At 9 p.m. on May 23 this year, Leica officially announced a new generation of portable camera, the Leica D-Lux8, on its official channels, which will be officially released at 9 p.m. Beijing time on July 2. A month later, on June 21, Leica D-Lux8 was officially launched on Leica's official online sales platform, with a price of 13,800 yuan. This time, before the official release of the Leica D-Lux8, we were fortunate enough to get our hands on this camera in advance for a few days of shooting experience. So, what is the shooting experience of Leica's new portable camera, today we will briefly talk about it.
The Leica D-Lux series has always been a portable camera model for Leica cameras, starting with the Leica D-Lux Typ 109, the Leica D-Lux series began to use M4/3-inch format sensors, officially entering the "outsole" era. As a new generation of Leica D-Lux8 portable camera, in terms of specifications, the Leica D-Lux8 inherits the M4/3-inch format sensor design, with a maximum pixel of 21 million pixels, an effective pixel of 17 million, a DC Vario-Summilux 10.9-34 f/1.7-2.8 ASPH. lens, and supports DNG format shooting.
First of all, let's take a brief look at the exterior of the Leica D-Lux8.
Friends who are familiar with the Leica D-Lux series know that the Leica series was basically based on the Panasonic LX series of portable cameras. Therefore, in terms of appearance, it is also a modification of the LX series cameras at that time, and the operation mode continues the Panasonic LX series camera control.
In terms of the appearance of the latest Leica D-Lux8, Leica has completely upgraded the appearance of this camera, first of all, the large area of skin on the front and the adjustment of camera details, so that this camera is very similar to the appearance of the Leica Q series. The shutter speed dial, shutter button, and function wheel on the right shoulder of the camera also operate in a very similar way to the Leica Q series.
In terms of control, the Leica D-Lux8 also continues the control method of the Leica Q3 and M11 series, and the buttons behind it adopt a simplified design. There are no other control buttons on the back of the fuselage except for "Playback", "Main Menu" and arrow keys. Most of the camera's shooting parameters and functions can be done through the touch screen on the back of the camera.
The two shortcuts above the camera are the shortcuts for switching the screen and viewfinder display, and the other allows you to switch to the camera's video shooting mode with one click.
In terms of body interface, the Leica D-Lux8 uses a USB-C data port, which can be directly used for charging. A mini-HDMI data port can be used to transmit video signals.
After a brief introduction to the exterior of the Leica D-Lux8, let's take a look at the camera's high-sensitivity imaging performance.
The Leica D-Lux8 uses an M4/3 sensor with a maximum of 21 million pixels, 17 million effective pixels, and a camera sensitivity range of ISO100 to ISO25000 ISO25000 ISO1600. Shooting was recorded in dual format of RAW+JPEG.
In terms of high-sensitivity tests, the Leica D-Lux8 performs well in JPEG format, and the ISO6400 image performance is very good. After ISO6400, the image quality decreases as the sensitivity increases, but the overall image quality is still in the usable range.
In terms of RAW performance, I didn't do anything with RAW, so there was a slight noise in the image when ISO1600, and the noise in RAW photos gradually increased as the sensitivity increased. Therefore, if you use RAW format to shoot, it is recommended to perform noise reduction during post-processing to ensure image quality.
In terms of tolerance, the ISO 100 sensitivity is underexposed to -3EV, and the exposure is manually pulled back by Camera RAW in the later stage, not only the color of the photo is completely restored, but the overall purity of the photo is also very good, and the image quality performance is very stable. Therefore, you can use it with confidence without worrying about the loss of photo details if you are slightly underexposed in daily shooting.
徕卡D-Lux8拍摄，曝光补偿-3EV
Post-3EV photo after adjusting the effect
After introducing the basic test of the image quality of the Leica D-Lux8 camera, I would like to talk about the color of this camera in the light of the photos taken during the few days of trying out the D-Lux8. It should be noted that due to the limited experience time, the camera's default color style was used when shooting, and the shooting format was JPEG+RAW, and the photos were slightly post-processed.
Color has always been the "metaphysics" of Leica cameras. From the actual shooting point of view, the Leica D-Lux8 has five built-in color styles: standard, vivid, natural, monochrome, and high-contrast monochrome. Compared with the Leica M11 series, the imaging style of the Leica D-Lux8 is different, I personally feel that the color of this camera is more inclined to the Leica Q3 series, and the color can get a bright imaging style, and the Leica D-Lux8 will be better for vivid color expression.
As a portable camera, the Leica D-Lux8 is compact and portable, so you can fit it into your daily EDC commute bag and take it with you wherever you go. With a 24mm- to 75mm-equivalent lens that covers wide-angle to mid-focus focal lengths for everyday shooting, coupled with an aperture of F1.8-2.8, the D-Lux8 is clearly more practical than the popular fixed-focus portable camera.
In short, the Leica D-Lux8 has a more Leica-like appearance, is more recognizable, and the handling has become more simple, and the overall user experience is very good. For the current price of many portable cameras is more than 10,000 yuan, and there is also a premium situation, the price of Leica D-Lux8 is 13800 yuan, which basically maintains the current price level of the camera. It's just that I don't know how Leica stocks this camera, and I hope that after it goes on sale, it can be purchased at a reasonable price.
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