I don’t take pictures often enough. The problem, I have realized, is that whenever I do I have to take my big clunky DSLR, and camera bag with lenses and such, and make a big ordeal out of it. I need a good quality point-and-shoot that I can carry around on a daily basis.
The Canon Powershot has a reputation for being the point-and-shoot for professionals.
However, during my research, I learned that it has a new competitor: the Panasonic Lumix LX5 . With a lens manufactured by Lica, this camera is hard to ignore.
The main differences that I can see are these:
The LX5 has a 24 – 90mm vs. the 28 – 120 on the G12.
The LX5 has a maximum aperture of 2.0 – 3.3 vs. 2.8 – 4.5 of the G12.
The LX5 shoots 2.5 frames per second vs. the 1.5 fps on the G12.
The LX5 costs around $420 vs. the G12 at $480.
A full side-by-side technical comparison can be found here.
Help me out here. What do you think I should buy? Please let me know in this poll, or in the comments section.
Thanks for your help!
~Matt
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If you don’t need a hot shoe and want more compact, Canon S95.
I have the LX5 and I’m very happy with it. I haven’t used the Canon G12, but one of the reasons for choosing the LX5 was the faster lens (f/2). The image stabilisation is also very good in the LX5 so it works well in low light, although the image quality really deteriorates at anything over ISO 400.
Canon G12, we use the G9 at work and its brilliant, so sturdy too!
Well then, the G12 it is. I have mulled and mulled. I just need to buy it now!
Hi Matt,
I am a pro-photographer (25 years) and I am currently using the Lumix for my professional shooting jobs as I travel. (bartnikowski.com) The 24 MM Leica lens is superb. I have never wavered from using Nikons and Hasselblads (medium format camera) for my business over the last two decades and this was the first digital camera I have fallen in love with. And I am making money with it. I travel full-time, have taught photography (and shot), lived, and explored in 27 countries on 4 continents – I am currently teaching my private sessions (crash course) Capture Stunning Portraits and Travel Photographs in Santa Cruz, Guatemala back to the States for 2 months then returning to Central America. My latest e-book is Kitten Heels in Kathmandu the Adventures of Female Vagabond, stories from the last 6 years of worldwide travel: photographing the Dalai Lama, swimming with sea turtles, riding elephants bareback in Nepal and wandering on buses, boats and trains worldwide – (with photos too here’s the link) http://www.facebook.com/Bartnikowski
I like your site – happy to help you out on the camera issue, i just bought another new Lumix as my last one was stolen in Mexico. And it takes great video too, good sound as well. If you want to see video shot with this camera you could go to my youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/zestyzippy
Glad I discovered your site, look forward to connecting.
Kindly
Mary
Hi Mary,
Thank you very much for the thoughtful comment. I really appreciate it. It seems like a fairly even split between people who like the G12 and who like the LX5–pros and amateurs alike. Grrrr. But, I actually ended up purchasing one of these little guys for the time being: http://gopro.com/cameras/hd-hero-naked-camera/?gclid=CNGtnYvGu6oCFQQmbAodj3-x5A because they come with a waterproof case, have lots of special attachements for sports, take great videos, and give a very attractive discount to affiliate bloggers. You may want to look into that for your videos, which are awesome by the way!