Review of Panasonic LX7 - Part 5

The LX7 has a lot of fun built into it. I am sure other competing models will have many of these features too, but I am not sure each of them will work as well. The following are some of the features I think will be useful to me.

Panoramic Mode:

I like the way the panorama mode works. A framing guideline appears on the LCD display to help you frame the shot. The image is captured buy panning from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, or bottom to top. You can hold the camera in portrait or landscape mode. 

HDR Mode:

It captures three images when you press the shutter release. The resulting image clearly shows HDR at work.

Burst Mode:

The LX7 has a plethora of burst options: 2fps, 5fps, 11fps, 40fps, 60fps. The menu clearly indicates the resolution that the image will be captured in. Just hold the shutter release down and it fires away like a machine gun! 

Movie Mode:

The movie mode is great. It has a choice of AVCHD (50fps on my PAL version) or MPEG4 (25fps). Movie resolution is up to full HD 1920x1080 pixels, or in VGA if so desired. There is a dedicated movie button, which can be used at any time regardless of what setting the camera is set at. Audio is recorded in stereo, with wind cut ability. Basically it does a fantastic job recording video; perhaps even better than a regular videocam. You can even capture a still picture while recording video. 

Low light photography:

The image stabilizer is rock solid. I can shoot down to 1/10s handheld with no problem at all. Coupled with the cutting edge bright lens, this camera literally shines in low light and night photography.

1/13s

f1.4

ISO 800

Flexible Creative Modes:

The creative modes can be set before taking the shot, thus allowing you to visualize it on the LCD screen. Or, it can be added after the shot has been taken; the original image is preserved.

Be aware.....

The comparatively small-ish sensor of the LX7 does put a limit on image quality when pushed to extreme conditions, when compared with the likes of a DSLR. If one can accept this limitation, the LX7 is simply one of the best compacts there is at this time.

Review of Panasonic LX7 - Part 4

This is the first time after a long hiatus that I have taken night shots with a compact camera. Back then, night shots in Auto mode were always a disaster. Here is how the LX7 performs. All the images below were taken in fully Auto mode, handheld. I have not compared it with any other cameras. Such may be the standard capability of modern day compacts but I do not know for sure.

Verdict: I can only say I am impressed with the night shot capability. It captures a night scene as it actually looks, rather than trying to over-brighten a night scene with extremely high ISO or extremely slow shutter speed. My guess is that it has something to do with automatically invoking the Night Scene mode when it detects one.

ISO 400
1/13s
f1.4
25mm

ISO 400
1/20s
f1.4
25mm

ISO 1250
1/15s
f1.4
24mm

ISO 800
1/15s
f1.4
24mm

ISO 1000
1/15s
f1.4
24mm

ISO 400

1/50s

f1.4

24mm

Review of Panasonic LX7 - Part 3

I thought it might be interesting to see how well a compact camera can shoot in a studio set up. The following shots were taken in Aperture Priority mode with spot metering.

For the shots, I had a continuous light source from one direction and a black backdrop. The photos were shot handheld. All images shown are straight out of the camera.

Verdict: Images are sharp, backdrop is successfully darkened, tonality is good. The white balance is not consistent, however. But that can be easily corrected. Perhaps I should attempt Manual mode or Portait Mode next time. I guess the question is, would I ditch my DLSR and start doing studio shots with this camera? It is too soon to tell, but the prognosis is good.

50mm
1/250s
f3.2
ISO 100
















50mm
1/320s
f1.9
ISO 80

50mm
1/160s
f1.9

ISO 80

Review of Panasonic LX7 - Part 2

This time I want to see how well the Panasonic LX7 does in zoom. The LX7 has a 3.8x optical zoom, which can "zoom" a further 2x in digital zoom, giving it the 35mm equivalent of 180mm lens. The result is very satisfactory.

Here are the images taken in my garden with receding daylight in my garden. The first image is shot wide open at 24mm. The second is shot at full optical zoom. The last is shot at the full optical+digital zoom, giving the equivalent of roughly 8x. The last image is shot at 1/125s, ISO 125. All three images were shot handheld in fully automatic mode.

Verdict: The zoomed-in image is sharp, in focus, and well exposed.  


24mm

90mm

180mm

Review of Panasonic LX7 - Part 1

So far so good.... I have got my Panasonic LX7 for four days now. I am testing out the images to see if it meets my needs for lightweight travel photography. (I've decided to go on my next trip with minimum photography gear)

Tested out the LX7 for low light photography. The subject is visible with a bit of light coming from other rooms. I compared the LX7 against the Samsung S2 smartphone, which normally takes "good enough" photos in restaurant lighting. All imahes were shot handheld in fully automatic mode, without a flash.

Verdict: The LX7 is outstanding in comparison with the other two. The S2 has dropped the ball on this one. The very old Canon IXUS 50 is unsurprisingly just as bad.

Panasonic LX7
ISO 400
1/6 sec
f/1.4

Samsung Galaxy S2

ISO 400
1/17 sec
f/2.65

Canon Ixus 50
ISO (not registered)
1/8 sec
f/2.8

When someone pays you a compliment

The next time someone says you are very nice, don't start flattering yourself! There must be a reason why Dictionary.com describes the origin of the word as "1250–1300; Middle English: foolish, stupid < Old French: silly, simple< Latin nescius ignorant, incapable, equivalent to ne- negative prefix+ sci- (stem of scīre to know; see science) + -us adj. suffix."

In a service environment, the word "nice" is used to compliment someone when the customer is very happy with the service. So if you want to be called nice, just keep pampering your customer by providing extra care and service with no extra charge. Is that being nice.... or perhaps that is being overly generous with your company's time?

In truth, when a person says you are nice, it really means he likes your service, not you. To prove this point, imagine that you make a serious mistake involving the customer. Will he still think you are nice? Or if you simply carry out your duties without providing first class service, will he still think you are nice?

By all means, be nice to everyone at all times. Just don't let it go to your head if you receive a nice compliment. If a compliment comes from doing something for someone, that person is just complimenting you for the benefit he has obtained from you.

So when someone pays you a compliment, he may be paying you in compliment. And compliments are free.  Are you nice or are you used?