Lumix Lx100 Versus Sony Rx100 Iii

Battle of the big-sensor compacts

The
era of the big-sensor compact is here. If you thought your telephone was equally
good as a compact camera, you need to see what these are capable of.

Where once the Sony RX100 series was just about the only good option in this field, we now have the Panasonic Lumix LX100 and Canon G7 X to consider. But which 1 is the all-time?

We've been spending some fourth dimension with these cameras to find out.

Design and Basic Handling

These
are all compact cameras. They don't accept removable lenses or behemothic
sensors, and it helps go on the lot of them a proficient deal more than portable
than compact arrangement cameras. That's the whole betoken of this relatively
new 'large sensor, small trunk' form.

However, amongst these 3, in that location's a articulate stardom between the Sony RX100 Iii and Canon G7 10 in one group, and the Panasonic Lumix LX100 in another.

Canon
has designed the G7 X to mimic the dimensions and shape of the Sony
RX100 range, which has maintained like dimensions since the serial
began in 2012. The Panasonic Lumix LX100 takes a different approach.
It's significantly larger, both in terms of its body footprint and how
far the lens sticks out from the body. Here are the dimensions for a
direct comparison…

Sony RX100 III: 101.6 10 58.one x 41.0mm
Canon G7 10: 103 10 threescore x 40 mm
Panasonic Lumix LX100: 114.viii 10 66.2 x 61.1 mm

The
LX100 feels much less like an ordinary compact that the others, but
this is something Panasonic has embraced. For example, information technology's the only 1
of the three non to offering a motorised lens cover, meaning y'all demand to
keep an eye on where yous put the lens cap, just like you practise with an
interchangeable-lens camera.

Those after a tiny partner to a
DSLR or high-stop CSC may appreciate that the Canon G7 X and Sony RX100
III volition slip into a pocket, where doing and so with an LX100 feels like
trying to fit a rubber glove over your head — you can practice it with some
effort, only it'southward but not right.

However, this is far from an
all-out fail for the Panasonic. It's only a case of these cameras
having different priorities, with the LX100 sensibly separating itself
from the incredibly popular RX100 line. It offers something birthday
different.

For instance, information technology'south the only ane of the 3 to offer a
proper handgrip. It's small, merely rubberised and well designed. It gives
the Panasonic LX100 a surer grip and a sense of existence a more
substantial camera than the other two. It feels similar to Fujifilm
X-series cameras such as the X100T and X30: compact, but with a
reassuring side of old-school flavour.

The
most slippery of the lot is the Sony RX100 III, which has a very
smart-looking lightly textured metallic finish. The Canon G7 X inhabits a
center basis. It has no mitt grip, but offers a more pronounced 'paint
fleck' texture that offers more than resistance.

However,
the Canon G7 X is probably the least ergonomically pleasing of the lot.
Its two-tiered mode punch is an attraction, but detracts from comfort
when y'all have a finger perched over the shutter button.

The Sony and Panasonic are the handling winners, depending on whether portability or a rugged feel is more important to you lot.

Structure and Build Quality

Surprisingly
enough, given that it's the cheapest of the three, it's the Catechism G7 X that
actually has the nearly metal on bear witness. Aside from the flaps that cover the
ports on its sides and bottom, all of its master panels are metal. The
underside of the display is the merely large part that'southward plastic.

The Panasonic LX100 and Sony RX100 Iii are generally metallic, but both make greater apply of plastic.

If
nosotros're to dub the use of plastic a crime, the Sony RX100 Iii is the
worst offender. Its forepart console, which curves around to form the summit
plate, is metal, but the whole back is plastic. Of course, the furnishings in use are very, very modest.

Almost of the RX100 III'due south
back is taken up by the glass-covered display, and where you rest your
pollex on the dorsum is covered by a rubberised grip anyway.

The
Lumix LX100 uses a fleck of plastic to cover its left side, but the
majority of this structure is metal, much like the G7 X. Yet, of
the three it offers the least actual contact with the hard, cold stuff
thank you to its use of rubberised grips on the front and back.

All
three are extremely well made, with the Sony RX100 Iii having the most
dense, tight feel of the lot. Of course, this may exist in part due to the
smooth finish it uses.

The one build disappointment I registered
was the Canon G7 Ten's transmission control ring. All three cameras offer some
form of control band effectually the lens, just the action of the Catechism's clicky dial
is overly noisy and feels cheap next to the LX100'due south
i.

On that signal, which offers the greatest manual control?

Transmission Command

Panasonic LX100 manual control
This
is the surface area where we really sympathize why the Panasonic Lumix LX100
benefits from being larger than the Sony RX100 III and Canon G7 X.
There's much more to information technology than the handgrip.

