Back to User Profile After Switching Off?

[Alexander108]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I was able to shoot a bit with my new D-Lux 8 today. I also own a Q3 for more than a year now and I am rather happy that operating the two cameras is very similar.

One thing I found today is that after I switch off the camera, the user profile I used will be reapplied. What does that mean? For instance: the user profile was saved with Auto ISO setting. However, I changed it to ISO 100 (bright daylight). After a while I realized that it was set to Auto ISO. It took me a while to understand that after power cycling the camera, all settings of the selected profile are reapplied. This, of course, does not make sense and the Q3 does not behave like this either. It falls in the same category that the camera does not "remember" the last zoom setting after power cycling.

To me the way Leica implemented user profiles on the D-Lux 8 is almost not usable. I will never know what settings are where and I better don't mess with profiles as they may be affected (DNG / JPG, Exposure settings and, and, and) unintended.

The Q3 is pretty straight forward: once you change any setting, the camera now identifies this as default profile which is the last user profile + the settings you changed since you switched to this user profile.

Any thoughts on that? Am I missing something? 

Thanks a lot.

Cheers Alexander

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[starcolony]

Alexander, You are missing nothing.

The way that the user profiles were implemented, along with the lack of a proper sleep mode and zoom resume are just inexplicable. 

There is no zoom resume. If you turn off your DL8 or auto shutoff kicks in, the lens closes. Upon the next power up, the lens extends to its default widest setting,

When fiddling with the user profiles I made some discoveries. When in the default profile you can make configuration changes, that will stay through a power cycle.

When using any one of the 3 custom user profiles, if you make an ad hoc config change, it will not stay through a power cycle. Example: you decide to do some street photography and select a custom user profile that you have setup for B&W photography. While wandering around, lighting conditions  are changing. You make an on-the-fly ISO change. It was the correct decision. Unfortunately, after a power cycle, any ad hoc changes made will be lost. The only way to save the change is to re-save the user profile. Then your user profile has changed from your typical configuration.

Leica should have implemented a true sleep mode that allows ad hoc changes to hold through sleep cycles. Then when you are done with your outing, you power off the camera, allowing the ad hoc changes to erase, re-enabling your favorite user profiles on next power up.

One of my reasons for buying the DL8 was for more discreet street photography. Unfortunately the implementation of Leica's Fahrvergnugen has knee-capped the camera for street photography. The handling of my trusty old Panasonic LX5 spanks the DL8 on the street.  

Triple Facepalm!!!

[Alexander108]

I fiddled with the profiles a bit more to better understand this. It turns out that the Default Profile is not overwritten, when I switch profiles. I switched to Profile 2 (which I never used and seems to have the factory settings) and expected that this would overwrite the Default Profile once I switch back. But it doesn't (which is good). At the same time I am still not confident what is stored where and what not. The only positive is: once you save as Profile 1...3 all settings are transferred to this profile. 

Once you work with a profile (for instance black and white), and you change a setting it will get lost after a power cycle unless you deliberately save it. 

So may key takeaway is that I will use the Default Profile as the settings are restored after power cycling the camera. The user profiles are merely a backup of my settings in case I screw it up. Over time my settings and preferences may even change and maintaining profiles will be challenging. Unless Leica fixes the behavior that current changes when in a Profile 1...3 are persistent after a power cycle (like in the Q3) I cannot use any of these profiles. 

One of the reasons I bought the D-Lux 8 as an addition to the Q3 was the similarity of the UI. 

Having said all this, I still love the camera and I am impressed with the image quality.