Panasonic, is proud to announce a long-awaited DMC-LX5 - a successor to the DMC-LX3, acclaimed worldwide especially by the photography enthusiasts, after two years of silence. Since the birth of DMC-LX3, the new category is established in the compact camera market, which is called premium compact cameras that features high picture quality and creative descriptiveness. The new DMC-LX5 is fully re-designed in the lens, the CCD and the image processing engine together with other improvements and upgrades.

The newly developed super bright F2.0 ultra wide angle 24mm LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMICRON lens minimizes distortion for stunning, true-to-life images with outstanding resolution and detail. The 24mm of wide angle offers extraordinarily large viewing space and now the optical zoom is extended to 3.8x (90mm) making the LX5 even more versatile.

The highly acclaimed 10.1-megapixel CCD in the LX3 has been redesigned to achieve the expansion of dynamic range by increasing the sensitivity and the saturation. The Venus Engine FHD is also redesigned for advanced signal processing in both photo and movie recording. The high sensitivity made possible by the new sensor and the superior signal processing by the new imaging engine especially elevates the picture quality in low light situations.

For the movie recording, the DMC-LX5 is newly compatible with long time high quality HD movie recording in AVCHD Lite in addition to the conventional motion JPEG format. A host of creative options including Creative Movie mode, My Color mode and Film mode are available for more extended expression not only in photography but also in videography.

The external design is also improved to pursue high operability - the thickened grip for easier hold, the newly incorporated turn-and-push jog dial achieves various selection and setting more quickly. The hot shoe allows attachment of advanced accessories such as optional Live View Finder which helps shooting under strong daylight with high visibility. The 1:1 square format setting is added in the aspect ratio option which can be selected with the switch at the side of the lens barrel.

The 3.0-inch large 460,000-dot high resolution Intelligent LCD is also redesigned by adopting High CRI (Color Rendering Index) backlight LED to greatly increase the color reproduction offering remarkable visibility both in shooting and playing back images in any conditions from at dark night to under dazzling sunlight. Despite the high performance and the maintained size of the camera body, the battery life is extended to shoot 400 pictures (CIPA) per a single charge.

As a pocket camera of professionals and high amateurs, or an advanced camera of step-up users, the DMC-LX5 promises none-the-like picture quality and creativity backed up by crystallization of Panasonic's state-of-the-art optical and digital technologies. Leading the expressive possibility of compact cameras to even higher dimension, the DMC-LX5 starts its history that will surely be passed into legend.

F2.0 Super Bright 24mm Ultra-Wide-Angle High Quality LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMICRON Lens with Minimum Distortion

The DMC-LX5 is equipped with newly developed F2.0 24mm ultra-wide-angle LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMICRON lens with even higher resolution. The super bright, high quality lens is redesigned for extension of the optical zoom from LX3's 2.5x(60mm) to 3.8x(90mm) to be even more versatile for snapshots including portraits. The F2.0 lens is about twice as bright as the F2.8 lens, itself generally considered a bright lens. The result is higher shutter speed can be used to capture stunningly clear, sharp, blur-free images in lower lighting situation. This advanced lens also makes it easy to produce beautiful photos with pleasing soft-focused background thanks to the shallow depth of field provided by the extra light.

Also, the 24mm ultra-wide-angle lens - rare on a compact camera - gives photographers a wider range of composition possibilities. The super-high-quality LEICA DC VARIO- SUMMICRON lens minimizes distortion at the wide end, so users can get stunning, true-to-life images with outstanding resolution and detail. The LX5 captures approx. 213% larger viewing space compared to that normal 35mm camera does, and even approx. 136% larger compared to that 28mm wide-angle lens can do.

The lens unit consists of 10 elements in 9 groups with 3 aspherical lenses with 5 aspherical surfaces. Minimal distortion, high resolution, minimum artifacts such as chromatic aberrations, ghosting and flaring are the proof of uncompromising imaging made possible by F2.0 24mm ultra wide angle LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMICRON lens.

Thanks to the newly incorporated Intelligent Resolution technology, the Intelligent Zoom is available with the LX5 which extends the zoom ratio by approx. 1.3x maintaining the picture quality even combining a digital zoom. This means the 3.8x optical can virtually extend to 5x equivalent. Furthermore, the Extra Optical Zoom function that extends zoom power to 6.7x (at 3-megapixel resolution) by using the center part of the large CCD to bring subjects even closer.

In addition, the iris diaphragm allows the users to adjust aperture at fine steps manually.

Specification: