I’ve carried a Panasonic LX100 in a belt pouch for 2.5 years. It’s awkwardly large for a compact camera, but the lens is very sharp, and it has the multi-aspect ratio sensor, capable of shooting in 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspect ratios with full field of view and maximum megapixels. I love multi-aspect, but the LX100 is a tank to always carry. Many would prefer the also very capable, and much smaller and lighter, 1″ sensor compacts.

[Incidentally, my LX100 is hardly useable after 2.5  years of everyday use. The lcd (including EVF) often posterizes, so colors and detail become mush. I’m so familiar with it that I can often still take good photos, but it’s really a handicap, and I can’t even check to see how the photos turn out until the glitching stops, which is random, and seems to be almost all the time now. At the end of the 2-year, extended warranty, it was still intermittent enough that I thought they might not see the problem if I had sent it in.]

This video doesn’t show many image comparisons, and doesn’t explain what multi-aspect offers with the LX100, but is still interesting.

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iPhone 7

12MP 1/3″ sensor

28mm and 56mm fixed lenses

Very poor color and resolution in low light

Panasonic LX100

12.8MP M4/3rds sensor (much larger sensor has much larger pixels that gather more light)

24-75mm very high quality zoom lens

Sharpness and color much better

More recoverable highlight and shadow detail — dynamic range

Some bokeh

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Camera Showdown: iPhone 7 vs Advanced Compact | How Far Have Smartphone Cameras Come?

Published on Feb 25, 2017

Just how far have smartphone cameras come in 2017? To find out I pit the iPhone 7 against a 2-year-old advanced compact; the Panasonic LX100, this should be an interesting comparison seeing as the LX100 can no longer compete with the latest point & shoot offerings that are available from the likes of Sony & Panasonic. Can the iPhone hold it’s own?
Panasonic LX100: http://amzn.to/2nzQfdc