Panasonic LX5 new user

[HLLEE]

Hi all, just bought my Panasonic LX5 few days ago and not sure how to play with it.
Can any experts share with me what's the best settings for the following places?

Low light, indoor taking photos of human - settings?
Low light, outdoor taking photos of human - settings?
low light, indoor taking photos of moving objects - settings?
low light, outdoor taking photos of moving objects - settings?

Will be very much appreciated for sharing the best settings with me, thanks.

 

[HLLEE]

Any bros can share their knowledge?

 

[ChickenRice]

Hi all, just bought my Panasonic LX5 few days ago and not sure how to play with it.
Can any experts share with me what's the best settings for the following places?

Low light, indoor taking photos of human - settings?
Low light, outdoor taking photos of human - settings?
low light, indoor taking photos of moving objects - settings?
low light, outdoor taking photos of moving objects - settings?

Will be very much appreciated for sharing the best settings with me, thanks.

1. I use "Smooth" color setting and auto ISO for indoor low light. Make sure the white balance is set to "Custom" and fine tuned for the lighting conditions.

2. For outdoors lowlignt / night portraits, I would choose scene mode -> Night portrait with flash, it turns out quite nice

3 & 4, I have had no luck so far, my bunny moves around and I have not been able to take any pics that are sharp unless you use full auto with flash , but not nice

More experienced gurus can suggest better!

 

[zan82]

Hi all, just bought my Panasonic LX5 few days ago and not sure how to play with it.
Can any experts share with me what's the best settings for the following places?

Low light, indoor taking photos of human - settings?
Low light, outdoor taking photos of human - settings?
low light, indoor taking photos of moving objects - settings?
low light, outdoor taking photos of moving objects - settings?

Will be very much appreciated for sharing the best settings with me, thanks.

iA. Solution to everything ;p

Well, don't mind for a short lecture.

Don't depend on people to give you the answers. Start off with A or S mode to understand more about the changes between aperture and shutter speed. There isn't any so called "best settings" simply because the amount of light in any place is not a constant. Google and read up more on what are the variables of exposure and lighting. What works for others might not for you, and you can't blame them because they can't tell you the exposure where you are shooting, you see.

A more experience photog/enthusiast who is beside you when you are shooting with your camera will be at a better position to advice you on the settings per say, but that'd still take the fun of learning =)

 

[pennystock]

I'm a newbie too, LX5 is my first camera...

Does anyone knows why you get moire green-pinkish patterns when you snap pics of bright TV screens? I also got same green-pinkish double image of my window grill below the bright window...etc.

What causes it? How to avoid or remedy it? Thanks.

 

[ChickenRice]

I'm a newbie too, LX5 is my first camera...

Does anyone knows why you get moire green-pinkish patterns when you snap pics of bright TV screens? I also got same green-pinkish double image of my window grill below the bright window...etc.

What causes it? How to avoid or remedy it? Thanks.

Sorry, no Idea what you are talking about... Please share a few of these pics that you having problem with.

My results are phenomenal by the way

 

[pennystock]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Sorry, no Idea what you are talking about...

For a while there, I thought you are Arsene Wenger.

Anyway I've yet to sign up for a photo hosting account so I can't share any photos with CSers here. But I googled on it and this is similar to what I got: http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=moire

Maybe it has something to do with my camera being set at i.resolution - on, i.exposure - high...

Then again I was shooting in iA mode so maybe the setting don't matter and it is not my fault. HaHa!

I bought the camera for documenting and record keeping purposes - so detail and clarity is important to me not artistic effects! This is against the advice of my friend whose rice bowl is professional photography and Canon his religion, he strongly suggested to me to get the Canon G12 instead.

Now I can show my friend I struck lottery, I got the one in a million LX5 that has an unadvertised "special feature" that is a lot more sophisticated than the "Holga effect".

That looks something like this: http://media.photobucket.com/image/holga/jasoncomet/holgapier.jpg?o=2

Yah, looking on the bright side...

Perhaps in the circle of confusion I can find my depth of field in photography? :bsmilie:

 

[pennystock]

For the newbies and pros(who are too shy to ask):

A brief intro to auto mode and the right scene modes vs manual mode with your point and shoot.

Take Your Best Shot
Do you trip over nighttime shots, fast action, and tough indoor scenes? With the right scene modes and a few advanced tricks, you can unlock your digital camera's hidden powers.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/206080/take_your_best_shot.html

 

[ChickenRice]

Thanks for the quick reply.

For a while there, I thought you are Arsene Wenger.

LOL! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsène_Wenger ?

No I am not Arsene Wenger bro.

But your friend's advise to go with G12 was not bad either, Canon is very user friendly and almost always produces good results. BUT with you luck, you might have gotten a LEMON from canon as well

Why dont you take it back to the shop and ask for a replacement?

 

[pennystock]

LOL! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsène_Wenger ?

No I am not Arsene Wenger bro.

But your friend's advise to go with G12 was not bad either, Canon is very user friendly and almost always produces good results. BUT with you luck, you might have gotten a LEMON from canon as well

Why dont you take it back to the shop and ask for a replacement?

Wenger is famous for saying: "I didn't see it, I know nothing about it." :devil:


I just discovered sometimes moire patterns occur depending on what monitor/res you use to view your photos! So monitor problem(?) not photo problem. HeHe.

