Cameras and Connectivity

The right balance, FZ1000

Where is the camera industry going or failing to go ?

This post  has been prompted by my observations of  a 12 year old family member on  recent outings.

He has an interest in photography.

On the first outing he borrowed an  i- Phone,  figured out how to use it in a few minutes  then proceeded to snap photos which he immediately forwarded to his friends.

On the second outing he borrowed a Panasonic FZ1000, figured out how to use that in a few minutes   and was soon snapping away with the zoom lens at full stretch.

The two big drawcards for the FZ1000 were:

1. That long zoom which enabled photos not possible with the smartphone.

2. The built in EVF which enabled him to easily see image preview and playback  on a bright sunny day when the monitor was just about useless.

He actually managed to get a couple of in focus shots of birds in flight at the free flight show at the zoo.

But then he hit a roadblock. The FZ1000 cannot be used to transmit its own photos to the internet. It may have been  possible to do so with a smartphone app.  But he had no interest in this level of gadget complexity and frankly, neither do I.

It seems to me that most camera makers are not paying attention to their customers desires regarding usage practices.

I think camera users in the digital era probably fall loosely into the same two groups as they did in the film era.

The Majority

When film was king, there was a large group of camera users who made their snaps then took the exposed film to a mini lab for processing and printing.

In the digital era I think that this same group snaps pictures with a smartphone then uploads them to social media, cloud storage, email or other online virtual place.  A few of these people visit a photo booth where they can have prints made of a small number of special photos.

I think most people in this group will not be interested in a camera which cannot communicate like a smartphone.

Professionals and enthusiasts

A very much smaller group of film users developed and printed their own film in a personal or shared or hired darkroom. Professionals paid someone to process their film and supervised someone to print it.

In the digital era this same group shoots RAW, downloads photo files to a computer, converts and edits them in Photoshop or similar software and may even own a printer, although printing is mostly done by a Pro Lab.

People in this group might not mind that the camera cannot communicate directly with the mobile phone network.

However I bet that if it did so that feature would get plenty of use.

It seems to me there are unlikely to be enough professionals and enthusiasts in the world to buy enough cameras to support the existing camera industry if it continues to make products without built in, native wireless communication which works just like a smart phone.

Most camera makers are dragging their heels on this issue.   Sales figures for most camera types have been in decline for several years.

I suspect that if most camera makers continue producing minor variations on their established camera themes year after year then they will go broke.  Just like Kodak, an employee of which actually invented the digital camera,  presenting Kodak with a huge new technology which it failed to develop.

Plenty of  ordinary peoplewould like to have a camera with advanced (but easy to use) capabilities, especially a long zoom lens.

Many of them don’t realise it yet, and therefore will not request one when asked, but when they do get that long lens they will also need a built in EVF to aid in holding the camera steady at the long end of the zoom and to obtain clear image preview and review in bright sunlight.

Very few of them have much interest in all that tedious business of RAW capture, conversion and   editing. They also have no interest in the egregious ergonomic burden of  changing lenses.

So, what is required ?

Basically a hybrid camera/zoom lens/EVF/smartphone device which performs all image capture, filing, editing and communicating on a single piece of ergonomically designed multifunctional equipment which is easily portable.  Preferably one which does not require 350 pages of operating instructions.

Is that so difficult ?   All the requisite technology has already been invented and is in regular use.

Can you get one of these things ?

I think the answer to that question at the moment is…………….almost………….but not quite.

The Samsung Galaxy Camera was described on release of version 1 as a true hybrid zoom compact camera/smartphone. It has a long zoom lens and runs on the Android Jelly bean operating system.

It has not had particularly good reviews as a camera and it has no EVF and apparently the version 2 does not offer 3G/4G so presumably it cannot make phone calls.  So it falls short on all functional measures.

However Samsung appears to be heading more or less in the right direction.

The Panasonic Lumix  CM1  is a hybrid camera/smartphone which runs on Android 4.4. It provides phone functionality and features a very large (for a smartphone) camera sensor of 15.9mm diameter. 

The lens has a fixed focal length and there is no EVF.

So  this device also falls short of my proposed specifications, but shows that Panasonic is also thinking about ways to merge the functionality of camera and smartphone.  

Would it not be ironic if  Samsung or Panasonic became the camera market leader, and in the process redefined the concept of a camera. ?

I think it could happen.

