plus maybe 9-18 for ultra wideangle, and the Leica D-Lux 5. Built-in flash not essential, but a real viewfinder would be nice, even an electronic one. (I do have a 24 optical finder.) These are the only two choices available to me as a deal right now, so I would be pleased to hear anybody's opinions or preferably real world experience with either.

 

Pros and cons all round, of course. As I see it both are reasonably compact. The Oly is more versatile with the bigger sensor, so IQ should be better, especially at high ISOs. So it would seem to have the D-Lux 5 beat. But the D-Lux has a bright f/2 lens and that smaller sensor would actually mean more DOF -- quite good for extreme close-ups of flowers. No idea about AF speed or what else I should be considering.

[manie_de]

The PENs have better IQ, but you have to change lenses to get the most out of it (or buy the 14-150 which neglects the size advantage).

 

The D-Lux 5 (or the LX5) are more flexible in one package, because you have a built in flash (sometimes nice if you want a fill flash), can do macros or close-ups, no need to change lenses if you can live with 90mm at the long end.

 

I have a E-P1 (and I'm looking for a E-P2 because of the EVF) and love it for IQ; but if I want a good compact with me all the time without the "burden" of additional lenses I take my LX3.

 

It is small, it is nice, it has something that makes me more creative (can't describe it properly; just some weird feeling thing ;-))

 

For a holiday or longer journey I would take my PEN with some lenses (old lenses with adapter are just sweet on the PENs) and for everydays use I would take the D-Lux5/LX5.

 

Martin

 

BTW; if you choose a PEN I'd go for the E-P2 because of the possibility to add the EVF (VF-2).

And if you want a fast lens for the PENs then buy the great Panasonic 20/1.7

[Paolo.Battista]

Olympus, starting with E-PL1, introduced some image settings that could please Leica's amateurs, like a very low anti-aliasing filter and so on.

So in the Olympus field I would choose the E-PL1 for now, even if the build construction of the body and other controls aren't at the same level of the E-P2. But IQ wise, my choice would be the E-PL1.

 

For a better construction you can look at the Panasonic GF1, which is compact and still very good for image quality, but needs to shoot RAW in order to get the best results out of it. And it's EVF is sub par when compared to the Olympus VF-2 that can be used both on E-P2 and E-PL1.

 

The D-LUX 5 is for sure the best compact sensor camera in the market today, if versatility is not the first need for sure it is worthy some consideration. A pity not to have that kind of sensor technology and electronics in a Digilux 2 body....

 

Paolo

[NZDavid]

Thank you for thoughtful replies. We are veering towards the D-Lux now. Partly due to picture quality -- some nice examples posted on reviews and also on the landscape section of this forum, which are worth checking out!

 

Also, build quality. Slightly put off by one review which criticized loose construction of the 14-42 Oly and overall plasticky feel.

 

Also quite like f/2 Leica lens, ultra compact size is a plus, but depends if we can manage with focal range and mega DOF -- but that may be a good thing.

 

Anyway, we can try them out and see first. Any other comments welcome.

[wahnamhong]

I have a D-lux 4 and I love it. However, I am still not convinced the D-lux 5 offers better IQ. If you don't really need the 90mm I would probably go for the 4.

 

Also I would not get rid of the X1 just yet.

[mallo]

Why don't you wait for the Fuji X100?

The look is gorgeous, far better than the Leica X1 I think.

It also has a minimum focus distance of 10cm, so it will be good for closeups.

If your wife can live without a zoom The Fuji will be great.

[NZDavid]

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We really would like (and use) more focal lengths. If Leica produced a WA attachment for the X1, we'd get it. The Fuji X100 looks great, but will also have a fixed lens. And the 90 end would be useful, too, especially for people -- though I don know how much background blur it will produce on a small sensor. Still, 24-90 is a very versatile range.

[MPJMP]

I'd go with the D-LUX 5. As a companion to a 35mm film M outfit, it is hard to beat for both versatility and portability.

[NZDavid]

Well, we tried out both and the comparisons were quite interesting.

 

Handling and ergonomics: Leica is tiny but seems very well built. Tiny buttons but manageable. We actually tried the Oly EP-1 as the EPL-1 was not available. It has a nice metallic body. I found the Oly to be a good size but the 14-42 lens was fiddly. My wife preferred the Leica. Both have losable lenscaps. LCDs are, as we have found with every other digital camera, impossible to see clearly in bright light. But the Leica is very speedy for playing back.

 

For setting aperture and shutter speeds quickly, neither can beat the X1 for simplicity. We'd rely mostly on P with these models.

 

Software: More logical with the D-Lux 5, although we struggled to find the fill flash control. It also has a non standard cable.

 

Image quality: The clincher. Induced a little purple fringing with the D-Lux 5. Blown highlights with the Olympus (ISO 100 JPG). Despite the larger sensor, Oly was not clearly better; in fact, we got some very nice sharp shots with the Leica.

 

Oly missed focus a few times. Greater DOF for close-ups of plants with D-Lux 5.

