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Panasonic DMC-L1

Digital Camera Review

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Control Options
November 14, 2006 By Patrick Singleton
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Auto Mode (6.0)
By setting both shutter and aperture to "A," the user can access Program mode, a fully automatic exposure mode. ISO and white balance can separately be set to automatic, giving the camera close to full control over shooting parameters. There isn't a single button that sets all these features to automatic simultaneously though. The L1 requires the user to judge which parameters should be automated; it’s certainly not a point-and-shoot-style auto mode that uses a single button to automate everything.
 
Drive / Burst Mode (3.5)
The Panasonic L1 offers two burst mode speeds. It's an exaggeration to call the faster speed "high," but it's labeled "H." H runs slightly faster than 3 frames per second in our testing, and L runs at almost exactly 2 frames per second. Perhaps because of a noise reduction routine, the high speed burst manages only 2 frames per second when the L1's ISO is set to 1600.
 
The L1's self-timer can be set to 2 or 10 seconds, and can be set to flip the mirror up at the beginning of the delay, to decrease vibration during exposure.
 
Playback Mode (7.0)
The L1 features Panasonic's basic playback functions: images can be magnified up to 16x, and shown in thumbnail views of either 9 or 25 at a time. There is also a calendar view, so the user can jump to a specific date to look for an image. When a single image is shown, the L1 displays shooting data including exposure, color space, size and quality, frame number, capture date, histogram and current battery status. The data can also be hidden.
 
The slide show function is bare-bones – the only adjustment is the display interval. Other features include the option of re-saving images at smaller pixel dimensions, cropping, marking favorites, and converting images shot at 16:9 to the more square aspect ratios.
 
Movie Mode (0.0)
The L1 does not have a movie mode. It seems as though any live-preview camera could have a movie mode, but this doesn’t really suit the target audience of the DSLR. So far, the three brands marketing live-preview DSLRs (Panasonic, Olympus, and Leica) have not seen fit to add one.
 
Custom Image Presets (0.0)
The Panasonic L1 does not have any custom image presets. In program mode, the shutter and aperture combination can be shifted without altering the exposure value, so the user can bias for greater depth of field or faster shutter speed, for instance. Again, the camera is primarily designed for manual use. Entry-level DSLRs usually include at least a few scene modes, so perhaps by omitting these Panasonic is distinguishing the L1 as a mid-range DSLR.

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Panasonic DMC-L1
Digital Camera Review
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Design / Layout

Previous: Page 6

Control Options