
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3
Advanced camera with 24mm wide-angle lens
Pros
- Good colour balance, low chromatic aberration, tonnes of features, wide-angle lens
Cons
- Some oversharpening, expensive
Bottom Line
Panasonic's Lumix DMC-LX3 is an impressive high-end compact camera with a wide-angle 24mm lens and a host of manual features.
-
Price
$ 829.00 (AUD)
Joining companies such as Canon and Ricoh in providing a compact camera for photography enthusiasts, Panasonic has come to market with its new advanced model — the Lumix DMC-LX3. It features a classy and slightly old-school design and a slew of features, including image stabilisation, manual shooting modes and multiple aspect ratios. This widescreen camera is sure to appeal to experienced users looking to upgrade or professionals after a portable unit as a backup.
Sporting a 10.1-megapixel sensor and a 24mm wide-angle lens, the LX3 is a fairly powerful little photography tool. The wide shots look excellent and should suit those looking to take panoramic landscape snaps. It doesn’t quite have the telephoto length of its predecessor, the Lumix DMC-LX2, but the width of the lens more than makes up for that. The camera also has the ability to shoot in 16:9 and 3:2 in addition to 4:3, making it perfect for owners of widescreen HD televisions.
We found the images captured by the L3 to be pretty impressive all up. They were crisp and sharp with excellent detail; however, Imatest did pick up a hefty amount of oversharpening. This was also evident in some of our outdoors shots, particularly in patches of dense foliage. Fortunately, chromatic aberration was pretty well controlled, with no corner softening and only minor haloing on high-contrast edges.
Colours were accurate and well balanced. Primary shades were almost spot-on, except for some slightly oversaturated reds. Exposure was also well handled, with detail well rendered in dark areas and only a little blowing out of bright areas.
Noise performance was about what we expected. Everything up to ISO 400 was usable and suffered only minor graininess. However, it took a sharp jump at ISO 800 and some detail loss became evident. By ISO 1600 pictures were a sea of noise and not really usable unless you’re happy making tiny fuzzy prints.
The speed of the LX3 was average. Its 0.09 second shutter lag is fine but nothing to write home about; the same is true of the 2.5 second start-up time. Shot-to-shot time was slightly better at 1.8 seconds, and the burst mode impressed us by capturing just over three frames per second.
What is really nifty about this unit is the huge array of features on offer. It has full manual shooting modes (program, aperture, shutter and manual) and the lens has an impressive aperture of f/2.0 at the wide end. It is supported by Panasonic’s Mega Optical Image Stabilisation; as usual it does an excellent job of minimising hand-shake.
For novice users, the Intelligent Auto mode makes a welcome return. It calculates the best combination of ISO, exposure, scene mode and picture settings and adjusts accordingly. While it may just be a glorified auto mode in some regards, it certainly produces good images.
As you’d expect, video recording is present — and it can be done in high definition. The LX3 can capture 1280x720 footage at 30 frames per second (unfortunately the QuickTime format is rather inefficient and footage takes up a large amount of space).
If you’re a fan of a slightly retro look then the LX3 should satisfy. It has a boxy black look with a tiny hand grip. It isn’t exactly petite but it’ll fit into a large pocket or small bag. We found it relatively comfortable to hold and quite sturdy, although depending on your grip the flash may get in the way. It has a lot of controls, which will be intimidating for some users. Once you get the hang of things it is relatively easy to use, however.
Brand Post

Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Miofive 4K Dash Cam review: This friendly road watcher is ‘here for you!’
- 2 Dell U3223QE review: A winning debut for an IPS Black monitor
- 3 Asus TUF Gaming VG28UQL1A review: This 4K monitor plays nice with consoles
- 4 Firewalla Gold review: Powerful home network security in a tiny box
- 5 Acer Aspire 5 review: An affordable laptop that’s enjoyable to use
Latest News Articles
- GoPro delivers Quik solution for videos and photos
- Canon embolden mirrorless offering with EOS R5 and R6
- GoPro spin off their lighting mod into its own act: the Zeus Mini
- Canon adds a new heavyweight to their DSLR lineup: the EOS-1D X Mark III
- New D-Link home security cameras feature onboard AI
Resources
Business Centre
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers

Videos
Watch our video news and reviews from around the world

Guides
Comprehensive buying guides, features, and step-by-step articles

PCW Evaluation Team
Pedro Peixoto
Aruba Instant On AP11D

Set up is effortless.
Cate Bacon
Aruba Instant On AP11D

The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.
Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti
Aruba Instant On AP11D

Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.
Tom Pope
Dynabook Portégé X30L-G

Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.
Tom Sellers
MSI P65

This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.
Lolita Wang
MSI GT76

It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.
Featured Content
- Top 10 best Android and Apple phones for under $600
- 25 Essential Party Games On PC And Console To Play With Family And Friends
- Mesh Wi-Fi vs Traditional Routers: Which is better?
- Which flagship TV is best? Sony 4K HDR Bravia 2016 versus LG 4K HDR OLED 2016
- 10 Blu-ray movies / Best looking Blu-ray movies