Panasonic LX3 Review – Conclusion (Part 4)
I'm going to keep this conclusion short and sweet.
When I reviewed the G9 last year, I rated it as one of the best compact cameras on the marketplace. However, I did say that despite its superb ergonomics, I wished it had been made with a slightly better sensor and a faster / better lens. Well, after my review of the LX3, I can confidently say that while Canon is hopefully not far behind, it was Panasonic that actually answered my wish. Although the future will bring a camera that will surpass the LX3's capabilities, unless you need absolutely need a longer lens (and even if you think you do, I'd suggest you rethink), I believe this is the the best compact camera out there right now. The LX3 has all the things that should matter (and certainly all the ones that matter to me) – class leading optics, excellent build quality and size, great controls (despite a few quirks) and evolutionary improvements in sensor performance. These all add up to a photographic tool that has allowed me to capture high quality images with greater ease than any other compact camera I've used before – and that's really my bottom line.
As a closing note, as much as I like it, perhaps the most important thing about the Panasonic LX3 is not so much the camera itself but the statement that has been made with its release. For the first time in an affordable compact camera, we've seen that megapixels are not the only way of measuring progress and that actual image quality and performance is a genuine and attainable goal as well. If that vision ends with the LX3, then it'll be a shame but I'll be happy nonetheless (and will probably buy another one before they go out of stock). However, if the LX3's direction is where we'll see manufacturers heading from now on, then the future of compact camera things just got a lot more exciting.
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Thanks for an extremely helpful review! Your high-ISO analysis provided a lot of insight about the camera (and not too much pixel-peeping). Panasonic is doing a service to the camera market by thinking different from Canon and Nikon – I hope these follow the example.
Finally!
I had been waiting ur review for 1 week :)
Thanks
and I oso jz received my LX3 from DHL for 1 hour!
Hehe
My first time at your blog. Thank you for your review of the LX3. Very practical and straight forward
Very useful article. This is the one I'm longing for, especially the part of comparism btwn G9 and LX3. I am still waiting for P6000, and the review of P6000 to let me decide which one to buy, frankly speaking P6000 is much cheaper anyway…
They had no choice the LX-2 was crap for noise, dont get me wrong I'm glad they did what they did, and I may get one of these, just want to see what the G10 is like, I hope Canon was smart as well. Ross
Thank you so much for this detailed and highly intelligent review of the LX3! I like your whole philosophy — you don't overemphasize things that really aren't important. I especially appreciate your explanation of the benefits of a "fast lens" (large aperture) — at first, I didn't think I'd need this, but now I can see that it would be useful to me. I also appreciate the very sensible way you evaluate noise at high ISO. You are the only reviewer I've ever seen who discussed image quality at web resolutions — I found that extremely valuable, because I plan to post all my images on the web instead of printing them.
In short, your review has helped me realize that the LX3 is exactly what I need. I really like Panasonic's FZ28 successor to the highly rated FZ18 superzoom, but I think the LX3 is better suited for what I want to do — take high-quality pictures of building interiors and exteriors, some urban landscapes, and occasional portraits. The flash hotshoe will make it much easier to use an external flash (for better quality indoor photos), and it even supports TTL.
Because of your review, I am finally convinced that the LX3 is the perfect camera for me. Thank you so much!
Fred Chapman
Pennsylvania, USA
Very much appreciated your review of the LX3. I have been looking for a compact camera with wide angle and fast lens as I intend to take photos in low light conditions or indoor. May be this is it unless there are other new ones coming out soon.
Very perspective (and unbiased) review ….. and a very excellent LX3. One of the best user reviews I have read so far.
Thank you very very much ~~
CJ
Singapore
Thanks all for the positive comments. Thanks for the additional detail too Fred – what you outline I believe is a constant challenge for photographers looking at buying equipment; that is sorting out what's needed vs what's wanted. Very often the latter is purchased rather than the format. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that from an individual point of view but it won't help with taking better pictures. Thinking through the kinds of subjects you expect you'll be taking and getting photographic equipment that is best suited to those subjects is simple but important step.
I read that LX3 is completely sold out by the 2nd day in Singapore IT trade fair, Comex 2008 (Aug 28 to 31).
The Black LX3 was sold out on the first day. I know because I laid hands on the first black LX3. 8)
All thanks to Lawrence's review which helped me to understand what I need vs what Camera Manufacturer thinks I need.
