The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is an improvement over the LX3 from two years ago. How they managed to squeeze more improvements into what was already a nearly perfect design is quite a wonder. That camera had a cult following. The LX5 Panasonic digital camera, review writeups such as this one will tell you, is a worthy replacement for the original.
The LX5 is designed to offer you SLR quality in a point-and-shoot camera. It is intended for the professional photographer who doesn’t want to work hard for his photographs all the time. Alternatively, it’s a camera for the amateur photographer who wants to shoot professional quality pictures. The LX5 offers excellent image stabilization, and you’ll find that you can get fantastic crispness at speeds of even 1/10 of a second. The autofocus and the autofocus tracking are tremendously fleet footed, and the sensor works perfectly. For those who wish to have their camera make their decisions for them, the intelligent lowlight shooting capabilities of this camera at ISO 1600 is pretty good. Anything higher than that though, and you’ll find that you have to overlook a lot of graininess and other artifacts.
A Panasonic digital camera review is typically reduced to scraping the barrel for something negative to say. Let’s try with the Lumix DMC-LX5, shall we? To begin with, the camera doesn’t come with a built-in lens cover. In a high-tech digital camera, to have to deal with a dangling cap, is hardly appropriate. The camera is meant for photographers who like to take it out when they travel. To make an action camera and to not make it weather-proof, protected against splashes or sand, doesn’t seem to make much sense.