You have the Leica D-Lux 5. You're a Leica person and you visit the Leica boutique regularly. You know the Leica D-Lux 6 is out. Should you get it?
The Leica D-Lux 6 (left, and following two images, which are from the Leica brochure) with a very fast f1.4 lens, higher resolution display, and new electronic features.
Perhaps you're not a Leica owner yet, but you don't mind spending the extra bucks to get the extra "oomph" in your photos, the touch of intuitiveness and richness of features, the feel of working with a professional camera in a tiny package, and being "in" on the Leica circle and heritage [and a bit of snobbishness, but in a pleasant kind of way :) ]
So how do the two models compare? And which differences are meaningful?
For the Leica D-Lux 6, the fast f1.4 lens is nice to have. You may not need it often, but for greater flexibility for night shots, shooting action at a lower ISO speed for finer images with less noise, and for shallower depth of field to blur out backgrounds, this is a beauty to have.
The burst shutter speed at up to 60 fps is absurdly fast when compared to mechanical and electronic shutters of DSLRs. I remember when 5 fps was considered very fast, back in the days when roll film was still in use. And this stayed at the high end of the range for a long time. Then continuous shooting speeds went up to as high as 12 fps. So at the D-Lux 6 burst speed of 60 fps and 40 fps, this is insanely fast. You have to note however that at these speeds, you can only shoot for one second. But within that one second, you'd capture all the ranges in motion of a fast-action moment. This ability opens up a new world of possibilities. And I could imagine many times when this feature would have been just what I needed e.g. for jumping shots of the family, or my daughter performing a Grand Jeté or an Arabesque at sunset along a beautiful beach. If you step down to a more conventional continuous shooting speed of 5 fps, you can then shoot for 20 full seconds! These are some wild capabilities. On the D-Lux 5, you can only shoot at 2.5 fps for about 2 seconds. Big difference.
More on the shutter, the new model has the equivalent of a neutral density (ND) filter built into it, allowing you 3 stops down, to capture longer exposures even on a bright day. This would be useful for say, flowing streams of water that have a blurred effect to convey motion while the rest of the photo is sharp.
The flash shooting range is extended by 1.3 m on the D-Lux 6.
The monitor now has double the pixels at 920,000 pixels for the same size 3.0" display on the Leica D-Lux 5, which makes for a noticeable difference in display fineness, and it now has an anti reflective coating, for ease of viewing even in bright conditions.
Both Leica's give you a choice of four formats when capturing photos – 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 and 1:1, and I like this feature. And now the D-Lux 6 let's you view photos using these formats in the review mode directly on the new 3" LCD.
The CMOS sensor is slightly larger.
The lens construction is described as high performance and higher-end on the new model.
The exposure control is more "intelligent" on the new model.
The internal memory is bigger, from 40 MB to 70 MB.
There are also improvements in movie recording capability, including a new stereo microphone.
The D-Lux 6 offers a wider range of manual settings , including simpler manual focusing, making this Leica all the more useful as a primary camera, which is what I've been doing for my travels ever since I got my D-Lux 5.
Now the Leica D-Lux 5 is a very capable camera, and a pleasure to use. It is already Leica-feature-rich in itself! Is it time to upgrade? It depends on whether the above differences are meaningful to you. If it's just for appearance and projection, don't upgrade. If the features will let you capture images you've not been able to previously, if they will add to your creative freedom, then go ahead and upgrade.
The Leica D-Lux 5 (above, and following two photos, which are from the Leica brochure) with a fast f2.0 lens, is a great overall camera. Works well on its own, or as back-up to a DSLR.
On the appearances of the two cameras, they are so similar that if these were fossils, historical and origins scientists would very likely declare these as having evolved, and another "proof" of Evolution. Indeed this topic of evolution is in our face day in and day out, being preached to us from all kinds of media and even in schools as if factual and proven, but it is actually a faith-based world view and few realize this. Consider this, if we were to accept Evolution, then we need to accept that the universe was created by the Big Bang, that planets formed through gases coalescing and clumping together (in violation of established operational science that deals with repeatable and predictable observations that demonstrate that in a vacuum, gases would expand to fill available space and will not result to clumping). That the heavy elements including metals formed in planets as helium and light gases combined in those clumps (against common sense derived from our own observations). That in the earth, proteins formed by having just the right set of circumstances in a mindless primordial soup churning over billions of years, eventually combining enough proteins to form a living cell that somehow generated information and deciding capability using RNA and DNA, was able to process food from its surroundings, and develop into more and more complex cells and living organisms capable of reproduction and knowledge transfer.