Many thanks again Lawrence !
PS: Perhaps, in your next article, you can guide us as to what setting you have presently for the C1 & C2 on the mode dial ? That could be a good start for me to learn. Thanks ~
Dear Lawrence,
I don't want to take anything away from your excellent review of the LX3, which I still greatly appreciate, but I have changed my mind about what will be my first digital camera. I've decided to get the Panasonic FZ28 superzoom instead of a high-end compact like the LX3. It's partly the difference in price, but mostly that I've had the chance to think through my needs more carefully.
For business purposes, my needs are very specific: I expect to be shooting non-moving subjects, mostly indoors, in good light, with my camera on a tripod, not hand-held. Using a tripod means I can compensate for a smaller aperture by using a longer exposure. Also, I'd rather learn to work with available light than rely on an external hot-shoe flash. If I need to supplement the built-in flash, I can use one or more inexpensive slave flashes.
I'm going to post all my business images on the web, not print them. On the web, I will need at most 1 MP resolution, and then only when images are enlarged to full-screen. Noise at high ISO isn't a big concern when images are displayed at normal web resolutions. Finally, it is true that I am giving up a little bit of wide angle view, but since I expect to use a tripod, I can compensate for that by creating panoramas in post-processing.
The LX3 is a fabulous camera by all accounts I've seen, especially yours, but I think it would be a mistake for me to specialize on one particular kind of photography from the outset. In addition to meeting my business needs, the FZ28 is versatile enough to let me explore all different kinds of photography (e.g., wildlife), which I think is very important for a beginner like me.
In the end, choosing a camera is a personal decision. I think the FZ28 is the right camera for me right now, but I will always admire those of you who have an LX3 of your very own! If all goes well, maybe I'll join you one day.
With best regards,
Fred
P.S. I believe the LX3 is a very important camera. It represents a fundamentally new direction — an end to the megapixel race and a clear acknowledgment of the importance of better image quality in compact cameras. I wholeheartedly agree with you, Lawrence — this bodes well for the future!
Hi,
Thanks for the excellent review, It seems that I can now order my LX3…
One last question : Have you tried the integrated flash? i want to be able to bring my compact to parties, and i've had a lot of bad experiences with bad integrated flashes or poor white balance combined with flash light.
Thanks!
Hi Drakar,
The flash on the LX3 is discussed in this review of the LX3 on the CNET Asia website:
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/digitalcameras/0,39001468,43812104p,00.htm
The reviewer had this to say: "The onboard flash unit was one of the most powerful we've seen in a point-and-shoot. The output was well balanced as it did not bleach skin tones or underexpose the background."
That sounds very promising; however, if you find that the built-in flash still isn't powerful enough for your needs, there are lots of hot-shoe flashes you can get for the LX3. There are some really fine TTL flashes from Olympus, Metz, and Panasonic which will work with the LX3. A pro-grade TTL flash will cost around US$300 to US$500 if you shop around, but you can get a less powerful TTL flash for under US$300, and a non-TTL flash for a lot less than that (but you have to be really careful to make sure it's compatible with the LX3 circuitry — if the flash voltage is too high, it will fry your camera).
All the best to you,
Fred
P.S. I like to look on Amazon.com and PriceGrabber.com to shop around for the best prices. I also like to check ResellerRatings.com before I buy to make sure the seller is reputable.
Thanks for the review.
It seems to share a lot with the Ricoh GX100. I hardly ever use my GX100 over base ISO, due to noise, and Dynmic range (Which IMO is pretty bad even in ISO80). Is there any hope that the LX3 is a major improvement over the RIcoh in terms of noise/DR – one that merits replacing the camera?
Thanks a lot Fred for the link and advices, I've now ordered my lx3 in HK (the price in France is too high! 100€ difference worth waiting 5 delivery days…)
I'll put a comment with my impressions here.
Thank you for the information.
This is one of the best review I have read.
It help me to make up my mind. Now I will get the LX3 as my next camera.
Love it so much now and looking forward to take much more picture of my two boys.
Kok Aing and Kok Siang Papa love you.