 

Slight background blur still possible with the D-Lux at 90 and f/3.3. The Oly at 5.6 at the long end was similar.

 

Low light: Also no clear-cut victory to the Oly. It was OK until ISO 800 then too noisy for our liking. Leica was fine at ISO 400 and still useable at ISO 800. (Amazing just how much better the X1 is at high ISOs.)

 

Also compared previous X1 shots. Excellent. If only it had an extra lens it would be the ideal all-rounder.

 

So probably the D-Lux 5 at this time.

[stephen.w]

What about the Canon S95? That's the small sensor compact that I'd buy. I played around with a friend's LX5 and didn't gel with it. One thing in particular that struck me was the time that the lens barel took to extend when powering on. I had thought the X1 was bad in this regard.

[NZDavid]

Forgot to mention I nudged the self-timer button inadvertently on the EP-1, not sure how but a nuisance. Happened twice.

 

Yes, Canon S95 has got good reviews. But no optical viewfinder I think.

[stephen.w]

Neither does the PanaLeica. If that's a dealbreaker, I'd get the Canon G12 or Nikon P7000. The latter in particular looks great.

[wahnamhong]

Setting aperture and shutter speeds quickly is very easy on the D-lux 4. You only need to nudge the tiny joystick.

 

In my experience the D-lux is a wonderfully intuitive camera, capable of making great shots.

[tikipat]

can anybody confirm me that the d-lux5 and lx5 (panasonic) are exactly the same? is panasonic building the bodies and leica the lenses? I have been searching and reading around and it seems that they are 100% the same but, if it's the case, why do people spend € 200,00 more for a Leica? only for vanity? Or is there at least one difference? The sensor is the same and every technical issue as well ... what about the firmware? If I take the same pic with both camera, will they be the same or not? If they will I would go for the less expensive one then ... but I cannot rely on shops' owners, they will of course try to sell me the most expensive one ...

[bill]

This has been done to death here.

 

They are the same.

 

All construction is by Panasonic. The lens is licenced.

 

The differences are in the warranty, the bundled software and some (minor) UI variances. The core firmware and software are identical. The body differs too, and this is a key differentiator for some, like me, who prefer the bigger removable Leica grip over the vestigial built-in Panasonic one.

 

The other difference of course comes two or three years down the line - the resale value...

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[tikipat]

so no difference at pics quality (brightness-sharpness etc) level?

[tikipat]

and what is the bundle sw? what is it for? how does it affect the pic taken? and what is the UI?

[NZDavid]

No, the PanaLeica doesn't have a built-in viewfinder but at least it does have an accessory shoe for a 24mm OVF which is nice and bright (or a 28, 35, 50, or 90 if we wished).

 

Sometimes the LCD is fine but an OVF really does make a difference, not only so we can actually see the subject in bright light but also for stability -- bracing the camera gives us sharper pictures! The main reason digicams have done away with them is cost.

 

The Panasonic would be fine, but as I mentioned above, it's not available at my local dealer.

 

Not sure about software differences. There is a big red Leica logo that appears on the LCD when you turn the camera off, same as the X1 (do the Ms have this as well?). Hmm. Me, I'd just like a clear and easy menu, and the D-Lux doesn't look too bad. The D-Lux 4 joystick is no longer there.

 

As for different software logarithms producing more out of camera "Leica-like" images, don't know.

 

Another difference: As well as the red dot, you also get the Leica box and instruction manual!

 

Re Panasonic and Leica variants, it's confusing how the Panasonic jumped from LX-3 to LX-5 with no intermediate LX-4. Only explanation we can come up with is that "4" is considered unlucky -- but there have been lots of other cameras with 4 in their name!

[Paolo.Battista]

Image quality: The clincher. Induced a little purple fringing with the D-Lux 5. Blown highlights with the Olympus (ISO 100 JPG). Despite the larger sensor, Oly was not clearly better; in fact, we got some very nice sharp shots with the Leica.

 

You shoud use ISO 200 as base starting ISO on the 12 MP 4/3 sensor. Using it at lower ISO make you loose bot definition and dinymic range. ISO 200 shoud be the real base ISO of that sensor.

 

Keep in mind that E-P1 is the first PEN implementation, it has no EVF and the electronics around the sensor were still not so optimized like in the latter models.

 

I expect that from a IQ point of view the E-PL1 is quite better than E-P1, at the price of a lower end body (but still pretty decent for the price). You can get it even in bundle with 14-150 lens, that makes it a nice all arounder. You can put on it the VF-2, which should be among the best EVF on the market today.

 

For I comparison between E-P1 and E-PL1 and Leica X1 you can check DPreview (the latest reviews have the feature of comparing up to four cameras with the same image).

As far as I see, first is X1, but immediately after there is the E-PL1. E-P1 lacks some punch.

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[NZDavid]

I'm a bit puzzled why a camera sensor should have ISO 100 if it produces blown-out highlights? I always thought lower ISO meant better quality? But thanks for your advice.