Full Circle - The LX100
On my old blog, I made no secret of my love affair with compact cameras. My first camera that I really connected with was a Canon G11 in 2015. It was old even by that time, but I loved its readily available controls, it’s form factor and portability, and its all purpose nature. Every starting photographer seems to manage, by luck, to capture an image that far exceeds the quality of their usual work. This singular accomplishment often serves as a goad, to egg them onto greater achievements. For me, that was this photo:
A perfect sunset, an eerily calm Georgian Bay, a cooperative wife, and of course, the Canon G11. Capturing this image ignited my imagination, and made me hope that I could someday regularly take photos I was proud of.
Since the venerable G11, I’ve owned many cameras, and used other professional tools for work as well. However, in 2015, I purchased my first new camera - a Panasonic LX100. I could rhapsodize about this little cameras affect on my photography until every last reader had logged off and blocked my site. But frankly - I’ve done that before, here:
https://themercurist.blogspot.com/2015/04/lumix-lx100-best-camera-ive-picked-up.html
Suffice to say, that thanks largely to its multi-aspect sensor, the LX100 was the most influential camera I owned in terms of developing my skills. In 2017 I sold it, needing something with a larger sensor, and interchangeable lenses. (Or so I thought).
This summer, as I said farewell to a 13 year career in the military, and prepared to start a new job in the Corporate Photo/Video world, I decided to buy myself a personal camera again, as my work requirements were covered by my new company. I hemmed and hawed, and looked at countless different companies, cameras and systems.
And then I went out and bought myself another LX100.
And it was the best decision I could have made.
Quite frankly, I missed this camera. I missed having something that made me WANT to shoot, something compact but fun, something well rounded. It’s not the greatest in low light, it’s not the highest resolution, and it’s dynamic range is middle of the road. But I can honestly say that it positively impacts my shooting in an intangible way.
My work is very different than my personal photography. And as I am often moving quickly or with other people when shooting, I don’t always get the time to linger and peruse a location. Being able to quickly snap a beautiful photo is all that I need.
The multi-aspect sensor is still a boon, and as I’m not really a pixel peeper (anymore) I find the 12 megapixels is just enough for web use and medium sized prints.
I’m excited to see what else I capture with the LX100 as the summer winds down, and we enter the photographers dream season - autumn. Misty mornings, long country roads and vibrant foliage await!
Until next time!