The Panasonic DMC-LX1
has an 8.4 megapixel resolution, a 4X zoom and a 2.5 inch
LCD monitor, but more interestingly, it is also the first
camera in the world to use a 16:9 aspect ratio CCD, a format
compatible with HDTV.
With the exception of the plastic
cover door for the battery/card compartment and the top of
the pop-up flash, which have a metallic texture, the camera
is entirely clad in metal and shows excellent finishing.
Unusual for a compact, the LX1 has some of its selectors
mounted on the lens barrel itself. At the top of the lens
barrel, one selector, the Aspect Ratio Switch, serves
to select any one of the 3 image aspect ratios the
camera is able to produce:
4:3: is the conventional aspect ratio that is used
by most current digital cameras and which is common to standard
television and computer monitors.
3:2: is an aspect ratio that corresponds to most
popular printing formats ( 4 x 6 and 5 x 7), and which avoids
having to crop the image when it is printed.
16:9: is an aspect ratio that is the same as HDTV.
Each of these ratios allows capturing
images using different image sizes, and the selection for
the image size is made in the camera's capture menu. (See
the Characteristics section of the review for details.)
On the left side of the lens barrel, another selector, the
Focus Switch, is dedicated to the Focus Mode.
It has three settings:
AF: standard autofocus mode, which allows the camera
to focus over a range of 50 cm (1.64 ft) to infinity when
the zoom is at the wide angle end, and 120 cm (3.94 ft)
to infinity at maximum telephoto.
AF Macro: allows the camera to focus on a subject
as close as 5 cm (2 in.) when the zoom is a the widest angle,
and from 30 cm (1 ft) onwards when the zoom is at the telephoto
end.
MF: Manual Focus which offers the same broad focusing
range as the macro mode. The camera displays the focus distances
(in either meters or feet) on the right side of the monitor,
and magnifies the central portion of the image to help the
user focus.
Power
Switch and the button to choose the Optical Stabilizer
mode:
indicates that the stabilizer
is turned off, best used when the camera is already stable,
such as when it is mounted on a tripod.
Mode stabilizes the image
continuously, allowing the user to see a stabilized image
when framing the shot.
Mode 2, which offers better
overall stabilization than Mode 1, but which stabilizes
the image only at the moment of capture.
The Shutter Release and
the Zoom Control around it are next. The shutter release
is 2-stage, offering AE Lock and AF Lock when pressed and
held halfway, while the zoom control also works in Playback,
magnifying any part of an image in 3 steps up to 16X (4, 8,
16X) when pulled to the
side, and displaying thumbnails of captured images (9, or
16, or 25 images per screen) when pushed to the
side.
Next is the Mode Dial,
which has 9 positions:
Auto Mode is an entirely
automatic shooting mode, the user having only control
over the image size and quality, and the use of the digital
zoom.
Program AE lets the
camera select the aperture and shutter speed, but allows
the user to modify it with the joystick (see further)
by selecting another combination of aperture and shutter
speed that would result in a correctly exposed image.
Aperture Priority AE
offers control over the aperture (from f2.8 to f8 at the
wide angle end and f4.9 to f8 at the telephoto end) while
the camera matches it to a shutter speed.
Shutter Priority AE
provides a range that covers from 1/2000 second to 8 seconds
while the camera matches the selection to an aperture.
Manual Exposure Mode
provides control over both the shutter speed and the aperture,
and offers and enhanced range of the shutter speed that
has exposure times as long as 60 seconds.
Motion Picture Mode
allows capturing video clips with sound (mono). Two
image aspect ratios are available:
4:3 Aspect (compatible with traditional
televisions) captures video clips at VGA (640
x 480 pixels) or QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) at
either 30 frames per second or 10 frames per second.
16:9 Aspect (HDTV) captures a 848 x 480
pixel image at either 30 frames per second or 10 frames
per second.
During recording the zoom, focus and aperture are fixed
at the first frame. Also worth noting, the use of an
SD (Secure Digital) card is necessary.
The other capture modes, SCN1 and SCN2 are
separated from the others by the Playback mode.
These two mode dial settings
provide access to the LX1's 14 Scene Modes, allowing
a different mode to be set for each of these Mode Dial
positions. When the dial is turned to either of these
positions, a Scene selection menu is automatically displayed,
a default that can be changed in the Setup section of
the menu (see the Interface and Software section
of the review). The Scene menu offers the following
choices:
Portrait
Soft Skin
Sports
Candle Light
Food
Party
Scenery
Fireworks
Night Portrait
Snow
Night Scenery
Starry Sky
Baby
Self Portrait
The last button on top of the
LX1 is at the other end, on the left side of the camera, and
it serves to open the pop-up flash; and it is only when the
flash is open that the flash modes (see further) can
be selected.
