Panasonic Lumix LX7 - Bright Lens, Small Camera

Updated: We've finished our evaluation of the retail version of Panasonic's LX7, and have upgraded our former preview article (on 18th July) to a full fledged review. If you've know the basics of the LX7 camera, you can jump straight to our Image Performance review page and our Conclusion.

Introduction

It's happy days for camera lovers. Everything that we've known as certain has been thrown topsy turvy in 2012; we have entry level full-frame DSLR cameras, compact APS-C mirrorless cameras and even full-frame compacts.

We also have a boon of compact cameras with fast lenses. It's a happy trend for photographers which could easily have not happened had the camera manufacturers kept fighting a senseless megapixel war. Instead, we have more compacts today with faster lenses than ever before.

The great problem for the camera companies is that what most people will secondly ask about fast lenses is "so what?", and the first question is likely "what's that?" while only photographers who understand obscure terms like "f/1.4 wide open and f/2.3 racked out" will be smiling. It's a great risk to bet your flagship product on a feature less understood than a megapixel number, but hey, that's why we're here.

 

The Big Deal about Fast Lenses

If you already understand fast lenses and wide apertures, feel free to skip this section. If not, then here's why fast lenses matter. Cameras are all about capturing light, and there are three elements which decide just how much light gets captured - these three elements are known as the exposure trinity.

First in the exposure trinity is shutter speed, which determines just how long the eye of your lens stays open - the longer the lens stays open, the more light will be captured. This is why you sometimes get shaky pictures in dim settings; the camera tries to stay open for a longer period of time than a human hand can hold steady.

The second element in the exposure trinity is ISO sensitivity, or how sensitive your image sensor is to light. The higher the ISO setting, the more sensitive your sensor will be to light, but also to noise. Which is why images taken in dim settings tend to look noisy and smudgy.

The third element is aperture, or how wide your lens can open up. The wider it can open, the more light can be captured. You can use any of the three elements to capture more light, which is really important when you're trying to shoot in dim situations. But having a wide aperture reduces your need to increase shutter speed or ISO, which also means reducing the risks of shaky or noisy images.

Lenses with wide apertures are also called bright lenses, because they allow more light in. They're also called fast lenses, because they let your shutter speed stay faster - the lens opens wider, so it has to stay open for a shorter amount of time compared to a lens with a narrower opening. This is why fast lenses are great; they let you capture more light at a time, and are especially useful for low-light shooting. They're also the essential factor (among others) to create background blur, also known as bokeh. The wider the lens can open, the more background blur there is.

 

Special Thanks to the LX Series

Now, one of the reasons why we're seeing more compact cameras with fast lenses is thanks to Panasonic's LX series. Bright lenses have been a staple feature in the series from way back when, starting with the Lumix LX1 in 2005. Of course, the lenses now pale in comparison to what we have today, especially with the brand new Lumix LX7 which has an aperture range of f/1.4 at the wide end to f/2.3 at its maximum zoom (despite the number, this is the fifth camera to bear the name).

When compared against its competitors, the Panasonic LX7 is the fastest lens on the block. Not only is it fastest at the wide end of 24mm at f/1.4, it's also fastest when racked out to 90mm at f/2.3. The other camera that comes closest is the Samsung EX2F, which can open up to f/1.4 at the wide end but is slower at f/2.7 at its furthest.

When it comes to zoom, the LX7 has one of the shorter zooms in this category. It has a focal length of 24-90mm (35mm equivalent), which is comparable to the basic 18-55mm (27-82.5mm with an APS-C crop factor) lenses which come with most entry-level DSLR cameras. The Canon S110 has the longest 5x zoom at 24-120mm, but with a slower lens.

One unfortunate downgrade is the hit to battery life; the LX7 is rated good for 330 images compared to the LX5's 400 images. While 330 images is a comparable number, especially when squared against the Canon S100's paltry 200 images, it's too bad that the latest LX camera dropped from amazing stamina to just good.

 

Why No Large Sensor LX7?

While Panasonic has increased the lens' speed, it has chosen not to increase the LX camera's sensor size. In fact, the sensor size has been slightly reduced, the LX5's sensor measured 0.61-inch diagonal and the LX7's measures 0.59-inch diagonal (it’s worth pointing out that the LX7's image sensor is still larger than most consumer compact cameras'). Michiharu Uematsu, from Panasonic's Advanced Planning Group explained to us that when designing the LX7, Panasonic mapped out three possible directions for the camera:

1. A fixed focal-length lens with large sensor.
2. A small sensor camera with a fast, wide-aperture zoom lens.
3. A large sensor camera with a slow, narrow-aperture zoom lens.

