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Welcome to the family, originally uploaded by thatmackyguy.

I've been after a compact for quite a long time now. Being a fan of shooting film on range finders and a being a regular user of a 1Ds system I was looking at getting something as close to both of these in terms of image quality as possible.

I was going to buy a camera before Christmas but I held on for a post-new year price drop, however with the credit crunch and the weakness of the pound at the moment, prices have ended up rising, particularly anything electronic manufactured in Japan, so this includes Canon, Nikon and pretty much every other major camera manufacturer. Bummer!

The cameras I was looking at were the Sigma DP1, Canon G10 and the Panasonic DMC-LX3. I didn't get chance to handle a DP1, no where had them in stock, plus the camera it self is fixed focal length and the ISO performance at higher levels in the sample images I've seen didn't look very good, I really like the design though.

Canons prices went up on 1st Feb, as did Nikons. Panasonic UK were not not reflecting their prices to the pound until March 1st, when the LX3 would be going from £320 to £400. Regardless of price, I was sold on the LX3 after the reviews I had read, and it is like for like the same as the new Leica D-LUX 4, which would set you back a tidy £550. The new Leica compacts use Panasonic electronics and Leica optics, the new Panasonic compacts use Panasonic electronics and Leica optics.

So - I went into town today as Mathers were having a delivery from Panasonic (I went in last week and they only had it in silver, I wanted black, so said I'd call back in today) - I got to the store and they only had silver models delivered. When I said it doesn't matter then, I'll call back next week - I was told that 'they both take the same pictures' - really? do they? I replied. The owner of that place is a bit of a snob, every time I go in it's almost like he's looking down his nose at you, and he's always short handed. He told me that they can't specifically order certain colors because the cameras are under very high demand and they get what they're given as far as stock goes and started going on about me paying a deposit and they'd give me a call when a black one came in stock..

I left the shop and met back up with my mum who was visiting the solicitors, whilst she was in there I went in Wildings to pass some time instead of standing about. Right there on the wall, a black LX3 - I asked if I could have a do, 20 minutes later I am leaving the shop with my new camera. They also price matched Mathers and knocked me £10 off a 4GB SD card. The weather has been really over cast today so I probably wont get chance to geek out until tomorrow, but tomorrow I have a prelim tests for a job I have applied for, so I will just be snapping to and from the 'interview'. The snaps I've taken of the things on and around my desk are cool though, the macro function is awesome too.

Looking forward to some f/2.0 24mm goodness :)