Panasonic Lumix DMC LX 100 Shows Its Value

            
Finally the jury is in final discussion in the back rooms, while all over the papers it is clear the LX100 has won its case.  Purely and simply it is far better value for money than a mid level mFT camera with either the 12/35 or the oly 12/40 fast zooms.

Technically though it can be argued that the camera needs some tweaks to its jpeg software. The evidence finally from digital photography review, is right there now which both appeases the prosecution for the pixel people, while also basically making panasonic go do some tweaks on the fast pass jpeg processing, more on that below.

The new mFT sensor camera has gone back in my mind to some of the soul of compact camera photography. It is a small tool for taking impressive, high visual impact pictures, doing this a little incognito even candid, and basically is something you take with you when you dont take a DSLR. It has a tactile, eyes off camera way of just going between A and S or P, just a click without needing to line the screen or EVF up to line of sight. You are going to be working with the settings for this little, inconspicuous beauty while your eyes are firmly on the subject. Head up out of camera I call it. Being a photographer and not a camera technician. Capturing high image value while of course not perfecting pixcel peeping  image quality, it is a compact not a mid format studio camera!!

Not convinced ? Firstly look at the RAW and compare to the LX7 and G7X and then the GM1. It seems that Panny will have to address a couple of in camera processing issues because the raw processing (at this early stage of convertor software) catches back details and adds some subtlety to the colours for the LX100.

It is interesting that the LX 7 raw and jpeg files show little difference at all, meaning that Panalieca have fully optimised the jpeg engine there, while there needs to be some optimising on the LX100 before it ships out. I suggest they take the sharpness up, and link that to f stop, take the contrast up again linked to low f stops in particular, alter the gradation slightly and then drop the saturation of colours slightly while allowing for a bit more brightness, possibly achieved anyway in the higher contrast.

Then have a look at the depth of field control, which for the money is best in class. That is the rub for mFT, you need to go up in focal length and back off before you get it. Irritating in a portable camera, curable only with expensive top end lenses.

This is the big problem for me with mFT, you have to spend a huge amount of money for the fast lenses really, okay they are good and comparable to the better Canikon APS-C quality, but so far there is a lack of budget lenses which maybe compromise a little on something but make up for it with killer speed and depth of field control. I would hate to suggest that the mFT federal bureau are holding up mFT software for new APS=C lens conversions from the OEM folk at Sigma and Tamron. I expect though maybe a mid range fast zoom which trumps the lens shift on the two Brand wide to mid fasties and is much faster wide open, say an f1.8/f 4 25-75 from tamron, and also a killer portrait lens at around f 2 / f 2.8 with a macro switch from sigma. Possibly collapsing, we cannot turn our eyes away from these systems being compact. From the main marques, Panny will probably do a couple more motor zoom video lenses, while Oly, well a long end zoom and of course the previewed 300mm f2.8 is out soon, around maybe 2000  USD all be it. Kodak have a whacky races long telephoto which although it may need manual focus, with focus peaking it may be a bit of a fun lens to own.

Also the fast mFT glass is not that much smaller than say the wonder duo from Olympus for FT DSLRs , the 12/60 and 50/200mm covering 24mm to 400mm at f2.8. This is because it is pretty much impossible to make them any smaller . All that has become smaller is the camera bodies, mainly by reducing this flange distance and removing the pentaprism over the older mirror touting FT DSLRs. Ye cannae defy the laws of physics, f stop is an absolute length to diameter relationship. Given also the need for software correction for the super short flange to film plane distance (which makes mFT possible)  it seems that optically both Panny and Oly have reached the limits of the speed to range trade off in zooms, and are not willing to go any further. The LX100 trumps this by exceeding the speed on f stop wide open, and then compacting down more than the 12/35 and only beingg a tweet short of the 12/40.

On telefoto, let us talk tele-conversion, I think that in fact panny may have a 1.4 teleconvertor front end in mind for the LX100  ( what other up selling opportunities do they have????? an LX110 ??) which I could see myself using if it was okay in the centre, used maybe a further aspect crop and then was actually under 200 USD.

