After some time waiting for a replacement for the LX-5 (itself replacement for the LX-3), the Panasonic Lumix DMC LX-7 has now been unveiled.

Firstly the disappointing bit: it's still only 10 Megapixels, which is weak by current standards and is going to be much worse by the time it gets replaced in a couple of years' time.

The positives are, however, probably enough to surmount the initial disappointment. Firstly, the LX-7 has a very similar form factor to its predecessors and secondly the Leica lens that the LX-3 enjoyed has returned.

The big gain is that new lens has an f/1.4 - 2.3 aperture, which should make it particularly useful in low light situations.

Whilst that might be a concern if you go above-ground in bright sunlight, it appears to have some sort of three-stage ND filter to allow it to still operate at f/1.4 even in bright conditions.

The LX-7 is also notable for gaining an old-school physical aperture ring on the lens, which may take a bit of getting used to on a compact.

There's also another change from the LX-3 in that the little joggle-stick on the back has gone and been replaced by a jog-wheel to control shutter speed in manual mode and no doubt other features as well.

The 24mm (equivalent) lens is retained, so this looks like being a decent bit of kit for underground photography, wrapped up in a sturdy yet compact body.

I've taken the plunge and ordered one early - a small pile of dormant Amazon vouchers have helped considerably. It should arrive late this coming week, so more thoughts after it's arrived...

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The LX-7 is also notable for gaining an old-school physical aperture ring on the lens, which may take a bit of getting used to on a compact.

Up until that point I was all a bit "meh..."

Now, I'm sort-of interested.

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10 MP is a pretty big poster size photo......

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10 MP is a pretty big poster size photo......

It also depends on the Sensor size. a 10MP sensor that is physically bigger will, generally, have lower noise in a low-light shot.

Canon are actively pursuing this with a few of their "compacts".

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Quite a small sensor, but that's needed to cope with the aperture.

Apparently there's been a conscious decision made not to push the pixel density up because that would harm image quality - more pixels would have been possible if the sensor had been bigger, but it wouldn't have had the f/1.4 aperture.

Pixels aren't everything and as ManicMiner says, 10MP is enough to print at a decent size.

Okay, you lose a bit of the ability to crop from a bigger image but that's not going to be an issues in underground photography because getting everything into the frame to start with is generally the problem!

It's interesting that a manufacturer has deliberately kept the pixel count down though - the proof is going to be in how well the camera performs.

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Quite a small sensor, but that's needed to cope with the aperture.

Apparently there's been a conscious decision made not to push the pixel density up because that would harm image quality - more pixels would have been possible if the sensor had been bigger, but it wouldn't have had the f/1.4 aperture.

Pixels aren't everything and as ManicMiner says, 10MP is enough to print at a decent size.

Okay, you lose a bit of the ability to crop from a bigger image but that's not going to be an issues in underground photography because getting everything into the frame to start with is generally the problem!

It's interesting that a manufacturer has deliberately kept the pixel count down though - the proof is going to be in how well the camera performs.

They seem to have thought it through. I'll give money that this vs an 18MP "standard" compact would not even be a contest, the Panasonic should walk it.

That said, I'll probably still end up with an NEX-5N. I can mount damn near any lens to it, and I have Focus Peaking to help underground. Prices are dropping a fair bit now, so I may be tempted after I get my 14mm.

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Having used a Lumix LX3 for 3 years now, I too looked at this LX7, but in the end decided the sensor was not large enough, not that I wanted more pixels just a bigger sensor area.

In the end after some deliberation I have plumped for the Canon G1X being as it's a sturdy compact with a sensor only slightly less that an APSC but the mp count is only just under 14MP, the only down side to me was the equiv to 28mm lens. (I know the Lumix has a faster lens but I only ever shot at f5.6), that and the fact that it cost just under £600 still.
I have yet to try it out underground, so this Sunday will be my first run out with it, once I have it insured of course.. ::)

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One curious problem so far - I don't have any software that can cope with the particular .RW2 RAW file that the LX7 produces :curse:

It's turning out to be an expensive purchase as Adobe don't support the version of Photoshop that I've got any longer, so it's upgrade time before I can get my paws on the newest Camera Raw version 😞

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You may find a way of converting the files into DNGs which you can then open in your existing software. I used this workaround whilst I was using an earlier version of Photoshop.

