Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS1

Reviewed May 2005

Image Quality

Optical image stabilizers are still rare, and are often reserved for longer zooms than the 3x zoom of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS1.

Generally, optical image stabilizers have a twofold purpose. First, they act to physically compensate for the inadvertent movements of the photographer, movements which become amplified by telephoto focal lengths and which can be the cause of a blurred image.

Second, their stabilizing function also allows photographers to capture images at lower than normal shutter speeds, which can be very useful when the ambient light is less than perfect.

That secondary function is the primary reason for using the technology on a camera such as the LS1.

Indeed, while at the wide end — the equivalent of a 35mm focal length — the LC1's zoom has a relatively bright aperture of f2.8. However, at the maximum telephoto setting — equivalent to 105mm — that aperture drops to f5, an aperture that demands quite a bit of bright light before the shutter speed is fast enough to ensure that the image is unlikely to be affected by camera-shake.

But when equipped with an image stabilizer, the flexibility of the camera is improved, and images can be captured, even at f5, at low shutter speeds. The image above, shot with the camera hand-held, is an example of this effect. The staircase and railings are imaged sharply, while people are more or less blurred, depending on how fast they were moving during the exposure.

In use, the DMC-LS1 is quite fast. The camera is ready to shoot in less than 3 seconds, including the time required to deploy the lens, has no serious shutter lag and a shot to shot time — depending on the ease with which the camera can autofocus on the subject — of less than 2 seconds.

Photos captured with the DMC-LS1 reveal that while the zoom may not offer a very bright aperture at the telephoto end, the lens is a good performer overall. Barrel distortion is extremely light at the wide end, and there is no noticeable pincushion distortion at the telephoto end. Likewise, chromatic aberration is quite well-controlled, and is normally undetectable unless a photo is magnified considerably on a monitor.

The LS1 provides a sensitivity range of 64 to 400 ISO.

At 64 ISO images show little noise, with the exception of deep shadows, which can sometimes contain a bit of noise. At 100 ISO images are likewise noise-free. But at 200 ISO, and more so at 400 ISO, even used outdoors and with the benefit of ample light, noise becomes detectable.

One combination of settings, however, can easily engender noise. When the camera is set to Auto ISO, the flash is used, and the zoom is at its maximum, the camera will often boost the sensitivity to its maximum of 400 ISO, and the image will show quite a bit of noise.

But, in all but the Simple mode, which uses automatic settings, that combination of factors is avoidable. The LS1 can yield good flash photos if the sensitivity is kept at 100 ISO to minimize noise, and the stabilizer is used set to Mode 2 which stabilizes the image as the shutter is released.

As are a number of other Panasonic cameras, the DMC-LS1 is equipped with only 2 image quality settings: Fine and Standard. The Fine level seems to apply, on average, a compression that has a ratio that ranges from 7:1 to 9:1. Set to that image quality, the LS1 turns out sharp and detailed images which are easily comparable to JPEG images that have sustained a lesser compression.

But, in view of the high image quality of the Fine JPEG format, it is regrettable that a very low compression, or even uncompressed, format, is not part of the LS1's features.

At this time, Panasonic is the only camera manufacturer to routinely provide optical image stabilization in their digital cameras, even with a competitively priced entry-level model such as the DMC-LS1. This, plus the fact that the image quality the camera yields is generally very good when used for standard outdoor photos, makes the DMC-LS1 a very appealing product.