Need more convincing that this camera could just maybe take much better artistic shots than your five year old DSLR or your point and shoot ???  More links then > cut and paste them at will to see what the camera has to offer in depth of field (blurry backgrounds) and

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cameralabs/sets/72157648747458481

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2014/10/13/panasonic-lx100-initial-gallery-posted

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/panasonic_lumix_dmc_lx100_review/image_quality/

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/panasonic_lumix_dmc_lx100_review/sample_images/

As with mFT though, it could end up replacing your DSLR because of the creative quality of images you can capture, and because you miss fewer photo opportunities.

Now in effect this camera is a 12 mpx mFT camera and as you may expect for the size and not least price, it will not take as good a technical image quality as any mFT camera with the fast zooms mentioned above. However it will achieve the same over all artistic impression, the same pop and bang for youse in the USA, for a far better price.

Essentially you are though getting only those 12mpx, all be it in a nice multi aspect choice which appeals to me. BNut the D4s is just launched with 16  mpx so what are we moaning about ? many an only D3 on 12 too. Ah, wandering onto compact camera forums is bad for the psyche. You are not really getting then the Sony 16 mpx mFT chip performance, nor their 1" in terms of ISO. You are getting better colours though.

Also you are only getting just above eye sight magnification at 75 mm, which is short of the sweet range for portraits being around 90 - 120mm in old money, the Full Frame SLR days. Hang on though a minute, this is a really small camera and very unobtrusive. It  focuses super fast apparently in low light too, and focuses down to good minimum distances (with a macro setting too btw, which is a real plus for many of us) so you can do go-go-zoom-gadget-legs or arms and get closer in. Also the centre of the images are pretty sharp and detailed whatever the fringes are, so you have maybe an acceptable digital crop post zooming of upto 1.5, down to around 8 mpx for printed output, but acceptable down to I would say 4 mpx for putting up on Flickr and of course, then 2 mpx for anything else on the web were it will be shown in no more than 1 mpx resolution on screen.

In video you are getting 4 K which means 8 megapixels per frame, yes you need a pair of big SD cards which will cost you maybe 300 dollars. There is an HDMI out which presumably can give a live feed for that quality for recording perhaps onto something external, I am not getting my hopes up. On a 64 gig chip you maybe get 20 minutes of 4K and an hour of HDMI. What you do get is GH3 quality sharpness and dynamic range, plus panasonics rather nice muted you could say natural, beigey colour pallette. Also there are art filters, mostly complete junk, but a couple I saw would really be nice to use to give a feel for the shot. Videography here I come any ways, I have a couple of hours to cut to 40 minutes from a Blue Grass Music Festival from a camcorder. So this does actually excite me,  but so far no external mike is a bad, it is like selling a luxury car without sun visors.

Is mine on pre order? Well no, I do not want to buy this camera before I handle it and feel that the 75mm long end is acceptable, and that focus works well on moving objects and low light.

Panasonic LX100 Hands-On Field Test (With HC-X100…: http://youtu.be/4K7v3IyuMnE

A Quandry of Choice.....Choosing a Compact and A New System

Ok let us get into this, I am at a quandry ...what to buy, and when....

Firstly Compact, specifically ...Am I Madly in Love with the Panasonic LX100?

LX100  Lumix DMC Range from Panasonic

It is a real shame that this camera has been lumped in the LX range because it really is an mFT camera, just with a single fixed zoom lens. So the LX5 to LX7 owners are all over the camera with claims from early jpegs that it is not as good a camera even or not worth the extra money. They should have called it a G WHZ..The gee whizz.

Here are the questions I should ask myself

What is this camera replacing? My DSLR?

No, but yes, it is replacing my DSLR only in so much as my mobile phone camera does. It is really a replacement to the HTC desire camera and also an old Konica periscope lens camera, which was not bad, still works actually.

Like my Pentax K1000, the E450 is going to stay, it is not worth selling and I love it.

Is the LX 100 worth the Money?

Well that is a big ask., Yes when on top of the LX7, no when compared to other cameras a hundred dollars either side of it perhaps.

