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Panasonic LX2 Review
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Review
Date: Nov 1, 2006 |
Category:
Serious
to Advanced Amateur
IMAGE QUALITY
The Panasonic Lumix LX2 is a digital camera
targeted to advanced amateur photographers. It
has 10.2 megapixel resolution on a 1/1.65"
in. CCD image sensor with an aspect ratio of 16:9
and a 28-112mm (35 mm equivalent) 4x optical image
stabilized zoom lens, with an aperture range of
F2.8(W)–F4.9(T).
We find the overall image quality of the Panasonic
LX2 to be very good to excellent, with low noise
at ISO 100 and images retaining most of the details.
Images at higher ISOs suffer from noise and loss
of detail.
| 4x
Optical Zoom |
 |
 |
Wide-angle
6.3mm
(28mm, 35mm equivalent) |
Telephoto
25.2mm
(112mm, 35mm equivalent) |
In the above pictures, we show the coverage for
35mm and then 112mm (35mm equivalent).
Aspect Ratio 4:3 is the traditional TV/Computer
aspect ratio, 3:2 is the 35mm film aspect ratio,
and 16:9 is the new wide-screen/HD TV aspect ratio.
The 10.2MP resolution is available only when the
16:9 aspect ratio is selected.
The Panasonic LX2 has full exposure flexibility
with PASM modes, and Program Shift.
The camera also provides exposure compensation
(with Auto Bracketing) and Custom (Manual) White
Balance. A Histogram can be displayed in both
Live and Playback modes.
Shutter speed ranges from 60-1/2,000 sec. in
Manual Mode.
| "Macro" |
 |
6.3mm, Manual, Pattern, 5
sec., F8.0, ISO 100
Manual WB, Macro ON |
The Panasonic LX2 lens allows you to focus as
close as 5cm (2 in.) at wide-angle. AF locks precisely
and fast, even in low-light using the AF-assist
Beam.
 
The AF Area can be manually moved to any of 9
areas [Select AF AREA with the Joystick, press
Joystick, and select an AF area].
There are three metering modes: Multiple (Multi-Pattern),
Center Weighted and Spot.
| White Balance
Indoors |
 |
 |
| AWB |
Manual WB |
As the above two pictures show, the auto white
balance (AWB) indoors under tungsten artificial
light tends toward the yellow.
 
Fortunately, there is Manual WB and WB ADJUST
that are easy to set and provide excellent results.
As expected, AWB works well in natural light.
| ISO
Comparisons |
 |
| ISO 100 |
 |
 |
| ISO 200 |
ISO 400 |
 |
 |
| ISO 800 |
ISO 1600 |
The Panasonic LX2 has 5 ISO settings going from
ISO 100 to ISO 1600. The 100%
crops above (area delimited by the white square)
demonstrate the noise at the available ISO Speeds.
At ISO 100, noise is under control. Noise starts
to be present at ISO 200 but is usable. At higher
ISOs, noise is visibly present with loss of image
detail.
| Chromatic
Aberrations |
 |
There is CA in high-contrast shots. The corner
delimited by the red square at top right, and
reproduced at 100% crop at bottom left, shows
some purple fringing.
| Long Shutter
Speed |
 |
6.3m, Manual, Patern, 40
sec., F8.0, ISO 100
Manual WB, Self-timer 10 sec., Tripod Used
Noise Reduction ON |
The Panasonic LX2 allows the use of a long shutter
speed of up to 60 sec. in Manual mode, therefore
allowing night photography. Generally, with CCD
image sensors, noise usually becomes more prominent
at slow shutter speeds. Noise reduction algorithm
introduces a longer processing time (approx. twice
as long) before the next picture can be taken.
To test this noise reduction algorithm, we take
a low-light indoors shot. To obtain a long exposure,
I place Bamm-Bamm under my desk where it's dark.
I experiment a bit to obtain the optimum exposure,
eventually settling on 40 sec. at F8. Even at
this long shutter speed, the LX2's noise reduction
seems to be working well.
The Panasonic LX2 allows you to save an image
in the RAW file format. It takes about 5 sec.
to write a RAW image to memory card (I used a
regular 1GB SD card). Note that these times do
not include the extra write times you'll experience
if Noise Reduction kicks in.
At Image Quality = Fine, a 10.2MP image is compressed
down to anywhere between 2MB and 4.8MB. A RAW
image occupies about 20MB.
We find the overall image quality of the Panasonic
Lumix DMC-LX2 at ISO 100 to be very good to
excellent with good details in the shadows and
highlights. ISO 200 is usable. Noise is objectionable
at higher ISOs.
The pictures in the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2
Photo Gallery page provide a good sample
of what the camera is capable of. I have provided
unprocessed samples at 800x600 pixels (compressed
to Quality 60/100 in Photoshop Elements) as well
as the 4224x2376 pixels original size (click on
the image for the original version). Any of the
800x600 image that is adjusted for levels and/or
sharpened in Photoshop has "_adjusted"
appended to the file name. Original images are
never adjusted.
You can safely assume that most macro shots and
slow shutter speed shots required the use of a
tripod.
I have defaulted the image size to 800x600 pixels.
For those who have their monitor resolution set
to 1024x728 pixels, everything should snugly fit
and you should not have to scroll to see the whole
image. If your monitor is set to 800x600 pixels
resolution, start the slide show and then scroll
to the right to position the image within your
screen width. Then, press F11 (if you are using
Internet Explorer) to switch to full screen mode,
and the image should fill your screen nicely.
Press F11 again at any time to switch your monitor
display back to normal mode.
To return to this page from the Photo Gallery,
click on the animated graphics of the camera.
Please open and download the original size version
only if you need to and only once
to your hard drive -- and save me some precious
bandwidth. Thanks!
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