Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 Hands-on Preview

July 2012 | By Andy Westlake

Preview based on a pre-production DMC-LX7

It's now four years since Panasonic almost single-handedly revived the enthusiast compact sector with the release of the Lumix DMC-LX3. With its fast wideangle zoom lens, relatively large sensor, and extensive manual control, it revitalized a moribund sector and sparked the release of a slew of competitors from the likes of Canon, Samsung and Olympus. These days every manufacturer worth its salt offers a fully-specced compact designed as a portable alternative for SLR users.

The DMC-LX5, released two years after the LX3, offered an extended zoom range and revised controls, but was always going to struggle to make quite the same impact against the increased competition. A perfectly attractive camera in its own right, it was caught in a slightly-uncomfortable middle ground between the pocketability of the Canon Powershot S95 and the versatility of the faster-lensed Olympus XZ-1, while arguably lacking a single key selling point of its own relative to its contemporaries.

With the launch of the DMC-LX7, Panasonic will be hoping to regain lost ground, and the route it has chosen is to retain the same form-factor but add the fastest lens we've yet seen on a compact camera. Its 24-90mm equivalent optic has an aperture range of F1.4-2.3, surpassing the recently-released Samsung EX2F's 24-80mm equivalent F1.4-2.7 at the long end. To make the most of the fast lens, Panasonic has added an aperture ring around the lens barrel, alongside a 3-stop neutral density filter that has its own external control point. The lens also employs Panasonic's Nano Surface Coating to reduce flare and ghosting.

The LX7 gets a new sensor, a 'High Sensitivity MOS' design that's slightly smaller than the LX5's CCD (1/1.7" type vs 1/1.63", or roughly 80% of the area). As before this offers multiple aspect ratios - 16:9, 3:2, 4:3 - that use different crops from the overall sensor area to give the same diagonal angle of view. These are easily selected using a switch on the top of the lens, which also has a 1:1 position that's effectively cropped-down from the 4:3 frame. Continuous shooting specs are impressively high; 11 fps at full resolution with focus and exposure fixed, or 5 fps with tracking AF, compared to the LX5's 2.5 fps.

The MOS sensor enables a dramatically-improved video specification, with the LX7 capable of recording Full HD video in either the AVCHD Progressive or MP4 formats. Frame rates depend on your region - the European model records AVCHD at 50 fps and MP4 at 25fps, while the US model runs at 60 fps and 30 fps respectively. The lens can zoom and refocus during recording too. Sound is provided by a stereo microphone that's squeezed onto the top plate in front of the hot-shoe; behind this on the back of the camera is a port for the DMW-LVF2 electronic viewfinder (as used by the Lumix G DMC-GX1). With a 1,440K dot-equivalent resolution, this is a far superior unit to the LX5's LVF1.

Beyond this the LX7 offers a number of additional improvements, including a dual-axis onscreen electronic level, time lapse shooting, and Panasonic's image-processing 'Creative Controls'. The screen is higher resolution, with an anti-reflective coating; surprisingly, though, it's not touch sensitive, unlike those on Panasonic's Lumix G Micro Four Thirds models and its latest TZ-series travelzooms. Overall, though, the LX7 looks like a very solid update to LX5.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 key features

Fast F1.4 - F2.3, 24-90mm equivalent lens
Built-in 3 stop neutral density filter
10.1 MP multi-aspect ratio 'High Sensitivity MOS' sensor (1/1.7"-type, 12.7 MP total)
ISO 80-12800
Aperture ring around lens barrel, combined ND/manual focus control on rear
11 fps continuous shooting, 5 fps with AF tracking
920K dots 3" screen with Anti-Reflective coating
Full HD 60p/50p video, built-in stereo microphones
Port for DMW-LVF2 accessory electronic viewfinder

Multiple aspect ratio sensor

Like the LX5 and the Micro Four Thirds Lumix G DMC-GH2 (and the LX3 and GH1 before them), the LX7 uses a multi-aspect ratio sensor. It's slightly 'oversized', meaning that at any given aspect ratio the camera only uses a crop from the total available sensor area. It's designated as a '1/1.7" type' sensor, which means that at 4:3 the active area is about the same as a conventional 1/1.8" type.

