Lumix DMC-LC40 Review
Panasonic’s partnership with top photographic brand Leica has produced some interesting cameras. Leica has brought its optical expertise to the relationship, while Panasonic brings its experience in electronics.
There are a number of factors to take into account when choosing a digital camera. Price is important, and so is the quality of the results. But you’ve also got to enjoy using it, and it’s this factor which can easily get overlooked.
And while Lumix DMC-LC40 is refreshingly chunky in a market populated increasingly by sub-miniature cameras, it still manages to be a bit of a fiddle to use. The handgrip’s not quite big enough and, as with the Nikon Coolpix 4300, you find your fingernails scrunched against the lens barrel.
The main mode dial is simple enough, though, and offers fast access to the principle shooting modes, but you can’t help feeling that if a couple of options had been dropped to make space for the playback and continuous shooting modes, you wouldn’t need the extra rotating collar mounted underneath.
Things don’t get much better on the back. On a camera this size, there’s no obvious reason why the buttons should be so small and heavy, and the first time you use the navipad and menu system, you think there’s something wrong with it. The navipad itself is very dead-feeling and unresponsive, while the menus respond with a sluggishness that makes you press the pad repeatedly because you think it hasn’t registered properly However, there was nothing wrong with our camera.
While we’re in moaning mode, there’s that novelty pop-up flash. Lots of other cameras have pop-up flashes too, and there’s nothing wrong with them. But on other cameras, the flash pops up automatically when you need it. Not here. On the LC-40 the flash isn’t going to fire unless you manually slide the switch on the side of the body. And once it’s up, there’s no switching it off until you click it shut again. You’ll get used to this way of working soon enough, but it’s a quirk which just seems a bit odd and unnecessary.
Lumix DMC-LC40 Features and results
Handling is a subjective thing, and there may be many who love the LC-40’s looks and controls. In any event, there’s no arguing over its raw specifications. In particular, you get a very good lens for the money. The 3x zooming range is ordinary enough, but the f2-2.5 maximum aperture isn’t.
Shots are very crisp-looking, if a little granular when viewed close up. We doubt you’ll find a 4-megapixel digital camera which gives you significantly crisper results than this, and while the exposure system is inclined towards underexposure now and again, this will at least cut down on the incidence of blown out highlights – a general problem with digital cameras.
With its selection of scene modes (Macro, Portrait, Lanscape, Sports, Night shots) and its addition of aperture-priority and shutter-priority automation to the standard programmed AE mode, the LC-40 is well-enough specified to give the more expensive LC-5 a run for its money. There’s no full manual mode, and you don’t get the LC-5’s colossal 2.5-inch LCD, but you do get auto-bracketing (over three or five shots), white balance control (ahem), a movie mode and everything else you’re likely to need.
The LC-40’s pretty soundly made, it has a removable lens collar so that you can add telephoto and wideangle converters, and it does all this at a price that undercuts that of most serious rivals.
If you’re looking at chunky 4-megapixel cameras with lots of photographic tools aimed at serious users, you’d also be looking at the LC-5 or Canon’s PowerShot G2. You won’t necessarily see any improvement in image quality with these more expensive rivals, but you will find them easier and better to use. In this respect they have the edge over the Lumix DMC-LC40 – whose controls will annoy some users despite the quality of its prints.
Tagged with: DMC-LC40 • leica • lumix • Panasonic • review
Filed under: Panasonic
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