I’ve labeled this post as part of my review series of the Panasonic DMC-LX5, and that although the image was made with the Nikon D300.
Why? Because I could have made the exactly same image with the Panasonic - and you wouldn’t have seen a difference. This is 19 mm, equivalent to about 29 mm of FX, a focal length that is perfectly in the range of the LX5. It has been taken at f7.1 and base ISO 200. With the LX5, I could have achieved similar DOF at f2, and I would have used ISO 80.
Both cameras have acceptable automatic white balance, sometimes the Panasonic is better, sometimes the Nikon, but nevertheless I am always better off manually setting white balance in Camera RAW. That’s what I do. Always.
The D300 has more dynamic range and less noise, stabilization on the LX5 is better. Of course the D300 is much faster, especially autofocus, and of course the LX5 is so much lighter.
And what else? Not much that I care for. I like both cameras and I will return to the LX5 tomorrow.
Oh yes, this was not the test that I talked about, switching back to the D300 and see how it feels. I just had to switch for a day, because I had forgotten my SD card in the card reader in Carinthia. Today I’ve bought another 4 GB card and now I can use the LX5 again. I had considered making the switch earlier, but I guess It is not the time yet 🙂
The Song of the Day is “Escalator” from the 2010 album “Medicine County” by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs. Hear it on YouTube.