Ken Olsen of Digital  Equipment Corporation is often quoted as having said in 1977  “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home”

He got it wrong and Kodak got it wrong and I think that most camera makers are getting it wrong at the moment also.  They appear to be focussed (pardon the pun) on making cameras with ever increasing pixel count and  video performance (4K….8K…in a world full of 2K TV screens) which few people need or want.

They missed the current craze for “point of view” video popularised by Go Pro,  millions of whose  products adorn a multitude of skate boards, helmets, bikes, selfie sticks and almost everything else.

Perhaps they need to pay more attention to the technology usage practices of 12 year old children.

In due course, we shall see how this plays out in the market place.

Will APS-C become obsolete ?

Photo courtesy of camerasize.com

A personal view, with reasons

The Advanced Photo System  was introduced in 1996, towards the end of the film era. APS used  24mm wide film in dedicated cassettes. Completely new cameras and processing equipment were required to accommodate the new format.

If APS was the answer, what was the question?  I was using film at the time and I must say I never figured that out. I just kept using regular 35mm film which delivered substantially better image quality.

In due course APS was pushed aside by the advance of digital and the format disappeared, at least in its film manifestation.

In the early days of digital,  sensors corresponding to standard 35mm film were so costly to manufacture that cameras using this sensor size were too expensive for the  great majority of camera buyers.

Camera makers faced a wipeout unless they could find a less expensive digital sensor.

So the smaller, APS-C size, or something close to that,  was reborn in digital.

Format	Width mm	Height mm	Diagonal mm	Crop Factor
35mm Film = Full Frame digital	36	24	43	1
APS-C Film	25.1	16.7	30	1.4
APS-C Digital Sony and others	23.5	15.6	28	1.5
APS-C Canon	22.4	15	27	1.6
4/3 and M4/3	17.3	13	21.5	2
1 Inch	13.2	8.8	15.9	2.7

I am just guessing here but I suspect the big two camera makers Canon and Nikon might have imagined they could return to the standard 35mm (“full frame”) format sometime quite soon.

In fact I believe that is probably still where they want to go, possible reasons being:

* The huge inventory of 35mm lenses and other equipment in circulation.

* The corporate identity of CanoNikon is so identified with the 35mm (D)SLR camera.

* The 43mm diagonal sensor can form the basis for a versatile range of cameras from compact, moderately specified enthusiast models up to high performance professional versions.

Neither Canon nor Nikon has provided their APS-C format cameras with a full selection of professional zoom and prime lenses.

In 2008 the Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera (MILC) was born. First product onto the market was the Lumix G1, a Micro Four thirds camera from Panasonic with imager diagonal of 21.5mm.  

Olympus also used the M43 format.

But Sony, Samsung, Pentax, Leica, Fuji and Canon all opted for the APS-C imager size in their MILC lines.

Nikon, in an uncharacteristically daring move went for the much smaller “One inch” (15.9mm diagonal) format for its MILCs.

Samsung recently announced the NX1 (MILC) camera body together with two high performance zoom lenses, making a claim on the professional and advanced enthusiast market.

The photo at the top of the post illustrates how this plays out in terms of size.

I have shown

* Canon EOS 6D with EF 70-200mm f2.8 lens

* Samsung NX1 with 50-150mm (Equivalent 75-225mm) f2.8 lens

* Panasonic GH4 with 35-100mm (Equivalent 70-200mm) f2.8 lens.

The kit price given for each refers to the approximate current price in Australia, retail, of the camera body plus the lens illustrated plus a 24-70mm f2.8, or equivalent, zoom, making the classic professional/enthusiast all purpose body + 2 zoom kit.

You can see that Samsung APS-C  kit is smaller than the Canon full frame kit but not remarkably so.

In order to substantially reduce kit size you need to go down to the M43 system, represented here by the largest camera in the system, the GH4.

I have used the M43 system extensively and am able to report that it is capable of making excellent photographs in a wide variety of circumstances.

So here is the nub of the problem for APS-C.

Cameras using the APS-C sensor size, be they DSLR or Mirrorless ILC,  lack the ultimate image quality of full frame but also are unable to match the compact kit size of M4/3 or smaller formats, particularly when pro style and longer zooms are added to the kit.

Sony has had success with its (erstwhile) NEX (E Mount) line of cameras, now renamed something forgettable, but most of these are fitted with a collapsing kit zoom of standard focal length range.

When I last checked Sony was offering no lenses for the E Mount equivalent to the standard 24-70 and 70-200mm f2.8 pro lenses for full frame.

