There are two types of choices for small cameras that take good stills and that also take good video now, apart from dedicated camcorders:
1. Point and shoot (P&S) cameras: these now deliver good video, at 108060p with long zooms. They lack basic manual control of video, however - in particular the inability to lock shutter or aperture and usually have little control of picture quality (amount of saturation, sharpness, contrast, etc.). Examples are the Sony Hx9v,Hx20v, Panasonic FZ200, etc. Not great in dim light because the sensors are small, there are a lot of pixels, and the lenses are slow - f3.5 at best and really slow at the zoom end (the FZ200 amazingly, though, has an f2.8 lens throughout the zoom range).
2. Fully manual, RAW-capable *small* still cameras: there are three in this category that shoot 108060p: the Sony RX100, the Sony R1 ($2700), and the Panasonic LX7.
Recently the LX7 price came down from $499 to $299, so it has become very popular, with a number of knowledgeable forum participants getting it. The LX7 gets rave reviews for its stills (it does RAW, of course), and there is not much testing of its video since it was always primarily an enthusiasts' still camera and is tested on camera sites where ignorance of video is, well, obvious. The excitement over the RX100 as a small stills camera with a big sensor has also overshadowed the LX7, maybe a reason for the price drop.
What the LX7 offers in video:
Fully manual control, again in video. This includes setting any combination of shutter, aperture, ISO and of course manual focus and focus lock. And the quality of the video can also be set, selecting among general "looks" or saturation (e.g., 'normal,' 'vivid,' 'natural.') and within those contrast, noise reduction, saturation, and even sharpness can be set. Yes, you can even control the amount of noise reduction, which is too aggressive in most P&S cameras, obliterating detail. Of course it has fully automatic mode as well,
A very fast zoom lens - the fastest of any camera f1.4-f2.3 (f1.4 Leica Summilux!). The zoom is limited, however, like the RX100: 24mm-90mm. Its sensor size is 1/1.7 - bigger than all camcorders and P&S cameras, but smaller than the Rx100. However, the sensor only has 10 megapixels, so the pixels are relatively large. So, it is extremely good in low light, even when you zoom.
It takes extreme macros - 1cm at wide.
It has a built in ND filter. This is critical: if you want to take narrow dof *video* outdoors in bright light you need to use wide apertures and you need to keep the shutter low (unlike for stills) to get smooth motion. You cannot do this without an ND filter. Push a button, and the internal ND filter drops exposure by three stops without affecting dof. First thing a video pro asks about high-level camcorders - does it have internal ND filters you can control? The LX7 does (it takes external filters to, with an accessory).
Some limitations: the zoom is small, of course. The zoom control is not as controllable as that of a camcorder, but it is not noisy. The LCD is high resolution like the best available but it is not touch screen and does not articulate. You can add an electronic view finder, however, that is very high quality, and that rotates. This separates the LX7 from all the small cameras, including the RX100. It's a bit bigger than the Hx9/20 and the Rx100.
It is tempting to compare the LX7 to the much more expensive RX100. For video the key difference is the size of the sensor, much bigger for the RX100. This means in low light, at the wide end only where the lens is f1.8, the RX100 is likely better, but not zoomed in (because the lens has a narrow aperture zoomed in). And shallow dof effects for the Rx100 are more, well, shallow - but one cannot get as close to subjects as the LX7 (closeness also narrows dof), and in bright light you need to add an external ND filter in (proper) video to keep the aperture wide and the shutter down (I do not know whether this is possible). And, as for all big sensor cameras except perhaps the GH2, shooting HD video results in artifacts (moire) not present in small-sensor cameras' video.
But this about the LX7 (users of the RX100 can still chime in, as the cameras are quite similar).
Well, our family gave in to the price, and it is fun to play with all the *video* settings and to play with the shallow dof that the fast lens gives with the bigger-than-camcorder size sensor.
