2010
Back in 2010 phone cameras were rubbish. Most people had a compact point and shoot for their holiday snaps. I had a Sony DSC-W17 compact, I wanted better quality and I wanted to learn more about photography. I had little understanding of aperture, shutter speed or much else. I didn't want an ugly huge DSLR because I knew I would leave it at home, so what's the point? I had heard of the then new mirrorless system cameras from Olympus and Panasonic but I felt changing lenses would be a hassle, I wanted to have a pocket camera but with more power, something to stimulate my interest in photography. I came across the Panasonic LX3, it was due to be replaced with a new LX5 version, I decided to go for it!
In July 2010 Panasonic released the LX5, a compact camera with full manual control, a zoom lens, image stabilisation and even high definition video! To make it even better, the LX5 had retro camera styling which appealed to me. I bought it as soon as it was released.
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| Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 |
Specifications
10 megapixel small sensor, a fast bright Leica 24-90mm (equivalent) F2 to F3.3 zoom lens, image stabilisation, built-in flash, bracketing, raw, multiple exposure, four programmable custom mode settings, a very small retro-styled body... Here's a full list:
What the LX5 does NOT have
There are some things that today we take for granted. Here are a few things the LX5 lacks:
No WiFi or Bluetooth, you have to take the SD card out and plug it into the computer or connect a USB cable to transfer files. It did come with a cable and free image (raw and jpg) editing software on a CD. There's no level gauge, I miss it, it's very useful for composition (although the LX5 does have the rule of thirds onscreen guidelines).
Design, build and syle
Classic! The LX5 is very small yet has that classic look. The lens sticks out so it isn't a camera for your jeans pocket but it can certainly slip into a large coat pocket. It's easy to take this camera anywhere.
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| LX5 with the lens extended |
The camera is made from metal with seamless plastic. It has a quality feel. The mode dial has a satisfying click. The buttons on the back are metal (or they feel as if they are) with their function engraved in them. This is great because ten years on, the button labels have not worn off. On/off switch and zoom lever are also metal. The slider switches on the lens barrel are plastic but on my camera are still working fine. There is a pop up flash, a small plastic switch releases it, all working fine. It's very small, I do take my hat off to the engineers because these small moving parts are working well after so long. The rear LCD screen is 3" and fixed (no flip out or tilting).
The Leica lens is fixed in place. I protrudes about 1cm from the camera when off. When you switch on, it extends to about 3cm. There is a filter thread on the lens barrel. The only downside with the design is the lens cap which you must remove before you switch on the camera, this slows down your startup readiness from off to being ready to take a shot. However, the lens cap is easy to take on/off and is attached to the camera by a small string. I never lost mine!
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| The LX5 without a case in my hand |
I bought the official leather half-case my LX5, this again accentuates the classic appeal. You hang it around your neck, undo the poppers, the lens is exposed almost ready to take the shot. The cover can easily be removed by undoing one popper. The screw mount is available at the bottom of the case, this allows for it to be mounted on a tripod without having to take the case off. Unfortunately to change the battery or SD card you do have to remove the case.
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| LX5 in the official leather case |
Handling
It's a small camera but it does feel good in the hand, especially with the leather case. The LX5 is very light, there's no way you'd tire of it while carrying it with you all day.
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| LX5 back 3" LCD screen and controls |
The buttons are small but as they are metal and the body plastic, your fingers find the buttons easily. To zoom there is a lever around the shutter button, left for wide, right for telephoto. The zoom is electronic which is not as nice as a focus ring but it does work well enough. There's an option in the menu to set the zoom to stay at a particular focal length on switching on the camera. For example, if you like shooting at 50mm, set the zoom to that, the next time you switch on the camera it'll resume at that focal length automatically, nice!
Aspect Ratio
The LX5 has a 10 megapixel sensor that is multi-aspect ratio. Few cameras have this, it's a sensor that will always give you the full 10 megapixels, no matter the aspect ratio selected. For example, in most cameras (and smartphones) they have a native aspect ratio. If you change to a different ratio they are just cropping the image like you would on your computer in post production. With the LX5 multi-aspect sensor you always get 10 megapixel photos whether you select 1:1, 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9.
