An Old, Small Sensor Camera - Any Good These Days? 

I've printed and sold 24x36 inch prints made with a Ricoh GR Digital III from 2010 which had a similar sensor. I sold the images in 2010 when I made them, and continue to sell those same images today. I think over processing is what killed your images, not the sensor. In the old days we didn't process, we developed. Big difference. People interchange the word develop and process, these are not the same. Developing makes an image based on what was there. Processing pulls out information not viewable in the file or in the physical scene. Best example is astro-photography, you can't see the milky way in most places, but if you process a photo you can "make" it visible, while a developed photo would not show it.

I enjoy shooting my Canon Powershot G5 (5 megapixel). Originally someone paid $800 for it. I got it for $3 at a thrift store. Looks and work perfect. I don’t know how enlarged prints would look, but to me on social media and small prints it takes excellent photos. All the best. Jim from Georgia

Love where you’re coming from, you did give it your best shot, so well done, and thanks for the analysis, pretty fair and honest.

Loved the Lx-5 and the 7. Great for on my motorcycle trips.

Thank you Steve! Folks like you, and others continuing to make great videos, are helping keep us entertained during these difficult times. I hope you and your family/friends avoid the virus and stay safe.

Thank you Steve, I have an LX5 and I still use it and get good shots with it

Up until 2010 I was only a little interested in photography. I wanted to understand more, I bought the LX5. That camera taught me so much. I still have it but I don't use it any longer because I am spoilt now, I am used to better. I do have a soft spot for the LX5, I can't bring myself to sell it. It was great to see this video. There is one thing I would like to add, that this camera has style and if I think about it, that is part of the reason I enjoyed using it and learnt so much. It looks great, I have the leather half case, it was so old school to use. Also, in this video it was low light, bad weather, I think this camera is still great for travel, especially a sunny holiday.

Steve, running out of superlatives to compliment your videos! You are a master of mood and light. The sensor issue reminds me of old film days - technology produced better and better films as time went on - better grain structures, better color rendition, etc. Likewise film size - 110, (can't even bring myself to think long about Disc!), 126, 135, 120, 4x5 etc. So many parallels, really. Fortunately we have reached a point where the capabilities and quality allow us to shoot pictures in many different forms and styles as you demonstrate so well each week. Cheers, and godspeed to you and your family.

Love your videos all the time! I have the same camera. It's been a long time I've never use it for photo shooting. Even though it's not longer useful for taking pictures, I usually use it as my 4x5 light meter. Tiny, light weight, full manual control, spot metering. Absolutely perfect for precisely zone system metering.

Hello from Canada! Love your videos and your landscape photography Steve! Keep healthy!!!

Thank you for your time in the field. Being a fan of the LX series cameras I was looking forward to your findings. Almost all of my photography has been done on an LX7. A really good knock about and both the lens and the full manual mode make it a great tool. My first Lumix was the LX5 but found the LX7 to be superior. But I will agree with your disappointment as to the A2 prints, it seems to be too much a push.

I gave my 13 year old Nikon D300 to my daughter . The 12 Megapixel sensor looses just over stop in dynamic range to my now old D800 and about a stop in noise. The build quality is just as good if not better and it does whatever I asked of it in all the years I had it . Clever marketing has us believe that we can not live without this gizmo and that gizmo, endless menus, zillions of auto focus modes, ISO 128000 ( I can write a book about this digital ISO fallacy ) and so on and on. Photography is a different thing though. Great presentation as usual. Thanks and stay Corona free.

My Fujifilm X-E1 with its 16-50mm ois-2 - darn sharp @ f6. 4 - is the camera I always use on my walks. I can strongly recommend this combo for landscapes on a budget.

I had the LX3 and absolutely loved it. Some of my favourite images came from it, and it was nicely portable. Unfortunately I lost on a particularly energetic days sking in France. Hopefully someone found it in the spring and got to use it. The only drawback was no viewfinder.

