Lumix LX3

[Tripodman]

I have recently reluctantly sold my Fuji Finepix S7000 (which was a fine camera) as I would like something more compact. Having done a bit of research and read lots of reviews, I am thinking of investing in a Panasonic Lumix LX3, which seems to be very highly rated. However, the one thing that concerns me is the limited optical zoom (2.5X). The Fuji came into the super zoom category, so this will obviously be a radical change. Can anybody advise what this limited optical zoom will mean in practice? I do lots of walking (hence the preference for a more compact camera) and therefore will be taking lots of landscape pics. I understand that the level of optical zoom can be increased if the resolution is decreased from the 10 megapixel maximum. I intend to view most pictures on an 8 or 9 inch digital photo frame, so what could i safely reduce resolution to and still get good results? Has anybody else invested in an LX3 and got any comments. Any comments or advise would be much appreciated. Thanks!!

[LargeFormat]

Welcome to the forum.

Firstly an eight inch (long side) photoframe will have a resotution of about 576 x 432 which amounts to 0.25MP so you should have no trouble at all in cropping from your 10MP image to get a better telephoto effect.

Designing a zoom lens is all about compromises. My bridge camera went from 28mm to 200mm (35mm equivalent) but my current lenses are 16-35, 24-70 and 70-300. More the sort of range of the LX3. That's because Carl Zeiss thought the image quality/zoom equation was an appropriate compromise and no doubt Leica thought much the same.

I find photographing landscapes I use wide lenses most of the time so I'd have thought the 24mm end on the LX3 would be more useful than, say a 35mm wide end going up higher at the long end.

The LX3 reviews as a super camera and I'd certainly be very happy to have it in my pocket on walks.

[alanS]

I have an LX2 and I think that you'll be very pleased with a LX3. The 16:9 mode is nice

[john_g]

From what I've read, the biggest performance advantage of the LX3 is when using high ISO settings. Why not look through your existing photos to get an idea of how many use long focal lengths that the LX3 couldn't reach, and how many use high ISO settings that other cameras might not capture so effectively? If you don't shoot in low light but do use long focal lengths, then perhaps the LX3 isn't the best match for your style of photography.