The Panasonic LX7. A $349 Backup to my Leica M by John Kurniawan

The Panasonic LX7. A $349 Backup to my Leica M

by John Kurniawan

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Hi Steve and Brandon…Wish you both a Great 2015!

Bought a Panasonic LX7 as a back up to my M system.

I choose LX7 as a camera for my daughter as well a back up cam when I am traveling. Why LX7 ? Just love its size and features which suit my need like macro, zoom and manual mode. The manual mode comes handy when in low light condition so I can mimic the RF experience.

Almost a year with LX7, both my girl and me are happy with it, here are some the photo produce by this funtastic cam. Ones can produce good photo no matter what the camera is, most important is how ones capture lights correctly.

Thank you and hope to see more good post by talented photographer at your site

Best Rgds

P1010635

P1010432-Edit

P1010770-Edit

P1000213

P1000164

18 Comments

  1. The LX series is a great series of cameras. I used the LX5 (borrowed from my Dad) a few years ago to document a mountain bike race in Africa. I actually was racing and crashed out. I then returned with an LX7 (bought my own!) and shot photos in the townships near Cape Town. It’s not great at any ISO over 400, but I just accept the noise, especially since i use it so much for monochrome shooting. The RAW files are pretty good for BW to 800, and with the really fast and stabilized lens…acceptably sharp wide open…, you rarely need to go that high. I did think the LX5 was actually sharper, but it was only F2 at the wide and and the extra stop on the LX7 keeps the ISO down. Here are my albums (there are a few Canon S95 shots mixed in…they are of noticeably poorer quality):

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/30154250@N06/sets/72157633157485797/
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/30154250@N06/sets/72157626388377712/
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/30154250@N06/sets/72157626273899613/

    Alas, I lost mine this summer on a flight to Germany! So now I am compactless. But, like you said, it’s a 350 dollar loss, not a thousands of dollars loss.

  2. Nice to see a member of the LX family! I bought the LX3 in 2009 together with the official leather case. It was the camera that introduced me to real photography. I still use it when I want to travel really light. I love the ‘dynamic black and white’ preset. As for grain, one must be really careful with these small sensor cameras. I keep the iso as low as possible. Shooting raw is really worth while here, as Lightroom does a much better job at noise reduction than the camera itself.

  3. How did you like my hometown Cape Town?
    BTW, how are you getting along without a viewfinder? I have tried a few cameras without viewfinders and really struggled when outside in the sun. Even the Leica LX1 with clip-on optical viewfinder did not work for me.

  4. The pictures looks really grainy even in lots of lights when we open them up to see the original size. Is it normal? I dont know the camera, but it’s more grainy that what I would expect.

      • I have the LX7 for over two years. It is an ISO 80-only camera, in my opinion. Pushing that tiny sensor to ISO 800 is an extreme use for my taste. On the other hand, we all have our tolerances for things such as digital noise. Mine is very low when I have the option to avoid it. Other people don’t mind it so much.

        • “If you notice the noise in a photo, then you missed the shot.” – Rick Sammon
          I would also add that if you look at a photo and you’re looking for noise, then you’re looking at it wrong.

    • This cam comes with a small sensor, IMO the grain still acceptable, I have them in print…looks fine

  5. Instead the panasonic LX7, I bought the Ricoh GR. I use it only in B/W for my backup of my Leica Mono. I know you have both cameras

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