LX100 Picture Quality, JPG/RAW, Aperture

JPG from the RAW file after conversion and editing

JPG straight from camera

I have been running some tests  of picture quality using different settings on the LX100.

Overall  The camera/lens/sensor/processor chain delivers a remarkable amount of subject detail for an 11-12Mp (depending on the chosen aspect ratio) unit with good highlight/shadow detail, definition and color.

JPG vs RAW  I have been recording all my photos as JPG+RAW to compare the two and to experiment with different JPG settings in the Photo Style Tab at the top of the Rec Menu.

I often find myself in conditions with high subject brightness range which influences my choice of JPG settings.

I set [i-Dynamic Auto] in the Rec Menu.

Settings in the Photo Style Menu are Contrast -2, Sharpness +3, Noise Reduction -5, Saturation 0.

These settings are a work in progress but I am so far reasonably happy with this combination.  They give good results in a wide variety of general photographic subjects.

I convert the RAW files in Adobe Camera Raw.

I have not encountered a single photo where the JPG turned out better than the RAW file processed to my best ability.

The JPGs are quite good but lag behind the RAWs in two main ways:

1. JPG colors are frequently off. In particular greens in foliage are excessive. Typical trees in Australia are yellow or blue green or mainly grey, but LX100 JPGs render them as though they were  lush tropical verdant green.   Colors in the brown to slightly red spectrum are sometimes wildly off  appearing as vivid red in the JPGs.  Blues and in particular purple blues are often rendered incorrectly.

2. None of the JPGs at any setting (even with Noise Reduction at -5) has quite the level of fine subject detail which is available from the RAW files.

Having said that I think the JPGs will please many users quite well so long as they are not too fussy about color fidelity.

Best lens aperture  The lens is very good,  providing clear sharp results at all apertures and focal lengths. My copy is well centered with no obvious difference in sharpness between one side of the frame and the other.

Good photos are readily available from  the widest aperture at all focal lengths. If in P Mode the camera wants to use the widest aperture I suggest letting it do so. The corners and edges are a bit soft at the widest aperture but this is rarely an issue in the kinds of photos most people will be making at those apertures.

Best sharpness across the frame is achieved at f5.6 at the wide end of the zoom range and f8 at the long end.

Sharpness starts to fall away a little at f8 (wide) and f11 (long).  By f16 test images are quite soft due to diffraction, which causes me to wonder why Panasonic included f16 on this lens.