>You mentioned LX7 is “95% there” yourself. Are Canon’s digicams are “as bad”, i.e. at 95%?

It depends what you need. I prefer good bitrate and reasonable frame rates over full manual control. If you prefer manual control, AND you’re on a PAL country, then sure, the LX7 is a fine product.

>LX7 has AVCHD Progressive (that’s right – PROGRESSIVE), at 28Mbps, at 60p

Even so, as we discussed above, 28 mbps for 60p is not enough for good quality. For full 60p, I’d need seriously over 40 mbps. Besides, except for slow motion, I have no need for 60p, I need 24p and 30p at a good bitrate instead. That’s the gold standard for art (30p for only slight slow motion to 24p that is barely visible as slow, in the case of artistic videos with no audio). Also, 20 mbps at these frame rates are just not enough (again, as discussed above). In fact, scratch that. The LX7 does not do 24p at all. In fact, its 720/30p mode is at JUST 10 mbps, which is WORSE THAN WHAT MODERN CELLPHONES DO.

So there. It does full manual control on an utterly useless encoding mode. Hurrah.

>same level of “serious” art can be achieved by shooting videos with a cell phone.

As mentioned in the article itself, there are a set of features/needs that I call “basic”, which must always be met before I endorse a product. These “basic needs” ARE ENOUGH to make something artistic in a way that RIVALS expensive cameras, and they certainly don’t look like cellphone video. Full manual control and 60p (that the LX7 does as its main video features) are not among these must-have features.

I disagree. You mentioned LX7 is “95% there” yourself. Are Canon’s digicams are “as bad”, i.e. at 95%?

Also, Eugenia, you are misleading (purposely or not) about spec of LX7.

“the AVCHD mode is *useless* for serious artistic videographers, since it’s interlaced and it’s losing half its resolution when exporting in progressive”

LX7 has AVCHD Progressive (that’s right – PROGRESSIVE), at 28Mbps, at 60p (Sensor output is 60fps).

I certainly do not dispute your view about which cameras qualifies for “serious artistic videographers”. But if your choice falls on 2-year old Canon’s P&S, same level of “serious” art can be achieved by shooting videos with a cell phone.

If not, why are you taking such personal offence to Eugenia’s statements?

You are free to go to whichever dSLR manufacturer you like. I personally do not have this luxury. I don’t have the money required to move to any other dSLR manufacturer. $1000 for the T4i/M is nothing compared to what I’d need to spend to rebuild my lenses and accessories for Panasonic or Nikon, because in that case it would be “camera+lenses+accessories” instead of just “camera”. Please try to understand this before you reply in such a rude manner here.

But one thing is for sure: the digicam part of the story, which I have been an avid supporter of in this blog, is history. Canon killed it, and the rest don’t live up to the expectation. So no matter what, it’s a dSLR game from now on. No matter the manufacturer.

Now I need to persuade my spouse to get good volume of Canon lenses, and spend $1000 on EOS M or dSLR, so I wouldn’t have to jump ship…

The “piece of shit company” refers to their strategies about their digicams, not in their hardware process or quality of their dSLRs. It’s these questionable BUSINESS practices I have trouble with, not their dSLRs or high end camcorders.

As to which company to jump to: you don’t have to jump away from Canon if you’re using their dSLRs, or if you’re upgrading to one of these. They’re still the best in the market video-wise. A good Panasonic, Nikon or Sony dSLR would do too though. The problem is specifically with the digicams in general. That’s where my whole problem lies, because I have been a huge advocate of small digicams that do the BASICS of video well-enough. And now we’ve been strapped away from these, because of market segmentation and fears of product cannibalization.

“But if I was like 99,9% of the rest of the people, who don’t have this volume of lenses, then I WOULD have jumped ship.”

I didn’t ask anything. I am just one of those 99,9% whose spouses have little or no volume of Canon’s lenses, and who are clueless what brand to jump to.

So, what to do? Get a dSLR or micro-thirds camera that happens to have the whole nine yards when it comes to video. Or if you prefer a camcorder, get the ones that cost over $1000 that also come with the whole nine yards. Since you can’t go for a good-enough $200 P&S digicam for video, shell the cash and get something appropriate for over $1000. At least you won’t be ripped off by buying a P&S digicam for $500 and not even get the video features that were present in a $100 Canon digicam just 2 years ago! So my suggestion is, either go all in, or try to find older models, second hand.

When Canon removes video exposure lock from their EOS M and dSLR, do keep us posted which brand would you choose.