A brief review of the Panasonic LX-3

mabelsound said:
Yeah, I think you would be disappointed in this as a full-manual camera. For that, one would want separate analog controls, and they are just not there. For manual focusing in aperture or shutter priority, though, it works very well.



Zoom until happy. When you change focal length there's a little bar that shows how far along the scale you are, but instead of telling you the equivalent focal length, it just says 1x, then 2x, then 2.5x--very crude estimates at best. This would be a good thing to add in a firmware upgrade, and I hope they do.
Click to expand...

I guess I could figure it out from there. Actually, I could just put it on a tripod then zoom till the LCD reflected the external viewfinder image and make note of that magnification...erring on the wider side.

Can the LCD be turned off? (Thanks for the help BTW.)
 
I don't think you can turn the LCD off and on at will. There's an option for it to switch off automatically after 15 or 30 seconds, though.

I can see what you're getting at--you'd like to use it as a sort of mini-rangefinder kind of thing. I suppose you could do this, but it seems to me it's not well suited for the task. It's ultimately just a really nice point and shoot.
 
mabelsound said:
I can see what you're getting at--you'd like to use it as a sort of mini-rangefinder kind of thing. I suppose you could do this, but it seems to me it's not well suited for the task. It's ultimately just a really nice point and shoot.
Click to expand...

Too bad - I too would like to have used it as a mini-rangefinder. If the G1 had a less prominent handgrip (one similar to the E-420) I think it'd tick most of the boxes of the "I want a 'digital rangefinder-esque experience' crowd".

Thanks John, for all your insights and clarifications on the LX3!
 
mabelsound said:
I don't think you can turn the LCD off and on at will. There's an option for it to switch off automatically after 15 or 30 seconds, though.

I can see what you're getting at--you'd like to use it as a sort of mini-rangefinder kind of thing. I suppose you could do this, but it seems to me it's not well suited for the task. It's ultimately just a really nice point and shoot.
Click to expand...

I don't know...if the AF is reasonably trustworthy and I can set a few exposure parameters, I imagine it would be able to give me a good percentage of sucessful shots.
I need to get hands on to play with one.
 
John,

Thanks for writing up this review. I am selling my older DSLR gear and will use the funds to purchase an LX3 as a bridge digital camera until I get another DSLR or hop into a micro 4/3 setup. Your review confirms similar writeup I have read elsewhere. Its the first semi-compact point and shoot to produce acceptable images to me.
 
Mine has just arrived, here are a couple of snapshots taken before I figured out the menus and controls (still working on that 🙂)

381467336_TGzoY-O.jpg


381467416_ubmGD-O.jpg
 
Andy,

Is that second shot 24mm at f2 and up very close?
Slap a viewfinder on the hotshoe, set the zoom to approximate the viewfinder, and see how well it shoots as a sort of digital Hexar.
Let me know how that turns out.
 
dazedgonebye said:
Andy,

Is that second shot 24mm at f2 and up very close?
Slap a viewfinder on the hotshoe, set the zoom to approximate the viewfinder, and see how well it shoots as a sort of digital Hexar.
Let me know how that turns out.
Click to expand...

Hi Steve, EXIF says f/3.5 and 57mm (equiv) but I may be reading it incorrectly... I'd love to put a VF on it but only have 15, 21, and maybe a 50mm finders I think.. would you happen to have a 24 or 28mm VF I can borrow?

Cheers,
 
dazedgonebye said:
I guess I could figure it out from there. Actually, I could just put it on a tripod then zoom till the LCD reflected the external viewfinder image and make note of that magnification...erring on the wider side.

Can the LCD be turned off? (Thanks for the help BTW.)
Click to expand...

just dial in that you are using external vf and the LCD will be turned off.
 
Just got one a couple days ago... silver - B&H was out of black & I'm leaving in a couple of days.

It's a fine camera. Really find the feature set wonderful and my initial skepticism regarding the joystick was put to rest - changing settings are quick.
One little annoyance however... when manual focus is used, the camera always restarts @ infinity when the AF switch is changed or the camera's turned off then on again.

But it has a dedicated focus button that puts the above to rest.... so really it's all good. 🙂

...so far...
 
I had one for a few days, a great camera and I agree totally with the comments about the exceptional IQ and the great LCD screen. I had to sell it because I didn't realize how bad my vision had gotten. I had to use my reading glasses for shooting since there is no viewfinder. Keep this in mind when buying. Bob.
 
Viewfinder-wise, I just got the 15D VF (for the 15mm Heliar on the RD1) today and tried on the LX3, not a bad match at all. I this VF is for a ~23mm field of view, vs the 24mm max wide angle on the LX3.
 
jky said:
One little annoyance however... when manual focus is used, the camera always restarts @ infinity when the AF switch is changed or the camera's turned off then on again.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I agree. My Canon A610 and A650IS would remember my MF distance setting when I saved my settings to Custom. The saving grace, I suppose, is that the LX3's DOF is pretty deep at 24mm (35 equiv) so if I leave it at f/4, everything from 6 ft to infinity _should_ be in focus.

larsbc
 
Check this one out. There is an interesting German web page, which allows to compare IQ of different cameras at different ISO levels, RAW or JPG, for day or night shooting. At iso 400 and higher, the LX3 looks like a real winner, running circles around the Canon G9. 24mm f2.0, best in class ISO 400 performance and ISO 800 still looking usable sounds like a decent package. The first high iso shots taken with the Canon G10 are shown at dpreview in the Canon forum and look absolutely terrible.

Bildqualität | Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 Testbericht | dkamera.de
 
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