The Panasonic LX100
offers manual control far in excess of the other cameras — or most
cameras on the market, in fact, including the majority of CSCs and lower-end DSLRs.
If yous want to deep dive into manual photography, where yous select the
aperture and shutter speed independently with every shot, this is one of
the best places to start.

On the lens you get a defended metal
aperture dial, which offers prissy clicky increments. Side by side to it is a
polish focus ring, but information technology tin can also be set to alter zoom and ISO (and
filters, but that's not the kind of manual command we're talking about
here).

On
the top plate are shutter speed and exposure compensation dials, again
with a definite, clicky action. Despite the camera's relatively pocket-sized
size, none of these elements feel cramped. Sensor size and lens eyes
are ane reason for the Panasonic LX100'south size, merely it sits perfectly
with the kind of transmission control here. This numer of control dials
probably wouldn't work with the smaller two, particularly not the dual
lens rings.

If yous desire transmission command, there'southward no competition. The LX100 wins.

There'due south as well a third lens command that lets yous select the aspect ratio of your shots.

Canon G7 Ten manual command
The
Canon G7 10 offers decent control, just it's nowhere almost what's on offer
in the LX100. You get a context-sensitive lens control ring that, as
already mentioned, is a bit too loud in performance and feels a little
stiff and cheap. Definite clicks are good, but the action almost makes
it feel like a plastic band, even though information technology is — like simply about
everything else in the G7 10 — metal.

The peak-almost control ring
on the top plate is the mode dial, giving you access to the usual
discontinuity priority and shutter priority modes. In these, the lens band
can be used to select the central parameter, while in full manual the lens
ring is used to select aperture and the piddling rotary dial that sits
around the rear control pads sets shutter speed.

The
combo of small real punch and potent control lens wheel makes transmission
operation feel a bit unnatural, just nosotros're certain Catechism G7 X buyers would
get used to information technology later a while.

What the G7 10 offers over the
RX100 Three is a dissever exposure compensation dial that sits under the
main mode dial. Sat in this position you need to keep an eye on it as it
may be prone to knocks despite existence, quite sensibly, adequately stiff. It
also reduces the comfort of general shooting, the raised mode dial
feeling as though it's in the way at times.

We similar what the
Canon G7 10 sets out to practise in terms of manual control, but it feels as
though it'south an annual refresh abroad from perfection. The controls are
there, simply their feel is a niggling off.

Sony RX100 III transmission control
The
RX100 Three can seem like the nigh 'bespeak and shoot' of all three
cameras, but it likewise offers reasonable manual controls. Like the previous
RX100 cameras, you get a lens ring and a rotary punch that sits around
the chief nav control on the back.

Unlike the Panasonic and Canon
cameras, the lens ring here is entirely smooth — no clicky feedback at
all. Nevertheless, I found information technology more pleasant to use than the stiff, loud Canon
bike. Without obvious feedback you practice need to go along more of an eye on
the display to judge exactly what setting you're on, though.

The
Mode dial sits almost flush with the top plate and offers aperture
priority, shutter priority and manual modes. Just like the G7 X, both
lens and rear controls tin can both exist used in A/Southward modes and the lens ring
takes over aperture in full Transmission, leaving shutter to the rear dial.

Changing
exposure and ISO takes longer with the RX100 Three than the LX100,
although with the screen tilted out a few degrees and the photographic camera held at
chest height, information technology'due south fairly comfy to use the transmission controls.

EVF quality

Other
than offering decent physical controls, the other question oft asked
of cameras aspiring to appeal to enthusiasts is whether they have a
viewfinder. Two of these practise, simply the cheaper Catechism G7 Ten does not. If
you're non going to be happy composing off a three-inch screen, steer clear.

And then which one has the better EVF, the Sony RX100 Iii or the Panasonic LX100?

The
Sony's pattern is certainly a flake more dramatic. There'southward a little
release toggle on the left side of the RX100 III that makes the unit pop
upwards. Yous then take to pull out the eyepiece lens manually to get the
prototype to focus.

This
isn't an everyday EVF, merely rather one you'll pull out in lighting
conditions where the LCD doesn't quite cut it, such equally in bright
sunlight. The Panasonic LX100 EVF is just at that place, 24/7, with a handy
rubberised eye guard that means yous don't need to get your face up quite and then
closer to the photographic camera torso.

Both cameras use a proximity sensor
that switches over to the EVF when it detects your confront is in front of
the thing. No little about with buttons is required.

Which offers better quality? From the specs the LX100 seems to walk it, but it'southward non that simple.

