Panasonic LX15 review: A compact camera that puts quality first

One-inch sensors are the best thing to happen to compact cameras in a long time. They’re about four times larger than those used in smartphones and cheap compact cameras and that means a big boost for image quality. They’re not as big as SLR sensors, but cameras like the Panasonic LX15 make up for it with their wide-aperture zoom lenses.

The result is a camera that can capture more light than many SLRs equipped with a kit Lens. Why is this a good thing? More light can be measured more accurately, which means better image quality. There are other things that affect image quality, but as a general rule this is the most important and it's why such cameras are so much better than cheap compacts and smartphones.

The LX15 isn’t the first Panasonic camera to use a 1in sensor, but it’s the first to go head-to-head with the Sony RX100 series. The latest Sony RX100 V is a tour de force with outstanding image quality, equally impressive 4K videos, superb slow motion modes, jaw-dropping 24fps burst performance and a high-quality electronic viewfinder. However, £1,000 is a painful amount to spend on a compact camera. It’s telling that Sony continues to sell all five iterations of the RX100, with prices starting at £350 for the original model that first appeared in 2012.

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For me, the Canon G7 X Mark II is the camera this Panasonic must aspire to beat. It omits a viewfinder, 4K video and slow motion but its 24-100mm (4.2x) zoom is more versatile than the Sony’s 24-70mm (2.9x), the touchscreen and exposure compensation dial make it easier to use and the £550 price is much easier to swallow.

The Panasonic LX15's core specifications are closer to the Sony. Videos are recorded at resolutions up to 4K. Full HD 1080p videos are recorded at 100fps for 4x slow motion when played back at 25fps. That’s not as dramatic as Sony’s 250fps capture (it reaches even higher at reduced resolutions), but it still has the desired effect. The 24-72mm (3x) zoom is relatively modest, but for wide-angle shots, its f/1.4 aperture captures 66% more light than the others’ f/1.8 lenses. With all three cameras, the aperture narrows to f/2.8 at the long end of their zooms.

Other features are in line with the Canon. There’s no electronic viewfinder but there is a touchscreen. Continuous shooting hits 10fps, just ahead of Canon’s 8fps, and it costs £600, which is a good sight cheaper than the Sony RX100 V.

All three cameras are a similar size and weight, and while the Sony deserves some extra kudos for fitting an electronic viewfinder into its petite case, it’s not a feature I particularly missed while using this camera. Holding such a small camera up to your face just feels a bit weird. I’m much happier to find a touchscreen on the Panasonic LX15. It speeds up menu navigation and comes into its own when moving the autofocus point. The screen tilts up for shooting at waist level and folds right over for capturing selfies.

Panasonic finds room on the top plate for mode and command dials and there are lens rings for aperture control and manual focus – great news for those who like to use manual exposure settings. Buttons on the back access Panasonic’s proprietary 4K Photo and Post Focus modes, but these can be reassigned to more conventional functions such as ISO speed and autofocus mode. White balance, exposure compensation, drive mode and macro/manual focus have dedicated buttons, all of which are small and fiddly but that’s the price of such a small thing.

The 4K Photo mode is a welcome extra. It captures 4K video files at 30fps and lets you choose frames to save as 8-megapixel JPEGs after the event. Unlike regular video modes, though, you’re not limited to a widescreen aspect ratio. Meanwhile, Post Focus records a short video of the scene while sweeping through the focus. On playback, you can tap anywhere in the frame to see a shot with that area in focus, and then choose that frame to save. I’m not sure how often it’s likely to come in useful but it’s a fun trick that works extremely well. The LX15 also includes time-lapse and stop-motion animation modes with the latter automatically converting a sequence of photos into a 4K or 1080p video.

Panasonic LX15 review: Autofocus, performance and 4K video

The large sensor and wide-aperture lens give a shallow depth of field that really flatters portrait subjects but it also means that focusing errors are more noticeable. As such, it’s great to see face detection behaving so responsively, locking in on subjects’ eyes rather than just anywhere on the face. You can override this simply by tapping the screen and the autofocus area size can be adjusted by spinning the command dial.

Autofocus was extremely quick to lock onto subjects, helping the camera to capture a shot every 0.6 seconds in normal use. The 10fps burst mode lasted for 50 JPEGs before slowing to 5fps, while burst mode with continuous autofocus enabled was 6.3fps. The Sony RX100 V is superior in this respect but the LX15 is quick enough for most purposes and you can use the 4K Photo mode if you need more speed. The camera captured RAW photos at 9.3fps but in this mode, it lasted a mere 13 frames before slowing to 1.1fps.

I’m a big fan of 4K video, as the footage looks great on 1080p screens and will look even better in years to come when 4K screens are commonplace. The Panasonic LX15’s 4K footage is superb, although it isn't quite up to the Sony RX100 V’s standards. Details look a little over-sharpened and this accentuates noise. However, this slight disadvantage is overshadowed by the ability to move the autofocus point using the LX15’s touchscreen, a crucially important feature for video, that’s notably absent from the Sony RX100 V.