Mostly in my photography today I don't change the aspect ratio often. But when I got the LX5 this was actually an important feature for me. When just starting it's fun to experiment with different aspect ratios, it can really aid in composition. The LX5 has a switch for this on the lens barrel.
Back in 2010 photographed a lot in 16:9 because I liked how it looked on the TV! I progressed to 3:2 because that is the classic photo ratio. I didn't like 4:3 much as it reminded me of old televisions. Now I know you might think 1:1 would be good but I hardly used that, 2010 is before Instagram made 1:1 photos popular.
Learn more about aspect ratios here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)
Mostly in my photography today I don't change the aspect ratio often. But when I got the LX5 this was actually an important feature for me. When just starting it's fun to experiment with different aspect ratios, it can really aid in composition. The LX5 has a switch for this on the lens barrel.
Back in 2010 photographed a lot in 16:9 because I liked how it looked on the TV! I progressed to 3:2 because that is the classic photo ratio. I didn't like 4:3 much as it reminded me of old televisions. Now I know you might think 1:1 would be good but I hardly used that, 2010 is before Instagram made 1:1 photos popular.
Learn more about aspect ratios here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)
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| Flash up // Focus switch // Aspect Ratio switch |
The lens, focusing, zoom and macro
It's a Leica optical zoom that ranges from 24mm to 90mm (equivalent), that's a three times zoom. This is a really good range that covers most photography. Something very special is that, at 24mm the aperture can go to F2, this lets in lots of light. Back in 2010 this was a big deal, there were very few compact cameras that came close to F2. When you zoom the aperture closes down to F3.3 at 90mm, that's still very good. Also consider the overall size of this camera, it's tiny and they managed to make such a lens, it's great.
The zoom is electronic but the LX5 has a nice feature in the menu called Step Zoom. When switched on you can see the focal length, it jumps from to the popular focal lengths 24, 28, 35, 50, 70 and 90. When switched off you smoothly zoom. In video mode step zoom is not available.
The minimum focusing distance from your subject is 50cm, that is at any focal length from 24 to 90mm. That's not bad but the LX5 has a slider on the barrel of the lens, set this to Macro and the minimum focusing distance is 3cm at 90mm (fully zoomed). If you are at 24mm it goes down to just 1cm! That is incredibly close and means the LX5 can take some great close-up photos. Below are two photos I took recently, in bright sunshine at 24mm. As the buttercup and daisy are small, I had to be careful not to cast my shadow over them but still, I feel the photos are pretty good for a ten year old compact camera.
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| LX5, macro, 24mm, F2 |
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| LX5, macro, 24mm, F5 |
If you set the mode dial to iAuto, the camera will automatically put you in macro mode when you move the camera close to your subject. You don't need to move the physical slider switch in this case. That's a nice touch but also a little confusing at the same time.
There's a manual focus option, again it is the slider on the lens barrel. To focus you must press the back wheel in and after you can use the left and right arrow buttons. Part of the image is magnified to help you. Unfortunately there is no focus-peaking though. The LX5 manual focusing works but it isn't something I would recommend, it's fiddly and the camera is small, it can be frustrating.
The single point auto-focus is fast. The LX5 does not have a touch screen so to move the focusing point you use the arrow buttons. This is OK but you might prefer to leave it in the centre and do the focus-recompose trick. There's also a 23-area focus mode. A tracking mode (I never tried it) and a face detect mode that works well.
In search of bokeh
In 2010 I didn't understand how it was possible to isolate the subject by blurring the background. I knew I needed a wide aperture (low F number) so F2 was great. But it's still pretty difficult to get that bokeh effect with the LX5 because the sensor is small a long focal length is best but the aperture goes down to F3.3 at 90mm. However, restrictions taught me a lot and it is definitely possible to get bokeh with the LX5!
The closer you get to the subject, the more chance of creating blur in the background. As the LX5 has a great macro mode, this is the best way to get bokeh, especially at 24mm and F2.
