Today, July 21, Panasonic made a press release of the highly anticipated Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. The LX3 gets a 1/1.63-inch CCD sensor sporting 10.1 million effective pixels (no increase in the amount of pixels). They completely redesigned the lens into a fast F2.0-F2.8 24-60mm (35mm equivalent)! Just like the Ricoh GX and GRD cameras, and Canon G-series they added a hotshoe to the camera. That way the camera can be equipped with an optical view finder.











You can check a full list of specifications here. They changed the camera into a full system that can be fully expanded. Panasonic will offer a wide conversion lens and adaptor, a neutral density and polariser filter, a compact flash, an external optical view finder (24mm), leather casing, and a camera bag.

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Additional information (posted by Amin):



Pricing and availablity are reported as $499.95 and August per Engadget.



1001 Noisy Cameras has an evolving, detailed meta-analysis of the Panasonic LX3 announcement, including links to all the buzz, coverage, and discussion of this exciting new camera.



Via Wouter photoblog comes word of a first impression report with two sample images at Photoscala. The article is in German. Click here for a Google translation to English.



Reasons to get excited:

• Leica has not used the label "DC Vario Summicron" with any Four Thirds zooms, nor have they applied this term to any small sensor camera lens collaborations with Panasonic save one, the Leica Digilux 2/Panasonic LC1.

• 24mm equivalent in 16:9 aspect ratio is wider than 24mm in 3:2 or 4:3 aspect ratio. This lens will give slightly wider coverage than an Xpan equipped with a 45mm lens!

• The combination of f/2, optical image stabilization, and 24mm angle of view means that opportunities for outdoor situational photography ought to continue as the sunlight fades.

• An f/2-2.8, 2.5x zoom lens is sort of a return to the age of bridge cameras, and they managed to do it without approaching the overall size of those cameras from 4-5 years ago. Good for Panasonic, deciding to limit zoom range to 2.5x to maximize lens speed and quality!



Reason for restraint: Sensor size and pixel pitch are very similar to those of the LX2. Therefore, avoidance of the "megapixel race" taken in isolation simply means more of the same. While some of the sample images are impressive, blocked up shadows are evident in others.