I traded in a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30K for this camera. As I stated in the review for theDMC-FZ30K I did not need the ultra zoom that made that camera so bulky. Lots of people benefit from the longer lens though.

I personally like to shoot indoors, smaller rooms filled with people mostly. And for that this camera can't be beat by anything in its size/price/quality categories. OK maybe the price can be beat but thats it.

The wide-angle added to the 16:9 aspect ratio are fantastic. Then give it the stabalization trick which allows a slower shutter speed and you get flash-free indoor shots that are very practical.

The body is heavy compared to others in its size range. But I just think that if I designed a digital camera I would add weight wherever I could making it feel more solid, more metal.

And I wish it came with a cute little carry bag. Those are easy to find though.

One last thing- the lens protrudes out just about the same thickness as the body. Before I received the camera I was under the impression that the camera was rectangular on all sides when not in use. If this concerns you try to find a side view photograph.

This is an incredibly good camera. For it's diminuative size, there's very little "wrong" with it. Sure, it doesn't excel at high ISO shots and due to it's size, the flash is a little weak and there's no optical viewfinder. But other than those things, I can find no real flaw. It's very easy to clean up noise in postprocessing by using noise ninja or neat image. Unlike other pocket cameras, the LX1 doesn't do much NR for you and it even supports RAW for those that really want to take charge of their image processing. That means you have the control. If you're the kind of person that enjoys a bit of postprocessing and plans your pictures around a camera's strengths and inherent weaknesses, then the LX1 will be a joy to use. In my opinion, it may not be the best camera for a pure snapshooter that is new to photography, but it's very rewarding for the advanced amateur or the pro looking for a pocket cam to keep along side his/her dSLR.

Michael Reichmann brought this camera to my attention in his excellent photographic website, Luminous Landscape. He takes the little camera along with his more serious gear in order to capture snapshots and the occasional gallery quality image.

Having just returned from a trip, I find this a dandy little camera. I shot about two hundred photos with it. The issues with low light sensitivity (high ISO settings) are certainly there. I would limit use to 80 or 100 ISO. There is another issue general to all these little cameras. Because of their light weight, it can be difficult to maintain a steady grip so that images are not blurred. I also prefer to shoot through a viewfinder, not the back of an LCD screen - but that is the trade off for size. The LX1 has optical image stabilization to help you, and I found its use essential. The 16:9 aspect ratio, the same as for high def TV, is very pleasing in many exterior and interior situations. You can also pick two other, narrower aspect ratios through a switch on the lens. The sensor is a true 16:9 sensor, meaning you get full resolution, up to 8 mb, at all aspect ratios.

There are a number of camera friendly aspects to this camera. For one, it will fit easily into the inside pocket of a light outdoor jacket or the inside pocket of a suit. The battery recharger is tiny and light with no cord. Just insert the battery (about the size of a thick postage stamp) and plug the recharger directly in the wall. So it's easy to pack for a trip. If you start the camera without removing the lens cover, the camera notifies you to remove the lense. This has the effect of training you to always replace the lense when the camera is not in use, protecting the excellent Leica optics. It has several modes for common situations, such as shooting at parties (I found it worked well to capture both the subject and background using flash).

It has a very easy to use auto shoot mode that let's you get into the picture. It is located on a button in the back, so you don't have to hunt through menus to find it. Because you can use manual focus as close as 5 cm in a wide angle format, you can shoot a picture of a group of people at your table - just place the camera on an overturned glass at the end of the table and wait for it to click. The auto shoot mode can also be used to deal with low light and less than steady hands. It has full manual mode capability so you can adjust parameters to you liking. It has a 2 or 10 second delay. Using the 2 second delay and bracing the camera on a nearby support or on your chest (hold your breath), you can capture excellent indoor pictures without flash. I used this several times to capture sharp, well saturated color panoramas of church and monument interiors. They look like picture postcards.

The camera is one of the few, or only, to shoot in RAW mode, allowing complete control of the picture when you download to your computer for printing.

If you are a fairly serious amateur, or a professional like Mr. Reichmann, you will find this camera a handy and fun traveling companion to your Canon or Nikon. Or just take it alone, as I did, when you don't plan on doing any serious shooting.

