A little over a week ago, Margaret got me a Panasonic LX3 for my birthday, and I have yet to put it down. It is one sweet little camera. I basically have all the good things about my Nikon D300 in a tiny package. Sure, it’s got a much smaller sensor, it’s not nearly as fast to operate, and I can’t change lenses, but for the vast majority of my day-to-day shots, it’s the perfect camera.
Why do I like it so much? Let’s see…
- 24-60 mm f/2.0-2.8 Leica lens: That’s my normal shooting range, and the fast aperture allows me to get shallow depth of field and shoot in lower light.
- RAW files: Post-processing joy!
- Manual exposure, manual focus, custom white balance: It’s all about control.
- Hotshoe: I can use my wireless flash triggers for off-camera lighting.
- Small: It’s not jean-pocket tiny, but it also doesn’t put any strain on my back/neck/shoulders like a full DSLR kit with 5 lenses.
- Quiet: No mirror slap, pretty much silent.
- Great image quality: I’m not a pixel-peeper, but I have been extremely happy with all of the images I’ve been getting from this camera. Shooting in RAW probably helps a lot.
- It was a birthday present from Margaret. :)
Here are a few shots I’ve taken with the LX3 from the past few days. Yes, there’s some degree of post-processing in everything, but, really, when is there not any PP? ;)
Macro food shot (my birthday breakfast):
Wide-angle, bright sunlight (that’s a kite surfer in the background on the left):
Backlit with a bit of post for color (from the Fremont Zombie Walk):
Off-camera lighting with an Orbis Ring Flash, Cactus V4 triggers, and high-speed sync (Margaret being cute):
Studio-style shot with a softbox umbrella and Pocket Wizards (another selfie):
Despite the fact that I have a smaller, more “limited” camera compared to my D300, I haven’t really changed how I take photos. I’m just using a smaller camera that’s easier to carry around. It is a bit odd composing on an LCD screen instead of using a viewfinder though. I’m still getting used to that. ;)
Congratulations and a belated Happy Birthday. What a perfect gift. One of these days we are going to be looking to upgrade the P&S camera we have. You’re right. It’s not always handy to carry the DSLR such as on bike rides, etc. Lumix is GOOD STUFF, Have fun with it.