Turn the aperture ring with your left hand (which supports the lens) and operate the shutter speed dial with your right hand (holding the camera body). These two controls adjust the exposure, which is critical in picture quality.
The L1 features analog-like controls that feel comfortable and instantly familiar. You can adjust settings with the touch of a fingertip, check them with a quick glance, and set the exposure intuitively.
For photographers who consider the way a camera feels an important part of photo shooting, the L1 is a revolutionary digital camera. It's easy to use and feels just right in your hands. Each time you make a 1/3-EV step adjustment of either the shutter speed or the apeture, the L1 responds with a reassuring click that contributes to its extraordinary operating ease. With the L1, photographer and camera quickly become one.

This easy-to-operate, easy-to-understand, analog-like system also lets you select the exposure mode by simply placing the aperture ring and shutter speed dial in the positions shown in the chart below.

Lever-operated light metering mode and drive mode

The systems switching the light metering mode and drive mode use independent mechanical levers. The light metering mode lever lets you instantly select intelligent multiple metering, center weighted metering or spot metering. The drive mode lever allows one-touch selection of single-frame shooting, burst shooting, auto-bracket shooting, or the self-timer.

The exposure compensation function can be activated by pressing the function button and turning the command dial. When "Direct exposure compensation" is turned ON in the Custom menu, you can control the exposure compensation by just turning the dial.
In designing the L1, Panasonic experimented with a variety of sizes and locations for the command dial. You'll find that the dial is just the right size and in just the right place for you to operate with the thumb of your right hand. The AF/AE lock button is positioned just right too. You can perform a series of shooting operations - aiming the camera, saving the exposure and focus settings in memory, changing the camera angle, and pressing the shutter release button – quickly, naturally and effortlessly.

Set functions can be easily recalled

The function buttons let you assign a variety of function settings, like film mode, number of recording pixels, and exposure compensation, to the Function 1 and Function 2 to match your shooting style, and then recall them whenever you need them.