Finally, after waiting nearly 6 months, the DMC-LK1K arrived. In almost every respect, it meets or exceeds my expectations. The 16:9 aspect ratio is exceptional; density and color are spectacular for a point and shoot; the bracket mode takes all the guess work out of exposure; and the optics are incredible; just incredible. However, there are two serious problems. First, the camera does not ship with a protective cap for the LCD screen. Thus, one risks scratching the outer glass when simply handling the camera or storing it in your camera bag. Second, the lack of a viewfinder becomes a real problem when the sun is behind the camera (which it should be for proper lighting!). The glare on the LCD screen's outer glass is just horrible. You cannot see a thing without shading the screen with one hand and pointing and shooting with the other. Panasonic needs...urgently needs....to start providing a protective cap AND some sort of after-market pop-up shade or hood for the LCD screen. Otherwise, this camera is not going to enjoy the wonderful reputation it deserves in all other respects.

First of all I want to point out to the previous reviewer who has stated that digital photography website claims something about very high noice level of Panasonic lx1.

This is totally untruth. There is nowhere in review of lx1 you can find such a statement.

Now about LX1 Pros and Cons:
Since the moment I got this camera on my birthday I've been impressed with its outstanding screen quality, picture quality and of course the most essential feature that all other brands are missing: Optical Image Stabilization

PROS:
-Mega O.I.S. works perfectly just like on others recent Panasonic cameras. As a matter of fact, I can claim surely that Panasonic's O.I.S. eliminates bluriness caused by hand shaking 100%. You can easily snap any photo holding the camera with one hand.
-Image quality is much better than on my previous Kodak 7530 (even though Kodak 7530 is very Sharp too)
-Low light images simply the best I've ever came across to!

CONCLUSION:
LX1 is a perfect conbination of Panasonic's perfect digital video technology with world's best German Leica lens!

I purchased this camera a month ago to replace my "profoundly antique" but still fully functional 3.3 megapixel Nikon Coolkpix 990 that I bought years ago when it first come out. My final decision was based on two considerations: its ability to produce great images in most if not all of my picture taking occasions (this ability is due to the camera's 8.4 megapixel count, its great Leica lens with 4x zoom and 28mm wide angle view, its three picture formats 3:2, 4:3, and HDTV 6:19, and last but not least, its reliable image stabilization) and ease of use.

I have not been disappointed in my choice. I have made about 500 shots and every picture looks great in terms of sharpness, exposure correstness, and color balance, especially when the high aspect ratio format is used. Having read most reviews of the camera in sites such as DPReviews, CNET, PC Magazine, etc...where dire statements about the "unacceptable noise level" of the pictures the camera produces was discoursed at length, I was quite relieved to find that in my picture taking situations (outdoors in daylight with or without clouds in 95% of the cases, balance indoor with flash at parties) the noise level of the pictures when viewed with PhotoShop 7 at high magnification was from minimal to nowhere to be seen. I also discovered that, if you read the user manual and follow its instructions to set the picture adjustment level to high noise reduction, then noise is pretty much eliminated. There is a caution: this high noise reduction setting cannot be obtained when you use the fully automated or "point and shoot" mode.

Regarding size and usability, the camera is small (fits in my shirt pocket) and very easy to use. The menu system is simple and highly accessible. The camera provides a surprising high degree of manual operation. I can manually focus, set aperture, select aspect ratio, set shutter speed. The camera even has a micro mouse to move around the menu system. The large 2.5" LCD display (it has no optical viewfinder) is bright, even after I applied a protective polymer film (from Radio Shack, USD6.5 for a pack of 4 3"x6" sheets)

BTW, I went to Amazon to check out this camera's price and end up buying it new in the box with US warranty elswhere (Butterfly Photo) for USD 420, i.e., at a price significant below Amazon's.(They charge an extra USD10 for the black model, so this is a black mark against them since everybody else including Panasonic sells either model at the same price)

Conclusion: I highly recommend this camera if your shooting parameters are like mine (outdoors mostly, some indoors with built-in flash).

