Early this year I bought myself a belated Christmas gift. It was a Panasonic Lumix LX7 (or LX7 for short). I've used it quite a bit since, and I can say I am extremely happy with its performance. Here now is a very unofficial review.
Please take note that I have barely scratched the surface of its features. I prefer either shooting in intelligent Auto (iA) or Aperture priority (A) and not fiddling around with anything else.
First off, let's check out the aesthetics. It looks great, it's white (because the shop that sold it had no stock of black, though I don't mind), it's easy to carry around and the buttons and knobs are easy to reach. It doesn't feel flimsy or fragile, but I have no desire to put its durability to the test.
There's also a switch on the lens that allows you to choose the aspect ratio of your pictures, from 1:1 all the way to 16:9. I usually just switch between those two, but for those interested, you can still have 2:3 and 4:3 aspect ratios.
Second, the performance in iA. The images are clear, crisp, and beautiful. Autofocus is fast, and so far I have no complaints about how fast it takes pictures. Macro is also decent, and the "analog" zoom (because I forgot the actual term) is also nice. I don't really need digital zooms so 3X magnification is just right for the type of shots I take.
Third, the Aperture priority performance. It's almost similar to iA, except digital zoom doesn't work here. I think. I prefer using this setting since this is the usual setting I used when I was still using my DSLR. I just need to read the manual to figure out how to use the manual focus. The picture below was shot in Cebu using Aperture priority. I have resized this image to a smaller size from the original image.
Fourth, the SCN mode. This I just discovered this weekend while quickly skimming through the manual. Specifically the panoramic shot. I love it. You have four options, left to right, right to left, down-up, and up-down. No need to take a shot, twist your body, try to get good synch with the previous photo, and keep repeating. You just have to pan or tilt the camera and the camera does the stitching for you. Really amazing, and you can still fix exposure and white balance levels before taking the shot. Here's a sample of the panoramic down-up shot, taken in Tagaytay. I have resized the image to a smaller size.
Fifth, image playback on the LCD. Images are crisp, the LCD has a decent size so you can clearly see the images and words.
Sixth, user-friendliness. It's pretty decent to figure out the controls without using the manual if you're a camera buff. But there are still a lot of features you probably will miss or improperly utilize if you don't read the manual. Don't be like me. Read the manual.
Seventh, video quality. Full HD 1080 videos, little to no pixellating, and great quality audio. Perfect for taking home videos of precious memories I want to remember. It sounds cheesy, but it's true. Below is a sample video I took of a plane landing. Of course I've edited the resolution so I could upload it to youtube, but the quality is still great.
Finally, my conclusion. This camera is worth every single peso I paid for it. I am glad I bought it, and I already have plans to buy a filter adapter for the lens and a PL filter to improve my landscape shots.
My biggest "beef" with the camera is the lack of a manual focus ring. That's the only thing I miss from my DSLR days - the ability to control the focus with the twist of a ring. The manual focus controls are a bit slow, but I rarely use it with the good autofocus.
The three biggest threats my LX7 has right now, if I had the money to get another camera similar to it, are the Olympus XZ-2, Fujifilm X20, and the Canon G15 in that order. The XZ-2 because it HAS a manual focus ring feature. The X20 because of the neat looks and the built-in viewfinder. The G15 because I still have a Canon flash that I can mount on that camera.
Fortunately, I don't have spare cash to get a new camera. AND more importantly, I am very pleased with the LX7.
Definitely a buy.
Out.
