Why do I love my Lumix LX3 digital camera?

I hardly use flash in photography and I'd much rather use available light because I feel that photos should look as natural as possible. (This isn't a rule in photography by the way, just a personal preference.) The Lumix LX3 pocketcam does not really boast of a high megapixel count, stopping at 10.1 megapixels, but instead it focuses on a bigger 1/1.63-inch sensor facilitating better low-light shooting.

This photo was shot at around 11 p.m. on December 31, 2009, as we attended New Year's Eve Midnight Mass. I didn't use a flash but as you can see, the image is relatively sharp and well-focused, and there is no noise or grain at all, as is usually the case with other compact cameras when shooting in low light. For this photo, I used an ISO setting of 1600 under manual mode.

This camera can shoot images, with the lens set from 24mm to 60mm, in any of three aspect ratios: 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9. This is a unique feature that sets the LX3 apart from its competitors which simply do format masking, something you can achieve anyway by cropping with any image editor.

This image was shot in manual mode at the widest aspect ratio, 16:9. See how I was able to capture a good amount of the scenery even without having to stand back.

Shooting objects up close is no problem at all when utilizing the Lumix' Macro Auto Focus setting. There are actually three AF modes that you can select from by toggling a switch on the side of the lens barrel: AF, Macro AF and Manual Focus. The main (and only) difference between AF and Macro AF is that with Macro, the camera can focus down to 1cm.

As you can see in the photo, every detail on my Momiji Doll is clearly visible - from the carved wooden incisions to the paint imperfections. It was shot using Macro AF at nighttime, with only a desk lamp as light source.

The Pinhole Camera setting has got to be my favorite fancy effect when using this camera. What this basically does is give a nostalgic vignetted photograph similar to what can be achieved using an old-fashioned pinhole camera. Another similar mode, Film Grain, is also available and the effect is of a photo that looks like it was taken with high sensitivity film.