Thursday, September 04, 2008

Panasonic LX3 Demo

Panasonic DMC-LX3 Panasonic DMC-LX3 Panasonic DMC-LX3 Panasonic LX3 Demo

Kev hooked me up with a demo unit of the new Panasonic LX-3. Probably rebadged as a Leica as well, the hopes pinned to this camera are that it could be a poor man's Leica, with some features perfect for intrusive street shooting.

While I only played with the camera for a couple hours, here's my feedback

Pros
  • physical switches for things you'll want to change on the fly. Things like aspect ratio, focusing style, and exposure mode. Even a joystick to adjust Fstops and shutter speeds while in diff modes. I quite like this.
  • 16:9 ratio coupled with the 24mm giving  you a real cinematic vista.
  • that same 24mm 2.8 is Leica glass, so it's sharp and it's F2.0 VERY NICE
  • the camera is small and light Half the weight of a Canon G9
  • endless ways to customize the kind of file you create, emulating film looks. Some of the B&W modes are very tasty!
  • there are provisions for a optical viewfinder to go on the hotshoe. So you can shoot without the LCD
  • Canon Speedlite 430EX
Cons
  • Lens cap, I am SO gonna lose that. A "keep cap" tether is such a throw back, but necessary.
  • File noise. As predicted, Panasonic's legacy of producing files with excess noise continues. Kinda a shame in this day and age.
  • The noise issue isn't a BIG deal if you can work with it, you'll see my example online look fine. Only when your up close does it show and on higher ISO's
  • I set the ISO on auto and haven't really looked at the EXIF data to see what I captured things at. I just wanted to see how the camera handles.
It's a SWEET camera and I am sure once you delve into all the menus you can get anything you want in terms of look and feel. you can get all DPreview-ish here on the specs.
If I had a spare $500 laying 'round and was going on a trip where I don't want to lug an SLR, this would definitely be the camera to look at.

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