Fuji X10 or Panasonic LX5 or another one?

[patrickv]

I'd like a camera that I can keep in my bag when I don't want to carry these huge and heavy DSLRs with lenses and stuff.
I'm looking for:
- all around photography, mainly people or landscapes, maybe a bit of street too
- decent image quality
- raw ability
- big enough to not be awful to handle in my large hands like a Canon Sxx series is

I'd like to stay under $500, grey import such as eglobal is completely an option.

What would you recommend?

[Jcas]

I have a Fuji X100 and i love it, i know it is over the 500 mark, but also i have heard only good about the Fuji X10 , i think if i was looking for one under the 500 tag, that would be my choice. The X100 is a nice size, sort of between SLR and compact, but not too sure of the X10 size, not as small as some i think.:)

[courty]

I just got a X10 for my wife,I haven't spent a lot of time with it yet but so far I'm impressed.
I love the fact that most controls are accessible on the body of the camera(I hate digging through menus on a screen),zoom is on the lens and it looks way better than other modern compacts:D
We picked it up locally for just under $600.

[patrickv]

thanks guys! the X100 is over budget, but more than anything else, the focal length of the fixed lens (22mm -> 35mm equivalent) is not my cup of tea. If it was a 50mm equivalent I think I'd consider it seriously...

I'm also looking at the Canon G12. It's not too expensive (under $400 on eglobal), has the advantage of having a hotshoe, and I'm familiar the the Canon systems, since I have Canon DSLRs. Any experience on this one?

[Irru]

I own a G10, and my friend bought the G11 almost at the same time. It is a really, really excellent camera. I can't say enough good things about it - the physical controls make it a pleasure to use, and the G10 is the culprit behind my obsession with photography. My friends G11 is noticeably better in low light, and I believe the G12 is much the same as the G11, but with video improvements.

I've used my old boss's LX5 and it is also a great camera, but in my opinion the controls are nicer on the G-series. I particularly like the physical dial for exposure compensation. Camera not metering correctly? Takes 2 seconds to adjust.

I took it to Thailand earlier this year in lieu of my proper camera, not wanting to lug around lots of gear. I did regret the choice occasionally, but for the most part enjoyed the decision.

[Old Skool]

I have the Samsung EX1, bigger sensor than normal in a P & S body. Solid metal body, tilt swivel LCD and Schneider F1.8 lens. Shoots Raw and quality is fantastic. You'll find one pretty cheap, 2nd hand less than $200. Just been superseded by the EX2 that has a F1.4 lens. The EX1 has only a 3 x zoom , but starts at 24mm wide angle which is great for what you want to shoot. If you want a bigger zoom, then maybe look at 20X zoom, Sony Cybershot HX20v or HX30v (same but has WIFI) - sample images look great but no RAW.

[swifty]

RX100??
That's my current pick for pocketable cameras but dunno if it might end up being too small for your hands.

If you just want compact but not necessarily pocketable, then the options open up.

[Dark Mist]

I bought the Fuji X10 when it first became available, so not quite a year.

It's not pocketable but it is an excellent camera. As mentioned before, once you set it up you rarely need to enter the menu because of the on body controls. Excellent image quality, fast lens, raw, a hotshoe, screw in remote, optical finder and Fuji's clever EXR options make it a great choice if you want to travel light.

If you can live with having to carry it in a small bag or large jacket pocket you can't go wrong with this one.

[Hawthy]

I just bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ30. Lovely little camera. It has a 20X optical zoom equivalent to a 24 - 480 mm zoom on a 35mm camera. I am pretty sure that the TZ stands for Travel Zoom and it is ideal for that purpose because it slips easily into your pocket. It has an HDR setting that takes three shots with different exposures and combines them automatically when you are shooting in high contrast situations. It has full manual mode and any number of "scene"modes and aperture or shutter priority modes. If you are travelling you can swithch on the GPS to record precisely where you took that photo.

Auto Focus Tracking will continue focusing on your moving subject that you pick out on the rear touchscreen - useful for street photography. I really like the panorama mode also - so much easier than trying to stitch in photoshop. It has 14 megapixels and the photo quality is great. It is not tiny - roughly 4" x 2" x 1" and it is a nice solid metal-cased camera.

You can also shoot 30 minutes of 1080 HD video if that is your thing.

On the downside, it does not have RAW, or a view finder or a remote shutter release - although it does have a self timer.

I picked it up last week for $294 (reduced from $398) and am still learning how to use it. So far, as you can probably tell, I love it. It is a lot smarter than I am when it comes to taking a photo.

[JM Tran]

I just bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ30. Lovely little camera. It has a 20X optical zoom equivalent to a 24 - 480 mm zoom on a 35mm camera. I am pretty sure that the TZ stands for Travel Zoom and it is ideal for that purpose because it slips easily into your pocket. It has an HDR setting that takes three shots with different exposures and combines them automatically when you are shooting in high contrast situations. It has full manual mode and any number of "scene"modes and aperture or shutter priority modes. If you are travelling you can swithch on the GPS to record precisely where you took that photo.

