Mar 31, 2013

Lumix LX7 - A tool for beginner film makers! (Review)


Hey all!

Today I wanted to share with you my thoughts and feelings about the Panasonic Lumix LX7, and how I believe it would make a very very good beginner film making tool.

In todays world of camcorders and DSLR's, it's good to know that point and shoot/compact cameras are becoming more feature packed. Nikon have a camera that shoot 4K for about a second (not exactly usable, but hey...), GoPro's now shoot 2.5k in 30p, and the Lumix LX7 has a wide aperture lens at f1.4 for creamy bokeh'd portraits.

I purchased the Lumix LX7 a few weeks ago to replace my aging Canon HV30, as I was beginning to get tired of transferring tapes to my hard drive... and having a hard time matching the footage from it with my Panasonic GH2 and GH1. I shoot weddings a lot at the moment, and the best thing about moving away from tape... is how quickly I can drop the footage onto my hard drive and start editing. So, when I sold my HV30 for $300, I began looking for a replacement camera straight away. I knew straight off that I didn't want another DSLR, and I wanted something that at least worked like my GH1 in low light conditions. The LX7 jumped out at me when viewing a forum post over at Personal View (the Panasonic Hack community).

I bought the Lumix LX7 on a whim, impressed with the low light performance and the quality of the footage I'd seen on the web. 24-90mm (35mm equiv) f1.4-2.3 lens, 1080 - 50/60p AVCHD, With a promise also of 120fps in 720p (MP4) as icing on the cake. I got the camera in the mail a week later and began playing with it. Here's a few things I shot within a week of owning it:



And I fell in love. This camera, while nowhere near the image quality I can get out of my hacked GH2... completely CRAPS all over my Canon HV30. The slow motion feature ('Lock N Load' was shot in 100fps/720p) wasn't great, but it was certainly useable in some environments.

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So, the point here is to sell to you, the beginner film maker looking at this blog post, the reasons why this camera will help you achieve better looking videos.

The first thing that comes to mind, is the manual control in video mode. Once you flip the camera in to creative movie mode, select the big red "M" symbol... you suddenly have the ability to control your aperture (using the ring on the lens, which is really nice), your ISO, and your shutter speed. These are the three components you need to worry about. Beginner photographers need to grasp how all these work together, and in a way... so do serious film makers.
Once you look past the manual settings, you look at the wide aperture lens. f1.4 is almost unheard of in a compact camera. This is a portrait lens on steroids, making your head and shoulders dialog shots a lot more "filmic".  The built in ND filter (often unheard of in compacts, let alone many cameras in general) comes in handy when you're outdoors, and want that f1.4 aperture and don't want to mess with your shutter speed too much. The ND filter will cut light sensitivity down by about 3-4 stops (at a guess).

A raw sceenshot from footage shot on the LX7. Click to see larger image.

In the right situations, you can use this wide aperture to isolate your subject from the background, and give a nice creamy bokeh to your "background blur".
Although there is a lack of '24p', in reference to the framerate one would usually use in a film making situation (a throwback from the days of film, where they shot 24 film frames a second), it isn't that hard to manipulate the 50/60p video stream into a 24p timeline. I've done this with the "Lumix LX7 Various Clips" video above, and never lost quality. This 50/60p video stream can also be manipulated into slow motion clips, without a loss in resolution (in the past, you were only able to shoot 50/60p in 1280x720, half the resolution of Full HD)... therefor keeping the detail and sharpness. The hidden 128x720 - 120/100p mode isn't as useful, but if you have a want/need for extreme slow motion.. it's there. The clip above "Lock N Load" was shot using this setting, and as you can see... the quality just "isn't there" when compared to the other clips.



Wide apertures and framerates aside, the film maker can use any tool to make a movie. Webcams, Mum's handycam, your iPhone/Samsung Galaxy (which is pretty common actually), DSLR's and full blown prosumer camcorders. Not to mention 8,16 and 35mm film cameras, RED, Arri, Panavision. But the camera is a simple tool. There are films out there, that have had a wide cinematic release.. that were filmed on much less feature packed cameras such as the LX7. I highly doubt those of you reading this article are looking for a cinema-quality camera, and just want a decent tool for making Blu-ray and web-release movie making. In which case, the LX7 is more than capable.

Obviously, your limits with the LX7 will be obvious. No mic input or headphone output. These things aren't useable on most consumer products anyway, due to AGC (Automatic Gain control) and crappy preamps. A dedicated sound recorder (The inexpensive Zoom H1 for instance) and a decent microphone are the ideal capture method. You can sync these feeds by ear in post production, with the help of a clapboard.. or simply clapping your hands once at the beginning of each scene (after rolling camera and audio recorder, obivously). 

Feed the camera as much light as you can in dark situations. Although it isn't too shabby in 'low light', in complete darkness... you will find pushing the camera beyond 400 ISO tends to introduce chunks of grain the size of your fist. This should be expected of a $300 compact. Feed the camera light, then stop down to get the effect you want.

To prove this point, my next short film will be shot primarily on the LX7. There are some things I wish to do that will require my GH2... but only small pieces of the entire film.