Very clarifying video, you explained in very pratical terms your conclusions. Thanks for your work, keep up!

Thanks, informative and honest - jut what we need in this age of hype!

Love the honesty here. Awesome content, regardless of it not going how you planned.

Hey I've been shooting an LX3 for a while as my little digital I take with me when shooting my 4x5 and other film cams. I love it!

Thought about these older digital cameras myself, thanks won't go that route. Just processed some 35mm B&W film which looks great 👍🙂

Unique and interesting yet again!

I still have the Lumix LX2. It was a good one way back. A very interesting video for me, thank you! The landscape is looking so nice there! Take care!

Thanks for the video! I really enjoyed it.

Love the grain from the old CCD small sensors. Thanks I watched this just recently as I’m planning to buy this camera.

Thanks for your video! I love your honesty. I myself shot tons of foto's on a LX3 way back, loved that camera quite a lot, especially the quality of the lens. After that one broke down I bought myself a LX7 an went on taking foto's. Even now in 2021 I'm impressed by the sharpness of the lens and the possibilities the f1,4 gives me. As your video proves it it not suitable for large prints or extreme crops due to the small sensor. But I will keep on using it ocasionally!

Thank you for this. It is so easy to succumb to the siren song of the newest and "greatest." I have a Canon Eos 1100D (Rebel 3 here in the States), and I recently bought a Lumix GF2 and 14-42 Micro 4/3 from Ebay for around $110 USD. I could shoot every day for hours at a time and still not fully exhaust the capabilities of these nearly 10 year old cameras.

I was shooting with my LX5 this past weekend. Fun little digicam!

Well done Steve, an honest review. You win some, you loose some. Thanks for the content.

I've got a 2001 Olympus E-10N with a 5MP sensor that I still like shooting with because of the unique look it can achieve. The autofocus went out on it, but I can still manually focus. I can't enlarge the images much, but it makes smaller prints that are nice. Since it uses AA batteries, I can use it whenever I want as long as I have batteries handy.

Thank you so much for your videos. They're absolutely inspiring. About giving the honors to old cameras, I still have in use a 6Mp Nikon D40 making some beautiful macros and portraits combined with vintage 50mm 1.8 Nikkor and macro rings. Love the experience, because that was my first dslr and she has allowed me to earn some money to update my gear.

Thanks for your professional and realistic valuation of the picture quality. Good contrast to many other RU-vid‘ers which actually just producing content without real understanding!

Hey man, I really enjoy your delivery. Its so obvious that you are deeply interested in the craft and it is never about you as a youtuber. The pace of the videos is also very natural which makes it super engaging. Subscribed.

A great, informative video. So nice to see others out there using older equipment to get quality photographs! New subscriber........”keep em coming”. Regards, Jimp

Love this idea Steve. They're just as good as they were when they were the best thing on the market. [And having got to the end...] That B&W shot was a very nice scene, but I see what you're saying. I wouldn't even have thought of trying to go for A2. The LX5 is similar tech to my GF1 M43 camera, and I think most of my favourite photos were shot on that before I upgraded a couple of years later. RAW images are great for online use and A4 or 16" prints though, particularly when dynamic range isn't too high.

Great subject and well executed.... I had wondered the same thing but pretty much analog now. Really good capture. Very smart have some vlogs in the can before being shut in. Godd luck and stay safe

I had a lx3. Best camera ever had. The fun I had with that little camera I never had again. But yeah. The photos are not on par with today's ones. I hope panasonic will learn from his past and from what trends now (I'm talking about the x100v and ricoh grIII).

Terrible conditions, beautiful images. Inspirational ❗️

Enjoyed the video Steve, I need to dig out some of the old cameras and give it a go, thanks for sharing and stay safe.

Thank You Steve. I enjoyed your composition hence it does not matter what camera you used.

Panasonic always do their best. The sensor and the color science of lumix is excellent.

