Panasonic Rumor - Panasonic LX8

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Geez Ray, you mean the camera companies don't have our best interests at heart? :eek:

I'm really afraid I'm going to like that stupid digital Trip camera.
 
If it's Panasonic floating the rumors, it's not to "test" the market, but to prime it. If it's them, the camera is close to being announced and will be in stores within months. Which means it's probably been under development for at least a year. So rumors will help those who liked the LX family hold off on buying something else until this is announced. OTOH, it's possible the rumors aren't coming from Panasonic, in which case it might just be wishful thinking. But a company like that has far more sophisticated ways than floating rumors to test the market...

-Ray
 
I have certainly seen the price dip very very low at certain points. I thought it was going to be the demise of the LX series when I saw that.

My take (owning a LX 5 & 7), is that if a new model comes out, great. Because it sparks interest and hopefully contributes new enthusiast blood to this avocation. Googling a bit ago, I see that the LX 8/9 rumor with a 1" sensor has been around since fall, 2012. As to my needs/preference, I was very happy with my 5's performance, and only bought the 7 because of the great deal on a new U.S. factory unit I got from Groupon Sales (which, incidentally, according to Panasonic, is an authorized dealer - US warranty & service). Don't get me wrong, since using the 7, the 5 typically collects dust as a backup. My point, for my needs, is that the current sensor is adequate for my kind of shooting. And after shooting for four years, I have yet to print anything, although I understand one can get framing-quality images from 10MP up to 11x14. With the budget I've set aside for photography, I'm at a point that I'd rather spend that money improving my skills, rather than new gear.

Just my 2 cents.
 
I think when the LX3 launched, it WAS considered small for the "large" sensor that was in it - large being relative to the other point and shoot models available at the time. Then Canon came out with the S90 which has roughly the same sensor but was a lot smaller and from that point forward the LX family was never competing for the "TINY" title, but it's still small.

-Ray

True..

Gary


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I often hear that the LX3 was an exceptional camera. What was it about that camera and not the later models? When I got into photography I heard about the LX3 and bought the new LX5 thinking it was a new model and an improvement. What have I been missing out on?

How does the LX3 compare with the LX7?

It was the lens.. Though short zoom range, overall iq, especially in the mid focus range was superb..

Gary


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Honestly, I've been surprised by how long it's taken Olympus and Panasonic to respond to the RX100. All I can figure is it's a combination of caution in the face of financial trouble and development time.

Making a one inch sensor and associated digital path from scratch plus the development work to do the new camera is no easy chore. If they had no clue about the rx100 mk1, then Sony had a tremendous lead time that everyone need to catch up with or they were caught flat footed thinking it was not going to do well.... Nikon one on the otherhand looked to be a parallel timeframe development.

For companies that depend on Sony to be the third party sensor maker, they could not enter the market until Sony let them.

Gary


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I hope the Oly differerntiates itself by being like a true digital 35 trip and has a fixed prime lens with a big, bright clear OPTICAL viewfinder with info projected into it.
 
The LX8 rumors are getting stronger... and this one looks like it includes a built-in EVF. What's more, it appears that Olympus might be joining the fun as well.

(FT5) Confirmed by trusted sources: Large sensor LX8 coming in July. - 43 Rumors

Fuji is also rumored to be jumping in to the 1" sensor pool with the X30.

If that happens, and Panny, Fuji and Sony all offer 1" sensor options I really hope Olympus doesn't make it a foursome. I'm still hoping for an m4/3s FLC, 35-90/1.8 is all I need :). Come on OIy, hook us up...

I have to say that a 1" Fuji is the most interesting to me. I still have an X10, and I still really like it. If that had the image quality of the RX100 while retaining the Fuji charm and character and nuance it would be tough to beat.
 
I'd probably still be happy with my LX5 but the reason why I moved away from it was because of two things:

(i) I really wanted something that could handle low light photography much better,

(ii) I wanted the option to play with shallow depth of field.

Later on, I've also come to prefer manual focusing (which was faster).
 
I hope the Oly differerntiates itself by being like a true digital 35 trip and has a fixed prime lens with a big, bright clear OPTICAL viewfinder with info projected into it.

I'd be fine with a fixed prime lens, but at that point they clearly wouldn't be limited to a 1" sensor - they could do APS or stay with their ILC system and use a 4/3 sensor. If they do either with a 35mm equivalent and a bright clear optical finder, they're competing awfully directly with the the X100s. At that point, how do they differentiate?

Fuji is also rumored to be jumping in to the 1" sensor pool with the X30.

If that happens, and Panny, Fuji and Sony all offer 1" sensor options I really hope Olympus doesn't make it a foursome. I'm still hoping for an m4/3s FLC, 35-90/1.8 is all I need :). Come on OIy, hook us up...

I have to say that a 1" Fuji is the most interesting to me. I still have an X10, and I still really like it. If that had the image quality of the RX100 while retaining the Fuji charm and character and nuance it would be tough to beat.