4:3	3:2	16:9	1:1

At first sight this approach may seem strange, but the result is that the lens offers the same diagonal angle of view regardless of the selected aspect ratio (apart from 1:1), making it much easier to get a feel for the behavior of the lens. It also means you make the most of the sensor area, getting similar pixel counts in all modes.

Sensor sizes compared

To put the LX7's slightly-smaller sensor in perspective, here it is compared in size to those found in some other enthusiast compact cameras. It's substantially smaller than the 1" sensor Sony has used in its DSC-RX100, or indeed the Fujifilm X10's 2/3" EXR-CMOS. But it's only fractionally smaller than the LX5's CCD, and the difference is more-than-made-up by the LX7's stop-faster lens.

The LX7's 1/1.7"-type sensor is smaller than the LX5's 1/1.63"-type, but not by very much. (Note that the Olympus XZ-1 and the Samsung EX-2F both use a similar sensor area to the LX5's 4:3 crop.)

Enthusiast compacts: lenses, sensors and background blur

The table below compares the LX7's lens specifications and sensor size against its predecessor and a number of other enthusiast-orientated compact cameras. Along with the familiar 35mm-equivalent focal length, we've also included a 35mm-equivalent aperture range, which gives some idea of the control over depth of field offered by each camera's lens.

	Sensor area, mm² (dimensions)	Focal length range	Focal length range (equiv.)	Aperture range	Aperture range (equiv.)*	Dimensions, mm
Panasonic DMC-LX7	34** (6.7x5.1)	4.7-17.7mm	24-90mm	F1.4-2.3	F7.1-11.7	111x76x46
Panasonic DMC-LX5	41** (7.4x5.6)	5.1-19.2mm	24-90mm	F2.0-3.3	F9.4-15.5	110x66x43
Samsung EX2F	41 (7.4x5.6)	5.2-17.2mm	24-80mm	F1.4-2.7	F6.5-12.5	112x62x45
Sony DSC-RX100	116 (13.2x8.8)	10-37mm	28-100mm	F1.8-4.9	F4.9-13.4	101x58x36
Olympus XZ-1	41*** (7.4x5.6)	6.0-24mm	28-112mm	F1.8-2.5	F8.5-11.8	111x65x42
Fujifilm X10	58 (8.8x6.6)	7.1-28mm	28-112mm	F2.0-2.8	F7.9-11	117x70x57
Canon S100	41 (7.4x5.6)	5.2-26mm	24-120mm	F2.0-5.9	F9.3-27.4	99x60x27

* Equivalent aperture, in 135 film terms - this gives an idea of the depth of field control offered by the lenses when the sensor size is taken into account.
** Figure based on 4:3 aspect ratio mode
*** Figure takes into account that the XZ-1 uses a crop from a 1/1.63" sensor.

Photographers tend to be interested in how well a lens can blur backgrounds when shooting portraits at full telephoto, and in this regard the LX7's 17.7mm F2.3 will behave much like a 90mm F11.7 lens on a full frame camera. This places it a little behind the likes of the Olympus XZ-1 and Fujifilm X10, because these cameras offer longer telephoto ends, but noticeably ahead of the LX5. One point of interest here is that the Sony RX100's larger sensor offers no practical advantage in this respect, because of its lens's F4.9 telephoto end. Interestingly the LX7 should also behave very similarly to a typical Micro Four Thirds 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 kit zoom for its ability to blur backgrounds.

The equivalent apertures also give a rough idea of how the cameras might compare in low light; to a degree they indicate how far a larger sensor should be offset by a faster lens. Obviously this isn't the whole story; the characteristics of the individual sensors matters too, as does the quality of in-camera processing for JPEG shooters. But in principle the LX7 should compare favourably to its competitors in this regard.

