Since I have all three cameras in my hands, I decided to do a quick ISO comparison between the Leica D-Lux 4, D-Lux 5 and V-Lux 2. I included only the common ISO setting from 100 to 1600:
ISO 100 | f/2.8 | 1/3 sec
Leica D-Lux 4:
Leica D-Lux 5:
Leica V-Lux 2:
ISO 200 | f/2.8 | 1/6 sec
Leica D-Lux 4:
Leica D-Lux 5:
Leica V-Lux 2:
ISO 400 | f/2.8 | 1/13 sec
Leica D-Lux 4:
Leica D-Lux 5:
Leica V-Lux 2:
ISO 800 | f/2.8 | 1/25 sec
Leica D-Lux 4:
Leica D-Lux 5:
Leica V-Lux 2:
ISO 1600 | f/2.8 | 1/50 sec
Leica D-Lux 4:
Leica D-Lux 5:
Leica V-Lux 2:
Conclusion
Based on this comparison, I think the Leica D-Lux 5 has the best ISO performance from the trio. What is interesting is that even the two years old Leica D-Lux 4 seems to have better ISO performance than the new V-Lux 2. Clearly, more megapixels does not mean a better picture.
Notes
- All samples were taken under the same lighting condition at 28mm focal length and f/2.8 aperture with auto WB.
- Please note that the Leica V-Lux 2 is a 15.1 MP (effective 14.1 MP) camera, while the D-Lux 4/5 have a 11.3 MP (effective 10.1 MP) sensor.
- The Leica D-Lux 5 can go up to ISO 12800, the D-Lux 4 can go up to ISO 3200 and the V-Lux 2 goes only to ISO 1600.
- I was trying to keep the lighting, aperture and shutter speed constant when switching cameras but there is still a margin of error when performing such comparison.
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14 Comments
The more pixels is not specially the best for High iso performance … Size of the sensor is … The D-LUX 5 has the most bigger one, V-LUX 2 the smallest …
Nothing new or startling here. Exactly what we would expect from sensor size and pixel density. Admin – I suggest you stick to “rumors”… plenty of other places around doing the technical comparisons and gear reviews. Just my 2 cents.
Bruce, the reason I posted this online is because I could not find an ISO comparison between those cameras on the Web. Maybe I did not look hard enough, have you seen something similar online? If not, then I guess is worth posting it here
no weekly rumor about some limited edition leica?
somewhat disappointing for the V-Lux 2. Oh well….. Shooting the V-Lux over 200 ISO is probably asking for trouble…. which puts a dent in the 24x zoom capabilities
wow, these cameras are garbage.
LOL,
but maybe there will be a limited garbage edition which will turn ‘em into some kind of golden garbage (by some writing, that will make them not just perform like garbage but look like garbage too. Just as if you got the garbage for free as some kind of promotional gift) ? ?
I bet that would make you envious, right ? ? ?
Seriously, I don’t think 4 and 5 are bad. They are quite appealing P&S-solutuions IMO.
The V-Lux sucks and a high quality compact all-in-one-and-instead-of-a-DSLR is obviously a fairy tale (even ISO 200 looks ugly with that camera). Whereas the D-Lux’s have a nice grain-like touch to their noise performance up to 1600. I like it.
LMAO, “limited garbage edition” made my day!
Seriously, the D-Lux 4/5 are some of the best digital compacts available today, but I personally wouldn’t waste my money for a red dot on the case but go for the Panasonic Lumix LX-3/5.
Darn. I like my D-Lux-4, but the extended zoom capabilities of the V-Lux-2 had me almost ready to jump. THANK YOU for this comparison. I think you just saved me from an expensive mistake.
Why did Leica put their name on this less-than-impressive camera?
Very welcome – the zoom of the V-Lux 2 is nice, I will post a V-Lux 2 review in the next few days.
could you compare Raw vs Jpeg? thanks
You mean to publish the RAW and JPG file next to each other? The above images are jpg created from the raw file with any post (except cropping and resizing).
Yes, could you publish JPEG direct from the DL5 next to RAW, to see the differences (colors, noise treatment, etc…) thanks
The only thing I’ve noticed is that the D-Lux 4 has better darks, but at the cost of losing detail at higher ISO. The D-Lux 5 seems to go brighter in the file in order to keep the noise from showing in higher ISO. Does anyone else notice this? I don’t know that the difference is worth going from the D-Lux 4 to the D-Lux 5 though.