Baby Leica

In my never-ending search for the perfect EDC (every day carry) camera I have come across this baby Leica, the D-Lux 8.

Now Leicas are known for being amazing (and expensive), but this one is actually almost affordable, so I have rented one for a few days to see how it handles.

It’s pretty tiny as you can see (dollar bill for scale), almost pocketable (in a jacket if not in pants), though it extends when turned on; it has a 21 megapixel (though only 17 usable), micro 4/3 (slightly smaller than APS-C) sensor, which worries me a little as I am used to my lovely Sony full-frame sensors, but it is super simple compact and and has a leaf shutter, which I love! My Fuji X100F made me fall in love with leaf shutters, and though that is a camera I still love using, this has a few advantages- image stabilization, a 24-75mm equivalent zoom lens, and a more compact body.

I have this through the weekend to play with and try out, and so far I am quite impressed. I ended up doing a very late dog-walk with Faith this afternoon, so I took it with me, and, though I need to do some tweaking to make the buttons etc. work best for me, so far it’s a joy to use.

There was no light to speak of, and the woods are still pretty bland, but these are all pretty much right out of the camera, nothing other than just choosing a color or B&W preset, and no noise reduction- so it looks like that little sensor is fine.

I’m hoping there is some more interesting light tomorrow when I’m off, and I’m looking forward to exploring how some of the in-camera jpeg presets perform, as well as trying out the baby flash that comes with this camera (hopefully good with that lovely leaf shutter), so watch this space…