Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 - First impression

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 comes in black and silver metal finish (aluminium?). The design is conservative, with classic, straight lines and well considered layout. The lens, with 4x zoom and a wide angle equivalent to 28, is not fully integrated into the camera. Some may dislike this, of course, but in my opinion, good optical performance is more important than a flat camera front. I also think the LX1 has a perfect size and shape for a compact camera, supported by a high quality appearance.

4x wide angle zoom lens
Introducing an image sensor with 16:9 aspect ratio and simultaneously equip the camera with a 28mm wide angle, is a bold move from Panasonic. It requires extremely tight lens quality tolerances, especially in the corners. The camera features built-in compensation for vignetting and chromatic aberration, but controlling potential corner unsharpness is virtually impossible. Blur from camera movement, on the other hand, is compensated by the optical image stabiliser.

Leica has approved the lens construction, meaning that the lens performance meets Leica’s criteria. Panasonic claims that Leica has one of the strictest tolerances in the industry and that manufacturing the LX1 lens in accordance with Leica’s demands, was no easy task.

Since the camera has 8.4 Mp resolution, options for cropping the image and still have enough resolution for large printouts, are pleasantly good. This possibility is even built into the camera by means of an "Extra Optical Zoom", expanding the optical zoom from 4x to 5,6x by cropping the image to 5.5 megapixels, which is more than adequate for a A3 size print. 2x or 4x digital zoom is also available.

8.4 Mp CCD in 16:9 format
16:9 aspect ratio is not new, but other cameras achieve this by cropping the original image, resulting in lower image resolution. DMC-LX1 is the first camera to deliver 16:9 at maximum resolution, since the image sensor has this format. Therefore, the DMC-LX1 delivers 8.4 million pixels, rather than 8.0 million, provided by most competing cameras. If 3:2 width/height-ratio is preferred (like 35mm film), or 4:3 (as a conventional TV or monitor), the image will be cropped and resolution lost.

User friendliness
The camera is quite small, which normally reduces handling comfort. A raised, rubber covered knob on the front is meant to add friction to the fingers, but it should have been bigger, I think. The lens extends even further, so there would have been room for a larger grip. All controls are well located, in particular I liked the shape and functions of the buttons and mode dial on the top, as well as the switches on the lens for focusing method and aperture setting. A smart detail is the moving bars on the LCD screen during manual focusing, indicating the depth of field at various distance and aperture settings. The manual focus also features an enlarged image centre for precise focusing.

On the back, Panasonic has designed a "joystick" control for manual settings, working independent from the navigator buttons. Although I’m not too keen on such solutions, I must admit that the joystick on the FX1 was quite handy. The flash is integrated into the top of the camera, popping up when the release switch is pressed.

My main argument against the LX1 construction is the lack of an optical viewfinder. Casio has shown that combining a 2.5” LCD screen with an optical viewfinder is possible, while maintaining a super compact body design. However, the LCD is quite clear and user friendly, even in bright sunshine, especially when activating the "Power LCD", increasing the illumination to full power (140%) by the press of a button.

Lumix DMC-LX1 is ready for action in about a second, experienced as almost instant. Also the auto focus worked fast and precise, especially with the 1-point or 3-point High Speed AF choice. Panasonic claims the shutter release response to be a mere 0.01 s, which is the fastest in its class, they say. I have no reason to doubt their measurement.

LX1 offers program controlled automatic exposure, shutter- or aperture semi automatic control, as well as full manual control with shutter speeds from 1/2000 to 60 seconds and digital noise reduction at long shutter speeds. For less experienced photographers, there are also several scene optimised programmes available.

Continuous shooting at full resolution and 3 fps is quite impressive for a 8.4 Mp compact camera, although it requires a High Speed memory card. Many users will also appreciate high quality 16:9 movie, I’m sure, delivering the highest 848x480 resolution available, at 30 fps image frequency.

First impression
I will be very surprised if the Lumix DMC-LX1 fails to become a best seller among “advanced” compact cameras. It is among the smallest in its class, the lens performance is convincing, the same goes for the overall image quality (although proper testing is required before I’m able to make my verdict) and the price is highly competitive. I also like the design, particularly the black version, the construction is functional and the only thing missing is the optical viewfinder. To some extent, the optical image stabiliser and the bright LCD compensate for this.

The exposure didn’t give any big surprises, but I think highlights had a tendency of burning out in certain situations. Image noise was not evaluated properly, but some night shots (see below) gave a quite good impression.

It will certainly be a pleasure to perform a proper test of the Lumix DMC-LX1. Test samples are expected in a couple of weeks time.

Note:
The camera used for this first impression evaluation and the shots below is an early pre-production sample. Panasonic will continue to optimize the camera’s performance until mass production starts.

PS:
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Update:
As the camera used during the press event was not a finished sample and the circumstances did not allow comprehensive testing, the images are merely snapshots to judge the camera's automatic performance, handling ease and the 16:9 image format. Therefore, please do not evaluate the image quality too seriously. Only when a finished camera is available, its real performance may be evaluated in detail.