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Camera based on a production LX3 with V1.0 firmware (White balance section updated to reflect V1.1 performance)
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, Panasonic’s LX series has always been home to the company’s most ambitious compacts, offering a range of photographer-friendly features in a small, stylish and solid body festooned with external controls. It’s been two years since the launch of the LX2 and the market has changed a lot in that time – the level of features offered even on inexpensive models has grown and the cost of all cameras, particularly DSLRs, has fallen drastically. Both of these trends risk reducing the potential market for premium compacts if their features are available on cheaper compacts, and much better photographic tools (in terms of flexibility of purpose and image quality) are available for only a little more money. So the LX3, more than its predecessors, has to play to its strengths – it needs to offer some of the best compact camera image quality, a good degree of user control and a body that is more convenient and pocketable than DSLRs can be.
And Panasonic seems fully aware of these challenges. When announcing the camera, the company pointed out that more pixels on the same sized sensor does not always result in better image quality and described its approach with the LX3 as: “boldly reversing the industry trend of pushing toward ever-higher pixel counts.” It’s an admirable position (though one that would be easier to acclaim if the company hadn’t, on the same day, released one of the most pixel-dense cameras we’ve ever seen), and one that seems promising – the benefits of newer sensor and processing technology without those advances being strangled by the downsides of smaller pixels. (And we believe that if you offer more pixels with the hard drive clutter and slower camera operation they bring, then those pixels must be good at the pixel level, otherwise, what benefits do those additional pixels bring?)
Headline features
24mm wide 2.5x optical LEICA DC lens
F2.0-2.8 maximum aperture range
MEGA O.I.S.(Optical Image Stabilizer)
Venus Engine IV
Joystick-operated manual control
Large 3.0” 460k dot LCD monitor
Raw and JPEG recording modes
Up to ISO 3200 sensitivity
Up to 1280×720 (30 fps) pixel movie capture
Manual exposure and focus options
1/2000th to 60 sec shutter speeds
Available in black or silver
LX3 vs LX2: main differences
Although the outward appearance hasn’t changed that dramatically, the LX2 and LX3 are very different creatures. The the easiest thing to miss about the LX3 is its lens – a part of the specification sheet that is sometimes easy to overlook as a string of numbers. With the LX3 it’s really worth spending a moment thinking about it: starting at 24mm equivalent is pretty unusual in a compact camera. Offering an aperture range of F2.0-2.8 is extraordinary. But to combine the two and include Image Stabilization is simply astonishing – this is not an everyday lens and it’s something that defines how the camera behaves and what it can be used for.
To put that aperture range in perspective, this means it’s one ‘stop’ faster (brighter) at the wide end and over 1.5 brighter at the long end than the F2.8-4.9 lens fitted to its predecessor. And this means that you can get the same exposure using the same shutter speed but using a lower ISO setting than with the older camera.
Beyond that, there the new, higher-resolution rear screen that conforms to the more traditional 3:2 aspect ratio, rather than its forebear’s 16:9 unit.
The other differences are:
Similar pixel count sensor (10.1 vs 10.0 MP)
Venus Engine IV (vs Venus Engine III)
3:2 aspect ratio 3-inch screen (was 2.8-inch 16:9)
Flash hot-shoe
Threaded lens barrel for adding optional conversion lenses or filters
USB 2.0 Hi Speed interface (at last!)
More internal memory (50 MB)
720p HD movie mode now at 30fps
Closer minimum focusing distance: 1cm, rather than 5cm
Faster continuous shooting (2.5fps for 8 frames, cf. 2fps for 5 frames)
Separate component video out (for HD playback)
Improved battery life
Minor control and interface changes
Multi-aspect ratio