I've had time to use the Leica DLUX8 a lot. It's a fun camera. It's a good camera. There are a few niggles that could be improved. None of them rise to "dealkiller" status.

Kirk by John Camp. His first trial of the DLUX8.

It's easy for people to dismiss the Leica D-Lux 8 compact camera as just a re-badged, ancient Panasonic but just as with the naysayers of Leica's rangefinder cameras the vast majority of people doing the dismissing have never used one. Never touched one. Never spent a week with one. Never shot a couple thousand images in mixed light, good light and bad light with one. They look at a few specs and move on toward cheaper fare. And, for them, it may be the right decision. It can be painful to pay more for incremental quality embellishments. Not everyone is as sensitive to bad user interfaces or too much complexity in their imaging tools. Not everyone believes that cameras can be different enough to prompt the purchase of a luxe camera. Even a smaller and less expensive one than the rest of the camera company's product line.

I thought I would skip buying the DLux 8 until I handled one "in the flesh." I liked the very good EVF, liked that the menus pretty much matched those in other Leica cameras I know and use and offered a small, lightweight package that packed a lot of great imaging potential for a fraction of the cost of Leica's bigger offerings. I looked through the viewfinder and decided it was a camera that I'd get a lot of use from.  When a pristine used one showed up at a good camera store, complete with all the accessories I would have paid more for if I purchased the micro system bit by bit, I clicked "buy." 

I've mostly used the camera in the 3:2 aspect ratio and mostly as a Jpeg instrument (although I have been shooting DNG+JPEG, just in case) so I'm getting about 16.5 megapixels of data per frame. Not the 24 megapixels I've been accustomed to but more than enough for all electronic applications I generally encounter. Website content, social media, online galleries, etc. I haven't tried printing work from the files but they should be absolutely fine up to 13 by 19 inches. I say that because when I've post processed various files from the camera they have had a very high level of detail. More than I expected after hearing endless disses of the "ancient" zoom lens that comes bolted to the camera.

You should know that the camera is small. In its naked form it's just a little too small for me. But that may be because I have been cursed by the muscle memory that comes from handling much bigger cameras for years and years. The remedies for the small size are relatively simple. Get a thumb grip for the hot shoe and buy a half case that has a grip on the front. Pretty much problem solved. 

I've included samples below and I have more samples here: https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2025/04/yes-ive-spent-some-time-with-leica.html

What I didn't know when I purchased the camera is just how good it is as a flash camera. The camera comes with a small, simple flash that sits in the hot shoe. (Yeah, you'll lose the rear thumb grip...). I didn't expect much from the combination of the camera and flash but decided it was worth giving it the old college try. My first extended use of the combination was during a rooftop reception for my client. The DLUX8 consistently outperformed the SL2-S + SF64 flash combination when it came to automatically delivering just the right amount of light to balance fill flash with sunlight. Part of that is probably down to the fact that the smaller camera uses a leaf shutter which goes a long way toward being more flexible about using higher shutter speeds and more open aperture settings. Regardless, it outperformed the bigger and far more expensive set up so I ended up putting the big camera in the bag and using the D-Lux 8 and its companion flash for the rest of the evening reception. I shot over 300 images with the combination and had only a handful of technically poor files which were probably a result of me rushing the process. 

If you like the idea of using the small flash and the leaf shutter to do fill flash outdoor images just be aware that the flash is powered by the battery in the camera which could mean, depending on how much you chimp and what apertures you need, that the battery will run out of juice more quickly. Still, to make it through an hour and a half reception, using flash was 100% of the time, while cranking out over 300 shots, is a good performance. The surprising thing was that the battery still had about half a charge left!!! 

The camera came with two batteries and I bought two more before I had this experience with it. Had I known it was such a good performer I might have passed on the additional batteries. But... in my experience you can never have too many batteries. 

The camera came with a Leica supplied wrist strap but I've never been a comfortable user of wrist straps. They always seem to make sense to me but fall short when it comes to actual handling of cameras. Your experience may vary but I immediately reached into the drawer of my desk and grabbed a fairly thin, leather camera strap. Ahhhhh! Just right. 

Here's one point I have against the camera and it's totally an aesthetic consideration, not an operational one. When I have the camera turned off the retracted lens looks just right in proportion to the camera body but when you turn the camera the lens extends to its full length and more or less stays there until it powers back down. It just looks....inelegant. But I'm guessing if you want a 24mm to 75mm, fast lens on a very small camera you have to make a compromise or two. If you are positioned behind the camera you probably will rarely notice the erect lens but from the side it looks as if the camera is overachieving...

