Sydney Darling Harbour at night

Sydney Wildlife World & Sydney Aquarium
Leica D-LUX4, F/8.0, 1/500~1/30 sec, 5.1 mm, ISO 80, HDR, ±2EV, 16:9, 19:40 29 December 2009
Image skewd, cropped, resized, sharpened, and level changed


Historic Vessel
Leica D-LUX4, F/2.8, 1/60 sec, 12.8 mm, ISO 400, HDR, 16:9, 20:17 29 December 2009
Image skewd, cropped, resized, sharpened, and level adjusted


Pyrmont Bay Wharf
Leica D-LUX4, F/2.2, 1/80 sec, 6.8 mm, ISO 400, HDR, 4:3, 20:19 29 December 2009
Image skewd, cropped, resized, sharpened, and level adjusted


Darling Harbour Wharf & Sydney CBD
Leica D-LUX4, F/2.2, 1/100 sec, 6.8 mm, ISO 400, HDR, 16:9, 20:21 29 December 2009
Image skewd, cropped, resized, sharpened, and level adjusted


Sydney CBD & Sydney Tower
Leica D-LUX4, F/4.0, 1/8~8 sec, 8.8 mm, ISO 80, HDR, ±3EV, 16:9, 20:43 29 December 2009
Image skewd, cropped, resized, sharpened, and level adjusted


Historic Vessel & Sydney CBD
Leica D-LUX4, F/2.0, 5/8 sec, 5.1 mm, ISO 400, HDR, 16:9, 20:51 29 December 2009
Image skewd, cropped, resized, sharpened, and level adjusted

Upgraded to D-LUX 4 firmware Ver 2.1

Just upgraded the firmware of my Leica D-LUX 4 to the newly released version 2.1. According to the official release notes, "the exposure compensation and the auto bracket compensation can now be set up to ±3EV." This is a feature that I have been waiting for a long time.

Additionally, a standard "HIGH DYNAMIC" feature has been added to scene mode with this version.

Below are two HDR pictures testing the differences between ±1EV and ±3EV under the same low light condition and the same AWB setting, each directly generated from three auto-bracket shots by Photomatix Pro 3.2.6 using its default settings. No any other modifications.


Download the original
Leica D-LUX 4, F/2.0, 1/15 sec, 5.1 mm, ISO 80, Pattern Mode, ±1EV, 3:2, HDR, 21:22 14 December 2009


Download the original
Leica D-LUX 4, F/2.0, 1/15 sec, 5.1 mm, ISO 80, Pattern Mode, ±3EV, 3:2, HDR, 21:23 14 December 2009

Historic building in winter

Saskatchewan Legislative Building, Regina, SK, Canada
Canon IXUS 50, F/2.8, 1/320 sec, 5.8 mm, ISO 50, Pattern Mode, +1/3, 4:3, 12:19 27 November 2005
Image skewd, cropped, resized, desaturated, and level adjusted


Saskatchewan Legislative Building, Regina, SK, Canada
Canon IXUS 50, F/4.9, 1/200 sec, 17.4 mm, ISO 50, Pattern Mode, 4:3, 12:13 27 November 2005
Image cropped, resized, desaturated, and level adjusted

Sydney International Airport at night

Observation Deck View, Terminal 1, Sydney Kingsford International Airport
Leica D-LUX4, F/5.6, 5 sec, 5.1 mm, ISO 80, Pattern Mode, 3:2, 19:56 12 November 2009
Image skewd, cropped, resized, and level adjusted

Sydney Opera House at dawn

Sydney Opera House at dawn
Leica D-LUX4, F/5.0, 1/250 sec, 12.1 mm, ISO 80, Pattern Mode, HDR, ±3/3, 16:9, 06:56 18 July 2009

Leica D-LUX 4 Digital Zoom Test

Digital Zoom (DZ) is a bonus feature available on most consumer digital cameras. Some low-end digital cameras "rely entirely on digital zoom, lacking a real zoom lens, as on most camera phones."

Personally, I never ever preferred using digital zoom because of poor zooming quality with additional noise. As a result, I always turned it off on my cameras if the functionality was enabled by default.

Leica D-LUX 4, as a top-end consumer level compact camera, also supports digital zoom up to 10x based on its 2.5x optical zoom. Probably because Leica defined D-LUX4 a semi-professional camera, as the Son of M8, digital zoom is disabled by default in this camera.

However, for having a better understanding on my Leica D-LUX 4, I was still curious about its ability of digital zoom. Therefore, several test shots was taken in different occasions, as shown below. Just click to download the original JPEG images with no any processing applied.

