The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, a compact digital camera with a Leica lens that costs less than $500 and has a rabid following of professional photographers and photo geeks, who love its performance and pedigree – Henri Cartier-Bresson famously, used a Leica to take his candid photos of street life in France throughout most of the last century.
The Lumix LX3 digital camera has a dedicated following among photographers for its crisp photos, retro styling and Leica lens. It doesn't have a power zoom but it's the first camera that comes close to shooting the city images Nikki Waller has been looking for.
In a world of lozenge-shaped silver cameras, the sensible black LX3 (also available in silver) is chunky and solid, sort of like an old Brownie camera. It's retro right down to the lens cap, though that feature is a little inconvenient since you have to pop it off every time you want to start shooting.
But the size is right – the LX3 weighs about eight ounces and fits easily in a purse or coat pocket – and it's easy to handle. The up-to-date preview screen is a lush three inches, so you can do a lot of editing and reviewing of your shots before you load them onto a computer.
The LX3 combines some of the best features of single-lens reflex, or SLR, cameras with the common, user-friendly features of most digital cameras, such as image stabilization, which corrects for shaky handling. The camera's 35mm equivalent lens and aperture range are more commonly found on much more expensive full-size cameras, which means that advanced photographers can customize to their heart's content and achieve near-professional results.
For the rest of us, this means we can pull the unit out of the box and start shooting. (Provided, of course that we can decipher the instructions; the manual provided with the camera was fairly opaque, and there's no standalone quick-start guide.
The biggest downside is the camera's very limited zoom, which can make even the most majestic vistas seem a little puny – the Manhattan skyline lacked oomph when shot from the Brooklyn Bridge. For about $500 – cheaper than a DSLR but at least $100 more than comparable compact digital units – is the LX3 worth it?
If you're just looking for something cheap for snapshots, this camera is too expensive and has a steep learning curve. But if you're chafing at the limits of basic digital cameras and want to take your photography to the next level, the LX3 beckons to be taken for a spin.
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