The LX7 will most likely be the best money you ever spend as a young/beginner film maker. You will find yourself learning to work around the limits of this camera, using it with ease... and being very happy with the images you come back with. If you mix this with a cheap shoulder rig, leave image stabilization on (it's pretty damn good!).. you have an excellent little rig. Turn off the stabilization if you stick it on a tripod though.


So, in closing, this is a VERY good camera. I'm not a camera nut, I haven't owned 20 cameras in my life... and I'm certainly a stickler for video quality. I own three cameras besides the LX7, but the LX7 has quickly become my favourite. It won't replace the GH2 as my primary cam in most situations... but it will certainly compliment it! If you don't own a camera, and you're looking for a good starter camera... the LX7 is hard to beat for out of the box use.

Take care!

16 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review. I have both the HV30 and the LX7. (the Lx7 is a newer purchase and the HV30 a gift) looking for another opinion to help decide if I should sell the Canon and just stick with the Lumix. I think you've made my decision for me. Thanks again!

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    1. I suggest keeping both, unless you're not a serious shooter.As a whole, the LX7 has everything the HV30 has... minus the extra zoom. The pros and cons are (for the LX7) full HD video, 60fps (or 50fps for PAL shooters), RAW photo options, faster lens, slightly better low light performance... and no need to capture tapes. That alone makes me happy. Cons are... only 3.5x zoom (HV30 has 10x I believe, and highly compressed bitrate. Easily worked around though.

      Thanks for reading and leave a comment. :)

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  2. Hey, nice review man. Would you mind telling me how you turn the videos from this camera into 24p videos without side effects.
    Cheers

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    1. As far as I'm aware, there are no side effects to it. I simply import the footage (50p) into a 24p timeline in either Sony Vegas (import it, chuck it on the timeline, right click on the clip and select properties... then disable resample) or Premiere Pro (no need to do anything here as far as I'm aware).

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  3. Very nice report! I was looking to this camera together with Nikon P7700, cause both are very good specs and own manual controls over video. Nikon has a plus of tilting screen, is it important for video work? In the past I've often used a sony videocamera looking it's monitor from above, and it was a very smart and confortable way to operate. Are you agree? Does the tilting screen useful for a beginner film maker? Tnx!

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    1. Flip out screen is definitely a help in shooting video, and unfortunately the LX7 lacks this (as you've stated). I personally haven't had any issue with it though. My main shooter, the GH2 has this... and it's what I prefer to shoot with on many occasions.

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  4. Dude, thank you so much for this review... I was considering this or the RX100 for a backup to my 600D.. I did a ton of research, but somehow the High Speed shooting option escaped me. I was set on the RX100 and had it in my cart ready to go decided to do one more search for a proper review and thankfully found your blog. I ended up getting both cameras just because of 2 amazing deals but if I hadn't read this review I would have missed out on the High Speed awesomeness of the LX7.. Thanks again man, awesome review!

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    1. I have kept an eye out on the RX100 and it's a very impressive camera. Definitely a great deal if you got both!
      Enjoy shooting with them :)

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  5. I just bought an lx7 and I was wondering if it's normal for the camera to make a rattling sound if you turn it upside down and around. It sounds like a part is loose in the camera body itself, not the lens. And it happens with and without batteries/memory card inside. It also happens whether the camera is on or not. I'm beginning to get paranoid that my camera is faulty and I should perhaps return it (because I just got it from Amazon yesterday). Does your lx7 sound like there's a loose part in the camera body? I should add that the camera works totally fine, I might just be too used to the solid build of my DSLR.

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    1. Hey Alex,
      My LX7 never rattled that I remember, but I wouldn't worry too much about it unless your camera isn't working properly. :)

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  6. Wow! I really like how you showcased LX7's video capabilities. I was trying to look for a decent output from LX7. It looks really sharp and I want to be able to do the same with my videos too. But I'm a super newbie to cameras and editing. I have seen some video samples in youtube but not as clear as yours. Did you use any video enhancement tools? Sorry my questions sound stupid, I'm just beginning my studies and research.

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    1. Hey Jillette;

      In my videos I have used some enhancements, such as colour correction and grading. I don't sharpen my footage in post production though.

      Thanks for checking out my review :)

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  7. Hi,

    thank you for this article. I've just bought the lx7!
    Please, could you tell me about the brand and where you bought the stan for steady cam that I cas see in the picture above?

    Thank you,
    best regards.
    Daniel

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    Replies
    1. Hey Daniele!

      I bought the shoulder brace from eBay. If you search "Cowbody Studios shoulder rig" you should find it. Mine is very similar to that.

      Alternatively I'd suggest a spider brace, or the "Spider steady" for a small camera like the LX7.

      - Daniel

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  8. I purchased the Nikon P7700 for my Youtube video making and I am so glad I got it! Shutter speeds and aperture etc can be set on the fly in manual mode. It even has mic inputs and you can control the focus manually too. F2.0 yummy! Only downside is that you can't use the zoom in manual mode

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  9. As someone who has written and tested quite a few P&S cameras with video in mind, the LX7's inability to do 24p is a show-stopper, sorry. "Manipulating" 60p to look like 24p, as suggested in the article, would never look right.

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