Panasonic DMC-LX100 – Part 1

Almost five months ago I did a post on large-sensor compact cameras. And after a fairly long back-and-forth period of indecision since that point, I finally decided yesterday and picked up the LX100. The contenders alongside the LX100 were the Sony RX100 and Canon G7 X. Briefly:

The RX100 was priced about similarly to the LX100, while the Canon G7 X was much cheaper.

Interestingly, the G7 X scores higher than the LX100 on DXOMark. Not that I read too much into their sensor values though, but still.

Despite all the heaps of criticism laid on the Olympus m4/3 cameras’ menus, I like the large degree of customization possible on those cameras, and wanted the same for whichever camera I decided on. And between the three, the LX100 scores very high here.

It was a toss-up between how compact the camera I would tolerate. I did want it to be pocketable, but not at the expense of it being too small to handle.

Of the bunch of requirements, the LX100 won out in the end though it was really a very marginal win, and I had to give up a couple of features that the LX100 didn’t have by design. I did get a pretty good bargain for the camera though at our local camera stores at USD751 while Amazon is selling it at USD757 – and that’s not counting the large number of freebies that came with it that only further sweetened the deal. I had a friend which picked up the Leica equivalent of the camera – the Leica D-LUX (Typ 109) – but that cost a lot more at USD1,130, and I wasn’t gonna pay that much more for a branded version of it.

The LX100 next to the similarly-sized E-PL6.
The LX100 next to the similarly-sized E-PL6.
The sexy-looking LX100.
Rear view of the LX100.
Rear view of the LX100.

So, about a day after playing around with it; my initial reactions.

The camera feels assuredly dense and well-built. There’s a lot of mass built into the body though and I count it slightly on the heavy side too at 393g. The front and back rubber grips help in guiding your hand to hold it steady, but I’ll still be getting a strap for it soon.

The Exposure Compensation Dial is satisfying click-y when rotated, and pretty useful when the default Multiple Metering has difficulties handling complex lighting situations. On the other hand, the dial is also positioned at the extreme right corner of the top plate, and is at risk getting snagged when I fish it out of the camera bag. Thankfully there’s some resistance on the dial itself, so it won’t turn as perilously easy as the mode dial on the E-PL6. Lost count of the number of times when the E-PL6’s Mode Dial got accidentally rotated from ‘A’ (Aperture-priority) to ‘S’ (Shuttle-priority) without my noticing until I wondered why my first picture taken was all under-exposed LOL.

The EVF is decent, and though not as bright as the E-M5’s, the image view when peering through it looks as big. This is one of the key features over its competitors that swayed me away from the G7 X and RX100. Unfortunately, possibly because of the size of the viewfinder window itself, how thick its rubber-cap is or heck maybe even because I wear glasses, the image does not fully fit within my eye perspective. Which leads to an odd sort of situation where I actually have to pan my eyeball around to get the whole super-imposed image in view.

The battery length’s about average at about 330 according to CIPA tests – but importantly, the package came with an extra battery (alongside a couple of 16GB Class 10 SDCards and a dedicated leather case). The battery normally costs around SGD55, and that the package supplied an extra one was a much appreciated complement!

AF is quick, and from the limited range of shots I’ve taken with the LX100 so far, it’s also been pretty spot-on.

The camera supports 4K resolution, though I don’t see myself recording home videos of our two kids at that setting. The Full HD setting on the other hand is at least producing nicely crisp video, though continuous AF still can’t match that of a dedicated camcorder.

Turning off the AF confirmation beep and also shutter sound, the camera is almost inaudible, only emitting a very quiet and soft ‘click’ (shutter curtain I assume) when the shutter is released. Totally discrete shooting!

Next post on the things that aren’t so great about the LX100.