Panasonic DMC LX3 Review

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The Panasonic DMC LX3 sits at the top end of the compact digital camera market. It has 10 megapixels and a 2.5x optical zoom lens. The lens has a wide angle setting equivalent to 24mm in 35mm format. This makes the lens wider than other compact digital cameras offer. Such a feature makes the Lumix LX3 a good choice for anyone who likes taking photographs of wide scenes such as landscapes. In my tests I was very impressed by the sharpness of the photos. Compared to other wide angle digital cameras the sharpness levels and overall quality of the photos produced was very good indeed.

With only 2.5x zoom on offer and taking into account the fact this camera has a wide angle lens its capacity for zooming in is limited. To work around this you have the option to decrease the number of megapixels you are shooting at in order to increase the amount of zoom available up to 4.5x.

When it comes to features the DMC LX3 should satisfy most hobby photographers. You can store photos in RAW mode to make future manipulation possible. You also have access to image stabilisation, a hotshoe, custom modes, a fast burst rate, manual focusing and manual exposure modes. Favourite settings can be stored in two custom modes for easy access.

A maximum aperture of F/2 gives you access to fast shutter speeds too.

On the back of the DMC LX3 you will find a 3 inch LCD screen. This is made up of 460,000 dots (twice as many as standard). This helps to make the screen very easy to view. There is also an option to buy an optical viewfinder. This appears to attach to the camera through the hotshoe.

The hotshoe is also used to attach an external flash unit. The internal flash pops up on the top of the camera. This helps to move the flash away from the lens and reduce the chances of red eye.

If you like to use your digital camera to shoot short movie clips then you will be pleased to know the DMC LX3 is capable of shooting HD quality movies.

I think Panasonic have done a good job with the layout of the camera. Although I will always prefer the layout and controls offered by larger Digital SLRs I found the switch to place the camera in macro mode or manual focusing mode useful. In addition there is also a switch to choose the aspect ratio for a shot. This makes it quick and easy to set up the camera to take a photo suitable for a 6 x 4 inch print or to playback on a widescreen television.

Another feature you may have noticed if you have seen the specification of the camera is the film mode. I'm not quite sure you can connect this directly to a type of film used in a traditional 35mm camera, but it does give you some control over the colour of your photos and the strength of the colours used.

Looking at the competition the DMC LX3 is up against cameras like the Canon Powershot G10 and the Nikon Coolpix P6000. To be honest at this end of the market you will generally find better picture quality, so often it is more of a case of deciding what features you like and how the camera handles. I was impressed though by the overall picture quality and the focusing and sharpness of my test pictures was a treat.

All in all the Panasonic DMC LX3 compares well with other similarly specified digital cameras. The wide lens makes it a good choice if you are interested in photographing sweeping landscapes.