cpfc12
newbie
Reged: 04/02/2008
Posts: 42
Loc: Lewes, East Sussex.
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I have recently bought a d'lux, and I am so pleased with it. I have taken many snaps (sorry), and they have turned out so well. The instruction book is so clear , as is the screen with instructions that I can read , that I feel so confident in what I'm trying to achieve. Since buying the camera I have a whole new world at my lens. With my old old Canon Ixus, apart from the fact that I couldn't read the screen and certainly not the instruction book, I never really went past"Auto". Now I'm in a whole new world which is bewildering , but logical. Adobe photoshop is a bit beyond me at the moment , but I'm persevering, at least "Red eye" is out the window now. When I master this little beauty I am looking forward to taking out a new mortgage to move upwards and onwards with Leica.
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Simple Southern boy.
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Fen
BAD WOLF
Reged: 12/03/2002
Posts: 19520
Loc: Currently Unknown!
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You don't take SNAPS with a Leica!
They'll throw you out of this room if you're not careful  
- - All the above said with tongue very much in cheek - -
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Fen.
- Fen's Flickr Fotos -
"One good photograph does not a photographer make."
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mike_j
nobbut a beginner
Reged: 23/08/2005
Posts: 1261
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Yes you do .. I have hundreds to prove it!
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Woolliscroft
veteran
Reged: 23/08/2005
Posts: 1253
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Quote:
Yes you do .. I have hundreds to prove it!
Me too
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David.
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Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 36309
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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Quote:
You don't take SNAPS with a Leica!
They'll throw you out of this room if you're not careful
- - All the above said with tongue very much in cheek - -
Actually, you certainly can. Leica owners are more than happy to call their pics "snaps" - you don't need to be snobbish about what you call 'em if they're taken on a Leica.
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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cpfc12
newbie
Reged: 04/02/2008
Posts: 42
Loc: Lewes, East Sussex.
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Snaps was a bit tongue in cheek as I like to consider that I am trying to be creative. But the fact remains that the majority of images that I take are hurried, as the moment passes quickly without time for me to set up the white balance etc.
However, as I carry the camera with me just about everywhere, I am training myself to be more pro-active in the morning preperation which is fun in itself. So much you can do with this camera.
Do you old hands consider the D Lux a bad move by Leica? Are you concerned by the quality of the product and/or the images? Do you think that it has degraded the name somehow?
I bought the camera at Bakers in Lewes, and was very pleased with the attention and help they gave me.
When I went on line to register the product I was a bit surprised to be given an "Option certificate" to buy a digilux at a greatly reduced price. A strange way to congratulate me on my choice of camera! I assume that like a lot of companies if a product is not going well one has to stimulate a sale, but I am confused by their promotion. What is the intention here, apart from the obvious are they saying, great little camera, but you really should get a camera with interchangeable lens to have a real Leica?
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Simple Southern boy.
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El Sid
Going potty
Reged: 14/04/2003
Posts: 9100
Loc: Sussex-by-the-Sea
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Quote:
When I went on line to register the product I was a bit surprised to be given an "Option certificate" to buy a digilux at a greatly reduced price. A strange way to congratulate me on my choice of camera! I assume that like a lot of companies if a product is not going well one has to stimulate a sale, but I am confused by their promotion.
You hit the nail on the head - stimulate sales. As the Digilux 3 is basically a badge engineered Panasonic, albeit with Leica firmware and specifications, at a vastly inflated price I suspect they'd like to sell a few more...
Quote:
What is the intention here, apart from the obvious are they saying, great little camera, but you really should get a camera with interchangeable lens to have a real Leica?
If you want areal Leica then you need an M8...
Doubtless the D-lux is a good camera but, like it's Panasonic cousins, it's still a compact with a very small and crowded sensor while the Digilux has a bigger 4/3rds format sensor and the M8 is close to full frame (similar to the Canon 1D sensor in size) and bigger sensors mean bigger photosites, less noise and better quality in low light or at large magnifications.
Interchangeable lenses offer a lot of versatility and the potential for better quality lenses while compact are easier to carry round. Since I got my Lumix FX30 it's had a lot of action but for outright image quality I'll take my D30 or 20D everytime...
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Nigel
Completely BSRIPN 
ElSid Gallery
A camera in the hand is better than one in the cupboard........
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Woolliscroft
veteran
Reged: 23/08/2005
Posts: 1253
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Quote:
If you want areal Leica then you need an M8...
Or an MP, or an R.
In fairness, Leica have long re-badged compacts and they usually pick good ones and then uprate then a touch. Mostly you are buying the name, but there is a little bit more to it.
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David.
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Roger_Provins
Made-it Man
Reged: 22/10/2005
Posts: 2585
Loc: Gloucester, UK
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Quote:
Quote:
If you want areal Leica then you need an M8...
Or an MP, or an R.
In fairness, Leica have long re-badged compacts and they usually pick good ones and then uprate then a touch. Mostly you are buying the name, but there is a little bit more to it.
... they've been modifying and re-badging for a long time .. remember the R3 ... ?
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Rog
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cpfc12
newbie
Reged: 04/02/2008
Posts: 42
Loc: Lewes, East Sussex.
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But I have a Leica. The badge and price tell me so. Therefore, I expect and demand something a bit special, don't I?
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Simple Southern boy.
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Mark_Norton
Reged: 29/06/2002
Posts: 1123
Loc: London, UK
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Leica P&S cameras are (in the recent past) Pansonics with slightly different trim and a red dot. Changes are limited and might just be different terminology and default settings for saturation and contrast. Panasonics tend to deliver images which are more "in-your-face" than the Leica equivalent. They're not substantially different though, simply because you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
The latest horror, the Digilux 3, is expensive and slow selling and its main purpose is to prop up Leica's claim to have a digital SLR on the books now that the DMR has gone (made by a sub-contractor and sold out, even the sensor has been discontinued by Kodak) and the R10, eagerly awaited (though not by me) and expected at Photokina in September, is not here yet.