It has EVF, 11 fps, 4k vid, in camera raw developer,  f1.7 and acceptable iso 3200 perf. All that has got to be 300 dollars at least more than the lx7.

Is it then, better value than going into mFT?

Micro Four Thirds is a bit of rip off IMHO until now that is, and then you have to think that they have a pro range which are not that much cheaper than good entry level full frame cameras.

The main reason the Lumic LX100 is better value than mFT is the fast lens. You have to pay 1200 USD for the 12mm (= 24mm ff) wide end fast f 2 ish zooms.

How Else Does it Beat mFT?

It beats it by size of course too. mFT plus the fast wide glass is not all that small, you have to go to the collapsing /retracting lenses and they are a lot slower. Basically this camera for artistic effect if not absolute sharpness, equals the 1000 usd 12-35mm panny and then you have no body.

Is this the Right Time to Buy a First of Type Camera?

Absolutely not!  I would be crazy to buy it, not knowing when it will be "obsolete" , outcompeted and therefore likely to crash in new price.

However I buy a camera as an investment and an excitement! I have had the E450 four and a half years, it is completely technically obsolete, yet on a sunny day or with a tripod it can take as good images as any 35mm film photographer could in the 1980s.

I would however, have been disappointed to be owning an XZ 2 now from Oly, with the new prices being half what they were, maybe in anticipation a 3 will be out soon, but that camera is quite obsolete. Once again though, if you thihnk of two years of shooting with a jacket pocket camera with that level of control and the great OOC colours then it would not be thrown away money, and now you have a camera to keep in the glove compartment.

Down Sides of the LX100?

Well the jury is still considering technical evidence. It can be that the lens is soft ish or that the jpeg engine settings need to be adjusted.

It is rather short on the long end, queue shanks pony zoom, but that lovely 24mm eq is what I am in for.

EXIF myself, well of course all my "peachy keepers" and shots I have sold or won competitions with have been done on the Olympus poor man's secret weapon, the FT 40-150 which has stellar glass encased in a plastic coat. It really is liz hurly naked under a black plastic mac'.

But given that before I used the fast primes on 35mm and also my mobile, or the nifty fifty 25mm now gets slung on the e450 on duller days, or light camera need days, then I am using zoom zoom gadget legs!

I think the long end is too short for really good portraits and especially candid shots. But that is where the crop zoom of quality images comes in, and also new ways of taking shots, with a smaller less obtrusive camera.

Upisides

Well as BH point out and the Camera Store, they have taken out a level of twisting and turning. You basically go onto the dials and one twist and you have not only selected function, but also value for shutter or f stop. Combine both, then you are instantly in full manual without having to peer through the view finder, or on the camera sccreen and start finding where you were from your last settings.

Videography

Well until this year I was a bit anti video on DSLRs and so on, and generally saw video for us as kids poop for first time, gaa gaa, first day school....you know, flarey poor DR and just a fun record. In fact I just delegated it all back to the wife with the camcorder responsibility, which meant both less shots and also poorer attention to detail .

Then I went with the camera to a blue grass music festival out in the woods, and it was so cool to have video and sound. I have yet to cut a little film together, but I am hooked.

Ok sound has to be synced in, the in camera mike is probably useless, but EDR 4K video!???? I have gone from the stone age and am driving a porsche!

Panasonic Triumph With Their LX100 !

Finally we get some photographers willing to take just a little time to think about what this camera can do and how the Panasonic LX100 should be shown off.

Sharpness is technically not any better perhaps than the smaller sensor competition, but it is perfectly acceptable to me and when I get publishers asking for SMALLER files so their inboxes don't explode and they can work super quick setting up for Litho, then I feel this is pixel peeping and the detractors are missing the point of the camera.

Panasonic have in fact probably found out that high end DSLR owners from the main brands are not interested in mFT as a second or that all important, "travel" camera because to get anywhere near decent bokeh you either have to pay big, big money for the zoom glass, carry even more dollars in your back in three fast primes, or get used to backing up from the subject with the longer kit lenses. (which works just fine actually even on the kit 40-150 type lenses btw, nice bokeh over eq 100mm, you just need to back up for some shots)

So how to lever more people into the brand, and how to sell more sensor chips so your in-costs on those are cheaper by volume?

