Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3: Digital Photography Review

This is the long awaited follow-up to the superb LX2. For those that don’t know. The LX2 is nearly identical to the Leica D-Lux 3. But there’s a £200 price difference.

The LX3 has some great improvements over it’s older sibling. The 2 most noticeable features is the wider lens, from 28mm to 24mm and the other is the F-stop range from F/2.8 to F/2.0.

Other improved features includes full HD video, 1280 x 720p at a smooth 24 fps. I think this is more of a gimick and not essential for  P&S camera but I’m sure there are those who may find it a ‘must have’ utility on their holidays.

I’ll summarize the best features here:

• 24mm wide angle range
• 10.1 Mega Pixel sensor
• 3648×2736 resolution at a 4:3 aspect ratio
• 3968 x 2232 resolution at a 16:9 ratio
• ISO range from 80 up to 3200, although I have seen any noise level examples to see how effective it is
• Image stablizer
• 640×480 30fps Quicktime video
• RAW image recording

A killer feature is the ability to use this camera as a system camera; by mounting optional lens you almost use it like an SLR; one of the lenses turns the range into an impressive 18mm. For a point and shoot camera that is awesome.

If you’re looking for a lightweight, fast, full featured point and shoot camera, this is the one to go for. But all this doesn’t come cheap. It looks to be set around the £400 ($792US) mark.

I’ve compiled a quick technical comparison table with my current favourite P&S camera, the Canon G9: