the TINY re-badged Leica you can buy for a steal

This video is sponsored by Brreno. This

is the original Lumix LX100. And after

some peer pressure from Instagram, I

bought it used for a very good price in

my opinion. I've always been aware that

there's a big overlap between Leica

cameras and the LX series in Lumix. It

might be a well-kept secret. Maybe

people don't know. Maybe people don't

care. I don't know. But this camera is

literally a Leica Deluxe Type 109 in a

different souk and it's like three four

times cheaper. So I thought it was well

worth investigating. And when I say

identical, I mean identical. It's the

same 13 megapixel 4/3 sensor, the same

24 to 75 F1.7 to 2.8 lens, and they were

even released just 1 month apart in

2014. Both have a surprisingly usable

tiny EVF and unfortunately no flip

screen, but that's kind of what you'd

expect because it's such a small premium

compact. In fact, not to be all tribal

about it, but the only differences

between the two cameras actually fall in

Lumix's favor over the Leica. The Lumix

has a little grip at the front and a

really nice thumb grip at the back

versus the Leica's super flat and

probably quite uncomfortable to hold

design. though admittedly it is very

sexy. Of course it is. It's a Leica. The

LX100 is also slightly lighter than the

Leica. That's a very hard sentence to

say. And the Lumix has its 4K photo mode

for burst photographs whereas the Leica

doesn't make it make sense. So even if

you can get a little slice of Leica for

a very good price, is it even worth it

in 2025? First of all, if you value a

tactile experience, this LX100 is

superb. It does remind me of like a

teeny tiny Fujifilm X100. You have

almost exactly the same button layout.

You have a shutter speed dial. You have

an exposure compensation dial and you

also have the aperture on the lens

itself. In terms of like physically

changing your settings, it works in

exactly the same way as the Fujifilms

does, which you know, some people like

those cameras, I've heard. If you are a

more of a beginner photographer or you

just want more of a point andoot

experience, you can whack each of these

dials in A and just have a completely

automatic camera. If you like aperture

priority, you can leave your shutter

speed in A and then manually change your

aperture and vice versa. So, it's a

really, really good experience with lots

of dials and clicks and all those things

that we love, but in a very, very small

package. And just like the X100 5 and 6

and probably all the other ones, it has

a coveted leaf shutter. So, the benefits

of the leaf shutter are you'll have a

more silent but still a very satisfying

shutter sound. And it gets rid of any

shutter shock. So, if you're at a lower

shutter speed, you won't get any shock

or vibration introduced into the

photograph when the shutter goes off.

Another benefit of a leaf shutter is you

can sync a flash to really, really high

speeds. Let me consult my notes. 2,000th

of a second and it still uses a manual

shutter. So, let's go back to the sensor

because I know a 4/3 sensor isn't

something that a lot of people will know

much about. And quite right, why would

you unless you're a camera nerd like me?

A four/ third sensor is just a slight

bit smaller than micro four/ thirds. You

can get a very similar experience if

you're used to shooting micro four/

thirds and you know how the apertures

and the focal lengths work. This is what

you would expect on the LX100 as well.

It's not like the LX10/ LX15, the

premium compact that I really, really

like. This little dude, this has a

significantly smaller sensor. As

delightful as this is as a camera, it's

not that much smaller than the LX100 and

this has a much bigger sensor

comparatively. So, here we have a rather

stylish, very small Leica clone that has

a leaf shutter, has fantastic image

quality, and comparatively a rather

large sensor going for it for under 400

beans. I think it's cool. It's cool.

It's not perfect though. Let me tell you

some stuff I don't like. The main thing

I dislike, and this is very much down to

personal preference, it might not bother

you in the slightest. I dislike that the

original LX100 does not have a

touchcreen. So, when you're shooting in

single point autofocus, as I personally

prefer, you can't just poke at the

screen to move the box around. You have

to use your up, down, left, right on the

back. It's not the end of the world. It

just makes it a little bit slower and

less intuitive in my experience. The

LX100 M I solves that problem, and that

is a touchcreen. But looking at the

spec, aside from that, there doesn't

seem to be a massive difference. So, the

bargain hunter in me still prefers the

original, even though I wish it had a

touchcreen. Let's have a look at the

most important thing. What is the image

quality like? The raw files are very

similar to how you'd expect uh any other

micro four/ thirds camera from this era

to be. Even though it's a four/3 sensor,

it's close enough. You get loads of

detail in the RAW files to play with.

However, the JPEGs really impressed me.

