There are many beautiful photos of LX7 here
http://www.popco.net/zboard/view.php?id=dica_review&no=810

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Added on August 14, 2012, 6:21 pmHow I estimate LX7 sensor performance?

We will use dxomark extensively. It is the best reference while many argue the accuracy. But I have downloaded many sample raw pics from dpreview to analyst many cameras from 5d3 to XZ1 and I can confirm that dxomark is very accurate. We will be very interested in ISO score and we will talk a bit on dynamic range score. We are not interested in dxomark "overall score" which is meaningless.

The sensor size of LX7 is 1/1.7", same as Olympus XZ1, Canon G11/G12/S95/S100 and Nikon P7100 and slightly smaller than the 1/1.63" of LX5.

The biggest different this sensor with them is that it is a CMOS while all others are CCD (except S100/G12). CMOS tends to have better noise performance than CCD. That's why full frame Leica M9 CCD sensor has a poorer ISO performance than a smaller APS-C Nikon D7000.

And for the first time, LX7 is not using a panasonic sensor (strange for a company that made their own sensor). This is told in the launching interview in Taiwan. Their excuse is that they don't have such size. They can either buy from Aptina or Sony. But why not buy from the best if you have to buy form a third party? I do hope it is Sony.

Sony made sensors for many great camera brands such as Nikon and Pentax. The best APS-C sensor today are found in Pentax K5 and Nikon D7000, which is made by Sony.

Pentax Q has a sensor half the size of LX7. It is a CMOS and is believed to be made by Sony. The sensor, albeit smaller, outperform all 1/1.7" CCD sensor in ISO performance and dynamic range!
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/C...tabase/Pentax/Q

Pentax Q has a score of 189 for ISO performance.

That means if we use the same technology and put the same amount of megapixels (12) on a double sized sensor. It will 100% sure to be better!

How I estimate RX100 sensor performance?

Sony made the best sensor in the world. And for marketing reason for consumers (and 'pros' that think they know something but actually they don't), they like to stuck a lot of megapixels in their sensor, this will draw down the sensor performance but because they are ahead of the technology, it will still be better than other sensor makers.

The best reference is actually Nikon 1, which has the same sized 1" sensor but made by Aptina. However, it is 10mp only. Since RX100 jammed twice more pixels into it, the sensor performance will be around the same or slightly better than Nikon 1 only (by assuming Sony has an edge over Aptina).
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/C...base/Nikon/1-V1

It has a score of 346 for ISO performance.

LX7 vs RX100 ISO sensor performance

So my conclusion is very straightforward, if LX7 has a conservative score of 200 and RX100 has a conservative score of 400, RX100 will have at most 1 stop advantage over LX7 'only'. That means if you shoot f2 at ISO800 of RX100, you can shoot at f1.4 at ISO400 on LX7 using the same shutter speed. That's why the f1.4 bright lens play the biggest magic here.

Dynamic Range
Unlike the old CCD sensors, dynamic range for both CMOS sensor are good enough to stay above 11EV. So I assume they are good enough for a compact of such size.

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Added on August 14, 2012, 6:36 pmHow do I gauge RX100 and LX7 lens performance?

Imaging Resource provides a lot of test pics for analysis for both RX100 and LX7 (and also LX5) such as this one. To get them, Google for the specific camera review.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/pana...7/LX7hVFAWB.HTM LX7 24mm f1.4
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/sony...RX100hVFAWB.HTM RX100 28mm f1.8

I am interested in these cameras when they are shot WIDE open and at both WIDE end and TELE end because those are the "soft" spot.

Most lens are sharp at the center but the problem usually arise at the corners so I pay a lot of attention on them.

LX7 vs LX5

Both are Leica lenses (for ego purpose) and to my surprise, the f1.4 LX7 is obviously sharper than LX5 at the corners!!! Taking the same picture with LX7 at f1.4 will look better than LX5 at f2.0!!! That means LX7 is fully usable at f1.4 and not just a hype!!!

LX7 vs RX100

LX7 simply kill the RX100 at the borders and corners. This means while RX100 has a better sensor, it doesn't have a good enough lens to resolved it.

But RX100 is 20 megapixels and LX7 is only 10! If you downsized RX100 to 10mp and compare....

I hear you! Why downsized RX100 to 10mp? Why don't we make it more fun by up sizing 10mp to 20!!! Do it and be surprise that LX7 is actually much better? Why? Because sharp pictures can be up sized easily and still look very good.

