Testing the New Leica D-Lux 5!

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Piewacket

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Hi,

Some of you may remember earlier this year when I tested out the M9. I am a professional photographer and Leica just sent me the new d-lux 5 to test out. Along with a hand grip and view finder. I did my first blog post on it today.


On my blog I compare it in size to a Canon G10 which is my current point & shoot. As a pro I like to have a camera handy, always. It is very compact and a great choice for those that want a good, high quality camera with them at all times.

What I love: You can shoot in a square format, it gives you a few options and this is my favorite.

The macro quality is very good.

Then lens opens to 2.0!

What I don't like: The tiny lens cap. My G10 has a built in cap but this has an actual cap you have to remove. I don't mind that, just afraid I will lose it.

It shoots raw but my CS4 does not open the files... hmmm? Can't find a plug in either.


I will have the camera till the end of the month and then it goes back to Leica. So I will use it for a lot of this months posts and tag all those that do.
 
Have fun with it! I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on it once you have a chance to play around with it a bit. I still have a D-Lux 3 around for light travel, they're great little small sensor cameras.
 
pinkhouse-1010421.jpg

photo©Lara Rossignol

I posted a series on this scary old house, I shot with d-lux 5. I really love these photos (if I do say so myself) I used the manual mode shooting at 2.8 and between 125 & 250. I am still loving the square format. I processed the images in a combo of lightroom and PS4.

All images were shot in color, so any b/w was done in post.
 
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mad-beauty-1010628-copy-rd.jpg

©Lara Rossignol

My last d-lux 5 shoot went up today and it is my favorite. It was my only chance to really shoot a human while I had the camera. I would love to have shot some portraits with it too, next time I guess. There are three images shot with Leica, all others I used a lensbaby on a Canon 5D... I love this lens for fashion and I love the contrast of the soft focus images with the sharp d-lux pics....

Oh I have been asked to guest post on the Leica blog about my d-lux 5 work... I will let you know when it goes up.
 
thanks for sharing, nice work! LX5 (Panasonic version of the camera) is also quite tempting. square format especially would be nice to try. yes lens cap design is a bit strange for top line p&s.
 
I have both the D-Lux 3 and D-Lux 4. I like them both, though they did something to the 4 I thought a bit strange and not to my liking. Whereas the 3 reserves the full 10MP for the widest aspect ratio, the 4 doesn't. At 16:9, the 4 delivers only 9MP. You get 10MP at the 3:2 setting. At the widest setting, where you need the highest pixel count, you don't get it.

Piewacket, did they straighten that out with the D-Lux 5?

"Pyewacket" was Kim Novak's cat in Bell, Book, and Candle.
 
Hi Rob,
I am not sure, I was not aware of the issue so I didn't check. You might ask at the Leica forum, someone there will know. And I got the name for my blog from that film, I just changed the y to an i cause I like pie!
 
Hey, thanks for the post....I will follow along with your reviews about the DL5...Great photos so far!!!:)

Oh, just noticed you are in Atlanta? Would love to have you join in with us at the 2011 Atlanta Meet on April 16th!!!!:)
 
The earlier version of the camera (Panasonic version is LX3) can also do square format, but you need to update the firmware.

Also, Ricoh GRD3 can do square beautifully
 
Big question for the OP, would you buy one for the $800 they charge from them new after having used it for a month? Hard to justify the cost with all the m4/3 and APSC cameras that you could buy for around the same price.

I do love the colors you are getting from it. Beautiful images.
 
I would nightfly, it is a great little camera and the size alone for the quality is so worth it.
I would carry it with me a lot more than I do my Canon G10. Though I might also look at the Lumix LX5, my friend got and I think it is pretty similar and a bit cheaper.
 
If you get chance to use your friend's LX5 I'd be interested if you can get the same lovely colors out of it or if the Leica firmware (main difference between it and LX5) really makes a difference. Since you were using the JPGs in your tests the firmware actually comes into play which it wouldn't with RAW.

The Leica version is about twice the price ($400 vs $800). However I could kinda justify it since I don't have Lightroom which comes with the Leica. Or if the firmware would generate files that don't require as much post.

Piewacket said:
I would nightfly, it is a great little camera and the size alone for the quality is so worth it.
I would carry it with me a lot more than I do my Canon G10. Though I might also look at the Lumix LX5, my friend got and I think it is pretty similar and a bit cheaper.
Click to expand...
 
LX-5 is probably the best overall point and shoot camera. Oh and the video is awesome and captures audio amazingly clear in very loud environments. Very impressive camera.
 
I recently bought a Lumix LX3 from someone who upgraded to the digilux 5.

If the LX3 is anything to go by the upgraded camera's images must be pretty darn good.

I am very impressed with the earlier camera which takes superb photos.

The square format photo option was added to it by firmware upgrade so its accessible in that camera via the menu or the function button. Like to have it on the lens barrel like in the later camera though, its a nice option.

Here are a couple of images shot with it.

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5629596609_b7d2158506_b.jpg


5630949546_91ac8474f0_b.jpg
 
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