New camera - Panasonic LX3
The UPS man just brought me a new toy: the Panasonic Lumix LX3 compact digital camera. Now, I'm primarily a landscape shooter, and happily use my D300 for that. In fact it's not even possible to take the sort of night shots I specialize in using my new toy. So why get it? Well, there's a few reasons. One, I enjoy carrying a camera with me daily just in case I come across something worth shooting. I ride a motorcycle, and have wanted a small camera to bring on riding trips - the D300 takes up almost my entire tank bag. I've wanted to rig up a bracket that I could use to attach the camera to the bike to take pictures while riding - of myself and of the scenery. This is way easier with a compact camera than a bulky DSLR (and probably safer too). Recently, my wife Jade and I got back from our honeymoon in Costa Rica. I brought along a "basic" kit of the D300 and three lenses. It took up the better part of half my backpack, and was a constant source of apprehension whenever I had to leave it somewhere. All my gear is insured, but I still didn't want to lose any of the photos I had taken. Not to mention, the D300 is no pocket camera. It is a heavy beast, and requires a certain level of commitment to haul it around all the time.
So I was hankering for something small and light that would still produce good images. I wanted something with a bright wide angle lens - most of my photos are shot as wide as I can get. I also didn't want anything made of flimsy plastic - I've been spoiled silly by the tank that is the D300 (not to mention all my film cameras), and "feel" has always been important to me when it comes to my tools.
Enter the Panasonic LX3. I read about it a couple months ago, and from the specs it sounded like it would do the trick. Solid metal body, bright (f/2!) wide lens, and touting very high quality images for a compact. I waited around to read the first reviews, which seemed rather positive... then J&R camera offered a $100 discount for pre-orders, so I went ahead and ordered mine.
Well, as I just received it, I haven't been able to test it out yet, but it definitely feels like a quality tool. There's a good heft to it, thanks to the metal body. It's really really small, too - smaller than I thought. It makes a Leica rangefinder seem enormous in comparison. I'll be doing some shooting later today, and I'll report back with my impressions of image quality. So far, it seems like exactly what I wanted!
Who did you order the lx3 from?
Cam on Sep 15 at 04:11 PM
I ordered it from J&R, who were offering a $100 rebate for a while.
Toby on Sep 15 at 08:57 PM