Camera Labs

Sensor: Much larger than the TZ5, yet no apparent difference in image quality, except much lower noise in dark shadows. Areas in normal light that are smeared with the TZ5 are smeared just as much with the LX3. This was a surprise to me.

Movies: In HD mode, much better quality than TZ5, and better sound. Smaller movie size due to 24 fps rate.

RAW format stills: No better quality when converted to JPEG than JPEG stills made with the TZ5, except shadows as noted. This was also a surprise, since the RAW stills with the FZ50 had much better color definition than the FZ50 JPEG stills. Note that the LX3's RAW's are RW2, and half the size of the FZ50 RAW files.

24-60 mm effective zoom: Limits the camera to landscapes and macros.

DC Vario-Summicron lens: No apparent difference in quality of results compared to TZ5.

Macro stills: Much better than TZ5.

LCD screen: The 460k pixels don't seem to add anything, since playback zoom on the LX3 and TZ5 zoom the thumbnail, which is very blurry at 8x or greater.

Battery life: Excellent - better than the TZ5.

Size and weight: Contrary to the specs, the LX3 is about 45 mm thick, yet it still fits into a shirt pocket, even when the camera is inside a soft case.

There are many things I haven't tried yet with the LX3, but in spite of the disappointments, it's a good value in my opinion at the street price of $400 U.S.

Thanks for the info on this camera. Does the Panasonic LX3 have all the usual manual controls? I'm still interested in a point and shoot/compact camera but I want one with some exposure control.

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Nikon D700 | 20mm f2.8 | 28mm f2.8 | 50mm f1.8 | 70-300 f4-5.6 | SB800 | flickr | serial photography

Ah, I've noticed it doesn't have a viewfinder, only the LCD screen, which is a shame.

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Nikon D700 | 20mm f2.8 | 28mm f2.8 | 50mm f1.8 | 70-300 f4-5.6 | SB800 | flickr | serial photography

Yes - aperture and shutter priority, manual exposure, manual focus.

There is an optional viewfinder that fits the hot shoe.

Thanks for the review Dalethorn.

It seems a bit disappointing that the image quality isn't better than what it is, given that it has the largest sensor of almost any compact.

Do you find the constant larger aperture to be particularly advantageous over other compacts? It seems they made a few compromises with the focal range to have this.

The easy access to the aspect ratio seems like a really nice feature but does it work by having a native aspect ratio from which the others are just cropped? Or does it give all three ratios at full resolution because that would be quite impressive.

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Graham
Flickr

The larger aperture is good, since the advantage in shooting closer to sunrise and sunset is a welcome feature. The aspect ratios were well-designed, and don't get cropped, also good. The manual controls are excellent. The lack of zoom is due to the CCD size, and I sure hope I'm missing something and discover a way to improve my results, so that the CCD size becomes important in ways other than lower noise in dark shadows.

Ah, now that's an option. Thanks for the heads up.

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Nikon D700 | 20mm f2.8 | 28mm f2.8 | 50mm f1.8 | 70-300 f4-5.6 | SB800 | flickr | serial photography

Nice! Sounds like it would make a nice backup or primary camera! I want to see how it compares against the G9 and P6100.

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Graham
Flickr