A GH4 in your pocket - Panasonic LX100 with 4K and Micro Four Thirds sensor

[Cinegain]

For a cost of 7-800 dollars, would highly recommend to have a video package really rich, the purchase of FZ1000.
Excellent video quality, microphone in, presence of CINE styles, adjustable luminance, HDMI monitoring . Excellent lens, slower than the LX100 but still excellent, 1 inch BSI sensor really powerful. Form factor and controls very similar to GH4

Sure, the FZ1000 is a great package too. Had it with me to Hong Kong, it's a nice all-in-one solution for when you want to go exploring. You don't always want to carry around a tripod, a bunch of lenses and accessories. When I'm on a holiday I usually don't want to take my time setting up shots, changing lenses and all that stuff. I mostly just want to explore and experience stuff. The FZ1000 enables me to do that. It's very flexibile and capable, so you can still get great shots and footage, but without really taking you out of the experience.

 

The LX100... I feel like, if you find yourself using your smartphone a lot for capturing stills and video... but are displeased with the quality, the LX100 is a really cool powerhouse in the tiniest of packages. I mean, you'll likely not be able to fit it in the pocket of your jeans, but then again, wouldn't really want to be carrying a RX100 in my pocket either to be honest. They're supposed to be compact, not pocketable per se. Now, you'll have a hard time finding a coat pocket that fits the FZ1000 or a GH4, and in a shoulder/messenger bag they would still take up quite a bit of space, but the LX100 will in fact fit in your coat pocket and carrying it around is not a burden at all. There's no other premium compact camera that has such a sensor size coupled with a lens like that, capable of shooting 4K-video. There just isn't; it really is great. You might not always need it, but you can just carry it with you wherever you go and if the occasion arises, you don't have to settle for the poor results from your smartphone, you'll have something really powerful just a grab away.

 

For me the LX100 is the answer to the cameras on smartphones and lacking high-quality feel thereof. Whereas the FZ1000 is a brilliant all-in-one travel companion that doesn't take away from the experience of being somewhere.This doesn't mean you can not use these cameras in other ways, for regular shooting as your main camera, or that one thing is better than the other, but I feel like every camera has its own role to play. These cameras are very capable, but personally, if the main purpose of going somewhere is photography or shooting video, I really would like to hand pick lenses that suit that particular situation or project and throw them on a camera I feel would do the job, whether that being the OM-D E-M1 for photography, the GH4 for (4K) video or the BMPCC for cinematic feel and gradability. And you can decorate 'em like a christmas tree, so add a cage, a rig, a follow focus, a mattebox... or just keep it small and simple. Whatever the situation requires, really. I like this kind of modular setup. But of course, however you use it and whichever one you go for, any of these cameras will do an awesome job, that's for sure.

 

Question to people who bought LX100 in Germany/Austria:

Is it multi-language? Can you change the language to Polish?

 

I'm considering to buy in abroad, couse here it appeard with 900euro price.

Sure Jacek, you can set it to 'Polski'.

[Cinegain]

Interesting read: "LX100 vs. 5D MK III" ~ http://hackermovies.com/panasonic-lx-100-vs-5d-mk-iii-english .

 

His verdict...

The LX100 did not disappoint. Definitely not. From now on I can be sure to be able to capture professional bigscreen-theatre-projection-ready images at downscaled HD resolution with a tiny camera body that fits in my jacket or backpack easily. Now I just have to find ND filters, the right fitting cage (for better handholding when filming) and a nice small gimbal stabilizer for it - and the filmmaking party in its 2014 downsized update can begin!

[Ppt]

Does anyone know if you can record internally in 4k and monitor through the hdmi out in hd or lower Res.? Interested in flying this camera on an multirotor and using hdmi out for framing

[neverending]

Does anyone know if you can record internally in 4k and monitor through the hdmi out in hd or lower Res.? Interested in flying this camera on an multirotor and using hdmi out for framing

No HDMI output in LX100 is only for playback. FZ1000 and GH4 has monitoring

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

I got the LX100 yesterday and there are a couple of things I don't understand. I change Iso, aperture or shutter and I don't see any change on the rear LCD. When I press record, the settings took effect and the look mostly change. Is there a way I can see changes on the LCD?? Also I set Iso to Auto, and when I press record, the Iso is fixed. Is like when recording video settings change. Clearly I looked at the manual, but they didn't explain what I need!

Thanks!

[Cinegain]

I got the LX100 yesterday and there are a couple of things I don't understand. I change Iso, aperture or shutter and I don't see any change on the rear LCD. When I press record, the settings took effect and the look mostly change. Is there a way I can see changes on the LCD?? Also I set Iso to Auto, and when I press record, the Iso is fixed. Is like when recording video settings change. Clearly I looked at the manual, but they didn't explain what I need!

Thanks!

​It's in the custom menu when shooting manually (make sure you haven't hit the iA-button on top of the camera, it will limit your settings options). Then go to page 5/9 and turn 'Constant preview' to 'ON'. That should do the trick for the previewing part of your question. About autoISO. We touched on that earlier. It locks to ISO200. If you can try to keep it at ISO1250 or lower for the most acceptable noise levels.

Yeah, you appear to be right, I can't seem to replicate that.

Perhaps this wasn't the case to begin with and ISO200 coincidentally just happened to be sufficient when briefly testing that, making it seem the camera locked the ISO to match the lit scene and not dynamically adjusting the ISO to keep a balanced exposure when starting to pan away to something lit differently (the test was to see if the ISO (auto) changed throughout; it didn't, auto-locking an initial ISO was an unfortunate assumption, not tested for (apparently)).

 

Although again I still prefer not to use any automated settings. I don't want to touch the shutter (flickering/motion blur), I know the aperture is not clickless (exposure jumps, losing set depth of field) and you can not add more light to f/1.7 (maximum aperture), in lowlight you don't want to cut more light with a ND-filter (it's like that one guy you know that wears sunglasses indoors) and if you're out and about doing some street stuff, you can't just add light to a scene (or do you just happen to always carry around a huge lighting kit?)... so I get the only variable left to touch and add light is the ISO. But then again, I also like to control noise and think it's rather noticeable if you change ISO mid shoot, but okay, you can make a creative cut to make it less obvious... but then again. You can also do it manually. Just 'feel' what the scene needs and just adjust any of the settings you'd rather not change. Sometimes I do not mind under- and/or overexposing during a clip when I know I'll be back to the initial settings a moment later (I find this rather natural anyways, on a sunny day with blinds closed at home, you won't magically adapt from in- to outdoors in a second, it takes a bit). It's different of course if the change lasts and you're still under- of overexposing. But again, then I just press a button, twist a dial and Bob's your uncle. Not really a that big of deal. Especially if you considered it for intial ISO and knew it wouldn't change automatically thereafter anyways. Would you really mind setting it? Do you think the auto-mode would be that much faster/accurate? Maybe due to funky metering it might jump up to a higher ISO than you think the scene needs (or a too low ISO). I don't know. I guess that more options and features is always a good thing and that (extreme) situations (where you need to start rolling quickly and adaptively, or an oppertunity could be left unused), might require certain wishes to be fulfilled, I personally can't really say I'm bothered by the amount of manual control.

​

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

Cinegain thanks a lot for your answer!!! ??