For the record, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason for the video you are about to see. It's purely random tests with the new Panasonic Lumix LX100 4K compact camera. Here's some very important notes about the video.
It was incredibly bright outdoors and the LX100 'NEEDS' an ND Filter. Unfortunately i'm traveling and the only one I could pick up was a very (very very) cheap 43mm Variable ND Filter. So if you see dark corners, or loss of sharpness, that's not the LX100. Yes i'm sure this really skews the results, but I seriously would not be able to have shot anything without one. I consider today to be just a big learning curve with the camera.
I tried shooting a variety of things, brick and roof tiles (testing aliasing), I shot people, I shot wide, I zoomed in, and I tested closeup macro. White balance was set to auto but you can tell it shifted quite a bit through the scenes. The extreme night shots were done at ISO 2000. This got pretty grainy, so you may want to keep things down under ISO 1600.
I was testing both manual and auto focus in video mode so you may see the camera hunt for focus at times. That could be me doing it manually, or sometimes it was the camera doing it. Focus peaking is available, but it's actually pretty subtle and sometimes didn't show up at all. Everything in this video was shot handheld - no tripods. I did at times use a PNC Pistol Grip, but that was it. The image stabilization on the lens worked pretty well despite my shaky hands.
4K Video Resolution
Here's another set of video clips [Uploaded in 4K resolution] I shot with the same cheap ND Filter the next day. I'm still using the Natural color profile with the settings turned down and adjusted the curves to bring up the shadows and push down the highlights. Make sure to watch it in full 4K resolution if you can.
Anyways, don't take the quality of these videos as a standard for the Panasonic LX100. The camera performs far better than what I was able to do in these random tests. It certainly takes some getting used to as there is no dedicated video mode. I also periodically ran into issues where I could not see how my aperture and shutter speed settings affected the image until 'after' I hit the record button. Basically you change your settings and think it's properly exposed until you hit record and then all of a sudden it goes dark. I believe there's some type of 'real-time preview' setting in the menu, which i'll have to dig for. Hopefully tomorrow i'll be a little more prepared and get better and more consistent video samples.
I was also amazed at the speed of wireless live view monitoring and controls with the Panasonic Image App. Maybe I haven't used it in a while, but it seems to be faster than with the GH4 when I first used it. Examining the video shot in 30p, I concluded that it was just 2 frames behind the camera's feed. The camera has 0 frame lag from what's actually happening 'live'.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100 - via B&HPhoto
Henk Leerssen
4k sample at 400 iso. It was dark...https://youtu.be/PIdb0ju2I3w
Just blows me away..
Gabo
Hello!
I was wondering if you could help me! I am between the LX100 and the a6000 (or a5100)... wanted to compare ISO and image quality... its mostly for video. what do you think? thank you!
sept
@emm
i believe the maker of this co-develop it for phobotic board. a 400$ board vs 120$ alexmos board that is much much easier to use. i would assumed its a decent enough quality.
thanks for the info
what do you think of lx100 [email protected] vs gh4 [email protected] mov ?
Emm
Post author@sept - Looks like a lot of 3D printed parts, not sure how well something like that holds up after time, it also doesn't come with a control board so that's just the frame.
I haven't used the RX100 M3, but overall I think the LX100 offers more features with a better lens. I'm not exactly sure but I believe the LX100 captures at 100mpbs.
sept
hello emm
this gimbal is almost specifically made for lx100.
https://tppacks.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=56
what format did you choose? avchd or mpeg4. do you think its comparable to rx100 50mbps xavcs ?
Emm
Post author@Ericwithacam - I really want a small gimbal for this. I don't know of a good one right now. I may build my own.
Ericwithacam
Very stable considering the tiny form factor and handheld shooting. Thanks for taking the time during your holiday to post this. Which gimbal, existing or in development would you use for this cam ?
Emm
Post author@tony - Yes there is indeed noise in the 4K video. When using the option to make a curve adjustment I chose to bring up the shadows +2 and bring down the highlights -2. This increases the noise in the shadows, but when this 4K file is downsampled to 1080p it actually goes away.
I will have to play with these settings, maybe bring down the highlights but not mess with boosting the shadows if I want to keep it at 4K. Otherwise I am mainly just doing 1080p so keeping that setting would be fine and less noticeable.
tony
Is it just me? I see some noise on the 4k video.
Can you test it indoor or in low light situation?
Thanks Emm
Emm
Post author@carl - Thanks, I played around with a few more video samples. This time I left it in 4K resolution. I'll append it to this article too. I'm still trying to get used to the controls when switching back from photo to video use, and i've only used the Natural color profile so far. I have to say though that the F/1.7 lens is amazing and even zoomed in with max of F/2.8 I was able to get quite a few shots in very low light.
carl
Hi Emm,
Thought you did a great job of the video even with the limitations you had. I'm running mine through a few tests and must admit to be very impressed with the camera. It does have a video look to the footage but nothing that is a big downer.
Any suggestions for a good ND would be great. thanks
Carl
Daniel
Really excited for this camera, mine is arriving this week. @Emm, is there a brand of variable ND that you would recommend?
Emm
Post author@John - I had a 64GB Sandisk in the camera, and that might hold about 30 minutes of 4K (maybe less).
John
For the video there Em, how much storage space did you need for all the raw footage?
I am thinking about jumping on the 4K bandwagon and want a small compact like this for vacations.
Emm
Post author@Tom - At least it has 1080/60, but yes the flash is a bit annoying.
Tom
@Emm Great to hear! think ill pick one up then, the only annoyance is carrying around an external flash after dark and i'll miss the 96fps!
Emm
Post author@Tom - LX100! It's an amazing stills camera too, focus is so fast. Just get a good ND Filter though.
Tom
Considering this for a holiday in 2 weeks, I'm a video shooter (GH4) but don't want to bring all the kit because i know i won't use it.
LX100 v RX100M3
Which would you rather take around?