possible lx5?

43rumours seems fairly certain that the LX3 replacement will be announced by or at Photokina in Sept.

Great camera though it was, I returned mine due to the hateful lens cap and the short zoom. If the Canon high-spec compacts can manage without a lens cap, why can't Pany?. I don't see the point of a compact with one. The replacement would have to address these points before I re-bought but presumably that might mean a smaller lens barrel and thus a slower lens. f2.4, say, would be fine for me, with the rest of the spec. OK.

There's nothing similar on the market, with the Canons crippled by lack of HD video, so I want one !!

Ray

Actually, IIRC the closing and opening of a Canon-esque lens shutter/ cap is more prone to failure than the caps since the shutter mechanism is mechanical. And we all know that mechanical things fail eventually. I actually prefer the lens cap. I just use a piece of thread to hook the lens cap to the body so it's not a big deal to me.
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http://calvinlungphotography.wordpress.com/

The leader doesn't imitate the followers, it works the other way around. It's not as if the S90 has nabbed all the demand away from the LX3, quite the contrary...the S90 is a nice camera, but has its own set of glitches, and I don't think the LX3 needs to take any advice from the S90 in being a long-lived-and-loved classic camera.

The lens cap would have been simple...a modified Ricoh automatic cap, or the ones on ebay that are for the LX3 specifically, would have solved the problem. I've had the Ricoh on my LX3 since shortly after I bought it, and aside from being a little 'snaggy' going in and out of cases, it's fine.
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Gary
Photo albums: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse

RayUK said:

43rumours seems fairly certain that the LX3 replacement will be announced by or at Photokina in Sept.

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They were wrong about their "February announcement" so why are they right this time?

I'm still guessing a July announcement!

RayUK said:

Great camera though it was, I returned mine due to the hateful lens cap ...

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Most of the LX3 market seems to be DSLR people and they are quite used to handling lens caps, way better protection anyway.

The trick with the LX3 lens cap is to tie the tether string to the right-hand eyelet, then it's a quite natural action to slip off the cap when turning on and cup the cap loosely in the right hand to stop it flapping in the breeze. Easy. It all works better with a wrist strap and belt pouch anyway, much easier than a neck strap.

RayUK said:

and the short zoom.

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Well, I have to be cheeky here and say the specs were available before you bought it so you must have seen the zoom range.

RayUK said:

If the Canon high-spec compacts can manage without a lens cap, why can't Pany?. I don't see the point of a compact with one.

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Those flimsy leaf things are so darn unreliable and get tangled and damaged so easily, a real lens cap gives proper protection.

RayUK said:

The replacement would have to address these points before I re-bought but presumably that might mean a smaller lens barrel and thus a slower lens. f2.4, say, would be fine for me, with the rest of the spec. OK.

Click to expand...

A slower lens destroys the whole reason for the LX3, count me out.

RayUK said:

There's nothing similar on the market, with the Canons crippled by lack of HD video, so I want one !!

Click to expand...

The LX3 has no real competitor even after nearly two years. The Canon S90 seems to be a quick kludge and is not a real contender with no hot shoe and no 24mm wide.

The LX3 will keep working no matter what is released and I may look in again about when LX7 is released.

Regards.............. Guy
LX3 info.... http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/panasonic/01-intro.html

when i 1st got the lx3 i thought what old idea of a separate lens cap. just think of it as a little slr since they all have the same caps.
it never bothered me a bit while on vacation in europe or any other time.
its tethered on the left side and doesn't get in my way.
since i do all the camera handling with my right hand its out of the way.
just get used to it like anything else new

I've had film cameras with lens caps since 1961 and caps on all film cams since.

My first digital was an Oly C3020 which had a lens cap; as did as my second digital, the Minolta A1. My Nikon DSLR has caps on all of its lenses. So for me, the lens cap is a natural part of quality photographic equipment.

I'm quite comfortable with my LX3 when its lens cap is on and a bit trepid with my ZS3 with only its flimsy blades to protect that wonderful Leica lens.

This is of course just my opinion.

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Never put off until tomorrow. . .
that which you can avoid doing altogether.