Panasonic 10.1MP Lumix DMC-LX7 Compact Review by ePhotoZine With Rating 4/5

On July 18 2012, Panasonic announced the 10.1 Megapixels LUMIX DMC-LX7 premium compact camera, replacing the existing DMC-LX5. The LX7 features a new 1/1.7-inch 10.1 Megapixels MOS Sensor, a fully re-designed 24mm ultra-wide angle LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMILUX lens with 3.8x optical zoom, Venus Engine image processing engine, 3.0-inch 920,000-dot LCD, high-speed consecutive shooting at 11 fps in full resolution with mechanical shutter and 5 fps with continuous AF (Auto Focus). The LX7 lens features F1.4 brightness at wide-end and F2.3 at tele-end. It consists of 11 elements in 10 groups with 5 aspherical lenses with 9 aspherical surfaces, including the dual-sided aspherical surface ED (Extra-low Dispersion) lens.  The Nano Surface Coating technology dramatically minimizes light reflection at entire visual range (380nm-780nm). 

The LX7's Creative Control Mode offers 16 filter options including Soft Focus, Dynamic Monochrome, Impressive Art, One Point Color, Cross Process, Low Key, Toy Effect, Star Filter, Expressive, Retro, High Key, Sepia, Hi Dynamic, Miniature Effect, and the new exclusive Radial Defocus and Smooth Defocus modes.  Radial Defocus adds defocus effect radially from the light source while Smooth Defocus makes defocus figuration even smoother. The LUMIX LX7 features both iA (Intelligent Auto) and iA Plus modes. The iA Plus mode allows users to adjust defocusing area in the background, exposure compensation and white balance. With a dedicated video record button, the LX7 can record full-HD 1,920x1,080 60p videos in AVCHD Progressive (MPEG-4 / H.264) format or 30p in MP4. The LUMIX DMC-LX7 is available in black and white. It's currently selling at around $449. Here's the summary of review by ePhotoZine, giving the camera a rating of 4 out of 5:

"The LX7 takes pictures with excellent colour reproduction, with portrait shots having excellent skin tones, with just the slightest hint of red-eye when shooting with the flash. The HDR mode does an excellent job of retaining detail in the shadows. Images are packed with detail throughout when shooting at both ends of the lens. Purple fringing is kept to a minimum. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of just 1cm, with an impressive, well detailed macro shot possible. Images at ISO 80 and 100 are free of noise, with only a little extra appearing when you shoot at ISO 200, 400 and 800. A little softening appears at ISO 1600, with ISO 3200 showing the first real signs of a loss in image quality, but images are still fairly sharp. At ISO 6400 images are very soft and look like they've been smudged. At the highest setting of ISO 12800, images are extremely noisy, but file size is limited to 3 megapixels. Under both our incandescent and fluorescent lights, the AWB preset copes really well. The incandescent preset has a slight orange cast in the image, there is no fluorescent preset available, this isn't a problem given the impressive AWB performance.

There are a number of picture styles which can be used when shooting in modes such as manual, aperture and shutter priority. The creative control modes can only be used as their own indepent modes, but you can increase or decrease the level of their affect. The LX7 is a superb camera with many DSLR features packed into a compact body, which produces excellent images. If you have a good budget to spend and aren't concerned by large amounts of optical zoom, but want a serious camera capable of great results, you can't go wrong. You can shoot at full resolution at 11 fps, battery life is excellent, there is low noise up to ISO 3200 and full manual controls with RAW shooting, making a camera we are happy to recommend."

THIS PANASONIC LX7 KEEPS SURPRISING ME!, David Ruether - May 10 2013
After several months of playing with the pocketable Panasonic DMC-LX7, here is what I think about it so far...: THE GOOD: -- The overall design, small size, low weight, and handling characteristics of the Panasonic LX7 are excellent - and it even fits nicely into a shirt pocket! -- Its 24mm-90mm lens (35mm full-frame equivalent) is a very good and fast f1.4-f2.3, and...

Perfect, Oláh György - May 09 2013
I sold my Nikon D90 because it was too much of a struggle to carry with me all the time, also the cost of additional lenses were too high for hobby purposes. This camera is the perfect balance because it's light, pocketable (depends) and makes exceptional pictures and shoots great video. Settings are pro-like and easy to find. The only downside after the D90 was the batt...

Great small point and shoot that you can take everywhere, New Rider of the Purple Sage - May 09 2013
This camera does everything pretty well but what I particularly love are its B&W settings (monochrome) and is macro focus. I take tons of close up pictures that are just incredible. It has tons of custom settings so you can pretty do anything you want with it with the exception of more megapixels/resolution. That would be the only limitation....

Buy this NOW!, Bluevalentine87 - May 09 2013
I absolutely love this camera. Had to downgrade from the dslr systems so I do miss some of my old lens capabilities. But this camera suits more of my needs than not. The only complaint I would have, is that the HDR filter within the camera is not really useful. Maybe I'm just used to the HDR filters in apps. Anyways, this is a camera not an editing tool. Also my favorite...