BEJO Photography Blog: Panasonic Lumix LX100, The Perfect Strobist Camera?

Hello guys, today I want to talk about my experience with the new Lumix LX100 that I just bought a few weeks ago. I previously own three Micro Four Thirds bodies: a GX8, a GX7, and an Olympus E-PL6. Unfortunately, I often times only use two bodies, and the Olympus was the one that I rarely bring with me unless I really need something small.

I can't justify having a camera that I don't use much, so I sold the E-PL6 with a lot of sadness. I really love the E-PL6 as it's a very nice little camera that has grown over me for more than a year. Meanwhile, I needed a camera with MFT quality sensor with leaf shutter mechanism so that I could use my speedlights in high shutter speed during daylight and not having to have a HSS mode on the flash. Obviously, the only option is the LX100. So, is the LX100 the perfect strobist camera?

Let's find out! This is my personal review of the Panasonic LX100:

Design

It's a compact camera with 16MP multi-aspect ratio Micro Four Thirds sensor with a fix 24-75mm(equivalent) f/1.7-2.8 lens. The maximum actual image size is 12MP due to the multi-aspect ratio thing, on 4:3. You'll get a slightly wider image at 3:2 and at 16:9 than what you'll get at 4:3, and this could be helpful to some people. However, I love the 4:3 ratio and even sometimes I also like shooting at 1:1.

The LX100's body is designed to look like a modern rangefinder with electronic viewfinder and dedicated shutter and aperture dials. There's also an exposure compensation dial on the top of the camera. There are three dedicated function buttons and also another control wheel that you can use to adjust shutter speed or to scroll through the menu/gallery. There's also two weird buttons that can't be customized for anything: an iA button and a Filter button. They're pretty useless for me to be honest, and I think those buttons don't add any value to this camera that's supposed to be aimed to enthusiast, not to everyday snapper.

The aperture ring is very nice, it has a very strong click-resistance between 1.7 and A, so that you don't accidentally change it. Meanwhile, between the manual values, the click-resistance is quite poor so you'll get accidental aperture change all the time. The click stops at 1/3 stops, so it's quite flexible.

The rear screen is almost as big as the GX7's screen, but minus the tilting and the touchscreen capabilities. It's bright enough for daylight use, and the color reproduction on the screen is very nice. The lack of touchscreen really throws me away at first, but after two weeks using it, I started to get used to it.

The electronic viewfinder is also very similar like the GX7, but now the eye-sensor is placed on the right instead of the left to prevent accidental auto-switch. There's still that smearing for those who can see it, and the aspect ratio is pretty weird inside the viewfinder. But fortunately, with the multi aspect ratio sensor, the viewfinder now makes a lot of sense to use at 16:9 or during video recording. The EVF doesn't tilt, which may or may not be important to some. It's not important to me, but I still love a tilting EVF for the flexible shooting angle when shooting on a bright environment.

The overall from factor is really small. It's very comparable to a lot of compact camera and it's more portable than both the GX7 or the E-PL6 (don't even mention the GX8, it's a beast of a camera both in quality and in size!). The lens when not being used will retract itself so that the camera becomes really small. It's a tiny bit smaller than an E-PL6 combined with a Panasonic 20mm f/1.7. When the lens is extended, it's as long as a GX7 with a 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II at the longest zoom.

The lens requires a few moments to fully zoom from 24mm to 75mm. It's really annoying most of the times, and I really hope that if Panasonic decides to re-work on this camera into an LX100 mkII, I want them to employ manual zoom mechanism instead.

Auto Focus Performance

Auto focus is quite fast, but I somehow feel that it's very slightly not as fast as my GX7 or my GX8. It has the DFD(Depth from Defocus) technology that's supposed to enhance the AF speed in both single AF or continuous AF, but I don't feel like it's any faster than the GX7 without the DFD. But overall, it's still fast. One of the fastest for compact camera, definitely.