But corners are not important
You win!

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Added on August 14, 2012, 6:52 pmDepth of Field (DOF) Comparison

I choked when both camera markets themselves as good at creating professional SLR quality bokeh... These compacts can do a lot of things as good as those high end cameras EXCEPT bokeh. Unless you shoot something very close to you (aka macro), shallow DOF is very hard to get.

LX7 has a crop factor of 5.1
RX100 has a crop factor of 2.7

LX7 aperture range f1.4-2.3
RX100 f1.8-4.9

In full frame DOF equivalent, we are like shooting with a 5d mark iii or D700 at the following aperture setting
LX7 f7.1-11.7
RX100 f4.9-13

Both sucks. Even though the f4.9 look "interesting" but it is on the wide end which is 28mm of FF so you don't really get much from it.

If you need bokeh, both cameras are not for you.

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Added on August 14, 2012, 7:00 pmWhy LX7 will kill off Canon G11, G12, S95, S100, Nikon P7100 and Olympus XZ1?

G11 and G12 has largest aperture of f2.8. The sensor is slightly worst than LX7 due to CCD characteristic.

LX7 has largest aperture of f1.4 that is fully usable. It has 2 stops advantage on low light performance! When you need to reach ISO800 on G12, you can still use ISO200 on your LX7 and on sensor so small, it is SKY and EARTH on noise level!!!

Aperture means a lot. The S95/S100 has f2.0 but still means 1 stop poorer than LX7. The XZ1 is f1.8. [XZ1 has the worst 1/1.7" sensor made by Panasonic, lol]

This post has been edited by samsungfreak: Aug 15 2012, 04:51 PM

wow.. sound nice.. hope this lx-7 launch in mas. faster.. appreciated the information..

This post has been edited by owlking: Aug 17 2012, 08:32 PM

got to agree those that want bokeh go get yourself a Canon EOS-M or Nex if you want bokeh on mini size.

Thanks for the reply. I thought no one interested in LX7.

Hong Kong already have stock and selling at eBay, the price keep dropping and now reach USD$510. US retail price is $499. A bit hard to guess Malaysia price because Panasonic camera stuff can be more expensive here.

Japan believe to get stock 23 Aug. Other places on September.

I have been able to "hack" the LX7 raw file and load it into LightRoom 4 and ISO400 of LX7 is very slightly better than GX1 ISO 1,600! This is a GREAT NEWS because let say you use GX1 with kit lens at f3.5 to f5.6. You will get better low light performance with LX7 than the GX1 because of the bright f1.4 lens and better CMOS sensor!!! If you shoot with GX1 at ISO1,600 at f3.5, you can shoot at f1.8 on LX7 ISO400 and still get very slightly better noise performance! And you still have room to stop down to f1.4. The same applies to the entire focal length. And the kit lens cannot go as wide as 24mm.

The Depth of Field of LX7 is almost the same as any m43 cameras using the kit lens! LX7 crop factor is 5.1x. m43 is 2x.
LX7 f1.4-2.3 becomes f7.1-11.7
m43 f3.5-5.6 becomes f7-11.2

Instead of thinking that it has a zoom lens, I prefer to think it as compact camera with 6 primes build in!

24mm F1.4
28mm F1.6
35mm F1.7
50mm F1.9
70mm F2.1
90mm F2.3

Just turn on the Step Zoom feature and you can move around this 6 focal length easily.

I have never been so excited about a small camera.

That is if the person does not have a gx1 with a fast lens. But then the price will not justify the comparison already.

The only thing that bother much about lx7 is the size is just not good for pocketing. It is almost same as the gx1 with the power zoom kit lens.

This post has been edited by 300078: Aug 18 2012, 07:31 AM

Why didnt you compare the cameras' size? Size is all a very important factor for people who considers to buy these cameras.

somebody posted this in dpreview:

"When the LX3 came out years ago, it was a breath of fresh air. It was small, it had the most commonly used FL zoom. It had a fast zoom lens. It had fantastic IQ. It had video! Having video on a camera at that time was a bit new.

The RX100 is now the new LX3. What it did great is that it made the sensor even bigger. And the low light performance is way ahead. So with the other features. If the LX3 or even LX5 was good, the RX100 is the first compact that is truly pocketable and that is on par with entry level DSLRs.