At first, three shots taken from the same standing place, and from the optical wide-angle end to the digital telephoto end.


L1040327.JPG
Buildings at the south of Pyrmont Point Park, Pirrama Road, Pyrmont, NSW 2009
Leica D-LUX4, F/5.0, 1/500 sec, 5.1 mm (no zoom at the wide angle end)
ISO 80, Pattern Mode, 3:2, 15:00 19 July 2009


L1040328.JPG
An apartment close to Pyrmont Point Park, Harris Street, Pyrmont, NSW 2009
Leica D-LUX4, F/5.0, 1/400 sec, 12.8 mm (10x digital zoom)
ISO 80, Pattern Mode, 3:2, 15:00 19 July 2009


L1040329.JPG
The Nokia building close to Pyrmont Point Park, Harris Street, Pyrmont, NSW 2009
Leica D-LUX4, F/5.0, 1/400 sec, 12.8 mm (10x digital zoom)
ISO 80, Pattern Mode, 3:2, 15:05 19 July 2009
Not bad? See below for the corresponding cropped images in 100% pixel with no processing applied. The two scenes in 300×450 pixels (at left) have been digitally zoomed into 2520×3776 pixels (at right) with more visible details.

L1040327.JPG (Left) v.s. L1040328.JPG (Right)


L1040327.JPG (Left) v.s. L1040329.JPG (Right)
Secondly, two test shots of the top of Sydney Tower taken from the same standing point in different zoom ratios.


The Top of Sydney Tower - View within Hyde Park
Leica D-LUX4, F/4.5, 1/1000sec, 12.8 mm (8x digital zoom)
ISO 80, Pattern Mode, -1 step, 3:2, 08:30 18 July 2009


The Top of Sydney Tower - View within Hyde Park
Leica D-LUX4, F/4.5, 1/640sec, 12.8 mm (4x digital zoom)
ISO 80, Pattern Mode, -1 step, 3:2, 08:32 18 July 2009
All above shots were taken under bright daylight. How about indoor under varied lights? See the following test shots taken at a QVB cafe.


Jewels in the window of a jewelry shop at QVB
Leica D-LUX4, F/2.8, 1/125 sec, 12.8 mm (10x digital zoom)
ISO 100, Pattern Mode, 3:2, 08:50 18 July 2009


A girl working at the window of a jewelry shop at QVB
Leica D-LUX4, F/2.8, 1/125 sec, 12.8 mm (10x digital zoom)
ISO 200, Pattern Mode, 3:2, 08:50 18 July 2009


Two men chatting at a cafe in QVB
Leica D-LUX4, F/2.8, 1/60 sec, 12.8 mm (10x digital zoom)
ISO 400, Pattern Mode, 3:2, 08:51 18 July 2009
You can see the zooming quality and image noise goes bad, significantly, when the lighting condition becomes worse. Nevertheless, the camera's digital zoom works very well in certain lighting conditions, at least much more better than my expectation compared with other digital cameras I ever used.

As a result, for me, I have enabled Digital Zoom on my Leica D-LUX 4 in P/A/S/M modes. However, C1 and C2 modes still keep using optical zoom, ISO 80 and RAW as they are for serious photography.

Leica D-LUX 4 vs Panasonic DMC-LX3 Test Side by Side

I got a chance to compare Leica D-LUX 4 and Panasonic DMC-LX3 side by side by shooting the exact same scene indoor under the exact same fluorescent light. Three film effects were tested for each camera. Only Fine JPEG pictures were produced. No RAW pictures.

I have to say, for the JPEG pictures shot under such light, there is no significant difference in image quality and colour fidelity between the two sister cameras.

The two cameras were:

Leica D-LUX 4 - Firmware v1.2, purchased from Australia in January 2009
Panasonic DMC-LX3 - Firmware v1.2, purchased from the UK in October 2008

The settings were:

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Pattern
ISO: 80
White Balance: AWB
Exposure: 1/4 sec
Aperture: 2.0
Focal Length: 5.1mm
Flash Used: No
Ratio: 3:2
Flash Used: No

All the images below were generated by the camera directly. No any modifications. You may click to download the original images (3776×2520 pixels).


Standard Film: Leica D-LUX 4 (Left) vs Panasonic DMC-LX3 (Right)


Dynamic Film: Leica D-LUX 4 (Left) vs Panasonic DMC-LX3 (Right)


Dynamic B/W Film: Leica D-LUX 4 (Left) vs Panasonic DMC-LX3 (Right)

UPDATE: You may notice one fact after downloading all the original JPEG files of the test shots: the Leica JPEG file is always a bit smaller than the Panasonic one, at least in this test.