Panasonic LX10 now landed

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Archiver

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About two years after the LX10 hit the market, I've now got one. My beloved LX7, churning out thousands and thousands of images since 2014, has developed a lens fault, and the LX10 has now come on board to replace it.

I've never owned a 1" sensor camera before, so it's interesting to see how the image quality sits in the small sensor -> m43 -> aps-c -> full frame range. It's a little shorter than the Ricoh GR, although heavier, more slippery, and the lens barrel protrudes a fair bit when on. Overall, it's a responsive and quiet camera that will be great for museums and art galleries, not to mention pocket video.

The files handle pretty well in Lightroom, which relieves me greatly. I've been experimenting with a preset I created for the Fuji X100 classic, and the LX10 files react well to it. Images are crisp and the colour is decent. Auto white balance tends a little on the cold side, which is a touch disappointing as the LX7 and GM1 white balance are very accurate/pleasing.

Even at f1.4, depth of field is reasonably shallow, but not great. The Ricoh GR at f2.8 with its aps-c sensor does a better job, I think. The GR also has a better lens, but the LX10 is perfectly serviceable.

@emraphoto has written a few times about the use of wide angle pocket cameras for video, and I like that idea, too. The LX10 can shoot up to 4k 30p 100mbps, which is pretty decent quality for a camera that fits in your pocket. I'm looking forward to testing it in low light conditions for both video and stills.

Unfortunately, at 4K the video is cropped from 25mm to 36mm, and at 1080p the video is cropped from 25-30mm depending on if you activate image stabilization. I know most folks here are more into still photography, but as someone who likes personal video a lot, full 24mm stabilized 4k in the pocket would have been nice.

As it only arrived this morning, I haven't fully explored all the features and capabilities on the street. I expect it to be a lot of fun, acting as a travel and EDC camera of reasonable quallity, and good complement to other cameras like micro four thirds camera, up to the Leica M9. I'll test the video capabilities against cameras like the Olympus E-M5, Panasonic GM1/GH4, and the good old LX7, but I'm sure that it will stack up very well.

Pictures coming when I've taken something decent!
 
@doitashimash1te - thank you!

I've had the camera for a week or so, and there are some caveats to it.

The lens is not the best. I wasn't expecting wonders, but something at least reasonably sharp from edge to edge. No. The lens is really sharp in the centre, but it blurs and smears quite distinctly in the outer quarters of the image. License plates and similar sized writing looks like a double image in the outer quarters. This is not a landscape camera, it is something for middle distance subjects and visual diary use. The lens is also a tiny bit bloomy, moreso than the LX7, which has no blooming to speak of.

If having a sharp image edge to edge, or minimal blurring, is important to you, then be very careful about the LX10. If you can get past that and use it for fun personal stuff like candid portraits, family and friends, random street photography and documenting life, then it is a fine camera.

The silent electronic shutter seems to have no issues with artificial lighting, although I haven't tested it in every artificial lighting situation. The operation speed is excellent, including startup, focusing, shooting and buffer clearance.

Colour is pretty decent with the raws in Lightroom. Highlight information is reasonably recoverable, a good cut above a small sensor camera and fairly close to m43, which is good.

Video quality is better than I thought. 4k 25p is better than the original Olympus E-M5, and even the much lower bitrate 1080 25p is excellent.

The touchscreen is very good, just like other Panasonics with this feature. The only problem is that the focus point will change if you accidentally touch the screen, so I sometimes find the focus point in the top right hand corner where my thumb brushed the screen.

I haven't shot anything decent yet, but when I do, I'll post some images.
 
I've had an LX10 for a while now and my overall impression is that it remains a technological marvel BUT I hate using it. The image quality, responsiveness and video capabilities are impressive to say the least. Man, the video... Incredible the options packed into this thing.

The problem is the LX10 is so over engineered while the physical form and interface is a disaster. I eventually turned the screen off due to the focus point issue and the camera is VERY difficult to hold. To shoot video I need to use both hands and that is counterintuitive for a compact.

All that techno goodness? Yes please! Current form factor? No thanx!!!
 
@emraphoto - I love the video capabilities of the LX10. In good light and under some ranges, it cuts seamlessly with my GH4. It's perfect for casual family and friends shooting. It would be great with a built in ND filter so shutter speeds could be lower in bright light.

I also agree that the form factor isn't too hot. The surface is slippery and the grip is very shallow, so I use a cheap black silicon skin that improves the handling a lot.
Here are a few images I've taken with the LX10. Nothing special, but I like their character and colour.


LX10 - Mornington Monument by Archiver, on Flickr


LX10 - Mornington Pier 1 by Archiver, on Flickr


LX10 - Mornington Pier 2 by Archiver, on Flickr
 
It's been nearly two years since I got the LX10 (has it been so long already?) and I've come to like it a lot. The LX10 has been in my bag every time I go out for months, acting as the complementary snapshot camera to something larger, like the Panasonic GX85 or Leica M9, or even as a primary camera for going shopping.

After spending some more time with the raws in Lightroom, I've tweaked my preset to give me a pleasing image with one click. The lens still has that annoying blurriness on the sides, but that's not an issue if you shoot close up, or zoomed in portraits. The overall rendering of the lens is very pleasing. Burst mode is great for capturing action, and the video modes are excellent.
 
I'd love to see more pics. I've had mine for more than a year now and mostly took concert shots with it. Then I got a Fuji X-E2 and I feel like I need to give my LX10 some love because the Fuji is just so fun to use. G.A.S. is making me scout for a cheap Ricoh GR but I need to stop that.
 
I found that Fuji's little X30 solves many of the ergonomic issues raised in this thread. Its sensor is a bit smaller than the LX10's, but since its 12Mp instead of 20, the pixel size is similar. Image quality is great! And it has a very nice viewfinder, nice grip, and a manually zoomed lens. Love it!
 
1674572497703.jpgi would prefer the evf of the lx100ii but do not want to shell out the extra money and am not sure if the IQ would be that much better. I added a grip which is good and the kmz 35mm is good for sunny days. L monochrome D is really good and is no poor substitute for film.
 
stephen_lumsden said:
View attachment 4815611i would prefer the evf of the lx100ii but do not want to shell out the extra money and am not sure if the IQ would be that much better. I added a grip which is good and the kmz 35mm is good for sunny days. L monochrome D is really good and is no poor substitute for film.
Click to expand...
Nice how did you attach the viewfinder ? Always thinking in doing so with my lx10 but not sure how
 
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