I own an LX3, but not an F31fd. In my opinion based upon what I've seen posted, Fuji has excellent in-camera noise reduction, but at the cost of resolution. Still, images come out very clean looking. Shooting raw with the LX3 and using 'good' noise reduction will equal or better Fuji's in-camera noise reduction, especially when the images are resized to be equivalent. I may have to buy an F31fd just to prove it to myself.
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Best Pocketable Low Light Camera?
- Thread starter kharenitin
- Start date
A search for "f31 vs lx3" will turn up several threads where people compared the two, such as this one:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1033&thread=29315990
Both great cameras, IMO (and DPR agrees). The Fuji does suffer from lack of meaningful manual controls though, if that's important to you.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1033&thread=29315990
Both great cameras, IMO (and DPR agrees). The Fuji does suffer from lack of meaningful manual controls though, if that's important to you.
I own the LX3, F30, and TZ5. They all have their pros and cons but the LX3 is just a better camera overall period. The F100 looks nice but the pink banding issues were a show stopper to me and the 24mm on LX3 an F2.0 lens is just unstoppable, plus its high ISO is comparable. Features wise both Pannys blow any Fuji away and only a fanboy will tell you otherwise. If you can afford the LX3 and don't need long telephoto, then it's a no brainer in my opinion. Go for the LX3.
Gary R.
Veteran Member
Why are you asking here? Obviously nothing will ever match your F31, so look for a used one. Or buy the F100, because you want a Fuji anyway. People here have recommended a camera that owners and reviewers rave about, yet all you find with it is mediocrity. So buy the Fuji, accept the 1.3-1.7 stop aperture loss and just use higher ISO to make up for it. The LX3 has too many things you don't care about anyway, a fast Leica lens, manual capabilities, and an image quality that causes many to rave about it, yet it displeases you. So why waste your money or others time in asking something you already have an answer for.
--
Gary
Photo albums: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse
kharenitin
Member
I am sorry if I came across as having "decided" for a Fuji camera and wasting other's and your's time. I am not a myopic brand or model fan. But since I am an average Joe photographer, investing huge amount of money will not significantly improve the quality of photos I take as I don't have skills to leverage advance features. Thus I have always owned compromise cameras - Canon A95, Pana TZ1, Fuji 31fd, and Pana FZ18. For my individual needs, each of these cameras gave me the maximum return for each penny I spent.
Now having lost Fuji 31fd, I am looking for a replacement and taking help from knowledgeable people here. I appreciate you and others for taking time to reply. Based on these replies, I now know that currently LX3 and F100fd meet my requirements. I just returned from Best Buy and Circuit City after feeling both of these cameras. LX3 is obviously better, period. But since its priced about $450 which is twice the price of F100fd, I have to do the math to estimate if the returns on LX3 will be as good as were in my past camera purchases. If I don't end up buying LX3, it will just mean that I am not worthy for such a good, advanced, and pricey camera.
Again my apologies if my posts wasted your time. But then I think you always had option to ignore those
. Thanks.kharenitin
Member
Thanks. I am seriously considering LX3. Since I have FZ18, I have luxury to wait for its prices to come down a little bit. Since you own LX3, one question - do you see yellow blotches in night/low light shots taken by it? This is the only issue I have with my FZ18 other than that it is not pocketable
kharenitin
Member
I believe F31 was released almost 2 years ago. I was hoping to get something better than F31 now under $200 as this is what I bought F31 for
Jeff Tokayer
Veteran Member
After owning the LX1 for a while, I decided to get the F31fd. There was nothing wrong with the LX1 if left at base ISO (80). Otherwise it was useless.
The F31fd was in it's element shooting indoors at 800 ISO. Outdoor shots at base ISO were lifeless. Also, the 35mm wide setting is not wide enough for most situations. After having the camera idle for a while I managed to sell it for more than I paid for it (go figure, I wish I had a truckload of them).
From images posted so far, the LX3 seems to be very close to the F31fd at high ISO, with the added bonus of being a more flexible (user) camera.
Cheers.
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Jeff.
The F31fd was in it's element shooting indoors at 800 ISO. Outdoor shots at base ISO were lifeless. Also, the 35mm wide setting is not wide enough for most situations. After having the camera idle for a while I managed to sell it for more than I paid for it (go figure, I wish I had a truckload of them).
From images posted so far, the LX3 seems to be very close to the F31fd at high ISO, with the added bonus of being a more flexible (user) camera.
Cheers.
--
Jeff.
kharenitin
Member
Nick, awesome snaps!!. You are a good photographer. If you didn't mention that these are from F100fd, I would have thought that you have used some SLR for these. Again this proves that person holding camera is more important than the camera itself.
kharenitin
Member
I am happy that you were able to make some money out of your F31After owning the LX1 for a while, I decided to get the F31fd. There
was nothing wrong with the LX1 if left at base ISO (80). Otherwise it
was useless.
