Lumix lx5 where to buy

If you care about the quality of your pictures and the control you need to take them, but you want a camera you can take everywhere and not notice its weight, this is your camera. The only gripes I have are that the audio pickup for shooting movies isn't great quality, and I always forget to put the macro mode switch back to normal auto-focus. But those are minor compared to this excellent camera. Well, I've searched tremendously a lot before purchasing a camera.

I was looking for a quality camera that would take very clear pictures in house as well and even when it's a bit dark. I am NOT an experienced camera user, I am a simply man who looks for the best sharp image camera out there in all daily situation without using the features, simply using the auto version.

And I can tell you that I am very pleased for the image quality and great resolution in low light in house pictures. One more thing, it takes pictures pretty quick, meaning you won't need to wait too long between each picture you'd like to shoot. That's a great plus too. Am moving from a heavy Canon 40D to lighter weight equipment.

Am doing an advanced compact and superzoom bridge. This little LX5 is a dream to use, and carry around. More than enough buttons and dials to keep me happy and picture quality is very impressive. Because of the size I'm skipping it in my jacket pocket and taking it almost everywhere I go.

Now just have to hope the superzoom bridge will fill the telephoto needs as well. Waiting for it to arrive. So impressed with Panasonic the the bridge superzoom ordered is also Panasonic FZ As a ditigal photo beginner, the Panasonic LX5's artifical intelligence is smarter than I am. So, maybe, one day, I will know enough to use the manual and raw to create works of art. However, my photography is more for informational content than works of art, so manual and raw are there just so if I ever get around to it.

My buying decision was to purchase a camera with a high probability of a good photos by "point and shoot" in potentially low light situations at short range. The LX5 had very good reviews with sophisticated analysis of technical data and sample photos and comparisions to other cameras.

In both cases, the actual sensor framerate is half the interlaced field rate. Low-light movie capture has also been improved, and it should now be possible to record movies in as little as 3 lux. The included battery is a 3. Two years ago, the LX3 marked a new level of performance and image quality for Panasonic, and set a new standard for enthusiast pocket cameras.

The Panasonic LX5 promises to do the same in It used to be that only a few cameras came through our review cycle that really raised our interest as photographers.

We tend to like and recommend a reasonable percentage of the digital cameras we choose to review, but only a few stand out enough that we'd like to add them to our own camera bags. No-nonsense designs that focus on premium optical and sensor performance are what most of us prefer, and lately the SLD Single Lens Direct-view category has been delivering a steady stream of interesting cameras that answer the need on both counts.

These two compete in the everywhere-camera category, because they're small enough for most pockets or purses, but don't compromise as much on optical or low-light performance. But that's enough to create reasonable bokeh for relatively close subjects. In its favor, the LX5 has a grip, a hot shoe, and a 3. The Canon S95 has smaller body with fewer snags, an adjustment ring surrounding the lens, and 3. With its advanced sensor, the Panasonic LX5 should be able to take better pictures in low light.

Indoors and in low light I had a lot more trouble with white balance and focus, missing too many shots for my taste. There's no question the Panasonic LX5 is a fine looking camera.

It's also very likeable in its personality. The lens extends and zooms quietly, like a whisper, though it is a little slow. The LCD is beautiful, and refreshes quickly. Autofocus is quicker than the LX3, as well, and I really prefer the jog dial on the back over the joystick, which always seemed a bit out of place and clumsy. Popping up the flash makes me wonder what they were thinking, because the flash always hits the finger I'm using to actuate the release slider, so there's one knock; but that's not really a problem: just open it more carefully or learn to like having your finger popped up along with the flash.

One thing the Panasonic LX5 has no deficiency is in its optical image stabilization system. I'm always impressed when using Panasonic's stabilization, but they've outdone themselves with the new Power O.

I got stable images I had no right to get, and often in low light with slow exposures the person in the foreground might be blurry, but it was because they moved, not because of focus or a failure of the IS system.

Concentrate on holding the camera still, and the Panasonic LX5 will take your cue. Suddenly the image is perfectly stable. You can see the camera still moving, but that image onscreen is not. It doesn't float. It just sits.

A few times I've had to wonder whether I'd pressed the Playback button. It's the best I've seen. Step zoom. It used to be we criticized cameras whose zooms moved in steps, rather than smoothly following the dictates of our fingers. Suddenly it's a hot option to have the lens zoom in steps, simulating a camera bag full of prime lenses. I turned the feature on. I'm not sure I get it.

The list of options includes 24, 28, 35, 50, 70, and It is nice to have repeatability, but I'd like the option to remove a few of the positions, as this seems too many. Part of what makes the mode annoying is that the Panasonic LX5's otherwise fine lens zooms so slowly.