The LX7's dilemma is that it will pale in comparison to the RX100. I suppose Panasonic didn't see the RX100 coming, the same way many didn't see the LX3 coming in the early days. It's too late for the LX7, but on the next iteration, they better do something different. They could discontinue the line and create a new one, or revitalize the LX8 with a larger sensor and see if they can squeeze a 24-85 f2.0-4.5 lens in there. That should put it in the running again. As it is now, the LX7 is not like its grandfather before, or even the LX5. There is a new kid on the block and it is one hell of a camera. "

The above poster make sense and if XZ2 and S105 are going to be minor upgrades
like LX7 then Oly and Canon better go back to the drawing board or risk being
ignored like LX7. Really no exitement felt and no reason for LX5 owners to
upgrade. Maybe they should be classified as subpremium PnS targeted at budget
concious segment.

This is what make it exciting.... Still have no clue what they will bring. Xz2 with bigger sensor and maintain the lens speed (could be difficult becoz the bigger the sensor the bigger lens), as for s105 since canon already throw us 2 surprise with g1x and eos-m which are big sensor in small body. So it maybe interesting to see what the s105 will be like.

I think the LX7 is a great camera and the ND filter feature is very interesting, but the downside for me is the size. I have been using my trusty LX3 for almost 4 years and it's my go everywhere camera, but it is not exactly small and the LX7 is bigger. So the compactness of the RX100 is the outstanding feature for me, as it is a size which will make me take it everywhere without hesitation.

Here is a size comparison with LX3 and I like the fact the RX100 can fit inside small pouches which could not fit the LX3 :

This size is not compared because I am trying to show something that most people can't see instead (low light performance, corner sharpness, etc).

For size, it will be very obvious to the buyer. Just like it is very obvious iPhone will be smaller than any of these and 5d mark iii will be bigger than this two.

Both are good cameras and depends on what you what to pick on, if you want pocket ability, RX100 is the way to go. If you want better shooting experiences (more buttons and dials, better menus, etc)
, LX series is the way to good. So as the 24mm wide end, do you need it? If you need it, RX100 will be out. Also do you plan to use the hotshoe, maybe for a flash or electronic viewfinder? These stuff a bit more obvious, what I try to bring to the table is again, the combination of the sensor with the lens.

p/s your LX3 mode dial... can also see your hand in the shutter button, haha.

This post has been edited by samsungfreak: Aug 18 2012, 02:06 PM

Totally agree, it's really about what you are looking for in a camera. I was really tempted by the LX7 lens and ND filter feature, and for sure the LX7 is better at keeping a wide aperture at all focal lengths.

Yah, my LX3 is really widely travelled, the mode dial is due to the frequent sliding in & out of the pouch. I have a replacement mode dial but I never got round to replacing it and now I don't need to :-)

Here is a LX7 hands-on review by a Singapore photographer will quite some good pics.

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/reviews/112...view-hosea.html

Those photos shows more about the shooter than the camera le... low res summore.

Hello Guys,

Canada is shipping the LX7 right now. A shop in US is shipping the FZ200 1 week ahead of schedule. All shops in US promised LX7 shipping in August. Japan will be this Thursday. There should be more user reviews coming out but hopefully we we got some good photos and not just snapshots.

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Added on August 20, 2012, 6:12 pmCorrect. His eyes are quite good. Looks to me he is interested in web posting only and never prints since he say ISO800 looks good. He also shoot JPEG only.

This post has been edited by samsungfreak: Aug 20 2012, 06:12 PM

Taiwan already on the shelf jor.

ps: Just read some review.. nothing dramatic over LX5 in terms of sensor. Still small sensor look.

First LX7 user review, lots of good info comparing to RX100 and Nikon 1.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat...thread=42305485

Point is.. the "small sensor syndrome" still remains ie grain at low ISO, shadow noise. That poster can tolerate up to ISO6400 on the J1 and ISO1000 on the LX7... heck I can't even tolerate ISO3200 on APS-C . Maybe its time to abandon compact di.

Definitely another web only photographer who don't print...

I just want it to be good at ISO200 and emergency use on ISO400. Never expect myself to use ISO800. Hope more reviews keep flowing.

My plan --> Keep XZ-1, Keep 60D + lens but don't buy more, buy NEX-F3 or NEX-6.