The camera I bought came with a 46mm B&W UV filter which I've kept on the lens. After all, with a fixed lens camera, if you totally screw up the front element of the lens it's not like you can replace it with another one....for less than a fortune. 

Another annoying tendency is endemic to compact zoom lens cameras; when the camera powers down the zoom retracts and so adds additional time when you want to re-power the camera quickly. This isn't so much of an issue as a compromise. If you have enough spare batteries you can set the power down time to "off" and as long as there is life in the battery the camera and lens will remain fully operational. A balance between instant availability and an ever declining power reserve. Your choice. And yes, there is middle ground. You can set the power off time for two minutes, five minutes or ten minutes as well. 

For me, there is no middle ground. I either use the full on power saving mode (two minutes) or I submit and use the camera with the power setting at "off." 

There are three user set-able profiles to choose from. I have a raw setting setup, a color Jpeg setup and a high contrast monochrome (B&W) setting and it's a quick way to use the camera. Especially if you move from one kind of photography to another. The one "flaw" with the system is when you are using a profile, change a setting and then subsequently turn off the camera when you restart the camera whatever change you made while shooting is not retained. Of course, if you decide you like whatever you changed you can just go into "user profile manager" and resave that profile. I finally figured that out and now I'm basically happy with the system. It does work. 

Two more small complaints; both having to do with the strength of detents on two settings. Every time I put the camera into a small camera bag I seem to knock the EVF diopter out of adjustment. It does have clicks between settings but it could use just a touch more resistance. I've had to readjust the diopter several times over the course of the week. The same with the aspect ratio switch on the top of the lens. It could be a bit more resistant as well. But these are small things in comparison to the fact that the camera delivers very good noise reduction and high detail in the files I've shot with it. 

The decision to eliminate a bunch of buttons and physical controls was the right one. It's rare on this camera for me to brush or accidentally mash a button unintentionally. That's great. And it goes along with a menu that's simple and easy to navigate and understand. You may never have the level of customization that some people like on other cameras but I find that most of the changes are just made by users because the options exist, they've been paid for and it would seem wrong not to use them. Like a diner who pays for a meal, is completely satisfied but keeps eating to painful excess just because....the food is there and... they paid for it. Same with endless customization options in the typical camera menu. They are mostly analogous to an "all you can eat" scenario. Not so with the little Leica. It's got just enough and not too much. Balance is good. 

Some have complained that the process of zooming from wide to tele and tele to wide is too slow. While everyone would probably prefer a manual ring for zooming I can't think of any other fixed, zoom lens compact camera that has one so I have no idea what they are comparing with. The zoom works fine once you understand the operating limitations. I've never found a situation in which the speed of the zoom has been a problem. Slower than a physical ring? Sure. Slower than the competition? Dream world of complaints. 2.6 seconds from 24-75mm. Timed it just now...

So, what we have here is a nice camera that's very well built, small and beautifully designed. Beautifully designed physically and also operationally. The interface is great. The EVF is current state of the art for fixed zoom lens compacts and the color science is mature and delivers great results. The battery life is good. The choice of .DNG as a raw file is efficient for post processing. And the detachable flash implementation is almost perfect. The only stumbling block I can really see for some users is the price. That's pretty inflexible and everyone will have to decide for themselves whether the camera provides good value for them.

My client in Santa Fe loved the images and complimented the output from the camera repeatedly. Yes, I had bigger and more "impressive" cameras and lenses with me but as I have said many times, actual corporate clients don't give a fuck what camera a professional photographer uses as long as they deliver the results they expect. And that was certainly the case over the course of this week. You could do a lot worse.... 

I have a soft spot for m4:3 cameras. I did fun, good work in Iceland with a pair of G9s back in 2018. I've used OM cameras to make great videos. There's nothing wrong with the format and a lot that is right. Especially when it comes to size and weight. Before you trash the D-Lux 8 why not borrow one and try it out for a week. I think you'll be surprised. 

Change is tough for a lot of people. I get that. Many are highly resistant to change even when it may benefit them. That's okay. Maybe you don't even need a new camera. That's financially efficient. But we only get one shot at existence (at least in this form) and we might as well maximize our fun quotient. Right?

Another in Kirk's endless series of selfies...

the Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe.

Pasquale's Restaurant. A perennial favorite.

At a reception late in the afternoon. Full sun. With flash on camera.