Thing is, maybe is time to change the gear, so I'm doing some research and collecting info into an upgrade path/replacement here.

Scope:

• personal camera

• 4K30p or better

• 2k60p or better

• good bitrate, decent quality, don't mind raw

• will not dump loads of money into it, ideally $800 fully operational

• can make pro work, useful in-camera tools (yes LX100 was pretty capable, not talking about Ale$$$xa here)

• wifi, stopmotion, timelapse, control app

• hdmi not important but a plus

• uses cheap media, cheap to stabilize and grip, minimally solid, will not sudenlly stop working on location, will not fry on mist, etc

Have any of you ever solved that problem withou taking the camera completely apart? Theres any way to do it with a vacuum cleaner and minimal intrusion?

Can you recommend a certain product? I'm not sure which additional information would be required to choose one, here's what preferences I can relay:

• should be holdable with one hand (not meant for quad-copter use or such)
• price should be < 1000 €, the less expensive the better, of course

(Could something like this (Gazer MD1) be suitable? I really don't have any clue yet what makes the difference between the astonishing number of very differently priced stabilizers...)

One issue I found in firmware version 1.0:

When you use "Utilize Custom Set" (e.g. C1) to recall a setting, then change some settings, then want to recall the stored C1 custom setting again, you'll find that using "Utilize Custom Set" has no effect. Only if you first choose a different setting (like C2) and then C1 again, the C1 setting are actually restored.

This is slightly annoying to me, as I make frequent use of custom sets, but also often divert from the stored settings and go back.

• Leica f/1.7-2.8 Lens
• 24-75mm lens
• 4K Ultra HD Video at 30/24 fps in MP4
• Full HD Video at 24/30/60fps in MP4 or AVCHD
• Manual Control Rings and Dials
• Built-in Wi-Fi Connectivity
• External Flash Included

It's like-new with no physical blemishes and I've taken really good care of it. I'm asking $550 (plus shipping) for it which is quite a deal as it retails for $700 or more. Let me know if you have any other questions or email me if interested in purchasing it. Thanks!

On paper it has the perfect specs. fast Leica lens, 4K video with 100Mbps bitrate to name a few.

The question in my mind is - Can it really be used as a A camera for broadcast quality documentary production? (I am not concerned about the audio)

Your views?

Thanks

If you are interested in the results I could achieve, download this 5 minute sample video I prepared (size: 1.1 GB): https://archive.org/download/na-lx100-sample/na-lx100-sample.mp4

No artificial light, no stands or other accessories were used in its making.

This video was encoded at 32MBit/s in H.264 - somewhat the minimum of what needs to be invested to provide a decent reproduction of the original (100MBit/s) recording. Notice that it won't make sense to upload this sample to "streaming video hosters", as those typically limit the video bandwidth to ridiculously small values, turning "swarms of moving fishes" into mere "displays of mushy compression artefacts".

Please download the complete MP4 file before replaying it locally, it's unlikely that archive.org can provide you with enough bandwidth to replay it "on the fly".

@Vitaliy_Kiselev: I included some shark footage especially for you, so you can see how well behaved they are :-) - even though moving, bigger animals, are almost impossible to get pictures of that would really benefit from 4k resolution.

My findings on the usuability of the LX100/NA-LX100 for the purpose:

Pro:

• great lens for almost all underwater scenarios, including macro shots
• white balancing much better than with the GH2 - color correction in post can be much more gentle
• very good resultion and reasonable recording bandwidth in 3840x2160p24

Neutral:

• focusing still usable only with "AFS" and manual - no reasonable operation with continous autofocus, "depth from defocus" only used for still images

Con:

• optical image stabilization generally useful but does cause annoying "stuttering" for intentional pans.
• Insufficient recording bit rates for 1080p modes - so you can't opt for e.g. 1080p50 shooting if you are after Sailfish, Dolphins or alike were 4k wouldn't reveal more details anyway

BTW: It would really help if Panasonic allowed to assign a "trigger AFS" function to some function key - it is annoying that if you press slightly "too hard" on the trigger to only "half-press" it, some unhelpful error message ("cannot take picture while recording") will pop up when you try to re-focus while recording.