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| LX5, macro, 24mm, F2 |
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| LX5, macro, 90mm, F3.3 |
Otherwise you can extend the zoom to 90mm, focus on the subject, if the background is very far away it will be blurred. To achieve this you need to think carefully and set up your shot ahead of time.
It's not impossible but it needs some work with the LX5. This taught me a lot. I did move on to a larger sensor camera after the LX5 and the main reason was to more easily obtain bokeh. However, never listen to anyone who tells you a small sensor camera "cannot" give you bokeh, that is simply not true. It just takes more effort!
ISO performance
The LX5 has a range from ISO 80 to 3200 with the full 10 megapixel resolution. There is an extended upper range from ISO 4000 to 12800 where the image resolution drops to 3 megapixels.
The low starting value of ISO 80 means in bright sunshine you can get very clean, sharp photos. It's nice there are steps 80, 100, 125, 160, 200, etc.
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| LX5, ISO 80, Rolle, Switzerland, 2010 |
The LX5 has a small sensor, even in 2010 I don't think anyone expected to get amazing quality in low light. However, the LX5 tries hard. There's a menu High ISO NR, when this is switched on, it is supposed to improve the ISO 1600 to 3200 image quality. Realistically the LX5 performs best at ISOs under 1600. I use Auto ISO, I've set the upper limit to ISO 800. This way I will get good results. If I am in a low light situation I can set the ISO manually and perhaps switch to black and white, that is always a good way of disguising ugly high-ISO artefacts!
Low light performance in practice
In practice it's best to keep the ISO as low as possible, in a range where the LX5 can perform at its best. The LX5 has image stabilisation, this and a steady hand can help. Here's a photo I took back in 2012 early one morning as the sun was rising over Lac Leman:
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| LX5, 24mm, F4, ISO 400, 1/50 sec |
This next photo is from one December evening in 2011, it's a 2,5 second long exposure photo, the camera was on a tripod attached to a bridge railing, I used the self-timer to avoid any camera shake:
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| LX5, 70mm, F4.5, ISO 125, 2.5 sec |
On this blog you can't see the original quality of the above photos, however, the originals are excellent. Of course for any social media they are more than good enough.
Jpeg or Raw
The LX5 can save photos in Jpeg or Raw format. I photographed only in Jpeg. I preferred Jpeg because I was learning and wanted to take the best photos in camera. The other reason is that when you set the camera to save as Jpeg + Raw, it takes a couple of seconds to write to the SD card. Using Jpeg only is almost instant.
Bracketing
The LX5 has two bracketing modes: Auto Bracket and Aspect Bracket.
Auto Bracket is exposure bracketing. When enabled, press the shutter once and three photos are taken at different exposures. This is useful when it is snowy or in another situation where maybe you are not sure what to set your exposure to.
Aspect Bracket is a bit more specific to the LX5. When enabled on the screen you'll see guidelines for the different aspect rations, very helpful for composing your shot! Press the shutter once and it'll a single photo but save it four times at different aspect rations 1:1, 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. It is fast to take the photo but you have to wait a few seconds for it to save the four photos.
The camera has four directional buttons, the bottom one doubles as Fn1. You can configure this button to be a shortcut for either Auto Bracket or Aspect Bracket. It is not possible to have both these modes enabled at the same time.
Custom Sets
With Custom Sets you can set the camera up the way you want it, save to a Custom Set. When you need those settings you can select that Custom Set. For different types of photography you can set the camera up in different ways, having Custom Sets makes it easy to recall those settings quickly. The LX5 has four Custom Sets. On the mode dial there's C1 and C2 positions. C1 is the first custom set. Mode dial C2 has the three other settings which you pick from the menu. For a compact camera this is great, in fact perhaps overkill. I don't remember using more than the C1 setting.
