Leica D-Lux 4 Digital Camera (Black) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

This is a marvelous walk-around camera, probably the best compact digital camera, including its stratospherically priced "father," leica m9. I'd add: it's a perfect Cartier-Bresson digital camera. If you get the hang of it, even the shutter lag won't prevent you from capturing a decisive moment. Because of the size and the optics, it has a tremendous depth of field, and the in-camera stabilization gives one a Noctilux equivalence in low light (alas, without the bokeh). Yes, M9 takes better pictures but it uses interchangeable lenses and is not "pocketable," not to mention its $9000 price tag (body only!). Among the compact rangefinders, I know canon G10 has more pixels at lower ASA but this Leica D-Lux 4 beats it at the higher ASA (really noticeable at 200ASA), and besides, G10 is so bulky and heavy that one might as well get an SLR! The price difference between the D-Lux and its Panasonic equivalent (LX3) is worth it, because of the warrantee (3 years on the leica) and a much better processing software that comes with it. Some actually claim that Leica has better colors, etc. A long-time used of Contax G rangefinders, I was excited to see the appearence of two thirds digital rangefinders from Panasonic and Olympus and even considered replacing my dlux 4 with the panasonic's new GF1 (3/4th format) with a pancake lens becasue of the Panasonic's bigger sensor. In the end, I decided against it - because of leica's versatility and compactness: its 24-60mm f2-f2.8 zoom, with a great macro, wins over the GF1 which becomes as unwieldy as a DSLR, once it is equipped with its own zoom lens. And if compactness isn't an issue, why bother with a rangefinder when you can get a light-weight canon DSLR (Ti2) with a great Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom (24-60mm equivalent on an APC DSLR), and a normal 50 mm f1.7 Canon lens which become a nice portrait lens (a fast 70 mm on an APC DSLR).Note also that Leica D-Lux 4 is faster focusing and better shot-to-shot timing than another minor cult classic, Sigma DP2 (a fixed focal lens camera, in any case).Then, there is now the new Leica X1, with an APC-size sensor. But unlike D-Lux 4, with its 24-60 mm zoom, X1 is a fixed 35 mm focal length camera. When I still used film (Contax G), my "normal" lens was 28 mm, with occasional switch to 45 mm and the portrait 85 mm). Leica d-lux 4 covers most of this range and better - all the way to 24 mm film equivalent! When you travel, you want a 24 mm lense to get the whole place in one shot, taking advantage of its incredible depth of field. And the 60 mm gives you a nice portrait tele effect. If you set up carefully, it even allows you to throw the background out of focus (for those who must have the bokeh effect).I've had my Leica D-Lux 4 for a year and a half and traveled half-way around the world with it, leaving my canon dslr with its very nice and very expensive 17-40 mm, f4, zoom (costs more than panasonic's new GF1 with its f1.7 aspherical) at home. Unlike a DSLR, D-Lux 4 allows you to be completely unobtrusive and grab any shot anywhere - whether you are in a crowded bus or a quiet church. Compared with it, my Canon DSLR, with its 17-40 mm zoom (equivalent focal lens coverage but f4 v. leica's f2) is a noisy and offensive monster.There is only one drawback: because of the optics of the small sensor cameras, it is almost impossible to get a nice bokeh effect - the kind one can get with a fast telephoto on a dslr (I use the 50mm f 1.7 on my canon that gives me a 70mm full sensor equivalent) when you want to isolate your subject by throwing everything else out of focus (especially good for portraits). So I keep my Canon dslr and the normal lens for those occasions.In short, after using it for 18 months and taking thousands of pix, i give leica d-lux 4 five stars. it's perhaps the hardest camera to supersede in this crowded market, and if you want to take pictures, street, architecture, scenics, macro with a pocket-size camera, you don't really have a choice: leica d-lux 4 is it.And by the way, it does HD video, too!(Updated 7/13/2010)

