Panasonic DMC-LX10 (LX15 in Europe) or the Canon G7X Mark 2?!

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si7a14

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Feb 2, 2014
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I want to buy a camera for my wife. I did my research and based on the size/usage/price it came down to the Canon G7X Mark 2 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX10. I just cannot choose between them. My wife is no professional. She wants a point and shoot camera (Auto mode) but she is obsessed with pics. She likes high quality pictures and appreciate them. This mostly will be for general use. Mostly portraits, landscapes and a few selfies. Not too much Macro. No sports. Video shooting quality is not a deal breaker but is a nice value. Let me explain the key issues I care about and the reason for my dilemma.
Right now I can get the Canon for around $680 and the Lumix for $650. What I like about the Lumix LX10 is that it is a tad more recent and packs a few extra features. It has a better aperture, and this was obvious from the few sample pics I saw online where exposure was better especially in low light and this is important to me. There are a few features like faster JPEG and RAW shooting but I am not sure if those will matter to my wife.
4K video is a good addition although not a deal breaker to me since we don’t do a lot of video. From what I noticed in some online reviews and sample videos is that 1080p video on the LX10 seems better than the G7X M2 especially in low light.
What I don’t like about the LX10 is the hand grip. It is said to be slippery and my wife tends to drop things.
On the other hand, I do like the fact that the G7X M2 screen tilts downwards, a feature that will come somehow handy plus its grip is said to be better. It has a better zoom which is important to us but again, I am not sure if the difference will be significant in real world. Startup time on the G7X M2 is short which – frankly speaking – is important, since we often have those instant moments with our kids that we like to capture right away but would certainly miss if we are just a second late. Something else that I wasn’t sure if it will matter but from what I saw, it turns out it might be a crucial factor: The ND filter. I noticed that a few LX10 pics suffer from overexposure, while the same shot taken with the Canon seems to have just the right brightness.
What I don’t like about the canon is the mediocre low light performance, at least compared to the LX10, If anyone has a different experience please let me know becasuse I would love to believe that the G7X is as good in low light. The screen tilting downward is a good plus.
Diffrence in size and weight is not significant. So basically, the LX10 has a slight edge on paper ad specs are a tad better yet I still favor the Canon since it does have a few advantages that are on my priority list. There are a couple of aspects though that I will consider a deal breaker to me.
0. Speed: Comparing how fast is auto-focus in both cameras ( I already know the G7X M2 boots up faster)
0. Low light performance in still shots in both cameras.
If the G7X M2 fails in either one of those , I will seriously consider the LX10. However please feel free to point to anything that I might have missed. Thanks in advance for your help.
 
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Between those two, I'd get the LX10. but that is because I don't mind processing RAW files and the lx10's edge in focus speed trumps the g7x II's edge in out of the box JPGs. Their performance otherwise is going to be mostly too close to call. They use a 1" sensor. To go up in quality you will need to go up in sensor size.

http://camerasize.com/ is a very handy site for those that are size sensitive.
https://www.dxomark.com/ is the defacto standard for comparing raw sensor performance (including scientific comparisons of low light performance), but neither of these cameras are covered there.
https://www.dpreview.com/ is the largest camera review site. DPR gave both these cameras a score of 81%, meaning quite good but not great...
Between those two, I'd get the LX10. but that is because I don't mind processing RAW files and the lx10's edge in focus speed trumps the g7x II's edge in out of the box JPGs. Their performance otherwise is going to be mostly too close to call. They use a 1" sensor. To go up in quality you will need to go up in sensor size.

http://camerasize.com/ is a very handy site for those that are size sensitive.
https://www.dxomark.com/ is the defacto standard for comparing raw sensor performance (including scientific comparisons of low light performance), but neither of these cameras are covered there.
https://www.dpreview.com/ is the largest camera review site. DPR gave both these cameras a score of 81%, meaning quite good but not great. The Sony rx100 might be the 1" small-body leader but by a trivial amount.
The larger sensor Panasonic Gx850 is likely to produce better results. I know it will do better in low light
https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2012/10/allsensors.jpg
If you look at this image, compare the Nikon CX to the m4/3 for a graphical representation of the size difference.
Or if you prefer math, it is almost twice the area (116.2 mm^2 vs 224.9mm^2).
It is nearly the same size:
http://camerasize.com/compare/#688,699
It has the option of getting a daytime lens and a night time lens if you want to bump up the quality. And it is in your price range
https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DC-GX850KS-Mirrorless-Camera-12-32mm/dp/B008RMMIVW
 
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