Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

The DMC-LX5 has a hard act to follow. Its predecessor, the DMC-LX3, was so good we'd still recommend it today. So what does this one offer as an upgrade? It certainly looks the part, and is littered

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is the long-awaited successor to the ahead-of-its-time LX3, a compact camera that hit the sweet spot for photographers looking for a pocketable alternative to their DSLR. Fast forward two years to 2010, and it's the turn of the new LX5 to appeal to the more experienced prosumer, with a longer 3.8x lens, improved 10 megapixel sensor, AVCHD movies and a tweaked control system all on offer. Read our in-depth Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 review with sample JPEG, RAW and video files now.

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An upgrade to Panasonic's popular enthusiast digicam flagship with improved ergonomics, autofocusing and image quality.The enthusiast digicam market has changed in the two years since Panasonic released its popular DMC-LX3 Lumix digicam and the new LX5 model faces tough competition both from high-end digicams from other manufacturers and the new Micro Four Thirds cameras released by Panasonic and Olympus. To meet this challenge, Panasonic has improved the user interface on the LX5 and increased the range of the zoom lens to the equivalent of a 90mm lens in 35mm format.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is a stellar camera for manual shooters

Is this SLR replacement radical enough for Panny to stay ahead?

All three of these cameras share a similar design philosophy, being relatively small and compact while offering a high level of manual control. All are built to a high-quality, and all three boast high-end lenses with relatively fast aperture, stabilized lenses. Although all three also offer 10MP CCD sensors, the LX5's sensor is multi-aspect, which means that its 3:2, 16:9 and square format shooting modes do not take a serious bite into the effective resolution, making them arguably more useful than they might otherwise be. This is especially true of the 16:9 mode, which at 9.5Mp offers roughly 25% greater pixel coverage than either the S95 or P7000 in the same aspect ratio. They also all offer the same (diagonal) angle of view at any given lens position (see exmple below).

Panasonic LX5 review, find out how the LX5 stacks up against the competition in our real-world review with in-depth image quality comparisons.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX5 review: Panasonic's best camera has an excellent lens but complicated menus

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

Panasonic LX5 is a 10.0MP Small Sensor Compact camera with a 1/1.63-inch sized CCD sensor and 24-90 mm F2.0-3.3 lens. Read our LX5 review to find its pros and cons.

A broader focal range and a cheaper price would make this non-interchangeable lens compact a potential world-beater. As it is, it's still hot stuff

Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-LX5 replaces the LX3 as the ultimate enthusiast compact, but at around £400 it’s not cheap. If the LX5’s excellent high ISO performance, great video mode and versatile 24-90mm lens sound attractive, it’s the best compact in town, but otherwise the LX3 is still a great camera and it’s almost £100 cheaper.

The Panasonic Lumix LX5 is the replacement for the award-winning LX3