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

[jase]

And here's the finished edit:

I have to say that this works quite well, at least sufficient for my needs

[sekl]

Shot by Lumix LX100.
Light travel tripod.
Gimbal Beholder MS1.

 

 

[red]

Great footage on Weymouth. Visited last summer but it rained! Great to see the LX100 excelling.

Where did you pick up the Beholder MS1 from and how much was it?

I am still deciding between the RX100 and LX100 as my pocket camera.

 

[Deadcode]

That will be hard to decide...

LX100 advantages:

-15 min rec limit over 5 min in 4K

- Cheaper

- Can attach filters (43mm) without magfilter adapter

- Battery life is much better on LX

RX100 advantages:

- Great 1080p with high fps (LX100: 50fps, line skipped with moire and aliasing)

- SLOG2, and great high iso performance in video mode

- very small, pocketable

- build in flash which is very effective (and smaller than the LX100's attached flash)

- flipable LCD

Go for a used LX100 + a gimbal for the price of the RX100

Anyway i recorded this video with the LX100 and a Benro Monopod:

[red]

Thanks for the post @Deadcode.

I haven't been able to decide between the RX100/2/3/4 or the LX100 for a while but hoping to pick one up before the year is out.

I have a D750 as my main camera and just wanted something small to capture family moment of my little one growing up and possibly as a B-Cam for my Nikon.

I just wanted something I can hand to anyone or pack in the day bag to capture any spontaneous be it photo or video.

I would go used on the LX100 (around £350) or the older RX100 (M1 £160, M2 £200, M3 £350) but the M4 would have to be new (£600) as not many about.

Any recommendations on a gimbal also?

Thanks.

[Deadcode]

LX100 is better than the RX100m3 in many cases (image quality wise...) Only the Mark4 worth the consideration. I had the MarkI, and i loved it, but LX100 is much better in almost any cases. MarkII is almost the same (ofc wifi and flipable screen and 24p is good). MarkIII got the full pixel readout and the EVF, so it's almost the same level with LX but without 4K!

[Inazuma]

Really nice videos guys!

[thefactory]

I just picked up the rx100 iv and love it. I also own an lx100 and love it as well! But one of them has to go. 

If you are buying a pocket camera for mainly 4k usage then the lx100 might be the way to go. I find that the manual controls are better as well. The RX is a bit fiddly. 

If you want crazy HD frame rates with the odd 4k shot thrown in then rx is a good choice.

Lucky for me that the rx uses the same batteries as the sony 4k action cams which i also own. You will differently need extra batteries. 

 

[Deadcode]

I have a question to the experts:

If i want to use Neat Video Noise reduction, which is the best and fastest way to archive good result if my end project is 1080p?

Record at 4K, Neat, then downconvert to 1080p, or i will not see huge difference if i downconvert first (Prores 4444 1080p), then use noise reduction on the downconverted footage? The speed difference is huge between the 1080p and 4K post NR. Above ISO1600 of course, because between ISO200-800 it's not worth my time, the image quality is good for me from the LX100.

[benymypony]

I have a question to the experts:

If i want to use Neat Video Noise reduction, which is the best and fastest way to archive good result if my end project is 1080p?

Record at 4K, Neat, then downconvert to 1080p, or i will not see huge difference if i downconvert first (Prores 4444 1080p), then use noise reduction on the downconverted footage? The speed difference is huge between the 1080p and 4K post NR. Above ISO1600 of course, because between ISO200-800 it's not worth my time, the image quality is good for me from the LX100.

I would say that downconverting as late as possible is always better.

[Dean]

Borrowing one of these at the moment. Seems like the biggest pain in the ass hybrid cam ever to shoot stills and video on the go 

I have C1 & C2 set up for photo & video and have them linked to the fn1 button to call up. Also have 4k photo mode (which auto defaults to 25p ??) in my settings for C2 to use the shutter to trigger recording (which is nice).

It seems every time I want to go from stills (C1) to video (C2) I need to switch the shutter to 1/60 ... then manually use the ring to set to 1/50 ... then change the aspect ratio on the front to 16:9 and also change the aperture to auto as I'm using "Shutter" priority. Not exactly easy to go from stills to video quickly if using as a hybrid travel cam. Sure, it doesn't take long to do but really?? All this to go from stills to video !! Surely it could of been made more user friendly. Seems like video is an afterthought even though they put nice 4k in it.

There's also no auto iso in manual mode for video which is really weird too. No min shutter speed for auto iso in stills either.

Moving the focus point around is a complete convoluted pain as well. I've assigned to to be moved easily but then you loose all the  shortcuts around the dial. Couldn't they just make it so you push the "menu/set" button and then move the focus point around and still keep the shortcuts around the dial??

FW could fix all of this but I'm sure they are just waiting to put all of that in the LX100mk2.   

Seems to have decent stills and video quality but what a pain in the ass little camera this is to use if you want to quickly change between taking photos and shooting video. LOL

On the plus side, after you hit the record button you can still use AF-S to lock in focus & also the screen doesn't dim when shooting in 4K ... my two biggest gripes of the RX100iv. Nothing's perfect I guess ... choose your poison. 

                                

[Dean]

Think I jumped the gun a bit in my initial post ... after using this cam for two days I bought one !! Worked out how to get around almost everything and it's a real pleasure to use. Ergonomically it's awesome and just the right size. Haven't done too much video but the still looks great for it's size. The lens is so good. The AF is amazing too. 