I'm using a photo filter in these. It's

the first one in the list. It has a

dedicated filter button. How before it's

time, and it's called expressive, and I

really like how punchy the blues are. I

really quite like how contrasty it is. I

think uh the vibes. When I first looked

at these images, I was like, vibes. And

it does have Wi-Fi as well, so if you

would like to share things instantly,

you absolutely can do. There is also,

bless it, optical stabilization built

into the lens, which I wasn't expecting

on a camera that's so small. It works

well enough, particularly with the Leaf

shutter as well, to keep your images

nice and steady when you're shooting

handheld for longer shutter speeds. It's

not great for video. It's not a

videocentric camera at all. It will

shoot 4K, but the stabilization is a bit

iffy. Think of it as photocentric,

please. So, the word I keep coming back

to when I think about the

LX100/ beautiful Leica clone is

convenient. It's just convenient.

Particularly if you invest or find a

copy that already has one in this petal

lens hood, which I'm I'm sort of

obsessed with, to be honest. It's so

cute. I wish I could find it in silver,

but I'm not paying Leica prices to get

an official one. I really do rate that

as a setup. All you need to do is

unscrew the ring at the front of the

camera and put that in instead and

you're done. So, what other bad stuff

have we got before we all rush out and

rinse the used market of its stock and

then blame me of rocketing the price? I

love and loathe that there is an aspect

ratio dial on the front of this lens.

Personally for me, I've just shot in 4x3

so blooming long that I just enjoy

shooting that way. And sometimes I find

myself accidentally turning this little

lever and wonder why I've been shooting

it one in one by one for the last hour.

So yes, it's fun. If you like to play

around with different aspect ratios,

there is a dedicated switch for that,

but I find that I sometimes knock it

more than use it creatively. Also on the

lens worth mentioning is another little

lever that allows you to do some faux

macro as well just to make the minimum

focus distance of that lens a little bit

closer. So it is a very versatile lens

in that respect too. If you've been on

my channel before, you know that I love

me an interesting camera. So when the

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sponsoring this video. Now, one thing

that I've seen on my microphone nodes

Facebook group and online in general is

the dust issue. Because there are a lot

of moving parts around this lens, which

you can't take off, there have been a

few reports, probably more than a few,

of dust getting into the lens and

sometimes even onto the sensor, and that

can cause little sort of specks on your

images when your aperture is more

narrow. Usually when you're shooting at

wider apertures, unless the spec is

blooming massive, your camera will shoot

through it and it won't be an issue. But

if you're shooting at like f8 and

there's a blue sky, you will see the

little dots if there is dust on your

sensor. I don't know how prevalent this

is because in my experience, you know,

people go online and say, "I've got dust

inside my camera 100 times more than a

customer that goes, I've had this camera

for 10 years and don't have dust in my

sensor." You know, it's like the greasy

wheel gets No, not the greasy wheel. The

squeaky wheel gets the grease. Squeaky

wheel syndrome, not greasy wheel

syndrome. I've had a lot of caffeine

today. I'm very sorry. I don't know how

much of this is like, oh my god, loads

of them are affected or if it's just a a

loud vocal minority. I would suggest

that you double check when you buy these

used. And the way that you can double

check is pointing to a white ceiling or

a white wall or a blue sky and knocking

down the aperture a little bit just to

see if any dust specks pop up. So far,

mine's been absolutely fine, but it is a

known problem with this style of camera.

not just this one, but the LX100 M I

Leica equivalents as well. It's also

supposed to be an issue with the LX-15,

and I've never had problems with that

either. But maybe I've just been lucky.

So, is the LX100 worth it now? It's

knocking on a bit. As of the time of

shooting this video, it's like 11 years

old math. I I'm very fond of a lot of

older cameras, as you probably know if

you've seen my videos before. I would

say absolutely worth it dependent on the

price. Don't be paying stupid money for

these things just because there's not

many on the used market. It's a pain. I

think around uh 300 to 400 at the time

of shooting this video. I know these

things are subject to change, but yeah,

I think that is more than fine for this

sort of camera. It could be for that

money that you use this camera every

single day and you love the JPEGs, you

love the tactile experience. It could be

that, you know, maybe you want an X100

series camera from Fujifilm, but you

ain't paying an arm and a leg, which I

totally agree with. If you want

something that's tactile that you can

take out with you every day, I think

it's a great option. I just blooming

wish it had a touchcreen. I really do.

But I'm really glad that it has an EVF.

I know a lot of people say that that's a

deal breaker. It is nowhere near as bad

as the little postage stamp EVF on the

GM5, which is notoriously bad, but very,

very cute. This is surprisingly usable.

I think it's a very nice EVF. So, I've

been very charmed by this little Leica

in a different trench coat, and maybe

you will be, too. But my goodness,

Emily's final thought, how good would an

LX100 be in 2025? like a Mark III, like

a proper upgrade, you know, one with

phase detect autofocus and slightly

better video features perhaps. Keep the

form factor the same. I think just with

those two upgrades, I would be like a

day one adopter. Probably won't happen,

but a gal can dream. If you enjoyed this

video, check out my

LX10/X15 video. I went to Costa Rica and

shot nothing but compact camera photos

with it and had a great old