Auto Focus Tracking will continue focusing on your moving subject that you pick out on the rear touchscreen - useful for street photography. I really like the panorama mode also - so much easier than trying to stitch in photoshop. It has 14 megapixels and the photo quality is great. It is not tiny - roughly 4" x 2" x 1" and it is a nice solid metal-cased camera.

You can also shoot 30 minutes of 1080 HD video if that is your thing.

On the downside, it does not have RAW, or a view finder or a remote shutter release - although it does have a self timer.

I picked it up last week for $294 (reduced from $398) and am still learning how to use it. So far, as you can probably tell, I love it. It is a lot smarter than I am when it comes to taking a photo.


The TZ30 you mentioned doesnt quite stack up to the aforementioned cameras unfortunately, small variable aperture, poor high ISO adjustment, none of the manual controls like the aforementioned cameras have ie. aperture control, shutter speed etc at the scroll of a wheel or button.

Currently the new Canon G15 is doing very well stacking up to the bigger APSC sensor of the RX100. They both stand out in various ways.

Panasonic has also released the latest LX7.

I am in the market for a small enough camera to shoot RAW with full manual control over the next week, primarily for my travel website and interviews, without having to pull out the bigger DSLRs on spontaneous occasions, or when trying to be discreet.

Some of the cameras in my short list are the RX100, Canon G15, Sony NEX5 N or R models, maybe the LX7 too.

The Samsung EX2F however, stands out for compacts as it has an f1.4 aperture lens - thats quite a big difference compared to the F2 of my Canon S100 - although a very good camera, it has been superseded by competitors quickly.

[Hawthy]

Appreciate what you are saying. I must admit that this was an impulse buy. f1.4 is very attractive and no doubt provides great pictures at low light and a great DOF. I just like the flexibility that 20x zoom provides compared to 3.3x zoom on the Samsung. Just stand closer, I hear you say.

Anyway, I am happy with it. Noise is minimal up to 800 ISO. I suppose that it is all a balancing act in terms of features versus picture quality versus price.

[patrickv]

Hey there! Little update. A couple months ago I went and held a Canon G12 in a shop. It felt like complete crap in my hands. Unpleasant handling is a deal breaker obviously. So I looked around and the X10 was the only one that was nice. Fantastic retro look, and f/2.0 to f/2.8 lens. Now it's Christmas coming and stuff, I ordered myself a Fuji X10, and just received it in the mail today.

Cool. I like it. Now I'm like... Owww but my flashes are not going to work with TTL, what a retard.
Are there any Fuji compatible flashes (I have Nissin Di866 for Canon)? The Fuji EF42 is about $250 which is over half the price I bought the camera...

Cheers

[patrickv]

Damn it! Couldn't figure out how to work that X10!! That's a bad start... With my Canon cameras I didn't need to look anything up... Hopefully it will go well after a bit of manual reading and practice...

It really annoyed me that the time and all the settings were lost when I took the battery out to charge it...

[patrickv]

I'm starting to get the hang of it.
The handling and general ease of use / image quality really feel like rubbish though compared to my high end DSLR and it's expensive lenses. I can get stuff out of it but it's a pain.
Does that feeling ever go away? Or have I been spoilt by the professional gear?

[Blackberner]

Hi All.

I picked up a Pana LX7 after going through this exercise.

I wanted a smaller point and shoot that I could carry around easier than my DSLR.

I checked all the models that fit this bill. It had to shoot raw, hi-speed continous shooting, wide angle, F2.0 or smaller, long shutter times, fe adj and in built flash, zoom length and perhaps a hotshoe.
I also wanted easy manual control.
I didnt care about wifi, gps, touchscreens or movie modes although this was noted.
The only models that fit my requirements were the Panasonic LX7 and the Olympus XZ2. Both were around mid 500's sourced locally.
The X10 was nice but more expensive and only had min F2.0 where the XZ2 was 1.8 and the LX7 1.4.

The LX7 came out trumps due to the 1.4, 24-90 lens as well as a min shutter speed of 4 mins and a nice fast burst rate of 11fps.
It is also of a sufficient size to keep in a jacket pocket when turned off and the lens folds in.

I will be testing this thoroughly over the next few days. I played around a bit today with some xmas day shots. I shot about 40 frames indoors without need the flash once.

If anyone is interested in my findings for why I choose this model, I would be happy to oblige.

[Analog6]

I'll be very keen so hear how you find it. It ticks all my buttons too, whicxh are exactly the same as yours. The only one I would add is a rotating viewing screen but I can live without one if the rest is right. I have a Lumix FZ35 which is great but does suffer shutter lag and the lowest aperture is 2.5 and the highest f8, which are limiting. What is the top aperture on the LX7?

OK, I went and looked an it is still f8. Is this a limitation of lens/sensor or what for these P&S cameras, anyone know?

[Blackberner]

I must admit, it would have been nice to have a touchscreen and a rotating one at that. The Oly XZ had a tilting touch screen but it didnt rotate left/right.
I found a lot of camera's that had this didnt have other more important features, like they say, there is no perfect camera.

The LX has aperture values from 1.4 - 8.0 which I think is not too bad for a point and shoot.
Also the LX7 has a Leica lens, there is some general rumours that it is a Leica clone. The little "L" Leica logo on the front is reassuring.........

More playing around today..........