You have not mentioned about any other camera to compare Lumix DMC LX1 to, therfore it is rather difficult to say anything about it. I'm not a user of Point-n-Shoot digital cameras(I use SLR), however looking at pictures from Panasonic Lumix DMC LX1 and Fuji Finepix F10. I find Lumix DMC LX1 gives out lil noiser picture. Pix from Lumix LX1 are sligtly more contrasty than those from Fuji F10. Dont worry about pixel count. Pixal count becomes an important factor only if you are making large print like 12 X 18 inch size photos. For prints up to 8.5 X 11 inch you'll see very little difference. General people usually do not notice this noise level if you are making prints no bigger than 5 X 7 inch (only the photo nerds do). If you are really concerned about noise I'll suggest you to go for Sony F828. Like with Lumix DMC LX1, Sony F828 comes with 8 MP resolution therfore the image size you get is about the same. I guess Sony F828 uses larger image sensor therefore it has less problem with noise. If you are not satisfied with it as well then go for DSLR camera. Understand that, bigger the image sensor less the noise problem. That is reason why the DSLR camera with the same pixal count will preform way way better than the Point-n-Shoot camera. Point-n-Shoot cameras have image sensors that are only 1/5 size image sensors in DSLR cameras with the same pixal count.