If a wide-angle compact, coupled with a good image quality and fast lens, is what you have been looking for, you won’t go wrong with Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, dubbed as the most interesting compact of 2008.
With lens starting at a wide 24mm, it is only rivaled by Leica’s D-LUX 4, feature per feature.
In fact, the two compacts are very similar — both offer 2.5x optical zoom or 24mm-60mm, for instance — that in the eyes of many, the two are only separated by the price and brand recognition.
The LX3, to me, is more popular than the D-LUX 4 mainly because of the D-LUX 4′s higher price and the perception that the D-LUX 4, or any Leica camera for that matter, is for a different type of consumers — those with a little bit of Beethoven or Mozart in them, rather than the mass subscribers of pop culture.
Enter Samsung’s HZ10W
Fast forward to January 2009 and you will find a new entrant in the form of Samsung’s HZ10W.
It also starts at 24mm but ends a little farther than either the LX3 or the D-LUX 4 — at 240mm, for an overall zooming capability of 10x optical zoom.
While a longer zoom will obviously be an advantage — the HZ10W is the first compact offering this range of focal length — the LX3′s and D-LUX4′s proven image quality will set the two camera apart in terms of reputation.
But the HZ10W’s long zoom will raise enough eyebrows and it might just declare itself as a true contender to the two Leicas.
The X-factor
This is a picture of Leica’s D-LUX 4, with a classy if not conservative look.
The HZ10W will need an X-Factor — figuratively and literally — to compete with the LX3, D-LUX 4 and Ricoh’s GX200 (3x optical or 24mm-72mm) (notice all the Xs).
Come to think of it, Samsung should have named the new compact the HX10W or something to incorporate the “X-Factor”.
On a serious note, I know a photographer or two who will go at considerable length to get superior image quality and will not mind the restrictive zooms of the LX3 or D-LUX 4.
But if Samsung can pull its acts together and offer a comparable image quality, the HZ10W will be a welcome entrance in the crowded compact camera market. Otherwise, it will be a pity to have a first only to be let down by the thing that matters most — the image quality.
The camera will be available this month and price at about US$300.
