Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (White) Review

I bought an LX3 last year, and used it on our vacation to Mexico. I loved the features, responsiveness, size, and capabilities. When we returned, I was disappointed with some of the (video) results, and ended up selling it because of what I saw as some serious limitations — mostly video related. There was blooming (purple vertical lines) during video & some still shots. The built-in microphone was criminally bad. The joystick on the back was fiddly. The battery life was pretty poor. The UI had some annoying quirks, too – you had to have the aspect-ratio switch in the “right” position to record video. A real hassle if you always shoot stills in 4×3 RAW, and video in 16×9.

I’ve been wanting to replace my (un-replaced) Fuji F20 and/or my Nikon D40. After looking at the new Nikon 3100 and Sony a55, I decided that maybe having video on an (albeit light & small) DSLR wasn’t what I, as a dad of 2 young girls, needed in my life.

So I picked up an LX5, gave it a once-over, and found they pretty much fixed all my niggles. The purple blooming was (mostly) gone, the audio was fixed & AVCHD was added (a +/-), replaced the joystick with GF-1 wheel & video button, battery life is supposed to be better. They also improved the sensor & IS a little. They also enabled optical zoom during video AND continuous auto-focus. It’s like a pocket video camera that looks like a point & shoot. It’s also a CCD based camera, so you don’t get the CMOS jell-o when you shoot video of small fast creatures scurrying about. The added video record button corrects the UI issues mentioned above.

It’s no DSLR (4 stars for not increasing the sensor size, and being almost as expensive as a DSLR!), but it’s reasonably fast, semi-pocketable, very flexible, and going on our coming trip to Mexico this year.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (White) Feature

• 10.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality poster-size prints
• 3.8x F2.0 ultra-wide-angle 24mm Leica DC Vario-Summicron lens
• 3.0-inch Intelligent LCD; Record HD videos in AVCHD Lite; Creative Movie mode
• Venus Engine FHD image processor; hot shoe for easy accessorization
• Capture images to SD/SDHC memory cards (not included)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (White) Overview

New High Sensitivity CCD and F2.0 LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMICRON LENSDMC-LX5 is fully re-designed in the lens, the CCD and the image processing engine together with other improvements and upgrades. The newly developed super bright F2.0 ultra wide angle 24mm LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMICRON lens minimizes distortion for stunning, true-to-life images with outstanding resolution and detail. The 24mm wide angle offers extraordinarily large viewing space and now the optical zoom is extended to 3.8x(90mm) making the LX5 even more versatile.F2.0 Super Bright 24mm Ultra-Wide-Angle* High Quality LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMICRON Lens with Minimum DistortionThe DMC-LX5 is equipped with newly developed F2.0 24mm ultra-wide-angle LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMICRON lens with even higher resolution. The super bright, high quality lens is redesigned for extension of the optical zoom from LX3s 2.5x(60mm) to 3.8x(90mm) to be even more versatile for snapshots including portraits. The F2.0 lens is about twice as bright as the F2.8 lens, itself generally considered a bright lens. The result is a higher shutter speed can be used to capture stunningly clear, sharp, blur-free images in lower lighting situation. This advanced lens also makes it easy to produce beautiful photos with pleasing soft-focused background thanks to the shallow depth of field provided by the extra light.Also, the 24mm ultra-wide-angle lens – rare on a compact camera – gives photographers a wider range of composition possibilities. The super-high-quality LEICA DC VARIO- SUMMICRON lens minimizes distortion at the wide end, so users can get stunning, true-to-life images with outstanding resolution and detail. The LX5 captures approx. 213% larger viewing space compared to that of normal 35mm cameras, and approx. 136% larger compared to that of 28mm wide-angle lenses.*35mm film camera equivalent: 24-90mm

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Oct 04, 2010 12:53:48