As pointed out this camera trumps their GX and latest GM cameras by size, 4K video and the lens it comes with. Although 75mm is a little short, at f2.8 (eq maybe ok f4.5 on FF) it will take portraits with a thrown background, and in post you will get an easier magic select to then further modify the blur-bokeh.

It does a few things in camera too with RAW and the histogram which may seem a little trite for a compact, but just add value for the clued up DSLR photographer who wants to also avoid time in post when they are out snapping with a compact.

It is too short for my sweet spot use from my EXIF I see, but that is then only because I need to change where the hell I stand and how I compose or crop in post. Like when I go out with a prime lens on my DSLR, a pancake or the like and just take shots with the camera in a small case or no case at all.

People are nit picking away from the G7 and the RX100 III but these cameras are not really in the same sector, and hell what is their resale value going to be next year when sony do a NEX to compete with the LX100 and canon bring out their new mid sized (ie large for compact single lens) G 8 or what ever it will be.

Also Leica may do something weird using the whole 16mpx of the mFT chip you never know, and sony may break in with a short zoom, single lens "street" camera based on their new FF mirrorless. I would say Sony are ripe for that, thus the LX110 would be the lower end of a new segment once only a Leica niche.

I have photographed with SLRs since 1982, so I like dials and the A-ring and the kind of certainty they bring. Thumb Wheels with PASM are irritating for me with my formative years in fully manual cameras.

I need a lift right now for many reasons, and I just cant justify upgrading from Olympus FT, it is money thrown down the drain to try and bridge between E series and the EM1 with the two "fast" zooms. They are over priced on the used market still and dont work all that well on the new on chip PDAF OMD model which in itself is a little over priced if you dont get a 12-40 deal.

What Next for DF , a Df ? what system next

You know I very nearly jumped ship from Olympus as soon as the Nikon D90 was on the market, and only the recession continuing to bite kept me away from that camera and a three lens set up.

However despite being bitter at Oly' for never making an E6 or as it may be an E8 and E700 now with the sony 16mpx chip, I do not regret holding onto my E450 and three lens line up. It has forced me to live within limitations of the camera while exploring my own new territories. For an entry level camera it has SO many features you do not get with CanNikon, and it is really neat in size. It gets mistaken for an OMD these days.

Although I dare say I could spend more time on late curtain flash  and some other little used stuff on the E450 it is now high time I moved on. I no longer see the challenges of getting some shots, rather the frustrations of ISO image noise, no IBIS and fairly slow glass even at f2.8.

I still love my E450 and have no intention of selling it, but what next?

Freds Needs

1) I need something like the LX100 or if there is a 1" sony chipped XZ3 . THis is not a replacement to a DSLR, it is a supplement to my general enjyment of image capture, and would be pulled out when my mobile currently is.

2) I need then another slightly more serious camera system

3) I want weather proofing for sailing and skiing

4) I want good ISO 3200

5) I want affordable glass which does the following

a) FF eq 24mm -400mm in two lenses, ie the same as buying the Zuiko 12-60/50-200

b) a compact prime either at eq 32/35mm somewhere or at 80 - 120 mm

c) A very compact pancake

d) some retro lens conversion

e) a market for second hand glass, with some people dumping it off!! LOL

6) IBIS then over the need for all lenses to be OIS

7) Video is becoming a must after this years blue grass festival and a sailing event. Why carry a camcorder and a DSLR like i did at the festival? Why not have the kids playing ball in HDMI? 8 mpx frame selection for stills would be cool in camera too, but can be done in post anyway.

8) Wifi is nice to have now c'mon it is a must these days

9) the consumerist in me wants to explore something new! Sad but true.