Panasonic decided to go with option two for the LX7, as producing the same performance lens with a large sensor would have required making a much larger lens and body.

As for keeping the megapixel-count the same, Uematsu said that based on printing needs, 8.64MP would be enough to print an A4-sized photo at 300ppi, while 7.68MP would be enough to print an A3-sized photo at 200dpi. Considering that most compact camera users aren't likely to print above A3, Panasonic reasoned that 10MP would be enough for most users. To print A3 at 300dpi however, you would need approx. 17.4MP, a resolution only the Sony RX100's 20.2MP can reach today.

So the question really is; does the LX7's faster lens provide a sufficient advantage over a competing camera with a larger sensor and slower lenses?

Design & Handling

The Lumix LX7 feels solid and well-constructed in the hand, just the way you'd expect a premium compact camera to feel. The grip has returned to the straight edge seen on the LX3, which is a right shame as we found the angular grip on the LX5 more comfortable. The straight grip isn't bad, it just isn't as good. We suspect the straight grip might have returned to give users with big hands more space on the front surface, instead of cramping their fingers between the grip and lens.

Other than that, the LX7 isn't that different from the LX5. It gains an aperture ring, which lets you easily switch aperture settings. On the LX5, you switched between aperture and shutter speed control in Manual mode by pressing in the rear control dial. The aperture ring lets you turn both settings without having to do that extra step.

While the LX7's aperture ring is a welcome addition, it can also be a tad confusing. Open it up at f/1.4 and the camera will shoot at that aperture setting when at the widest end of 24mm. Once you zoom in though, f/1.4 will no longer be available and the LX7 will shoot at the widest aperture to be had at that particular focal length - the actual aperture setting is now different from the setting on the aperture ring. It's a little disconcerting at first, but we quickly got used to it.

The LX7 retains the aspect ratio switch on the lens, which we haven't found very useful - how many times do you really change your aspect ratio on the fly - and it's downright dangerous - if you're not careful, you can accidentally change the switch while moving the camera around and end up snapping a 3:2 image (9.5MP) when you thought you were capturing in 4:3 (10MP). It's quite fun to shoot in 1:1 from time to time though, so perhaps it would be prudent to make this a soft switch in the Quick Menu rather than a physical one.

The AF/MF/Macro switch also makes a comeback on the side of the lens. We're more ambivalent with this switch - we love our physical controls - but it's a pro-level switch. You need to know it's there and what it does, if you lend it to a casual user they might accidentally trip the switch and wonder why the camera isn't focusing anymore. Thankfully, Panasonic had the foresight to lock MF out of iA (Intelligent Auto) mode, which is where most casual users will be at.

Something else that's making a comeback is the lens cap. In a day when Sony can make the RX100 with a automatic lens cover, we'd expect Panasonic to be able to do so as well. Having to continuously cap and uncap the lens becomes old real quick. Having it dangle off the camera attached to a string is even more of a hassle. We guess we'll just have to wait for someone to make an auto lens cover like for the LX5. Even though we don't like the idea of a lens cap on the whole, we have to say that this lens cap is a nice one. It's thick, making it easier to grip and harder to drop, and it snaps satisfyingly onto the lens.

From the back, you'd be able to tell the LX7 apart by the new ND/Focus dial which sits below the Mode dial. The other way is to power on the screen - the LX7 now has a 920k-dot LCD with double the resolution of the LX5's 460k-dot screen. The quality of the screen is visibly different, the LX7 is clearer, sharper, more vivid. Another (long awaited from this reviewer) improvement is that the LX7 now features aliased fonts, which are much more pleasant to look at than the pixelated letters on the LX5.

But can we get percentage indicators for the battery instead of the three-bar indicator which has been around forever? This isn't just a critique of the LX7, but of all compact cameras which still use the archaic three-bar indicators. If Sony's NEX cameras and mobile phones can tell you exactly how much power you have left, we don't see why compact cameras cannot. End rant.

