Putting the digital Leica through its paces

Paso Robles in Central coastal California, close to my home, is a charming town of some thirty thousand people whose interests tend to focus on the outdoors, wine making and agriculture. As luck would have it, yesterday was the occasion of the annual Agriculture Show in the downtown square, so the Leica DP, neatly stashed in the glove compartment of the car, made its way with me to see what was happening.

I exposed all 53 frames available on the 1gB Sandisk Extreme III SD card, using the RAW format at the highest size setting, meaning the widesceen 16:9 format. That is really wide!

You may view twenty four of those snaps by clicking here, and you can return to this page by clicking he link in the title bar when you are done. Click on any picture to see a full screen view. Click on any full screen view to jump to the next snap. Click the title in any full screen view to access the thumbnail index. The pictures were processed in Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CS2, where they were converted to PSD files. These files were then droppped into a new project in Aperture where post-processing was applied and then exported to JPG format in iPhoto ’06. You can read about the Better HTML application used in conjunction with iPhoto ’06 to create these web pages here. I still prefer it to anything offered for web export in Aperture.

All snaps were taken with the DP set to ISO 100 using aperture priority. The aperture was set at f/6.3 whch resulted in shutter speeds of 1/125 to 1/1000th second. Somewhere along the way I must have touched one of the buttons as the aperture mysteriously changed to f/4.9, so I will have to address what caused that. All pictures were taken in a thirty minute time span.

Some observations. I forgot to set the DP to center weighted metering, leaving it at the default Multiple metering setting. The latter is confusingly denoted by a pair of brackets with a spot in the middle, whereas the center weighted mode has a pair of brackets sans spot. Silly. The result was that most of my pictures, focusing as they do on people in the shade, were exposed for the brighter background, necessitating some tweaking using the Highlights and Shadows slider in Aperture to bring up the shadows. The trade off is a little more noise in the shadows but nothing to worry about.

Picture-to-picture delay is some 2.5 seconds while the camera writes the RAW file to the SD card, and that’s with the fastest card on the market. While the camera has a burst mode, it’s not available if you use RAW, owing to the large file sizes involved and the limited size of the in-camera buffer. With a Leica M, picture-to-picture delay is some 1.5 seconds as you wind the film and reorient the camera so the Leica DP is a tad slower in this regard. If you are a Machine Gun shooter, stop reading now.

File sizes? Here’s the Mac’s Finder showing the SD card’s contents:

As you can see, each 16.1 mB RAW file is paired with a low quality 1.9mB JPG file and there does not seem to be any way of switching the JPG creation off. On the other hand, the space taken up by these JPGs is equal to six RAWs, so it’s not exactly a big deal, and the JPGs make for nice and quick web material, if needed. I use a Sandisk SD USB II card reader to load files onto the iMac, thus precluding the need to waste time loading the JPG files – I select the RAW files only. Plus that saves having to mess about with the custom cord provided by Panasonic which fits into a miniscule connector under a flap on the camera’s side – an accident waiting to happen.

Looking at the web pages of images, you will see that I have left many with the original 16:9 proportions, while cropping several others to the classical Leica 3:2 film format. I’m still learning how wide the widescreen format is, though it’s not a function of the optical iewfinder which accurately shows the 28mm width of the field of view. It’s just that I have to learn to get closer. As Robert Capa said “If your pictures are not good enough, you are no close enough”. After all these years I still have to remind myself of that.

How about definition? In PS CS2 after ACR processing, the images result in a 47.5 mB PSD file. On my 17″ diagonal iMac G5 screen the ‘Fit on Screen’ image is 7.3″ x 13″ in size and as sharp as you would need for a print that size. Switch to ‘Actual Pixels’ and the effective size becomes 37.5″ x 21.1″ which is huge. The merest amount of purple fringing is visible on bright white edges. Here’s the definition of a center portion without any post processing added.

Dial in 70/1/0 Unsharp Mask and you get the following:

These are both screen shots so the definition in a print would be markedly better, but even from these examples you can see central definition lacks nothing and there is no grain/noise. The modest level of USM is much less than dictated by the Canon EOS 5D’s full frame sensor, which need something like 250/2/0, so it’s a case of horses for courses when applying USM. One size does not fit all.

Edge definition? Here’s the extreme edge at 16:9 and f/6.3 after applying USM:

Here’s the full frame image after downsizing and using ‘Save for Web’:

Bottom line? 13″ wide prints with this combination will be just fine, but expect some wide angle distortion toward the edges and some purple fringing on bright color edges. The latter can be easily taken out with ACR’s controls. You are stuck with the distortion. Is the lens as good as the 24-105mm Canon IS ‘L’ f/4 on my EOS 5D? No, but it’s close. Plus three Leica DPs would weigh less than the Canon lens alone!

The other thing I noticed is that the native contrast of the RAW files was very high. Sure, the pictures were taken in contrasty lighting but the image contrast for the most part was too high. I’m going to reset the in-camera Contrast setting from Normal to Low and see if that makes a difference in RAW images, or if it only affects the JPG clone. Otherwise, Aperture or PS CS2 controls are fine, if a bit of a pain to have to apply.