^ The touchscreen-controlled autofocus makes it easy to pick a part of the frame to focus on, and the 4K footage is top notch

For capturing 4K video, the LX15 uses an 8-megapixel crop of the 20-megapixel sensor, which saves the camera having to resize every frame. That means the 24-72mm effective focal length for photos translates to 36-108mm for 4K videos. Wide-angle’s loss is telephoto’s gain, however, and on balance I’d say this trade-off is welcome. There’s no optical stabilisation for 4K capture, or for slow-motion videos, but it is available for 1080p.

The 100fps slow-motion footage looks a little scruffy, I suspect because the camera is discarding pixels rather than resizing them to produce 1,920 x 1,080 frames from the 5,472 x 3,648-pixel sensor. Sony’s slow-motion footage looks crisper. However, while Sony’s slow-motion clips are recorded for four seconds, the Panasonic can keep recording for up to 30 minutes — should you have the urge to make a two-hour slow-motion video. Along with the timelapse and stop-motion modes, the Panasonic beats the Sony for video work.

^ 1080p capture at 100fps delivers 4x slow motion at 25fps

Panasonic LX15 review: Image quality

It’s harder to separate the Panasonic LX15, Sony RX100 V and Canon G7 X Mk II for photo quality. All three use one-inch, 20-megapixel sensors and have similarly specified lenses. Comparing their JPEG output in our studio scene, they all performed well at ISO 125. As the ISO speed increased, each camera exhibited its own approach to noise reduction but it’s a matter of taste which you prefer.

^ There’s not much to separate the Canon G7 X Mk II, Sony RX100 V and Panasonic LX15 for image quality at fast ISO speeds

Out in the wild, the lens performed well but not brilliantly. Details were razor sharp in the centre of the frame but slightly soft towards the edges. This isn’t the ideal camera for landscape photography, then, but I can’t imagine it detracting from most other subject matter.

The Panasonic’s secret weapon is its f/1.4 aperture for wide-angle shots. That’s a significant advantage for low-light shooting, delivering faster shutter speeds (to reduce blur) or slower ISO speeds (to reduce noise). The advantage is short-lived, though, with the maximum aperture quickly narrowing to f/2.8 by the time the lens reaches a 31mm (35mm equivalent) focal length. The Sony behaves similarly, but the G7 X II manages f/2.2 at 35mm. It’s swings and roundabouts, then, but along with its 25-100mm (4x) zoom, it’s fair to say that the Canon has the best lens.

Overall, though, The LX15’s image quality across my tests was excellent. Automatic settings were expertly chosen, with balanced exposures and sensible shutter speeds helping avoid blur in moving subjects. In very low light where the subject and camera were both still, the camera selected very slow shutter speeds to keep noise to a minimum and the optical stabilisation delivered the goods. With the help of that responsive, consistent autofocus, this little camera is able to deliver high-quality photos in challenging conditions with impressively reliable regularity.

^ Lots of fine detail in this wide-angle shot, but focus deteriorates slightly towards the edges of the frame (1/1,300s, f/2.8, ISO 125, 24mm equivalent)

^ This shot at the long end of the zoom tells a similar story (1/2,000s, f/2.8, ISO 125, 72mm equivalent)

^ The 1in sensor and wide-aperture lens help to deliver a shallow depth of field, throwing the background out of focus to draw attention to the main subject. Skin and hair textures are detailed and natural (1/250s, f/2.8, ISO 125, 62mm equivalent)

^ The f/1.4 aperture for wide-angle shots helps to keep the ISO speed down in low light. The result is superb image quality for indoor shots (1/60s, f/1.4, ISO 160, 24mm equivalent)

^ The camera has picked a slightly faster shutter speed here to avoid motion blur for these moving subjects taken in low light. The resulting ISO 1600 setting means increased noise, and noise reduction has removed some fine detail, too. It’s nevertheless a superb result in challenging conditions (1/80s, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 36mm equivalent)

^ The LX15 has taken this low-light scene in its stride. There’s a bit of noise but it’s not too intrusive. (1/40s, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 48mm equivalent)

^ This scene was taken in near total darkness — the only light comes from the LEDs on a child’s toy. The LX15 has picked an extremely slow 1/4s shutter speed, but the stabilisation has managed to keep the handheld shot steady. There’s a fair amount of noise at ISO 2500 but it’s far from being a write-off (1/4s, f/1.4, ISO 2500, 24mm equivalent)

Panasonic LX15 review: Verdict

The LX15 may be competitively priced, but £600 is still a lot to spend on a compact camera. After all, you can’t change lenses or attach a flashgun, so keen photographers might only consider this as a second camera for times when their main rig might prove too bulky. These people should also consider the Panasonic LX100, which now costs £500, includes a viewfinder, hotshoe and superior controls and has the edge for image quality with its larger sensor.

However, there are lots of people who don’t see photography as a hobby but are still willing to pay for high quality. The LX15’s small zoom isn’t ideal for sightseeing but it’s much better than a zoomless smartphone. Meanwhile, the camera's superb low-light performance is just the thing for indoor portraits, particularly of children who never stay still, and for nights out on the tiles.

The Canon G7 X Mk II remains my top recommendation for people who aren’t too concerned about video. However, if you want a pocket-sized camera that does it all, the Panasonic LX15 is the camera for you.