There's an AF Macro switch that you can enable on the lens to focus on close subject. It will slow down the focus speed, but it'll give you close macro capabilities. The macro performance is very good to say overall. At the longer zoom, the macro capabilities rather decreases rapidly; at 70mm equivalent, my 12-35mm f/2.8 lens can focus closer at 35mm(70mm equivalent) than the LX100's lens at 70mm equivalent at AF Macro setting. But at 24mm equivalent, you can literally photograph something that's touching the front element of your lens! The 12-35mm at 12mm can't do that at all.

There were a few times when the LX100's AF miss-focused badly even when I was shooting in good light; it was able to confirm focus, but it's actually not in-focus at all. This already happened many times and I was forced to abandon a few of my keeper shots because of this issue. There's no real workaround right now, but I'm now using the AF Macro permanently, so that the focus is slower but more assuring, rather than using the regular AF which is fast but more prone to accidental miss-focus.

I'm not sure if my camera is a lemon, but it seemed that I've found many other people on the internet reporting for the same thing. Fortunately, this happens only a few times, but it's enough to make me aware of such issue.

Burst Shooting

The burst shooting capability of this camera is quite good. It can give you around 8fps when you shoot RAW, and definitely 10 or 11fps when you shoot JPEG. You can activate the super burst mode when you shoot JPEG and shoot around 40fps mid-sized JPEG for a few seconds. The buffer capacity isn't so great with this camera, so you can't really do burst-shooting for too long, but it's slightly more capable than what other compact cameras can do, especially when considering that this has an MFT sensor in it.

There's a 4K photo mode, something that might be beneficial for someone who requires a camera that can shoot fast action. It will shoot 8MP images at 30fps in a form of a video that will allow you to pick a frame from that video later to be chosen as the best image.

Shutter

There are two shutter mechanisms that you can use with the LX100. For regular shooting, the LX100 will employ leaf-shutter mechanism. This mechanism will allow you to use flash at higher shutter speed, depending on your flash's t.1 time. For my YongNuo flashes, they'll still sync at 1/2000 seconds when fired on camera, but when fired wirelessly using remote triggers, they'll sync only at 1/1000. The leaf shutter itself won't go above 1/2000sec if you shoot at larger apertures.

The other shutter mechanism that you can use is the electronic shutter. It's pretty good, and it will give you a completely silent operation. The caveat when using electronic shutter is that you'll see some "jello" effect when you're shooting moving object, due to the relatively slower sensor read-out capability of the LX100. However, as this is a relatively newer generation of MFT cameras, the electronic shutter no longer produces weird banding and artifacts in the image on certain lighting conditions. As a bonus, the electronic shutter will shoot as fast as 1/16000sec, perfect for those who need to shoot at such high speed.

Stabilization

There's actually nothing to rave about in the stabilization department, it's pretty much as good as a standard Panasonic Power OIS, so it's not crazy stable, but it's good enough for the focal length range of the LX100.

Video

Speaking of video, this camera is actually a perfect little video camera with tons of great features for shooting video. First of, you can't really say video these days without mentioning 4K, so here it is: it has 4K. At 100Mb/s, it's the same bitrate as the one that you'll find in GH4, G7, and GX8. There's also a whole bunch of 1080p bitrate options with the maximum of 28Mb/s at 50fps/60fps.

Unfortunately, there's no cinematic color profile like Cine-D or Cine-V available, and there's obviously no V-Log or anything like that. You'll have to make do with the standard profiles and try your best to get the most out of them by reducing sharpness, contrast, noise reduction, and saturation.

There's no mic input or headphone jack, so you'll have to either rely on the on-camera mic, or use an external recorder and sync the audio in the post. The zooming mechanism of the lens will give you a smooth zooming experience, and the focus won't change too much when you're zooming, but the sound of the lens zooming will get picked up by the camera's mic.

Flash

Okay, this is the part that got me excited the most!! I'm not gonna lie to you: I don't find a lot of usefulness of having the addition of an LX100 on my current gear setup, but the fact that it's one of a few cameras that has large-ish sensor and leaf shutter mechanism is really important for me, because it'll enable me to use flash at higher sync speed(which I really need) with image quality that is comparable to the rest of my gear setup. This means it's the right camera for strobist portrait(thanks, Mr. David Hobby for getting me addicted to this kind of photography).

