What you see above is a shot I took of my new favorite camera – a Panasonic Lumix LX100 – with my old favorite camera: my iPhone.

I rediscovered how much I love photography again back when I got my first iPhone due to its camera. Since it was my phone too, I carried it with me everywhere. Therefore, I was capturing people and places with it that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to capture  – due to having no desire to carry one of my cameras I get paid to shoot with everywhere with me. The iPhone (camera) forced me to work within its limitations  – and there are a lot of them – for somebody like me.

It wasn’t long before people seemed to be responding more to what I had shot and shared with my iPhone in my day-to-day life than they would to some of the stuff I had shot for commercial paid assignments – stuff that required much nicer gear to create – not to mention a whole lot more skill as a photographer.

Some people seemed to have a have a hard time believing when I’d tell them a shot I’d shot with my iPhone had been shot with just that – an iPhone. It did serve as a great example of photography being more about the person shooting than the camera or gear.

The main issue with it though, was that sometimes people expressed interest in getting larger size prints of the shots I’d do with it, and I’d have to tell them that I might be able to get decent 5×5, 8×8,  8×10  at best from the files it created.

So, I began to really want to buy a Fuji X100 series camera. Every photographer I knew that owned one loved them. But, I just couldn’t justify spending $1300.00 on what would be just a fun / play / everyday carry camera since it had a fixed focal length lens. It was a want and not a need.

Then a new client came along – a client that I love working with and shooting for.

Much of what I shoot for them is the style work I’d shoot with my iPhone; only I’m covering specific areas and businesses for them. Some – or a lot – of this work requires me to fly under the radar though. They don’t have the budget to have me get permits for each location or business they need me to cover for the various assignments I cover for them.

The work is used to represent the businesses / neighborhoods in a positive way, but, most any business will have their security on you in a hurry if you’re doing anything looking even remotely professional in nature in regards to photography – understandably so. Sometimes I can sweet-talk my way into covering places. But some of them – well – I know to not even try. So, it becomes a “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” type of situation. I’d deliberately go out shooting for them looking as much like a random dude out shooting for fun with a camera as possible. But the look of my DSLR‘s, lenses, and heavy-duty tripod still raises flags pretty quickly.

So, there have been times that I wouldn’t be able to get shots the client asked of me due to this. Not being able to get everything a client needs or ask from me is not something I enjoy. So, I began to see a real need to find a camera that would allow most all the functionality of my DSLR system – but not draw so much attention to me.

Most of the smaller point-and-shoot type cameras lack in some way or another: some have fully manual controls, but their sensor size is too small to produce the image quality I need to get up in the higher range of their ISO (sensor sensitivity). Some don’t allow for you to attach filters (like a neutral density or polarizing filter) to the lens, which can be exceedingly important. The Fuji X100 series was almost perfect – almost. Its fixed 35mm lens did not give me the versatility I needed as far as focal length range for this particular client. Most everything I’d shoot for them I’d cover with a Canon 24-70mm F2.8L.

So, I randomly mentioned this – need – to a friend and mentor of mine one day a couple of months back. He immediately recommended I look into the Panasonic Lumix LX100 – and I bought one within an hour due to a deal I lucked up on – which was a goof on B&H Photo’s part.

Joe is an absolute gear-head when it comes to photo gear and is probably the most meticulous photographer I know. I knew from assisting for him in the past that his meticulous ways carried over to his choice of camera gear. So, I felt pretty confident buying the LX100 without doing a lot of research on it. If Joe Boris was recommending it – it had to be almost – magical.

Turns out – it was. Magical that is. I don’t recall the last time I was so excited for a new camera to arrive in the mail. And I’ve ordered my fair share of them over the years. Previously, when ordering a new one, in recent years, well, they were just a means to an end type thing for me: a tool for making money since I rarely took them out just to shoot for fun.

Where as this new LX100 – I was not only ordering it to shoot for this specific client with, but also as my carry everywhere camera. It would become what I’d shoot my fun everyday stuff with rather than my iPhone.

It arrived and I’ve been in love with it ever since. It is one bad ass little camera that inspires me. It makes me want to go out and shoot. So much so that I’ve learned not to keep it visible at my desk, because it makes me want to go out and shoot something rather than stay at the computer and work – like I usually need to do.

The shots in this post are some of my favorites I’ve captured with it so far.

On top of ordering the camera, I also ordered a new MeFoto tripod and a Joby GorillaPod to shoot for that same specific client with. I ordered the tripod in red so as to look more fun and less professional – hoping it will draw less attention to me than the tripod I typically use. And the GorillaPod – well – there are certain areas that they ask me to shoot where a tripod is not allowed at all. With this I can simply find something to attach it to and still have a stable camera support for long exposures, and hopefully not have security notice.

The moral of the story:

Do everything you can to keep a good client happy and deliver the best files possible to them – within the time and budget you’ve been given. Even if it means having to invest in some new gear and go into stealth professional photographer mode to do so.

There are plenty of LX100 reviews out there already, so I’ll spare you all the technical details of the camera. Here are a few of its pros and cons – for me – based on my experience with it thus far, though:

PROS:

1.) It inspires me to want to go out and shoot.

2.) It has 24-75mm f1.7-2.8 Leica lens that is fast and SHARP.

3.) Small size that makes it great as a carry everywhere type street camera. But its file quality and features make it a viable camera to shoot certain paid assignments with.

4.) It’s beautiful.

5.) Old school type simplicity of the basic controls on it. Aperture, shutter speed, exposure comp, etc.

6.) 4K video mode that 8MP still files can be extracted from for print.

7.) Wi-Fi connectivity allowing you to send files right to your phone to process and share.

8.) A leaf shutter that allows for much faster sync speeds – up to 1/2000^th of a second.

CONS:

1.) Battery life is short. Keep extras on you.

2.) The display doesn’t pivot up like it does some cameras. This would make the LX100 even better for street photography.

3.) There’s no line in / mic input for video work. This is a non-issue for higher-level productions where you would have a dedicated sound guy / recorder, but a major issue for documentary type shooting. A real shame considering that the camera is capable of 4k video.

Overall, it is a great little camera. It’s a point-and-shoot that was designed for professional photographers. It’s not a real good option for those that don’t know their way around a camera and the basics of photography, though. I believe the extent of its features and functionality would frustrate those that are looking for a simple high quality point-and-shoot camera.

In short: The Lumix LX100 gets two thumbs up from me. I love it.

Here are some of my favorite shots I’ve taken with it thus far: