Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I'm looking for a compact camera to compliment my D700 and for travel use (for those times when an SLR is not appropriate). Basic requirement is fairly slim in design and most importantly, IQ.

I have narrowed my options down to the following three:

Canon S90
Panasonic DMC-LX3
Leica D-LUX 4

I understand that the internals of the Panasonic and Leica are identical, however, I have done some research and have found that many have found the IQ better on the Leica.

Interested in hearing some thoughts on my selection.

Thanks

Suggest hitting a forum like DPReview to ask this question since it's a larger audience and there's more chance someone there has used those cameras.

Canon S90
Panasonic DMC-LX3
Leica D-LUX 4


I have the S90, friend has the LX-3. I prefer the Canon for 2 reasons - size, the LX3 just isn't pocketable and iso, the Canon performs acceptable to iso 800.

Also the dual dials on the S90 are very very handy in manual mode.

The other P&S I would consider is the Fuji 200EXR (or even the 70EXR). Great low light - which to me other than portability (for travel) is lowlight IQ.

I've been eyeing the s90 so that's what I would go for.

Me too! I've been eyeing the S90 which came out after I got myself the G10.

At the same time I bought the G10, I was also considering the LX3. I am not sure if the store I visited did not set it up properly, but when I tried the LX3, I found the focus hunting quite irritating. For subject distance about 1m away, it seemed like the camera went from MFD to infinity and then back to 1m before acquiring focus. Decided there and then to get the G10. It helped that I had a Canon Speedlite, so I could only get the most out of that flash with the G10.

The S90 and the D-Lux 4 would be my choices. each are fantastic compliments to any pro set up and they are both pocket sized. the leica perhaps is a bit bigger due to the external lens but it is still nice and petite and packs a hell of a punch. if price determines your choice then obviously the leica is not for everyone and the canon S90 is a great choice. The DMC-LX3 seems to not be as high quality as the canon or leica. nice but not worth that price tag i feel. if perhaps you found it for $400-$450 then its a steal but otherwise just get the canon for $500 or the leica for $800

just my 2 cents.

If you are looking at light weight and high image quality why would you not look at the Panasonic GF1 and Olympus EP-1/2, especially for someone who has the kind of money to own a D700?

He spent it all on the D700!

Got the GF1 and it's a wonderful little camera but it's a tad largish to be pocketable

LX3 is a great camera, and would be my personal choice given the list of three you have provided.

The DLux4 is the same sensor; which is larger than canon's... similar
GUI, and features as the LX3.

However, as someone who's more comfortable with SLR's in hand, the grip and added mass of the LX3 offers better stability for me, and I feel the camera more. The DLux4, I'd be well... dainty.

The power-on to first shot time is also faster with the Leica's compared to the canon. Faster more intuitive ways to get to particular settings, wider lens, hot shoe, better skeleton build quality... there's really no comparison... unless you intend to carry it in your pant pocket and well, not look happy to see people. =P

Thanks for the suggestions.

I am looking for something portable and I guess I'll take a trip to the local shop and test drive a S90 and the D-Lux 4.

Have you thought of looking at the new G11 as well? I read that its quite good especially its image quality at higher ISO, and has a variable LCD. It is much more bulky than the S90 though.

Mike

I had originally considered the G11 but later read more and more about the S90 and it's IQ being similar if not better than the G11, and the compact size of the S90 has led me away from the G11.

I'm in the market right now for an upcoming trip where I frankly cannot afford the weight of my DSLR. My brother has the F70EXR, but I'm still unsure. What's the coles notes difference between it and the F200?

As far as I know, the F200EXR will have better IQ (albeit slightly), bigger and better LCD and more features.
F70EXR is newer; thus, although has less features, those features should be better performance wise (AF speed, face recognition etc.), and of course the longer reach.
Frankly, from what I gather, if you want the reach, just get the F70EXR, else get the F200EXR.
If you looking into zoom compacts, take a look at the Panny ZR1 as well, though the ZS3 is a better camera in pretty much all cases (except size). Not sure how it stacks up to the F70EXR though I would presume the latter would have better high ISO IQ.

The S90 looks very interesting. I owned a G10 for three weeks last year and found it to be heavy and bulky - certainly not pocketable. The performnace and feature set of the G-Series was excellent.

I have had an SD-600 (compact) for three years and the S90 looks like the best next step while keeping the same form factor.

