Panasonic LX5/GH2, Olympus E-PL2 and Fuji X100 reviews (XZ-1 wins red dot award)
Photographyblog (Click here) compared the Panasonic GH2 and Fuji X100 noise performance. Due the recent Japanese catastrophy the Fuji X100 shipment has been delayed until late April (Source: Quesabesde). The only place where you can get the X100 now is eBay (but what a price!).
Check the Panasonic GH2 price at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
ePhotozine (Click here) tested the Panasonic LX5: “The Panasonic Lumix LX5 is a great camera for anyone looking to develop their photography without the bulk, weight, and potential expense of a ILC system or DSLR system. The camera provides an abundance of options and controls, and more importantly expansion potential. You can use the flash hotshoe to drive slave flashes, add an optical or electronic viewfinder, and more. Image quality is excellent for a compact camera, thanks to an impressive wide angle 24mm Leica f/2.0 lens. The body of the camera is built to a very high standard, and the ergonomics of the camera are excellent.”
Check the Panasonic LX5 price at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
Crunchgear (Click here) posted a short Olympus E-PL2 review: “Again, I’m a big fan of what Olympus has done here and if you’re in the market for a mid-level portable camera with some great features, the E-PL2 is waiting for your call. Even with the caveats I mention above, the move towards micro 4/3s is exciting and potentially game-changing, especially when it comes to more casual prosumer shooting.”
Check the Olympus E-PL2 price at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
The Olympus XZ-1 wins the red dot design award (Source: Photographyblog).
Check the Olympus XZ-1 price at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.

Ranger 9
2 years ago |I’m suspicious of the PhotographyBlog noise comparisons: The GH2 produces a 16-megapixel image and the X100 a 12-megapixel image, yet in their “100% crop” photos, details are exactly the same size.
FMJ
2 years ago |beside the 100% crop size, the X100 is very impressive! i always thought the GH2 can perform better than that : (
Elniorg\'s Journeys
2 years ago |Yeah… my interest is street photography, really. I’ll get the Fuji X100 and use it beside my GF1 for a while. I believe m43 system is here to stay so I’ll upgrade later…
Will Frost
2 years ago |If they are down-scaling the 16 megapixel image to match the size of the x100, then the x100 has the edge for actual captured detail.
(i.e. even with a 4 megapixel advantage, no real difference could be detected.)
If they are up-scaling the 12 megapixel x100 image and it still looks the same as the 16 megapixel GH2, then the same applies. (i.e. even with a 4 megapixel disadvantage, no real difference could be detected.
What we’re probably seeing is that 4 megapixels really isn’t very much of a difference
All the same, I’d love for PhotographyBlog to explain their testing methods that got them those identically-sized results. (Aspect ratio cropping, maybe?)
Zaph
2 years ago |They have the GH2 at a different focal length, so the crop sizes come out similar.
Michael Meissner
2 years ago |Perhaps with the current discussions about the E-PL2 (and XZ-1) having red dots when shooting narrow apertures into strong light, the red dot award might be misinterpreted to be beneficial
camerageek
2 years ago |What is amazing is how much sharper the X100 shots are, and how clean the image is after ISO 400. Up to that the GH2 is very good, though the images are nowhere near as sharp. I wonder which lens they used with the GH2
camerageek
2 years ago |Even more impressive is how well it does against the 600D and the Leica X1
Dummy00001
2 years ago |Re X100. First decent discussion thread and sufficient number of sample shots: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1020&message=38046169