Shooting with a 4K pocket camera - the exceptional Panasonic LX100

[benymypony]

Sorry for being a greenhorn, but how do I use this LUT?

How to use in Adobe After Effects : https://youtu.be/_39GzdjZKmA
How to use in Adobe Premiere Pro : https://youtu.be/PvjHqNlrCJw
How to use in Adobe Photoshop : http://is.gd/wX8zqs
How to use in Final Cut Pro X with LUT Utility plugin : https://youtu.be/xlm-Wqdmu4A
How to use Magic Bullet LUT Buddy : https://youtu.be/hrSbtqLIamE

Hope it helps 

[MBFrancis]

Thanks Beny! Realized I can just drop the file into LUT Utility through System preferences.

Anyways, the LUT works fantastic! In combination with the Alexa LUT, it makes for some natural and pleasing colors! It's been a pain getting consistent good colors out of the LX100, but this definitely helps a lot! 

[shanebrutal]

Still playing with the LX100, I tried a lot of profile settings and Highlight/Shadow curves to get the best image for color grading.
Finally I recommend the following settings :

• Contrast -2 / Sharpen -3 / Noise reduction -2 / Saturation 0
• Highlight -2 / Shadow -2

As it's impossible to apply a real LOG flat profile in-camera, so I created a LUT to flatten the image the safest way.
I based this LUT on the rendering of the VisionLOG profile with some adjustments.

Download (.3dl and .cube in ZIP, 2.5MB) :  IWLTBAP_Flattener_LUT.zip

 

Hi, thanks for your findings I plan to try this out soon. Is this for the Standard picture style in the lx100?

[benymypony]

Hi, thanks for your findings I plan to try this out soon. Is this for the Standard picture style in the lx100?

Yes, Standard.
Right now I use Natural with :

• Contrast -5 / Sharpen -5 / Noise reduction -5 / Saturation 0
• Highlight 0 / Shadow 0

Almost no noise up to 800 ISO.

Check this beautiful video by a user with same settings on LX100 : https://vimeo.com/116671977
You can download the 2.5K version from Vimeo, and the quality is very impressive !

[shanebrutal]

Yes, Standard.
Right now I use Natural with :

• Contrast -5 / Sharpen -5 / Noise reduction -5 / Saturation 0
• Highlight 0 / Shadow 0

Almost no noise up to 800 ISO.

Check this beautiful video by a user with same settings on LX100 : https://vimeo.com/116671977
You can download the 2.5K version from Vimeo, and the quality is very impressive !

Indeed that is very nice. I have impulz and use it with my gh4 but haven't been able to match it well with the lx100 on standard. Do you still use your flatenner lut with those settings on natural?

[maxotics]

Found an open-box lx100 so have been playing around.  I'm using a script to downsample all the files to 1080 so i can view/work with them easier.  So for anyone interested in a windows script using ffmpeg.  Copy this "converto1080.bat" script (or whatever batch filename you want to call it ) into a folder with 4K mp4 files.  Run it and it will created 1080 COPIES in mp4_1080 (or whatever you want to call the folder).

ALSO, if anyone has better ffmpeg paramaters, please post!

@echo OFF
SETLOCAL
REM title Converting...

REM ***** CONFIG *****
REM like F:\Files2015_Maxotics\Video\
REM fold= curent folder
set fold=%~dp0 
set ext=*.mp4
REM dest = curent folder + mp4_1080
REM like F:\Files2015_Maxotics\Video\mp4_1080\
REM change to whatever you like...
set dest=%~dp0\mp4_1080\ 
REM ***** END CONFIG *****

:: This makes the target folder
::MD "%fold%"
MD "%dest%"

REM make sure you have correct path to ffmpeg.exe
for %%f in (%fold%%ext%) do "C:\Files2013_VidPhotoSoft\ffmpeg\64bit\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %%f -vf scale=1920:1080 -c:v libx264 -crf 10 -preset slow -c:a copy -sn "%dest%%%~nxf"
REM if errors, pause so command window doesn't lcose
REM pause

 

If I need to just convert one file, I edit this batch file

echo OFF

set fold=%~dp0 
set dest=%~dp0\mp4_1080\ 
set usefile=P1040162.mp4

::MD "%fold%"
MD "%dest%"

"C:\Files2013_VidPhotoSoft\ffmpeg\64bit\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %usefile% -vf scale=1920:1080 -c:v libx264 -crf 10 -preset slow -c:a copy -sn "%dest%%usefile%"
REM pause
REM unREM pause to look at output in command window

 

[benymypony]

Indeed that is very nice. I have impulz and use it with my gh4 but haven't been able to match it well with the lx100 on standard. Do you still use your flatenner lut with those settings on natural?

Yes I use it, but I have not yet made a video project with the LX100, only tests.

Found an open-box lx100 so have been playing around.  I'm using a script to downsample all the files to 1080 so i can view/work with them easier.  So for anyone interested in a windows script using ffmpeg.  Copy this "converto1080.bat" script (or whatever batch filename you want to call it ) into a folder with 4K mp4 files.  Run it and it will created 1080 COPIES in mp4_1080 (or whatever you want to call the folder).

(...)

For Windows and Mac users, there is the freeware Rocky Mountains Movie Converter.
It uses FFMPEG with simple interface and it's really fast compared to Adobe Media Encoder, Apple Compressor or others encoding applications.

