OK, took the LX3 out with my Canon XTi and EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM lens, and tried to do a little comparative testing. The DSLR kit was roughly $800 camera body / $1,200 lens at the time I bought them. The LX3 retails for around $500.

Dang, didn't quite get the "exact same shot," but hopefully this is close enough. Both were taken with the camera's normal "Program" mode, with the DSLR in its "standard" color mode. The LX3 was using some kind of film mode tweaking that I was trying at the time. All I did was resize to 1024 pixels wide and hit them with my usual small bit of unsharp mask -- same as I do for about 99% of the pictures I post here. Oh, and I made sure to wipe out the EXIF info.

So, I will post two pictures -- let's call them Picture #1 and Picture #2. Which one do you say is the LX3, and which do you say is the DSLR?

http://home.comcast.net/~thoots6/lx3/lx3vsdslr-1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~thoots6/lx3/lx3vsdslr-2.jpg
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Tom Hoots
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomhoots/