Many years ago, Panasonic made the LX100 point and shoot camera. And for a really long time, we’ve been yearning for a successor to come to the market. What we got instead is the Leica D-LUX 8 camera. I truly wish that Leica had taken it a step further in nearly every single way. But I also think that Panasonic could do this even better.
What I’d want to see in a Panasonic LX100 Mk III are the following things:
- Weather sealing: every camera should have this today
- Real Time LUT: without this feature, Panasonic cameras can feel very dull.
- Scene detection for humans and animals: We don’t really need vehicles with this
- The same sensor that was in the GH6: Give us more megapixels, we’re photographers
- Don’t worry about the video features: Make this a camera mostly for stills shooters
- Lumix Lab integration: I’d have so much fun adding all the new LUTs and taking the ones from my other cameras to add them in
- Keep the same lens: I don’t think anyone would really want it to be that much sharper anyway
If Panasonic made a camera like this and charged somewhere around $1,200 I think folks would buy it in droves. It would be able to easily compete with the Fujifilm X100VI, have a zoom lens, and be able to do so much more than most photographers need. More importantly, I think that it would show the industry that Micro Four Thirds sensors can make for exceptional point and shoot cameras.
I could even see new colorways coming out the way that the Panasonic S9 has. I’d love the LX100 Mk III in silver and brown, black, a green variant, blue, and other special editions.
If they didn’t do this, then at least find a way to make the Panasonic S9 into an actual compact camera. The idea is surely there and it wouldn’t need to be for video shooters and content creators. It could instead be just for photographers.