The F31fd was in it's element shooting indoors at 800 ISO. Outdoor
shots at base ISO were lifeless. Also, the 35mm wide setting is not
wide enough for most situations. After having the camera idle for a
while I managed to sell it for more than I paid for it (go figure, I
wish I had a truckload of them).
From images posted so far, the LX3 seems to be very close to the
F31fd at high ISO, with the added bonus of being a more flexible
(user) camera.
Cheers.
--
Jeff.
I am looking for a camera only for indoors / low light / night time shooting. My FZ18 takes care of outdoors and day time photography admirably.
I have narrowed down to two cameras - LX3 and F100fd. LX3 has many things going for it but is expensive. F100fd is under my budget but is not as good as LX3. Now I have to figure out what is better for me - savings of $200 (if I buy F100fd) or regret during the lifetime of camera (if I don't buy LX3).
By the end of January the LX3 will be well under $400 from major resellers and if you look for the best deal, much closer to $300. Many here, including me, paid $340 or less using Microsoft's Live.com cashback deal.
Brian
--
Phanfare supporter-
Jeff Tokayer
Veteran Member
My take on it is:
1: For social use (family and friends) the F100 would probably suffice.
2: For more advanced use, including B&W, external flash, long exposure, The LX3 is the way to go.
I was planning on getting one this weekend, but all the local dealers are sold out. I'll just have to wait and read this forum.
--
Jeff.
1: For social use (family and friends) the F100 would probably suffice.
2: For more advanced use, including B&W, external flash, long exposure, The LX3 is the way to go.
I was planning on getting one this weekend, but all the local dealers are sold out. I'll just have to wait and read this forum.
--
Jeff.
I liked following along when Mrclick was doing these comparisons. He did a good job and obviously spent a great deal of time. What I would like to see, and this is why I want my own F31, is LX3 raw with standard Lightroom noise reduction as well as third party noise reduction.
Fuji users always comment on color rendition so I'd like to tweak Lightroom's LX3 raw import preset to match and truly just see for myself.
If a dual owner is interested in a more recent comparison using 1.1 firmware and the ease of Lightroom, I believe you'll attract some interested parties.
Brian
--
Phanfare supporter-
-- The F30 31 is good outdoors, very ,is my point of view , IF you set and only need to do it once and then save its called CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE.After owning the LX1 for a while, I decided to get the F31fd. There
was nothing wrong with the LX1 if left at base ISO (80). Otherwise it
was useless.
The F31fd was in it's element shooting indoors at 800 ISO. Outdoor
shots at base ISO were lifeless. Also, the 35mm wide setting is not
wide enough for most situations. After having the camera idle for a
while I managed to sell it for more than I paid for it (go figure, I
wish I had a truckload of them).
From images posted so far, the LX3 seems to be very close to the
F31fd at high ISO, with the added bonus of being a more flexible
(user) camera.
Cheers.
--
Jeff.
And use it as your custom white balance outdoors, takes ten second with a grey or white card once you have it its there allways to be used outdoors, ,
You then get bright warm and full of impact pictures a little like Canons ,which are nearly the equal of my D40 amazingly good outdoors of course the F series are special, very, is my point of view and is so many others.
I would also say the F100 ive just picked up nice black metal body, is also amazing value for the money , The wonderfully usefull focal range 28-140 lens is also whats missing for me and many others on the sadly crippled for many LX3, crippled because of its tiny short range, means it isnt a complete camera a lot of the time not enough range,
And anouther F100 bonus there is no lens cap, and it fits in your pocket without the protruding lens of the LX panny, Just my point of view . I love panny stuff have there Vidio cam ,Tvs ,vidio dvd,, even my panny upright vacuam cleaner is exellent quality , Its a a decent enough reliable brand, , My Fz 2 is great still use it now and again, and had before a nice Fz 20 as well, but LX3 needs a better range lens is just my point of view ,next time around maybe ,
RhoDA*
--
Yes I agree with this point of view. The shooter is important but the F100 is superb for the £££ is also my point of view.
My new cool black metal bodied F100 has a razor sharp lens and super sharp results is good in low light or outdoors, I am floored to be honest, how good it is.
Ive found it to be an amazing pocket camera like my F30 and not far behind my D40 and decent glass, when results at up to 400 iso are printed out and on screen .
The F100 is only now its been tested and won getting noticed, Love the great 18-140 lens thats sadly missing on a lot of other cameras, and is so usefull for a can do all camera solution. well done again Fuji.
RhoDA*
danny_only
Forum Pro
I seldom use custom WB, because it is easy to return to Auto. I used it when taking IR pictures only (I have made an adaptor for adding IR, PL and lenses convertor). Deep inside forest or extremely overcast weather, I might remove a little blue from the pictures, warmer. I also have a grey card, but seldom use.
