Leica D-Lux (Typ 109) Review

WiFi Connectivity and Tethering

The Leica D-Lux has built-in Wi-Fi as well as NFC (Near Field Communication). The camera can be connected directly to the phone, or indirectly via your home network, where you'd connect both the phone and the camera to the network.

The free Leica application "Leica Image Shuttle" must be installed on the phone in order to make the connection possible. It is available for Android and iOS. The application we found in the Google Play store was called "Leica C Image Shuttle" so that's the one we used - we suspect that it is an older version originally designed for the Leica C compact camera, but there is now a note on the installation screen that support for the D-Lux has been added (that was not the case when we first downloaded the app in December, 2014). 

NFC allows for easy set-up of a Wi-Fi connection with a smart phone with NFC simply by holding the two devices close to each other (after holding down the Wi-Fi button on the camera) until they connect. It worked well and everything is automatically done for you.

In lieu of NFC, the connection can also be set up by scanning a QR code displayed on the camera's screen, or one can simply let the phone search for the Leica D-Lux hotspot emitted by the camera the old-fashioned way.

Connecting the phone and camera via a home network is tedious to set up since you have to manually type in the password on a not too user friendly keyboard on the screen, and it will only work if you are relatively close to the router (see range details at the end of this section).

There is no provision for copying images via Wi-Fi to a computer; the Wi-Fi connectivity is exclusively meant for connecting with a smart phone.

Features available when the camera and phone are connected:

• Tethering, i.e. viewing the camera's live view on the phone and take pictures remotely (movies cannot be recorded remotely)
• Play back the images stored on the SD card in the camera on the phone
• Transfer images stored on the SD card to the phone or via the phone to social sites (RAW images cannot be transferred)
• Automatically transfer images to the phone as soon as they are captured
• The images can automatically be reduced in resolution before they are sent to the phone
• GPS information gathered by the phone can be added to the images already stored on the SD card in the camera

Image capture screen	Focusing with enlarged focusing area	Playback - thumbnail view

Available Settings	Quick Menu

Wireless tethering works well. The only flaw is that shutter speed, aperture, and EV compensation cannot be set from the phone. These have to be set with the dials on the camera, so it is recommended to use one of the auto-exposure modes letting the camera set the exposure. On the positive side one can zoom and initiate autofocus from the phone by tapping on the subject feature to focus on.  You will even be shown a high-resolution magnification of the area you focused on so you can verify that it's sharp.

There is a small amount of latency.  We did not attempt to quantify it but it seemed to be around a third of a second, similar in practice to the Pentax FluCard's latency.

The wireless range is about 7 meters (23 ft) through obstructions like walls, this should be plenty for mounting the camera at the bird feeder and shooting from the kitchen window for example.  In a direct line of sight between the phone/router and the camera you can expect a range of at least twice that.

If you tether for extended periods of time, it's normal for the camera to become very warm.

Wired Tethering

The D-Lux has a USB port. While it can be used for transferring images to a PC, it cannot be used for tethering.

Verdict on Wi-Fi

The Leica D-Lux mobile app and tethering works well.  It is easy to set up thanks to the QR code and NFC, and it starts automatically whenever you open the app after the initial setup.

While it is possible to transfer images via Wi-Fi from the camera to a phone it is not possible to transfer images to a PC through Wi-Fi.

Wireless control is thus truly useful with the caveat that shutter speed, aperture, and EV compensation cannot be set from the phone.