atournas Posted October 29, 2006 Share #1 Posted October 29, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) My D-Lux 3 arrived a couple days ago and I’ve shot some tens of pictures trying to get used to this type of camera (my digital experience was only on Digilux 1 and 2). First impressions, although idiosyncratic: - Shooting without a viewfinder is a joke. - The camera’s build compared to Digilux 2 (let aside R’s and M’s) is that of a toy; I particularly noticed how many times the manual stresses that one should not shake the camera too much. - The lens is embarrassingly slow in the Tele mode; low-ISO indoors shooting requires flash too often. - The camera is very handy, with good ergonomics, and serves its intended purpose of a general, all-round, P&S camera quite pleasantly. - Outdoors RAW, ISO 100, images are very-very sharp and well saturated. - Panasonic philosophy probably works well for the general amateurish buyer, but is far too “thin” when coming to serious Leica users. I may post some images soon. Best Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 29, 2006 Posted October 29, 2006 Hi atournas, Take a look here D-Lux 3 compared to other Leicas. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
drralph Posted October 29, 2006 Share #2 Posted October 29, 2006 I bought a D-Lux 2 last spring, and was pleased enough to buy two more D-Lux 3's when they came out, for my wife and daughter. I agree that it is very difficult to get used to the absence of a viewfinder. The camera loses much of it's stealth value since you have to hold it at arms length to compose a shot. But the rest of it I like fine. I keep it on the lowest ISO setting all the time, so I don't worry about noise. The 16:9 aspect is really useful for landscapes, and even for group portraits. I did a really nice panoramic shot stitching together 3 of the 16:9 shots along the horizon. The clincher for me is the fact that it is still the smallest camera that shoots RAW. I refuse to work in JPG. So after carefully researching the available products, the Leica was really the only choice. Ralph Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dNorm Posted October 29, 2006 Share #3 Posted October 29, 2006 Paul - You bring up some valid points on the D-Lux 3. It sure would have been nice if Lecia had included an optical viewfinder similar to those on other compacts. EVF would have just frustrated me. While I find the D-Lux 3 solid and has nice weight for a compact, i.e. not like a cheap plastic camera, I wish a little more care was taken to give the switches and buttons a slightly better tactile feeling. The lens is slow at the far end, but keep in mind that this is a compact camera. If they made the lens faster, it would have been a lot larger - ala Digilux 1 and 2. The nice part is that there is optical stabilization to offset that. Granted, OIS is better suited for static objects. I've did several comparisons between JPG and RAW (converted with both ACR and Bibble). The jury is still out on the benefits. At ISO200 and lower, there may be a tad bit more detail but at the expense of luminance noise. At ISO400 and beyond, I can not compete against the camera's JPG engine. It removes chromiance noise way better than I can with Bibble/Noise Ninja. The Venus III does a much better job at removing the yellow noise splotches. But, putting things all into perspective, I bought this camera as a point-n-shoot, IMHO, it's intended design. If I need better quality, I'll turn to my dSLR. Hope you'll enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine. Incidently, here are some ISO400 shots I took yesterday at a museum. These are pretty much straight from the camera, resized and sharpened in PSE. No NR was applied. Not bad if you ask me. -Norm dlux_3_iso400 Photo Gallery by worldwide137 at pbase.com Other D-Lux 3 samples. dlux3 Photo Gallery by worldwide137 at pbase.com My D-Lux 3 arrived a couple days ago and I’ve shot some tens of pictures trying to get used to this type of camera (my digital experience was only on Digilux 1 and 2). First impressions, although idiosyncratic: - Shooting without a viewfinder is a joke. - The camera’s build compared to Digilux 2 (let aside R’s and M’s) is that of a toy; I particularly noticed how many times the manual stresses that one should not shake the camera too much. - The lens is embarrassingly slow in the Tele mode; low-ISO indoors shooting requires flash too often. - The camera is very handy, with good ergonomics, and serves its intended purpose of a general, all-round, P&S camera quite pleasantly. - Outdoors RAW, ISO 100, images are very-very sharp and well saturated. - Panasonic philosophy probably works well for the general amateurish buyer, but is far too “thin” when coming to serious Leica users. I may post some images soon. Best Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
redeas Posted October 29, 2006 Share #4 Posted October 29, 2006 In regards to the lack of viewfinder there have been a few older threads that discussed various methods for attaching an optical viewfinder to the d-lux and panny equivalent. I've been looking at picking up a D-Lux 3 myself so I've been trying to do a little digging on peoples complaints and their solutions. http://www.leica-camera-user.com/digital-forum/4299-d-lux-2-photos-can-there.html?highlight=luigi http://www.leica-camera-user.com/digital-forum/6645-there-small-camera-has-following.html?highlight=viewfinder http://www.leica-camera-user.com/digital-forum/4960-dlux-2-a.html?highlight=dlux Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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