Leica D-Lux 8 Camera Review

The Leica D-Lux 8 is a very portable camera. Among point-and-shoots, it isn't as pocketable as something like the RICOH GR III or the Sony RX100 VII, but it's still very small and lightweight overall, making it easy to take on the go. The built-in lens has a retractable design, making it a bit simpler to store when turned off, as opposed to when the camera is turned on. Even with its lens fully extended, it's quite portable.

The camera's build quality is good overall. It feels solid and is made of premium materials, with a full metal housing made of die-cast magnesium, covered in a premium-feeling leatherette on the front of the camera for grip. The strap attachment points are fixed metal, so there's no rattling. All of the buttons and dials turn easily but don't feel loose or flimsy. The battery and SD card slot are covered by a locking hinged door on the bottom of the camera, while the inputs on the side use a simple rubber cover, unlike the more solid spring-loaded cover on the Leica D-Lux 7, but it still does the job. The biggest downside is that the camera doesn't have any weather sealing, but overall it feels very premium and well-built.

It's worth noting that the max 1/4000s shutter speed is only achievable with the mechanical shutter when shooting at focal lengths between 24 and 29mm, so anything beyond that will limit your shutter speed options. However, using the electronic shutter allows you to shoot at any shutter speed.

The camera comes with a small external flash that can be mounted to the hot shoe.

• Lens cap
• Lens cap string
• Wrist strap
• Hot shoe cover
• Leica CF D flash unit
• Storage pouch for flash
• Leica BP-DC15-U battery
• Quick start guide

The Leica D-Lux 8 has okay ergonomics, but its compact size and lack of handgrip make it feel a bit cramped and slippery. Unlike the Leica D-Lux 7 or the Panasonic LUMIX LX100 II, there's no thumb rest on the back—traded for a sleeker, more Leica-esque design with cleaner lines and rounded edges—but that makes it feel less comfortable and secure in the hand. On the upside, the leatherette on the front of the camera offers some texture and grip.

The buttons are fairly large, and the dedicated shutter speed dial, aperture ring around the lens, as well as the physical switches for focus and aspect ratio, make it easy to adjust relevant settings without diving into menus. The function buttons and most other controls can be customized as well.

That said, there are some functions that are a bit more complex. For instance, by default, changing ISO requires a press of a button on the thumb wheel and then turning the command dial. Shutter speed adjustments with the dedicated dial are also limited to full stop adjustments, so anything in between standard shutter speeds is a bit more involved to change. The On/Off button is oddly placed as well, as it's in a spot that's easy to accidentally press, but given there's less real estate on the camera for button placement, it's not unsurprising. Finally, the zoom toggle is quite slow, so if you need to quickly change your focal length, it's quite inconvenient.

The electronic viewfinder (EVF) is quite small and isn't the most comfortable to use. It has a slightly lower resolution than the EVF on the Leica D-Lux 7 and the Panasonic LUMIX LX100 II. At 2.36 million dots, however, it's pretty standard, and it now uses an OLED panel, rather than a field-sequential LCD, as its predecessors do. A small fraction of people can perceive a distracting "rainbow effect" or colored flickering on field-sequential viewfinders, so the smoother, higher refresh rate OLED display is a welcome trade-off for slightly less resolution.

The screen is fixed, which can be a bit limiting if shooting at different angles. Thankfully, it has a relatively high resolution, so images look crisp when using the screen. That said, it doesn't get as bright as either the Leica D-Lux 7 or the Panasonic LUMIX LX100 II.

You can't use the touchscreen to navigate the main menu, but you can use it for quick menu selection, as well as focus point selection and shutter actuation. There are additional functions through swipes, taps, and gestures when in shooting mode and playback mode, such as double-tapping to zoom in while reviewing an image or pinching to change the size of your AF frame. The full list of touch controls can be found in the user manual.

Rather than porting over the Panasonic menu system as Leica did with the Leica D-Lux 7, the D-Lux 8 has an entirely revamped interface. It's a simple menu that's well-organized and easy to navigate with the D-pad. It also picks up wherever you left off, which is super convenient. The quick menu is great, too, and allows for touch navigation. There's a dedicated photo and video toggle on the quick menu, which makes it really easy to jump from photography to video recording. Overall, it's an incredibly intuitive menu system.

The built-in lens is similar to the one found on the Leica D-Lux 7. It has a variable max aperture of 1.7–2.8, which is great overall, especially compared to most point-and-shoots, as it gives you some added flexibility in dimmer conditions. While it doesn't have a very wide zoom range, it does cover a versatile 24–75mm focal length in full-frame equivalence.

Like its predecessor, the Leica D-Lux 8 uses a Micro Four Thirds sensor with a multi-aspect design. While the sensor technically has a 21-megapixel resolution in total, it only has an effective resolution of 17 megapixels because of the multi-aspect design. The camera allows you to shoot at different aspect ratios without affecting the angle of view by using a smaller lens opening than the full sensor. When switching aspect ratios, this applies not just to JPEGs but RAW files as well.

Leica doesn't specify a CIPA-rated battery life for the D-Lux 8, though it uses the same battery as the Leica D-Lux 7, so you can likely expect a similar battery life of about 340 photos. It's far from terrible, but longer days on the go may require a spare battery or power bank.