With the leaf shutter, I can sync at 1/1000sec using remote trigger, or 1/2000 when using the on camera flash. My flash's t.1 dictates the limit of the shutter speed, but not the shutter speed itself. If I have a flash that has a very fast t.1 time, then I could probably shoot at the whole shutter speed range from top to bottom and sync my flash. If only that kind of flash exists in the form of a compact speedlight like a YongNuo YN560EX with retail price that is less than $199.99 hmmmm......

Anyway, what is the advantage of having a high shutter speed sync you might ask? It's because now I can use my flash AS A KEY LIGHT to light my portrait's subject, outdoor, ON A BRIGHT SUNNY DAY, while still UNDEREXPOSING THE AMBIENT LIGHT! O. M. G.

Think about that for a second..........

Flash as a portrait key light? On a bright sunny day? Why would someone need that? Why don't you just shoot natural light portrait instead? It's bright enough that the exposure won't become a problem...

Yeah, right. On a bright sunny day, what you'll get on your portrait subject is a lot of harsh shadow and contrast. You'll have to use a reflector to fill the shadow, or find a place where there's enough shade for the subject. Those methods will result in a better subject lighting, but unfortunately they will also cause over-exposed background in my experience.

With just a couple of speedlights and a soft modifier, you can have a total control of both your ambient exposure and your subject exposure with the presence of high shutter sync speed. With the Sunny 16 rule, you can shoot 1/200 sec at f/16 ISO 200, that is 1/500 sec f/11 ISO 200 or 1/1000 sec f/8 ISO 200, or 1/1000 sec f/5.6 ISO 100, and get a perfectly exposed ambient. Drop that ambient with a low-power ND, or shoot at f/8 1/1000 ISO 100, and you'll underexpose your ambient. All you need now is a couple of off-camera speedlights set at full power, firing through an umbrella at 1 meter from the subject. Or if you need more power, use only one without modifier at full power, and you can now control both the ambient and the subject individually by changing the aperture, the shutter speed, the ISO, or the flash power. You'll get total control over your whole exposure!

My GX7 can only sync at 1/320sec, my GX8 only at 1/250sec. When I shoot at 1/1000sec, they won't register the flash at all, so the only way to get the ambient exposure at the right value is to drop the aperture and the ISO, which means my flash power gets reduced too. By the time I shoot at f/11 or f/16, my flash won't have enough power to provide any key or fill light to my subject, even at full power without modifier. I'll have to use mono-light instead or something with at least 240Ws light output.

So yeah, the LX100 is the right tool for that kind of strobist photography. If you want to learn more about this whole strobist shebang thing, head to strobist.blogspot.com for more information. Anyway, moving on....

Talking about regular flash specification, there's no built in flash, but there's a small flash unit being supplied in the box. That little flash is good enough to use as an emergency fill light. You can even use that flash in the GX8, but not in the GX7 because it requires an additional pin for transferring power from the camera to the flash. The flash doesn't have batteries inside, obviously.

Battery Life

Battery life is quite average, I could get 300 shots easily on a single charge, and if I want to squeeze more shots I can use the electronic shutter. The battery life is as good as the GX7 although not on the same performance as the GX8. In fact, it uses the same battery as the GX7, which means I can share and swap batteries between the LX100 and the GX7.

Wifi

The LX100 is equipped with Wifi capability so that you can transfer JPG images from the camera to the phone. It also enables you to actually control the camera from your Android or iPhone. The feature is pretty standard, all you need to do is to download the app to your phone and connect to the camera's access point. After that, it's pretty much straight forward.

RAW to JPG In Camera

Yes, as with the GX8, there's a RAW to JPG function built in the LX100. This eliminates the need to shoot RAW+JPG all the time. I actually shoot RAW only, and when I want to quickly share the image, I can just go to the image, convert it to JPG in camera, and wifi it away to my phone and get it in Instagram in less than a minute.