The "pink reflection" of my window grill problem is still a mystery to me but by now I've taken slightly over a hundred pics and the problem has not been duplicated...

So okay if one in a hundred(1%) pics produces "Holga effects", I can live with it -- it may even enhance my creativity! HaHA!

I guess if the world gives you lemons -- MAKE lemonade!

iA mode seems to throw up a lot of surprises -- so one of the best and quickest way to learn about photography is to check the EXIF info on every pic to help you understand your camera(in particular) and it will give you clues to experiment with some settings.

A good viewer for the PC is the free IrfanView viewer plus all its free 3rd party plugins,imagine my surprise when I found out I can even view LX5 RAW images with the "canon raw" plugin installed(don't ask me why -- it just worked).

Happy experimenting!!!

 

[pennystock]

Found out about my LX5 "Holga effects" problem leow. It affects all LX5 cameras -- my camera not so special after all -- sigh!

It is documented here:


Lumix LX5 HD Video - Vertical Smearing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlAcAunxnac&feature=related

Seems like all CCD sensors have this problem. For further info(research article) on CCD vs CMOS sensors do read:


SENSOR ARTIFACTS AND CMOS ROLLING SHUTTER
http://dvxuser.com/jason/CMOS-CCD/


So what to do? Understand why and find ways to avoid it loh! Your experiences or methods of avoiding this is well appreciated, thanks.

 

[amyyeo]

Hi all,

is there anyone that can help to advise on this query?

On LX3, there is a Focus button on top so that i can choose the object to focus in Aperture mode.



i want to focus something on the bottom left instead of center. But in LX5, there is no focus button to lock it, how do i do that in aperture mode for LX5? i tried to search around the menu but cant find it.. any one knows?

 

[pennystock]

Hi all,
i want to focus something on the bottom left instead of center. But in LX5, there is no focus button to lock it, how do i do that in aperture mode for LX5? i tried to search around the menu but cant find it.. any one knows?

On the LX5 the focus button is on the back panel sitting on top of the menu/set button.

Press that to activate -- the focusing square will turn yellow, move it with the direction keys/buttons to the desired position and lock it by pressing the "set" or AF/AE lock button.

Take your shot.

 

[amyyeo]

i am not sure if i did anything wrong..

i am in A mode, then selected MF.
When i click on Focus button, it did not turn into yellow. my metering mode is spot.
any settings is wrong?

 

[pennystock]

i am in A mode, then selected MF.
When i click on Focus button, it did not turn into yellow. my metering mode is spot.
any settings is wrong?

It is strange but the moment you switch to MF the focusing options turns grey(not selectable) so the work around is to start at AF mode and activate the focusing square to desired position as mentioned in my previous post, set it and THEN switch to MF!??? This should work.:bsmilie:

 

[pennystock]

Somethings I've noticed about my LX5:

To get rid of handshake, shutter speed must be 1/10 sec or faster.

At max zoom, biggest aperture is 3.3.

Sometimes my LX5 lockup or does nothing and I have to switch mode to activate it???

Sometimes I power on but everything remains dark and inactive and I have to power off and on again??? Does that happen to you?

 

[pharme]

It is strange but the moment you switch to MF the focusing options turns grey(not selectable) so the work around is to start at AF mode and activate the focusing square to desired position as mentioned in my previous post, set it and THEN switch to MF!??? This should work.:bsmilie:

The FOCUS button can be activated on mine under MF mode, not AF. Press FOCUS and it'll focus on the spot where you want (a square will appear on screen when FOCUS is pressed) and move to your desired composition and click to snap, you'd get the point of focus set earlier anywhere within the frame.

The FOCUS also works on video shooting where zooming in/out causes objects to be out of focus and when FOCUS is pressed, it brings back the sharpness. Although i would expect the focusing to be done quite automagically.

I am still learning all the digital traits that this little monster has to offer. Meanwhile would be glad to hear someone sharing discovery small and big here. LX5 isn't just simply a PnS in my view.

Maybe there should be a LX5 Tips and Tricks open for all to share, enjoy and discover the many hidden layers of this machine.

 

[kei1309]

To get rid of handshake, shutter speed must be 1/10 sec or faster.

At max zoom, biggest aperture is 3.3.

i learnt from some friends that it's best to use the 1/focal length (e.g. if shooting at 60mm, shutter speed should be 1/60s etc) for getting sharp pictures. but with image stabilizers i.e. O.I.S it's easier to prevent handshake from ruining your shot

but since u can't really tell the focal length on a PNS camera, try not to dip below 1/30s to be safe unless u've got super steady hands or a tripod.

 

[pennystock]

The FOCUS button can be activated on mine under MF mode, not AF.

Um what's your firmware version number? Mine is 1.0, can our firmware be different?:think:

 

[pennystock]

i learnt from some friends that it's best to use the 1/focal length (e.g. if shooting at 60mm, shutter speed should be 1/60s etc) for getting sharp pictures. but with image stabilizers i.e. O.I.S it's easier to prevent handshake from ruining your shot

but since u can't really tell the focal length on a PNS camera, try not to dip below 1/30s to be safe unless u've got super steady hands or a tripod.

I do get sharp handheld pictures at 1/4 but now and then the handshake warning will come on and I'll up the shutter speed. But at 1/10 the handshake warning never comes on. In the old days before O.I.S. I read that there is a rule of thumb of not going below 1/60 but i suppose that's obsolete now?:bsmilie: