Digital Cameras have travelled a long way and evolved a lot to get fit into the digital world. As few of you might know, Leica and Panasonic have a partnered deal wherein Panasonic builds digital cameras for Leica. On the other hand, Leica offers its renowned optical proficiency and esteemed brand name for the camera lenses. Consequently, there are various cameras for which both Leica and Panasonic versions exist which are virtually similar.
For an instance, the C-LUX 3 is mainly an FX35, whereas the V-LUX 1 is quite identical to FZ28.
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Similarly, the D-LUX 4 of Leica shares several features with the LX3 of Panasonic but there are some significant differences between both of them.
Both Panasonic and Leica have been the reputed and popular brands in the camera industry for decades. They have been providing us outstanding cameras for a huge community of photographers, whether they are beginners, enthusiasts, or professional photographers.
The D-LUX 4 of Leica is one of the sweetest fruits of the ongoing partnership of the Japanese electronics giant, Matsushita. The Leica D-LUX 4 camera is externally very similar to its Panasonic sibling, Panasonic LX3.
With almost similar body design to the Panasonic’s LX3, Leica D-LUX 4 feels and looks very identical to the LX3 with the prime changes being the removal of slightly raised hand grip on the front part of Panasonic variant and the product. Both the cameras have rocked the photography market with their awesome features. The front part of the Leica camera is plain and flat which will not draw the attention from the tiny but expensive red logo at the upper left corner of the camera.
The Leica D-LUX 4 is a Point and Shoot camera with a classic design and excellent build quality. Being one of the oldest brands in photography and inventing a 35 mm rangefinder format of camera in 1923, it unsurprisingly provides us with an impressive heritage of outstanding cameras.
We will be exploring the D-Lux 4 camera in detail in this post. So, let’s begin.
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Brief Description of Leica D-lux 4
| FEATURES | LEICA D-LUX 4 |
| Launch | Leica’s D-LUX 4 was announced in December 2008, but officially it came to the market in January 2009. |
| Design | It has a body size of 150 x 107 x 75 mm and weighs around 228 grams with a titanium finish classic and retro looks. |
| Sensor | Supports a CCD Sensor with a form factor of 4.41 and resolution of 11.3 MP. The native sensitivity range of the camera is ISO 80 to ISO 3200 with Manual and Auto settings mode. |
| Display | It has a 3 inch LCD display screen and offers a screen of 460K dots which captures sharp and crisp images.
It also supports 5 different types of languages to operate the device easily. |
| Optics | The D-LUX 4 offers you an optical zoom of 2.5x which allows you to capture even the minute details of the subject.
It also offers you 3 image formats (16:9, 3:2, 4:3) to captures images. |
| Videography | It can record videos in 1280 x 720 pixels resolution (720p HD) at a 24fps with mono audio feature.
It also supports a continuous shooting speed of 3fps in the standard JPEG and RAW image recording format. |
| Audio | The camera supports a microphone which helps to record audios with quite decent quality. |
| Connectivity | The D-LUX 4 supports HDMI USB connectivity to connect the camera to the computer to transfer pictures and other files.
It also supports PictBridge feature which helps you to connect your digital camera directly to any printer without using a PC which can print the images directly and quickly. |
| Battery | It uses the Li-Ion batteries that can capture up to 380 shots per charge. |
Launch
The Leica D-LUX 4 titanium finish special edition camera was officially announced by the organization in December 2008 but formally, it was made available in the market in January 2009.
DESIGN
The D-Lux 4 of Leica is a Point and Shoot camera with an excellent body design and build quality that enhances your personality with its classic look. The design of any camera is the first thing we look at when we go for buying a camera. The modern Leica digital and film cameras appear very identical externally to their 90 years old forebears. The Leica D-LUX 4 too has a visibly retro look and feel with the black color body.
Even though the entire body of the camera is virtually similar to the Panasonic LX3, there are still some minor but significant differences. The top panel ends of the camera are flat, instead of the rounded off ends as they’re on Panasonic’s LX3.
The simple yet stylish design of the Leica will not disappoint with its traditional clean, timeless and discreet look. The housing of Leica D-LUX 4 is built of very high quality aluminum which makes the camera extremely light, unobtrusive and compact which gives you no reason to leave the camera at home.
The Leica D-LUX 4 camera was designed with a body size of 150 x 107 x 75 mm and weighs around 228 grams, which is a quite lightweight and compact camera. The D-LUX 4 is available in Black color with the royal and classic titanium finish look.
Sensor
As few of you might know that the size of an imaging sensor plays a vital role in determining the quality of the image of a camera. A camera with larger sensor will have large individual pixels and also provide a clearer low-light sensitivity with rich color depth. Also, with the larger sensor cameras, photographers will have more control over the depth of field in the photo. Ultimately, improving the image quality and ability to isolate any subject from the background.
The D-LUX 4 Point and Shoot camera supports a CCD Sensor of size 8.07 x 5.56 mm with its tremendous f/2.0 – f/2.8 wide-angle aperture lens and form factor also known as the field of view crop factor of 4.41.
The vast 1/1.63 inch CCD sensor allows the photographer to take images of the smallest details of the object clearly.