Another really compelling video Steve. I still have my LX-7 I bought new for a trip. Never really bonded with mine for some reason and used it very little. I was looking forward to the macro feature which was easy to use, but honestly my old Canon APS-C camera with the cheap 24mm pancake lens was much better for me. .

Thanks for this videos! I still use my Sigma DP2 (2009) frequently. Love his sharp images. You probably have one of those Sigma gems, but if you don't, you must try it. I think you gone a love it.

Inspiring! Thank you.

I used to have that camera and enjoyed it as well. Great video.

Hiya Steve, hope you're keeping well. When our old cameras weren't old we thought they were superb. Now we compare their results to our latest tech gear and the 'limitations' can disappoint. I love working with my latest DSLR or CSC - megapixels coming out of my ears - but I also enjoy using my old Canon G10 compact from day to day. It fits my pocket, has simple controls and provides me with RAW files that are converted to JPGs for emailing to family and friends or publishing on Facebook. Your video has inspired me to try making an A3 print from the G10 - a mini project to stop me banging my head against the wall in these frustrating times. Take care, my friend, and stay safe.

I still own an LX7 (one generation newer than the LX5) and love it. Only 10MP, but I have a magnificent 24"x36" B&W framed aluminum print of the north shore of Northern Ireland taken with it that is to this day one of my prized images ever.

love this guy, so english and so informative !!!

I have the same camera, the Leica D-Lux 5 version and I’ve found it works extremely well. Simply work within its limits and you can create some beautiful images with it.

Great video, I like you was pulling for the little camera to deliver better results and as you honestly indicated, it is perhaps too limited to make the cut for many uses. I found your comparison of the images to the performance of film quite useful. One may not always consider the nature of dynamic range in film when using an older digital camera and the possible better choice, given a choice. Thanks for the video!

You had me there. I really liked my LX5. Lovely camera. Sold it in 2016 I think. For the first half of the video you had me regretting it! Still a nice camera for family snaps so I hope whoever got it is still enjoying it. Certainly good enough for really nice Instagram/Facebook photos.

I love that you made such a big impression from a small sensor with only 10 MPX but very decent lens. Logically, looking at such a short distance an A2 enlargement certain problems will appear but that's because you're getting too close to see them. I think there are plenty of cameras well under $100 with M43 sensors that would handle that upscaling to A2 size even better. You are showing that there is no reason to condemn these cameras to the category of "cameras for social media". Thank you Steve.

This was a great video on a subject I have been wondering about for some time now. I have taken out my 2009 vintage Ricoh GRD III small sensor, 10 MP camera lately and have been pleasantly surprised at the sharpness of the images and by how much the noise in it's pictures looks like film grain. On the other hand, I spent this morning looking through my old Canon Supershot G9 images and found myself somewhat surprised at how bad many of them look, although there were some good ones I had overlooked back in the day. I haven't tried to print anything but relatively small prints from either lately but since many shots look good at social media size but fall apart on pixel peeping, I suspect most would look good as small prints but make terrible big ones. I intend to use the Ricoh around the house and when I want something in my pocket when out and about. And when I want the final image to be black and white because you are right - the colors also are not great on these older small sensor cameras, even if I shot them in RAW. Anyhow, thanks for another interesting, and for me at least, very timely. video.

What a thoughful video, thank you so much for sharing it. I still often use an even older small sensor camera, a Fuji S9600 with its 28-300mm lens. However it really does need to be kept at ISO80 to keep in line noise-wise with modern image quality, and that means a tripod and self-timer in winter or early mornings and evenings when the light is interesting so that manual control can be used. OK, a beanbag on a rock will sometimes suffice. I even got it a filter ring so that it could share the ones that go with the DSLR. For social media those small sensor cameras are fine.

I still use my old compact cameras quite a lot. they are perfectly good for most things.