Image Quality

At 12MP, the LX100 is the laughing stock of all cameras these days. I mean, my smartphone can even shoot at 20MP!! But then again, mega pixel isn't everything and this camera isn't a slouch at all when it comes to image quality.

High ISO is quite on par with what the GX7 and GX8 offer. It's very usable up to ISO 1600. ISO 3200 is still okay, but I'd only use it only when I need to use it. The level of detail on high ISO isn't as good as the GX8, but it's roughly about the same quality as in the GX7. It should come to no surprise though, as the LX100 uses the same sensor as the GX7.

Dynamic range is okay, it's on par with the GX7. I can pull up the shadow a few stops easily while keeping the noise reasonably low with as much detail as possible. Highlight is a bit more dangerous as you can only pull down the highlight 2 stop at the most before it'll show the clipping. For landscape shooting, I'll suggest to slightly underexpose the foreground to keep the background and the sky from clipping the highlight.

I'd say the dynamic range of the GX7 and the GX8 are slightly better. But then again, the dynamic range of the LX100 isn't as bad as my Canon EOS 650D or my Canon EOS M, so it's all good!

Sharpness wise, it's actually a very sharp camera, even at its 12MP resolution. When the images from the LX100 and the GX7 are downsampled to a specific smaller resolution, you won't be able to notice much difference. Pixel peep wise, you'll see that the GX7 will be able to retain a bit more detail due to its higher megapixel, but the LX100 isn't bad at all to be honest. As a comparison, the images my Sony Xperia Z2 phone with 20MP sensor shows so much less detail when compared to the LX100, even with the LX100 being down-sized and the Xperia not being down-sized.

What I Don't Like

With the fixed zoom lens design of the LX100, you'll have to wait for the lens to extend everytime you turn it on. It takes time to get the lens to be ready for shooting. That could cause you to miss a shot. This makes this camera a less ideal action street-photography camera. I really wish the next iteration of this camera will employ a manual zoom lens instead of the electronic zoom that's currently being implemented in the LX100.

The LX100 requires you to switch to Macro AF mode if you want to take a picture of something close. It drops the focus speed a bit when you switch to Macro AF, but you can use the Macro AF mode for regular shooting mode too.

The multi-aspect ratio thing gave me a bit of a mixed feeling. I like that I can switch from 4:3 to 1:1 or to 16:9 so that I don't need to crop later. But sometimes, I really wish that the camera's design utilizes the whole sensor to get the most resolution out of the sensor, because I'm shooting at 4:3 most of the time anyway.

There are only three dedicated function buttons. It really limits the customization level of this camera, especially for someone like me who come from both the GX7 and GX8 that have a lot of customization options in the function buttons. However, to be fair, I honestly don't need to have that much function buttons anyway with this camera.

The two things that I really find annoying with this camera are: the lack of touchscreen and the lack of tilting LCD screen. The UI of this camera really begs me to touch the screen, and it's no surprise that I keep accidentally touching the screen even until today. Also I can't shoot low angle anymore with this camera because it doesn't have that tilt screen like the GX7 or GX8. I learned to live without them just fine, but it's just a shame that those features didn't make it to the camera.

Also, as mentioned before, the autofocus is a bit inaccurate, so be careful. Re-focus as many times as possible, and focus to the most contrasty objects that you can find.

The LX100 For Non Strobist?

Yes the LX100 is a hell of a compact camera. It's smaller than how it looks in the photos actually, and it packs almost the same power as the GX7. It has the nice 24-75mm f/1.7-2.8 lens built in, and it has 4K. Now the question is, how does it compare to a GX7 with 12-35mm f/2.8 if you don't need another lens besides that?

The GX7 will perform better in the still department, and the GX7 is actually faster and much more snappier than the LX100 when in use. However, the final result in image quality will be very comparable, and the LX100 will deliver pretty much the same result in a smaller form factor.