Some of the ideas I've looked at:

Rode videmic go (£60) -> Zoom H1 (own it) or something like the new Tascam DR-10c (£200).

Shure Lenshopper VP83F with built-in recorder (£300).

Any experiences with small external-audio setups would be appreciated. The first project I'm going to use this for will be trying to video an outdoor winter bobsled/skeleton event at the end of January.

I'm going to take some video of my brother when he races in the World Cup of Skeleton (where they throw themselves headfirst down an ice chute at up to 140 km/h). I own a Panasonic LX100 and a newly-purchased GX7. I'm planning on using the LX100 for the wider shots and when I want to rely on the detail that the 4k brings. I plan on using the GX7 with my longer u4/3 lenses (like P35-100/2.8) and hope to be able to use the DTC functionality as well.

I have a few questions about techniques and settings needed to shoot fast moving sport, using 50fps (in the GX7), and potentially getting more slow-motion with something like Twixtor to interpolate frames.

Normally, I try to follow the 180 degree shutter rule for motion blur, and until now I've only had a camera that shoots 24/25/30 fps so I've kept the shutter speed fixed at 1/50 especially when indoors with 50Hz lighting.

I would like to try to record some of the bobsled and skeleton starts with the intent of slowing them down in post. The GX7 has 50 fps. If I record in 50 fps, should I be setting the shutter at 1/125 or should I be using something higher for sharper image capture, especially if I intend on using something like twixtor to make it look like even slower motion?

As far as shooting at 50 fps on the GX7 (28 Mbps), is there any loss in image quality compared to shooting at 25 fps (20 Mbps). Is there any reason why I shouldn't always shoot at 50 fps just in case I want to slow anything down in the future?

Thank you for advise!

Two clips for each camera. Both in auto white balance mode. First, going from 5600K (daylight) to 3500K (incandescent), then going from incandescent to daylight. The first camera for each sequence is the GH4.

You can see that the GH4 AWB never compensates fully under incandescent light. The LX100 nails it under both lighting conditions. The speed of adjustment is similar for the two cameras.

The GH4 uses the Lumix 12-35mm f2.8 lens. The LX100 lens is extended so that the f is 2.8. For both ev was set to -1/3.

Everything was interlaced 480i or at most Telecined 480p in a 480i container. MiniDV was all the rage and HD was a figment of our imagination.

I started with a Canon mini-DV camcorder in late 2003 that shot 480i(720x480). It looked great on my 480i Tube TV. However, it was absolute garbage once you deinterlaced it for computer use with Progressive displays. I sold it almost immediately swearing that I would never buy another interlaced camera again.

So I waited and waited. Everything new was 480i. Even when HD TVs came about the HD consumer cameras were still interlaced 1080i. Then finally the Canon S1-IS came out in 2004. It was a little known jewel. It shot wonderful 480p @ 30 FPS for up to 1 Gigabyte. The nice thing was that it supported the MicroDrive compact flash cards that at the time went up to 4 GB for about $200.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons1is/

That camera revolutionized video for me. At the time everyone asked why I was getting a still camera for video. They all said “Why don’t you get a proper camcorder for the job”? I said “The camcorders are all interlaced and this is progressive”. They looked at me like I was speaking Japanese.

I loved that S1-IS and used it for several years as my main camera. Sure it was only 480p but it was good solid 480p @ 30 FPS and it used a decent bit rate(For that time period). The S1-IS also had a really bright F2.8-F3.1 lens on it. With a 10x optical zoom it did everything I wanted it to do until I saw what the 1080p of the 5D MKII looked like in September of 2008.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos5dmarkii

Reverie, blew my mind. I couldn’t believe that you could get such cinematic shallow depth of field and dynamic range in digital video. In addition the resolution seemed astounding. At the time I couldn’t imagine ever needing more resolution than that.

http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/galleries/galleries/sample_videos/reverie.shtml

I came as close as you could get to buying into the 5D MKII with a complete set of lenses. I saved and saved until I was finally ready to pull the trigger by the fall of 2009. Then something caught my attention.

