[Closed] Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, any views?

Do it - they are great! Bought one a few weeks back and liking it lots - fantastic lens.

Might be able to upload some pic if you'd like, but in the mean time I'd recommend a read of the dpreview enthusiasts compact review - the LX3 wins.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408enthusiastgroup/

Cheers,
Nick

So wanted the Nikon P6000 to be god because it felt so right in the hand, gutted but knew the Panasonic was a good'un

[i]fantastic lens[/i]

Not really - it's got bags of barrel distortion and aberration both which are corrected in software. But the end result's still pretty decent.

I have the LX2 which I like a lot .. except for the usual problem of - no optical viewfinder.

So I would personally favour the Canon G10, or even the Panasonic G1 micro-4/3 "pseudo-DSLR", which has an excellent electronic viewfinder.

Good Camera.
A little Leica with different software for less money
Another good one......... Ricoh GX 200

[i]A little Leica with different software for less money[/i]

Err .. well ... that's stretching a point. No-one with any sense will buy the Leica-badge Panasonic clones, and no-one will mistake an LX3 for an M8.

ok, so whats a good little Leica? are their digital cameras just repacked other cameras?

Perfect people camera but can't do HDR so put me off for the landscapes.

[i]Perfect people camera but can't do HDR so put me off for the landscapes.[/i]

Whaddya mean "can't do HDR" ?? It has manual exposure so you can do HDR all you want.

The little Leica digitals are the same as the (cheaper) Panasonic (I think ...)

Whaddya mean "can't do HDR" ?? It has manual exposure so you can do HDR all you want.

If you can keep it still while scroll through the menus - no decent range auto bracketing. Unless there has been some firmware upgrade.

tinribz - a tripod is your friend, then.

I don't much like "HDR", meself 🙁

Yes, the Panasonic LX-3 is also a D-Lux 4 with a little red Leica badge on the front. Slightly different software inside for another wedge of cash. Why would you get a Leica other than snob value?

[img] http://www.letsgodigital.org/images/artikelen/25/leica-dlux-4.jp g" target="_blank">http://www.letsgodigital.org/images/artikelen/25/leica-dlux-4.jp g"/> [/img]

[img] http://anthonyturano.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/panasonic-lx3-fr2-450.jp g" target="_blank">http://anthonyturano.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/panasonic-lx3-fr2-450.jp g"/> [/img]

[i]Why would you get a Leica other than snob value?[/i]

Well, I'd get a Leica rangefinder for a whole host of reasons, both practical and aesthetic.

If I could begin to afford it.

got an LX2 from fleabay last week , impressed so far, the 16:9
format is great for some subjects , could not afford the LX3 at the moment
despite all the wailing about noisy images in the reviews I like it.

I got one just after they came onto the market. Yes, they are a little noisy compared to a DSLR from 400~ISO upward but not enough to make me return it.

The lack of optical viewfinder can be a pain in the ass sometimes (ie bright sunlight) but you can get an external optical viewfinder if you want. The only other limitation is the lack of tele zoom range. It would be sooo much better if the zoom went another 40mm or so...
(Then again, you can buy an external adapter lens to do this)

I read a ton of reviews and got a GX200, based mainly on the lens range, noise, build quality, user interface, I think, it was a while ago.

It seems fine but I've not used it much

I've had a D-LUX 3 for a couple of years, and its been pretty good. The 16:9 format is really handy for difficult pictures. Yes it is a Panasonic with some different software and without the minging plastic chrome bits - actually thats the main reason I bought it because of the lack of minging plastic chrome bits.
It was quite amusing though to get an email from Leica a couple of months ago ago asking me to "Support my local Leica dealer" and also another one suggesting that I might be interested in the M8.2 special edition [gulp].
I do quite like the look of the new S-System - don't even think about asking how much it is as you really, really can't afford it
[img] [/img]

How much?
...you could buy a car for that...!