One last thing we about the LX7's design: The white version is a luminous beauty. Even after some scuffling in a messy bag, the paint held up well with no visible chipping. We're not usually that big on white cameras (we prefer to be inconspicuous photographers) but in this case, we suggest you have a look at both models for yourself before you decide.

Built-in ND Filter

The LX7 comes with a built-in 3-stop ND filter, which you drop in by pressing the new ND/Focus dial. ND (Neutral Density) filters cut the amount of light coming into the lens, and they've been used to do things like lengthen shutter speed in bright daylight in order to blur movement. 

ND filters are especially useful with bright lenses. That's because if you shoot wide open (in the LX7's case, that's the maximum aperture setting of f/1.4) outdoors in bright sunlight you can capture so much light that it overexposes the image. You can always stop down and reduce the aperture size to something more reasonable like f/8 but then you won't be able to blur the background as much. Dropping in the ND filter will help you cut the amount of light reaching the sensor while keeping a wide aperture.

The camera comes with two additional Program Priority modes which let you take advantage of the bright lens. Getting to them however, is just confusing. The options are found under a 'Program Diagram' setting in the menu - we're not even sure what that means. Once there, you can toggle between Standard, Max. Aperture, which places priority on maximizing background blur by using the ND Filter whenever necessary to open up the lens as much as possible, and MTF/Optimum Accuracy, which uses the ND filter to stop down the lens and avoid using narrower apertures to prevent diffraction.

These are priority modes with good intentions buried under awkward menus with puzzling names and obtuse descriptions. You can't even find descriptions of these two Program Diagram modes on the official Panasonic LX7 page, or even in the operating manual. Maybe they figured at the last moment that experienced photographers will figure out to drop in the ND filter themselves when needed.

Besides serving as the ND filter toggle, this dial also handles manual focus. Much like the zoom toggles on compact cameras, you push the dial left and right to fine-tune focus. A handy distance indicator shows up on the screen, and you can magnify a chosen spot to check focus.

Image Performance

The real test of Panasonic's fast lens, small sensor conviction is in the images the LX7 produces. It's a little bit of a catch-22 problem all around. All things equal, larger sensors will capture more detail and have less image noise. Fast lenses will enable you to shoot with shallower depth of field and maintain low ISO settings. In an ideal world, you'd want both, but technology and physics push against you by limiting how much you can get in a certain size. And things aren't always equal (like how sensor size also impacts background blur) so all we can do is test the LX7's particular mix of specifications and let the results speak for themselves.

Note: The photos below have not been post-processed and are copyright to SPH Magazines. They are provided for your reference only and we ask that you do not reproduce them elsewhere. Click for full-resolution versions.

Background Blur

The first question is whether or not the wide apertures of the LX7's 24-90mm f/1.4-2.3 lens will provide us with significant background blur, and the answer seems to be "it depends". Take a look at these lovely ladies to see for yourself.

The wider apertures on the LX7 don't produce as pronounced a background blur as wide apertures on a DSLR. Even when racked out to 90mm at f/2.3 in the last image, we still see a lot of the background in focus. To be fair, the background is relatively near to our subject (how subject and background distances affect background blur is nicely summarized by Yu Jiang Tham). In certain situations where the camera is closer to the subject and the background is far away, we can get a little bit of background blur as in the second image.

The main reason why f/1.4 on the LX7 isn't as bokeh-licious as f/1.4 on a DSLR camera is the LX7's smaller sensor size. Because depth of field is determined by subject magnification on the image sensor as well as the lens aperture, larger and smaller sensors will provide different depth of field values even when the aperture number is the same. In fact, DP Review has estimated that the LX7's lens behaves more like a f/7.1-11.7 lens on a full-frame camera. This is either a blessing or a curse, depending on which side of the aperture fence you're sitting. While you don't enjoy the super shallow depth of field of a bright lens on an FX camera, you do get a deep depth of field with all the speed advantages of a wide aperture.

Where the wide apertures seem to help is in capturing lots of light. Even though the three images above had differing aperture settings, the fast lens allowed the LX7 to shoot at a low ISO setting of ISO 80, capturing images with as much dynamic range and detail as possible with the least amount of noise.

Image Noise

The LX7 shows less image noise compared to the LX5, which is a good thing. Images are relatively clean up to ISO 1600, and you can chance ISO 3200 with loss of detail. Higher ISO sensitivities have too much image noise for us to stomach. The LX7's bright lens helps to keep ISO and thus noise levels down, so you may not have to go that high. Like the LX5, the LX7 can reach up to ISO 12800 at 3MP, but the resulting image is such a mess we wonder why the setting is still there.