A little known camera maker (At the time) called Panasonic had developed a 720p camera that was actually really small. It was called the GF1 and looked too good to be true. It could use any lens ever made with adapters. It wasn’t super expensive and all the manual focus lenses for video were super cheap on ebay.

They also had the mighty GH1 but it was hard to find without the super small aperture 14-140mm lens. By that time I had come to realize what I loved so much about the Canon S1-IS was that its lens was relatively bright. Just like I had with interlaced video I swore off super slow mega zooms.

However, I simply couldn’t resist the GF1 with the 20mm F1.7 lens. I bought the GF1 on day one and never looked back. I bought every large aperture MF lens I could get my hands on and loved them all. However, those lenses were heavy when it was all said and done. I realized why full frame wasn’t really considered to be portable back then. 5 or 6 lenses added up to a lot of weight in a backpack even though the camera body was so light.

By that time 720p had become old hat and M4/3s had more than just a few native lenses. They had some fast primes like the new 14mm F2.5, 25mm F1.4, and the 45mm F1.8. Auto Focus was improving in their newer cameras and I found myself wishing for more.

I finally broke down when the GH2 was announced in September of 2010. It was finally the camera that seemed like it could do it all. 1080p video, ETC mode for endless reach, and it was hackable. Those were the good old days. We ALL spent countless hours eeking out every last ounce of bit rate and reliability that we could.

http://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/slrs/panasonic_dmcgh2/review

I even gave up on the MF lenses. I had all of the fast primes at that time and MF wasn’t as cool as I once thought it was. I was much more content to just let the camera do the focusing for me. After the firmware update for the GH2 added 1080p at 30 FPS and much improved AF I sold all of my MF lenses for a nice telescope.

Honestly, the GH2 was probably the camera that I could have stopped at and lived with for quite a while. It did everything I needed it to do and did it quite well. However, the hacking had sparked something in me that made me always look for that little bit extra. I went on to buy the GH3, GH4, LX100, and the 35-100mm F2.8 all on the day that they came out. Each one offered a little something extra that I thought made it justify the extra cost. I finally have 4K @ 30 FPS and 1080p @ 96 FPS and the 4K photo from video mode. I couldn’t have ever possibly imagined those things when I first bought the S1-IS.

Well actually I did predict the photo from video mode way back in 2009. It wasn’t an acceptable thing back then to predict that video could one day replace stills. In fact I still don’t think it is acceptable today either.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/31728454

So we have come a long way in video cameras. I wonder what is next. How much farther can we go? Will it be as big a leap forward as it has in the past? Will I still want to spend my money on upgrades in the future or will I finally be satisfied with what I have now? Who knows? Only time will tell.

Please post your stories with how you got started into video and where you are with it today.

Wonderful site... Thanks for what you're doing... I sure hope I'll install a hack myself ...

Thanks for helping / advising, Chatxxnoir.

If you haven’t tried indoor climbing before you should. There are climbing gyms in almost every major city in the U.S. and even some in the smaller cities. It is a great low impact sport that really challenges the athlete to use their brain’s to figure out the problem as well.

If your kids don’t like team sports then climbing might be right for them. Check out your local gym or let me know if you can’t find one near you and I will try to locate one for you.

Camera Note: I really need a wider angle lens for these types of events. I was going to buy the 12-35mm for my GH4 but I decided to just get the LX100 instead. These venues are very dark so I need as fast a lens as possible. The LX100 with is Optical Power I.S. should be perfect for these types of events.

Everything was shot in Shutter Priority with Auto ISO. Hopefully, Panasonic will add the min shutter speed setting so I can switch to Program Priority with Auto ISO and gain more aperture control.

I up-converted to 1440p for YouTube. Auto Focus for 4K @ 30 FPS just isn’t where it needs to be yet.