The LX1's built-in flash has a range that starts at 60 cm
and extends to 4.1 m (from 1.97 to 13.5 ft) when the CCD sensitivity
is set to Auto.
All the other external controls
of the LX1 are on the back of the camera, on the right of
the 2.5 inch, 207,000 pixel monitor (there is no optical viewfinder).
At the top is a button labelled AF/AE Lock. By default
the button locks both exposure and focus, avoiding having
to hold the shutter release at mid-course to retain the shot
parameters while recomposing the image. Moreover, the Capture
menu (see the Characteristics section of the review)
allows reprogramming the button so that it locks either
the autofocus (AF-Lock), or the auto exposure (AE Lock), providing
greater flexibility than can be had with the shutter release
alone.
The next control, directly below,
is the Joystick. It serves to select the aperture and
shutter speed when the LX1 is set to P, S, A or M modes, to
adjust the focus point when the camera is set to Manual Focus,
and to flip through images in Playback.
In addition — and new on a Panasonic camera —
when the joystick is pressed straight in, vertically, for
more than one second, a new menu is displayed on the monitor
that allows making quick changes to white balance, ISO sensitivity,
image size and and type (see the Characteristics
section for more information about the image types available
on the LX1).
Next down is the 4-direction
control, composed of five distinct buttons: four arced
buttons forming a circle, and one at the centre labelled MENU
which display the menu that corresponds to the current mode.
Moreover, the four directional buttons that serve to navigate
menus and review photos support additional functions, as indicated
by icons:
The up arrow can
be used when the camera is set to P, S, A, M and with
some Scene modes, for:
Exposure Compensation (± 2 EV in
1/3 EV increments).
Performing Auto Bracketing, during which
the camera captures 3 frames sequentially, one at
the evaluated exposure, one underexposed by the selected
amount, and one overexposed, using a range of ±
1 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
adjusting the white balance when it is set to a
setting other than Auto, making it possible
to push the white balance gently towards red or blue
using a range of 10 steps in either direction.
And, when the camera is set to the Auto shooting
mode, the button activates the Backlight option
which automatically applies exposure compensation to
capture a backlit subject.
The right arrow serves
to select the Flash mode, but only if it has
been manually opened: Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction,
Forced On, Slow Sync. with Red-eye Reduction.
The down arrow starts
the Review mode, which displays the last captured
image for 10 seconds. And in this mode, while it is
possible to magnify an image up to 8X, the Playback
menu cannot be accessed.
And the left arrow
starts the Self-timer with a 10-second delay
with the first press and a 2-second timer when pressed
a second time.
The two last buttons are beneath the 4-direction control,
each having a dual role:
In the capture modes
the button on the right starts one of three Burst
modes:
High Speed captures
5 images at the highest JPEG image quality and the
highest resolution at 3 frames per second.
Low Speed captures
5 images at the highest JPEG image quality and the
highest resolution at 2 frames per second.
Unlimited captures
JPEG images at 2 frames per second for as
long as there is space on the memory card.
Set to the Playback or
the Review modes, the button serves to delete images,
either one at a time, or those that were selected using
the Index (thumbnail) view.
The left side button controls the way information is displayed
on the monitor, and the brightness of the backlight:
With the LX1 set to a capture mode, the default
presentation shows the image coming from the lens with
the shooting mode used superimposed on the top left
of the screen, the flash mode and the stabilizer setting,
then on the right the sensitivity, image size, aspect
ratio, compression, battery state, and the brackets
indicating the AF area.
Pressing the button once adds a histogram.
A second press of the button removes all information
from the screen with the exception of the AF brackets
and adds a composition grid. A third press of the button
clears everything off the screen, with the exception
of the AF brackets.
Set to the Playback mode, the image is presented
with its resolution, aspect ratio, compression, battery
state, file name, position within all the images on
the card, and the capture date and time superimposed.
A first press of the button adds the image's histogram,
and the capture mode, aperture, shutter speed, ISO setting,
flash mode, white balance, and date and time of capture
for the image.
A third press of the button
clears the screen of all information.
Whatever the mode, holding
down the button for more than one second increases the
intensity of the monitor's backlight, improving its legibility
outdoors. While pressing it again returns it to its normal
brightness.
By the introduction of the DMC-LX1
Panasonic continues the integration and development of the
16:9 aspect format in digital cameras, a trend that has started
to appear in the products of other manufacturers. This creates
a camera that is interesting to use, as it offers new possibilities
for framing images.
Ergonomically, the LX1's joystick takes a bit of effort to
operate, but it soon becomes practical and turns out to be
very effective.
Introduction
side, and displaying thumbnails of captured images (9, or
16, or 25 images per screen) when pushed to the 
side.