If we accept Evolution, then we would need to accept that the blue whale, the honeybee, the T Rex, the giraffe, the hummingbird, the cheetah, the coelacanth (a "living fossil" believed to have gone extinct 70 million years ago and thought to be the precursor of tetrapods, until it started showing up on fishermen's catches), the Portuguese Man of War, the Great White shark, the platypus and people, all had come from the same distant ancestor, but each specie "upgraded itself" through "beneficial mutations" and "copying errors" resulting to viable new DNA and new organisms with extremely specialized capabilities all by chance. Sounds like a child's story who didn't understand the complexity of information technology and cellular microbiology, right? Oh yeah, Darwin didn't have access to those. But many origins scientists and historical scientists (who interpret data based on a bias or a worldview) today would seek to overpower the interpretation of operational scientists that don't depend on a worldview to create repeatable Test results, and these fields of operational science are the ones that invent the products we enjoy today. In fact, one important first step to debunking Evolution in one's own thinking is to understand the differences between operational science and origins science and what it means to interpret data from a worldview.
If we accept Evolution, then we might as well accept that the D-Lux 5 became the D-Lux 6 on its own. Never mind that there were engineers, designers, product developers and production specialists who made the new model possible. If Evolution happened, then the Leica D-Lux 5 upgrading itself is a much simpler jump, and surely happened on its own.
Actually, to an atheist who doesn't believe in God he has no recourse but to believe that Evolution happened, no matter what operational science will tell him and no matter how self-contradictory the position is. He has no choice! But to a Christian who accepts the Word of God, operational science makes sense of the evidence around us, including fossils, archeology, astronomy, etc., etc.
Learn more about the soundness of faith in God and His Word. Check out Answers in Genesis' articles on a broad range of topics.
Back to the Leica D-Lux 6 and whether it is time to upgrade... the choice is ultimately yours. You can spend your SGD1,200 on a host of different things. A new iPhone 5? A new Mont Blanc limited edition pen? A new iPad mini? A small Louis Vuitton messenger bag? Keep it as extra money in the bank? Donate it to someone in need or to a worthy cause? My advise- choose wisely. And if you do end up purchasing the new Leica D-Lux 6, then make the most use out if it, and enjoy!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The Leica D-Lux 6 (left, and following two images, which are from the Leica brochure) with a very fast f1.4 lens, higher resolution display, and new electronic features.
Perhaps you're not a Leica owner yet, but you don't mind spending the extra bucks to get the extra "oomph" in your photos, the touch of intuitiveness and richness of features, the feel of working with a professional camera in a tiny package, and being "in" on the Leica circle and heritage [and a bit of snobbishness, but in a pleasant kind of way :) ]
So how do the two models compare? And which differences are meaningful?
For the Leica D-Lux 6, the fast f1.4 lens is nice to have. You may not need it often, but for greater flexibility for night shots, shooting action at a lower ISO speed for finer images with less noise, and for shallower depth of field to blur out backgrounds, this is a beauty to have.
The burst shutter speed at up to 60 fps is absurdly fast when compared to mechanical and electronic shutters of DSLRs. I remember when 5 fps was considered very fast, back in the days when roll film was still in use. And this stayed at the high end of the range for a long time. Then continuous shooting speeds went up to as high as 12 fps. So at the D-Lux 6 burst speed of 60 fps and 40 fps, this is insanely fast. You have to note however that at these speeds, you can only shoot for one second. But within that one second, you'd capture all the ranges in motion of a fast-action moment. This ability opens up a new world of possibilities. And I could imagine many times when this feature would have been just what I needed e.g. for jumping shots of the family, or my daughter performing a Grand Jeté or an Arabesque at sunset along a beautiful beach. If you step down to a more conventional continuous shooting speed of 5 fps, you can then shoot for 20 full seconds! These are some wild capabilities. On the D-Lux 5, you can only shoot at 2.5 fps for about 2 seconds. Big difference.
More on the shutter, the new model has the equivalent of a neutral density (ND) filter built into it, allowing you 3 stops down, to capture longer exposures even on a bright day. This would be useful for say, flowing streams of water that have a blurred effect to convey motion while the rest of the photo is sharp.
The flash shooting range is extended by 1.3 m on the D-Lux 6.
The monitor now has double the pixels at 920,000 pixels for the same size 3.0" display on the Leica D-Lux 5, which makes for a noticeable difference in display fineness, and it now has an anti reflective coating, for ease of viewing even in bright conditions.