10) doesnt need wafer thin DOF, and does not correspondingly need to break the bank

Not far down the list and in combination with not spending the earth, then the WR points one way and that is the not exactly foible free, Pentax

But wait, the K50 is a stunner of a camera, ok not the latest video but Nikon APSc standard AF and ISO performance, and "kit" lenses which are WR and pretty much pro lenses of years gone by from Canon without a metal flange.   The rubbery look is actually starting to look retro, like some kind of 1992 EOS competitor that never was.

You could say though that I could do all I want with a WR version of the FZ1000, or I could go find some other MLILC system to suit, but you know, I often feel my oly is small in my hands !

Pentax has its limitations but really the "kit" glass is pretty specialist, sharp and the thing is it is NOT slower than the supposedly royal performance of the FT olympus lenses in f2 and f2.8. That equates to f 4 in APS-C, so hold up! Bokeh is fine, and then you have higher ISO to go beyond the exposure.  I dont subscribe to the concept punted of " total light", it is a linear relationship.

It is a big jump in size though, so I will need to go get touchy feely. The other big deal is that Pentax cameras depreciate like hell when a new model comes out, as the stores sell off the k30 right now for example. They are a bit quirky, like olympus in FT days, so some just fall away because their CaNikon flocking mates take better shots than they can, or just slag them off. Others get pretentions for full frame of course. and then you dump the whole system on the market to raise the deposit and first three payments on an FF with two lenses.

First purchase is not a DSLR no matter what, enthusiast compact zoom cameras have come so far that now you really have choice at 300 euros to 1000 Euros. The most exciting is the LX100 but the best value is the XZ2, presumably an XZ3 is on the way. Then you have CaniSony erm, yeah those two, and Leica for some more cash and then the p9000 from NikoNikon ahem, yeah.

Sad as I am I still get excited about the E450, but also fall back into stopping myself and thinking, will there be camera shake? will there be any Bokeh or enough so POST can auto select the subject for laying on blur? Basically the E450 will not blow-away enthusiast compacts any more, used mediocrily a canon G series could eat it three years ago. Still it makes great images and will be in the family for years to come what ever I get next.

Olympus Leave A Generation Behind....no DSLR, No Play

My little foray into the LX100 and wish list for mFt are kind of side shows to what is creeping up on me.

It is not for me that my DSLR is out of date, a 2010 model. If we had no digital and it had not been stolen and divested then my two body OM system would have been serviced and used today, I did not like AF when it came out and get frustrated by it now.

My problem is that I am finally outgrowing my Olympus E450, I have gone to many of the edges of its performance envelope and come back happy, but increasingly frustrated.

I was set to upgrade through first the swd 12/60 and then a new body and the 50-200 but the E5 was a bit of a too little too late from the company who obviously had their eyes set on bigger gross margin in the PEN series. Okay you could do a really good travel pro set up for under 4000 euros or dollars but  then you just were not really getting a pro level camera.. Then the D90 blew it away, all be it without weather sealing.

Olympus have tried with the OMD EM1 to put on chip PDAF as we predicted so that it would function with the expensive glass. But wait, I dont have the glass and it does not work ALL that well anyway. Also the OMD has less than great ergonomics for me. Yeah, small light and weather proofed.

Given the f stop equivalent of APS-c for the fast lenses is about f3.5 then you start to see that DOF control is still lacking in the mFT system for the price of those rather extortionate fast lenses, especially the new zooms. There is no legacy glass to call on which will work acceptably.

Surely Olympus should look at the figures and just see if it is worth putting the tooling out to Thailand OEM and getting the 16mpx sony chip into the E5 body and making a cheaper non articulating lens version also with WR to compete with the only other sub 1000 usd with lens system, the pentax K50?  Alas no. OMD sells in torrents, PENS in deluges so sating the tiny appetite of keen E series users is.

Actually I dare say you could do a whole load of tests and conclude the K50 with its two base zoom lenses f3.5 are actually better than the E5 and the 12-60/50-200mm at well under half the price. So olympus would be making a new system which is likely to be twice as expensive as its main rival in quality, with the only advantages being size/weight and glass investment assets from before.

