First time shooting with Panasonic LX7 - tips

[Mike]

I use SDHC 32GB they keep around 2h30' of footage which is plenty for me. Once you break the 32GB limit you are into SXDC that are much more expensive on a $/GB basis

hmmm... the LX7 has a time remaining feature that shows on the bottom right of the camera LCD, with a 16GB SHCH card and a 32GB SDHC card it reads about 27 minutes remaining?

You're getting two and a half hours on a 32GB card? Is that time remaining feature not accurate on the camera?

 

[Interceptor121]

That feature is useless. As the longest time that can be recorded is 2959 or similar it always gives you that when you start a new file
As far as I know there is no way to display the total capacity of the camera in minutes

 

[Mike]

AH, so maybe it's displaying the longest clip you can record then?

 

[Interceptor121]

Yes look at page 22 for the total for each card. 32 Gb 2h31
Maximum for a single AVCHD clip 29.59

 

[Mike]

Still muddling my way through the instruction book and testing things out....

Questions about white balancing - do I have this correct --

I've always liked to WB off of a gray card...

Automatic white balance is basically the camera tries to figure out the best temperature color of the scene you're shooting....
Question #1 ---If using automatic should you avoid the gray card and just point the camera at the scene?

In manual white balance, from what I can understand based on the instruction book, you are basically setting one of 2 custom WB settings in the camera called "white set 1" and "white set 2". I can choose either one and set WB off a gray card and that color temperature is set in the camera memory. It also remembers this setting so if you go and auto balance or choose another setting, if you go back and select for instance "white set 1" again, the camera goes back to the manual temperature settings that were recorded.

So basically for setting manual WB in practice I'm just going to choose "white set 1" and set the temperature off my gray card. If I change depth and feel it's time to set again, I just set "white set 1" again, does that sound right?

 

[ronscuba]

......So basically for setting manual WB in practice I'm just going to choose "white set 1" and set the temperature off my gray card. If I change depth and feel it's time to set again, I just set "white set 1" again, does that sound right?

Yes. You can practice this topside. Walk around your house/apt. Most likely the lighting will be different room to room and a WB set will improve the color. Sunlit rooms, different light bulbs, different brightness, etc..

 

[fbk]

It really is a poorly written manual.. I got mine last week and still haven't worked my way through it all.

There is a 424 page advanced user guide available that is excellent and well worth the 10 bucks! In fact if you download the sample its the white balance section...

Photographer's Guide to the Panasonic Lumix LX7 | White Knight Press

 

[Interceptor121]

I don't find the manual better or worse than other cameras on the market

The White balance section is pretty intuitive and there is also on screen help. I believe the settings are really flexible as with the RX100 as you can tweak the tint after you have set the white balance you want
One thing that the Sony has and the LX7 does not have is that when you set the custom white balance it does not tell you the color temperature. This can be useful if you want to store presets based on the K setting but anyway it has two custom WB presets that is already much better than any other camera of this segment

---------- Post added May 15th, 2013 at 10:22 AM ----------

Forgot to mention.
Gray cards produce horrible green colours. I think this is the issue that Wetpixel had with the LX7 and why they gave it a poor review.
There is also an issue with the gray card slates having some gloss instead of being matt and creating the issue of too much light in the sensor.

My personal experience is that best results are achieved balancing on your hand or sand something I have never done before as I always used my white balance slate, but with the LX7 is a no go

 

[matdiver]

With the Panasonic GH2 (which, admittedly, may or may not use similar processing technology to the LX7) I've discovered that light blue pencil scribbled onto a white slate produed excellent results in combination with a red filter. When it gets dark, e.g. 30m, the palm of my hand and no filter seems to be better. Either way, the colours pop back in post very easily.
Matthew

 

[Interceptor121]

With the Panasonic GH2 (which, admittedly, may or may not use similar processing technology to the LX7) I've discovered that light blue pencil scribbled onto a white slate produed excellent results in combination with a red filter. When it gets dark, e.g. 30m, the palm of my hand and no filter seems to be better. Either way, the colours pop back in post very easily.
Matthew

You mean blue is the color of the pencil writing?