Canon S95 vs Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

[mikec]

Wow, haven't been here for ages! Been extremely busy with end of semester and all that stuff which is involved in finishing a degree but I'm about to go away for 1 month and I'm organising my gear for my trip.

Basically I'm climbing for a month (woohoo!) and I'm going to be doing my standard fill of climbing photography but I'm also looking to pick up a good P+S for when I don't have my DSLR on me (for weight reasons mainly)

I've narrowed it down to the Canon S95 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5. They seem to be on the same level IQ wise (more or less) but the main differences for me are;

1. The LX5 has a wider lens (Very important for climbing shots)
2. The S95 is lighter and smaller (Also important but not as much)
3. The S95 is about $180 cheaper
4. I prefer the ergonomics (Grip wise) of the LX5. But I have found an add on grip for the S95 online.
5. I love the ring control on the S95!

It's such a 50/50 choice at the moment that I'm really stuck. The only other thing to consider is I'm already using Canon so I guess the menu systems would be some what similar?

So as you can see I'm kind of stuck!

So is anyone able to provide any other first hand experience or feed back? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

[DigitalRev]

I hope this article can help you out a bit - Panasonic Lumix LX5 vs Canon PowerShot S95 - Performance Comparison

[N*A*M]

i had the same question recently and got the S95. but for your needs, i would go the LX5. the wider angle and better grip will serve you much better. the S95 is a nice camera though.

[swifty]

Not sure if you've noticed but Panasonic introduced a GF2 today.
Basically like a GF1 bit smaller and less buttons/dials.
But having a interchangeable lens system becomes a whole lot more complicated so not sure if you wanna go down that route. But the larger sensor will have some advantages (and disadvantages) over either the S95 or the LX5