Panasonic's Lumix DMC-LX1 wide-angle compact
By Ryan Block 
posted July 20th 2005 9:20AM
posted July 20th 2005 9:20AM
It's little enough at 4.2 x 2.2 x 1-inches (106 x 56 x 26-mm), shoots at an impressive 8.4 megapixels, has a 4x optical zoom (finally!), Leica lens, and a huge 2.5-inch screen on its posterior, but perhaps what sets Panasonic's new Lumix DMC-LX1 apart from the rest is its 16:9 wide-angle CCD and options to shoot in 4:3, 3:2, or the highly coveted 16:9. We don't even want to know how much it's going to cost. Alright, fine, tell us. Oh, £450. That's about $780 US. Sigh.
Great idea for the widescreen support, but the price, ouch!
Sure, first thing this morning you guys do is post something like this to make me drool.. Thanks. I even wore a clean shirt today.
yeah, but how fast is the autofocus and shutter lag? More and more megapixels in the same image sensor size just means noisier images. Yeah, the other stuff is nice, but the real innovation in point-and-shoots will be when they finally have the speedy performance of a high-end SLR.
Considering how they reportedly quadrupled their previous autofocus speed with the new FZ-30, my guess is this LX1 will be very fast.
Widescreen though? Anyone else realize how this might be an annoyance when it comes to framing pictures, putting them on your desktop, taking portrait shots, or just taking a normal photograph? The aspect selector chops off the sides of the picture.
All this "widescreen" mode is doing is cropping your photos. It's no different than the panorama modes offered on 35mm film cameras. It's a worthless gimmick.
8.4mp on a tiny sensor like this? Good luck with that, Panasonic.
Not saying this will be a bad camera but it probably won't be any better than most 5mp models, with or without a "widescreen" mode, and it looks like it's set to cost a whole lot more.
#5, how is the "Industry’s first 16:9 aspect CCD" a worthless gimmick? it's definitely NOT like the "panorama modes offered on 35mm film cameras." why don't you read the the post (as well as the link) before you start comparing it to a 35mm panorama point and shoot.
The size, large LCD, MP count, and zoom are very impressive, but the price isn't. Stick with the Canon Powershot S70 - your other wide-angle buddy.
Correction, Jeff. The widescreen mode is the only one that is NOT cropped. Every other aspect ratio is though (and therefore they do not achieve the 28mm wide-angle rating). This camera has a weird 16:9 sensor.
what's so good about 16:10 ratio on your photos? what, put your pictures on your 1080i HDTV or WXGA laptop? and the D70 has been shooting at 3:2 for a while now; which is almost the 16:10.
Compact + 28mm + Widescreen??? Man, if this takes even halfway descent pictures (and has a nice movie mode), this is my new camera!
The camera uses 1/1.65" CCD. So no, the CCD is bigger to compensate for the increased number of megapixels. A typical CCD size for a 5MP is 1/2.5".
Not $780 online, preorder for $599
http://www.centraldigital.com/product/?9780
Don't knock it until you've actually tried it! And i mean taken pictures with it and printed them.
This camera looks like an advance in compact digital cameras and all should welcome that. I bet other manufacturers will be eyeing this one. Ax
This looks like a quality compact (metal body) with a useful wide zoom 28-112,Mega OIS, 8.4Mp. test shots at dcresource show this lens has virtually no CA in contrast light situations. Probably on specs the LX-1 will go up against the new Fuji Finepix E900 of almost the same size and weight, probably plastic body, with 9 Mp, 32-132 zoom, AA batteries, optical finder, 80-800ISO on a 1/1.6 CCD. If the Fuji E550 performance is anything to go by, the E900 will be a resolution leap for compacts.
My impression is that Lumix is going for quality in lens & body build (and priced accordingly) while Fuji will go for lower price and volume sales. Optical performance may well be similar but which one will you actually prefer to own....can't wait to try them both out!
I can't wait for this thing to come out! If only it had a little more optical zoom.
Fantastic a manufacturer is attempting something outside 4:3 and 3:2 with the CCD. Can't wait until a larger panoramic CCD hits the market - even at a much higher price - that will challenge the professional panoramic cameras still locked in with film!
Just got it today for $600 at J&R. Llllllovin' it! Aside from the features mentioned above, it also has tons of manual options, a very cool pop-up flash, and top-notch build quality.
This camera is every thing it clams to be. The Leica lens is worthy of it’s
name. The only fault I find with it is a noise level high enough to render
all but the slowest speed (80) useable for prints larger than 5 x 7.
The cameras internal program to deal with this is inadequate.
Despite this flaw I like and use this camera.