Panasonic has announced an upgrade to the popular LX100 premium compact, the Panasonic Lumix LX100 II, with a higher res sensor and touchscreen display.
It retains the wide-aperture Leica 24-75mm f1.7-2.8 lens of the original, which Panasonic claims is up there with DSLR lens performance.
‘The LX100 developed a cult following among enthusiasts, and now the LX100 II rewards our fans by delivering their most-requested upgrades. The camera offers a new level of finesse with excellent capabilities – including a brand new sensor, touch screen, 4K Photo interface and Bluetooth capability,’ said Scott Mellish, product marketing manager, Imaging, Panasonic Australia.
The 17 (effective) megapixel M43 MOS sensor features a ‘multi-aspect’ design which is highlighted on the lens barrel, where there are settings for for 4:3, 3:2, 1:1 and 16:9 aspect ratios.
The EVF has an improved 2764k-dot resolution with the touch sensitive 3-inch rear screen at 1240k dots.
Manual control is extensive, with dedicated rings and dials including aperture ring, control ring, aspect ratio switch, shutter speed dial and exposure compensation dial. The camera can be customised to the user’s personal shooting style with 10 programmable Function buttons – five physical Fn buttons on-camera and five on the touchscreen. Bracketing modes include focus, aperture, exposure and white balance.
The LX100 II captures video at 4K (3840 x 2160, at 100mbps/25 fps in MP4). 4K Photo mode allows photographers to extract individual frames from 4K video to create a 3840 x 2160 8-megapixel equivalent JPEG image.
A new feature is video Auto Marking, which highlights video frames that contain movement or faces. In addition, the in-camera Sequence Composition function allows a sequence of images to be shown within one shot – for example the trajectory of a motorbike jump, the arc of a diver leaving the board, or the movement of a dancer.
There’s a 4K Photo with 4K Pre-burst mode which shoots 30 frames per second before and after the shutter is released.
The camera boasts high speed burst shooting at 11 fps (AFS) / 5.5 (AFC) to capture fast moving subjects. Starlight AF captures subjects such as stars in the sky at night using autofocus. The camera can also focus down to 3cm in its macro mode (30cm in its tele mode).
The LX100 II has a fastest 1/4000 sec mechanical shutter and 1/16,000 electronic shutter speed.
Other Features:
– Creative filters with 22 options for photo and video
– L.Monochrome and L.Monochrome D mode to create film-like black and white shots
– Streamlined sharing of images with Bluetooth 4.2 Low Energy connection and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi® (IEEE 802.11b/g/n)
– Highlight/Shadow Control
– RAW data development in-camera
– Focus Peaking to show the peak of focus in MF and AF+MF mode
– Level Gauge to detect the horizontal/vertical angle of view
– Multi-Aspect Bracket allows a still image to be captured in 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 and 1:1 with a single shutter release
– USB charging.
The Lumix LX100 II goes on sale in October for $1399 – which makes the local price super-competitive with the US recommended $US999.
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