Leica D-Lux 8 preview

The Leica D-Lux 8 is an updated 17MP enthusiast zoom compact camera that uses a series of crops of a Four Thirds sized sensor to give multiple aspect ratios. It’s a gentle update of the D-Lux 7 with refreshed look, revised interface and a much-improved viewfinder.

Key Specifications

• Up to 17MP images from a 22MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13mm) CMOS sensor
• 24-75mm equiv. 10.9-34mm F1.7-2.8 stabilized lens
• 2fps shooting with AF, up to 11fps without
• Captures DNG Raw files
• Larger, 2.36M dot OLED viewfinder
• 1.84M dot rear touchscreen
• Updated user interface
• UHS-II card compatibility
• 5Gbps USB-C port

The D-Lux 8 is one of the only enthusiast compacts on the market, but follows on from some of the best of their type. It combines a relatively large sensor, a bright F1.7-2.8 zoom and a high level of direct control for shutter speed, aperture value and ISO or exposure compensation. In many respects it’s conceptually similar to Fujifilm’s X100 series, but with a zoom.

The Leica D-Lux8 is available from July 2 at a recommended price of $1595, a $400 premium over the previous model.

Index:

• What’s new?
• How it compares
• Body and controls
• Initial impressions
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

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What’s new

The D-Lux8 is a relatively subtle update of the 2018 D-Lux 7, with much of the underlying hardware unchanged. The body has been redesigned and there are some changes to the controls and interface but the sensor and lens are the same as those used in the D-Lux7 and the Panasonic LX100 II.

This sees it use the same arrangement by which the entire sensor region is never used but instead a choice of three aspect ratios that have the same diagonal angle-of-view is offered. So you can switch between 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9 and maintain the same 24mm equiv. widest angle from the lens. The 1:1 setting is handled more like the majority of cameras and simply crops in from the default sensor region.

OLED viewfinder

The most significant change is the use of a standard OLED viewfinder. Previous models used field-sequential displays that would display their red, green and blue components one after the other. For some users this can give distracting red/green/blue fringing artefacts when their eye moves around the frame or they engage the menus because they become aware that the three colors haven’t updated to the same degree.

So although the viewfinder spec looks like a downgrade on paper, in practice its 2.36M dots (1024 x 768 px) can give a more pleasant experience than the 2.76M dot-equivalent finder in the D-Lux 7. Also, because the old panel was a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, the new finder is actually higher resolution when you shoot 4:3.

The D-Lux 8’s finder is also larger, with a magnification equivalent to 0.74x, rather than 0.7x in the previous camera. Again it sounds like a small change but it results in a much nicer experience.

The rear screen also sees a resolution boost, moving to 1.84M dots (960 x 640 px), rather than the 1.24M (∼786 x 524px) of the older model.

DNG capture

The other significant specification change in the D-Lux8 is that it can now capture its Raw data in the standard DNG format, rather than Panasonic’s RW2 files that the D-Lux 7 shot.

The D-Lux 8 also adopts a USB-C connector, rather than the Micro B type connection on the previous model. Likewise the camera’s Bluetooth capabilities have been brought up to the newer 5.0 LE standard, rather than 4.2, but the Wi-Fi is still a relatively basic 2.4Mhz connection.

Beyond this, much of what sets the D-Lux 8 apart from its predecessor is its revised body and interface. Leica has made an effort to bring it into line with the Q3 full-sensor fixed lens camera, generally for the better.

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How it compares

As mentioned at the start of the article, the D-Lux 8 enters a much-reduced enthusiast compact space, compared with the one its predecessor competed in. But there are still small cameras offering good image quality and photographer-friendly levels of direct control, even as most of the market retreats to the higher profit margins of interchangeable lens cameras.

Sony’s RX100 Va is still a current model, offering a similar short, bright zoom and, of course, there’s perhaps the most visible small camera for photographers, the Fujifilm X100 VI.

The updates to the D-Lux 8 means it has one of the best viewfinders in the class, and becomes one of the only options to use the faster UHS-II SD cards (not that these stills-focused cameras especially need it). Its sensor size means it’s a larger camera than the Sony but can offer a zoom, whereas you need to move to a prime lens if you want a larger sensor in a compact camera.

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Body and Handling

The D-Lux 8 has a significantly simplified body and interface compared with the D-Lux 7.

The top plate of the camera now has a power button, rather than the on-off switch of its predecessor. The dedicated exposure comp dial has been replaced by a command dial with a custom button at its center, which itself replaces the ‘A’ button that was present on the D-Lux 7.