Macro, Detail, Dynamic Range, IS & AF

The LX7 has a tight minimum focusing distance of 1cm, allowing you to get really close for your macro shots. JPEGs look a tad soft out of camera, and could use a little sharpening in post. If you're into speed, the LX7 shoots at an impressively fast 5 frames per second with continuous AF and 11 fps with AF-S. Like the LX5, the LX7's dynamic range continues to impress - you get to see much more of the scene in the camera than with your standard compact. 

Image stabilization has also been another feature in which Panasonic has excelled, the IS on the LX7 is great and will help you steady your shots. Auto-focus is snappy and accurate, another favorite feature on Panasonic cameras. If there's one thing we'd have liked to change about AF on the LX7, it's the ability to map the Fn button to select AF area, regardless of the current AF mode the camera is in. Right now, it will only allow you to manually determine AF points if you're in the One Area AF mode.

Conclusion

The Panasonic Lumix LX7 is the best expression of the LX series; nearly everything you could want is here. Handling is smooth and nearly perfect for a prosumer camera, with manual controls within easy reach; we especially like having the aperture ring on the lens. While you can run the camera on iA (intelligent Auto) mode, the breadth of physical controls means you need to know what they do, lest somebody accidentally trips one. You also may need to brief friends whom you lend the camera to; we had a series of 16:9 frames shot by a friend who had no idea she had turned the aspect ratio switch on the lens.

The camera feels solid in the hands and the higher resolution screen is a delight to use. It's unfortunate that the grip has regressed to a straight-edge, but it's no deal-breaker. It's also too bad that the latest LX has less stamina than the previous one, with a battery rated for 330 images instead of 400. 330 images is comparable to its competitors, and isn't as low as the Canon S110's paltry 200. But longer battery life is always good, especially for a prosumer camera whose users may shoot hundreds of photographs in a single outing.

Images have a wide dynamic range which can be further exploited in post. ISO usability hits a cap at ISO 1600, but the LX7's fast glass helps keep the ISO settings down in low-light. While the wide apertures of the LX7 don't provide the same look of wide apertures on a large sensor camera, they do provide the same advantages. Couple that with the camera's reliable AF and image stabilization and you have a very pleasant compact camera to carry around.

So has Panasonic's decision to keep the image sensor roughly the same size negatively impacted the camera in any way? We don't think so - in fact, its bright lens brings many advantages to this little compact.

It's interesting to imagine what could have been: If the LX7 had been the only flagship compact this year to carry a small sensor while everyone else upgraded to a 2/3-inch or 1-inch sensor, our conclusion would have been different. If the LX7 had been the only other camera to upgrade to a 1-inch sensor, it would have made an extremely compelling alternative to the Sony RX100. As it is, since nearly every one else has stuck to a 1/1.7-inch sensor, the LX7 keeps its competitive edge... for now.

Panasonic Lumix LX7 vs. the World

No flagship compact camera review this year-end can escape the shadow of the Sony RX100 leviathan. The RX100's 1-inch 20MP sensor with 28-100mm f/1.8-4.9 lens is a revolutionary force against which every other camera will be measured. Luckily for its competitors, it's expensive: The RX100 is a good S$200 more than the LX7's retail price of S$799. So that makes the comparison between these two cameras easy. If you can afford it, the Sony RX100 is the best compact camera you can buy today. Turns out, a large sensor compact makes all the difference and there's only one in the world right now.

Compared against closer competitors like the Canon S110, Olympus XZ-2 and Samsung EX2F with similarly-sized sensors, the LX7's fast lens gives it a splendid speed advantage. But it's still too early to call a definite winner, especially since we haven't tried the Canon or Olympus models. The other potential disruptor to the LX7's game is the Fujifilm XF1, which features a larger 2/3-inch sensor in a deliciously retro body.

We suspect the playing field will be clearer once these cameras are reviewed and their prices are revealed. At the moment, we can't help but feel that the LX7 is pricey especially since you can pay S$200 to get a better camera and S$100 less for the Samsung EX2F. Even though the LX7 is priced the same as the LX5, it's a whole different world from two years ago with the RX100 in play.

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