D-Lux 8 Online Reviews - Justified?

[tedsalad]

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8 hours ago, jaapv said:

Focus rule no.1: If you want something to be critically sharp, focus on it. Don’t rely on DOF. DOF is the zone of acceptable UNsharpness.

Of course but there are many times when I take photos that I want the depth of field from the very front to the back. Here's an example of mine taken with my old Leica D-Lux4, no edits. I've always found the sweet spot f11, exactly what I was trying to do with the D-Lux8 but getting nowhere. Took this a while back, think the focus was on the 2nd or 3rd saddle. I'm just finding that a camera that cost me £1450 should be better than my old iPhone 6s mobile phone.

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited Tuesday at 07:51 AM by tedsalad
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[NaAn]

Maybe I will repeat myself again 🙃 When I’ve got the camera, I took a bespoke lesson with Leica Academy, did some notes and it was very helpful in my case to understand how to use D Lux 8 and what I can get as my best results from shooting with compact camera. However I do use a lot of editing and I’m happy to switch from time to time from M11 and to photograph only with D Lux.

Not sure if it was helpful but I’m sure when you will learn your own technique you will be happy to use the camera.

[tedsalad]

43 minutes ago, NaAn said:

Maybe I will repeat myself again 🙃 When I’ve got the camera, I took a bespoke lesson with Leica Academy, did some notes and it was very helpful in my case to understand how to use D Lux 8 and what I can get as my best results from shooting with compact camera. However I do use a lot of editing and I’m happy to switch from time to time from M11 and to photograph only with D Lux.

Not sure if it was helpful but I’m sure when you will learn your own technique you will be happy to use the camera.

As I write I’m out again with the camera trying out different settings etc. I shouldn’t need to do this . This type of camera isn’t complicated , had a few like it over the last few decades, had the DLux4 many years ago and had no issues. Why would I need a bespoke lesson, it’s another camera that should work like a camera lol. I’m sure things will click into place eventually but at the moment I’m very disappointed with it. 😩🙃

[tedsalad]

Came home with a few new RAW images on the DLux8 and loaded them into LR on my Mac. Made a couple of adjustments to profile 1 on the camera, now set the ISO to 100 with a max of 200 which I think has improved the images, never liked those ISO's in the thousands, maybe it's an age thing because I'm use to landscape / seascape and using 35mm in the past. Must admit I still had to do some editing in LR to get the desired image but I think an improvement.

 

 

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Edited Tuesday at 01:55 PM by tedsalad
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[tedsalad]

1 hour ago, tedsalad said:

Came home with a few new RAW images on the DLux8 and loaded them into LR on my Mac. Made a couple of adjustments to profile 1 on the camera, now set the ISO to 100 with a max of 200 which I think has improved the images, never liked those ISO's in the thousands, maybe it's an age thing because I'm use to landscape / seascape and using 35mm in the past. Must admit I still had to do some editing in LR to get the desired image but I think an improvement.

 

 

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Few more took today,  https://lightartist.uk/leica-d-lux8

[ljclark]

56 minutes ago, tedsalad said:

Came home with a few new RAW images on the DLux8 and loaded them into LR on my Mac. Made a couple of adjustments to profile 1 on the camera, now set the ISO to 100 with a max of 200 which I think has improved the images, never liked those ISO's in the thousands, maybe it's an age thing because I'm use to landscape / seascape and using 35mm in the past. Must admit I still had to do some editing in LR to get the desired image but I think an improvement.

Have you tried the PureRaw trial yet?  I'm not sure how "old school" you are, but I started serious shooting in 1966.  I don't think age is a factor when it comes to higher ISOs.  The photos in my D-Lux 8 trials album were shot at ISOs 200 (4), 400 (1), 800 (2), 1600 (1), 3200 (6), 6400 (9), and 12,500 (4).  I'm comfortable with all the results.  One of the reasons I bought the D-Lux 8 was that I had a reasonable expectation that DXO software would take full advantage of the camera's capabilities.  It does.

Doing some "editing in LR" should not be an admission.  I don't know how much color printing you did in your film days, but Lightroom is a walk in the park compared to that...And that's taking into account that Lightroom is kinda like a castrato version of Photoshop.  I used the Lightroom Beta for one project.  It was fine, but I never used it again, sticking with Photoshop until Adobe went to their subscription model and stopped supporting licensed Photoshop. 

If you want to produce photos with the ease of you oft-cited (all over this forum) older iPhone, stick to that iPhone.  If you want photos close to your old X-T4 (I owned one of those, and also an X-E4), you might need to put in a little more effort with the D-Lux 8.  Otherwise, consider ditching the D-Lux 8.  Look for a very clean (as in the KEH "Like New -" or Excellent +" rating) Fuji X-E3 and the Fuji 16-80mm f/4.  It's a sweet camera and I kept it even after buying an X-E5 that replaced one of my X-T5s.

[streetshooter]

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2 hours ago, tedsalad said:

Came home with a few new RAW images on the DLux8 and loaded them into LR on my Mac. Made a couple of adjustments to profile 1 on the camera, now set the ISO to 100 with a max of 200 which I think has improved the images, never liked those ISO's in the thousands, maybe it's an age thing because I'm use to landscape / seascape and using 35mm in the past. Must admit I still had to do some editing in LR to get the desired image but I think an improvement.

