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Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3

Digital Camera Review

Sep 18, 2008 - By Tim Barribeau

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Auto Mode (6.50)
Rather than just Auto, the LX3 has "Intelligent Auto," which uses scene detection technology to recognize if you're shooting a portrait, scenery, macro, night portrait or night scenery. In the two portrait modes, face detection activates to help with focusing. Strangely for a camera so aimed at experienced users, the auto mode offers almost no control whatsoever. You can change picture size, exposure compensation, burst speed and auto focus mode. That's it. No ISO or white balance setting. This takes a lot of the control out of the hands of the user, even beyond what we expect from an automatic mode.

Movie Mode (9.75)
The Lumix LX3 has a very competent movie mode. In our testing section, we found it had good color accuracy, and that it captured motion well with minimal blurring. While filming, you have access to a significant subset of the normal shooting controls. You can alter image size, white balance, metering, auto focus and image stabilizer mode. You can record in 640x480 or 320 x 240 while in 4:3 ratio and 1280 x 720 or 848 x 480 in 16:9. The inclusion of 720p recording means that you'll be able to display your movie on an HD screen, and have it look quite good. The movie mode uses MP4 compression in a .mov framework, so the files will be svelte, and you'll be able to get as much recording time as possible on your memory card. However, the editing tools in the camera are non-existent – no trimming the movie length, resizing the file or any other adjustment.

Drive / Burst Mode (9.00)
The LX3 has two burst modes available, normal and unlimited. Normal will take four full quality JPEGs, eight normal quality JPEGs or three RAW files at 2.5 images per second, while unlimited can take unlimited JPEGS at two images per second.

There are two timer modes available, 2-second delay and 10-second delay, which are fairly standard. What is annoying is that once you take a photo with the timer, it is automatically turned off for the next shot. If you're doing a large amount of tripod work, and use a timer to avoid camera shake, this becomes infuriating, as every time you want to take a picture, you have to turn the timer back on.

One nice little feature kicks in when both the timer and burst mode are activated. Once the timer has run its course, it will automatically take three pictures. So if you're trying to get a good group shot, you don't need to run back to the camera and set it up again to take a second shot because Aunt Susan blinked. You just set the camera on burst, and it will take three images in sequence, letting you choose the best.

Playback Mode (6.75)
Playback Mode is usually activated by a switch on the rear of the camera, but the customizable Function button can also be set to Review mode, which will let you look at your images without having to flip a switch. Playback has four different modes for viewing your images. First, there's standard, which lets you scroll through your images using either the joystick of the four-way pad. You can zoom in on an image at 2, 4, 8 or 16x magnification, and zooming out takes you to 12- then 30-image thumbnail modes. Pressing the Display button during playback alternates between basic photo information (date and time of photograph, image name and number of photos on card), EXIF data or no overlays at all. A histogram can be enabled in the options, and will be displayed when in EXIF mode. There is also the option to highlight over-exposed areas of the photograph in Review mode.

The second playback mode is Dual Play, which shows two images at once, rotated 90° to fit the display. Each image is individually selected, so you can compare any two pictures you choose.

The slideshow setting has five different methods for showing your images: Natural, Slow, Swing, Urban and Off. Each uses different transition effects and music, except Off mode, which is silent and effect-free. The musical accompaniments to each option are universally dreadful, but thankfully they can be muted.

Finally, there's category play, which allows you to sort and select images based on which Scene Mode you shot in.

Custom Image Presets (9.00)
The LX3 has an unusually wide selection of image presets for a camera that seems to be aimed at users with a high level of proficiency. There are a total of 24 image presets, accessible while shooting in Scene mode and selectable through the menu system. The majority of these are relatively pedestrian, such as Portrait, Sports or Sunset. With this many choices, though, there are a couple of interesting little extras thrown in. For instance, there are two baby modes (the difference between them is ill-defined) and a pet mode. These three modes let you enter the birthdates of your subject, and will display their age if you choose. There's an Aerial Photo mode, designed for shooting out the window of planes (see our test shots at the end of the review to see how these came out). Finally, there are two modes designed to mimic some of the peculiarities of certain types of film cameras: Pin Hole and Film Grain. The former darkens the corners of the image to simulate the vignetting that occurs in pinhole cameras, and the latter shoots in black and white, and replicates the distinctive grainy feel of high ISO film.