This camera is very useful and practical it basicely has alot of functions some which I haven't used yet but I'm getting there. If you are a regular customer looking for the highest quality photos with amazing clarity and thats entirely versatile for landscapes, people and everything else then I highly recomend this Panasonic Lumix LX1 Digital Camera, based on a recomendation from the electronics store and a friend and the fact that it was cost efficient I didn't regret buying this pocket sized camera. It has an Optical image stabilizer which means that the images do not appeare blurry even if your not an expert and the 28mm wide angle lens has an aspect ratio of 16:9 with 8.4 Megapixel LEICA DC VARIO Lens, this camera also has 4x optical zoom with a wide 28mm field of view (35mm) when shooting in the 16:9 aspect ratio at 8 megapixel resolution you also have a quick choice of three aspect modes that you can use this from a switch at the top of the lens barrel you can switch from a normal 4:3,wide 16:9 or the 3:2 used in film cameras.
The manual exposure and manual focus can be used from the small joystick thingy on top of the camera, you'll have a menu system that sets the aperture, shutter speed and focus with your thumb while viewing the LCD monitor. The 2.5 LCD monitor has a high resolution 207,000 pixel and is also good for night time shots you can see everything with the brightness veiwing.
There is a function used in the flexible single switch focusing which includes five modes, there is another function which I thought was pretty awsome The Mega Burst consecutive shooting, you can get 3 frames per second with 5 images in fine mode and 9 images in standard mode.
When I played the images back on the PC I didn't see any faults with the pictures which I thought was amazing since I'm not the best at photographing but I have improved with this camera, it makes things a whole lot easier. I cannot recomend this camera highly enough it is absolutely brilliant and good for traveling or taking pictures indoors its allways going to be usefull. These are some of the contents in the box when you purchase this item you get a battery pack, battery charger, SD Memory card, USB driver, USB connection cable, a cd-rom Lumix simple viewer ect.

If you need a better camera than DMC-LX1 you will need to buy a $800 camera or more...

I've owned it about 3 weeks now. Here is the way I've set up the camera:

ISO 80
"A" mode
RAW (or JPEG)
2 GB SD card

I'll get straight to the points:

1) The overall cosmetic design, feel and quality of construction is *excellent*. It feels like an elegant prosumer product. The physical user interface (buttons, switches, etc.) are thoughtfully designed. Aesthetic, 5. Build Quality, 5.

2) There are certain features this camera has which are impossible to find together in any other camera of this form factor and price range: 1) The Leica Optics are utterly fantastic- I photograph artwork, and in full wide-angle (completely zoomed out) there is almost no discernible spherization distortion (fish eye effect, where straight lines appear curved). This is invaluable for my purposes. 2) the ability to shoot uncompressed RAW and TIFF image files. Amateurs probably won't need this feature. 3) Manual controls (they work very well). Features, 5.

3) Video Mode: the results are dissapointing, however this camera doesn't pretend to be a substitute for a dedicated handycam- we'll have to wait another 8-10 years for this. If you need video in a pinch though, and you have lots of light, you'll be glad to have this option. My advice, don't get your hopes up about this feature. Video, 2 (extremely pixelated / JPEG'd / compressed. Low-res.).

4) Camera Graphical User interface (GUI)/ software: The camera GUI is well-designed and intuitive, much better than that of some other cameras. GUI, 5. The bundled software for consumer electronics is almost never even worth looking at... I never installed the included bundle.

5) Image quality (READ THIS CAREFULLY!). I cannot emphasize enough how poorly the LX-1 performs in low-lighting. There is immense blue tesselation and noise in the shadows when a frame is underexposed. This is just absolutely NOT a camera for photographers who favor moody, underexposed photos. This is for someone who wants a modern, high-key, clean, tight look- this it excels at. I was debating returning the camera when I reviewed the images taken in low light. But I must have a camera to do copy work, and since I use bright light for this and would prefer uncompressed files, there really is no better camera in it's class (again, the Leica lens). Uncompressed JPEG's have a noticable 'watercolor' processing artifact when blown-up in Photoshop, nevertheless the contrast and color are fabulous. In high quality JPEG mode there is no noticable pixelation. Image Quailty: in bright light, 5; in low light, 2.

Verdict: The LX-1 is not a versatile camera- it is a specialty camera designed for a prosumer enthusiast who will be shooting outdoors in daylight or in a bright studio setting. Macro close-ups look extraordinary (in bright sunlight!). This is a fantastic camera for copy work, photographing meticulous, tiny specimens, insect life or flora, or landscapes. Perhaps portraits IF the lighting never drops beneath, say, afternoon light streaming through a window into a dark room. Prosumer, I say, because the user must be capable of controlling the lighting condition for optimal results.