So refreshing to find this video, so many RU-vidr are pushing buying the latest and greatest in hope of getting sponsors and views. 😊

I recently decided to do the same thing with an even older LX3. Great little cameras and still decent enough.

Always enjoy your videos and this was no exception. I do, however, miss your images and discussions with your 4x5. Those were what got me hooked in the first place. Being "hooked" there's no going back, but I do hope you revisit LF sometime soon.

Just an fyi stopping down to f5.6 is a no go and puts you well into diffraction. In realistic terms with the small sensor wide open at f2 is ffe f8-9 with a similar depth of field. Best setting for prints is stay at f2-2.8 and don’t venture above iso 400. For super harsh conditions a filter tube is still sold that can screw on the camera and accept 52mm filters, throw on a cpl and it’s amazing what you can get out of this camera. I have printed pictures at 16x20 that are every bit as good as 35mm film or 26mp apsc sensor shots, a touch soft for sure but very pleasing on a quality matte paper to the point that I have displayed them on multiple occasions.

*Good video and good pictures:* Small, old digital cameras are convenient and fun to use, and the results are good enough for posting images on a web page. The Panasonic LX5 has a 1/1.63" CCD sensor (8.07 x 5.56 mm). Assuming that f/5.6 gives about the optimum balance between diffraction-limited optics and lens aberrations, then a simple calculation based on the theory of optics and Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem, suggests the real digital resolution expressed in pixels is about 3.2 megapixels. So, 10 megapixels is a bit optimistic, and probably explains the over-processed appearance of the images. It might be worth scaling the image to, say, 2162 x 1489 pixels, then interpolate back up to a high resolution for printing using a Gaussian basis, followed by a light application of unsharp mask. This will look a bit soft, which is a truer representation of the original, real optical image, but will remove the ugly artificial mess.

Lumix-LX7 is still a very good camera. Especially in dark scenarios.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge Steve you make it look so easy and it isn't i went out the other day and out of a 24 roll i only liked 5 of my composition some i thought were very good turn out to be just pictures

Really enjoyed this video 👍🏻

Some of my favorite pictures have been taken on the Lx3 (little beast of a camera). It’s the first high end camera I bought and I’ll never sell it.

loved the video steve . you stay safe to .

Excellent! Originally, I want to sell my LX-5 on ebay, but I think I would change my mind after watching your video. Nice photo always comes from nice photographer rather than advanced technology.Thank you!

Guess I'll leave my old Canon G5 on the shelf. Thanks for doing the testing for me. Very cool video.

I still have my Olympus E-5 with the 12-60 SWD from 2010, still fun to use, makes vary nice photos

Brutal honesty

Hi Steve, thank you for you effort to make that video, in my opinion picture with house and trees is best of all in video. Of course there are imperfections, but it has a magic! I would really like to be there. have great journeys. Jacek

My LX7 is still one of my favorite cameras. So much so that I bought a second one when they discontinued them just in case. It's in my pocket all the time. I believe the LX5 has CCD sensor rather than CMOS. Wonder if that has anything to do with the image quality you was getting? One thing I've noticed is that the build quality of the older LX7 and GF1 is better than the newer Panasonic compacts. The LVF2 optional viewfinder for the LX7 is much better than the LVF1 for the LX5 and the lens on the LX7 is a 1.4 to 2.3 . Really enjoy your videos. Thanks.

I'm still looking at pictures my father made in 1947. Black and white and beautifully contrast and definition absolutely sharp. Taken from a tripod. I suspect it's up to the photographer. He at one time used a plate camera and the negative would make a positive print. Miss those days, there was pride in what we did.

Thanks for the video. I have been feeling nostalgic for my old LX3 lately. After watching this video, I think I'll stick with my film cameras.

I bought one of these for motorcycle trips, got it last year for $90 cad shipped. Great for the price

Maybe it’s me but I actually liked the A2 monochrome print of the trees and the hut. Nice video, I like the way you do them and you remind me to take more time over my photography. 👍

I shoot with a 5 MP camera from 2005 and it still delivers good quality images up to A3 prints. I've a 24 MP full frame too and you can't compare these two cameras, but for the web, the 5 MP camera is useable still. Anyway, a thumbs up for your review.

