Micro 4/3 One thing I don’t like about the LX100

I'll bet a GM5 with a 20mm f/1.7 on it would work very nicely in situations like the one Jock has described. Wait until Christmas... I'll bet the GM5 goes on sale at B&H or Amazon.

The thing is, his LX100 would work perfectly for what he wants to do; but for whatever reason, they didn't stick "scene modes" on the dial so he can choose when to use the Handheld twilight feature that they built into the camera.
 
On the LX-100, if you hold down the 'A' button until the 'A' shows on the screen, then the iHandheld Night Shot is enabled on page 2 of the shooting menu.
 
The thing is, his LX100 would work perfectly for what he wants to do; but for whatever reason, they didn't stick "scene modes" on the dial so he can choose when to use the Handheld twilight feature that they built into the camera.

Yes, I understand that. My recommendation was in that context. But it appears Dale has a solution even if, in its infinite wisdom, Panasonic made it a convoluted one.
 
On the LX-100, if you hold down the 'A' button until the 'A' shows on the screen, then the iHandheld Night Shot is enabled on page 2 of the shooting menu.

Dale,

By the "A" button, you mean the iA button, right?

Unless I misunderstand, the item on page 2 of the shooting menu only allows Handheld Night Shot to be turned on so that it can be invoked automatically in iA mode (at the discretion of the internal programming of the camera). It does not turn on the Handheld Night Shot directly so that it can be used immediately.

Or am I missing something?

Cheers, Jock
 
Dale,

By the "A" button, you mean the iA button, right?

Unless I misunderstand, the item on page 2 of the shooting menu only allows Handheld Night Shot to be turned on so that it can be invoked automatically in iA mode (at the discretion of the internal programming of the camera). It does not turn on the Handheld Night Shot directly so that it can be used immediately.

Or am I missing something?

Cheers, Jock

Since you mention it, I don't know. It doesn't provide any feedback, so I guess it's back to square 1.
 
A workable solution -- but would require a firmware update -- would be to use the "filter" button to step through the scenes in iA mode and then use the menu/set button to select one. When iA mode is selected, the filter button doesn't serve any useful purpose.
 
Just for fun, I tried poking various buttons on the LX100 in various combinations, hoping to find a magic "control, alt delete" combo that would open a treasure trove of hidden goodies, including the ability to invoke Handheld Night Shot directly. No dice. I've also cruised the internet a bit, looking for lx100 tricks and tips and lx100 iA mode tricks, but I have nothing helpful in dealing with handheld night shot.

There are, however, useful goodies out there relating to camera setup and use.
 
I'm at a disadvantage here being without the camera AND without the manual. But do they mean that it is (perhaps) selectable with the dial set to A (Aperture Priority Mode)? I'm guessing "no" and that is only available as a camera selected scene mode in iAuto.

The tiny little button marked 'A' on the top plate sets the camera into the Intelligent Auto mode, for whatever it's worth. And I'm surprised that it can't go directly to Handheld Night Shot, since that exact wording is on one of the menu options that's enabled by that 'A' button. Methinks Panasonic has some unfinished work to do on that camera.
 
The tiny little button marked 'A' on the top plate sets the camera into the Intelligent Auto mode, for whatever it's worth. And I'm surprised that it can't go directly to Handheld Night Shot, since that exact wording is on one of the menu options that's enabled by that 'A' button. Methinks Panasonic has some unfinished work to do on that camera.

Looking over the options in Ai mode it would seem iHandheld Night Shot is the only one that is a multi shot composite. That might be the reason for explicit activation. (Just a guess.)
 
the problem is the "Auto" part of iAuto. The camera uses it's tiny little pre-programmed brain to decide which scene mode will work best to capture the scene. And in most other cameras, there is a scene mode that is user selectable. Panasonic thought that the "advanced experienced enthusiasts" (yes, I made that shit up) who would be buying the LX100 wouldn't use a "scene mode". They failed to remove the vestigial scene modes from the camera though.....and now the natives are getting restless. Why can't we "advanced experienced enthusiasts" use our brains in concert with the secret juju of the twilight mode.
 
Did some experiments with Handheld Night Shot. It would not activate indoors in any light, but out in my parking lot at night, it did. It only required the 'A' mode and turning on the menu option. If you stabilize the camera, it won't activate. So with the camera truly handheld, I made several exposures (the camera shoots 6 frames per exposure), and all of them looked bad, with very heavy noise processing. The best I can say is that some of the larger objects that were fairly close (parked cars about 30 feet away at minimum zoom) were passable for minimum detail, but cars parked about 100 feet away were badly smeared in all exposures.
 
Did some experiments with Handheld Night Shot. It would not activate indoors in any light, but out in my parking lot at night, it did. It only required the 'A' mode and turning on the menu option. If you stabilize the camera, it won't activate. So with the camera truly handheld, I made several exposures (the camera shoots 6 frames per exposure), and all of them looked bad, with very heavy noise processing. The best I can say is that some of the larger objects that were fairly close (parked cars about 30 feet away at minimum zoom) were passable for minimum detail, but cars parked about 100 feet away were badly smeared in all exposures.

Here's what I got (shot the actual morning of the first post with handheld night shot after I struggled to get it to activate):

LX100 trees and lights in the sky 007.JPG

and

LX100 trees and lights in the sky 012.JPG


Perhaps, Dale, the reason handheld night shot was not activating was that it was not detecting enough movement.

And just for fun, this was taken early this AM, a 13-second time exposure:

LX100 time exposure dark skies 010.JPG

and this is a time exposure taken some time ago with the FZ150:

birdfeeder_and_starry_night_009_Medium_.JPG


The last two were taken off a tripod.

Cheers, Jock
 
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I did get it to activate outdoors, but the results were bad when aimed at my parking lot. Stars did show up well in my photos, but not cleanly like yours - mine were a bit jagged or fuzzy. Maybe if I were shooting only the sky it would have been clean.
 
Hi, New member here.
I can invoke HDR in A, S or P mode by first activating HDR in the main menu. I have assigned Fn1 as my HDR activation button. Once activated, the camera takes 3 shots, then combines them into one image. This is different from iHandheld Night Shot in iA mode, which is only detected automatically and consists of 6 shots that are combined. I haven’t figured out iHDR — perhaps it’s implemented when the camera is on a tripod. I’ve only had my LX100 about a week, and I haven’t experimented extensively.
 
Hi, New member here.
I can invoke HDR in A, S or P mode by first activating HDR in the main menu. I have assigned Fn1 as my HDR activation button. Once activated, the camera takes 3 shots, then combines them into one image. This is different from iHandheld Night Shot in iA mode, which is only detected automatically and consists of 6 shots that are combined. I haven’t figured out iHDR — perhaps it’s implemented when the camera is on a tripod. I’ve only had my LX100 about a week, and I haven’t experimented extensively.

I get good results sometimes with the highlight/shadow feature, with shadows at plus 5 and highlights at minus 2.
 
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