LX5 on Amazon for $265

Ray Sachs

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you should be able to figure it out...
For those who didn't see this elsewhere, Amazon is selling the LX-5 for $339 but also including a $75 Amazon gift card, so the effective price of the camera is $264. I guess if you never spend any money with Amazon, the gift card business is not such a screaming deal, but if you tend to buy from them and would spend the $75 there anyway, its quite a deal. Jeez, the cheapest used ones selling on Amazon are only $20 or so less...

Having tried many compact now, I can't say that on balance I've liked any of them as much as I liked the LX5, which I sold a while back. Having been through a few others, and having sold the LX5 for a good deal more than the current price, I may just pick this up. Only the much more specialized GRD3 (or 4) matches it for usability and consistently great results, within limits of course. The X10 was better on some levels, but the orbs make shooting in certain conditions really problematic - the LX5 isn't nearly as good at high ISO but is highly useable with full confidence in pretty much any situation. And its got that 24mm wide lens and multi-aspect sensor so I can shoot in my favored 3:2 at full resolution. Other than the X10, the others I've tried haven't come close to the LX5's all around goodness on a number of levels. I don't know if I'm gonna jump on this deal or not (runs through April, so time to consider), but anyone who's ever though about this camera should think a little harder now! And, Don, if you're lurking, they've even updated the firmware which I understand allows the camera to remember the size and location of the AF box - your pet peeve resolved!

-Ray
 
Yeah, but probably not until a good deal later this year, and it will no doubt sell for $500-$600 for most of the first year its around. I'm not even sure a larger sensor is a good thing in this class of camera. Maybe SLIGHTLY larger like the one in the X10, which may or may not make much difference without the EXR tricks Fuji plays with that sensor, which are both brilliant but seemingly flawed as well. But not a LOT larger like in the Canon G1X because that just forces the camera and lens to get a lot bigger and/or to be a lot slower. And some of us LIKE a lot of DOF for some uses. Not saying everyone should run out and buy an LX5, but if you've ever thought about one...

-Ray
 
Agree with Ray. Slightly larger is ok but the great thing about the LX3/5 is the wide fast lens. The bigger the sensor the bigger the lens will have to be. The bigger the all around camera the bigger the chance that it will eat into GF sales. Give me an LX6 with the same or marginally larger sensor an one stop improvement in ISO at 800, a 24-70 equivalent that's f2 throughout and a tilting hi-res screen like the NEX, then sell it at 400-450 and I'll buy it.
 
Agree with Ray. Slightly larger is ok but the great thing about the LX3/5 is the wide fast lens. The bigger the sensor the bigger the lens will have to be. The bigger the all around camera the bigger the chance that it will eat into GF sales. Give me an LX6 with the same or marginally larger sensor an one stop improvement in ISO at 800, a 24-70 equivalent that's f2 throughout and a tilting hi-res screen like the NEX, then sell it at 400-450 and I'll buy it.

Funny you should mention that - I briefly checked out the Nikon P7100 because it checks some of those very boxes, but with a 28-200 EFR lens. They've done whatever they need to massage the raw files and the jpeg processing to make it pretty decent at ISO 800, they have a GREAT tilt screen, and I figured it could be a great street camera and, with that range, a pretty good all around shooter. But it had a terrible manual/zone focus implementation and the lens just tries to do TOOOOOO much and just isn't very sharp anywhere I could find in the range. So, it was not even close to a keeper, but if someone can hit on that combination and get a little bit more out of the sensor but not ask too much of the lens, they could surpass the LX5 for sure. If Fuji can just work out the sensor issues with the X10 (lose the orbs without also losing what makes it great for DR and low light) and add a flip screen, the X10 could be my ultimate small camera. I thought it was there for a while. But for now, nobody's built more all-around goodness into one of these little guys than the LX5, at least for my own preferences.