What else? Carrying the DP by the wrist strap is a joy. The small right hand finger grip (missing from the over priced Leica D-Lux 2 clone) helps a lot and, of course, holding the camera to the eye where it is naturally braced by the forehead, aids steadiness greatly, further helped by the integral vibration reduction. With the viewfinder mounted above the screen the LCD display is invisible with the camera at eye level, and not a distraction. The camera will switch the screen off at a user preset time to preserve battery power (there is no option to leave the screen off as this is, after all, a viewfinder-less camera!). That’s a shame as once the camera powers down, the lens retracts, although the camera remains ‘On’. A touch of the shutter release button is required to make the lens extend again which means a delay of unacceptable length for a street snapper. The ‘Power Save’ options are 1, 2, 5, 10 minutes or Off, with ‘Off’ meaning it never goes Off. So I’m going to switch to the ‘Off’ option and then reduce screen brightness to a minimum to preserve battery power. We will see – a spare battery may be in order as I suspect that the LCD display consumes a lot of juice.

The purpose of all of this is, of course, to recreate the Leica experience with a modern digital camera. The Leica DP comes very close. No, there is none of the sensuous feel of the advance lever or the silky beauty of the controls. I doubt the M2/3/4 will ever be bettered in that regard. Shutter lag is barely longer than with a rangefinder M Leica, size and weight far less. The lens, while no Summicron or Elmarit, is very, very good and the camera is truly pocketable. There is simply no excuse for not carrying it at all times. The small size, aided by the amateur chrome looks aid greatly in making the photographer invisible and, most importantly, you no longer have to wait for your film to be destroyed at the local processing lab. Or by the X Ray machine at the airport. And you no longer have to curse the ridiculous film loading system in the Leica M body – in its refusal to change this, Leica displays German arrogance at its worst.

You want classic monochrome? Two clicks in Aperture and here you go:

Best of all, the Leica DP is incredible FUN. Now when was the last time you said that about a camera?

In Part III I’ll try it out at ISO 200 and 400 and see what happens.

Finally – a digital Leica

Preconceptions abound in our society.

Italians are great lovers.
The French cannot be trusted.
The Welsh are liars.
Poles are stupid.
Jews are smart.
The British cannot cook.
Americans are crass.

And so on.

When it comes to photography, the one that always jumps to mind is:

Leica makes the best lenses.

This is about as accurate as the little collection of bigotry introducing this piece.

What is ‘best’ is a function of the situation. If you want an interchangeable lens camera with tracking autofocus, for example, there is no best Leica lens. In fact, there is no Leica lens. Better look to the great Japanese manufacturers (or, more correctly, designers, as most everything is made in China anyway) for that.

Yet, I confess, that after over thirty years of using Leica M rangefinders with any number of Leica optics attached, that I am something of a bigot. You see, I do believe Leica makes (some of) the best lenses. Even the Leica company is beginning to realize that its salvation lies not in making bodies, but in supplying lenses for other manufacturers’ bodies. Small, undercapitalized, forever on the verge of bankruptcy, Leica Camera cannot hope to develop a competent modern body without massive out sourcing of electronic needs – LCDs, motors, microprocessors, software, you name it.

Back in 1976 Leica showed a working version of their Correfot autofocusing system at Photokina. That was the last that was heard of it on a camera. Either they failed to patent it or lacked the capital to enforce their patent so that, before you knew it, every major Japanese manufacturer had autofocus based on Leica’s (or was it Honeywell’s?) genius.

No, it takes major capital to make electronic gizmos and Leica cannot hope to compete.

When I moved from medium format to full frame digital, acquiring a Canon 5D from the sales proceeds of all that clunky 6×6 gear, the knowledge still rankled that a miniature camera, as the original 35mm cameras were known, was missing from my tool kit. ‘Miniature’ is the operative word, for whereas the 5D delivers medium format quality with a fraction of the bulk and weight of medium format, no one could accuse the body and lens of being compact. Try to stick it in your pocket and Mae West would be apt to remark “Is that a 5D in your pants or are you just happy to see me?”

I have long been searching for a digital camera which would combine those special features a street shooter needs, and I have some claim to the appellation, much of my early work having been street photography, pure and simple. You can see the results of these Leica years in my book Street Smarts. What are those special features? Well, the camera must be small and unobtrusive. Quiet of course. Must have a 28mm or 35mm lens. Must have the shortest possible shutter delay. And it must have an optical viewfinder. Plus, of course, that elusive Leica lens.

Let me present the Leica DP, or the Leica Digital Panasonic:

I wasn’t about to wait for the much rumored digital Leica M. First, who knows when, if ever, it will be available. Second $5,000+ paid to a near-bankrupt company for a body with a cropped sensor, which makes my 35mm Summicron into a 46mm ersatz wide angle, is not my cup of tea. So when the Panasonic company released its Lumix LX1 I spent the last of my excess medium format gear proceeds and got one. Something tells me Panasonic will last longer than Leica and while not chump change, the $480 I paid beats the $5k or whatever that the Digital M will go for. The lens is a 28-112mm (I’m using 35mm full frame conventions here) zoom, f/2.8 at the widest setting, falling to f/4.9 at the long end. I had no desire for a zoom, but there was no alternative. What attracted me most to the camera was that it came in chrome (I like to look as amateur as possible) and boasted a very short shutter lag. The latter has been the bane of all but the most costly digital cameras. Sure, the 5D has a lag similar to a Leica M, but it’s hardly a low visibility candid camera.

