Panasonic Lumix LX100 II

At a glance

£849

• 17MP Four Thirds sensor

• 24-75mm equivalent f/1.7-2.8 lens

• Multi-aspect-ratio shooting

• 2.76m-dot electronic viewfinder

• 3in, 1.24m-dot touchscreen

Back in 2014, Panasonic introduced the LX100, a chunky compact camera with a fixed, large-aperture zoom lens and a relatively large Four Thirds sensor. With its rangefinder-like styling and comprehensive array of analogue controls, it quickly became one of our favourites of its type. While not very pocketable, the LX100 provided a far more engaging shooting experience than any of its peers, with its main disadvantage being its relatively low resolution of12.8 million pixels.

Four years on, and Panasonic has followed up with the LX100 II, which at first sight looks exactly the same as the original. Indeed, if it weren't for the subtle red ‘II' on the top-plate you'd be hard-pushed to distinguish it from its predecessor. On closer inspection you'll find a few other physical changes, including a subtly redesigned grip, reshaped switches on the lens barrel, and different labelling on some of the buttons. But the biggest updates are invisible, with the most important being a new higher-resolution sensor and the addition of a touchscreen.

The other notable change is the price: the LX100 II will set you back £850 – considerably more than the LX100's street price of around £600, and indeed higher than the interchangeable-lens Lumix GX9 that's not dissimilar in size. Looking at other enthusiast-focused compacts with similar zoom ranges, the pocket-sized Sony RX100 V currently costs £800 (and its lower-spec sibling, the RX100 IV, is £650), while Canon's APS-C sensor PowerShot G1 X Mark III costs £1,090. So the LX100 II isn't