-Ray
 
The Canons (S90/95/100) are the smallest of the bunch and definitely a good way to go if size is your biggest priority. Having owned an S90, though, I definitely prefer the LX5 for my style of shooting. The S100 adds some range to the lens and appears to be a bit better at higher ISO, but those are pretty slow cameras. The LX5 is faster to AF and has a much better manual/zone focus setup and has zero shutter lag when using manual focus. The S90, for some reason, had a lot of lage even when pre-focussed. The Canons are also slower as you move up through the zoom range, but are equally fast at the wide end. I liked the S90 a lot as a travel/scenery type of camera - the IQ was great for such a small camera. But I like the LX5 just as much in that regard and more in terms of usability. Can't go wrong with either. The S100 is a brand new camera though (not even sure if you can get it yet??) so it'll be a while before its discounted. There are good deals on the S95 though.

-Ray
 
The S100 has been for sale for a while.

I have an LX5 but would like something with faster autofocus and a larger sensor that will hopefully improve on the IQ, especially in low light shots. 24p full HD video is important too, in fact that was the reason why I went for the LX5 over the S95 in the first place, I really liked the smaller S95 and would have gotten that if it wasn't for the better video in the LX5.

But anyway I think if they increased the size of the sensor to 2/3" that would be a decent size.
 
In terms of size the Canons are great, but my issue with them is that they only go to 28mm (equivalent) on the wide end. Given how much my LX3 ends up being shot at 24mm the Canons are a non-starter for me.
 
The S100 is 24 at the wide end. I think they may have gone longer on the long end too, but don't recall. But there were reports of decentered lenses, at least in the DPR review. They're fine cameras, but not for me.

-Ray
 
The S100 is 24 at the wide end. I think they may have gone longer on the long end too, but don't recall. But there were reports of decentered lenses, at least in the DPR review. They're fine cameras, but not for me.

-Ray

Thanks for the deal link, Ray. What do you think about the LX5 for a novice shooter?

I bought an E-PL3 for my wife, but I am starting to figure out she really did just want a compact zoom. She would prefer to have something smaller/lighter, has built-in flash, and a zoom for flexibility. Also, the more shallow DoF (versus her previous compact) is actually a negative... she would prefer to have more stuff in focus and not worry about it. For example, she took some pics this past weekend at a birthday party for her bro's kids, and ended up with a lot of images with 1 out of the 3 kids in focus, because she didn't want to bring the flash and so the 20/1.7 was running wide open.

I usually have my E-P3 around most of the time (or she can grab it if she wants a more serious portrait, etc.), so I am starting to think that it makes sense to sell the E-PL3 and get her a compact. I was looking at the S95/100 (unfortunately missed the Amazon deal on the s95 earlier this year), XZ-1 and the LX5 (we had a LX3), but this deal has me thinking abut the LX5.
 
Kyle,

Having tried a number of these compacts in the S95, LX5 class, I'd say most of them would be good for someone with what you describe as your wife's needs. My fairly strong preference for the LX5 is based on a couple of pretty specific features that work really well for me, but would probably be lost on the average snapshot shooter (that sounded a bit more high and mighty than I intended, but you know, the more you get into it, the pickier you get). If she wants to shoot in low light throughout the zoom range, the XZ1 or X10 or the Samsung EX1 may be the best, if she values the smallest sized package, the Canon S100 can't be touched, if she values 24mm wide angle (perhaps not a big deal to her?), that knocks out the XZ1 and X10. The only downside she MIGHT find with the LX5 is it has a relatively short telephoto end compared to some of them. Some people don't like the Pany jpegs as much as either the Canon or Olympus, although I oddly like them a lot (even though I don't much care for the Pany m43 models).

So, I don't see much DOWNside to the LX5 for someone like your wife, but I don't see the same upsides I see in it mattering to a lot of more casual shooters either (better manual/zone focus, multi-aspect sensor, no shutter lag, pretty fast AF, the feel of the controls, etc). I don't think you'll get hurt by jumping on a good deal, but I don't think you'd get hurt with an equally good deal with any of these other models either....

-Ray
 
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