The really irritating thing for me wanting to upgrade is the fact that so many Olympus users ARE enthusiasts. There are not the droves of CaNikoSon where there is a good second hand market and people often just want rid of stuff they got as presents, or see as no longer trendy or just not used. So Oly have held their value of the dearer glass. 400 euros for the two serious first lenses each, the 50mm macro and the 14/54 Mrk II both of which will be five years old or more, and both of which will have been well used by said enthusiasts.

As with Olympus OM glass and all the Tamron - sigma OM mounted guff from the 80s, even a good enough lens fantastic for its day will loose any value. In fact holding on to them just too long means that suddenly, suddenly everyone wakes up to see that the world has moved so far on from your original system that it is obsolete. Worthless.  The value of putting SWD as a new or used purchase onto EM1 is negligible , you are getting an oversized, over priced, bad deal.

I have seen one 14-54 and one 12-60 bundled in with a Exxx hundred series camera and the kit lenses, for around five hundred euros, but you know what, a five year old lens which has the E5 as the latest usable body is not worth that. I would pay 700 euros for the two SWD zooms, not a penny more and they would have to work.

Panasonic Lumix LX100 Cat Among the Pigeons...Pros and Cons?

Sample shots and so on are now running from the usual sources as a trickle, which will soon become a torrent for the LX100 wee beastie from Panasonic.

Several of us in the forums predicted a single lens compact version of the mFT system, mostly we thought it would be either Olympus or perhaps the Leica brand who would swing in. However it was the R&D power house at Pana/Leica which got it out, first and maybe uniquely for a while at least.

"Large" sensor compacts are of course the whole raison d'etre for mFT and its immitators, and the life line which has kept Leica going as a brand apart, based on its core values and probably a well leveraged customer base. However single lens zoom compact cameras were still generally poking around in the smaller 1" (square inch) sensor, all be that with some very pleasing results, they were based on pushing the chips and most of all the in camera hard wired processing, especially the jpeg engine, to make flattering images, which after all is what the compact segment has been doing since the early days. High contrast, over sharpened, saturated images and now with a degree of smoothing to reduce noise. This area has been of course influenced by the pixel power ignorance that more pixels is better, and that digital crop zooms on these tiny chips is of some value.

Now there are several cameras at the high end of this from Fuji in particular in their X range with in built lenses, but it seems that Panasonic will indeed trompe le monde with their offering.  Why is that so and what may be the draw backs of this camera?

Pro's of the Lumix DMC LX100

1) Large sensor, proven mFT quality, dynamic range and ISO performance
2) Fast Lens, which is truly good for depth of field
3) Wide 24mm end - this is a deal maker!!!
4) Small size. It is inside jacket pocket size!
5) GH/GM/GH Features
6) 4K video
7) Clean design, no tilting screen and other stuff to break
8) Useable EVF
9) Price !! compared to mFT of the same f stop as a system

Cons

1) Panasonic's bad colour pallette in camera - skin tones and some odd magentas in particular
2) The long end is only 75mm, just useful for portraits
3) Potential softness in images with sub f4.0 aperture
4) Maybe also Softness and colour abberations at medium to high ISOs.
5) Quite complex menus, lack of multi button allocation to customise ?
6) First of type issues perhaps ?
7) No flash and other things like utility connector (mic in etc) and tilting screen, no touch control on the screen. LCD and not AMOLED screen, quite small these days too.
8) You cannot upgrade lenses to bigger telephoto than 75mm

Comments on the Design

I think it is kind of a bit me too in design" Hey look a retro camera , looks like a 1980 Ricoh range finder camera" , although it is very clean and does have simple rubber ergonomic pads which make it really look like a one hand operated street journalist camera. This is where they want to play, it competes with the Fuji xs and of course the PENS and Leicas, and is smarter than the Canon and Sony competitors.

Lost in Menus

It seems this camera will be like some other Pannys, big on menus when you want to do quite ordinary set ups like auto bracket, or use some of the funky features like video to still panorama.

