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Leica or Panasonic compact camera?
I'm starting to hate my Olympus compact camera that I bought in 2003, so we're thinking of buying a new camera.
We briefly thought about buying an SLR [Nikon D60, or something similar], but we're basically interested in capturing moments, not in mucking about composing perfect photographs.
So we're looking into compacts - at a 'One Day Only Offer'-website there is the offer of a Leica C-Lux 3 [from €499 to €299]. I've already been checking out the Panasonic FX 37 (around €219) and the Panasonic TZ6/ZS1 (€294).
The choice is hard though - several reviews say that the FX-37 is equal to the C-Lux 3, and I don't know if the TZ6 is better for our purpose.
Can anyone enlighten me?
We briefly thought about buying an SLR [Nikon D60, or something similar], but we're basically interested in capturing moments, not in mucking about composing perfect photographs.
So we're looking into compacts - at a 'One Day Only Offer'-website there is the offer of a Leica C-Lux 3 [from €499 to €299]. I've already been checking out the Panasonic FX 37 (around €219) and the Panasonic TZ6/ZS1 (€294).
The choice is hard though - several reviews say that the FX-37 is equal to the C-Lux 3, and I don't know if the TZ6 is better for our purpose.
Can anyone enlighten me?
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Then the Panasonic TZs are very nice. You get a long zoom in a fairly compact body.
They allow side-by-side comparisons of camera (left side of screen, buying guide, side-by-side). Take a look at some of the features you may or may not want, and go from there!
I built a comparison of those three for you to get you started. The specs are all very similar - between the panasonics, the TZ6 has a much longer zoom and a few metering modes, which can be useful if you know how to use them. The Leica is limited to USB 1, rather than USB 2.0. Irrelevant if you have a card reader, but if you plan to download via USB cable, the Leica could be annoyingly slow.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=leica_clux3%2Cpanasonic_dmcfx37%2Cpanasonic_dmczs1&show=all
My sister-in-law has one of the Panasonics, and it does well in most situations. I would lean toward the TZ6 - I had a Canon super-zoom for a while, and that 25-300mm range would be a lot of fun.
If you don't need much zoom, see if you can find a Panasonic LX3 at a price you can afford. It has a 'faster' lens, than any other compact, meaning you can get away without using a flash more frequently. It also allows full manual control if you ever want to get real geeky with it, and can save RAW files for better control/modification in photoshop.
--GB
I'll check out the LX, but I also phoned some shops - the TZ6 is now 299€ in several shops, but you also get a 25€ rebate from Panasonic [lowering the price effectively to 274€], plus a chance to go to New York... mmmm, incentive incentive.
Thanks for all the help!
What are the limitations of this camera, as compared to the TZ6?
I gather that the lens allows for shooting at lower light conditions without flash, but why is the reviewer bothered by the lens being limited to 60mm equivalent?
Most common way to think of a field of view is in the 35mm equivalent, as if you were using a film camera. Your old olympus is probably 36-108 or 36-120.
So, the 36mm is the wide end, and 108 would be 'zoomed in' all the way, the 'telephoto' end.
On the LX3 the wide end is a nice, wide 24mm, but it only zooms to 60mm. Want to get a pic of your son running across the park? You're going to get the entire park, with the kid in the middle.
The TZ6 has a 25-300mm equivalent zoom, so nearly as wide as the LX3, and then you can zoom in quite far to get a close up of your kid's scraped knee after he trips and falls running across the park.
Then you'll probably want to go see if he's ok.
Try to go play with them in a store, it will be immediately obvious.
Here's a couple shots taken on it:
Taken at maximum zoom, from a moving car!
Again, taken from the car, once we finally got to NYC:
Neither were edited/post processed - just exactly how they came out of the camera
I have the Olympus C-350 Zoom - 3.2 megapixel, olympus lens AF Zoom 5.8-17.4mm 1:3.1-5.2 3x optical zoom
And pictures look like this:
I went to the camera shop and checked out both the TZ6 and the LX3, but the TZ6 is my best option. Too bad the FS and FX series don't zoom over 5x - the difference with the TZ6's 12x zoom is too big.
The trick is that your sensor is alot smaller than frame of 35mm film. I checked the archives on dpreview, and though I didn't find a C-350, the nearest cameras I found had an equivalent of 32-96 or 35-105. The 25-300 zoom on the TZ6 will be a terrific upgrade, particularly on the wide side, in small rooms.
He's getting big! I must have missed a thread somewhere.
The TZ6 is a really nice camera. It won the dpreview comparison test of compact superzooms. I may end up with one for times I don't want to take the dslr on motorcycle trips.
Everybody, thank you for your advice and suggestions - I will post pictures soon!
As promised [all pictures 25mm wide angle shots, IA mode, no post-processing]:
In the last one, I would have forced the flash to fire to remove some of the shadows on his face.
I thought about that, but there was real bright sunlight and I wanted to see how much noise the camera would throw in the shadows. As it is, I'm very pleased - you can clearly see the pupil in his left eye, even though it is in shadow.
I know you've already bought your camera, but since nobody answered your question, I'll have a go. The reviewer basically loves the Leica f/2.0 lens, since it's pretty much the fastest lens seen in a compact camera of this sort. Great quality, and perfect for low light shot. The part about the 60mm being limiting is that in comparison to most other compacts, the lens is lacking in the longer focal length range. By todays standards, 60mm is pretty short. When other compacts go from 25mm to well over 100mm to even 200mm or more, you can see how 60mm might not appeal to some folks. This is a perfect camera for folks used to using older film rangefinders, but for folks spoiled by superzooms, this camera will fall to the wayside. BTW, in reference to Leica v/s Pana, many of the newer Leica's are the exact same camera as the Panasonic equivalents, but with different badging, and a big price difference.
Sure, the LX 3 has a 24mm wide-angle lens, but I'm quite pleased with the 25mm of the TZ-6:
A Leica fan tried to convince me that the equivalent Leica had a better sensor and CCD than the Panasonic. I didn't believe him, though, not if you put the specs side-to-side.
Also, if you check out the Leica website and its comments on the C-Lux 3, you'll see that it is marketed as 'stylish', and 'fashionable' and - interestingly - toward women, to carry in their purses.