One of the major attractions of the Panasonic digital cameras is their
use of Leica lenses.
Leica has built-up an outstanding reputation over the many years it
has been in existence, and many people would expect that a camera using
a Leica lens should deliver excellent results.
Indeed, the Leica lens used on both the LC43 and the LC33, delivers
sharp images.
Aperture: f5.6, shutter speed 1/400 sec., 50 ISO.
Aperture: f8, shutter speed 1/400 sec., 50 ISO.
At
the wide angle position, the images show a very slight barrel distortion
along the long sides of the frame if a straight element in the image happens
to be aligned close to the edge, but the effect disappears completely
as soon as the lens moves past the widest angle.
There is no chromatic aberration, even with photos that contain very strong
contrasts, however, strong contrasts can affect the precision of the metering.
Much
like the LC33, the LC43 produces the best exposures when the subject is
bathed with bright even light falling directly on it, and originating
from behind the photographer.
With
backlighting situations, the spot meter (spot mode) can be used, but some
practice with it is necessary as otherwise it can easily lead to an over
or underexposure of scene elements that were not metered.
Aside from its 4-megapixel resolution, the LC43 differs from the LC33
in sensitivity. The LC43 has a sensitivity range that stops at 200 ISO,
unlike the LC33 that offers a 400 ISO setting.
Aperture: f2.8, shutter speed 1/100 sec., 50 ISO
Aperture: f4.9, shutter speed 1/400 sec.
Moreover,
even at 200 ISO, the LC43's photos exhibit a bit more noise than those
of the LC33 at the same ISO setting.
At 200 ISO, the noise can become noticeable in the areas of a photo that
are a single colour, and particularly with darker colours. White surfaces
however are generally noise-free. Still, as is always the case, the 50
ISO setting of the LC43 is where it produces the best quality images.
At 50 ISO, even shadow areas contain no noise.
Shooting
indoors and in subdued light, both the LC33 and LC43 can have difficulty
focusing in low light, which highlights the absence of some sort of AF
assist light. As it is, the cameras often require that some additional
light be provided to focus.
Just like the
LC33, the Panasonic DMC-LC43 is a point and shoot, albeit one with a greater
resolution than the LC33, and it provides limited controls to the user.
Aperture: f2.8, shutter speed 1/500 sec.
But,
if one difference in terms of image quality can be identified, it would
be that in our opinion the DMC-LC43 appears to be a little less prone
to burning out the highlights than the LC33 is.
Still,
the lack of more advanced features on this 4 megapixel version of the
camera is somewhat regrettable as a number of competitively priced cameras
offer greater control, be it with respect to image formats, compression,
or exposure modes.
By the same token, the LC43 is very easy to use, and has a good lens,
something that helps it yield good quality photos.
