Digital Camera Review

Digital Camera Review

Oct 12, 2004 - By James Murray
With an MSRP of US $249.99, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50 sells for $50 less than the DMC-LC70, a camera with comparable features and a nearly identical body. The Lumix DMC-LC50 comes stocked with a 3x optical zoom Leica DC VARIO-ELMARIT all-glass lens, refracting highly refined images to its 1/2.5-inch, 3.3 megapixel CCD sensor. There is a 1.5-inch, 114,000 pixel LCD screen consuming much of the camera's back side. The camera includes a 30 frames per second movie mode; however, there is no option to record audio along with the video. The Lumix DMC-LC50 sports a stylish facade and contains simple control features that make the camera ideal for the point-and-shoot enthusiast and beginning user. Reflecting on the high scores attained by the camera on our resolution test, the Lumix DMC-LC50 user can rest assured that the camera's lack of advanced functions is not a reflection on its imaging capabilities, but rather a gauge of the type of user for whom the camera is designed.
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Manual Controls
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50 is not designed for maximum control but rather for point-and-shoot ease and automatic precision. With features such as automatic exposure bracketing, manual control is secondary. However, the Lumix DMC-LC50 does not overlook manual precision altogether, offering advanced control to the user when necessary, such as the ability to select the ISO rating as well as a custom white balance feature. The latter ensures color accuracy in difficult lighting and is perhaps the crucial manual feature that an automatically oriented point-and-shoot camera should provide.

Focus
Auto Focus (7.5)
Auto Focus for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50 is standard. There are no Manual Control options available for focusing an image, so the auto focus is all the user has to rely on. The most control the user has is in the selection of the focal subject within the frame. By choosing specific objects within the composition and depressing the shutter button partially, the user can focus upon that subject and the camera will ensure that specified object is in proper focus. Normal and Macro settings are available through the Mode dial settings, the tulip being the icon for the Macro setting option for close-up subject matter. These options allow the user to get a variation of shots and perspectives, all automatically focused.

Manual Focus (0.0)
This camera is only able to shoot in automatic focus mode, and uses no manual focus settings.

Metering (7.0)
Metering options for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50 are accessible through the menu. These selections determine what areas or regions of the frame are exposed for. There is an "intelligent" multi-metering option, as well as a spot metering mode. The multi-metering mode will read the entire composition and determine the best exposure for the overall scene, while the spot metering option allows the user to select specific regions to expose for. The spot metering method is useful in high-contrast shooting situations. For instance, if a well lit subject is standing in front of dark background, it is difficult in multi-metering mode to get detail in the subject, because the camera is trying to retain information in the background as well and create a balanced exposure. To attain information on the subject, the user can set the camera to spot metering and select the subject as the "spot." This will direct the camera to meter for the subject foremost. The background information will be lost; however, this mode is designed to prioritize the shot for the most important area and expose for it. Metering variation is not an option when shooting in Movie mode.

Exposure (7.0)
Exposure compensation on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50 ranges from +2 to -2 in 1/3 EV steps, and is registered by using the up arrow on the four-way keypad when in the exposure compensation portion of the menu. This is a standard exposure range typical of most point-and-shoot models and functionality is fairly intuitive.

White Balance (7.5)
White Balance for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50 is accessible through the White Balance section on the LCD screen menu. Once highlighted, the user can scroll left and right to highlight the following options: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Halogen, and White Set. The key here is the inclusion of a white set option, providing the user with the opportunity to customize color when shooting in difficult settings. This is the one manual feature that should be included on every camera, regardless of the target audience, as it is nearly impossible to get proper color reproduction from certain light sources without it.

ISO (7.0)
The ISO settings for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50 are controllable manually, and are accessed through the onscreen LCD menu controls. Once the ISO section has been highlighted by scrolling down, the user has the option to choose among the following settings: Auto, 50, 100, 200, and 400. Control over ISO is crucial to most photographers, even automatic snapshooters, though they may not be aware of it. ISO speed will determine the light and noise ratio present in the image. A higher ISO rating will provide a "brighter" image, but will also come with added noise distorting the picture. To minimize noise, the user can use a lower ISO speed, but there will have to be enough available light to retain a proper exposure. This balance can be consciously selected by the user or can be palmed off to the camera's automatic control on the Lumix DMC-LC50. ISO settings are not operable when using Movie mode.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
Control of shutter speed on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50 is also automatic, ranging from 8-1/2000th of a second.

Aperture (0.0)
Aperture settings on this model range from f/2.8-f.4.9 and are controlled completely by the camera. The camera will take a meter reading of the situation and balance the aperture opening with the shutter speed necessary to provide the user with an optimal exposure for the scene.

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