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Panasonic LX3 review

2 comments

Posted by Patrick on Aug 12, 2008 in Cameras, Reviews

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{ Panasonic LX3 }

I’ve been waiting for this….

A very fair review courtesy of Mark Goldstein. Overall very favorable, but he does caution some common sense, and advises potential customers to hold off till Photokina finishes, which considering the outside chance of Canon introducing a G10 there, is probably a very good idea.

Lots of photos included, and it is clear that the LX3 struggles with noise once one goes beyond ISO 400, on the other hand, with the fast lens courtesy of Leica, LX3 shooters may be able to avoid having to crank that ISO. In addition, yes that wide angle looks good, but you are going to struggle some to take your average close up portrait type shots. As an artistic accessory, this camera will excel in pushing you creatively, but it might be a pass for the typical point and shooter (most of whom might be discouraged anyway by the “lack” of zoom).

Another big feature of the LX3 is the ability to shoot RAW, and while the author thoughtfully included some example RAW files, they are unfortunately not able to be opened in LR2, Aperture, or ACR, at least for me. Hopefully this is cleared up soon in the typical RAW updates provided by Adobe, as I’m anxious to see what one could pull out of the LX3.

I have to say, I’m still sold on the LX3 as a bridge type compact. It’s got a solid appearance, a lens tailor-made for creativity, impressive IQ for a compact, and it shoots RAW. With the handicaps of Sigma’s DP1 and Nikon’s P6000 crippled “RAW” (or worse for Mac shooters), it looks like all I have to do is wait to see what the G10 brings to the plate.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 review.