I haven't done any rigorous testing yet with the D-LUX 4, but I thought I'd share some high ISO samples from RAW. I believe the D-LUX 4 RAW files to be identical to LX3 files, so I refer to them interchangeably.

With most compacts, I'd set the flash to auto before handing the camera to my wife Virginia to take this picture:

The most remarkable thing about that photo is that Gini focused on me and my son Oliver. She nearly always manages to focus on the background. The second most remarkable thing is that this was an ISO 800 in-camera JPEG, resized by Flickr with no other processing whatsoever. I think it looks pretty good considering the shutter speed of 1/50s and ISO 800. However, the real key here is the f-stop, f/2.6. At this angle of view (48mm equivalent), most compacts would have been ~f/3.5, requiring ISO 1600 for the same shutter speed. Although image stabilization allows for slower shutter speeds than 1/50s, those of you with small children will understand that keeper rate is often determined by subject motion rather than a handshake blur.

I've processed this image five ways for sake of comparison: 1) In-camera JPEG, no alterations; 2) Silkypix, default settings, + chroma noise reduction (NR) using Noise Ninja (NN); 3) Capture One (C1), default settings; 4) Raw Developer, NR/sharpening disabled + chroma NR using NN; 5) Raw Developer, NR/sharpening disabled + chroma and luminance NR using NN. With each RAW processor, I adjusted colors/curves to taste. Disclaimer: I'm not used to Silkypix. The in-camera JPEG white balance was left on automatic and not subsequently altered.

I find that 50% crops give a rough idea of how things will look in a large print. A comparison of the 50% crops is below. The 100% crops are at the end of this post.



I'm also finding some utility for ISO 1600. Here's a processed RAW at ISO 1600, 60mm equivalent focal length, f/2.8, and 1/60s:



That's more noise reduction than I would usually apply. It's similar to the output of the Fuji F31 at high ISO, though the Fuji would arguably give a better result at ISO 1600. However, here the Fuji would have needed ISO 3200 because of the difference in lens speed.

A wise person in the DPR forums recently said "And if all else fails, convert to black and white and tell everyone that was the 'look' you were going for." With that in mind, here is a black and white conversion of the same photo, with no noise reduction whatsoever:



Here are those 100% crops from the ISO 800 example, beginning with the in-camera JPEG:


Silkypix, default settings, + chroma NR using NN:


Capture One, default settings:


Raw Developer, NR/sharpening disabled + chroma NR using NN:


Raw Developer + chroma and luminance NR using NN:


So far, I prefer the results of Raw Developer with chroma NR only.