19Sep A touch hipster, Wood Panasonic LX100 Grip from J.B. Design
Above is a bag from J.B. Camera Design. They make “hand crafted” wooden base plates and handles for small cameras. While that sort of thing is usually something I poke fun at, my recent purchase of a Panasonic LX100 has forced me to start looking at that sort of thing. Other than hand crafted wood handles, there aren’t a lot of rig options for such small cameras.
The main reason I was looking for some kind of rig for the LX100 is to shift the QR plate away from the battery door. With a QR plate placed in the standard location, you have to unscrew the plate anytime you need to get to the battery or change SD cards. With the J.B. Camera Design grip attached, the 1/4 20 threads are shifted over to the center of the lens. This gives you room to open the battery door and centers the lens under the QR plate.
Build quality is what you would expect out of a milled piece of bamboo. Nice and solid across the board with an IKEA style 1/4 20 mount embedded in the base. There are cutout outs for both the battery door and speaker and the lip around the edge of the frame is a nice snug fit around the Panasonic LX100 base.
Looking the J.B. Camera Design grip from the bottom, you can see the nice metal 1/4 20 mount as well as an etched logo. They’ve done a good job milling the unit and all of the edges are nice and smooth.
Included in the J.B. Camera Design grip packaging is an extra 1/4 20 screw and a worn out old penny. Kind of a classy move for a package that already screams hipster. Can’t be bothered with a flat head screwdriver, here’s a penny kid.
While the J.B. Camera Design grip isn’t normally the sort of thing I would spend much time writing about, there aren’t really a lot of options out there for the Panasonic LX100. $85 is a bit on the spendy side when it comes to a$700 camera body and I would have prefered machined aluminium, but the grip looks fine and it solves a problem.
I’m currently working on a quick video guide that explains how to best setup and use the Panasonic LX100 for 4k shooting. More on that to follow in coming posts.
14Sep DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 52
Episode 52 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up Devin from impulsenetworks.tv joins me to discuss the Rodelink Newsshooter, DJI X5, Pixpro, Sony a7s II, Konova upgrades and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
12Sep Panasonic LX100 4k point & shoot – First Impressions
Even though I turn over 1080p footage for the vast majority of the work that I do, I’ve started to shoot 4k whenever available. It’s not that I really “need” to shoot 4k, but the data penalty and workflow aren’t really that bad and I’ve kind of falling into the philosophy “If you have it you may as well use it.”
In the past i’ve used my Hero 4 black edition as the camera for tight shots, but that wide angle isn’t always very attractive and even with protune, grading footage can be a little tricky. For that reason I’ve been searching for a Hero 4 replacement that fits into roughly the same form factor but allows for a little more flexibility in terms of controls and focal range.
It’s actually the reason I got in on the E1 M43 Camera kickstarter 4 or 5 months back. While the E1 looks good, development of a kickstarter project can take some time so I recently started glancing around on craigslist for something like the Sony RX100 IV or Panasonic LX100. Both of these cameras are slim, have full manual controls, a decent focal range, and relatively good lenses.
After glancing around at the specs, I was leaning towards the LX100 which ended up popping up on craigslist for $475. At that price it’s actually a bit cheaper than a Hero 4 and a lot more flexible as a video and photography tool.
The LX100 is a nice looking camera and the 24-75mm f1.7 to f2.8 lens is very impressive for a point and shoot. The (almost) 4/3 sensor used in the LX100 is also very good in low light, I’d put this in the same class as the original Canon 7d.
To get this thing to work as a video tool there are a lot of adjustments that need to be made in the menu system. Once you’ve set it up, you have to make the same changes to convert back to stills. A custom user setup will probably be pretty important.
I haven’t done something as in depth as a camera review for quite awhile so i’m gathering up ideas.
Currently on the list are the normal suspects:
- High ISO
- AF system
- Built in mic
- HDMI output
- GH4, LX100 comparison samples
- Best video settings
Feel free to leave a comment with anything else you’d like to see added. More on the Panasonic LX100 to follow.
12Sep DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 51
Episode 51 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Mitch from planet5D.com joins me to discuss the Sony a7s II, Sony FS5, Kodak Pixpro and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
12Sep DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 50
Episode 50 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Mitch from planet5D.com joins me to discuss the Tamron 35mm f1.8, GH4 firmware, new panasonic glass, and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
12Sep DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 49
Episode 49 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Devin from impulsenetworks.tv joins me to discuss the Sony a7r II, Flex lights, lens bags and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
31Aug DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 48
Episode 48 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Mitch from planet5D.com joins me to discuss Olympus E-M10 II, Canon 35mm f1.4 II, and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
30Aug DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 47
Episode 47 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Devin from impulsenetworks.tv joins me to discuss the GH5 in 2016, HDR, 4k youtube compression and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
25Aug DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 46
Episode 46 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Devin from impulsenetworks.tv joins me to discuss DIY ring lights, Blackmagic price drop, and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
20Aug DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 45
Episode 45 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Mitch from planet5D.com joins me to discuss the JVC LS300 gets 4k, Sony a7RII video testing, 16TB SSD drives, and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