The Oly option aside (35-90? - might suit you but I think they'd be hard pressed to not go to 28 or 24 if they want to reach a larger market than you...), I'm also encouraged by the rash of 1" based compacts that might be coming down the pike. I had an X10 and liked it a lot but only prefered it to the LX5/7 because of the larger sensor. Other than that I liked the LX7, in particular, more. If they're all competing on the same 1" battlefield, I'd likely be inclined to go with the LX8 over the X30. Particularly if Fuji gets silly and sticks an X-Trans array on the sensor...

-Ray
 
Honestly, I've been surprised by how long it's taken Olympus and Panasonic to respond to the RX100. All I can figure is it's a combination of caution in the face of financial trouble and development time.

My guess is, that a camera like that would hurt E-PM2 or GX1 sales. Just a guess.
 
I'd be fine with a fixed prime lens, but at that point they clearly wouldn't be limited to a 1" sensor - they could do APS or stay with their ILC system and use a 4/3 sensor. If they do either with a 35mm equivalent and a bright clear optical finder, they're competing awfully directly with the the X100s. At that point, how do they differentiate?

I'll bet Oly's autofocus is still better than Fuji's - at least this year. And five-axis stabilization. Together they would cause me to pause before buying an X100s.

My guess is, that a camera like that would hurt E-PM2 or GX1 sales. Just a guess.

According to the rumors we've been reading, Olympus may be doing away with the E-PMx line. Panasonic is a different story. But they have a history of camera lines that overlap with each other. Gx, GHx, etc.
 
I'd be fine with a fixed prime lens, but at that point they clearly wouldn't be limited to a 1" sensor - they could do APS or stay with their ILC system and use a 4/3 sensor. If they do either with a 35mm equivalent and a bright clear optical finder, they're competing awfully directly with the the X100s. At that point, how do they differentiate?



The Oly option aside (35-90? - might suit you but I think they'd be hard pressed to not go to 28 or 24 if they want to reach a larger market than you...), I'm also encouraged by the rash of 1" based compacts that might be coming down the pike. I had an X10 and liked it a lot but only prefered it to the LX5/7 because of the larger sensor. Other than that I liked the LX7, in particular, more. If they're all competing on the same 1" battlefield, I'd likely be inclined to go with the LX8 over the X30. Particularly if Fuji gets silly and sticks an X-Trans array on the sensor...

-Ray

Yeah Ray, I know a 35-90 isn't happening, just talking about what I'd like, and offering up some compromise to get f/1.8 throughout, which isn't happening either, I don't imagine.

As for fixed lens m4/3s, it'd have to be relatively cheap to compete with the X100s and Nikon A and Ricoh GR. Maybe $500? I'd probably pay that for a more compact version of an E-PL5 + 17/1.8. And I'd definitely pay that for a re-imagined Trip 35 with OVF. That would allow for some upward pricing mobility vs the APS-C offerings, which don't offer any sort of VF.
 
As for fixed lens m4/3s, it'd have to be relatively cheap to compete with the X100s and Nikon A and Ricoh GR. Maybe $500? I'd probably pay that for a more compact version of an E-PL5 + 17/1.8. And I'd definitely pay that for a re-imagined Trip 35 with OVF. That would allow for some upward pricing mobility vs the APS-C offerings, which don't offer any sort of VF.
Except for the X100s, which has the best sort of VF in the world, maybe ever, at least for a fixed lens... I was thinking an Oly fixed lens at a 35mm with an OVF would run sort of headlong into that...

-Ray
 
Except for the X100s, which has the best sort of VF in the world, maybe ever, at least for a fixed lens... I was thinking an Oly fixed lens at a 35mm with an OVF would run sort of headlong into that...

-Ray

Definitely. I was thinking about the Nikon and Ricoh when I typed "APS-C". Maybe I should've actually typed what I was thinking... The Fuji is in a different league vf-wise. But at half the price I'd be interested in an Oly with OVF and IQ of the 17/1.8.
 
Definitely. I was thinking about the Nikon and Ricoh when I typed "APS-C". Maybe I should've actually typed what I was thinking... The Fuji is in a different league vf-wise. But at half the price I'd be interested in an Oly with OVF and IQ of the 17/1.8.

This is what I was envisioning. It won't be competing with the X100 at price point or pure IQ with the smaller sensor. I think there is a sizeable group of buyers who want that optical viewfinder experience and don't want a $1,000 camera. Smaller sensor and smaller pricetag.
 
If the size is much larger they'll have an awfully hard time competing with the canon g1x MkII...

Curiously, 43rumors places the introduction on the 16th of july while photorumors expects it the 16th of june, aka next monday. Also the latter expects the price to be a hundred dollars higher than 43rumors...
 
The LX8 sounds very much like the compact I've been looking for. I hope the EVF is of a higher resolution/quality than the unit in the LF1. But even if it's not, I could probably deal with that.
 
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