Why ?  If they did make such lenses they would be like the Samsung ones, confrontingly large and too big for the NEX style bodies.

When MILCs were introduced some industry representatives wanted to refer to the genre as “Compact System Camera”. The problem with this is that while the bodies can indeed be more compact than an equivalent DSLR, lens size is largely determined by sensor size and long, wide aperture zooms are always going to be sizeable on any body type.

But wait,   APS-C has another problem.  Most APS-C cameras are entry/mid range DSLRs or MILCs. 

Most of these are sold with a kit zoom which stays on the camera permanently.

In effect this converts an interchangeable lens camera (ILC) to a fixed lens camera (FLC).

But manufacturers can make a fixed zoom lens camera (FZLC) which because it does not have to factor in a lens mount can be smaller, or have a lens with longer zoom range or wider aperture or all three of those things, than an ILC.

In addition modern sensor technology has seen the image quality of smaller sensors come on strongly in recent years.

So the FZLC can have a smaller sensor, say 15.9mm diagonal, still with very good image quality, allowing even smaller size, greater  zoom range and wider lens aperture.

Summary

* At the professional/expert/enthusiast level APS-C cameras be they DSLR or MILC cannot match the image quality of full frame cameras which can also be DSLR or MILC.

* For the enthusiast/expert or even professional photographer seeking a substantially more compact kit size than full frame, APS-C is really not the answer. M4/3 does “compact” much more effectively.

* For the amateur/enthusiast user who is unlikely to change lenses a modern FZLC makes much more sense.  

Conclusion  I really don’t quite see where the APS-C sensor size fits into the near future camera world. 

I see it as having been a stop gap size which technology and changes in the market have made redundant.

Of course if people keep buying cameras with this sensor manufacturers will keep making them.

But it seems to me there are better alternatives for every camera user group.

Panasonic LX100 The Ergonomics of Carrying

Cameras and bags referred to in the text below

A personal view

The LX100 is an interesting and in many ways very good small camera. 

However having used one for several months I have come to the view that the size of the LX100 is not optimal.

By this I mean it is not really compact in the sense that the original Sony RX100 is compact.  But neither is it a full featured camera like the  fixed zoom lens camera (FZLC) mockup or the FZ1000 in the photo above.

There is a nexus between the ergonomics of carrying and the ergonomics of operating. I think the 

LX100 misses out both ways.

The original Sony RX100 is remarkably compact  for its specifications and capabilities. It fits in a small pouch which can slip into a ladies purse or handbag or into a jacket pocket.

In the photo above it is shown in a Malopero pouch which is actually larger than it needs to be.

In a thin drawstring pouch it will even fit in a trousers pocket.  Some users put their RX100s into a pocket without any protection, with the consequence that the camera fills up with bits of dust, debris and all kinds of other stuff which accumulates in pockets. Yuk. Very bad for the camera.

The RX100(3) is 5mm deeper than the original but still fits into much the same places.

The RX100(4) mockup represents my realisation of the ergonomically ideal compact camera. It has a built in handle, proper control dial on the top plate, JOG Lever to move the AF box, fully articulated monitor, large buttons and a fixed EVF which is always ready to use (it does not need to be popped up and out).

This is 1.5mm wider, 3.5mm taller and 2mm deeper than the RX100(3). The dimensions are just sufficiently larger that it requires a larger carry pouch.

In the photo it is shown with a Lowe Pro Apex 30 AW with the tongue removed.  This pouch is somewhat overbuilt and over protective but it does have a built in raincoat. 

Already this pouch is too large to consider fitting into most pockets.  A largish handbag yes. But a pouch this size probably sits best on a waist belt or even over the shoulder on the strap provided.

Next up we come to the Panasonic LX100.  This camera has a box volume (w x h x d) 2.3 times that of the RX100(3).

A big step up in carry bag/pouch size is required. In the photo the LX100 is shown with the bag in which it lives and travels, a Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 5 (TTMM5).  Some owners have reported fitting the LX100 into smaller bags. I have experimented with this but the fit is too tight for smooth one handed transfer of the camera into and out of the bag.

The TTMM5 can be carried on a waist belt but I find it a bit large and awkward when used this way.

So I just carry it over the shoulder on the supplied strap.

Now, at last, I am getting to the point of this post.

If  I am committed to carrying my camera in an over the shoulder bag then a slightly larger bag is just as easy to manage as a slightly smaller one.

Which brings us to the next camera/bag combination.