Nice honest and accurate review. I own a 2014 LX-100 which I love for street and macro photography but when cropping/enlarging a MFT it deteriorates quickly. I bought a 2016 gx85 with a few lenses and a f mount adapter thinking that I'll just use the proper lens to avoid cropping and I was right. Although, putting a large lens on a MFT camera defeats the purpose of using a small camera. Yes, they have their place. It would be totally unfair to even think of comparing them to any of my full frame cameras, especially my Nikon Z7.

I bought ton of new cameras over the years but something about 4meg Casio QV4000 with canon lens resonated with me since I took gorgeous pictures of my sons and family.Out of nostalgia I bought again same camera from ebay.Sure its slow clunky but still creates gorgeous photos.

I still have an LX3 kicking around somewhere - though the battery doesn't hold much charge these days. It's a fun little piece of kit that I have a lot of affection for, but I'd concur with the results of your experiment. I had thoughts of getting an aftermarket replacement battery, but after trying it out again I'm happy just to hang onto it for nostalgia's sake.

I think in the black and white photo there was quite complex lighting (in terms of light), which did not allow us to reveal the detail. on the other hand, artistic photography has little to do with detail. here sometimes outlines or silhouettes are even possible. It seems to me that, given the capabilities of modern technology, efforts are aimed at “deteriorating” rather the picture. using a monocle, diffusers, adding effects when processing a frame, etc.

Steve, I have an old Canon G2, bought from a pawn shop, for $50. I love it, it's inconspicuous, works incredibly well, and I prefer it's 4 megapixel images to any other digital camera I own. It's flexible, manual when I want or need it to be, has a very fast zoom lens, and it never attracts attention!

Another great video Steve. Beautiful images even at 10Meg. Now that your inside are you going to print some old negatives? Hint...

I not long bought the leica d-lux4. 10MP little powerhouse. +1 only in the highlights otherwise it will explode... 🤯 Impressive for a sensor smaller then my pinky nail tho. Love it.

Love it. I had an LX3 that I loved, then upgraded to an LX5, I might still have the LX5 in a closet somewhere. I never thought about enlarging any of my shots, I just loved it as my pocket camera that I could take anywhere when I didn’t want to lug my canon DSLR around. I may have sold the LX5 because I have a Sony RX100 Mk2 (?) that was smaller and became my pocket camera. However, with the lockdown, I have time to go search through my closets. I might even break out my Hasselblad.

I'm shooting with a Sony RX1 since 8 years. Still love it!

Hi Steve, great video, thank you. I too love using the older digi cameras. I'm currently using a Sony DSC R1 which I've always wanted, having a Carl Zeis 24 to 130ish Zoom, so far got some beautiful shots of our sun lit lounge. I also use a Canon Powershot 120sx (getting on a bit) , which has a great zoom lens on it. With the R1 I'm looking forward to some landscape work, it maybe 15 years old but the specs on this beast of a camera are very good. Can't wait to get out there. Sony R1 in 2020, I'm gonna yes.

Wow, been following you for a while. So so interesting, just subscribed. Ron

Lovely work, Steve! Great video too. Kinda miss the bitter cold, gloomy english weather. Planning to get one of these cameras for street photography. Hope I’m making a good decision 🤞🏼

I've got a Fujifilm.S602Zoom camera from 2002 and it is still.awesome. It takes rather good photos even by today's standards.

I found a Lumix TZ4, a couple years back, at a sale. I'm still amazed at the quality of the photos, from this tiny camera. I'm sure the Leica lens makes a difference. I'm not sure if there are manual adjustments available. I've only used it in auto. I'd buy another, if I found one. :)

Love the video. I personally think you can get great images from old compact cameras. I often use my Canon G16 and get some images I am more than happy with. The caveat for me is that I usually do not do prints. When I do they are generally 8 x 10s and occasionally 11x16. They seem to be okay. Not sure how they would go larger than these. Thank you for sharing.

