I love my full frame DSLR and the various lenses, but having the monster by my side constantly just isn’t practical so for the last 6 months or so, I’ve been looking for a compact camera. I wanted something I could throw in my pocket, or bag and always have with me, but I didn’t want to sacrifice quality. I narrowed my search down to two, the Canon G9/10 and the Panasonic LX3. Both seem to have rabid followers and from the reviews I’ve read, both are wonderful compact cameras that produce superb images. After much contemplation, I settled on the Panasonic.
Why the Panasonic? Well, I really like the aesthetics. It reminds me of the old Rangefinder style cameras. It has a F2.0 Leica lens, great for low light. Settings are fairly simple to change, white balance, ISO, f-stop, metering, etc. by using a little joystick on the back of the camera, it will even bracket exposures, something I came across accidently. Of course, if you want to go fully automatic, it has a ton of preset scene settings and all the bells and whistles of the most recent compacts.
What could be improved? I would like to see a built in viewfinder instead of having to look at the LCD to compose. There is an option to add a viewfinder that slips into the flash shoe, but sometimes I want to use that to trip a flash. A longer focal length lens, though this isn’t a big deal to me, I tend to like the wide angle lenses. It would just be nice to have the option. Other than that, I’m very happy with my purchase so far. I’ll be making a trip up to Canada in a couple of weeks so it will get a good workout.
I’ve posted a couple of quick handheld photos below:
Lunch – outside, mixture of shade and sun.
Macr0 – New presidential dollar. It’s amazing how many gouges and scratches you can see. Studio flash triggered by the LX3.
Until next time. – Jim
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