you can't have a pocketable zoom of this size and have it be fast. It's not the kind of camera I would buy, but I would think for those looking for a travel camera, the extra zoom range would be more useful than a larger aperture. Most tourist shots are outside in good light and shallow DOF with small sensor cameras is kind of a joke anyways. This is the kind of camera I would recommend to my wife. She likes the ability to zoom, but she also prefers small cameras to bridge cameras.
I am just not their market I suppose. I thought perhaps this was meant to replace the LX line or something. Apparently not then?
i'm not sure. from what i saw, and admittedly its a limited sample, i think the IQ (unfortunately) rivals the x20. this is really the first of its kind: a shirt-pocketable 28-200 useable to iso1600, 2.0 at the wide end, with a vf. i think we should cut panny a break here! ):
john, i may be wrong, but from what i read i believe its exactly the same sensor as the lx7. i think the IQ difference comes from the resolving differences in the lenses used by each camera. and obviously the lf1 is not as versatile because its SLOW.
i'm not sure about the consequence to the aspect ratio, hmm...but i believe it was the review in Cameralabs that said it was the same sensor. another, if i recall correctly, termed it an lx7 sensor stuffed in a smaller package, or some similar sentiment.
i remember a few years ago, when mirrorless was in its infancy, thinking to myself 'interesting side show, but itll never replace FF dslrs'. then, when the x100 came out, and after some appropriate 'vetting' time, i was happily trading in my 5d for it, selling my huge contax lenses, and marveling that i was getting equal IQ up to 800 and better above that! i think techology is just outrunning our imagination.
I think a camera that fits in a pocket, has an EVF (however small and grainy it may be), a 28-200 zoom, and an apparently goog picture quality is notable. Would it replace my LX7? No, it is a different animal, and although definitely compact, I am not sure that it qualifies for the serious category. Wait and see. I would not mind having one, and it seems to me to be the almost perfect fit for my girlfriend. She is a good photographer, but contrary to me she prefers long lenses to wide-angles. Nothing wrong with that, even if some people think that to be a good photographer you must use wide-angles, and do street photography - however boring and uninteresting - in black-and-white.