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Introduction:
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS1, is available from around £155 (update:
now only £80
at Amazon.co.uk!) the Lumix LS1 is a compact 4 megapixel digital camera,
with a 3x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 35-105mm on a 35mm camera),
and a 2" TFT screen. The camera is enclosed in a silver plastic body.
It records unlimited 320 x 240 / 30fps videos without sound. The camera's
quite compact for a camera that takes AA batteries and measures: 94 (L)
x 63 (H) x 31 (W) mm. (without protruding parts), and weighs 142g (without
the battery and memory card)
Panasonic have this
to say about the camera:
"With Panasonic's
Lumix¢ digital camera, simple point-and-shoot operation does not
mean sacrificing quality or performance. New model DMC-LS1 is an easy-to-use
marvel that offers 4-megapixel resolution and 3x optical zoom along with
sophisticated features like MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)."
The Camera: It's
compact and made out of silver plastic.
(Photos of the camera taken with a Panasonic
Lumix FZ3)
Front -
Camera off.
Front -
Camera on, lens extended, flash, led.
Back - the
2" TFT screen, display button, menu, 4-way controller, continous shooting
/ delete button, led.
Top - mode
dial, image stabilisation mode button, shutter, zoom control, and on/off
switch.
Bottom,
under the camera there is a plastic tripod mount, and the battery compartment.
Left Side
(from back) AV/USB out, DC in.
Memory card
holder.
Size Comparison:
Compared to a Pentax PC-550 35mm automatic.
Size comparison.
Size comparison.
Size comparison
next to the Olympus Camedia
C-500.
Specifications
/ Features:
- 4-megapixel sensor
- 3x optical zoom
lens
- MEGA Optical Image
Stabilizer keeps low-light and telephoto images sharp
- Store images on
Secure Digital (SD) memory cards
- 2.0" LCD
- Movie mode: Record
320 x 240 at 30fps without sound
- ISO: Auto ISO,
Manual ISO 64, 100, 200, 400
- TV Out
- Continuous shooting:
Standard Mode: Up to 7 images at 4 or 2 frames/sec. Fine Mode: Up to
4 images
- 14mb built in memory
Box Contents:
- Camera
- 2x Oxyride AA batteries
- Video cable
- USB cable
- CD-rom
- Strap
- Operating instructions
Average box contents
- 14mb is an average size memory card for a 4 megapixel camera.
Battery usage:
Up to 215 images with supplied Oxyride batteries according to Panasonic.
I would recommend you buy high power rechargable batteries and a charger,
ie. 2300+mah ni-mh batteries. Battery life seemed good. The camera also
has an economy mode which should increase battery life.
Menu Options /
Modes: The camera mode is selected using the rotating dial.
Photo mode/menu:
The menu button brings up the menu screen as shown on the right below:
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| Photo mode |
Photo Menu |
Screen / LCD display
in photo mode: (shown on the left) The screen is a fairly decent resolution,
and updates smoothly - the colours appear accurate. There is a live histogram
available and the screen is clear and the text and menus are easy to read.
Optical Viewfinder: There is no optical viewfinder.
Menu options are:
White balance (including custom), Sensitivity, Picture size, Quality,
AF mode, Slow shutter, Digital zoom (on/off), Colour effect (Cool, Warm,
Black and White, Sepia), Picture adjust (Natural, Standard, Vivid).
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| Scene modes |
Setup Menu |
Scene modes: (shown
on the left, above) Portrait, Sports, Scenery, Night scenery, Night portrait,
Fireworks, Party, Snow.
Setup menu options:
(shown on the right, above) Battery type, Monitor, Auto review, Power
save, beep, clock set, no. reset, reset, USB mode, video out, scene menu,
language.
Playback (Review)
mode/menu: The menu button brings up the menu screen as shown on the
right, below:
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| Playback mode |
Playback Menu |
Playback mode:
Scrolling through the photos is quick. The zoom is quick up to 16x.
Playback menu options:
Rotate disp, Rotate, Protect, DPOF Print, Slide show, resize, trimming,
copy (allows you to copy from internal memory to memory card and vice
versa), format.
Picture Size /
Quality: The camera takes the following size pictures, and the following
number of images will fit on the 14mb memory provided with the camera:
| Size
/ Quality: |
Number
of Photos Stored |
| |
Fine |
Normal |
| 4mp
(2304x1728) |
8 |
15 |
| HDTV
(1920x1080) |
13 |
25 |
| 2mp
(1600x1200) |
14 |
27 |
| 1.3mp
(1280x960) |
22 |
40 |
| VGA
(640x480) |
68 |
111 |
| Video
320x240 30fps |
26
seconds |
You can fit a small
number of images on the built in memory - a larger memory card is definitely
recommended, unless you want to use the lower image sizes / higher compression
options in order to fit more pictures in memory. There is a very good
choice of image sizes, and there is a good choice regarding image compression.
A larger memory card
is relatively cheap, and highly recommended, I would recommend at a bare
minimum a 128mb or 256mb memory card, and preferably a 512mb memory card,
or larger, especially considering the relatively low prices - the larger
the memory card, the more photos you will be able to take. If you are
likely to go on holiday then the largest memory card you can afford would
definitely be worth investing in, as you don't always know when you will
next be at a computer. Listed below are links to memory cards that will
work with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS1:
128mb SD memory card
- £11.99
from Amazon.co.uk.
256mb SD memory card - £19.00
from Amazon.co.uk.
512mb SD memory card - £33.99
from Amazon.co.uk.
1gb (1000mb) SD memory card - £59.99
from Amazon.co.uk.
