Panasonic LX100

ukaskew

ukaskew

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Chris
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Looks good but £800 is a lot. Was looking for a good compact but can't justify that. Sensor in x100 better but you get a zoom here. Like the controls too.
 
I might be tempted but if £800 is the price I'd want to try before I buy particularly as it has a power zoom as I've only ever tried one once and on that occasion I thought it was horrendous.

I had an LX2 and thought it was an ok camera but it has no VF and I don't like back screen shooting but even so I used to take it out when I wanted a small but good camera. I eventually replaced the LX2 with an LX5 and was and still am massively disappointed with that camera as IMVHO the image quality isn't as good as that of the older model and I had decided never to buy another LX, but this new beast in any good it may join my little MFT family if the power zoom is better than I fear.
 
Once prices come down I could be sorely tempted, although it's a large camera (relatively) with a short zoom range.
 
The thinking man's X100S..... Just missing an ND filter.
 
It looks to be quite a bit larger than the rx100 so not much of a competitor there regarding pocketability. Not worth the size difference for half a stop iso improvement for me ( assuming they are using there usual 16mp sensor) If Sony relaeased a 16mp rx100 the performance difference would be even less.

Impressive all the same though.

panasonic_lumix_lx100_2.jpg
 
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It's not just about sensor, though - the LX100 has a much faster lens than the RX100. Will have to wait and see about the quality.
 
To be fair the lx100 is the size of a small dslr or mirrorless apsc camera and it won't compete with one if those.
 
I like the look and features of panasonics new offering. It's lens and sensor means it could compete in both m4/3 and low end DSLR sales but it won't because of it's major flaw for such a device...

No phase detection AF...
 
Phil Young said:
I like the look and features of panasonics new offering. It's lens and sensor means it could compete in both m4/3 and low end DSLR sales but it won't because of it's major flaw for such a device...

No phase detection AF...
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Have you played with the GH4? I think the LX100 has the Panasonic DFD focus system from the GH4, by far the fastest focus system I have used
 
Phil Young said:
I like the look and features of panasonics new offering. It's lens and sensor means it could compete in both m4/3 and low end DSLR sales but it won't because of it's major flaw for such a device...

No phase detection AF...
Click to expand...

Early first thoughts seem to be rather positive...

"Based on design and specs alone, it looks like Panasonic has hit one out of the park."

Read All About It...

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-lx100/5
 
Phil Young said:
I'll have to play with it when it comes out, I can't see contrast being that effective when you need it to be though...
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Well, my GX7 will focus in near darkness. I'm not talking about an evening on the high street here, I'm talking about indoors with no lights on or in a cupboard. Not that I take many pictures indoors or in cupboards with the lights off... but I wanted to test its abilities. Anyway, it'll focus in near total darkness and wayyyyyyy beyond when a DSLR has completely given up. It does take maybe 2 - 4 seconds as is hunts back and fourth and gains up but it does it. If the new camera is anywhere near as good as previous Panny offerings I think that for many people it'll be easily good enough.
 
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Phil Young said:
I think you've missed my point of why PDAF is an important feature.
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OK. Rather than guessing based on vague statements why don't you say exactly what aspect of performance you are interested in / worried about? Not that anyone can say for certain how the new camera will behave but maybe people can guess based on what recent Panny cameras are capable of.

Sorry and not meaning to annoy you Phil but based on your posts in other threads I'm often at a loss as to exactly what your point is.
 
woof woof said:
OK. Rather than guessing based on vague statements why don't you say exactly what aspect of performance you are interested in / worried about? Not that anyone can say for certain how the new camera will behave but maybe people can guess based on what recent Panny cameras are capable of.

Sorry and not meaning to annoy you Phil but based on your posts in other threads I'm often at a loss as to exactly what your point is.
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My short time with the LX100 showed the AF to be really quick under dim artificial lighting on the Panny stand at Photokina. I'm hoping to potentially get a play with one soon so I'll be able to give a more accurate opinion then but first impressions are good.
 
woof woof said:
OK. Rather than guessing based on vague statements why don't you say exactly what aspect of performance you are interested in / worried about? Not that anyone can say for certain how the new camera will behave but maybe people can guess based on what recent Panny cameras are capable of.

Sorry and not meaning to annoy you Phil but based on your posts in other threads I'm often at a loss as to exactly what your point is.
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My point is this;

Here is a camera that could potentially make some people switch from their low level DSLR or m4/3 in the sense that it has a large enough sensor and is packed with features but it lacks a fast - low light / tracking AF system that PDAF brings.

