The New Compact

Since the beginning of the year, I had been eyeing a replacement to my Ricoh GR II. During Ramadan, I managed to drop the camera and since then, the cover on the lens did not close properly. 

I still managed to use the camera and to prevent damage to the lens, I kept it in the case. But long term, it needed replacement. But getting a compact with APS-C sensor, good lens and great jpeg captures were not easy. The GR II fit the bill perfectly. 

So, along came the search and I narrowed my choice down to two - the Panasonic LX-100 mark II and the Ricoh GR III. Both were announced at around the same time but the Ricoh did not have a firm release date as yet. I heard it would be some time in the middle of 2019. The LX-100 however had been taking pre-orders since October.

Spec-wise, the LX-100 would come with a micro 4/3 sensor but with a bright lens. The GR III would retain an APS-C size sensor, but with a fixed lens. The Ricoh’s jpeg had been excellent, but my experience with Panasonic had been hit and miss. But in saying that, I used to own the LX3. Yes, the jpeg was not the best but the monochrome quality was great.

But all that changed when I got a phone call from the Leica Store. They had the Leica version of LX100 mark II, called the D-Lux 7. They invited me to have a look.

I fell in love with the camera and yes, I bought it. So far, I still needed to get used with the quirks and the fact that the RAW file was not able to be processed on Aperture. Even Lightroom had issues although they had started supporting the Panasonic version. The lens looked fantastic and the jpeg coming out from the camera had been excellent.

I have yet to be able to explore all the features of the camera and had yet to take it out for a proper spin. Will definitely be updating once it had been put through its paces ...