Lumix LX2

Further to a few previous notes about the Lumix LX1, I see that Panasonic has announced its next edition, the Lumix LX2. (Specs at dpreview.com.) The new camera looks the same, which is good, and the Leica lens is unchanged – even better. The pixel count's up from eight megs to ten, the LCD's a bit bigger (for a full 9:16 image), and the ISO settings go up to 1600.

We'll see how it all pans out when LX2's start shipping at the end of September. I'm a little put off by the number of pixels, which seems an awful lot for a 1/1.65" sensor (about 6 x 11mm, nearly 400 pixels per linear millimeter). Everything else being equal, more pixels per square mm means more noise – the LX1's big flaw.

Of course Panasonic says everything else isn't equal. There's a new iteration of their picture-grooming firmware, the so-called "Venus Engine III," alleged to goose the image in some magical way that reduces noise. Maybe it does, but I don't suppose that'll help those of us who prefer to shoot in the Raw. Let's hope they've improved the sensor itself.

I had enough faith to preorder one from Amazon.com, but then I've always been an easy mark.