So if you need to use a compact camera that packs a Micro Four Thirds glorious punch with a built-in high quality large aperture lens, this LX100 is for you. The price of the LX100 is the same as the price of the Lumix 12-35mm f/2.8 lens itself, so it makes more sense economically to go with the LX100 if you don't need to change lens on your GX7. Plus you get 4K in the LX100, the GX7 only delivers 1080p.

This camera will not fit into your pocket unfortunately, but it's very easy to carry around and it doesn't take up a lot of space in your camera bag. It's a bit thicker than a Fuji X100 even, but the Fuji X100 is also not pocketable.

I now take the LX100 for regular outings, dinner, social meets, and things like that. I can sacrifice a bit of mega pixels for some convenience, and the LX100 makes that sacrifice a no brainer.

LX100 Vs The Competition

Sony RX100 series?

Ha! The Sony RX100 actually isn't bad at all and it's very comparable to the LX100. The RX100 will pack more megapixel if you need it, but the overall performance is the same. The law of physics dictates that the smaller the sensor, the lesser the image quality will be. The RX100 uses a 1 inch sensor that is a bit smaller than what's inside the LX100. However, the processing power of the RX100 is very good, that the difference of image quality between the LX100 and the RX100 is not too far. Both RX100 and LX100 have almost comparable performance, but the LX100 has the advantage in easy-to-navigate menu, high ISO, manual control, and better video. The RX100 is a bit fiddly to use because it lacks manual control on the camera. Keep in mind, the RX100 is truly pocketable and it's something that the LX100 is not. If you decide to choose the RX100, go with the mark III or mark IV for the best performance possible out of the RX100.

Fuji X100 series?

With the X100S and X100T, you'll have better image quality than the LX100. In fact, the X100S and X100T will give you the same image quality as in the top of the line Fuji X-T1. Dynamic range is good, high ISO performance is amazing, color is nicer, everything is nicer. However, X100S doesn't have both zoom lens, and good video performance. That's exactly the reason why I picked up the LX100 over the X100S or X100T. If you can live with 35mm equivalent lens for your whole life, and you don't need video, X100S or X100T is your choice.

Keep in mind, both the RX100 and X100 have leaf-shutter mechanism too, so you can sync your flash at high shutter speed. The RX100 doesn't have hotshoe to mount your flash/trigger, but you can trigger optically using the built in flash. The X100, however, has the hotshoe, and it also has a built in 3 stop ND to further kill your ambient or to allow for shallower depth of field, allowing you to be even more creative with your strobist photography.

Conclusion

You may wonder why I kept comparing the LX100 with the GX7 and the GX8 throughout the post while in fact they are not even on the same level? Because the GX7 and the GX8 are my main cameras for most shooting situation, both stills and video. I really didn't think the LX100 will do any good besides as a dedicated strobist camera, but the LX100 has really grown more and more in me, and tomorrow I'll be taking the LX100 alone to a short trip. It's a very good companion camera if you are intending to use it that way. But as I said, it is my best strobist camera.

Not everything is sweet with the LX100. As mentioned before, I wish the autofocus is better, and I really want the touchscreen and the tilting screen capabilities. As of right now, with the AF on Macro AF mode, I can tolerate the LX100 and at least tame the autofocus to a certain degree for a predictable result.

I'm not sure if Panasonic will develop the successor of this camera, given the fact that now the competitions from both compact camera and mirrorless interchangeable camera are quite aggressive. But if Panasonic decides to produce LX100 Mk II or LX200, I would say touchscreen, tilting screen, mic input, headphone jack, and weather sealing. 16MP would be nice too!

As for now, I'll gladly recommend this camera for anyone who's looking to buy a compact MFT-grade camera.

In summary:

PROS:

- Good image quality at 12MP
- LEAF SHUTTER!!!!
- 4K video
- Good manual control
- Nice performance
- Small camera, although not pocketable
- RAW to JPG in camera
- Sharp 24-75mm lens
- It says Leica on the lens, if that matters to you

CONS:

- A few occasions of inaccurate autofocus
- No touchscreen
- No tilt screen
- A tiny bit on the expensive side
- No weather sealing
- No mic jack, no headphone jack