Featured Forum Post: 'The Amazing Versatility of the LX7'

[Ray Sachs]

Spent the weekend with family in Baltimore. I took the LX7 and EPL5 with the new 17mm f1.8 lens for low light. I did some street shooting with both. I continue to be amazed by the versatility of the LX7. With its various focal lengths (I keep it on step zoom, so its like having 6 prime lenses from 24 to 90 in the bag) and various aspect ratios and its fast lens, I havent' found much I can't do with it. The EPL5 was better in low light, but the LX7 isn't bad at all. And to me, its just a blast to walk around shooting with. Here are a variety from the LX7:



















-Ray

[Armanius]

Love those light streaks!

[Gary]

+1 on the flare.

[dixeyk]

Beautiful work Ray. I've always had a soft spot for point and shoot cameras. I think you hit the nail on the head. It's their versatility. What they give up up in image quality they make up for in flexibility and as a creative tool I think that's huge. I would also argue that with cameras like the LX7 (and some of the other higher end compacts point and shoots) are really narrowing the gap in performance and image quality vs. larger sensor cameras.

Love that last one.

[Jock Elliott]

Ray,

They are all good, but the top one knocks my socks off! I am officially sockless.

Cheers, Jock

[Ray Sachs]

+1 on the flare.

When you can't beat it, may as well double down and try to use it...

-Ray

[Ray Sachs]

Beautiful work Ray. I've always had a soft spot for point and shoot cameras. I think you hit the nail on the head. It's their versatility. What they give up up in image quality they make up for in flexibility and as a creative tool I think that's huge. I would also argue that with cameras like the LX7 (and some of the other higher end compacts point and shoots) are really narrowing the gap in performance and image quality vs. larger sensor cameras.

Love that last one.

I don't think the LX7 is really narrowing the gap that much, at least in terms of sensor, which is only really useable to about 800, maybe 1600 in a real emergency, but I don't often have photographic emergencies! But the rest of the camera is so wonderful, and the f1.4 - 2.3 lens means that ISO 800 will go a looooong way. And the fun factor, which you raised in another post, is just off the charts for me with this camera. The X10/20 and RX100 are pushing the envelope with small cam sensor quality and I expect others to follow, but they're not there yet. But the controls, features, and options of the LX7 just fit me to a "T", so I'm gonna stick with it until and unless Panasonic comes out with an update that incorporates a larger and better sensor. IF they can do it without messing up the fundamental wonderfulness of the current camera.

Kind of silly that with an X-Pro and m43 options with tons of great glass that I've spent a good chunk of money on, a $300 camera is in many ways my favorite of them all...

-Ray

[demiro]

Nice shots Ray. Did you do any head-to-head with the E-PL5? It'd be interesting to see the same shot on each camera to better define just what that gap between them looks like.

The LX7 is a bit strange to me. I think a lot of us expected a larger sensor compared to the LX5, at least up to match the X10, or maybe even a one-incher. Panasonic actually delivered a smaller sensor than on the LX5, albeit matched up with a faster lens. I don't doubt the 7 is better than the 5, but given where this market segment is heading it seems to be off-trend.

If the price actually settles at $300 or $350 though it might find a really nice sweet spot, bringing high performance at a reasonable cost.

[dixeyk]

I don't think the LX7 is really narrowing the gap that much, at least in terms of sensor, which is only really useable to about 800, maybe 1600 in a real emergency, but I don't often have photographic emergencies! But the rest of the camera is so wonderful, and the f1.4 - 2.3 lens means that ISO 800 will go a looooong way. And the fun factor, which you raised in another post, is just off the charts for me with this camera. The X10/20 and RX100 are pushing the envelope with small cam sensor quality and I expect others to follow, but they're not there yet. But the controls, features, and options of the LX7 just fit me to a "T", so I'm gonna stick with it until and unless Panasonic comes out with an update that incorporates a larger and better sensor. IF they can do it without messing up the fundamental wonderfulness of the current camera.

Kind of silly that with an X-Pro and m43 options with tons of great glass that I've spent a good chunk of money on, a $300 camera is in many ways my favorite of them all...

-Ray

I'm with you when it comes to fun factor and I too have both m43 and NEX (and a lot of glass) and more and more my X10 makes it's way into my bag because of the sheer enjoyment I get from it.

[Ray Sachs]

Nice shots Ray. Did you do any head-to-head with the E-PL5? It'd be interesting to see the same shot on each camera to better define just what that gap between them looks like.

The LX7 is a bit strange to me. I think a lot of us expected a larger sensor compared to the LX5, at least up to match the X10, or maybe even a one-incher. Panasonic actually delivered a smaller sensor than on the LX5, albeit matched up with a faster lens. I don't doubt the 7 is better than the 5, but given where this market segment is heading it seems to be off-trend.

If the price actually settles at $300 or $350 though it might find a really nice sweet spot, bringing high performance at a reasonable cost.

I didn't really do any head to head - I mostly took the LX7 out in the daylight and the EPL5 out in the evening. And once I took them both out for some street shooting. There's definitely more depth to the files of the EPL5 and you can pull all sorts of stuff out of them in PP. Here are a couple of evening shots with the EPL5 that I could have done with the LX7 but might have needed a tripod to keep it at a low enough ISO to almost match the quality:





And a couple of street shots that held up to pushing and pulling a bit better:





I'm guessing they'll try to come out with something with a sensor the size of the X20 or the RX100, and if they can pull it off without compromising too much of what makes the LX7 special, I'm all in. But I had an RX100 for a while and an X10 for quite a while and I prefer the LX7 to either (a lot compared to the RX100, only slightly compared to the X10) despite the limited sensor. I think the LX7 sensor, despite being slightly smaller than the LX5, is actually somewhat better. I was never comfortable going above 400 with the LX5 but I'll shoot 800 on the LX7. And making the lens 1.4-2.3 with the same zoom range is a hell of an improvement over the LX5. And the controls are even better IMHO. The LX3 was a great camera but the LX5 improved on it in several ways (although there are those who don't think either of the newer models has matched the LX3 for sharpness) and the LX7 has improved on the LX5 in several ways. The sensor is clearly the weak point relative to the coming generation of compacts, but its just not all that weak. And the rest of the camera more than compensates for my money. For $300, its a frighteningly capable little camera. I understand its the class of the compact field for video too, but I'm not enough of a video shooter to know the difference - they all work well enough for me in that regard...

-Ray