I purchased a Panasonic Lumix LX5 on Amazon this year and love it. It is as lightweight as the much lauded Ricoh GR III and just as easy to handle. The age of a camera makes absolutely no difference in the shots one can achieve. Just look at the photos that some of the greatest photographers took with analog cameras. I also purchased a Canon G12 and love it too. The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, took some beautiful family photos with her Canon G12.

Great demonstration of “the camera is only as good as the photographer”, Steve. Here in California we have been in Shelter in Place for two weeks now, although activities such as hiking are permitted provided one displays proper social distancing. Would you consider doing a video on the photography books that have inspired you? That would be very lock-down friendly :) . Cheers, Ed

Great vid, Steve. Glad to see you ploughing ahead during these tough times. I was interested to see what you would pull out of that camera. I think the end results really point out an important point. Film is really a mature technology and since it's analogue it will remain consistent as the years pass. Digital is always getting more megapixels, which is great, but it just shows how fast the older models of camera can go obsolete. 35mm has tons of resolution and you can really blow it up to a nice size and retain a nice natural look. Want more resolving power? How many megapixels is 10x8 equal to at 300dpi? I'm not knocking digital because it has it's uses and the newer cameras can do amazing things, it will be interesting to see what the average sensor will be able to capture in another ten years, though (if we're all still here :/). Take care and stay safe.

It always cracks me up when someone compares image quality they zoom in 100% and try to see the differences. I got 1100d and d5300 and they take absolutley fine photos, I bet 90% couldn't tell the difference not only between them, but comparing to the "holy grail" full frame ones.

Excellent video. I enjoy purchasing used point and shoots for $20 in 2020 that cost $500 in 2008. On another note, watching your video, it surprises me how a country that's been settled for over 12,000 years still manages to have sprawling undeveloped countryside with absolutely nobody around. Extraordinary scenery.

I hasitated to buy a new digital camera the last years. I still use my old sigma foveon Merrill DP2 and 3. Although they are slow and quirky, if used properly and taken time they still deliver beautiful shots...

I have the original Sony RX100 .... AMAZING images for 1 inch sensor ... 20MP packed in a tiny sensor ... also does great B+W !!!!

Great topic. I even take my 2.74 Mp Nikon D1 (1999) out. I've kept every digital camera I've bought. Wish I'd kept my RB67 though. Currently I'm having fun with the 2010 Sony A390 with a 14 Mp CCD sensor from 2010. Love all sorts of cameras. Just fixed my Topcon Super DM tonight. Also the tiny sensor cameras benefit greatly from using a tripod. But I agree, A4 is the limit. But for street scenes and closer city subjects with less detail, a smaller sensor can work well IMHO. Subbed!

I really like the black and white image. Maybe in person it would be different. I may look for one of these.

For big prints from a 10 meg camera interpolate up to 20 meg. Everybody seems to shy away from interpolation but with the right algorithm it works well. To double the megapixels only requires a 1.4 increase in horizontal and vertical pixel count. In other words the algorithm only "invents" 0.4 of a pixel in addition to each existing pixel. I use the Lanczos2 algorithm in Faststone Image Viewer (free download) and then apply a little sharpening. The results are really good and avoid the grainy, digital look you were talking about with the A2 print.

Nice review and images Steve! I like your style of teaching. For me, pretty much all digital cameras got “good enough” around 2016. Panasonic (around the GX80/85, then G80/85) and Sony finally got decent colours around that period, and 16 megapixels for me is usually enough. However, I really like 24 MP Fuji X sensors. BTW, got the first roll from my Olympus 35 RC back from the lab. Turned out OK, and the next roll will be even better. I love that little camera!