The biggest drawbacks were the lack of an optical viewfinder and reports that the sensor is very noisy. Well, an email to Cameraquest and $160 later saw a gorgeous Voigtlander 28mm optical viewfinder of bejeweled quality arrive in the mail. Some 3M Super Weatherstrip Adhesive and a few minutes of work saw the finder neatly glued to the top of the LX1, where it replicates the camera’s field of view pretty accurately at the widest setting of the lens. I was going to glue an accessory shoe to the top plate of the LX1 but the only useable space – between the mode dial and the pop-up flash – is so tight that I had to resort to simply gluing the finder directly to the top plate. By using weatherstrip adhesive the bond can be undone at any time with 3M Adhesive Remover, yet is robust enough that the integrity of the ensemble remains unthreatened. You can see just how tight the clearance is here:

Here’s how the assembly looks from behind ….

….and in close up:

Compared with the M3 the Leica DP is miniscule, weighing in at some 6 ounces plus some 2 ounces for the finder.

Here’s a top view:

Now for some tuning. The LX1 comes with the usual mind numbing collection of mostly useless digital settings. I set the lens at 28mm and the aspect ratio to 16:9. There are three ratios – widescreen 16:9 (like a movie), classical Leica 3:2 and standard digital 4:3. I like the widescreeen look so I went with that. Second, the mode dial was set to ‘A’, meaning aperture priority – you set the aperture, the camera does the shutter speed. I keep it at f/2.8, the maximum. That gives me a shutter speed range of 8 seconds to 1/1000. Stop down a bit and you can get to 1/2000. You will not miss that as the camera has built in vibration reduction, somewhat akin to the IS feature on some Canon lenses, and good for a couple of shutter speeds in terms of camera shake.

ISO is set to 100 until I can figure out just how bad the digital noise is at higher speeds (the camera only goes up to 400 – just like TriX of old), and focusing is set to ‘high speed center area’ to further reduce shutter lag compared with the standard multi-area setting. I leave the auto focusing on but reprogram the AE/AF lock button on the rear to lock exposure only. That way scenes with, say too much sky, are pre-metered by pointing the camera down and jabbing the AE button. Focus can be locked separately, if needed, by taking the first pressure on the shutter release with the focus rectangle pointed at the area of interest, prior to final re-composition. All take much less time than manually focusing your Leica M and messing about with the aperture and shutter speed controls.

How is the key aspect of this combination, shutter lag? Well, accepting that the Leica M and the Canon EOS 5D are pretty much instantaneous, there is a very short delay with the Leica DP as focus take place. Not enough to bother about. The default setting for shutter sound made by the DP is described as ‘soft’ (a very loud ‘clack’) and the loud setting is something like a Pentax 6×7 going off. I switched the shutter sound to ‘Off’ and while you can just barely hear the shutter tripping in a quiet room, in practice you learn to judge when the picture has been taken from the feel of the shutter release button. Compared to a Leica M? Well, the M’s shutter noise is to the Leica DP what the Pentax 6×7 is to the M. The Leica DP wouldn’t disturb your next audience with the Pope in his chambers.

Hey! wait a minute, you protest. Why didn’t I buy the Leica D-Lux 2 which is, after all, a real Leica. Oh! do come on. I saved $300 on the identical Lumix and put some of the savings towards the viewfinder and a 1gB Sandisk Extreme III fast SD card, the better to write out those RAW files that the camera produces. You can opt for a variety of JPGs too, of course, but I feel RAW is the way to go with a noise challenged sensor. The 32 mB card shipped with the camera is a joke – it will accommodate 2 or 3 images. The 1gB Sandisk will store 52 pictures using the highest quality RAW setting with the 16:9 aspect ratio. That feels like two 24 exposure rolls of film from the old days, just right for a day’s street photography. Still, if you want to pay another $300 for a silly red label, have at it.

Drawbacks so far? Well, Aperture does not yet recognize LX1 RAW, so it’s back to that old dog Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Camera RAW for conversions. This combination has all the ergonomics of a Swiss Army knife but at least it yields high quality RAW conversions. Once converted to TIFF the images can then be dropped into the Aperture database. The camera is also very small, meaning it’s easy to drop. The provided wrist strap fixes that. Finally, apertures or shutter speeds (if you use aperture or shutter priority) have to be set using the built in LCD (the camera can be used in fully manual mode if you desire) but at least it’s easily readable in all but the brightest sunlight. That’s in contrast to the truly horrid screen in the $3,000 Canon EOS 5D body. C’mon Canon, wake up!

In Part II I relate some practical field experience with this little jewel. Meanwhile, I’m off to find one of those idiotic ‘Leica’ red stickers, beloved of dentists and investment bankers who collect jewelry, as it should double the value of my new Leica DP.