Some of my outdoor F30 pictures. Almost all of them took about 1 minute to PP, (cropping for composition time not count, though) simply shadows/highlights adjustment, contrast/saturation adjustment, USM only.
I have differernt models of Pannys, FZ1, FZ5, FX5, FX1 and TZ3, except for FX1/FX5, I seldom use them for taking landscapes with lot of green foliage, I don't like their green colors, but others colors are vivid and appealing. I use mostly F30 to take green foilage landscapes pictures, add wide angle convertor when necessary.
Auto WB, overcast.
The following 3 pics are taken with PL filter and Olympus Wide Angle Convertor installed.
The F100 is a capable camera selling at about 60% cost of a LX3 here, both are great cameras, aiming at different customers.
Some F100 pictures.
1/4.5sec, hand held, no hand or body support inside a moving ferry.
Both the FZ1 and FZ2 are legendary camera. I brought 3 FZ1s, still love the IQ of this 2M cameras.
--
Best Regards,
Danny
'Close enough is good enough, I just come here for fun
'
My Albums
http://photobucket.com/albums/a44/yeeonly
danny_only
Forum Pro
More F100fd pictures.
I have taken similar pictures with F30, the F100fd did better here, I don't have the chances to try doing comparison with a LX3, but I think both the LX3 and F100fd should do better in this situration, their IS/OIS should help a lot. With the F30, I needed to use iso800.
iso400 1/4s f3.3 wide angle end. This one is PPed, but not denosied. The earlier 1/4.5s one posted just now is just resize and USM only, not much difference to me.
Use iso400 to test DR.
At tele end.
100% crop, no PP
--
Best Regards,
Danny
'Close enough is good enough, I just come here for fun'
My Albums
http://photobucket.com/albums/a44/yeeonly
I have taken similar pictures with F30, the F100fd did better here, I don't have the chances to try doing comparison with a LX3, but I think both the LX3 and F100fd should do better in this situration, their IS/OIS should help a lot. With the F30, I needed to use iso800.
iso400 1/4s f3.3 wide angle end. This one is PPed, but not denosied. The earlier 1/4.5s one posted just now is just resize and USM only, not much difference to me.
Use iso400 to test DR.
At tele end.
100% crop, no PP
--
Best Regards,
Danny
'Close enough is good enough, I just come here for fun
' My Albums
http://photobucket.com/albums/a44/yeeonly
toomanycanons
Forum Pro
I'm the last person to ask about whether any particular camera has objectionable noise in low light situations, 'cause I never shoot in low light situations and couldn't point out noise if I had to. But those of you whose lips curl at the sight of noise, perceived or real, seem to be mostly in agreement that point and shoots' weak point is exactly what the OP is looking for--"indoors/low light/nighttime shooting".
It seems that there are very very few point and shoots that are worth a carp over ISO 200, maybe ISO 400 (I'm told this, I don't know that personally). Isn't a search for such a camera (great ISO 400, decent ISO800, ok ISO1600) almost sure to be met with utter failure unless the searcher can consciously relax his sensitivity to any "noise" he might encounter?
From what I've read, no point and shoot should be bought for its "indoors/low light/nighttime shooting". Isn't that just asking for frustration? Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go out and shoot some nice snowy daytime landscapes.
It seems that there are very very few point and shoots that are worth a carp over ISO 200, maybe ISO 400 (I'm told this, I don't know that personally). Isn't a search for such a camera (great ISO 400, decent ISO800, ok ISO1600) almost sure to be met with utter failure unless the searcher can consciously relax his sensitivity to any "noise" he might encounter?
From what I've read, no point and shoot should be bought for its "indoors/low light/nighttime shooting". Isn't that just asking for frustration? Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go out and shoot some nice snowy daytime landscapes.
kharenitin
Member
Danny,
Thanks for sharing the photos. Since I owned F31, I know the capabilities and weaknesses of F10/20/30/31 and upto some extent F40 because all these cameras were almost same in image quality, only differences being in the mega pixels count and features set. After F40 Fuji went downhill with the Fxx series. I am liking F100fd and with current $100 Fuji rebate I can buy this camera in around $185
hifi
Veteran Member
Hi Jeff - I am keeping my eye out too for an LX3 to possibly replace our F40fd. Nobody has these in stock! Vistek, Henrys, Camera Canada etc. With this happening, I don't think the price will drop any time soon and I was hoping for that to occur.
my FZ30 pictures at: http://www.memoriesinmosaic.com/16.html
--My take on it is:
1: For social use (family and friends) the F100 would probably suffice.
2: For more advanced use, including B&W, external flash, long
exposure, The LX3 is the way to go.
I was planning on getting one this weekend, but all the local dealers
are sold out. I'll just have to wait and read this forum.
--
Jeff.
my FZ30 pictures at: http://www.memoriesinmosaic.com/16.html
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