Cedric asked me a question: "In Australia the LX5 is about $850 while the LX3 is about $450, do you think it's worth going for the LX5 or should I save myself $400?"
And here goes the answer, with my limited understanding of current cameras...
Australia has a rather extreme price difference, as here in Finland the prices of LX3 vs. LX5 are 368 euro vs. 468 euro. Almost double for the LX5 - that seems too much.
Note that you probably need a spare battery to go with the camera. And the LX5 batteries are chipped, so you can't buy them elsewhere than from Panasonic, and thus they are going to be expensive. With the LX3 I have been using a third party battery which has performed identically to the Panasonic one.
It would be good to check other compact cameras a well - at least Canon S90/S95. (There might be a dramatic price difference between the models here as well.) Or perhaps something like Canon Digital Ixus 300 HS, which seems to be a competent (although maybe also a bit expensive) little camera. A colleague was very impressed with this one.
But as I'm not "a camera guy", I probably missed a lot of potential alternatives. Also, if you aren't quite sure about switching to a compact camera, it is worthwhile to take extra care in finding a possible alternative to your current DSLR. There are advantages to the DSLR, and for some they are of critical importance, for example if you want to really push the images in post-processing.
Also, Cedric said that he only takes 700 photographs in a year. It is not the quantity but the quality which matters!
I have sometimes pondered to try shooting one photograph per day - no more than that. That would probably be quite interesting. It this one the photograph for today, or should I wait for the next opporturnity...
But for now I'll continue the way which seems to work for me.
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4 comments:
Juha, one possible advice could be: buy later. Such an extreme price difference smells like dealers seeking windfall profits from those who want to have the newest items...
Thanks for this Juha. The price difference here is usually due to our small population (22M for a country that's bigger than Europe). When a new model comes out dealers just want to get rid of their old stock so they discount it to make room on their shelves for the latest models which normally carry a greater profit margin. Due to the limited number of potential buyers this is important.
And like most people I suspect, people here usually want the latest & greatest rather than last year's model.
I'm not a camera guy, in fact I know very little about cameras. If I enter the market looking for a camera I usually just go by what someone has recommended or because of some feature I've heard about. In the case of the LX3/5 what stands out for me is the switch that allows for shooting in different ratios. I'm a simple guy and something like that is enough for me :)
Photography for me is never about the gear. Sometimes I even wonder if it's about the photographs but that's another story.
By the way, that 700 shots I take, that's over two years not per year ;)
Thanks again.
Hi Juha, I check your blog often, but this is my first comment. You have inspired me to take more photos and do less editing (none infact). I love the Maple photo here. You have a good eye.
@Markus and Cedric: I guess the LX3 also cheap in Australia right now, so it is a really good deal. But waiting for the price of the LX5 to drop is a good tactic also.
Here in Finland the price difference is small enough to make the LX5 attractive enough, although it is a bit expensive right now.
@Richard: That one was taken without thinking, just reacting to the view. One shot only, not several as I usually take when I see a good subject. I guess my rational brain didn't see much there.
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