This camera is replacing an old 1 megapixel Fuji I used for 6 years. The Fuji had excellent image quality at it's native resolution, and sensitivity. The LX-1, at 8.4 MP, I feel, is really not 8 times the camera or image quality of the Fuji. I nevertheless love it, as long as I don't attempt to transgress it's fragile performance parameters.

I have had just about every digital camera you can mention - but this is the first review I've written. I really wanted to like (actually love) this camera - could not wait to get it! Wow - I.S., 8MP, Leica lens - what else could you want! Well - I also bought a Canon SD700 a few weeks ago too (both cameras still within return dates) so I put them to the test. Bottom line - the Canon won hands down! By the way, I also have a Sony P200 - the Canon is still much better. Back to the Panasonic review - pictures were OK - actually not bad, nothing really special - the 16:9 is nice but the pictures appear smaller so you need to zoom in a bit. However the Canon was just as good even at only 6 MP! I use the video option a lot and don't even bother with my old Video Camera anymore. Over the last two week I went to two weddings and produced very nice little videos for the couples only using the Canon SD700 (no shakes to make people sea sick). Clear and sharp video with that little SD700 (you can even zoom in although it gets pixilated a bit). Unfortunately, the Panasonic is pretty very bad at video, no zooming, blurry, and jumpy - and you also must use .mov format to view vs. the more common .avi for the Canon. On the outside - the Panasonic is larger than the Canon and the lens sticks out and use an old fashioned lens cap - now that would be acceptable if the other functions of the camera we good. All in all - I've returned the Panasonic and will keep the Canon - just one man's (I mean person's) opinion!

I love this camera as an alternative to my Nikon D200 whenever weight or space is an issue. It is one of the few pocket-size cameras on the market that can give you the option to shoot in RAW and offers extensive manual control. The Leica lens is superb and so is the picture quality. Manual control is available for most features I would like to have control over. The controls are easily accessible and intuitive despite the small size of the camera. The 16:9 picture format is great for landscape shots. I use this format most of the time. Image stabilization works very well. Noise is not really an issue if one shots in manual mode with a low ISO. The price is a bit heavy. However, I could not find a comparable camera (RAW format, manual controls, small size etc) at a more competitive price.


I wholeheartedly recommend this camera to any photographer who is looking for a pocket-size camera with extensive manual control and the possibility to shoot in RAW.

I've worked for many years in the photo/video business as a camera operator for some of the top news shows on television and can honestly say this camera is current technology at its best.

It is small, solid and able to take stunning photographs and save as data - raw - for the best in image preservation. Having raw data is to digital what having the original negative is to film.

After using this camera for about a year now I can't report one negative... it is the best point and shoot camera.

It does have small chips and all the attentive drawbacks like low dynamic range, noise at higher iso, blooming highlights, etc..

Use your photography skills to work around the limits and you'll be rewarded with technically outstanding photos... I know a National Geo photog who regularly uses one on assignment. Another friend shot Katrina with one for AP.

It is a very sturdy camera capable to taking fine art quality photos.

One of my all time favorite cameras (and I regularly shoot with cameras that approach six figures - Pro HD video)

Not to sound redundant from the other reviews, I'll highlight my pros and cons:

Pros:
-TRUE 16:9 videos (848x480 pixel MOVs, not the cropped kind. Product description was wrong stating that it can capture only up to 640x480).
-Lengthy 20min video captures if you have a 2GB SD card.
-16:9 photos
-28mm wideangle focal length
-LEICA lens
-Excellent outdoor photos

Cons:
-Indoor video/photo is grainy
-Video captures have less than stellar audio.
-Cap Lens cover

Overall: Despite is downfalls, its uniqueness compensate for it and sets it apart from many cameras.

Great little camera. By now though (2009) the LX3 is available and is very much better (if a bit bigger). If, however, you just want a 16:9 wide angle and don't shoot in low light much and can get a great price (you should by now) it's worth a shot. I gave it four stars subjectively based on what it meant to me. My real opinion, however, is to pool your money and get the LX3 (get a silver at great price. It's pictures are no different and you aren't Henri Bresson). But again, value for the money means getting an LX1 at a really good price and enjoying it versus saving up for the LX3 and waiting a bit longer, which is what I recommend.