The Lumix DMC-LC43 is equipped with a 1/2.5 inch CCD with 4.23 million
pixels, of which 4 million are effective. The CCD has a sensitivity rating
starting at 50 ISO, which can be increased to 100, 200 ISO. (This is a
difference from the LC33, which offers a 400 ISO setting). An Auto setting,
the default when the camera is set to the Simple shooting mode,
allows the LC33 to adjust the CCD's sensitivity from 50 to 200 ISO.
Both
the DMC-LC33 and LC43 use a 3X zoom lens from Leica, a Leica DC Vario-Elmarit
with 7 elements in 6 groups including 3 aspherical surfaces.
The
lens has a focal
length of 5.8 to 17.4 mm, which converts to an equivalent
of a 35mm 105 mm in the 35mm film format. In wide angle, apertures
start at f2.8
and extend to f8, while at the maximum telephoto setting of the zoom,
these start at f4.9 and go to f14. This is combined with a shutter speed
range that extends from 8 seconds in the Night Portrait Scene
mode (1/8 sec. in Program mode) to 1/2000 second.
The LC43 provides
only 2 JPEG
compressed formats, Fine or Standard, with Fine offering
the highest image quality at a compression of around 7:1, while standard
uses a greater compression, approximately 17:1. No uncompressed
image format is available.
Either compression setting can be used with any of 4 image resolutions:
2304
x 1728 pixels
1600
x 1200 pixels
1280 x 960 pixels
640 x 480 pixels
Exposures
are metered using an evaluative
system, the default, and in addition a spot
meter, called Spot Mode, is available as a menu option.
The
Lumix DMC-LC43 is a fully automatic camera, but its Normal Mode
provides a number of settings for such things as sensitivity, image
quality, etc. The Simple Mode on the other hand is much
more rudimentary, and the options provided to the user are few.
In the Simple Mode, the menu of the camera is a short 4 options, and
only the first has any relation to the quality of the image:
Picture
Mode: selects the image size. Three options are offered, Enlarge
which effectively is the highest resolution of 2304 x 1728 Fine mode;
4"x6"/10x15cm, the size of a standard photo print,
which captures a 1280 x 960 pixel image; and Internet, which
records a 640 x 480 pixel image.
Auto
Review: decides whether a just captured image will be displayed
immediately post-capture.
Beep:
turns On or Off the camera's beeps.
Clock
Set: sets the calendar and clock.
Users
should note that the Enlarge setting for the Picture Mode Option
provides the best image quality, and will also produce the sharpest 4
x 6 inch prints. A 2304 x 1728 resolution is able to produce a 6 x 4.5
inch print — 1/4 inch is lost when printing to a 4 x 6 size —
at 384 dpi, a resolution well-suited to the equipment used by most photo
printing services since these range from 300 to 400 dpi. The option identified
as for 4"x6"/10x15 cm on the other hand, records only a 1280
x 960 (1.2 megapixel) photo, which when translated to a 4 x 6 inch print
yields a 200 dpi resolution, on the low end of the scale if a sharp image,
comparable to 35mm film output, is desired.
With the Normal Picture mode, the menu is considerably longer,
and the user is given more control over how the image will be recorded.
The Recording menu is spread over 3 pages, and is identified by
a tab at the top of the screen. The second tab is for the Setup
menu (See the Interface and Software section of the review for
an overview of the options provided by the Setup menu). The
Recording menu offers options for:
White
Balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Halogen
(similar to incandescent), and White Set which allows setting
the white balance for the ambient light conditions.
Picture
Size: selects any one of the 4 image sizes available (see above).
Quality:
selects either Fine, or Standard, each identified as
a graphic depicting more or less pixels.
Spot
Mode: On or Off is to select the spot meter.
Sensitivity:
allows setting the sensitivity of the CCD, 50, 100,
200 ISO, or Auto which lets the camera adjust the CCD
sensitivity from 50 to 200 ISO.
