Considering this camera along with the Panasonic LX3 and the Canon S5IS

I am wanting something versatile, but as I'm a jeweller, I mainly need it for photographing my jewellery for my own records and at a fairly high quality for promotional materials. ie) something that could potentially be blown up quite large and still look clean and sharp. I need a good macro function that allows a bit of flexibilty with the manual controls so I can get creative with the lighting and play with the exposures abit more than a point and shoot. I am also a bit of an amature photographer and like to take nature/ portrait shots as well, but have never owned a digital camera (have an old minolta SLR that wieghs a ton) before so am a bit bamboozled by choice. I have narrowed my search in terms of price range down to the three cameras above. Which would be better for my purposes? Or if anyone knows of any other camera that I have overlooked that would be better?

I think I'd go with the new Canon G10 if I were you. All of the cameras you listed are fairly good and very comparable, each has its own advantages. For example, Canon usually has the best contrast and color, Panasonic has better pictures at extreme zooms, and Fuji has better pictures in low light. I like the new Canon G10 because of the better processor it uses, as well as several of the features, plus many more that you need. Hope this helps, if you have more questions, feel free to ask.

Sadly though, I'm hearing of purple fringing problems with the G10. I'd advise skipping it and going with the G9. You won't see a difference in the MP anyway and it'll be cheaper.