Kok Aing you are in heaven now but the picture I captured from 2004 Nov 19th since your birth until 2008 Aug 10th your last day on Earth will always in my mind (actually going up to million of pictures are in my PC harddisk). Thanks to my A95 (purchased on 29th Nov 2004) and Thanks to you Joshua Ng Kok Aing and James Ng Kok Siang for being my beautiful boy. Many happy moment are captured… One day I will look at your picture again. Only now I am reviewing it in my heart.
This is my boy singing. Capture by A95
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZjf8LLjFDY
Now you are singing in Heaven. Go! Go! My Boy!
Keep up the good work.
Best Regards,
The best review I read so far, thanks for all the information. But now that G10 is out, does it match the LX3 or LX3 got a better edge than G10?
This review has done it for me. I really identify with your point of view.
I have a DP1 and while that takes excellent photos, i think the LX3 would be in my pocket a lot more for day-to-day shooting.
Long live serious compacts!
Thank you for the review. How does the shutter lag compare with the G9?
Thank you for your review of LX-3, surely the most helpful and engaging one I have found. What is so special about it is that the samples are unusually good photos, the visual content of the majority of other sites is just horrifying.
Thank you for your excellent review and sensible point of view. It was so pleasant and instructive to read it along. Before becoming addicted to the LX3, I wonder what are the differences (if there are, apart from prices) with Leica D-LUX 4? A friend of mine who owns and old compact Leica told me that some software adjustments were slightly different between his camera and the Panasonic equivalent in order to match to different profiles of users…Do you have an idea about that (maybe it is not the fact anymore)?
Panasonic is a great example of how it's possible to compete against the Canon / Nikon hegemony of attention by creating new solutions rather than just improving on the status quo…
Thank you a lot for your review of LX-3.
I never though I could change my mind after read a review, because I am a nikonian and I was looking for a Nikon compact camera such P6000. Now certainly, my heart has a place for Panasonic.
Best regards
Themis
thanks for your review! Very informative. I love my lx2 but the noise handling I'm JPEG forces me to use raw mode which makes for huge files and slow operations. Had it not been for the extreme detail loss in anything above base ISO I would be perfectly happy with JPEg. Oh well.
Right now eagerly awaiting the micro 4/3 stuff to come out before I replace my lx2, which despite it's many shortcomings is really quite nice. It too has survived a meter or so fall onto a concrete floor. Still ok save for a set on the corner that took the blow.
Panny really makes nice compacts. Glad to hear that the crappy Venus 3 has finally been replaced.
Hello, thank you for these very thorough review of this camera, I am going to buy this because of your expert work here. I do have a question though, I went on the Panasonic web site and noticed both DMC-LX3K and the DMC-LX3S and I was hoping you could shed some light on which I should buy?
Thank you
Thank you for an excellent and sensible review of the LX3. You have made me finally make up my mind which Lumix I must have.
One big problem with short focal length lenses is the depth of field, having a F2.0 aperture helps a little to eliminate this weakness.
Thanks for the great review! I'm also curious about a comparison against the G10… any thoughts?
Nice and balanced review, Larry.
I wish you best of luck in growing your very interesting web site for the benefit of LX3/DLux4 users.
Thank you.
Here is my contribution to improve LX3 ergonomics and friendliness of user interface: http://kleptography.com/rf/
Cheers
Richard
It is a great camera. Very nice picture quality and fast. I would like to see an addition of a threaded filter right on the lens rim. The one that is provided makes the camera too large and defeats the purpose/term compact.
An excellent, very straight forward review, Thanks a lot.
Thanks for this very good review.
I am very tempted by this camera, I also have an eye on the Ricoh GR Digital II, I know the Ricoh doesn't have a zoom lens, but my main concern is to shoot in wide angle.
Do you have any tips on helping me which one to choose, ignoring the zoom lens factor.
Thanks in advance,
Pierre
A question: does your LX3 record more than 10 continuous minutes of video?
The European model is crippled and will not. I am very curious to know if a model bought in Japan, the US, or Asia will record more than 10 continuous minutes of video.
I would buy this camera but I'm not sure that this is the right one , I hear that LX 3 run out of battery so fast anyone can confirm that it true or not? , my another choice is Ricoh GX200 , the price almost same not more than 20,000 Thai baht (not including accessories)
Bangkok
Thailand
This camera was a delightful surprise. It is small and easy to use, yet takes beautiful pictures.
At last! Someone who understands! Thanks for potsnig!
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