Download : http://sourceforge.net/projects/rockymountainsmovieconverter/files/

[jase]

I got quite a good deal on the LX100 and will love to try it out. I am not interested in 4k output, but merely in getting an increase in quality by downscaling to 1080. My Macbook Pro is from 2011 and it will not be able to handle 4k properly i am afraid, so.... which workflow is preferred? Downscaling it before with something like the ffmpeg method suggested by @maxotics? Or do I need to go down the path to import the 4k footage in FCPX and start drinking more coffee?

[mercer]

I got quite a good deal on the LX100 and will love to try it out. I am not interested in 4k output, but merely in getting an increase in quality by downscaling to 1080. My Macbook Pro is from 2011 and it will not be able to handle 4k properly i am afraid, so.... which workflow is preferred? Downscaling it before with something like the ffmpeg method suggested by @maxotics? Or do I need to go down the path to import the 4k footage in FCPX and start drinking more coffee?

I have a 2014 MacBook Air with 8gb ram and have no problems with 4k footage, but I think it looks better, heavier if that makes sense, when downscaled to 1080p at conversion. I use EditReady and it is lightning fast. But I have heard Rocky Mountain converter is excellent and it's free. The only reason I went with EditReady is for the other features and I already had ClipWrap and you get a lower price by upgrading from ClipWrap to EditReady. 

[PannySVHS]

Yes I use it, but I have not yet made a video project with the LX100, only tests.

For Windows and Mac users, there is the freeware Rocky Mountains Movie Converter.It uses FFMPEG with simple interface and it's really fast compared to Adobe Media Encoder, Apple Compressor or others encoding applications.

Download : http://sourceforge.net/projects/rockymountainsmovieconverter/files/

Hallo Benjamin,

 

I would need to rewrap the mts files to mp4 if I´d like to use Rocky Mountains Movie Converter on Windows. Do you know a nice n easy rewrap tool without

encoding, so there won´t be another encoding step and quality loss when rewrapping?

 

best regards, Marty

[maxotics]

I got quite a good deal on the LX100 and will love to try it out. I am not interested in 4k output, but merely in getting an increase in quality by downscaling to 1080. My Macbook Pro is from 2011 and it will not be able to handle 4k properly i am afraid, so.... which workflow is preferred? Downscaling it before with something like the ffmpeg method suggested by @maxotics? Or do I need to go down the path to import the 4k footage in FCPX and start drinking more coffee?

If you want to use ffmpeg here is a srcript I used for MTS to MP4.  YES, ffmpeg is difficult to use, BUT it can do ANYTHING, I mean ANYTHING.  Most freeware/shareware software is based on ffmpeg.  

 

DO (
md mts
md mp4
)

for %%f IN (*.mts) DO (
"C:\Files2013_VidPhotoSoft\ffmpeg\64bit\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i %%f -y -map 0:0 -c:0 copy -map 0:1 -c:1 aac -b:1 128k -ac:1 2 -cutoff 19000 -strict experimental -sn %%~nf.mp4
)

DO (

 

[jase]

I know & love fffmpeg and i am everything but afraid of configuring it - so thats not the issue. The question to me is more whether ffmpeg has the better encoder than FCPX or NLE's in general. But if i got @mercer right, downscaling outside the NLE is preferred to using the 4k material and let the NLE do the scaling?

[mercer]

I know & love fffmpeg and i am everything but afraid of configuring it - so thats not the issue. The question to me is more whether ffmpeg has the better encoder than FCPX or NLE's in general. But if i got @mercer right, downscaling outside the NLE is preferred to using the 4k material and let the NLE do the scaling?

I preferred it. I noticed no difference downscaling before I brought the footage into fcpx, as opposed to editing 4k prores and then rendering out to 1080p. I will say it is faster to do the downscaling before hand, but that may just be due to my hardware limitations. 

[Deadcode]

Im using FCPX and importing 4K files from card, then im making proxy (1/4 resolution = 1080p) files from everything.

Im working with proxy's and it's butter smooth, the quality is OK, and it's easy to work with (4K timeline)

Then im exporting in 4K

Then creating a 1080p timeline, copy/paste from the 4K project, then exporting to 1080p, simple, fast easy, but storage space consuming.

[jase]

This weekend i received this little gem. I started playing around finding some proper settings. This is my current status:

https://vimeo.com/137074524 (password: lx100)

What do you guys think? It might be a little to contrasty..

[Inazuma]

This weekend i received this little gem. I started playing around finding some proper settings. This is my current status:

https://vimeo.com/137074524 (password: lx100)

What do you guys think? It might be a little to contrasty..

Id probably start by raising all the shadows a bit

[thefactory]

@benymypony thanks for the LUT. I have been testing it with edit ready and then in FCP x applying some koji LUTS and getting some good results. Think i can match this in well with the GH4 . 

Keep testing people's. Loving this thread on the LX100

[jase]

Next try (4k, JPEG rendered by FCPX):

[benymypony]

Next try (4k, JPEG rendered by FCPX):

(...)

Oh, very nice !
Love this color grading.

Can you share your LX100 settings (contrast, sharpen, NR, saturation, highlight/shadow curve) ?
Do you remember the ISO of these shots ?

Would love to see this video 

[jase]

Thanks. I went back to square one after having quite a few unsuccessful attempts and remembered and old video from me, which i really liked:

Recipe is as follows:

Standard with -5,-5,-5,-5

Highlight / Shadow 0,0

Iso was Auto, but i guess it was 200-400

Tiffen Ultra Contrast 3 Filter

FilmConvert with GH4 Profile, FJ SuperX 400 emulation was used with 30% grain

Some slight adjustment in the shadows to give it more contrast, thats it. Works out of the box on the GM1 and seems to work out of the box on the LX100.

Will put up some small demo video later.