Both Leica's give you a choice of four formats when capturing photos – 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 and 1:1, and I like this feature. And now the D-Lux 6 let's you view photos using these formats in the review mode directly on the new 3" LCD.
The CMOS sensor is slightly larger.
The lens construction is described as high performance and higher-end on the new model.
The exposure control is more "intelligent" on the new model.
The internal memory is bigger, from 40 MB to 70 MB.
There are also improvements in movie recording capability, including a new stereo microphone.
The D-Lux 6 offers a wider range of manual settings , including simpler manual focusing, making this Leica all the more useful as a primary camera, which is what I've been doing for my travels ever since I got my D-Lux 5.
Now the Leica D-Lux 5 is a very capable camera, and a pleasure to use. It is already Leica-feature-rich in itself! Is it time to upgrade? It depends on whether the above differences are meaningful to you. If it's just for appearance and projection, don't upgrade. If the features will let you capture images you've not been able to previously, if they will add to your creative freedom, then go ahead and upgrade.
The Leica D-Lux 5 (above, and following two photos, which are from the Leica brochure) with a fast f2.0 lens, is a great overall camera. Works well on its own, or as back-up to a DSLR.
On the appearances of the two cameras, they are so similar that if these were fossils, historical and origins scientists would very likely declare these as having evolved, and another "proof" of Evolution. Indeed this topic of evolution is in our face day in and day out, being preached to us from all kinds of media and even in schools as if factual and proven, but it is actually a faith-based world view and few realize this. Consider this, if we were to accept Evolution, then we need to accept that the universe was created by the Big Bang, that planets formed through gases coalescing and clumping together (in violation of established operational science that deals with repeatable and predictable observations that demonstrate that in a vacuum, gases would expand to fill available space and will not result to clumping). That the heavy elements including metals formed in planets as helium and light gases combined in those clumps (against common sense derived from our own observations). That in the earth, proteins formed by having just the right set of circumstances in a mindless primordial soup churning over billions of years, eventually combining enough proteins to form a living cell that somehow generated information and deciding capability using RNA and DNA, was able to process food from its surroundings, and develop into more and more complex cells and living organisms capable of reproduction and knowledge transfer.
If we accept Evolution, then we would need to accept that the blue whale, the honeybee, the T Rex, the giraffe, the hummingbird, the cheetah, the coelacanth (a "living fossil" believed to have gone extinct 70 million years ago and thought to be the precursor of tetrapods, until it started showing up on fishermen's catches), the Portuguese Man of War, the Great White shark, the platypus and people, all had come from the same distant ancestor, but each specie "upgraded itself" through "beneficial mutations" and "copying errors" resulting to viable new DNA and new organisms with extremely specialized capabilities all by chance. Sounds like a child's story who didn't understand the complexity of information technology and cellular microbiology, right? Oh yeah, Darwin didn't have access to those. But many origins scientists and historical scientists (who interpret data based on a bias or a worldview) today would seek to overpower the interpretation of operational scientists that don't depend on a worldview to create repeatable Test results, and these fields of operational science are the ones that invent the products we enjoy today. In fact, one important first step to debunking Evolution in one's own thinking is to understand the differences between operational science and origins science and what it means to interpret data from a worldview.
If we accept Evolution, then we might as well accept that the D-Lux 5 became the D-Lux 6 on its own. Never mind that there were engineers, designers, product developers and production specialists who made the new model possible. If Evolution happened, then the Leica D-Lux 5 upgrading itself is a much simpler jump, and surely happened on its own.
Actually, to an atheist who doesn't believe in God he has no recourse but to believe that Evolution happened, no matter what operational science will tell him and no matter how self-contradictory the position is. He has no choice! But to a Christian who accepts the Word of God, operational science makes sense of the evidence around us, including fossils, archeology, astronomy, etc., etc.
Learn more about the soundness of faith in God and His Word. Check out Answers in Genesis' articles on a broad range of topics.
Back to the Leica D-Lux 6 and whether it is time to upgrade... the choice is ultimately yours. You can spend your SGD1,200 on a host of different things. A new iPhone 5? A new Mont Blanc limited edition pen? A new iPad mini? A small Louis Vuitton messenger bag? Keep it as extra money in the bank? Donate it to someone in need or to a worthy cause? My advise- choose wisely. And if you do end up purchasing the new Leica D-Lux 6, then make the most use out if it, and enjoy!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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