This custom button and the two just below the shutter speed dial and the button at the center of the four-way controller can be configured to control any of 38 options, from Exposure Comp and ISO Shutter Speed Limit to switching between the video and stills modes. You can reconfigure the function of a button by simply holding the button down for two seconds.

The command dial on the corner of the camera has four possible settings: Exposure Comp, ISO, Off or Auto. The Auto setting sees the dial’s function change depending on the position of the aperture ring and shutter speed dial.

Interface

There have been big changes to the D-Lux’s interface, too, giving it a close resemblance to that of the Q3 (it hasn’t gained the red/yellow indication for stills/video shooting that we saw on the SL3).

Pressing the menu button takes you to a settings panel screen, from which you can adjust any exposure value that isn’t being set by the specific position of one of the dials (you can’t over-rule the aperture or shutter speed controls). Below this are a series of icons that can be tapped or navigated to, to change various camera settings.

To get to the main menu you need to press the menu button a second time or tap the icon with three lines at the lower right of the settings panel. This takes you into a five page, 29-option menu.

Within the menu, scrolling up and down also scrolls between its five pages. Pressing right changes the current option or takes you into a sub-menu, where required. Pressing left takes you back out of the sub-menus and back up to the main menu level.

There is one minor oddity, though: pressing left from the top level of the menu jumps you one page to the left. But you press the Menu button to jump a page to the right. This is slightly unusual behavior as it’s more common for left/right or up/down button combinations to deliver opposing actions. The left/Menu combination requires a little more conscious thought.

Most of key options are in the settings screen, and the ability to quickly reconfigure the camera’s four customizable buttons means you can gain quick or semi-quick access to all the photographic parameters you’re likely to need. Like the Q3 and other recent Leica cameras, the D-Lux 8 ends up being an impressively photo-focused camera: you have direct access to shutter speed, aperture and either exposure comp or ISO, and then quick access to the other. Everything else is somewhat secondary to this, meaning you can focus on your photos, not the camera’s other functions.

Battery

The D-Lux 8 uses the same BP-DC15 battery as its predecessor. This is a benefit in terms of compatibility with wide availability. But it also means it’s still dependent on a relatively small 7.4Wh battery. Leica doesn’t specify a CIPA-standard battery figure but we’d guess at a number somewhere in the sub-300 shot-per-charge region. It’s certainly small enough that you’ll want to keep track of where your USB-C lead is.

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Initial impressions

Side-by-side with the Panasonic LX100 II you can see the camera has grown a little larger but exhibits a much cleaner, more focused design.

The D-Lux 8 is, in many respects, a D-Lux 7 with a belated facelift and a 2024 price tag to match. In spite of this, I found myself rather liking it.

For a start, I’m delighted to see anyone still committed to making enthusiast compacts. The D-Lux 8 is pricey but if any manufacturer knows how to survive in a niche market, I’d be inclined not to bet against Leica. And the D-Lux 8 is a genuinely better camera than the 7, even if many of the updates simply bring the connections and card compatibility up to more recent standards.

I found the move to a conventional OLED viewfinder made a big difference, as I’m generally rather sensitive to the rainbow tearing effect seen in field-sequential displays. The D-Lux 7’s finder refreshed quickly enough that it wasn’t too distracting, but eliminating the effect entirely is certainly welcome. The 8’s autofocus is also improved, with the AF tracking showing impressive tenacity, which again makes the camera nicer to use.

But it’s the move to the new, stripped-down interface that impressed me most. The D-Lux 8 puts the key photographic parameters right at my fingertips such that I could just focus on photography, rather than thinking about what bells and whistles the camera might contain.

Even after a week with the camera I found it difficult to adapt to the combination of the left and Menu buttons to move left and right through the menu tabs, but thankfully it’s not necessary to delve into the main menu very often.

At the end of my week with the camera, I found myself hit with an enthusiast-camera conundrum: ‘given the similarity of its control layout, why didn’t I enjoy it as much as I do the X100 models?’ And I’m genuinely not certain. In many respects the Leica has a more focused interface than the latest Fujifilms, which is definitely a bonus. It’s also appreciably more compact, which is a plus for a small camera. So why doesn’t it feel as special?

I have three theories: is it that the motor-driven zoom induces a lag, and being a zoom requires a little more thought about the framing options in front of me? Is it that I know the D-Lux 8 won’t quite deliver the image quality that the larger sensor and prime lens of an X100 can? Or is it, as a insightful friend suggested, that it doesn’t share the Fujifilm’s attractive color modes, such that the EVF doesn’t hold the same promise that its photos will look really good?

I don’t know for sure. But I liked the D-Lux 8 enough that I can’t wait to get hold of one again to see if it will find a similar place in my heart.

Sample gallery

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