Size compared to the Fujifilm X10, Olympus XZ-1 and Canon Powershot S100

Here we're showing the LX7 side-by-side with some of its most-obvious competitors, and trying to give an idea of their relative sizes with the lenses retracted for carrying. In this company the Fujifilm X10 is the biggest camera, but it does have the largest sensor, a mechanical zoom ring and an optical viewfinder. The Olympus XZ-1 is almost exactly the same size as the LX7, with the main difference being its longer but less-wide 28-112mm equivalent lens. Meanwhile the Canon Powershot S100 is the smallest of all here, but offers no hot shoe or external viewfinder option and has the slowest (but widest-range) lens.

Left to right: Fujifilm X10, Olympus XZ-1, Panasonic Lumix DMX-LX7, Canon Powershot S100.

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

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Comments

Total comments: 177

Basically Panasonic is the first manufacturer to figure it out. Even with the much larger sensor of the DSC-RX100 the shallowest 35mm equivalent aperture is F4.9.

None of these cameras will produce a shallow depth of field shot. So why not just make the sensor a little smaller and the the F number a lot better.

They finally got it right. Shallow depth of field is not important for these cameras. Low light performance is. They have a winner on their hands in that respect.

If only we could convince the novice user of this fact since they will need to be the ones buying this camera for it to be a success.

10 upvotes

mpgxsvcd wrote:
> Shallow depth of field is not important for these cameras. Low light performance is.

By your logic, there is more reason to go with bigger sensor.
Bigger sensor would definitely improve your low light performance.

2 upvotes

"By your logic, there is more reason to go with bigger sensor.
Bigger sensor would definitely improve your low light performance."

not above gaining more actual exposure.

It would be great if they would just make a larger version of the lens for a larger sensor version. Then they would have both in a jacket pocketable package.

0 upvotes

> Shallow depth of field is not important for these cameras. Low light performance is.

there is a problem that no one can separate the two. they are phycically linked together that no one, not even the god, can break the basic law of optics.

0 upvotes

Like the other replies.
Sensor size and lens aperature are intertwined together resulting in a certain DOF and low light performance.
The LX7 improved on the LX5's low light performance but is only on par with the competition.
With the latest Sammy, Oly and Canon premium compact cameras, the LX7 is just so-so.

1 upvote

> None of these cameras will produce a shallow depth of field shot.

Well, that's not true. All of them will. Don't forget that focus *distance* is also important. If you can get close to your subject, with the widest aperture (even at the widest focal length) you'll get the background blurred. There are plenty of examples on the web for the RX100 that show that.

0 upvotes

You can get shallow depth of field on the long end, if the lens is long enough and fast enough.

For example, the XZ-1 @ 112mm f/2.5 will give you 1.6ft DOF from 10ft away. That's pretty good.

On these small sensor zooms, the key is that the lens go to 112mm and be f/2.5 or faster. The LX7 lens is crazy fast, but not long enough to match the XZ-1.

Really looking forward to seeing what Olympus does with the XZ-2. :-)

0 upvotes

look at woman portrait at iso125....i've been having waaay sharper and noise free results from my 1,5year old XZ-1...i'm not a fan of any brand but LX7 sensor is already outdated many years ago...i was expecting much better sensor on LX7 ....

2 upvotes

interesting, while LX3 and LX5 has leica vario summicron lens, LX7 attached with leica vario summilux? any idea???

0 upvotes

Summilux = larger aperture.
It's just a name, just like Leica, it's just a name, nothing spectacular.

0 upvotes

by marking as summilux, effectively Pana say they want more money but the real cost is no more than the ink plus some license fee to Leica who have virtually no knowledge about the lens, or how to design and make a morden lens.

some Japanese companies use Leica or Zeiss brands. they are third-class makers who don't have confidence in their own brands but third-class Japanese makers are still better than the best you can find elsewhere in the world, including Leica and Zeiss of course, who were defeated and lost the world market to Japanese near half a century ago.

Comment edited 4 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

"Built-in 3 stop neutral density filter" Intriguing. Tell me more.