In video, the battery lasts for about an hour and a half of 4k video recording, which is decent. However, it doesn't support external power delivery, so you can't extend that if you need to record for longer sessions.

The camera can shoot at a quick max burst rate of 11 fps, though it can't shoot that fast with AF-C, which is unfortunate. If you need to track moving subjects with AF-C, the shooting speed will be limited to 2 fps.

The camera also has a very small buffer, especially if you're shooting RAW files. You'll be able to shoot longer in JPEG but not indefinitely. If you do fill the buffer, it takes quite a while to empty as well, which can slow you down.

The Leica D-Lux 8 has an okay autofocus system, using the same contrast-detection AF as its predecessor. It works okay for static subjects, but when using AF-C, the face/eye detection and tracking can be unreliable. With a farther subject, it may not pick up their face. For our test, we had to manually select the subject's torso. Selecting the head/shoulders resulted in less consistent results. Still, if you need to track a moving subject, you can expect a decent keeper rate with moderate movement, but the camera struggles to nail the focus with quicker or more erratic movements.

If you use a single center focus point, instead of subject tracking, the camera delivers great results. If you can keep your subject under the focus point, you'll get plenty of usable shots, though it doesn't always nail the focus.

There's no built-in sensor stabilization in the camera, but its lens does have optical stabilization. Overall, you can get steady handheld shots at fairly slow shutter speeds. That said, stabilization performance can vary depending on what focal length you're shooting at and how steady your hands are.

The Leica D-Lux 8 has good overall dynamic range. It can't capture the widest tonal range, but for a point-and-shoot, it's not bad. Its dynamic range doesn't drop off quite as much in low light as its predecessor, either.

Note: In order to test the camera at a shutter speed/exposure time of 1/4000s, we had to use the camera's hybrid mechanical/electronic shutter setting.

The camera resolves a good amount of fine detail, though it doesn't have the highest effective resolution. The sharpest image we tested was at a full-frame equivalent focal length of 50mm with the aperture set to f/4.

The D-Lux 8 has mediocre noise performance. It doesn't manage noise very well in low-light conditions, especially relative to larger sensor point-and-shoots, like the RICOH GR III.

The Leica D-Lux 8 has limited video features. It can record at up to 4k but doesn't have any advanced features like Log recording or external recording output.

The camera can capture 4k video at up to 30 fps and only with a noticeable crop. While it's okay for everyday videos, there are no high frame rate options for high-speed or slow-motion recording.

The camera's internal recording capabilities are unimpressive. It's limited to 8-bit 4:2:0 video with low bit rates. You can also only record at up to 15 minutes at a time.

The camera's AF performs okay in video mode. Its face/eye tracking does a decent job with moving subjects in 4k, especially with simpler movements and a scene that isn't too busy. It still struggles to keep up seamlessly, though, with some delay to catch up after a subject has moved. The manual tracking, such as when tracking a moving object, is disappointing overall. It's very slow to adjust after the chosen target has moved.

The video quality is decent in 4k. It looks good in more controlled lighting conditions, with sharp details and pleasing colors. However, there's some noticeable noise and loss of detail in low light.

There's heavy rolling shutter distortion in 4k. With quicker panning camera movements, any vertical lines are noticeably skewed, which can be distracting.

The Leica D-Lux 8 can only record 1080p video at 30 or 60 fps. Unfortunately, there's no 24 fps option, but thankfully, there's no crop like there is when recording in 4k.

The camera's internal recording capability is still quite limited in 1080p, with low bit rates and bit depth. The recording time limit is a bit longer than in 4k, at 30 minutes, but it's still an annoyance to have a cap on recording.

The autofocus performs a bit more consistently in 1080p, especially the manual subject tracking. Transitions are a bit smoother and quicker, but there's still some lag when the subject moves. The face and eye tracking is similar to 4k. It's decent overall but still struggles with faster subjects.

The video quality is decent in FHD. There's some visible noise and loss of detail in low light, but overall, the quality isn't too bad in controlled lighting.

Rolling shutter effect is less pronounced in 1080p, but you'll still see skewed lines or wobbling with quick camera movements.

The Leica D-Lux 8 doesn't support Log recording, so its dynamic range in video is limited to about 7 stops regardless of noise. If you need to capture a wide range of highlight and shadow detail or need the flexibility to make adjustments in post, this is not the camera to get. However, it's fine for casual video recording.

Tested settings:

• Resolution: 4k
• Frame Rate: 30 fps
• Log Format: N/A

The camera's dynamic range is fairly consistent across its ISO settings, but it has more stops in the shadows as opposed to the the highlights. Both are fairly limited, however, so you'll have less leeway with exposure.

Tested settings:

• Resolution: 4k
• Frame Rate: 30 fps
• Log Format: N/A

The camera has a single SD card slot, though unlike the Leica D-Lux 7, it now supports faster UHS-II cards. It's located inside the battery compartment on the bottom of the camera.

The Leica D-Lux 8 has a USB-C port for charging and file transfer, as well as a Micro HDMI port to connect an external display. However, there's no mic input or headphone jack.