My Love For The Lumix LX100ii

Seriously, I still love this little rangefinder even though it's sitting pretty at 7 years old now. It's my usual pick when i need a camera and I'm going out somewhere. It's light, has a flexible range of focal lengths built in to its integrated lens, and its plenty small to fit in a bag or rest around my neck.

This little camera packs a punch too, housing a 17 megapixel micro four thirds sensor. 17mp might sound low by today's standards, but that still enough resolution to post clear photos on social media; and I've printed plenty of 4x6's with no complaint. The real gem of this camera though, is the Leica 24-75 f1.7-2.8 lens that is permanently affixed to it. Sharp, fast, with no visible distortion, I have very little complaints about this lens. 

I also really like the colors the LX100 outputs through it's JPG's. They seem neutral, if not slightly warm and not overly saturated. The RAW files this camera outputs give you a good amount of latitude but you won't be saving any blown out photos here. The camera also offers color profiles but if I'm being real, I'd only bother with the monochrome ones. Only because I believe they were tuned by Leica, but don't take my work on that. 

The main downfall of the LX100 is that it is not weather sealed and the zoom system can get particles in it very easily. I found this out personally when I took my dogs to a sandy dog park and my lens would make a gravelly noise until I got it serviced. The battery life is also not ideal, good for about 300 shots. I would recommend bringing a spare battery for a day trip and several if you take this camera on vacation. This Lumix can also shoot up to 4K 30fps video, but I honestly wouldn't bother. It doesn't support external mics and the screen is in a fixed position.

The LX100 was my first mirrorless camera, so it was also my first camera with an Electronic View Finder. This one feature added so much enjoyment to composing images. Being able to proper adjust your exposure triangle and see the result in real time can make photography a lot more fun, but I also believe it teaches you the fundamentals in a much more intuitive way. The LX100 wants you to shoot in manual mode as well by giving you physical and incredibly tactile controls to control your shutter speed, iso, apeture, and exposure compensation. It does have an "AI" assisted automatic mode and you can change priority modes by switching certain functions like aperture to automatic. The automatic mode function well and you can tweak exposure with the compensation dial.

This camera is most definitely photography forward and in that respect it has aged remarkably well. You can pick up similar camera with interchangeable lenses from Lumix or Olympus for a steal nowadays and that is kinda what I would recommend for most beginner photographers with $1000 budget. You can pick up a really compact body or a larger one if you want and have access to an amazing library of micro four-third lenses.

Overall I can say I am still very happy with the LX100. As I said earlier it's one of the first cameras I tend to grab as I'm out the door. It has some tough competition now that I have a Nikon Z50 in my arsenal now as well, but the compact form factor is so appealing that it's hard not to be charmed by the Lumix. Take this as a love letter to a piece of gear that has served me well and will probably continue to until it stops functioning. Or I stop functioning...