Leica D-Lux (Typ 109) Review

Performance and Focusing

The D-Lux has a fast processor for the tasks at hand and is thus very responsive and won't slow you down. The only mildly annoying lag we found was going from changing settings in a menu back to capture mode.

Autofocus

Autofocus is fast without being at the level of viewfinder AF of a DSLR. A top-shelf mirrorless like the Sony Alpha 7 also has faster AF, but for a travel and snap shot camera the D-Lux is plenty fast.

We found autofocus to be accurate no matter which mode we used.

Autofocus operation is set with a switch on the barrel combined with two menu pages accessible from the Quick Menu:

	AF: Autofocus for "ordinary" distances (closest focusing distance is 50 cm/17 inches) AF Macro: Autofocus for macro shooting (can focus down to 3 cm/1 3/16 in. at the wide end) MF: Manual focus (can also focus down to 3 cm).
	AF S: For still subjects. Focus is set and held on half-press AF F: For unpredictably moving subjects (kids, pets): Focus is set on half-press; should the subject move, focus will be adjusted accordingly AF C: Focusing happens continuously as long as the shutter button is half pressed and the camera will predict the subject position at the time of exposure and focus accordingly
	Face detection (15 faces can be registered) Tracking 49-area focusing. The camera will focus on what's nearest and outline the corresponding areas. Size and position of the active area can be customized Custom multi. Can be a line of AF points or any other pattern to your liking 1-area focusing. Size and position of the area can be adjusted Spot

Tracking

Tracking of moving objects was actually better than what we found with the Sony Alpha 7, although our success rate with the D-Lux was just about 50%. If the camera picks the wrong subject at the start of tracking, it is difficult to recover before it is too late, hence the 50%. Using the D-Lux for action photography is best done by the tried and true method of pre-focusing on where the action will be.

Below we show two tracking samples, the leftmost image is a crop, the rightmost just had resolution reduced. Click the thumbnails to enlarge and browse:

F5.6, 1/400 s	F5.6, 1/125 s

Autofocus Macro

This works really well as attested by the shots below of an H0 model of a Swiss railway engine. The rightmost image in the first row was shot almost at the closest distance possible. Click a thumb to enlarge and browse.

The scene (reduced from 4480 x 2520 to 1067 x 600)	Full resolution crop (900 x 600), F5.6, 2.5s, ISO 100
The scene (reduced from 4480 x 2520 to 1067 x 600)	Full resolution crop (900 x 600), F11, 4s, ISO 100

Autofocus is spot on and the lens performs extremely well for a non-macro lens. White balance is off in the second image, but that's another matter. In both cases, the light was a single tungsten lamp.

Manual Focus

Manual focus is greatly aided by enlargement of the center of the image combined with focus peaking - click a thumbnail to browse larger images:

The screen before touching the focusing ring	Clearly out of focus
Close to being in focus	In focus - focus peaking kicked in

Below we show the macro scene focused manually. The resulting image is perhaps a tad sharper than the autofocus image thus illustrating that the focus preaking feature is excellent in use (click to enlarge and then browse to compare):

Verdict on Performance and Focusing

The D-Lux does not disappoint: it is responsive, and the autofocus is fast and accurate. Manual focusing will therefore rarely be used, but thanks to focus peaking and automatic enlargement of the focusing area, it is possible to focus manually with good precision.