Buttons and Dials

There is part of me which really likes the idea, like the Ricoh classic 35mm compact of the late 70s, that you have a good old aperture ring on the lens, and a shutter ring, with an exposure adjust wheel. Then I think, heck that is not really how I use a modern camera. Yes a clicking function ring on the lens, but rather a conventional DSLR thumb wheel for spinning though ASP settings, or useable with other features like exp' compensation.

The Canadian Eh? Camera Store did a pretty honest reveiw, got real excited and then backed off on the dials and wee buttons which did not seem customisable but did seem to get hit when feeling the way to the shutter release button

Bang for Buck / the IQ to Wonga Equation.

This camera will retail in europe for around 900 euros, plus of course you will want a big, fast expensive SDHC card for it, pushing it up over the 1000 euro mark. But then that is it! No more costly lenses, no more temptation to try a prime, or save up for the latest wide to mid range zoom. Essentially you have just bought yourself a 12mpx mFT camera with a 12/35 f2.8 lens for the price of JUST that lens plus a kit lens in your first purchase of the package. Add a comparable body and you are up at at least half the price again.

Okay, back off there, you would buy mFT for all the expandability ?  Well the fast primes and the new fast zooms are just WAY over priced. You are talking pro prices onto the format which inherently is not as good at DOF and a few other parameters than Full Frame.

Buying on a budget with kit lenses, you could go for a double kit with the two zooms, where the longer zoom makes an adequate portrait lens, but the lenses are quite slow and you run into short depth of field and hyperfocal distance. Okay olympus now boasts great high ISO performance, 16mpx croppability and improved IBIS on their top cameras but to get the same IQ as the new LX100 you are talking twice the money for body -glass combo. 

Thank fully though, Oly have sold a tonne of OMD cameras and Panny has sold wads of Lumix mFT so there is a second hand market out there, with quick sellers offering bargains if you are up early in the morning. So you could be looking at a 14/16 mpx body with the ISO performance, a long kit zoom with IS ( alternatively oly IBIS), a new fast zoom and either one of the wonderful primes such as the 17 or the 45 for around 900 euros on a very 'must sell today to buy a D4 " basis. Because more basic consumers have dabbled with advanced photography with mFT, but find their iPhone or S4 takes most of their actual shots, there is a get shot of it mentality out there which sets the cat amongst the pigeons of the old enthusiast sellers market, who would rather not sell than get less than 2/3rds the new price out of their kit.

A good thing about Panny is there penetration to the new high street /shopping centre chain stores so I will be able to pop out and have a play very, very soon with this camera and what I will be looking for is

1) Portrature - will this camera take those once a year iconographic family shots which I know I can get on my DSLR  ?  Is 75mm and f2.8 enough for me ?

2) Depth of field for portraits of couse, but also other things

3) Focusing - will there be foibles and mis hits?

4) Mode controllability , will the menus frustrate me?

5) Soft IQ when wide open ?

6) Peripheral abberations to IQ especially in 16>9 mode ?

Why I May Buy ASAP?

As you can tell dear reader, I am really champing at the bit on this camera. It takes my need to experiment with 24mm, semi macro and not least high DR, high res' video and exceeds this by having a f1.7 at the wide end and 4K video.

Also I have a burning need to get away from DSLR because I am ahem, using my mobile in far, far to many photo opportunities because the DSLR with three lenses, despite being Oly FT, is a whole camera bag. I also see that in mFT I would be carrying around three lenses and irritated in wet or dusty conditions about changes of lens.

Furthermore I now need high ISO. Have mono pod will travel, but need high ISO

In terms of resale too, I reckon a quick trial followed by purchase is low risk with this camera, it is likely not to be upgraded by panny for at least 18 months, giving a big resale window. They are good at stemming leaks in panny so that bodes also well.

The only reasons not to get this would be if an OMD system came on the market with a fast zoom and 45mm, and one wider prime for 1100 Euros, but that is unlikely. In any case my biggest hole is for a carry anywhere, point and shoot wonderful shots without worrying.

Alternatively the other reason would be that olympus come out with an XZ based on the mFT 16mpx chip and double trump the new king of compacts!!

