Panasonic DMC-LX3 vs Canon 170 IS

Panasonic DMC-LX3 advantages over Canon 170 IS

• Larger sensor
  1/1.63 inch vs 1/2.3 inch
  More sensor area. Bigger is (generally) better.
• Bigger pixels
  ~ 1.98 vs 1.20 microns
  Better low-light and dynamic range (all else equal)
• Larger lens aperture
  f/2.0 vs f/3.6
  Take photos in low-light or isolate your subject
• RAW file ability
  Yes vs No
  Gives you more flexibility to develop your photos later
• Longer stills battery life
  More info

  Longer stills battery life

  Cameras with longer battery life can take more photos before exhausting their batteries.

  Special note: The measurement standard for battery life stipulates that if a camera has an internal flash, it must be used for 50% of photos taken. For this reason, comparisons of one camera with an internal flash to another without will not be comparable

  380 vs 200 shots
  Capture more photos
• Manual focus
  Yes vs No
  AF is for the weak. Real photographers focus manually.
• Shoots 24p video
  Yes vs No
  Gives your movies a big-screen feel
• More dots on screen
  460k vs 230k dots
  Can mean greater resolution or a brighter screen
• Hot shoe
  Hot shoe vs None
  Off-camera flashes open new possibilities
• Longer exposure
  60 vs 15 sec
  Long exposures for night shots
• Faster JPEG shooting
  1.9 fps vs 0.8 fps
  Faster JPEG shooting (burst mode)
• Higher extended ISO
  3200 vs 1600 ISO
  Higher extended ISO can give more low-light flexibility