Panasonic DMC-LX3 10.1MP Digital Camera with 24mm Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black) by Panasonic
|
List Price: Our Price: $399.99 You Save: $99.96 (20%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $200.00 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Panasonic DMC-LX3 10.1MP Digital Camera with 24mm Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)
Digital camera Review: Excellent find!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this camera. It takes super sharp pictures and has taken my everyday shots to a whole new level. It makes me smile every time I get to use it!Digital camera Review: Excellent for when I don't have/want my dSLR
Summary: 4 Stars
I was looking for a camera to have when I didn't want to carry around my DSLR. I wanted it to be pocketable, have awesome image quality, especially in low light, and I wanted it to have sensible manual controls. I would not be the only user, though. My wife, not a trained photographer, would be using it a lot with our child. I set out to find a camera to fulfill this tall request... and we have not been disappointed with the LX3.
I'll start with the complaints. This thing is not going to slide into my pants pocket. It's dang close, but it will fit in to many pockets easily, including cargo pants and jackets. The lens (something I'll rave about soon) protrudes too far from the camera body. Other complaints: the interface isn't the world's most convenient (but far from the worst I've seen on a camera) and some of the physical controls are annoying, like the tiny joystick you use to make changes to various settings. It takes more time to set manual settings than on a dSLR.
The camera is not phenomenally light, though, that comes across as a plus as well... this thing is constructed out of metal like a tank. It feels solid and wonderful in your hands. The USB cable is not a standard mini-usb connection. I worry one day I'll lose it. It's not the only camera I own with a unique cable, though.
Last beef that's only partially Panasonic's fault: the RAW format is not yet compatible with Apple software. I use the camera with iPhoto and will be moving to Aperture eventually. Currently I have an 8GB card and am shooting RAW plus JPG and just keeping JPGs for now. When the sw update comes, I'll have to go through a curate all those. Speaking of software, there's a firmware update available now, that looks like it takes many hoops of jumping through to apply. :(
OK, those are really all my qualms. Everything else is pretty much great, though $400 was more than we initially wanted to spend.
Pluses: the lens is great. Shoots in really low light. Hurray for real Leica glass on a point-and-shoot! 24mm means a nice wide angle, without giving a fish-eye effect. This doesn't have a super-ultra zoom, but I didn't want or need that.
Full control over the camera, if you want it. If you know what you're doing, you can really go artistic with this camera. If you prefer the camera to do the thinking, it usually makes really smart decisions. My wife usually uses the iA (full auto) or occasionally one of the scene presets, and it very rarely makes a bad shot. If it does, it's usually too much flash... but that's often what you get from auto settings on a camera anyhow.
The LCD is gorgeous. Everyone is wowed by it when I show them a shot.
The HD video is nice. It saves as a standard QuickTime, not some crazy file format. However, you have no control over camera settings when you shoot video. I'd love to control aperture here.
Sensor: hurray for Panasonic taking a break from the megapixel wars (more MP doesn't necessarily = quality) and giving us a sensor low on noise! High ISO settings work well on this camera. Past Lumixes have been criticized for high noise. This camera is not particularly noisy. Of course, with out my full size RAW images and full on editing, I'm not done checking this out.
The body looks and feels awesome in black. Feels retro and really current at the same time. Great shape for shooting.
Overall, I'm very happy with this camera. I evangelize it to others looking for a high-end, small sized camera. It's great for a DSLR shooters who want a smaller second camera. Or for someone who wants a very capable do everything camera, and aren't shy about laying down the cash for one.
Digital camera Review: Excellent image but falls very short.
Summary: 3 Stars
I really want to keep this camera, because the image quality is so good, and wide angle is heavenly. However, after some use, I found that I need a little bit more reach too often. For a general purpose pocket camera, 24mm X 2.5 zoom is way too little. 3.5X could have been acceptable. And I was very disappointed by the huge video file size. It uses Quick Time JPEG motion, which is an outdated technology. And when you take HD video, the file size is ridiculously immense. Panasonic should have used H264 mpeg, which will reduce the file size at least by quarter. When I pay almost $500, I don't want to pay for the outdated technology.
