HWM Gold Award - LUMIX DMC-LX1

October 2005 (HWM) by ANDREW CHAN - In spite of Panasonic's massive success with the LUMIX range, the company shows that it has yet more surprises up its sleeves with this LUMIX DMC-LX1, which best demonstrates the company's technological prowess to date. Bordering on being classified as an ultra-compact, the LX1 is by far the smallest digital camera we have ever come across to sport manual exposure modes that include aperture and shutter priority as well as a full manual mode. More importantly, it is also the first to feature a 16:9 aspect ratio CCD image sensor - perfect for flat screen TV playback. Mega O.I.S, that is now in every LUMIX camera, also comes as standard in the LX1.

The 16:9 CCD sensor is no gimmick unlike other cameras that actually have 4:3 ratio sensors but claim the ability to produce 16:9 widescreen aspect photos by cropping the top and bottom portions off. The LX1's CCD sensor is really 16:9 in ratio, but can produce standard 4:3 or 3:2 ratio pictures by having the sides of the images cropped off instead. The 16:9 widescreen ratio sensor provides the photographer an interesting range of freedom to frame pictures. Tall or wide subjects like buildings and group portraits can be captured in their full glory, and more of a background can be used to accentuate and emphasize an off-center foreground subject (as our example photo shows). It can even be "cropped" to 5MP for an increased 5x optical zoom.

Handling the LX1 was also a breeze. Image aspect ratio and focus mode controls (including manual) can be directly changed via switches on its lens barrel. The flash is manually released by a small slider button behind it, and its manual exposure settings were easy to alter using a joystick navigator at the rear. The user interface was also fast and responsive. As with the FX series of ultra-compact cameras, the LX1's does not have a viewfinder because of the large LCD. However, this is only a problem in extremely intense sunlight, otherwise the LCD is bright enough to view in almost every other condition.

On examining the LX1's photos, we were pleased that they showed spot on exposure, beautifully saturated colors, and the camera's Leica lens and immense resolution rendered very sharp images. However, image noise proved to be the biggest disappointment. Even at its lowest ISO setting of 80, small specs of noise were already discernable. At ISO 200, noise became very apparent, and at ISO 400, it was overwhelming. This noise is obviously the result of first time implementation of both the new 16:9 sensor format and the high resolution sensor. That being said, our test unit was an engineering sample, and we certainly hope this can be resolved by time the retail units are released.

With its new format sensor and size for a camera with manual controls, the LX1 represents a new paradigm in the digital camera world. Despite the noise levels of this engineering sample, it is already a great digital camera. We can't wait for the retail units to be out.

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