Audio:
On or Off. When set to On, a 5 second audio clip
can be recorded along with an image immediately after the photo is
captured. Note that although audio can be recorded with the LC43,
the camera itself has no speaker and sounds cannot be played back
directly, and the camera must be connected to a television for the
recording to be audible. Alternatively, when the image is transferred
to a PC, the sound portion can be heard. Sound is recorded in .MOV
(Quicktime) format, along with a 640 x 480 version of the image in
a separate file. The actual image, captured at the resolution selected
in the menu, contains no audio.
Digital
Zoom: On or Off. A 3X digital
zoom is available with the LC43. When used, the image is interpolated
to the selected size, and the quality is noticeably lower.
Col.
Effect: alters the colour balance of the image. 4 settings are
possible, Off, Cool which increases blue tones, Warm
amplifies reds slightly. The last option is to record a Black and
White image.
Pict.
Adj.: alters the saturation of the image. Three settings are available,
Natural, Standard, Vivid.
Besides offering a Normal recording mode and Scene modes,
the LC43 also has a Movie clip recording mode. The length
of movies recorded with the camera depends entirely on the memory card
used. With the 16MB card provided, approximately 80 seconds can be captured.
The frame size of the movie mode is 320 x 240, and exposure, white balance,
and zoom position are locked at the first frame. The digital zoom is not
available. Sound is automatically recorded with the video clip, and as
with the audio captured with a still image, can only be heard if the camera
is playing back the movie through a television, or if the clip is being
played back on a computer.
In Playback, the menu is also presented as the first of two tabs, the
second button provides a different menu, this one over 2 screens, and
also provides access to the Setup menu just like the Recording menu:
Protect:
serves to select one or more photos for protection against erasure.
DPOF
Print: allows selecting images that will be printed with a DPOF
(Digital Print Order Format) compliant printer or service.
Slide
Show: provides an automatic playback of images. The duration each
image will be displayed can be set (1, 2, 3, or 5 seconds); Audio
can be set to On or Off, allowing it to be played back when the camera
is connected to a TV; and only those photos selected for printing
can be set as the those included in the show.
Audio
Dub: allows adding a 10 second narration to an already recorded
image (5 seconds longer than is possible when recording audio immediately
after an image capture).
Resize:
allows resizing images down to store more on a card. Images with attached
audio cannot be re-sized.
Trimming:
is used to crop an image, and the cropped image can either be saved
as a new image, or be saved by overwriting the original. As with the
Resizing option, images that have attached audio cannot be trimmed.
Format:
formats the memory card.
The
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC43 is supplied with an 16MB SD (Secure
Digital) memory card. The card is inserted in a slot located on the
right side of the camera, behind a solid plastic door.
Equipped with an 16MB SD card the Lumix DMC-LC43 can store:
Resolution
Fine
Std
2304
x 1728
8
16
1600
x 1200
17
34
1280
x 960
22
43
640
x 480
69
129
Movie
(320 x 240)
80
seconds
The LC43 is compatible with both SD and MMC memory, and with cards that
have capacities up to 512MB. SD cards are recommended as they have a faster
read/write than MMC.
The USB (1.1) port is at the top, with the A/V (Audio/Video) jack below.
The A/V out video signal can be set to either NTSC or PAL in the Setup
menu of the camera.
Near
the bottom of the camera is a DC-IN jack, allowing the DMC-LC43 to be
powered by an optional AC-DC adapter (DMW-AC1).
The
Lumix LC43 features Direct-Print for printing photos directly to
a Direct-Print compliant printer. Direct-Print allows the LC33 to be connected
to a printer with the same USB cable that is used to connect to a computer.
Using the camera's interface, the photo can be selected for printing,
and sent to the printer.
The
Lumix LC43 is powered by 2 AA-size Ni-MH batteries. Unlike the LC33, the
LC43 is supplied with 2 Panasonic brand Ni-MH batteries, and a 2-battery
charger. The charger takes a few hours to fully charge the batteries.
The
Lumix LC43 is powered by 2 AA-size Ni-MH batteries. Unlike the LC33, the
LC43 is supplied with 2 Panasonic brand Ni-MH batteries, and a 2-battery
charger. The charger takes a few hours to fully charge the batteries.
