Panasonic made quite a splash last year with photographers (and reviewers) when it released the LX1, a rangefinder-style shooter with a boatload of features that Imaging Resource's own Mike Pasini called "an excellent little camera, and clearly one of the best bargains on the market." Mike also said, in his review, that there was "nothing quite like" the LX1 at the time. That still holds true with the new Panasonic LX2.
Like its predecessor, the Panasonic LX2 is clearly inspired by the surging popularity of widescreen (16:9) televisions. Employing a unique set of "triple-wide" features, the LX2 combines a 28mm wide-angle Leica lens, a 16:9 wide CCD, and a 16:9 wide LCD. (Did I mention that this camera likes it wide?) If going wide isn't your thing, the camera has a very easily adjusted aspect ratio switch on the lens barrel that toggles between 16:9, 3:2, and 4:3 settings. If you're the type who likes to count pixels, the Panasonic LX2 has a 10 megapixel CCD that uses the full resolution of the sensor when shooting at 16:9. (The LX1 had a maximum 8.4 megapixel sensor at 16:9.) When you flip the switch on the Panasonic LX2 to 3:2, resolution drops to 8.5 megapixels, while in 4:3 it goes to 7.5 megapixels. This isn't because you're getting any less information in your pictures at these ratios, it's simply that the widest sections of the 16:9 sensor are cropped out in those shots... [read more]