EDIT: Adobe DNG Converter is what you need and it's free. I haven't checked if the LX7 is supported yet though, but worth a go:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=106&platform=Windows 

Cheers.

DNG Converter 7.1 doesn't include support for the LX7, although the Release Candidate version of Camera RAW 7.2 does - and this is bundled with the Release Candidate version of DNG converter 7.2.

So... having downloaded DNG Converter 7.1, I find it works but doesn't support the camera. So far so good.

Download Camera RAW 7.2 so that I can update DNG Converter to 7.2 and it insists that I don't have Adobe Application Manager, which I need to install Camera RAW 7.2.

Download that and install it. So far so good.

Then when I try to install the Camera RAW 7.2 upgrade, it tells me that it's not 'applicable' to me.

I suspect I have to buy Photoshop CS6 so that I can install a bit of software that I won't actually need if I've bought CS6.

Ho hum.

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Sorry if this sounds obvious, but does the camera come with any software itself? The movies off my son's Lumix TZ10 had us stumped until we had a look at the CD that came with it and found a download utility that works.

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Sorry if this sounds obvious, but does the camera come with any software itself? The movies off my son's Lumix TZ10 had us stumped until we had a look at the CD that came with it and found a download utility that works.

Quite possibly... although I've not got it to hand.

No doubt Apple will update iPhoto to make it compatible sometime soon; and I'll get a box from Adobe that sorts out my other problem.

Serves me right for buying a camera so close to release date, but I had Amazon vouchers burning a hole in my virtual pocket! 😮

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Panasonic have a few downloads available here:
http://panasonic1.software.informer.com 
The one we use is called PHOTOfunSTUDIO 5.1. I've just had a look at its manual which claims that .RW2 is supported.
Looks like a free download so worth a try.

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Windows only software - I'm using a Mac.

I'll go back to banging my head against a wall, if you don't mind? 😮



Back to where we began...

One very handy feature I've found so far is a digital spirit level thingy which can appear on the view screen - this should make levelling photographs underground a lot easier.

Similarly, the inbuilt HDR effect might prove very interesting for light-painted photography.

So far, I'm pretty impressed with it although the novelty of the inbuilt effects (HDR, miniaturisation etc) may wear off.

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Ah the joys of having an up to date camera 😉 I strongly suspect that any current sotware will also not work with the LX-7's RAW files. When they start to support it properly, so will DNG convertor so you'll be sorted then anyway. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part though.

I'm thinking about buyng Aperture as it seems to do a better job of RAW conversion than PhotoShop/Lightroom. I've just checked and it doesn't support the LX-7 yet though. Ho hum.

Windows only software - I'm using a Mac.

Sorry, that hadn't registered. Not very clever of Panasonic to alienate a sizeable number of their customers then.

One very handy feature I've found so far is a digital spirit level thingy which can appear on the view screen - this should make levelling photographs underground a lot easier.

That reminds me of a little gizmo I must still have knocking around somewhere - a bubble spirit level that slots into the hotshoe. Made by Kaiser, IIRC. 🙂

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Xnview has a Mac version and is free. It supports .rw2, but whether it has been updated for the LX7 yet..?

Xnview have an online file converter that is powered by Xnview, so maybe stick a file into that and see if it works. Otherwise free and quick to download the whole program. Very good bit of software.

That reminds me of a little gizmo I must still have knocking around somewhere - a bubble spirit level that slots into the hotshoe. Made by Kaiser, IIRC. :)

Brilliant idea, I've been wondering how to fix a spirit level to a tripod, so will get one of those instead!

Problem solved, the expensive way :(

All I need now is iPhoto to get upgraded so I can import photos in the normal manner...

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