wow, I was just at the PC fair in JB and they ran out of LX3s.

They quoted me RM1599 foc 8GB Panasonic class 6 SDHC, hard case, mini tripod(useless), screen protector and 2 year warranty.
Seems hard to beat at that price... too bad they even sold the demo unit!

Another booth had ready stock but the lowest they could go was RM1725 foc 4GB only! What a rip off!

Arrgh i gotta buy one b4 i go 4 my Xmas trip in Turkey!

Ah the 100th page.
What a nice page to start my LX3 story.
Just wanna share with you guys how scarce this baby is in JB.

It all started when I got poisoned by various sites on the internet declaring the LX3 as the most special compact to come on the market in a long long time. Before you know it I stumbled on this 'King' thread here on LYN.

Made up my mind to buy one so I did my survey for the prices.
Best price to pop up in camera shops here is about RM1650.
Fine I thought, let's wait for the PC Fair, I'm sure they will have promo like the KL PC fair so maybe I'll get a better deal.

So I foolishly waited till the last day of the PC fair in JB (21st Dec 08) to go and pick one up if there is a good deal.
The moment i reached the mainhall I see a Panasonic booth by Tat Radio. Ah-ha I thought, I see Lumix!
So I ask the salesman there if they have an LX3 and how much. SOLD OUT he says!
Even the demo set was snapped up!
Apparently they were offering it at RM1599 foc 8GB panasonic class 6 SDHC, Hard case, screen protector and mini tripod!
Damn I thought maybe they can order from other shops, so I waited as they made many calls and even Panasonic HQ had run out of stock.
Arrgh! According to him no stock till beginning of next year!
Dejected I went exploring the 'pasar malam' and one other shop had one black unit. But too bad the sales people were very lansi, refused to budge and lowest I could nego was RM1715 foc 4GB card only. Other options I would have to choose.

I went straight to Foto CLS in Pelangi Leisure Mall after the PC fair and spoke to a friend there. Sold out also. Told me he would check it out with associates to see whether they have stock to spare and would call me on Monday.

The next 2 days were the longest days of my life as I needed to get a good camera before I left for Turkey on Xmas day.
Monday came, I visited CLS in the evening and nope, no luck. Everybody had run out of stock thanks to the PC fair. Apparently Tat Radio had called in sets from other dealers when they exhausted their own stock.

Hot damn, another wall. Off to Plaza Angsana. Mee Too photo is an old name in JB.
I'm pretty sure if they would have one cos I saw an LX1 lying around when I last visited.
The dude there was pretty cool as he checked his stock book and there were LX3s there!
Rejoice! Off to the storeroom he went with me whipping out my cash!
Finally! I thought...
10 mins past and I get a phone call from my boy here thru the shop.
Out.Of.Black.Colour.
"You cool with Silver?" He asked.
"Helllllll No!" I reply.
What ensued was me cajolling him to make a trip to other camera shops in the mall and making countless phone calls to friends in other shops in other states.
Multiple "wait 5 mins, my friend check stock will call back" later, we strike gold!
A friend of his in another part of Johor has a Black unit which he would courier down the next day!
Price nego follows with him matching the PC fair price and package. Nice I thought.
Deposit paid, told to wait for his call on Tuesday.

Tuesday, 23rd Dec. I get a nice sms from Mee Too dude informing of some bad news. Apparently his colour blind friend had mistaken the last Silver LX3 in his shop for a Black one.
I was speechless, maybe it was because we communicated by sms, or maybe I had really run out of options. I leave in one day's time.

Thinking outside of JB, I remembered I saw LX3s on sale in various Foto Charlie shops.
Only problem was Foto Charlie operates exclusively in Batu Pahat. That is over 100km away from JB.
Calls were made to different outlets. All had no stock left except the one at Batu Pahat Mall!
3 calls were made to confirm whether they really had stock or they were yanking my chain.(Even made my gf call)

This was it. I knew I had to fulfill my destiny.(Corny, I know, bear with me, it's 3.30am as I write this)
So off on a road trip I went, my beloved gf beside me wondering what the hell is wrong with me, driving over 200km in total to buy a little compact camera.

8pm I set off. Reached BP Mall at abt 9:15pm.
I see the LX3 sitting pretty in the display.
Salesman came, asked him how much.
Fixed price of RM1677! Steep, but at this point my only other option was to buy a Leica Dlux4 for 2.9k from CLS! Yeah, that would sit real well with my wallet, it being so thin. And time is of the essence. And of course limited stock.
After some persuasion, I manage to squeeze an upgrade to a Class 6 8GB Apacer card.
Rest of the package was shite. Ugly ass Lumix nylon case (pasar malam quality the GF says), an ill-fitting screen protector, a teeny weeny little wiener of a mini tripod and an oh-so-cheapo wrist strap. At least the warranty is for 2 years.
Forgot to mention contrary to what I believed, I actually got a brand new sealed box. Didn't get that Panny in the window. Haha.
Really didn't care much abt the service from my guy there. Was in and out in 10 mins.

Cash exchange hands, drive another 100+km home and here I am writing this essay cos I'm waiting for the damn battery to charge.

Sorry to bore you guys. Hope you learn the lesson that I paid the price for.
See a shop that sells an LX3 at a good price, BUY IT. You never know if stock will finish up soon and you have to pay more.

Thanks for reading.

P.S.
Expenditure :
Roadtrip: Panasonic LX3 RM1677, Toll RM18.20, Petrol RM 25
Yamiya.com: Gorillapod SLR RM120, Ricoh LC-1 Lenscap RM50, Lenspen RM31
Total damage: RM1921.20
The satisfaction of finally hunting down and owning an LX3: Priceless!

I wanna ask for some thoughts abt the JPEG compression.
Do u guys use Fine or Standard setting?

On a recent trip overseas i almost ran out of memory so i switched to the more economical setting. The image quality difference that resulted was not discernible to my eyes.
I wonder whether anyone has any experience/data abt this?

Updated!
2009/1/15
Ver 1.2
Improved white balance flash mode setting when DMW-FL220 is connected.
Proper setting of shutter speed on iA mode and Scene mode when OIS is turned ON.
Proper Exif information in the JPEG picture file.