[Leica] Re: Leica D-Lux 3: It Arrived... I feel overwhelmed!

[puff11 at comcast.net (Norm Aubin)]

 Jack,

Glad to share.

I had read about the camera in it's previous incarnation and when they made
the newest changes it coincided with my decision to at least try to get into
digital with a P&S - so I went to B&H and put a notify on the camera.  It
came in a few days later and I immediately ordered it, along with a few
extra cards and a SD card reader.  The next day B&H was sold out!  I also
researched the battery and found the site I told you about - and I have used
the battery - it is indistinguishable from the Leica battery, but neither
has had more than one deep cycle yet so I can't tell you that either one
works really well yet!

I use PS7, but just installed CS2, so will be adding Adobe 3.6 to it to
handle the RAW images, but the Elements 4.0 they shipped was good enough to
start with.  Crude - but good enough to start with .

Learning to tune a RAW image is my next challenge, I've got years of
experience with PS7 and scanned images - so I know how to make a fine art
image once I get it into PS, but the new preliminary steps are going to take
a little tuning too!

I was up at Molbachs garden supply the other day playing with macro and I
can see a lot of potential in that, but it is an easy camera to make blurred
images with - I'm too used to a viewfinder and the stabilization you get
from that posture.  Hell - I learned to use a waist level viewfinder years
ago - I'll get this one too - someday.

With this one I can view and magnify the images in the next minute - so I
don't walk away mistakenly thinking I got the shot.  I've been reading the
dialog about chimping - and frankly - I don't care.  When I've achieved the
level of mastery that those other have I too will eschew it - but for now
I'm learning a new technology and a new way of working - so I'm going to use
every aid I can to make my work better.  The picture counts - not your style
of taking it.

The camera is my way of entering into digital with all the quality I desire
- and after my last vacation I want to go digital.  I took my M6 plus lenses
to Florida and shot 12 rolls of film as family vacation snap shots.  I got
real tired of lugging around a short ton of stuff, burning $90.00 worth of
film and $125.00 worth of processing to get some good happy snaps!  This
critter would have let me do the same thing for no expense but the few
prints I want to make for the family photo album.  and at 5x7 the quality is
indistinguishable.

The next item to acquire is a portable memory device to down load the cards
when I'm out and about - something in the 60 - 80 gig size - that's 60 - 80
cards or 60 - 80 rolls of film, enough for most of my forays.  

Tell me more about your experiences with it as you go - I'll try and post
some images soon, and we can talk more at your convenience.

Best of light,
Norm






> Message: 24
> Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 06:33:16 -0700
> From: Jack McLain <jackmclain@hughes.net>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica D-Lux 3: It Arrived... I feel overwhelmed! 
> To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Message-ID: <C180652C.1071%jackmclain@hughes.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain;     charset="US-ASCII"
> 
> Norm:
> Thanks much for your reply. It sounds like we are coming from the same
> place, just that you left it 3 1/2 weeks earlier.
> 
> Yesterday's accomplishment was capturing an image, and 
> transferring it into
> the computer (and yes I used iPhoto and then moved the image 
> to PS lite). I
> also figured out the zoom.
> 
> Today will be settings for JPEG fine vs. whatever it is 
> default set at, and
> ordering some cards and a battery (great tip on the battery  14.99 vs.
> 49.00!). Have you tried the battery? Is it really equivalent 
> to the Leica
> branded version? 
> 
> Thanks for the offer of feeling free to communicate with you. 
> You can count
> on it.
> 
> Best regards
> Jack
> 
> Jack McLain
> 
> In the desert near Maricopa, Arizona
> 
> "But It's a Dry Heat!"