Speed: The
camera is fairly quick to switch on and take photos - however the camera
can occassionally 'hunt' for the focus in darker indoor conditions. The
screen updates are quick and smooth (in good light). The playback mode
is also quick. Playback mode allows you to zoom as close as 16x. The camera
has a very quick (4fps!) continuous shooting mode. The camera shutter
response seemed quick when pre-focused.
Ease of use:
The camera is easy to use, although the camera does have quite a lot of
options and features. The controls on the back of the camera are fairly
easy to use - the menus are responsive and easy to read. The
camera is very compact for a digital camera that takes AA batteries. The
menus are also easy to use, and the options are big enough and easy enough
to see clearly. The modes are easy to access, quick and simple - there's
even a basic mode for simple point and shoot operation.
Ergonomics and
Buttons: (Feel, placement, labels, etc) The buttons are fairly easy
to use, and they are in a good position. There seems to be the right amount
of buttons. The buttons feel okay, the shutter release is quite decent.
The buttons are labelled fairly well. I thought the camera felt very good
ergonomically, and was the correct weight - it seemed lighter than it
looked, but not too light. The hand grip seemed good, without making the
camera too big or bulky. The only design problem, which is a fairly minor
one, is the location of the tripod mount, which is quite close the the
edge of the camera.
Image Quality:
Here are some sample photos/video(s) taken in various settings, such
as Inside, Noise, Outside, Zoom, Macro, Movie to demonstrate the quality
of pictures taken and also show different features of the camera. Larger
versions of these photos, plus more photos are available in the new gallery!
Inside:
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| Heather
and Flower |
Group
photo |
Inside: The camera
has very good colour - it is the only camera out of 3 other well known
brands that managed to correctly record the colour of the orange person
on the right - other's recorded her as either too red, or too yellow!
It also took one of the best "Heather and Flower" photos. It
has a powerful flash, and copes well with group photos. The camera did
a good job at focusing the majority of the time. Red-eye didn't seem to
be huge a problem.
Noise: Noise
is generally a bad thing - it removes detail, and gives a grainy effect
over the image. With digital cameras noise can be a real problem as digital
camera noise is often made out of blue, red or green dots. As the ISO
setting increases, pictures tend to have more noise. Noise is most noticeable
in dark areas of photos. The camera has an Automatic mode for ISO levels,
and manual ISO settings (ISO64, 100, 200, and 400) - below you'll find
the noise test image, plus actual pixel crops from the image taken at
different ISO settings.
Noise test photo - flash on
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| ISO64 - Actual
Pixels |
ISO100 - Actual
Pixels |
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| ISO200 - Actual
Pixels |
ISO400 - Actual
Pixels |
Noise levels appear
low at ISO64 and ISO100. At ISO200 noise becomes more noticable but is
still acceptable, at ISO400 noise seems high.
Outside:
 |
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| MG
Rover 25 (RIP) |
Super
Lamb Banana (at it's new location) |
Outside, again the
camera had excellent colour, with good contrast and saturation. There
was good detail. Noise seemed well controlled. I didn't notice jpeg artefacts
in the images. The usual Unisys building photo can be found in the
gallery.
Zoom: This
camera has a 3x optical zoom lens and a built in 4x digital zoom - in
the case of this camera the digital zoom basically takes a smaller area
of the photo and enlarges it using software blurring the image so that
it is not pixellated. Generally it's best to avoid using digital zoom
as it degrades the quality of the image and, often, better results can
be obtained by using a photo package such as Adobe Photoshop. I've included
examples below to show what the 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom is
capable of.
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| Wide-angle |
3x
Optical zoom |
3x
Optical zoom + digital zoom |
Lens noise and
zoom: The lens is fairly quiet. The lens is quick at going from wide
to telephoto - there are about 9 steps between wide and telephoto to count!
This gives you good control on how you frame your subject.
Other Image Quality
issues: I did notice purple fringing in some photos, i.e. the clock
tower photos, however it is still quite low.
Macro: To use
this camera in macro mode, you switch to macro mode - you can use the
macro mode at wide angle, all the way to telephoto. You can use the flash
in macro mode. The camera can be roughly as close as 6cm away from the
subject from the front of the lens.
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| Macro
Watch (ISO 64) |
Actual
Pixels (100%) |
The macro mode is
very good - the camera is okay, but not brilliant of toning down the flash,
and colours and detail are very good.
Movie: 320x240
at 30fps without sound. The movie is recorded as an .MOV file. Unfortunately
you can't use the optical zoom whilst recording videos. The quality of
the movie(s) is quite good, colour is good, the camera also does a good
job in low-light. The frame rate is good.
Conclusion
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Image Quality:
Image quality is excellent, the images have extremely accurate colour,
saturation, contrast and good detail - however there is some purple
fringing. Images tend to come out of the camera perfectly, without
requiring any post-processing! The camera did a good job focusing
the majority of the time, only slightly struggling in low light.
Noise was on the high side, especially at ISO 200 and 400. I didn't
notice any vignetting in the corners. There is a good range of image
sizes and a good choice of compression options. The macro mode is
very good. Auto white balance and metering seemed to be very good.
Red-eye was controlled fairly well. The movie mode is slightly better
than average, at 320x240 / 30fps although unfortunately doesn't
record sound.
Everything
else (the camera as a whole): The camera is compact and is designed
well - the camera feels very comfortable in my hands. The camera
is very compact considering it takes AA batteries. The camera is
easy to use, the menu system is easy to use and there is a good
layout of buttons and controls. There is a good choice of features
and options although the majority are aimed at beginners, rather
than experts, however there is manual white balance, a live histogram,
and high speed shooting. The camera speed is good, with a okay switch
on time, good focusing time, good shutter response, and an especially
impressive 4fps continous shooting mode - which is better than some
of the new digital SLRs! | |
120.00 cuc - Camar
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