2 upvotes

The Samsung EX2f has the same, and it is so you can shoot at f/1.4 in bright light. On an SLR you can use an ND filter if you are shooting with flash out doors to make sure you are in your flash sync range, but that shouldn't be a problem with a leaf shutter that can sync at higher speeds.

1 upvote

The neutral density filter is extremely important in shooting videos outdoors. It allows using lower shutter speed so that actions look fluid. On the old LX5, high shutter speeds were forced because of such bright lens, making videos look choppy.

Flash sync is less of a problem. If the LX7 is anything like the LX5, it will be able to sync very high, because of the electronic shutter. I have tried up to 1/2000s, although the picture gets dimmer from around 1/800s. I'm guessing the flash burst duration was around 1/800s.

0 upvotes

How does the ND filter work? Is there a physical filter hat is moved into place inside the camera, or is it done electronically by adjusting the sensor sensitivity somehow?

0 upvotes

It's a real physical sensor in the lens path. If it were electronically done, it would be called a lower ISO value, or Low1, Low2, etc. Note that this is not a new technology. Other compacts had ND filters built-in before.

0 upvotes

Everyone complaining about the smaller sensor in the LX-7 over the LX-5 does realize that it is insignificantly smaller, right? It isn't like Full frame vs. APS-C. Neither of these cameras are going to give you incredibly shallow depth of field.

However, the LX-7 will give you incredibly good low light performance at wide angle with that F1.4 lens.

3 upvotes

You'Re right but at the same time it's now only marginally larger than the usual 1/2,3 sensors.
Aner 10MP are, well, Nikon did it with their 1-system but Sony came and showed that 20MP could be as clean as 10.
So small sensor plus relatively low MP count may be a hard sell.

0 upvotes

That's true, but everyone incl me was hoping the LX7 would have larger sensor like a 2/3" one.
So tho it's only slightly smaller than the LX5, it's completely opposite and significantly off from what most were expecting.

0 upvotes

The statement about the LX7 lens being faster than the XZ-1 is not accurate.

The XZ-1 starts at F1.8@28mm (effective), reaches F2@60mm and by 90mm it's at F2.2.
The LX7 starts faster F1.4@24mm and reaches F2.3@90mm.
I don't know how fast it loses the F1.4.

Anyway this is really splitting hairs - Both cameras are much the same lens speed.

Regarding the much talked about Sony RX-100 - the lack of a hotshoe is a real deal killer imho. External flash bounced off the ceiling yields much cleaner, nicer, higher quality images(you can stay at ISO 100) allows much faster shooting, freezing kids running indoors.
This holds true regardless of your system (be it an LX7, CSC camera or the best DSLR).
I wrote a post about it in the past.
Google "xz-1 + yinyan cy20 = fun" and you'll see what I mean.

And another point - I wish people stop comparing the S100/RX100 to the XZ-1/LX7 cameras. The slow lens @ tele renders the S100 et al as very slow lensed cameras (with no external flash to compensate)

Comment edited 4 minutes after posting

3 upvotes

External flash is relatively unimportant to me, as the whole point of these cameras are being pocketable and take everywhere. And external flash is the last thing I would take everywhere.

In situations where I would want to use external flash or bounce flash, I might as well bring my camera bag with my DSLR or mirrorless cameras.

Shallow DOF is not only useful at the tele end or portrait.
For RX100, you get F3.5 at 53mm and F4 at 66mm

5 upvotes

Read my post about the Yinyan CY20 - it's very small and lightweight and actually gives a much better grip to the camera once mounted (more to hold). The combination of X-Z1+CY20 flash is W-A-Y smaller than your dslr kit (and CSC as well. I know - I had a D7000 and have an E-PL1).
I too liked the idea of having a small package but the truth is you'll always be getting muted colored shots at 1/50 sec or slower (unless you up the ISO which introduces noise) with motion blur.
The small flash I mentioned allows your to shoot at 1/200 upto 1/2000 with live vibrant colors (at ISO 100!) and no movement smearing.
You'll notice I wrote speeds of 1/2000 sec. You'll never be able to do this on your DSLR or mirrorless kit because anything above 1/320 or so is too fast for the mirror movement and you'll get a black area in your photo (which grows larger as the speed grows even higher).

