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Panasonic LX100 camera topic
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  • TronTron

    @karl I really hope an enclosure gets announced for under $500. Have you seen any announcements yet?

  • karlkarl

    I updated my macro test shot with a better one, using a less bent 50 € note and a smaller aperture:

    http://filebin.net/uj86q3gj0m/lx100_macro_50eur.jpg

    I'm satisfied with the result - that's something I couldn't do without a dedicated macro lens or macro converter with the GH2 - and thus not whenever I wanted underwater.

  • karlkarl

    I've seen several posts on the web where people were confused why fun features like "panorama shots" and "HDR" are greyed out in the menu and not accessible. The manual states (in the fine print) that these features are disabled whenever the quality setting asks for storing RAW images (even if accompanied by JPEG).

    I understand that panorama or HDR shots are computed in the camera in a way that would not result in a "RAW format image", but I think it was a bad decision to make those features unavailable just because normal shots are asked to be stored as RAW. I think nobody would be confused if amongst the RAW images there were some JPEG panoramas/HDRs and alike stored.

  • karlkarl

    A friend of mine owns an Android tablet with a >1080p resolution display. I asked him to try the Panasonic Image App for camera remote control with my LX100. Worked fine for controlling the taking of pictures and video, but: Displaying videos recorded with the LX100 on the tablet looks horrible: The resolution seems to be that of the camera display, not that of the tablet, and they apply an awkward "nearest-neighbour" scaling to the image. Downloading video files did not work for 4k recordings (but this may well be caused by the receiving tablet, not necessarily the camera).

    Displaying still images using WiFi-Direct on my (Sony W905a) TV works (after manual WPA key entering), but the fact that the camera cannot replay videos (of any resolution) via WiFi (only still images) renders this function somewhat useless to me.

    So I'd say currently WiFi is useful as a remote trigger and as a substitute for the "swivel display" (unless you're concerned about the privacy of your content), but not for anything else.

  • sportstersportster

    @Angry_C

    I own the GH4 with the 12-35 lens as well and got my LX100 two days ago. Testing is still ongoing, but until now I'm able to support your findings:

    • LX100 OIS seems to be better than the 12-35 OIS. Most significant advantage: No micro jitters.
    • Sharpness and detail of LX100 UHD and GH4 12-35 UHD footage seem to be pretty similar. No significant difference. However, you have to fine tune the sharpness settings carefully to get comparable results. Default sharpening of the LX100 is higher.
    • LX100 seems to have moire and aliasing under control very well, although I'd say that the GH4 is still better. Maybe the difference is caused by the minor scaling performed by the LX100 on UHD footage, als explained in the cameralabs review.

    My conclusion as of today: The LX100 might be a good B-Cam for the GH4 and a good alternative when I want to carry a more lightweight package.

  • TscheckoffTscheckoff

    @Vesku:

    The active mode also stabilizes electronically (on sensor) - Not only optically. So you´re loosing alot of resolution / details. The stability is quite impressive in this mode (quite nice for "out of camera people" which just want to cut a little bit in post). Though: It´s a little bit unfair to compare the RX100 M3 active mode against the LX100 optical only mode (as you can always stabilize in post while loosing resolution / details). ^^

  • VeskuVesku

    @Angry_C

    The RX100 III I tested was probably in active mode. The video IQ was a bit soft. Do you know what the active mode exactly does? Is it an electronic real time post stabilator?

  • julesjules

    @Angry_C you'll never please everyone. Thanks for taking the time to tell us your first impressions.

  • Angry_CAngry_C

    It´s funny. Some people compare the RX100 III OIS with the LX100. Yes, the RX100 III OIS ist very good in active mode, but the image quality ist very bad in this mode. The LX100 OIS is much better than the RX100 III OIS in standard mode. I had the RX100 III for 3 weeks and so I can easily compare.

    The LX100 OIS is also much better than the 12-35 2.8 (latest FW). An I can tell you, that there´s no more aliasing on the LX100 than on the GH4. Some samples on Vimeo or Youtube rendered very bad.

    Please test yourself and make your own experience.

  • markr041markr041

    @yaz72 It was updated. The OIS is certainly ok (better than the 35-100mm Lumix).

  • yaz72yaz72

    @markr041 Maybe your 12-35 was not updated, a firmware update for the 12-35 fixes the jitter issue.

  • fahrenheitfahrenheit

    Thanks @karl and Angry_C re the 4K AF. It's encouraging to hear autofocus is useful.

    An OIS question: For stills, does stabilisation engage on a half press of the shutter button, thus giving a visual display of its effect on the LCD/EVF as you compose, or only on a full press à la the GX7?