The Leica camera offers a resolution of 11.3 MP and captures beautiful and smooth digital pictures. The resolution of a camera comes at the cost of higher pixel density with a smaller individual pixel size. The native sensitivity of the camera supports Manual and Auto mode settings with a range of ISO 80 to ISO 3200.
Display
The Leica D-LUX 4 camera offers you an optical viewfinder which is outstanding on all fronts by providing high accuracy and easy use. The viewfinder display of any camera gives a bulk of information about the camera status and the exposure.
The Canon D60 camera has a brilliant 3 inch LCD display screen which allows the photographer to capture crisp and sharp snapshots.
The camera offers a screen resolution of 460K dots which renders an excellent photo for easy evaluation of composition by the photographer. A camera with more screen resolution will capture clearer and sharper images which will help you to review your photos with more ease.
Also, the camera has an aspect ratio of 16:9 so that the users can view the wide-format pictures and videos in full fame.
On top of that, the 5 different types of languages supported by the camera languages allows you to operate the device easily.
Optics
The Leica D-Lux offers you an optical zoom of 2.5x which allows you to capture clear pictures of the subjects which are quite far from your eyesight. The legendary image quality provided by the Leica camera is further enhanced with the Optical Image Stabilization feature which effectively compensates the camera shake and helps the photographer to correct the unwanted shaking pictures and take razor-sharp images all the time.
The automatic face detection system adjusts the exposure and focus automatically to the faces in the locus, making it effortless to get perfect picture and group images.
The Leica provides the photographers the feature of manual focus which means you can customize the focus of the camera according to your need. The D-LUX 4 camera is a versatile camera which allows you to manually adjust the exposure settings.
Along with great colorful pictures, the Black & White images too are way beyond your imagination. If you want to take excellent B&W shots, the “Dynamic B&W” mode is the best suitable option for you. The D-Lux 4 offers you 3 image formats (16:9, 3:2, 4:3) to capture images.
Videography
One of the most important features of any camera is the Videography of the camera. Cameras with maximum resolution and frame rates offer better quality videos than the cameras with lower resolutions.
The D-LUX 4 camera also offers the same High Definition (HD) video recording as the Panasonic LX3. Videos can be recorded in 1280 x 720 pixels resolution (720p HD) at 24fps with mono audio in the professional RAW file format which is offered rarely in this category of camera. The clips that can be shot in the cameraare limited to 10 mins in the HD mode. It supports two types of memory cards which are SDHC and SD. The Leica’s D-LUX 4 records images in 16:9 aspect ratio to use them later in the HD slideshows.
The Leica D-LUX has the ability to imitate a number conventional film types with contrast characteristics and varying color. Additionally, it also has the feature to program two unique picture color modes to create your customized photos.
One thing to jot down here is that you cannot use the optical zoom feature in the camera while shooting videos.
AUDIO
The sound recording quality of Leica D-LUX 4 camera is quite decent. The D-LUX 4 allows you to record audios and movies without using any external microphone.
The D-LUX 4 also possesses a microphone which helps to make the sound quality better and enables the device to filter out any background noise.
Connectivity
For few imaging applications, how the camera communicates easily with its surrounding can be a salient aspect in the camera decisions process. The Leica D-LUX 4 camera provides an interface for data transfer and accessory control.
The D-LUX 4 supports the HDMI USB connectivity to connect your camera to the computer to transfer the clicked pictures and other files.
The camera also supports PictBridge which helps you to connect your digital camera directly to any printer without using a PC which makes it quite easy for you by enabling direct printing of photos on the spot. This on-camera photo editing feature of the camera assures that you’re able to design the right picture easily and swiftly.
Battery
The D-LUX 4 camera uses Li-Ion batteries, which are becoming quite popular in the compact digicams these days.
The BP-DC4 type of battery in the Leica camera has a decent power backup. The device can capture up to 380 shots with a single charge of the camera. But if you want to use this camera while travelling on vacation it’s better to take a few battery backups with you, so that you can shoot and take the amazing pictures of your journey without waiting for it to charge every time.
The battery drains rapidly because of the camera’s LCD screen while the CCD sensor helps the camera that does less power consumption.
Conclusion
The performance of the Leica D-LUX 4 is, not surprisingly, pretty impressive which is almost the same as the Panasonic LX3. The AF of the camera is also amazing, accurate and extremely fast with extraordinarily good low light performances. It supports a powerful pop-up flash of over eight meters.
If you’re in search of a simple yet powerful camera in digital SLR class, then Leica D-LUX 4 is that camera for you. It is not only heavily discounted but also provides you excellent experience of professional photography. The minimalist sleek design of the Leica camera is completely keeping the Leica tradition of clean, timeless and discreet look of cameras.
To anyone who is looking for an astonishing compact camera which you can simply slide into your pocket, make sure to not miss this camera. It’s a complete package to knock your hose off a camera performer. A small sensor camera that can get close to the elders in many ways.
A professional photographer will see the different features of any camera in a divergent way than that of a travel photographer or a person who has just stepped in the world of photography. Hence selecting a camera is often a personal choice.
If you are thinking of giving a try to photography and buying the classic Leica D-LUX 4 camera, you can get it online on Amazon
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