Panasonic announces Lumix DMC-LX3 with "only" 10.1 MPs

Camera enthusiasts have been complaining about the "megapixels arms race" going on between major camera makers for some time now. While this appeals to the soccer moms and dads of the world (who tend to view megapixels on cameras as they do horsepower on cars), it absolutely wreaks havoc on image quality, with most "cutting-edge" digicams exhibiting noise even at ISO100 (something which would have been unacceptable with bridge cameras just 3 years ago).

Panasonic announced the Lumix DMC-LX3 today, which is a nice slim, pocketable digicam for DSLRs who don't always want to lug their heavy gear around (present company included). It comes with a full set of manual controls, F2.0-F2.8 24-60mm (35mm equivalent) Leica DC Vario-Summicron lens, image stabilization, cool retro styling, and "only" 10.1 million pixels. The Lumix DMC-LX3 will be available in the UK from August at a price of £399.99, and I'm sure it'll make it to the U.S. later on.

Now Panasonic did release some other megapixel monsters to compete with the likes of Samsung and other high-MP measurebators, but I don't care about those and won't even mention the names of the cameras released. If the soccer moms and dads really want to buy into this, that's fine. Those high-MP noise monsters are irrelevant to me. I'm just interested in the DMC-LX3.

I had been pretty excited about the Sigma DP1 as a DSLR replacement until I read quite a few user reviews indicating more than a few problems with its operation. Putting a full-fledged CMOS DSLR sensor in a digicam body is a pretty cool idea, but Sigma has to work out quite a few more bugs before people are going to starting buying their gear en masse.

Sometimes I like to do some casual shooting while walking around the tunnels of Houston, but everyone will start looking at me the moment I pull out my gear. So I've been on the fence for a Canon Powershot A590 IS. I have a 24-105 L on my 30D right now, and image stabilization is magical. Although I do have a couple older bridge cameras, it's really hard to take sharp indoor shots with them (unless I use the flash, and then people start staring at me again). I may end up waiting for the Lumix and I've heard over and over that the glass is absolutely sweet. But the A590 IS is pretty cheap, and I have to think about all those shots I could take in the meantime.