Leica
D-Lux 5 Titanium
If this test is to judge how beautiful
compacts are, Leica would absolutely rank first. The German brand did take the special
D-Lux 5 and wear it an anodized aluminum finish. This beautiful camera also
comes with a nice Italian leather bag. Besides, you will have a licensed copy
of Adobe Lightroom 3 supplied to help processing images. This equipment as well
as the design partly compensate for this compact’s high price.
Fortunately, image quality is quite
excellent with low noise and high detail until it reaches ISO 800 where noise
starts to appear. Among models of this list, D-Lux 5 owns the highest sensitivity
with ISO that can rise up to 12,800. However, visual quality would become so noisy
at this mode that you should avoid it.
The camera is very user friendly because
configuration can be simply done within 1 or 2 clicks. You easily adjust
autofocus and shutter speed with a rocker button placed on the lens. You can
also access detailed menu for more setting. In general, only its high price
prevents D-Lux 5 from being the greatest one.
Manual
recording
D-Lux 5 doesn’t support 1,080p recording
but the 720p Creative Mode provides users more stuff than ever, with options for
aperture, shutter, program and manual exposure.
Upgrade
Referring to design, experience and specs, Leica
shares common things with the cheaper Panasonic LX5 but Leica model has longer
warranty, remade interface and different firmware.
Specifications
Lens: 5.1-19.2mm (35mm equivalent:
24-90 mm)
Resolution: 10.1MP
Optical zoom: 3.8 X
ISO range: 80-12,800
Aperture: f/2-f/3.3
Video recording: 720p at 30fps
Display: 3inch/7.6cm plus 460,000 pixels
HDMI output: No
Stuff
overview
Ratings: 4/5
Appearing splendid, this camera has a high
price preventing it from having the highest score.
Leica model has a hotshoe for flash unit as
well as external finder. Furthermore, no camera in this test supports EVF.
Sliding switch in top and left of the lens makes
you easily adjust aspect ratio of image and change modes including manual-focus,
auto-focus and macro, which comes very handy.
With various buttons, you are able to
adjust setting comfortably. In addition, “Q Menu” function is really useful, by
combining a lot of adjustments in one menu option shown on the screen.
2. Ricoh GR Digital IV
Ricoh
GR Digital IV
Ricoh GR Digital IV aims at passionate
users. It becomes a compact in your pocket when pricey DSLR models turn out to
be impractical. And this camera is really excellent due to its f/1.9 lens, fast
auto-focus and many custom configurations for photo-shooting.
It is expected that Ricoh excellently captures
image according to its price. Color reproduction and noise at ISO are quite
appropriate. Thus, for outdoor usage, this good camera is suitable. Image
captured at high ISO level in low lighting doesn’t look nice, with noise
appearing more regularly than in Canon S100.
This compact is not the most either
reliable or versatile here because of fixed lens, lack of optical zoom, HD
recording and other surprising stuff, except one hotshoe for external flash and
electronic spirit level. GR Digital IV is good for users who have purely basic
demands. Consequently, this camera is not multi-functional as it appears.
Have
it in your own way
Photography lovers probably like an
interface which can be customized. This is where you can make you own button
for separate settings and create 3 capture modes from many options.
Powerful
macro photography
Macro focus is a real upside of this
compact. It allows you to capture image which is 1cm maximally distant from the
lens. Furthermore, this feature has a considerably fast focus speed and captures
amazingly clear image.
Specifications
Lens: 6mm (35mm equivalent: 28mm)
Resolution: 10MP
Optical zoom: No
ISO range: 80-3,200
Aperture: f/1.9
Video recording: VGA at 30fps
Display: 3inch/7.6cm plus 1,230,000 pixels
HDMI output: Yes
Stuff
overview
Ratings: 3/5
Photography lovers may highly appreciate
this camera for control range but versatility is not its upside.
The model comes with a hotshoe for external
flash, ideal for low lighting condition.
Besides, there are 6mm fixed lens with no
optical zoom however the wide-angle zoom is really useful.
Battery can handle 400 shots. Furthermore, this
compact owns card slots for SD, SDHC and Eye Fi. Unlike other rivals, Ricoh doesn’t
support SDXC cards having extremely large storage.
