Introduction

Building on their well-regarded Lumix LX5, this year Panasonic introduced the LX7. This new iteration in the LX series entered into direct competition with Canon's powerful point-and-shoot, the S100, as well as the surprise compact contender from Sony, their Cyber-shot RX100. Against contenders like those, it definitely has a bit of a hill to climb on the road to compact camera glory. While it lacks the S100's mainstream appeal and the RX100's sensor size, the LX7 does offer one unique advantage over the competition: an extraordinarily bright Leica F1.4 lens.

The LX7 is available now in black or white, for $500.