Contrast will never be able to compete with phase and that's the only thing that I really wish they put in. The LX7 was great but the AF could be annoying.

I see the LX100 as something that you want to take out instead of the DSLR but would have been amazing to have retained an AF system that could at least keep up or close to a DSLR.

Fuji put it in their X20/30 :(
 
Phil Young said:
My point is this;

Here is a camera that could potentially make some people switch from their low level DSLR or m4/3 in the sense that it has a large enough sensor and is packed with features but it lacks a fast - low light / tracking AF system that PDAF brings.

Contrast will never be able to compete with phase and that's the only thing that I really wish they put in. The LX7 was great but the AF could be annoying.

I see the LX100 as something that you want to take out instead of the DSLR but would have been amazing to have retained an AF system that could at least keep up or close to a DSLR.

Fuji put it in their X20/30 :(
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Thanks for being more precise Phil.

Personally I think that the only things lacking in CSC's are ability at the very highest ISO's, the ability to print really large and AF tracking. None of those things are issues for me but reading reviews, blogs and comments I may be wrong but I believe that AF tracking in CSC's is getting better and that the very best are only a smidgen behind the very best DSLR's. YMMV of course. the LX100 may not be as good at tracking as a top end Nikon costing £k's but maybe it'll be as good or indeed better than the similarly sized competition?

If I buy this camera it'll be to use as a day out and holiday camera, I wont be buying it for it's focus tracking ability.
 
Phil Young said:
it lacks a fast - low light / tracking AF system that PDAF brings.
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What do you mean by "low light". My idea of low light and yours may be completely different. Do you have any examples of what you are trying to achieve here?
 
arad85 said:
What do you mean by "low light". My idea of low light and yours may be completely different. Do you have any examples of what you are trying to achieve here?
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My own little experiments convinced me that in real world use my CSC's aren't any worse than my 20D and 5D were, but my DSLR's weren't the latest greatest things.
 
jacob12_1993 said:
I can tell you that the LX100 AF is light years ahead of the LX7 so I'd suggest trying one
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It's difficult to give an accurate response from playing with one at a stand.

I will be looking forward to trying it and I hope I'm wrong about the AF. If it is fast, accurate and will aquire a target in a dimly lit room within half a second then I'll probably get one.
 
Phil Young said:
I felt AF held me back on the LX7 and that's what I'm dissapointed not to see in the successor - PDAF.
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You are making an assumption that PDAF is the only answer to your problems and dismissing things because they haven't implemented your solution.

What (I assume) you are after is a better focus system than the LX7 that works in the situations you need it to work in. Saying what it is you are trying to achieve rather than saying this is the only possible solution is the first step in getting others to understand what the problem is. They then might be able to relate to your dislike of the system or say this is an area that is much better than anything else out there.

PDAF is certainly not perfect - in fact it being wrong was the thing that finally made me move from DSLRs to mirrorless.
 
Phil Young said:
It's difficult to give an accurate response from playing with one at a stand.

I will be looking forward to trying it and I hope I'm wrong about the AF. If it is fast, accurate and will aquire a target in a dimly lit room within half a second then I'll probably get one.
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I agree but having used the GH4 which basically has the same AF I can confirm the DFD focussing will well and truly blow the LX7 of out the water

Phil Young said:
Here's a short list of the top of my head:

-Sports.
-Animals / pets.
-moving subjects indoors with just lamps.
-vehicles moving towards me.
-a fast acquisition for street use.
Etc...
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Realistically compact cameras aren't designed for shooting sports but it can be done. I know two photographers Hugh Hastings and Ian Cook who have both used the G series cameras regularly for sports professionally albeit alongside a DSLR set up
 
Phil Young said:
Here's a short list of the top of my head:

-Sports.
-Animals / pets.
-moving subjects indoors with just lamps.
-vehicles moving towards me.
-a fast acquisition for street use.
Etc...
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Have you looked at the reviews of the GH4 focusing system? I don't do any of those, but there's a few out there that show it to be pretty good for those sorts of things..... I've seen tests done of cars, sports and animals/pets for example and the people who did them were pretty impressed.

On the other hand, if your the sort to not like reviews then nothing is going to substitute it in your hands.
 
Phil Young said:
Guess there are ways around contrast being slow...
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;)

The GH3/GX7 with the right lenses (again, the better ones as they move quicker) is no slouch either. The GH4 will be better.
 
On sensor PDAF isnt all that tbh, compare the NEX6 which has hybrid C/PDAF and its AF sucks compared to the GH4.
 
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