The
Sony RX100 Iii has a 1.44-million dot OLED EVF while the LX100's LCD
one offers 2.four million dots. Thats's a huge difference, and the LX100's
is noticeably sharper. However, given how keen the hardware of the EVF
is, Panasonic has dropped the ball a bit in its implementation.

Starting time,
the actual preview display just uses about two/3s of the actual EVF's
display space. This seems to exist considering the LX100 needs to make sure it
tin fit 16:9 shot views into the space, but means that stubbier aspect
ratio shots expect tiny: smaller than they do on the RX100 3. In all
cases, in fact, the Sony offers a larger image.

The LX100 EVF also emphasises contrast too much, making it a adequately weak indication of the final results.

Even
if its hardware is a good deal better than the Sony RX100 Three's, its
implementation is quite flawed and ultimately disappointing. The lower
resolution of the Sony EVF is quite obvious, but it is slightly easier
to piece of work with.

Screen

All these cameras have 3-inch
screens, and unlike what we've seen and then far, the Panasonic LX100's
hardware appears to be the weakest of the lot. It brings the everyman
resolution, 921k dots, is not-touch and doesn't tilt or swivel.

Nevertheless,
we shouldn't dwell on the resolution too much. The G7 X offers 1040k
dots and the Sony 1.23 one thousand thousand dots, but the RX100 III's figures are
effectively inflated past its RGBW matrix. An actress white pixel lets it
increase brightness without draining too much battery, just this subpixel
doesn't offer more picture information. Just brightness.

Resolution,
so, is pretty similar across the three. We did find that the Sony
RX100 Iii offers the about natural colour, although the Panasonic LX100
offers some screen calibration tools to let yous tweak the graphic symbol of
the display a flake.

This
image makes the Panasonic screen look much more vivid that the others,
but in person they're quite fifty-fifty in this respect. Annotation, though, that as
with the EVF, the LX100 doesn't utilise its entire display as a preview
window. No matter which aspect ratio you choice, the display is never
quite filled. It's a shame.

The Canon G7 Ten is the most
casual-friendly screen of the lot. Information technology'south the only screen to offer touch
operation, letting you use impact focusing, much as you would with a phone
camera.

It offers 180-degree tilt, too – perfect for selfies or for shooting at any level below head height.

While
non-impact, the Sony RX100 3 is offer the most versatile articulation.
It tilts down as well as upwards through 180 degrees, useful for shooting
above the head as well as beneath it. And, yes, it can do the selfie angle
if that's what you're after.

Lens

While
these cameras go a lot of attention for their larger-than-boilerplate
sensors, lens quality is just as important. With maximum apertures of upward
to f/i.7, they are extremely fast, enabling the sort of creative
shallow depth of field effects that aren't usually viable with a compact
photographic camera.

Here are the basic specs of the lenses, using 35mm equivalent numbers:

Sony RX100 III: 24-70mm, max aperture upwardly to f/1.8
Catechism G7 X: 24-100mm, max discontinuity up to f/i.viii
Panasonic LX100: 24-75mm, max discontinuity up to f/1.7

All
these lenses settle to a max discontinuity of f/ii.viii as you use the zoom, but
we thought nosotros'd take a closer await a their zoom ranges to find out how
well they agree on to their lens speed as the zoom is used.

Maximum aperture results

Equally
you can meet, the Sony RX100 III is really the weakest of the bunch
despite having the smallest zoom range. Information technology settles down to f/2.eight by the
time it hits 35mm while the Panasonic LX100 and Canon G7 X tin get that
bit wider correct upwardly until 60mm, where they join the Sony at f/two.eight max
aperture.

All three have ways to make their very broad apertures useful in daylight, where they're at take chances of causing overexposure.

The
Sony RX100 III and Canon G7 Ten apply inbuilt ND filters, which limit the
amount of low-cal that gets to the sensor. However, while the Sony's tin
be set up to turn on automatically, you need to do and so consciously with the
G7 X, which is a shame.

The Panasonic LX100 doesn't have an ND
filters but does offer incredibly fast shutter speeds of up to ane/16,000
of a 2nd. The others only go up to 1/2000 of a second.

With some reports that the LX100 lens is a bit soft wide open, nosotros tried a
basic detail/sharpness examination, all at 24mm, all with their max discontinuity
engaged. The results are below.

Hither
we meet that the Panasonic seems slightly reticent to use shutter speeds
higher than a 'standard' 1/2000 seconds, which has resulted in a much
brighter photo than the others. It has resulted in amend colour, but
the heaven is overexposed in parts, unlike the others.

The LX100 is
as well slightly less sharp than the other two, although at this level
information technology'southward probable to exist as much downward to the camera'south lower resolution as
anything to do with the lens.