Try it - you'll be surprised what difference it makes :-)

0 upvotes

I have the Sony RX-100 and you can bounce the flash.

It is flexible and with your left index finger you can easy bend it backward and the flash bounce. If you increase flash compensation to +2 it works really good. I use it all the time.
(similar flash to NEX-7)

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 60 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

To nosnoop:
You would rather take your DSLR (preferably FF) for really shallow depth of field or portraits...

0 upvotes

A unique feature of the Olympus XZ-1 that almost nobody notices (neither the competition) is the wireless TTL flash control. You can use a compact unit (like the fl600r) in one hand and shoot with the xz1 with another.
You get a balanced system, and the creative possibilities it provides is astonishing, for its size.

1 upvote

Guys, it's f1.4-2.3 ! ISO400 is completely clean (cleaner than larger LX5). You think you need more ?

2 upvotes

That´s what I keep saying all the time. According to my experience with EX1 (f1,8) there was rarely a need to put higher ISO than 800. And f1,4 is even 2/3 stops better.
P.S. vidím, že si aktívny na viacerých fórach.

Comment edited 24 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Built-in time-lapse? FINALLY! Someone other than Nikon pulls their head out of their ass. Wait: The article says it has time-lapse, but the specs say "no."

And hopefully they don't mean a useless time-lapse function in the camera's video mode.

If they reduced the size of the sensor, they should've reduced the pixel count. Give us a CLEAN 6 or 8 MP instead of noise-riddled crap.

Comment edited 5 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Ricoh has had timeplaplse for quite some years by now. As a standard feature in their compact cameras.

0 upvotes

Comment edited 5 times, last edit 6 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

http://tda.panasonic-europe-service.com/docs/2z5025ff1dz3z3721cz656ez706466z22z805bba42b81158ecd6cdcc1b474b86ecc6ab9739/tsn2/data/ALL/DMCLX7EG/OI/893703/vqt4j15.pdf

Comment edited 4 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/...-LX7/Manuals/10148945/index.html?trackInfo=true

0 upvotes

Everything looks great on paper, except for the sensor size. This has put a dampener on it for me, at least until we get to see what noise looks like at high ISO.
If it's equivalent to the competition (mainly RX-100 and EX2F), then my LX3 will have found its successor!

Comment edited 6 minutes after posting

1 upvote

Why would you need high ISO with such a fast lens ?

0 upvotes

On this puny sensor, the noise will look like ass.

1 upvote

Seems like it has as much light as the Sony at the long end. I like it. I'm pretty impressed.

1 upvote

So 1/1.7 is puny but 1/1.63 is not?

2 upvotes

They are both micro sensors but going from 1/1.63 to 1/1.7 is a step backwards. We should be heading in the opposite direction no matter how small a step (so as not to encroach on MFT space).

0 upvotes

See image P1000389 showing better bokeh than LX5.

0 upvotes

Images does not show nicer DOF than before. There is no low light fotos to see benefit of F 1,4.

I feel a bit doubt that, is that a good strategy now? everyone highers their sensor size, Panasonic making it smaller !

1 upvote

To make lens the faster ?

0 upvotes

I feel that Panasonic are treading water here and falling behind. LX5 was only marginally better than LX3 when it came to Video. LX3 seemed to do better overall with still photography. On paper I'm not convinced that the LX7 will be better than either LX5 or LX3. Sure it has faster lens but has taken step back with smaller sensor. It remains to be seen whether the other aspects of the camera such as any lens coatings and ND filter help of hinder it in any way. As it stands on paper I do not think I will be replacing my LX5 with an LX7 and may be jumping ship elsewhere or just concentrating my priority now to get a dSLR and really good lens.

0 upvotes

Total comments: 177