The LX 3

Ho what a camera can do for you. I’m talking about the Panasonic LX3 a little gem that can rekindle one’s love for photography. Let’s face it we are all interested in equipment. We get very excited about new cameras, lenses, and even new programs. It’s like a love affair or an infatuation.
Before I go any further, I want to state that I’m not a pixel peeper or an equipment fanatic. I must also state categorically that it’s the photographer
Behind the camera that takes the picture. Nevertheless….
Getting my LX3 was a moment that takes me back to other memorable ones. I will never forgot when I got my first real SLR, a Canon Ft , or my first Leica. And that first Nikon Ftn with that superb 105mm f 2.5 that I still have . But I digress.
The LX3 is the Panasonic version of the Leica DLux 4. The same exact camera. Both are made by Panasonic. Both have the same electronics, more or less, and both have at their heart the incomparable Vario Summicron f2-2.8. This alone is worth all the excitement. There are many weaknesses such as the limited tele capability but the 24mm equivalent wide end is divine.
The lack of any optical view finder is a problem especially in sunlight as I’m very much used to putting the camera in front of my right eye when I take a photo; it’s a way to steady the camera. The use of a Manfrotto
monopod helps but any view finder would have been welcome. At the present time, the optional separate viewfinder that attaches on the hot show is nowhere to be found.
With all these shortcomings, one may ask what’s so special about this gem.
Well it makes you love it, not unlike a dog in a way. It soon becomes almost an indispensable tool. You just want to take it everywhere you go. In short, it makes you want to take pictures.
The results are stunning for any camera. All the extra pixels of other cameras, notwithstanding, the results are great. The color is superb, the lens distortion is almost invisible and the sharpness is incredible. We are talking here printed results and not monitor results that may show, if magnified a lot, some inevitable shortcomings. This is not the perfect camera nor is it the perfect point and shooter. No camera is nor will it ever be. Yet, for what can be achieved this camera breaks new grounds. Pixel peeping is repulsive to me and I avoid it at all cost. I am looking at an image in its totality. We must look at the whole forest not at each tree.
Back to the love affair, so far my enthusiasm has not ebbed; I have the camera for about three weeks and I like it more and more each time I see what it can do.
I’ve been fascinated by point and shooters since I got my Coolpix 990 that started my digital journey. At present I have very advanced SLR’s in both Canon and Nikon flavors. These I use for my business. But for fun, I’ve always tried to get a perfect point and shooter. The Minolta S404 came closest to satisfaction but the others that followed were simply never used. I either traded them or gave them away.
My Canon G9, bought last May, is a good example. Nice camera, relatively good images, a sharp lens, good color and skin tones. But it’s optical viewfinder, because of too much parallax is useless, and it’s almost impossible menu.Two minor annoyances, but what made me fall out of love was it’s unacceptable noise. Sorry, but anything above ISO 100 is too noisy for my taste.
Why cramp all those pixels in such a small sensor is inexplicable. Canon packed even more pixels in the G 10. Totally ridiculous.
With the LX3 what was love at first sight appears to be everlasting love. But with cameras, you never know.
More on the subject later.
All the best
Rocco Galatioto