Leica have been pushing this runt with all sorts of promotional deals. Buy a rebadged Panasonic (aka Digilux 3) and get another rebadged Panasonic (aka C-Lux 2) free. And on and on. In the UK, the Digilux 3 came out at £1799; you can buy the Panasonic equivalent in the US for $799. Leica bang on about loyalty bonus certificates. Truth it, they have more than they can sell.
The one exception to this is the Digilux 2 which was a star. Just 5MP but a sensible number for the sensor size and married to a fine 3:1 Summicron, much faster than we expect. It was a bit of a slug when it came to deciding when to actually take the shot but it wasn't bad.
These cameras may serve to raise the profile of the brand but prostitute it at the same time. Unless Leica can bring real added value to these (largely) dreary products, they should, as people from the US like to say, cease and desist. Or as Harry Enfield might say: "Oi! Leica! Nooooo!"
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Mark
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Woolliscroft
veteran
Reged: 23/08/2005
Posts: 1253
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Quote:
... they've been modifying and re-badging for a long time .. remember the R3 ... ?
Exactly, the whole line from R3 to R7 were Minoltas in origin, although re-engineered to quite a degree. The important thing was that you could stick real Leica glass on the front and I have to say that the R7 is one of my all time favorite cameras.
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David.
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Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 36309
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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Quote:
Quote:
... they've been modifying and re-badging for a long time .. remember the R3 ... ?
Exactly, the whole line from R3 to R7 were Minoltas in origin, although re-engineered to quite a degree. The important thing was that you could stick real Leica glass on the front and I have to say that the R7 is one of my all time favorite cameras.
Except the R6...
The R3 certainly feels rather different to the XE-1 in use. They're both extremely impressive cameras as examples of aperture priority/manual SLRs of their era, but the detail differences for me weigh somewhat in favour of the R3. One of the differences is simply the appearance of the camera - I prefer the more rounded prism - whereas the other one actually adds a fair bit of functionality - the spot metering option.
And then there's the CL, actually assembled by Minolta - a lovely little camera in many ways. So yes, nothing new in Leica working with other manufcturers, but there was a fair bit more input into design in the past.
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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El Sid
Going potty
Reged: 14/04/2003
Posts: 9100
Loc: Sussex-by-the-Sea
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Quote:
But I have a Leica. The badge and price tell me so. Therefore, I expect and demand something a bit special, don't I?
They'd like you to think so...
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Nigel
Completely BSRIPN
ElSid Gallery
A camera in the hand is better than one in the cupboard........
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cpfc12
newbie
Reged: 04/02/2008
Posts: 42
Loc: Lewes, East Sussex.
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Thanks to you all for your response and very interesting reading. I guess I will make up my own mind in due course after many shots and comparisons with other compacts.
I will not take up Lieca's offer on the digilux as you all seem pretty agreed that it is not a particularly good offering.
An M8 would be nice, but I have to cut my teeth first and see where my photography is taking me.
The most important thing for me at the moment is the low profile approach, and the D-lux 3 is giving me plenty to work on in this area.
I hope to speak with you all again soon.
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Simple Southern boy.
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Malcolm_Stewart
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 11/07/2005
Posts: 2217
Loc: Milton Keynes, UK
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Quote:
... they've been modifying and re-badging for a long time .. remember the R3 ... ?
...and my ill fated Pradovit 253IR Projector - a Kindermann in disguise. If I'd wanted a Kindermann, I would have bought a Kindermann. Being a projector there was much less media comment, and it was more than a decade before I discovered who the real manufacturer was.
So I now thoroughly distrust TWO German brands.
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Malcolm Stewart
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tazio35
member
Reged: 16/10/2007
Posts: 174
Loc: Cromer, Norfolk
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There seem to be a lot of people on here suggesting that your new camera isn't really a Leica etc etc. I think this is more of a general grumble about Leica's badge-engineering than a go at your purchase.
If you feel it's the latter, or that you've ripped off and your Leica isn't special, don't. You're pleased with your camera, it looks great and you find it easy to use. You carry it with you and are actually taking pictures. That's the most important thing, so bask in the loveliness of your new Leica. 
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Adam
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34624508@N00/
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cpfc12
newbie
Reged: 04/02/2008
Posts: 42
Loc: Lewes, East Sussex.
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In some ways it was a disappointment to feel that I hadn't bought the full thing, but as you say, I am happy with the results and it's such a low profile thing that I feel a bit smug as I snap away with no one taking any notice.
I have also just invested in Elements 6 as I am having difficulty in seeing my RAW shots. So hopefully it will get even better.
I appreciate everyones advice and comments and not being mugged as a beginner. What a good place this is.
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Simple Southern boy.
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cpfc12
newbie
Reged: 04/02/2008
Posts: 42
Loc: Lewes, East Sussex.
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Well, it has got better. Elements 6 has finally given me a RAW image to play with. Just a sunset image , nothing that I would consider worthwhile putting forward, but a RAW image just the same.
My poor little SD card finally spat out a couple of images, it sure takes a lot of energy to get these for editing.
Am I impressed, well, yes for the fact that I have finally done it and no because I don't seem to be able to improve it. Guess that just says that the picture was right in the first place. We press on with the learning curve stuttering ever upwards, with sharp descents every so often. Bless.
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Simple Southern boy.
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tazio35
member
Reged: 16/10/2007
Posts: 174
Loc: Cromer, Norfolk
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You need to convert your raw image into a tif file before Elements will let you start editing. If Elements has recognised the raw file, it should be able to do the conversion for you.
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Adam
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34624508@N00/
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