If you are lookin for Leica D-Lux 7 landscape photography, you are in the right place. Here’s 10 things you need to know along with sample images of landscapes shot with the camera.
Leica D-Lux 7 Landscape photography review
The D-Lux7 is an awesome camera, how does it fare for the specifics of shooting landscapes? Let’s find out.
1. Lightweight kit
We’ve come a long way. Gone are the days where poor mules had to hike up a mountain with huge plates in order to make a picture. But landscape photographers have it hard with gear too. Full frame DSLRs are heavy, and attached with a fast lens, it turns everything into a gym session.
Not with Leica D-Lux 7 landscape photography, finally one can have a compact, small camera that shoots excellent landscapes and does not compromise quality. A light tripod is fine to stabilize the 0.88 lb / 403 g camera.
You can ditch the bag if you want to, too. Simply bring a small tripod and a few accessories and you have yourself one of the best landscape photography kits without the bulk.
2. Zoom range
The D-Lux 7 has a more than adequate 24-75mm lens attached. This is great as 24mm is wide enough for some really nice landscapes. The telephoto is just an added bonus as you never know when you will want to shoot more intimate landscape photos.
It’s one of those things you don’t think you need but are glad are there when you need them.
3. Sensor and depth of field
The sensor on the D-Lux is about a 4/3 sensor. It’s big enough so that it creates beautiful images and it is small enough so that the camera is still a pretty compact size.
The smaller the sensor, the greater the depth of field, so for any given aperture, you will need less shutter speed in order to get a lot of the landscape in focus.
4. Great low light
While one of the advantages of a larger sensor are better ISO handling the Leica D-Lux 7 is something to be reckoned with. The ISO is clean from ISO 100 to ISO 1600. The grain starts being visible at ISO 3200 and it’s better to avoid ISO 6400.
But since you will probably have the camera on a tripod this will surely not be an issue. But even if you don’t the combination of fast lens and stabilization means that you will rarely if ever need to rely on ISO 6400 for landscape photography.
5. Fast lens
If the light starts dropping, the f1.7 lens can take over and have a lot depth of field when shot at a sufficient distance. So even when the sun is going down and you probably won’t have time to pull out your tripod, the fast lens coupled with an impressive stabilization might allow you to shoot as slow as 1/10th of a second and still get a sharp image.
6. Sharp lens
Leica is known in the photography world to make the sharpest lenses. While the D-Lux manufacture is handled by Panasonic, they had to jump trough very high hoops in order to get the green flag to not only have Leica’s name but also nomenclature on the lens.
So the Leica name really means something here as the images are incredibly sharp and crisp. See for yourself in this detail crop:
7. Time Lapse
If you are into time lapse videos, the D-Lux 7 supports it right in camera. You can set your intervals easily and let the camera do it’s work. The sharp lens and great low light capabilities make this a very nice portable time lapse kit.
8. Slow shutter workaround
The only problem with Leica D-Lux 7 landscape photography is probably the lack of shutter release screw on the shutter release. But hey, these are modern times, simply sync your camera trough wifi and you have your smartphone as a remote for those slow shutter speed images. Alternatively you can simply set a delay so that when you press the shutter release, it only fires after a few seconds so that there is no camera shake.
9. Filter support
The Leica D-Lux 7 supports filters of 43mm. So you can easily attach ND filters or UV filters depending on the task. Even if you bring in a few filters, the whole package, including camera, small tripod and accessories can fit in a small back or your jacket pocket so that you don’t need to worry about carrying all that gear.
10. Dynamic range
Leica D-Lux 7 landscape photography is excellent because of the large dynamic range. The camera supports raw and you can see that it shoots everything well when it is sunny or when there are tricky situations such as black and whites on snow.
There’s always recovery possible in the raw files so that if you miss your exposure you can always bring it back in post. The amount of editing these files can withstand is pretty outstanding and recommended if you like to cook your landscapes after the fact.
There is only one thing about it however, the camera doesn’t take too kindly high ISO images and editing. As long as the ISO is low you are fine.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed this article about Leica D-Lux 7 Landscape photography. It is an excellent camera for the genre and allows you to keep a lightweight profile while not compromising on quality. It has great ISO handling, and you can always rely on the fast lens and stabilization to help you out. Click here to launch price checker.