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| LX5 top view, the mode dial has two Custom positions, the red button is for video |
Video
The LX5 has 720p, that's high definition (not Full HD 1024p) which back in 2010 was pretty fantastic. Even by today's standards it's not bad. The LX5 video is also very capable, you can zoom while filming which is smooth thanks to the electronic zoom and it has stabilisation. There's a movie record button but crucially there is also a mode dial setting. When using the mode dial setting you have full control for the exposure. Use any mode, art filters, white balance, ISO, it's up to you.
Miniature Mode
A year after its release Panasonic updated the firmware for the LX5. They added a great feature called miniature mode. It's a filter accessible from Art (My Colour Mode) on the mode dial. It might not seem like a big deal but actually it's rather fun. Put the LX5 into Miniature Effect. Press the red button to start recording video. It works best if you put the camera on a tripod and there are lots of people walking by. When you play back the video it is a fraction of the length and it shows everything faster, people running around like Benny Hill-style! Yes I know these days we have lots of fun features on our smartphones but this was nearly ten years ago and I found it fun to play with at the time. For any users of more modern Panasonic Lumix cameras today, look at your Art mode dial setting, Miniature Effect is still available today, I have it on my GX80 for example.
Art Filters and Film Mode
The Art mode dial option allows you to cycle through different art filters including the Miniature Effect as described above. All can be used for stills or video. Another good one to try is the Dynamic B&W to have a moody effect.
You can also select similar filters using the Film Modes. These are accessible from within a mode. For example, switch to A or P and press the Quick Menu. The first option is to select a filter (Film Mode) such as Vibrant for example. As on any camera, the filters can be fun to use. There are lots to choose from and you can adjust and make your own too.
Scene Modes (SCN)
Turn the mode dial to SCN and you can select from many common shooting situations. For example, portrait, night portrait, food, party, fireworks, etc. These are great for the beginner photographer or if you are in a hurry. However, there are some other useful options in here.
There is a panorama mode, it isn't as sophisticated as the one in many of today's cameras but it does work well. You take your first photo, it shows that photo as a sort of ghost on the screen, you move and take the next photo, carefully overlaying on the ghosted part. You can keep taking photos and overlaying them as much as you like. When you exit, it will create a panorama image in camera for you.
Playback
Press the playback button and you can of course scroll through your photos and videos. You can zoom to check the detail of your photos with the zoom rocker control. Press the Menu button, there are options to crop your photos and for videos you can make cuts in camera.
Conclusion
The LX5 is a versatile camera that impressed in 2010 and to an extent I'm still impressed today, ten years on! It has lots of features, I especially like the macro mode, it's so easy to get nice close ups. It's such a tiny compact camera but with all the controls. The design is just right, Panasonic did a tremendous job.
The LX5 is a versatile camera that impressed in 2010 and to an extent I'm still impressed today, ten years on! It has lots of features, I especially like the macro mode, it's so easy to get nice close ups. It's such a tiny compact camera but with all the controls. The design is just right, Panasonic did a tremendous job.
But in 2020 most smartphones can probably match or surpass the LX5 for image quality. Smartphone sensor advancement, speed and convenience mean you'd probably not use the LX5 today. If you do want a bit of nostalgic fun, or a challenge, I would recommend you try the LX5. It's still capable, you can get some great photos. 10 megapixels is plenty for social media.
Let's celebrate a fantastic camera, the LX5 made a difference to me and I'm sure to many others. It holds a special place in my heart and I will hang on to mine for years to come. Happy Birthday LX5!
Reference
DPReview
https://m.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmclx5
Imaging Resource Review
https://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/LX5/LX5A.HTM
https://m.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmclx5
Imaging Resource Review
https://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/LX5/LX5A.HTM
A nice promotional video featuring Charlie Waite
https://youtu.be/4nZgoBRzeSE
https://youtu.be/4nZgoBRzeSE
A retrospective look at the LX5 by Steve O'Nions, published in 2020:
Disclaimer
This article is just for your interest and are purely my own opinions. I don't work for nor have any affiliation to Panasonic nor any other camera company.
1 comment:
I pulled this out of my drawer last night for fun. I attached a Godox mini speedlight to the hot shoe and it took amazing photos with bounced flash. TTL worked very well.
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