Nosotros should too notation that the Sony
RX100 III suffers from much clearer purple fringing than the other
cameras, although the consequence isn't too bad.

Quick disclaimer for
pixel-peepers… Y'all'd never unremarkably use this sort of setting for this
sort of scene — in that location are no real benefits to using such a wide
discontinuity in this kind of photograph.

Autofocus operation

All 3 cameras apply dissimilarity
detection as their master focusing method. This is the standard type, not
the (potentially) faster phase detection kind.

Panasonic boasts
of the LX100's 'depth from defocus' focusing aid, but really this is
simply a software solution based on comparing the rate of defocusing when
the AF is searching.

In good lighting, all these cameras are
very fast among compacts. So nosotros tried them in a agglomeration of very low-low-cal
scenes to run across which fares the best.

Despite
some reports to the opposite — some reviews suggest the RX100 3 is
inconsistent — we found the Sony RX100 III to exist generally the quickest
of the agglomeration. Despite the depth from defocus feature, the LX100 suffered
from the most obvious focus-searching periods.

Nosotros did notice that
the Sony RX100 III could be a petty vague in its focusing during
depression-light shooting, though, not offering an exact point of focus, but
simply suggesting "some point of this scene is in focus. I'm off now,
bye."

And then for speed, information technology's the Sony, simply the others are a bit clearer about the results.

The Canon G7 X also has the do good of bear on focus, making casual snapping all the quicker.

Sensor and Epitome Quality

Which
has the best sensor? Well, the Panasonic LX100 certainly has the
largest one. It uses a Micro 4-Thirds sensor while the G7 X and RX100
3 have i-inch sensors, which seems to have get a standard for this
kind of camera.

However, the Panasonic LX100 doesn't use its
entire sensor, instead using dissimilar portions of it depending on
whether you shoot iii:2, xvi:ix, 1:1 or 4:iii attribute pictures. It takes
12.five-megapixel pictures from the 16-megapixel sensor, giving y'all a good
idea of how much of the sensor is used.

The Sony RX100 III has a
20.one-megapixel 1-inch sensor and the Canon G7 X a 20.2-megapixel i.
Once once again, Canon has deliberately made very like moves to Sony.

Y'all
get much college-resolution pictures with the Canon and Sony. Simply do you
go ameliorate ones? We took the cameras into our labs to find out. Hither
are their detail and dynamic range results:

The
results are interesting. It seems that despite existence lower-res, the
Panasonic LX100 can harvest as much detail equally the RX100 III in our
resolution exam chart. The Canon G7 X gets slightly more than item, with
the difference becoming more apparent as y'all work upwardly the ISO range.

The
Catechism G7 X also outperforms the RX100 Iii in terms of dynamic range at
higher ISOs, although the Lumix LX100 is the clear victor here. Besides
as offering significantly better maximum dynamic range, it's better at
higher ISOs than either of the others. And unless you're going to be
cropping into images a good bargain, dynamic range matters more than than fine
detail when it comes to a perception of paradigm quality.

Video

What
about video? The Panasonic is the stand-out hither, equally it is the only one
to offer 4K video capture. The others max out at 1080p 60 frames per
2d.

Nevertheless, none is a true video replacement for something similar the Panasonic GH4.
The Panasonic LX100 does non offer a microhone input despite having a
hotshoe where you could easily slot in a mic. The key function of this
hotshoe is to slot-in a flash, which comes in the box. It'due south the only one
of these 3 cameras non to offer an inbuilt flash.

Verdict

For
those looking to get serious with their photography, we recommend the
Panasonic LX100. Its articulate, loftier-quality manual controls encourage yous
to be a much more than agile participant in your photos. There are machine
settings for everything, also, so you're not forced into it. Panasonic'due south implementation of the
technically impressive EVF needs work, though, and it'south not pocketable.

The
Canon G7 10 sensor actually produces the nearly item and has mayhap the
nigh impressive lens, with big maximum apertures and a expert zoom
range, despite being the cheapest of the lot. We just don't like its lens-wheel control, and without a viewfinder, some may struggle to
take it that seriously.

The Sony RX100 Iii
has stiff competition, so, but information technology'due south still the only 1 of the three that
doesn't accept whatsoever hardware disappointments, beyond the lack of
a touchscreen (if that'due south your bag). Information technology'southward the best all-rounder and the least likely to offend.

Ultimately, this is a superb trio of cameras, and proof that big-sensor compacts are at present a force to exist reckoned with.

Adjacent, read our Best Cameras Round-up

Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/opinion/sony-rx100-iii-vs-panasonic-lx100-vs-canon-g7-x-2920530

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