 

 

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You do the D-Lux 8 justice. There are many ways to make photos, and you seem to have found your way. Nice shot btw. There are not many street shooters around here, thanks. don

[tedsalad]

15 hours ago, streetshooter said:

You do the D-Lux 8 justice. There are many ways to make photos, and you seem to have found your way. Nice shot btw. There are not many street shooters around here, thanks. don

Many thanks for the comment 👍

[tedsalad]

I’ll do one more comment on this thread and I’ll leave it at that 🙃

Think I’ve got this camera. Not keen on the images taken with a high ISO. I’m setting it at 100 max 200. Obviously I have forked out a lot of money for this camera ( for me anyway ). I do like it but there is a better camera out there for a similar price. I had it a few years ago, that model was the Fujifilm X100f, so if I were to go back a few weeks I would have got the X100VI instead of the DL8. I had a great time back in 2010 with my Leica DLux4, no idea why that one produced pin sharp images out of camera and this one doesn’t . I can see a lot of angry replies me dissing the Leica lol . It’s just my personal opinion. 

Edited Wednesday at 06:57 PM by tedsalad
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[ceflynn]

48 minutes ago, tedsalad said:

I’ll do one more comment on this thread and I’ll leave it at that 🙃

Think I’ve got this camera. Not keen on the images taken with a high ISO. I’m setting it at 100 max 200. Obviously I have forked out a lot of money for this camera ( for me anyway ). I do like it but there is a better camera out there for a similar price. I had it a few years ago, that model was the Fujifilm X100f, so if I were to go back a few weeks I would have got the X100VI instead of the DL8. I had a great time back in 2010 with my Leica DLux4, no idea why that one produced pin sharp images out of camera and this one doesn’t . I can see a lot of angry replies me dissing the Leica lol . It’s just my personal opinion. 

A staff member at a Leica Store told me that the native ISO of the Leica D-Lux 8 is 100, but some people online claim it is 200, and that if the camera itself chooses the ISO, it never chooses 100. I do not know if this is true. 

The sensor in the D-Lux 4 is much smaller than the one in the D-Lux 8. Google search terms: does a smaller camera sensor give more depth of field

AI Overview: Yes, a smaller camera sensor generally provides more depth of field, all other variables like aperture and distance being equal. This is because a smaller sensor has a higher effective aperture when compared to a larger sensor for the same field of view, leading to a greater range of focus.

[tedsalad]

2 hours ago, ceflynn said:

A staff member at a Leica Store told me that the native ISO of the Leica D-Lux 8 is 100, but some people online claim it is 200, and that if the camera itself chooses the ISO, it never chooses 100. I do not know if this is true. 

The sensor in the D-Lux 4 is much smaller than the one in the D-Lux 8. Google search terms: does a smaller camera sensor give more depth of field

AI Overview: Yes, a smaller camera sensor generally provides more depth of field, all other variables like aperture and distance being equal. This is because a smaller sensor has a higher effective aperture when compared to a larger sensor for the same field of view, leading to a greater range of focus.

 

2 hours ago, ceflynn said:

A staff member at a Leica Store told me that the native ISO of the Leica D-Lux 8 is 100, but some people online claim it is 200, and that if the camera itself chooses the ISO, it never chooses 100. I do not know if this is true. 

The sensor in the D-Lux 4 is much smaller than the one in the D-Lux 8. Google search terms: does a smaller camera sensor give more depth of field

AI Overview: Yes, a smaller camera sensor generally provides more depth of field, all other variables like aperture and distance being equal. This is because a smaller sensor has a higher effective aperture when compared to a larger sensor for the same field of view, leading to a greater range of focus.

I have my settings in Profile 1 set to  ISO 100 with a max of 200. My DNG files I took today (sunny afternoon ) in Lightroom are telling me the ISO was 100, took about ten images nearly all at f8 or f11 as I wanted the depth of field. Two of the images were even only 1/15 sec ( everything hand held )  so I guess the image stabilisation is working ok. 
 

[ljclark]

6 hours ago, tedsalad said:

 Obviously I have forked out a lot of money for this camera ( for me anyway ). I do like it but there is a better camera out there for a similar price. I had it a few years ago, that model was the Fujifilm X100f, so if I were to go back a few weeks I would have got the X100VI instead of the DL8. I had a great time back in 2010 with my Leica DLux4, no idea why that one produced pin sharp images out of camera and this one doesn’t . I can see a lot of angry replies me dissing the Leica lol . It’s just my personal opinion. 

The Fujifilm X100F was one if the cameras I sold to help pay for the D-Lux8, along with a Fujifilm X30.  No regrets.  And I have had no reason to fault the sharpness of the D-Lux8.  This is not an angry reply.  Rather, it's a reply from someone who has encountered none of the problems you have described.  Again, consider the 30 day trial of DXO PureRaw.  I factored that in when I decided to buy the D-Lux 8, already having had experience with the LX100 a few years back.  You have nothing to lose with the trial.