If this mode increased the zoom speed, it would be worthwhile. But it's sluggish. The advantage to sluggish outside of this Step zoom mode is that you have more time to pick whatever focal length you want, but I'd still like it to move faster.

That could have been done with a two-speed zoom toggle, but instead it's slow to start, taking what seems like more than half a second, and slow to travel once it's started.

The Panasonic LX5 uses the same basic Panasonic menu structure that works well on all of their pocket cameras. My only complaint is that there are so many options, which isn't much of a complaint.

There are seven pages of items on the Record and Setup pages, five items per page. Operation is straightforward. I like the Quick menu, but I'm not sure I would have chosen all the same items that Panasonic chose, especially the LCD backlight control. But again, all that is incidental on any camera. What they have is well-laid-out and works quickly. Scene modes too are Panasonic's standard set, so I don't have much to say about them. I don't generally use Scene modes except on cameras that do multi-shot tricks that are useful low-light tools.

The Panasonic LX5 relies on its fast lens and sensor to deal with low light, which I prefer over a special mode. The Playback menu has one interesting option called Leveling. A relatively fine grid is overlaid on the image, and you can tilt the image to straighten buildings or match the horizon line. The image is automatically cropped, of course.

You can also add text to your images, including things like location, name, date, and time. Pocket changes. As I mentioned, the Panasonic LX5's big advantage is its relative pocketability.

Even the lens cap is made well enough that it stayed on in my pocket. It has very strong springs behind a two-sided cap that really hold well. Cheap lens caps can come off in a pocket or bag, but this one didn't. I don't say that it won't, but it's a lot less likely than most. But there are basic disadvantages to putting the Panasonic LX5 in a pocket, chiefly that two of the key dials change while they're in there. Nearly every time I pulled the Panasonic LX5 from my pocket, either the Aspect ratio slider had moved or the Mode dial had.

Mostly both changes are easy to detect before you commit to your next shot, and the dials make changing the settings back to your preferred ones easy enough, but it would be a lot better if they stayed put a little better. The good news about dials is that the new Rear dial is better behaved. It's almost difficult to turn by comparison, because it's so well-recessed. I prefer that to the way the Canon S95 handles their rear dial, because Canon again uses a very loose dial that changes Exposure value too easily with an accidental turn--and there's no way to disable it.

The Panasonic LX5's rear dial requires a more deliberate effort to turn, which is good, because turning it in Aperture or Shutter priority modes changes those settings.

That can make adjustment a little harder, but it's not bad. In Program mode it's even better, because you first have to half-press the shutter button, and then you can turn the dial to perform a program shift, where the camera selects a different combination of aperture and shutter speed, yet maintains proper exposure.

Reviewed Dec 15, User reviews. See all user reviews. Gear list. Product description. Announced Jul 21, Discuss in the Panasonic Compact Camera Talk forum.

Product timeline. Interview: Sofi Lee is a pro shooting with vintage digital compacts. Just posted: Enthusiast Compact Group Test.

Quick specs. Our review. Both are limited in their capabilities so serious enthusiasts will be likely to favour third-party applications. Performance Two features stood out when we were using the camera: the improved autofocusing speed and the greater efficiency of the image stabilisation. The Power O. Shots taken with the test camera appeared detailed and colourful. The wide dynamic range in outdoor shots was retained in the new model and colours appeared natural and saturation was well-controlled in JPEG images.

Both were below the resolutions we obtained when RW2. Imatest showed resolution to be slightly below expectations for a megapixel camera for JPEG files but above expectations when raw files were measured. Our tests also revealed differences in centre and edge resolution at wider apertures. Shots taken at ISO were visibly noise-affected — although not nearly as much as the two higher ISO settings which have been substantially reduced in size.

The graph below shows the results of our Imatest tests. Lateral chromatic aberration was low at most apertures as shown in the graph below and focal length settings and coloured fringing was negligible. Lens flare was quite common with even modest back or side lighting. Digital zoom shots were a cut above average but still showed some processing artefacts.

Low light performance was excellent with little noise visible up to ISO and only a slight progressive increase thereafter. Flash performance was similar to the results we obtained with the LX3.

The built-in flash was just capable of illuminating an average sized room at ISO but provided a good balance of flash and ambient lighting right up to the highest sensitivity settings. Shots taken at the highest ISO settings included compression artefacts as well. Auto white balance performance was typical of most digital cameras. Test shots taken under incandescent light retained a noticeable orange cast.

However shots taken under fluorescent lighting showed only a tinge of residual blue. The LX5 provides a Kelvin temperature option for matching light source colours exactly. The monaural soundtracks were fairly clear but not overly impressive. It took 2. Although the specifications claim the LX5 can record bursts of up to five frames, in fact this is only true for standard JPEGs. The review camera recorded three high-resolution JPEGs in 0. It took 6. RAW files and