Field test: D-Lux 4 and C-Lux 3

Leica’s D-Lux series, originally positioned just above the ranks of the competition, is all grown up now. Leica markets the D-Lux 4 as a miniature camera system and equips it with a palette of accessories, such as a separate hand grip, an optical viewfinder attachment, and a flash unit to fit the camera’s new flash shoe. The lens has matured as well. It’s unusually fast for a compact camera lens, with a rather narrow focal length spectrum spanning what in 35 mm terms equals 24 by 60 millimeters. (...)The central difference between the D-Lux 4 and its predecessors is precisely in the lens. The DC Vario Summicron 5.1–12.8 mm f/2.0–2.8 comes with a narrower zoom spectrum – the aforementioned 24–60 millimetres in 35 mm terms –, both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because no other digital compact camera can really boast a 24-mm-wide high-speed lens. It’s a curse because 60 millimetres is not quite enough to earn it the label of portrait telephoto. And so the camera’s photographic potential is rather specific. (...)

Wasn’t the C-Lux 2 a similar deal, having largely done away with manual exposure and focus control? Well, let’s just say the new edition drives the concept to the limit. Power up the camera and you’ll find yourself in ‘snapshot’ mode. Leave the exposure to the camera to deal with. If you must, enter the ‘quick menu’ and adjust the autofocus behaviour, resolution, serial mode, and LCD brightness, or use the designated buttons to (de)activate the timer and mini flash. If you’re ambitious, use the main menu to change the colour mode, whereby the ‘natural’ setting tends to work best. It’s only by switching to ‘P’ mode that your options increase. Here you can influence or even deactivate the auto ISO setting, adjust the white balance and auto-focusing mode, or turn off the image stabiliser.