Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3

First let me tell you what I have: Three Nikon reflex cameras (D70, D300, D200) a canon 5D as well as a bevy of film based cameras. I have had a Lumix FZ20, a Sony 717 and a Minolta 530. For the money the… LX3 is simply amazing, but don't expect to be in the same league as the reflex camera, especially at high ISO. If there are lots of shadows I don't like using my LX3 above ISO 400 (that's a subjective assessment). I get about a 2 EV advantage with my D300. The zoom is not especially powerful, but it's so bright and compact I imagine it would have been difficult to design one that would have been at F/2.8 all the way. The depth of field is of course much greater than my larger cameras because the focal length is so small, so it can be an advantage in many situations, and a disadvantage for taking portraits. It doesn't feel that slow, probably because I expect compact cameras to be slow. The quality of the image stabilizer amazes me: I'm able to take many pictures inside museums and have had better results than with my reflexes when I wasn't using stabilized lens. Pictures at a 15th of a second are tack sharp. There is very little chromatic aberration in the lens. The flash is occasionally over-powerful. The video quality is so much better than what I had before. I take this camera everywhere, which is more than what I can say about my reflex cameras. It looks good. On the negative side the manual is not especially well written, but finally you can figure out a lot by just exploring the menus. All in all I would give it four and a half stars, but given the price and the use I get out of this camera I'll give it 5.

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I really like this camera and mainly got it b/c of its low light performance (which is great btw!). It works great but my main gripe is that switching between video and still picture mode is not intuitive.… I take all my still photos in 3:2 aspect but when I shoot video, I set it to 16:9. When switching to video mode, a message is displayed on the screen saying to switch to 16:9 aspect (it can't shoot video in 3:2). Ok, so I switch to 16:9 mode no problem. When I go from video (16:9) back to still photo mode, I have to remember to switch back to 3:2 mode or it will take all my pictures in 16:9 aspect. This is no big deal for me b/c I know to do this. The problem is that my wife and other people taking pics really doesn't understand this so I get a lot of pics in 16:9 mode. It's not a deal breaker but it is annoying to have some shots in 3:2 and some in 16:9. While this is a problem for me, the fact that there is a manual switch for aspect mode is probably something desired by a lot of people b/c they might have it for different uses than me.

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I do documentation work in a variety of indoor and outdoor conditions in India. A year ago I purchased the Panasonic TZ5, but soon realized that its poor performance in low-light conditions made it… unsuitable for my work. I ended up relying more on a Canon Powershot 590 for good pictures. The things that I missed most of all in the Panasonic TZ5 were manual control, and a wider aperture range. I was looking for a replacement for my Panny, and chose the LX3 on the basis of its positive reviews. The LX3 has the same body dimensions as the TZ5, but the lens of the LX3 sticks out a little bit farther than the TZ5's lens when the cameras are off. The LX3 has performed much better than the TZ5. I'm quite happy with the performance of its flash, and the quality of images from the LX3 in all conditions. It's performing well with an 8gb Sandisk Extreme III SDHC card.

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So everyone knows DSLR's are fantastic these days, and the images you can get with these (provided you use expensive glass) can be downright amazing, but what if you just want a really usable (and I mean… usable) camera you can bring with you wherever you go? This is that camera. There IS a catch. You have to get decent at RAW editing to get anywhere near the results you can get out of this camera. Yeah, the dynamic B&W mode is pretty good, and I've shot low light jpgs at shows (no flash), but to get real results from the camera, you're going to have to get your hands a little dirty. The results I can get from this in RAW are just simply amazing for a camera this small. Yes, amazing. I don't throw that word around; but the color depth and sheer detail you can get in 5 minutes worth of work will just make you all smiles. What I don't like about the camera: Not much, but there are a couple of things I could point at that might make it a bit more usable. 1.) It doesn't have much of a zoom. Ok, lame complaint, because I actually do understand somewhat that the laws of physics dictate how much of a zoom range you can have on a lens of a given size, without having image quality suffer. This is silly; if you need a zoom camera, this isn't what you should be looking at. 2.) No viewfinder, save an aftermarket one. Ok; this actually bothers me sometimes. In bright sunlight, or very low light, a cheesy optical viewfinder would be helpful. Yes, it would also make the camera larger too. 3.) The onboard flash sucks. It's cool that you can throttle it down, but if it could tilt up to be a bounce flash, it would be really, really useful. As it is, it always seems to be either too bright, and washes everything out, or too dark. It's a good thing this camera has good ISO performance at 400, and acceptable at 800; with the f2.0 aperture, it can take pictures in VERY low light, and still look great. Oh, and the hotshoe mount will accept a full sized flash :) 4.) Lack of a focus ring. Of course, without a decent viewfinder, that wouldn't be of much use, and we're moving away from what the camera is, so I understand the lack. The manual focus on the camera is quite decent, I should mention. 4.) That's it. Nothing else not to like about the camera. If you need a zoom lens, or the lack of a viewfinder is a deal breaker for you, go with the larger Canon G10/G11. The DMC-LX3 works better for my needs, being a 24mm f2.0 lens, and having unbelievable RAW data to work with. What I do like about the camera 1.) It's small; purpose built. You won't draw crowds using this camera. It's almost friendly. It looks quite nice too. I can stroll through the city, taking pictures of folks, and they just don't seem to mind as much as when I'm doing the same with a DSLR. So for low key urban photography, this is actually BETTER than a DSLR (what, a compact camera does something better than an DSLR?). 2.) Fantastic lens. Can't say enough about it, for the price point, and camera size, it's awesome. Really wide angle, if you like landscape or urban photography, it's the perfect focal range. 3.) Best low light compact camera on the market, period. Yep, I'll stand by that. It SMOKES the G10/G11 in low light; I love going to see local bands in small clubs; these venues aren't very well lit, but you can get right by the stage. This thing takes fantastic pictures in low light. I don't care what the reviews say either about ISO 400 or ISO 800; check the images out in RAW, and then say ISO 800 isn't usable. Speaking of which; 4.) ISO performance. ISO 800 is a little bit grainy; but the best thing is, that it is a usable grain, not some watercolor chromatic that just ruins everything. I say ISO 800 is just fine for color photographs; it can even make gritty B&W images look better (cleaner is NOT always better) 5.) Ridiculous RAW performance; the camera is fast and responsive, even when shooting full sized JPEG and RAW. Never seems to really bog, and when it does; it still will buffer what your doing. Really amazing for a camera this size, and it makes RAW the only image format I even think about using. The amount of detail; color, edge retention, contrast; try this camera out with Adobe Lightroom, and you'll see what I mean, and you'll have a blast to boot. 6.) Multiple image formats; at first, reading it on paper, I thought it was just a gimmic; 4:3,3:2, & 16:9 formats didn't seem like they'd be that useful. But I was completely wrong, and that is the most used switch on my camera; it actually does change the way you'll compose photographs; what was one photo at 16:9 is completely different @ 4:3 or 3:2, landscape vs portrait, etc. Another fun feature : ) So, obviously, I like the camera; I've owned it for almost a year now. Best small camera ever made, IMO; this will probably be the benchmark classic folks talk about for years. Yes, I'm quite serious about that, I don't believe these days digital cameras are outdated every 6 months; this one will be quite current for years. If you need a low light, low key, wide angle camera with awesome RAW performance, just pull the trigger. 2 thing's I'd get while buying; a fast 8GB or higher card, and an extra battery (the generic one they sell here is just fine), and you're good to go.

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