In terms of the other brands you have mentioned, I can't really offer a comment.

The F70EXR has a great sensor and is very compact which are the 2 main items for a pocket P&S. Downside is that fuji's firmware treats users like they don't have any brains, their idea of a manual operation is allowing you to set the ISO if you can find it in the menu.

Too funny, I just realized that I have been shooting the odd environmental shot with our company owned S80 for the past few years. Decent little P&S but it is a mid form factor as opposed to the compact nature of the S90.

The fact that the S90 does RAW is an excellent feature in a compact, if it had a hotshoe then we would be cooking with gas!!!

Lol, if the S90 had a hotshoe and you were to mount a real flash on it, would you be holding the camera or the flash?

Actually, you would never notice by looking at pictures of it but the S90 is surprisingly fat camera. Deceptively fat. I always thought it was an ultra compact till I held one and it's more of a compact than ultra compact.

Albeit, it's still one sweet camera.

In terms of the small compacts mentioned, I think it goes like this (from what I gather)...give or take.

F200EXR - great high ISO shots, great dynamic range, lacks HD video, just okay lcd, 28-140mm (5x)
F70EXR - same as F200EXR, just slightly less IQ, less features, but newer and better performance with the features it has in common with the F200EXR. Cheaper, 27-270mm (10x)
S90 - small compact, RAW, amazing high ISO, good low ISO (supposedly not top class low ISO...though not sure if I would notice the difference), great high res 3' LCD, great feature set, front lens ring (love it), crappy video, and of course the f2.0 28-105mm (3.7x) lens
G11 - RAW, same sensor as the S90, much much bigger than all cameras listed here (minus the lenses, it's actually bigger than the GF1), great swivel hi-res 2.8' lcd, features coming out the yin yang, crappy vid, f2.8-4.5 28-140mm
LX3 - wide angle, RAW, great low iso shots, great low light shots, good high ISO, great HD video, features up the yin yang, f2.0 wide angle but limited tele range 24-60mm (rather bulky because of the lens)
ZS3 - wide angle, full auto, great high res 3' LCD, good IQ but nothing compared to the above when it comes to high iso, amazing HD 720p 60fps stereo AVCHD video, amazing 25-300mm (12x) lens (albeit not the most compact camera here).
ZR1 - same as the ZS3 but much smaller(smallest camera listed here), no stereo sound, just okay LCD, HD motion jpeg 1280x720p 30fps, 25-200mm lens

When I had my G10, even with my older (smallish) 420EX flash it was off balance. If I stuck one of my 580EX2's on, the center of gravity would be way off! If the S90 had a hotshoe there could be numerous option for off camera eTTL or manual flash options.

Great summary review of all the camera - thanks for doing that!

I think the 220EX or 270EX are much better matched to the G-series.

Where's Sabesh? I thought he had that combo....

Edit: Found it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabesh/351 ... 312491227/

I think that this is a psychological thing with those who purchase the pricey Leica. I had a chance to test these two cameras side by side. We could not find any noticeable difference in IQ while shooting RAW and then converting to JPG. You should go to a store with a laptop and test this out yourself before dropping more $$s on the Leica.



Glad to help Yes, the 270EX is great for the G-series. Cheers.

A friend of mine has the Panasonic DMC-LX3 which is very nice, as well as someone else who owns the dlux4 and complains about the noise factor. It looks more like film grain then noise to me, but its probabily the most expensive of the bunch, and I expected the images to be smoother.

I've been lusting after the canon s90 myself

Its actually developed by Wong's at Danforth/Broadview!

Buy one real cheap here:

http://tpmg.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14265

Does Wong develop 120 as well?

Canon S90 commands a premium.

It's really good. Image quality and the fast f2.0 lens at 28mm is great!

Only couple of quirky things about it

-COST a lot
-you need a wrist strap, bare handing it is not comfortable or risk chance of slippage. oops..
-no HD video
-popup flash location is where you left finger usually rests

I didn't expect the image quality to equal a DSLR, but in web 72dpi, jpeg it's fantastic and in certain scenes you cannot tell.

Canon really pulled up their sleeves on the engineering on this one, the handling interface all with it's stealth appearance is awesome for candids. The sensor is state of the art as well as the incamera processing. Usable 800ISO.

If you can wait see what Fuji has to replace the F200EXR with, it's replacement is due any time now.