Panasonic Trompe Le Monde With the DMC-LX100

I have been wish listing for a long time now a compact camera which uses the mFT four thirds aspect 'large' sensor in a compact with non interchangeable lenses. I reckoned Olympus would be first out, or perhaps a new player or even Leica, but it turned out to be their parent and current kings of compact enthusiast cameras Panasonic with their new Lumix-DMC-LX100 wonder machine.

http://m.dpreview.com/previews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-lx100/5

 Canadians ----camera review 12   Minutes of the LX100 in the field!

Several of my predictions have come absolutely true, but anyone with a reasonable understanding of how cameras work, the current line up of models available in mFT system cameras and a bit of imagination could come up with namely:

1) Fast Lens, compact retracting lens
2) Lens elements individually adjusting
3) Wide end 24mm eq
4) Some compromise on long end to keep size down and f stop light
6) EVF
7) Not being able to use the whole mFT chip

The latter is a kind of quirk of the line of thinking that something has to give it you start trying to build something which physically must be almost as broad as it is long ie the f stop is a physically defined factor, you cannot escape the need for wide glass and in mFT, software correction. This prediction was also made in light of the fact that there is no point in trying to make an optimalised mid sized chip to be enveloped in the light circle of the lens when you have standard production of mFT and have optimised so much software for this, in parrticular JPEG engine and autofocus.

The camera is kept really quite small, not tiny for the asian market, and for my large hands I do not see anthing but advantage.

To cut to the quick I will include links to other people's run through the look and feel and controls below.

Here though are some key questions and some observations>

1) Quite short top end focal length  of 74mm. 

This means that the camera is actually competing for my EXIF with my kit lens, my oly 25mm f2.8 super lens, and of course my mobile phone and shelved older shirt pocket Konica (which took some great, great creative shots which stand up to 24" prints btw, more on the megapixel issue below)

2) Outcompetes older Olympus FT and mFT for price, size, MPX, and ISO

Where this outcompetes my current Olympus set up is that it does the range 24/70mm in glorious sub f 3 and with better ISO performance, onto a higher megapixel base plus I quite like alternative aspect shots, 1:1 and 16:9 are acvctually favourites in post proc!

Of course then it also becomes a jacket pocket camera to replace my mobile, which I do take some stunning shots with but always regret the IQ and not having my Oly system with me.The best camera is the one you have with you!!!

So in terms of thinking about getting into the mFT system with a fast 'street lens' then you are talking about quite an investment pre GH1 and EM5 or OMD body wise, with the 12/35 and 12/40 being still grossly expensive lenses which are a bit over specced in terms of the amateurs who will mostly be buying them.

3) How wil lit perform at the longer end with bokeh and the OIS system?

Two questions from the one thing/ how does it perform at the loing end? It is a focal length just into useable portaiture, so it must have decent bokeh, and for hand held the OIS has to work at the long end otherwise it is just a little icon label not worth the ink it is printed on.  In my FT experience and from lining up to buy the f2.8 SWS lenses, it is enough but not that much, it needs IS and it needs high ISO to work, and bokeh is short of APS-C for the same focal length and aperture.

4) This Camera has KILLER video.

I was not much into video before, and relegated the CD card camcorder to being used by other family members while I took stills. But I have really changed my mind, especially with the XZ2 on the market which was impressive.

I now see video as a whole new art, integrating to my other hobbies and of course family chronicles.

With 4K video and mFT chip qaulity, this is just a boon.

The only fly in the ointment seems to be the lack of a microphone jack, although that may be just overlooked with an option for a hot shoe adapter?

5) Flash. Not inbuilt, no big issue especially if they have included remote radio triggering in camera, so you can get any flash unit and pop it in your extra inside pocket.

6) Should I just Wait for Something Even Better?

It seems panasonic have gathered everything they could and pressed GO ....but maybe it is too good to be true? 

I am not waiting long on the fence, the only comments are it is not weather sealed and it is quite short at the long end.

However it is going to be about 200 / 600 Euros cheaper than getting into the equivalent mFT with fast lenses and an EVF, plus they will be a bit bigger and the ergonimics poorer.