Panasonic?

What to do . . . do we go for small, with good, but not great, quality, or do we go for large, with the better quality that size confers? Talking about cameras, of course.

My current camera, the Olympus E-510, is slightly middle-of-the-road, being somewhat smallish, but when coupled with the 12-60 lens, ends up kind of biggish.

I’ve already mentioned the new—larger—Olympus camera, the E-30. (To be sure, not as large as some offerings from Nikon and Canon.)

So, here we have two new cameras, the LX3 and the G1, from Panasonic, which I haven’t up to now thought of as a serious camera company. But both models are generating considerable attention in the photography world.

Both are small cameras: the LX3 is basically pocket-sized, and the G1 looks like a mini-SLR. Reviews of the LX3 can be found at Imaging Resource and DPReview. A review of the G1 can be found, again, at Imaging Resource.

Although the reviews are excellent, I don’t think I’m interested in the LX3, or any pocket sized camera for that matter: just a little too small. I actually don’t mind carrying a camera using a neck strap, when it comes to it. (Of course, you don’t want something really clunky, like the Sony R1, hanging around your neck.)

For me, a small camera is something that I could fit easily into a daypack without its being obtrusive, either in size or weight. The G1 is, to me, much more interesting, because it probably could do just that. As it turns out, Panasonic and Olympus have some sort of arrangement that will eventually lead to an Olympus entry into this particular small high-end market.

And the G1 has interchangeable lenses. And, it has a tilting LCD screen!

Photos: LX3 & G1 images from Imaging Resource