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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 31 reviews
- See all user reviews
Product summary
The good: Excellent photo quality for its class; fast burst mode; easy operation with beginner-friendly Simple mode.
The bad: Small 1.5-inch LCD; formidable shutter lag; no aperture- or shutter-priority mode; only two quality settings; no TIFF option.
The bottom line: This compact Lumix can give you excellent 3-megapixel photo quality at a bargain price, but you'll have to put up with its poky performance.
Specifications: Digital camera type: Compact ; Resolution: 3.2 megapixels ; Optical zoom: 3 x ; See full specs
Price range: $387.99 check prices
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 06/24/2004
- Released on: 08/01/2003
Designed for comfortable shooting with either one or two hands, the 8.2-ounce Lumix DMC-LC33's controls are laid out for fast access to the most-used features. Other settings are accessible via a clear and simple menu system. If you're a novice, you can turn the mode dial on top to Simple, which pares down your photo options and gives them no-brainer names such as Enlarge, 4x6, and Internet. There are also seven other shooting modes: Macro, Portrait, Landscape, Night Portrait, Color Effects, and Spot, as well as a Motion mode for 320x240 QuickTime movies, albeit at a jerky 10fps rate. A button on top of the camera cycles through slow burst, high-speed burst, and single exposure modes.
At the top of this camera's feature list is the Leica DC Vario-Elmarit 3X zoom lens, which offers a 35mm-to-105mm range (35mm-camera equivalent). Its macro capabilities are good for a camera in this price range--you can get as close as 3.9 inches at wide angle--although no manual focus options are available. The flash works well in macro mode, too, and the bright optical viewfinder has parallax markings that will help you avoid cutting off the tops of your macro subjects.
Your exposure-mode choices are limited to a single programmed exposure mode, plus a dual Spot mode that uses the center of the frame to calculate both exposure and focus. You can apply exposure compensation of plus or minus 2EV or capture a three-shot autobracketing sequence. Shutter speeds range from 8 seconds to 1/2,000 second, but the speeds can't be manually selected, nor is there an action shooting mode for freezing sports and fast-moving subjects.
When it comes to speed, the DMC-LC33 is a mediocre performer, and it falls down badly in the shutter-lag department. We measured delays of almost 2 full seconds between the time the shutter release was pressed and when the picture was actually taken. This Lumix's slow autofocus mechanism seems to be the primary culprit, although it made little difference whether we were shooting under difficult (low-contrast) or easy (high-contrast) conditions. First shot time after the camera was powered up was almost 5 seconds in our tests, but shot-to-shot times were on the slow side, ranging from 2.23 seconds without flash to 3.26 seconds with it. The camera's high-speed burst mode was a bright spot, capturing eight frames in less than 2 seconds.
The DMC-LC33 produced excellent images for its 3-megapixel class. It did a great job of exposing images properly under both flash and daylight, as well as with incandescent illumination. Although they were noticeably softer near the edges, our test images were generally sharp and detailed, even in inky shadows. The automatic white balance corrected the color in most cases, but we sometimes had to make adjustments under incandescent light. Colors were rich and pleasing, and you can select cool or warm tones as well as higher and lower color saturation via the menu system. We saw few artifacts, and noise levels were very low in general, although we don't recommend the ISO 400 setting unless it's necessary to handle low light.
User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 31 reviews
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Where to buy
DMC-LC33 Lumix Digital Camera:
$387.99
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$387.99 | See Site |
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