I really look forward to seeing an LX200 eventually. 

Great little cam.

[skeletonLA]

Just got the LX100 and love the camera.  A few discoveries when using filters with the camera:

1. The filter size is 43mm, but the lens is 58mm in diameter.  I already have several 58mm filters, so I wanted to use a step-up ring.
1. The first 43mm - 58mm step-up ring I tried would bind when the lens fully retracted.  I replaced it with the brass Heliopan ring and it worked perfectly.
2. Even at 58mm I would still get some vignetting at the widest angle when adding an Ultra Contrast 3 filter and the ND fader I had.
3. Switching to the 58mm Tiffen ND Fader removed the vignetting because of its 67mm outer ring.    It has enough thread to hold a 67mm lens cap.

[sekl]

Shot with lx100 with no tripod. Travelled light

 

[sgreszcz]

On 25 December 2015 at 2:16 AM, Dean said:

Borrowing one of these at the moment. Seems like the biggest pain in the ass hybrid cam ever to shoot stills and video on the go 

I have C1 & C2 set up for photo & video and have them linked to the fn1 button to call up. Also have 4k photo mode (which auto defaults to 25p ??) in my settings for C2 to use the shutter to trigger recording (which is nice).

It seems every time I want to go from stills (C1) to video (C2) I need to switch the shutter to 1/60 ... then manually use the ring to set to 1/50 ... then change the aspect ratio on the front to 16:9 and also change the aperture to auto as I'm using "Shutter" priority. Not exactly easy to go from stills to video quickly if using as a hybrid travel cam. Sure, it doesn't take long to do but really?? All this to go from stills to video !! Surely it could of been made more user friendly. Seems like video is an afterthought even though they put nice 4k in it.

There's also no auto iso in manual mode for video which is really weird too. No min shutter speed for auto iso in stills either.

Moving the focus point around is a complete convoluted pain as well. I've assigned to to be moved easily but then you loose all the  shortcuts around the dial. Couldn't they just make it so you push the "menu/set" button and then move the focus point around and still keep the shortcuts around the dial??

FW could fix all of this but I'm sure they are just waiting to put all of that in the LX100mk2.   

Seems to have decent stills and video quality but what a pain in the ass little camera this is to use if you want to quickly change between taking photos and shooting video. LOL

On the plus side, after you hit the record button you can still use AF-S to lock in focus & also the screen doesn't dim when shooting in 4K ... my two biggest gripes of the RX100iv. Nothing's perfect I guess ... choose your poison. 

                                

It actually isn't that bad (except for the 1/60 - then rear dial to 1/50 shutter)...  It could be faster if you could set a shutter angle in video mode that ignored the shutter dial.

If you don't use 4k photo mode as your C2=4k video, then you don't need to worry about setting the aspect ratio manually to 16:9 (as it overrides the manual setting) but you need to use the back record button rather than shutter button.  I often shoot video in shutter "S" mode, so I leave the lens aperture dial to "A" to make things a little quicker.  I use C3 for 1080p/50fps (which I wish had an ETC mode like the Gx7/G7).

A couple of tricks about moving the focus point.  If you are mostly in manual focus mode, you can still use AF-S by assigning it to the back button (AF/AE Lock).  Then when you use the back dial, if you click left you can then move the focus point.  When you are in AF mode, you can also enable the focus point movement by hitting the left focus type selector on the back wheel and then down (adjust) to enable movement of the focus point.  I mostly stay in M focus mode and use the smallest manual focus area plus AF-S on the back AF/AE Lock button.  This way you still have access to ISO/WB and drive modes on the rear dial.

In video mode I use Fn2 to swap on/off monochrome mode (easier to see focus peaking), and Fn3 to switch EVF.

I don't really use the Q.Menu - I wish Panasonic had something like the SCP that Olympus uses.

By the way, how do you still use AF-S after recording starts?  I can only get that to work when in AF-S mode, and not in Manual focus mode (using the back AF/AE lock button).  The AF-S works before recording starts, but not after.  I can get the back button AF-S to work after recording on my G7 though.

 

[Jin]

On 3/10/2015 at 3:31 AM, sekl said:

Just found that 58mm Opteka lens conversion adapter tube for G7 fits lx100. If there is an appropriate ND filter or macro lense they can be attached to the camera without load to the moving part of the lx100 lense.

Does the adapter tube thread properly fits to bayonet mount of LX100? 

[sekl]

On 28.10.2016 at 6:09 PM, Jin said:

Does the adapter tube thread properly fits to bayonet mount of LX100? 

It does with  mine. Others report they have problem with locking.

At 11-16 I have slight vignetting at the left bottom corner. Didn't notice it at once.

[Superka]

Does anybody still use LX100? I

I still love it, though feel the lack of DR often.

 

[Cinegain]

It's my 'around the house shot getter'. Wouldn't mind a successor with new sensor tech, articulated touchscreen & mic-in so it could become an actual 'daily driver' again.

[Superka]

1 hour ago, Cinegain said:

It's my 'around the house shot getter'. Wouldn't mind a successor with new sensor tech, articulated touchscreen & mic-in so it could become an actual 'daily driver' again.

+1!

I love shooting neighborhood with it. Though I bought it for video, it appeared to be really nice photocamera with lovely colors. The only thing I wish (from successor) is V-LOG.