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| Panasonic Lumix LX10 |
Concept
For many years photographers have wanted big camera picture quality in a small camera body. They can have it but there are two caveats. First ‘full frame’ digital compacts have a fixed focal length lens, no zoom. Second the few models of this type which exist are very expensive. For instance in Australia the retail price of a Sony RX1R(2) is $5275 and the not-very-compact Leica Q is $6289. Ouch.
But there is another type of camera with a smaller sensor, a much more consumer friendly price tag and picture quality good enough for most enthusiast photographers requirements.
There is a growing group of them on the market at the present time. There are the Sony RX 100 original and Mk 2, 3, 4 and 5 versions, Canon G5X, G7X in two versions and G9X, Panasonic TZ100/110 and most recently the Panasonic LX10. All these cameras use one or other version of the Sony ‘one inch’ sensor.
The LX10 competes most directly on price and features with the Canon G7X (versions 1 and 2).
These models have a touch screen but no EVF whereas the Sony RX100 (from Mk 3 up) models have a built in pop-up EVF but no touch screen. The Sony models are also considerably more expensive.
History
The LX10 is the sixth enthusiast compact released by Panasonic with the LX prefix. The line began with the LX1 of 2005. Panasonic sought to differentiate the LX series from the Canon G compacts and equivalent Nikon models with smaller size, multi aspect ratio sensor and wider aperture lens of good quality. The LX1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 each utilised a sensor having a diagonal measurement of approximately 9.3mm.
None of the series has featured a built in EVF but several including the LX7 could be fitted with an accessory EVF slotting into the hotshoe.
The LX10 uses a much larger sensor measuring 15.9mm on the diagonal with 2.76 times the area of the previous generation sensor. This enables much improved picture quality.
Despite the larger sensor the LX10 is actually smaller than the LX7 in every dimension. Both have a lens aperture of f1.4 at the wide end of the zoom.
This has been made possible by advances in aspheric lens technology allowing the overall size of a lens to be reduced while retaining high optical quality.
Target user group
The LX series has always targeted enthusiast photographers who want high quality pictures without the size and mass of an ILC.
Features and specifications
Although very small, the LX10 has twin dial operation, swing up touch screen, plenty of controls for the enthusiast user and a wide aperture lens for low light work. It also has an Aperture Ring on the lens. This feature first appeared on the LX7 of 2012 for reasons not stated by Panasonic. The actual design of the Aperture Ring on the LX7 is better than that on the LX10 in having serrations around the entire circumference of the ring. The LX10 just has two raised lands with serrations making the ring more difficult to operate particularly when switching from landscape to portrait orientation.
Otherwise the LX10 has most of the features of a current model Panasonic camera including DFD AF, 4K video and auto panorama.
You can read all the details elsewhere.
Picture quality
The lens on the LX10 is quite ambitious with a 3x zoom starting at f1.4 at the wide end, but dropping quickly to f2.5 at (focal length equivalent) 28mm and f2.8 at 30 mm and thereafter.
On testing my LX10, which I bought and paid for, I found the lens to be extremely sharp in the central area of the frame at all focal lengths and apertures. Edge sharpness was less consistent being good at the widest aperture at each focal length but dropping somewhat with the lens stopped down a little then recovering by about f5.6.
I found highlight and shadow detail very good, better than the Sony RX100(4) which I tested alongside the LX10. I also found the Panasonic to make exposures to protect highlights more effectively than the Sony in conditions with high subject brightness range.
I also preferred the Panasonic JPG rendition to that of the Sony which was often rather cool and lacking a little in color saturation.
At ISO 6400 the RX100(4) had about 0.7 stops less luminance noise than the LX10. As the two cameras use the same or very similar Sony sensor it would appear that Panasonic has emphasised highlight and shadow detail in the processor while Sony favours noise reduction. The difference is observable with matched subjects and conditions in both JPG and RAW files but I doubt it would be noticeable in general photography.
Performance
The LX10 responds very quickly to user inputs in all modalities of use. It focusses very quickly and operates very quickly even with RAW+JPG capture.
The position of the active AF area can be moved very quickly with the touch screen.
I tested follow focus ability in AF continuous and Burst M on a subject walking towards the camera from 5 meters to 1 meter. I found that the DFD AF works very well giving over 90% of frames very sharply in focus. The LX10 is very much more capable than the RX100(4) on this test. Sony’s answer to this is the RX100(5) but that is a much more expensive proposition.
Ergonomics
This is the weakest aspect of the LX10. There is no proper handle and none is available from Panasonic. The Aperture Ring is awkward to use and aperture adjustment cannot be assigned to the thumb dial. There is no EVF and no way to fit one.
Overall the camera is serviceable but could be improved with an ergonomic rethink.
Summary
In many respects the LX10 is a very good camera. It makes excellent photos in a wide variety of conditions indoors and outdoors. It is fast and responsive in operation. It is reasonably priced particularly when compared to the Sony RX100 models.
Yet overall I feel a bit disappointed by the LX10 if only because it appears to be a ‘me too’ model, bringing nothing much new or original to the user experience.
But for the photographer who prefers the Panasonic user interface I can recommend the LX 10 with the reservations indicated above.
If Sony, Canon and Panasonic could combine their efforts and produce a camera with the best features from the RX, G7X and LX series, us users might have something really special. Sadly it will never be.