I am looking forward to the next version, LX4 which will fix these two problems. But I praise Panasonic for its first try to "Image quality, not mega pixel war". Good work !
Edit - Feb, 2010.
Instead of LX4, Samsung came up with TL500/EX1.
[...].
I should have been a little more patient and waited for this camera.
Digital camera Review: Fantastic camera for indoors (others better for outdoors)
Summary: 5 Stars
This review is for people considering the LX3 versus the Canon G9/G10.
I just came back from a month long family vacation in Australia. Since I was going to be traveling with my 2.5 year old, I didn't want to lug my DSLR (a D70 w/ 18-200 and a 10-20) but wanted to take a DSLR backup camera. I bought the LX3 here at amazon a couple months ahead. But since it was going to be a long trip with many photo ops, I also borrowed my brother's G9 for the trip (and while there also borrowed an Australian friend's G10 for half a day).
Short answer: If you can afford it, buy both. Canon G9/G10 is for outside. The Lumix LX3 is for indoors.
The G9/G10 is a great walking around camera - in full sunlight. Its greater range of zoom is invaluable and I found that it handled very well (easy to set controls and compose shots in a hurry and no lens cap to slow you down). Also in full, bright sun; when it's hard to see the LCD, it's really nice to have a viewfinder. The G9/G10's downfall is its slow lens: in partial shade it couldn't offer a shutter speed fast enough to freeze my 2.5 yr old son as he dashed around even at ISO800.
The LX3 totally dominates in low light - indoors it crushes the G9/10. It can take amazing shots in almost no light. We were at the Sydney Aquarium and while people - even those with DSLRs - were blasting away with their flashes (which mostly bounced off the tanks), I got some surprisingly good pictures without the flash and all hand held. Also indoors, the LX3's limited zoom is not a liability; you're close to your subjects already. I also found that a viewfinder is less useful inside, so the lack of one on the LX3 is not an issue. So in museums, stores, restaurants, etc. the LX3 is/was invaluable.
Overall though I took 95% of my shots with the G9, but that's because we were in Australia - in the summer and at the beach. Now at home, any time I know that we'll be indoors, I take the LX3 and leave the DSLR only for shots at home (when I often set up my SB-600 as a remote flash). I view digital cameras as a portfolio; no camera can do it all: I've got my DSLR, a ELPH-sized pocket camera, and the LX3 as my indoor backup camera. If you are going to get the LX3, do a youtube search for the Ricoh LC-1 - a nice accessory to eliminate one of the LX3's achilles heels.
Digital camera Review: Fantastic! Wide, fast lens and great low-light performance.
Summary: 5 Stars
It's great to see a company focus on actually improving an existing product rather than just bumping up specs in an attempt to sell more cameras, introducing issues such as increased noise that come with cramming additional pixels onto a small sensor.
The LX2 was a great camera and the LX3 is an excellent evolution of this design. I went to look at the Canon G9 / G10 as well as a few Nikon point-and-shoots while shopping for a camera of this feature set.
What really sold me was the wider lens, better low-light performance and HD video capabilities. This camera also has an excellent form factor that can actually fit in a loose jeans pocket. (It's no ultra-slim camera by any means, but when compared to the G10 it's definitely more pocket-able. The P6000 is about the same as an LX3.)
The lens is fast at f/2.0 and pictures look great from ISO 80-400. ISO800 is okay but beyond that, you had best be prepared for some grain.
The only thing that bugs me is that the lens cap comes of a bit too easily. I don't terribly mind using a lens cap -- I'm used to it on an SLR -- but if it stayed on a bit more securely, that would be great. Not enough to reduce my overall rating, however. I highly recommend this camera if you're looking for a great camera with a variety of available accessories that can do all the things this camera can do.