  • markr041markr041

    @yaz72: I have not had the camera long enough to fully judge the video quality (but I am impressed that the OIS is better than the GH4 with 12-35mm lens). I have had plenty of experience with the GH4 and the 12-35mm lens, so I will be able to say soon about comparative quality.

  • yaz72yaz72

    @markr041 Indeed, the OIS is not bad ! better than others videos posted here. And about the 4k quality, do you think, too, that the lx100 equal the gh4 with 12-35 ?

  • markr041markr041

    Here is an LX100 test video, mostly close ups at full extension of the lens, that really tests the OIS. I think it is much better than my GH4 with 12-35mm lens. This was taken, as you will see, in heavy winds where I had trouble keeping steady. You can judge for yourself, but the OIS looks a lot better than some of the poor video samples I have seen posted:

    An ND filter was used to keep the DOF shallow (yes, it takes filters).

  • karlkarl

    I did some handheld shots today to test the image stabilization. It's not a feature I'm usually looking for because it's not very useful underwater, and on land I prefer to use stands or software-stabilization in post, anyway.

    I'd agree that the LX100 stabilizer is not brilliant. The OIS of e.g. the 14-140mm lens is much more capable. In comparison to the RX100 (which I don't own myself but have shot with) the LX100 does much less "de-shaking", but some would say that the stabilizer of the RX100 is on the other extreme - doing too much - if you voluntarily move the RX100, the stabilized image often follows with some "lag".

    Did you notice the stabilizer setting is found within the "still image"-menu? Maybe Panasonic knows there's potential to provide better stabilization for video shots.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @Vesku

    I understand your fight with POWER OIS, but keep objective.

    People who own LX100 will comment by themselves.

  • VeskuVesku

    What is wrong with Panasonic POWER OIS?

    I tested Sony RX100 III and the OIS is very very steady.

  • yaz72yaz72

    @karl @abolit I haven't seen any real moire problem on the few video ive watched. My gh4 shows a bit of moire too on complex patterns. My main concern is the sharpness of the videos. Ive downloaded some original videos on vimeo and opened it with exif tool to see the used settings. The most part of them shows far more digital sharpness when it's set to "normal" and a too soft picture when set to -5 (like the two videos on my previous post). Take a look at the grass, seems mushy and too sharpened, too digital :

    another exemple :

    Best quality seems to be when stopped to f4.

    The other problem I see is the OIS that seems really far from being efficient, yet Angry C said it is much better than the 12-35, so maybe there is a problem on some LX100.

    If the OIS of the 12-35 is less good than that, it must be very very bad :(.

    This is the reason i doubt the quality of the lx100 equals the 12-35 on a gh4; my poor little 14-45 on it makes better. It's a shame that no video comparison between the two systems exists yet :(.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    http://hackermovies.com/panasonic-lx-100-vs-5d-mk-iii-english

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    We never considered sacrificing functionality or operability for the sake of downsizing the camera body. Since we wanted to create an easy-to-use digital camera that would provide all the fun of manual operation, the camera needed to have an appropriate size.
    However, the compact size, which is one of the most attractive features of the lens-integrated camera construction, was an absolute prerequisite.

    http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/lx100_interview/vol04.html

  • karlkarl

    @abolit: I really cannot understand why you say that: I am very allergic to moire, in fact I was one of the people who said they wouldn't buy the GH3 because of its stronger moire effects in comparison with the GH2.

    But the LX100 delivers almost perfect pictures in that regard - even less moire than the GH2, and in fact, I cannot see any disturbing moire when I shoot my (citi-)neighbourhood on wide angle, with lots of fences, roof shindles, windows and other stuff that causes awkward moires with other cameras.

    I can only conclude that you watched material that was badly scaled during post-processing or at the time of display. Maybe some bad things like "using Lanczos for downscaling" or "leaving it to the GPU of the displaying computer to scale from 4k to 1080p"?

    @yaz72: The first video suffers from strange defects, such as black/distorted areas at ~ 43s into the video.

  • yaz72yaz72

    @Angry_C Really ? i ve just watched some videos of the lx100 and i don't think the quality is really amazing like the Gh4, maybe bad settings in the videos :

    I hope OIS was off on the first video, very shaky. It would be great if you could make a comparison between them ! =)

  • abolitabolit

    the quality is not the same. the LX100 suffers from intensive moire

  • karlkarl

    If somebody has collected experiences with some of the >70 different third party suppliers of BLG10E compatible batteries, I would appreciate their sharing. (The prices of the offerings here range from 6 € to > 60 €...)

    Ah, and if anyone can recommend a practical, small soft case (or a EU vendor thereof), I would also be interested.

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