Customer Reviews:
 Extremely disappointed January 4, 2009
J. Mallison (uk)
I got this camera as a present last christmas. I was initially going to go for the Lumix that is essentially the same camera but about 200 cheaper but in the end I chose to go for the cooler looking Leica.
Firstly the annoying 'features'; the flash is not automatic, you have to pop it up and then pop it down afterwards. When an 'emergency photo opportunity' arrises, which, let's be truthful here, is why one buys this kind of camera, 9 times out of 10 you forget to pop the flash up and you get a crappy picture. Also the 'old style' lens cap has to be removed and replaced by hand - another boring task.
Next comes the photo quality, after a year of owning this camera, I have yet to take one good photo. Considering it has 10megapixels, I find the picture quality quite bad, considerably lower than my 8.5mega EOS.
In auto mode, the flash, when you remember to turn it on, is too intense so indoor flash shots are to harsh and bright with dark shadows, yet if you don't use the flash they are too dark or you get movement blurs, I have tried all kinds of manual modes but every photo ends up in disappointment. Even with the flash, if the subject is more than a couple of metres away it becomes to dark. Maybe it's me, I don't know....... nobody else seems to have a hard time with it..... For point and shoot, I prefer my old 4 mega IXUS, that never let me down, and if I want to take something a bit more serious I take out my EOS. In fact for point and shoot at home I use the EOS in auto mode.
The manual focus function is nothing but sales gimmick, it's so fiddly that you would only ever use it when using a tripod which, be honest, you won't will you......?
My advise is buy the Lumix and pocket the change :-) I wish I had...........
 Great small camera May 16, 2008
P. Davies
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is beautifully made and looks like a typical Leica. It is more expensive than similar cameras but the build quality and picture quality certainly make up for the initial price.
Pure pleasure May 2, 2008
EJ (Cumbria. UK)
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
If you know what you want in life, why compromise!
Just the sizzle of the lens shutter makes you ooze with pride.
This is my first purchase of a Leica .............. bought the D lux 3...it is more than you can ever read!
Don't suffer for less.
EJ
 A strange combination April 25, 2008
KJW (UK)
25 out of 34 found this review helpful
The Leica D-lux 3 - a strange combination of cameras. It has the Leica quality in its metal build and superb lense which makes it feel like a camera for professionals, but then has almost child like rather patronising 'scene' settings and gimmicky adjustments. Initial tests show the colour rendering in the default settings to be way out, especially in the reds/ browns but this may simply need some adjustments to overcome. Shooting in RAW mode is frustrating - it is unusual nowadays to have to consciously wait whilst the image is written to disc (about 5 seconds) and to only get 85 images on a 2GB card is not very good. I had hoped that the Leica would fit the bill of being a small very portable camera to use as an "always with you" alternative to a big heavy digital SLR - unfortunately it only partly fits this bill. Leica have to my mind made the mistake of trying to make it a camera for both total beginners and professionals and risk losing both in the process. Not many beginners would spend 500 on their first camera bearing mind the competition from Canon and indeed Panasonic at a fraction of the price, and the patronising automatic adjustments the camera makes to optimise for example baby scene or party settings reduce its credibility as a professional camera. What a pity we can't have the Panasonic as a beginners camera and the Leica as the professionals version, simply producing the highest quality pictures in their native format, at what is clearly a professionals price. But that said - the camera does produce impressive images at the lowest 2 iso settings and the leather case is absolutely superb, exuding the pure quality of the craftsmanship of bygone years.
Lovely little camera February 13, 2008
Arcadian (Oxon, UK)
43 out of 44 found this review helpful
This camera is the perfect combination of portability and creative flexibility in a discretely stylish package. It has a unique feature set of 28mm-112 (x4) optical zoom - which can be extended up to x6 at lower image quality settings, combined with fully automatic-to fully manual control with shutter, aperture and scene modes in between. Couple this with 16:9 aspect ratio, RAW capture ability and manual focus option (via joystick control), and you have truly individual creative tool.
The Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS) and Intelligent ISO features are very useful and effective, and the menus are reassuringly intuitive, offering quick access to the key controls without getting in the way of taking the shot.
Of course I was expecting great things from the famed Leica optics and I was not disappointed. But one thing I am pleasantly surprised by is the quality of exposures on fully auto 'point & shoot' mode under a range of conditions. It gives excellent and reliable shots most of the time. A lot has been said about the Venus III sensor concerning noise, or more specifically over aggressive noise reduction. So far I haven't found this to be an issue within the normal range of the camera (e.g @ ISO 100-200) Even at higher sensitivities (400-800) I don't find it to be any different to other small sensor compact cameras I have owned. And the D-Lux 3's ability to record RAW, and digital darkroom post-processing should ameliorate this issue somewhat.
I would recommend a high capacity SD card (>4 Gb) especially if planning to shoot RAW. And go for the gorgeous Leica Leather case.
A camera to treasure and enjoy.
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