The biggest questions I had in my mind about this camera before buying it were "Is it worth the money?" and "Can it replace my dSLR as a carry-around camera?" After about a month of using it I have some of the answers.The old saying goes that the best camera you have is the one you have with you. This camera with it's `ever ready' case weighs about 14 ounces. My dSLR kit with 3 lenses, a TC, and a flash weighs about 25 pounds. A tripod (carbon fiber), long lens, and macro lens adds close to 15 pounds. I hiked up the lakefront last week carrying the 25 pounds, and it got a lot heavier about half way through, downright painful. If I wanted to spend a day at the zoo I'd take everything, so I'd be lugging around 40 pounds. This is a great mental block to getting out, and it's a whole lot easier to throw 14 ounces in my jacket pocket. I also really noticed that with my dSLR people were very aware of the camera, and with the Leica people didn't even notice me, making it a lot easier to capture candid `street' photography.So, what do you give up for this portability? Surprisingly little. The only things I can think of are the ability to change lenses and a smaller sensor size.The lens is fantastic, starting at f/2.0, being so fast that in sunlight I could not get the shutter speed slow enough at f/11 to smoothen water or blur moving objects such as a train. I've already ordered an Opteka 52mm adapter so I can use my existing CP and ND filters. Panasonic also has a wide angle lens adapter. There is no telephoto adapter, that would be a welcome addition. The lens introduces very little distortion, buildings and trees actually look straight. I had another `famous lens maker' P&S that had so much distortion that it made flagpoles look like pretzels.The camera shoots RAW and JPEG and RAW+JPEG in varying sizes and quality. I really wanted RAW files, that's all I shoot with my dSLR, and I really like the non-destructive and enhanced editing features you get with RAW. It comes with a full version of Phase One's Capture 4, which looks pretty sophisticated, or the files can be read and rendered by CS4 and Lightroom 2. You can change the shooting aspect ratio, focus mode, and even the simulated film type to match Leica film cameras including B&W.What I consider to be the biggest feature of this camera is the firmware. The camera will shoot in the very easiest to use up to sophisticated options as well as video. The `snapshot' mode picks out what type of scene you're shooting and adjusts everything accordingly, you do nothing. `Scene' mode lets you pick from 23 predefined settings like `baby', `party', starry night', etc. Then there are the standard Program (which you can shift using the joystick), Aperture priority, Shutter priority, and Manual modes.Even with the latest firmware version which is supposed to fix white balance detection, it is not good. dpreview notes the bad fluorescent settings, and I noticed that even shooting a flower patch resulted in a different WB depending on the color of the flowers in the scene. Luckily, there are 4 ways around this problem, 1) shoot RAW and adjust in the renderer, 2) set WB manually on the camera, 3) set WB temperature in the ROM, 4) set a WB preset by reading a white piece of paper in the shooting light. Even my dSLR gets confused with WB, the problem is not unique to this camera.Other dSLR type features: Exposure bracketing, Flash output bracketing, Burst mode, Custom settings (2), Rear curtain flash sync, AF tracking, etc. To see a full list of features, you can download the camera manual from Leica.Negatives: The accessories are incredibly overpriced. A viewfinder that is little more than a hollow tube is almost half the price of the camera. I'd like to have it to steady the camera against my face, but I won't spend that much on it. The battery is twice the price of the Panasonic battery, which is 3 times the price of a generic battery. The `ever ready' case costs more than a lot of people want to spend on an entire camera.Forget about a Leica flash, buy a 3rd party one for the LX-3 with more output. While the body of the camera is made of sturdy metal, the I/O and Battery/SD doors are cheap plastic. I'm really careful with the battery door. While I haven't had any problem accidentally moving the mode dial when pressing the shutter as a few people have reported, the camera is a little hard to hold. It would have been nice to have a built in handle like the LX-3 or at least include the now optional handle with the camera. If you do buy the handle, it will not fit in the ever ready case. The case itself has some problems which I'll address in a separate review.So, can this camera replace a dSLR? Yes, with the reservation that there is not a long lens available. The options common with a dSLR are there. The image quality is there.I have a couple of other P&S's and I rarely use them mostly due to distortion, noise, slow lenses, and lack of RAW capability. I'm not willing to haul around 25 pounds everyday, but I keep the Leica next to the door ready to go.Is the camera worth the money? A qualified maybe. It depends on how much you value two hundred dollars, that's the premium over a LX-3 or G11. Then you have to consider whether you are going to add accessories and if they will be genuine Leica accessories. The whole system is getting near fifteen hundred dollars. The two hundred does mean something to me, but if you're going to pay as much for a P&S as you are an entry level dSLR you might as well go for the Leica. And, it takes better pictures than my 10K+ worth of equipment sitting at home.

I bought my Leica d-lux 4 last summer and was initially reasonably happy with it. The image quality is excellent. I don't like not having a viewfinder and the one offered is prohibitively expensive. My main problem was with the reliability of the camera and the quality of the service. My camera started draining the battery quickly (within a matter of minutes of use)and became unuseable within a few months of purchasing it. I sent it in for repair on the same day that I also sent in my canon 5d mark ii. Two days after I had received my canon back, fully repaired, I still hadn't even heard anything from the Leica service department. When I took the initiative to call to make sure it had at least arrived I was informed that it would be several weeks before I would have even a cost estimate on the repair. As someone who photographs weddings, seniors, etc. this was most distressing. I gave it one star for the truly lovely camera bag.