Edited by markr041 - 12/30/12 at 8:59am
1. Point and shoot (P&S) cameras: these now deliver good video, at 108060p with long zooms. They lack basic manual control of video, however - in particular the inability to lock shutter or aperture and usually have little control of picture quality (amount of saturation, sharpness, contrast, etc.). Examples are the Sony Hx9v,Hx20v, Panasonic FZ200, etc. Not great in dim light because the sensors are small, there are a lot of pixels, and the lenses are slow - f3.5 at best and really slow at the zoom end (the FZ200 amazingly, though, has an f2.8 lens throughout the zoom range).
2. Fully manual, RAW-capable *small* still cameras: there are three in this category that shoot 108060p: the Sony RX100, the Sony R1 ($2700), and the Panasonic LX7.
Recently the LX7 price came down from $499 to $299, so it has become very popular, with a number of knowledgeable forum participants getting it. The LX7 gets rave reviews for its stills (it does RAW, of course), and there is not much testing of its video since it was always primarily an enthusiasts' still camera and is tested on camera sites where ignorance of video is, well, obvious. The excitement over the RX100 as a small stills camera with a big sensor has also overshadowed the LX7, maybe a reason for the price drop.
What the LX7 offers in video:
Fully manual control, again in video. This includes setting any combination of shutter, aperture, ISO and of course manual focus and focus lock. And the quality of the video can also be set, selecting among general "looks" or saturation (e.g., 'normal,' 'vivid,' 'natural.') and within those contrast, noise reduction, saturation, and even sharpness can be set. Yes, you can even control the amount of noise reduction, which is too aggressive in most P&S cameras, obliterating detail. Of course it has fully automatic mode as well,
A very fast zoom lens - the fastest of any camera f1.4-f2.3 (f1.4 Leica Summilux!). The zoom is limited, however, like the RX100: 24mm-90mm. Its sensor size is 1/1.7 - bigger than all camcorders and P&S cameras, but smaller than the Rx100. However, the sensor only has 10 megapixels, so the pixels are relatively large. So, it is extremely good in low light, even when you zoom.
It takes extreme macros - 1cm at wide.
It has a built in ND filter. This is critical: if you want to take narrow dof *video* outdoors in bright light you need to use wide apertures and you need to keep the shutter low (unlike for stills) to get smooth motion. You cannot do this without an ND filter. Push a button, and the internal ND filter drops exposure by three stops without affecting dof. First thing a video pro asks about high-level camcorders - does it have internal ND filters you can control? The LX7 does (it takes external filters to, with an accessory).
Some limitations: the zoom is small, of course. The zoom control is not as controllable as that of a camcorder, but it is not noisy. The LCD is high resolution like the best available but it is not touch screen and does not articulate. You can add an electronic view finder, however, that is very high quality, and that rotates. This separates the LX7 from all the small cameras, including the RX100. It's a bit bigger than the Hx9/20 and the Rx100.
It is tempting to compare the LX7 to the much more expensive RX100. For video the key difference is the size of the sensor, much bigger for the RX100. This means in low light, at the wide end only where the lens is f1.8, the RX100 is likely better, but not zoomed in (because the lens has a narrow aperture zoomed in). And shallow dof effects for the Rx100 are more, well, shallow - but one cannot get as close to subjects as the LX7 (closeness also narrows dof), and in bright light you need to add an external ND filter in (proper) video to keep the aperture wide and the shutter down (I do not know whether this is possible). And, as for all big sensor cameras except perhaps the GH2, shooting HD video results in artifacts (moire) not present in small-sensor cameras' video.
But this about the LX7 (users of the RX100 can still chime in, as the cameras are quite similar).
Well, our family gave in to the price, and it is fun to play with all the *video* settings and to play with the shallow dof that the fast lens gives with the bigger-than-camcorder size sensor.
Edited by markr041 - 12/30/12 at 8:59am
You have motivated me to go out and find high quality video shot with the LX7 - it turns out that shooters are turning out some impressive work with this little camera:
