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Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2 digital camera Review

Design

As we’ve mentioned this is definitely not the slimmest of cameras. The Panasonic Lumix DMC LX2 digital camera is a solid 105.5mm x55.8mm x 26.3mm camera which tips the scale at 187g. This 10 megapixel camera which is an update of the Panasonic Lumix DMC LX1 is almost entirely made out of metal and available in silver or black and has the feel of a retro camera. The front is dominated by the large F2.8-4.9, 4x zoom Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens. Just above the lens is a pop-up flash which you raise manually and just to the left is the AF assist lamp which also doubles as the self-timer lamp. Turn the camera around and you’ll notice the large 2.8 inch widescreen LCD which has a nice, bright screen. To the right of it starting from the top you’ll find the AF/AE lock button, just below that is a joystick, used to adjust manual controls or start up the Quick settings menu for adjusting AF mode, metering mode, white balance, ISO, and picture size. Then below that is the four-way controller used for menu navigation and then finally are the delete and screen mode buttons. On top of the LX2 you'll find a whole bunch of buttons, switches, and dials including a release for the pop-up flash, with the speaker and microphone to the right of that, the mode dial, zoom rocker, anti-shake button and on/off button. The AF and Manual function buttons can be found on the side of the lens while the AV out and DC in are discretely hidden on the side of the Panasonic digital camera.

Chunky Monkey Design

Good Quality 2.8 LCD Screen

Setup/Installation

Setting up is fairly easy. The menu and navigation system are very simple to follow.

Features

We said this camera had a lot of features and we really weren’t exaggerating. To star with the DMC-LX2 features a 10.2 megapixel 16:9 aspect CCD with a f/2.8 28mm wide angle 4x optical zoom lens. 10.2-megapixel 16:9 aspect CCD and f/2.8 28mm wide angle 4x optical zoom LEICA DC Lens. With more formations than the England football team, you could have a choice of either sticking with the 16:9 or you could opt for a 3:2 or even the conventional 4:3. The camera comes with Panasonic’s MEGA O.I.S.(Optical Image Stabilizer) to illuminate blurred images created by shaky hands or when the subject moves a bit. There’s an advanced image processing LSI Venus Engine III with the Intelligent ISO Control and maximum ISO1600 high sensitivity recording capabilities. The added joystick makes changes to white balance, ISO setting, image size and light metering really easy – just jig the joystick around and follow the instructions on the screen. A switch on the side of the lens barrel lets you quickly change the focus mode between MF, AF or Macro AF. When you focus in the Manual Focus mode, not only the focus distance but also the depth of field according to the zoom range and aperture is displayed. An MF assist function enlarges the center of the image to make focusing easier. The focusing area can be enlarged up to 4x and is movable, which also contributes to easy and comfortable manual focusing.　 The DMC-LX2 also captures 4:3 VGA and 16:9 wide VGA movies at around 30 fps and can even capture moving images in high definition format at 15 fps. There’s a total of 17 scene modes to make taking photos easy including Beach and Aerial mode and thanks to the Pictbridge you can print directly from the camera. The Panasonic LX2 digital camera comes with 13MB of built-in memory and uses an X card, but there’s no USB port at all or a view finder.

Performance

Taking pictures on the LX2 is fun and the outcome is pretty good too. However the weak point is photo quality. Quite often even with a really good stabiliser the images were fuzzy and smudged – something you really notice if you enlarge your images. When shooting at ISOL 100 the pictures are really good, unfortunately when you start getting further up the scale and increasing the ISO level the picture becomes grainier. The image stabiliser worked really well both in photo mode and in video recording mode which makes taking pictures so much easier. The variety in scene modes means you can really play around with your photos without having a PHD in photography and the joystick allows you to individualise colours, tones dept-of-field. Starting time of the LX2 is very good, taking around 1.3 seconds to warm up and burst modes are great with unlimited shooting at 1.8 frames/second.

What's In The Box?

Pansonic LX2 digital camera, battery, charger.

Overall Opinion

Overall the Pansonic LX2 has so much scope for being something that’s absolutely fantastic, but unfortunately it seems to be let down by a pretty crucial factor, image quality. There are plenty of features and the camera is very easy to use, and even picture quality when taking shots in low ISP are good, it’s only when you up higher that problems occur. However if you want a wide-angle screen with lots and lots of functions and either don’t mind working in RAW or don’t want to be blowing up pictures then it’s not a bad camera at all.

Pros + Unique 16:9 CCD + Wide-angle, + 4X optical zoom lens + Optical image stabilization + good visibility LCD outdoor + Full manual controls	Cons - No optical viewfinder - Choppy frame rate at highest movie quality setting - No USB 2.0 High Speed support
Picture Quality 7/10	Battery Life 8/10
Setup Simplicity 8/10	Build Quality 9/10
Ease of Use 8/10	Overall Rating

By Babita Wakelin
16/10/2006 at 3:47:11pm

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