The FZLC mockup shown is a realisation of my ideal small fixed lens general purpose camera.  It is somewhat larger than the LX100 but it has a fully shaped ergonomic handle with the shutter button in the desirable forward location. There is a Mode Dial and ideally positioned Control Dial. There is a quad control module set on top of the handle. There is a JOG lever to move the AF box, a fully articulated monitor, full suite of large controls, built in flash and hotshoe,  Drive Mode dial, large 

EVF located in the optimal position on the lens axis, sculpted thumb support and plenty of space for a large aperture zoom lens covering approximately the E24-100mm focal length range with a sensor in the 16-20mm diagonal size range.

When I hold the FZLC mockup it feels as though it was crafted to fit perfectly into my hands ………..oh, right…..…it was.

And all the controls feel as though they have been placed exactly where my fingers want to find them ……..oh, right……..they were.

Incredibly nobody actually makes this camera.

Anyway the point of this post is that the fully ergonomic full featured FZLC mockup fits easily into a

Lowe Pro Apex 100 bag which is only slightly larger than the TTMM5 bag required for the LX100.  

When I am out and about the LP A100 bag feels no different from the TTMM5 bag.

The ergonomics of carrying is the same. The ergonomics of operating is very different.

Last on the list of cameras in the photo is the Panasonic FZ1000 with the Lowe Pro Apex 110 AW bag into which the FZ1000 fits perfectly, as if the two were designed for each other (which is not the case, the match is serendipidous).

The  FZ1000 is one of the larger fixed zoom lens full featured cameras, yet the bag in which it lives and travels is not so very much larger than the next bag size down and I can testify after using it extensively over the last 6 months it is no more trouble to carry around either.

Summary

I see the LX100 as a betwixt and between thing, neither really compact nor fully featured and ergonomic.

Others will differ of course, that is the nature of opinions. 

Some people may see the LX100 as the ideal synthesis of compactness, features and ergonomics.

But my FZLC mockup demonstrates a proof of concept. You can have a slightly larger camera which is just as easy to carry but has much better holding, viewing and operating characteristics.

Now I need for some forward thinking manufacturer to produce the real thing.

Setting Up the LX100 Part 4 Custom Menu

LX100

The Custom Menu  appears to be the repository for a large bunch of features and settings which don’t fit readily into one of the other menus.

As usual  I will not dwell on features which I think are well described in the Operating Instructions for Advanced Features or which appear to be self explanatory.

The first item is Utilise Custom Set Feature  closely followed by Cust Set Mem.  Page 60 of the Instructions.

On other Panasonic cameras  Custom Modes are located on the main mode dial. Here they are easy to access and  you can see at a glance if a Custom Mode is in play.

But the LX100 has no mode dial. So Custom Mode access has been relegated to the Custom Menu and you cannot tell by looking at the camera if a Custom Mode has been set.

There are two ways to access the Custom Mode feature reasonably quickly.

The first is to bring up the [Utilise Custom Set Feature] tab in the Custom Menu then with [Menu resume] ON the camera will jump back there when the [Menu/Set] button is pressed.

The second is to allocate [Utilise Custom Set feature] to a Function button. It cannot be allocated to the Q menu.   There are only 3 Fn buttons so you want to consider this option carefully.

The process for setting Custom Modes is well enough described in the Operating instructions.

Silent Mode

This activates the E-Shutter and switches off all beeps.  Someone accustomed to the noise of  a DSLR will wonder if the camera is operating at all. Operation is not entirely silent however. An ear pressed to the lens will hear the OIS module, focus motor, aperture motor and zoom motor.

I find that in most settings the mechanical shutter is inaudible to bystanders, so full silent mode is rarely necessary. Just switching off the beeps gives a very quiet camera.

AF/AE-Lock/Hold   was discussed in Part 1 of this setup series.

The next 14 items are about focussing. Like other recent model Panasonic cameras the LX100 has a very advanced focus technology with so many options that the new owner is confronted by mind boggling complexity.  Here follows my attempt to navigate a pathway through the tangle of options.

Shutter AF

This is the standard operation you expect from any camera except the antediluvian Leica M series which just does manual focus. Half press shutter button activates autofocus. But you can disable this in favour of one of the options below or AF-ON at the AF/AE-L button. This latter separates AF from AE and Capture.

When in doubt, just leave [Shutter AF] at the default which is ON.

Half Press Release

This one is slightly disconcerting. Half press fires the shutter instantly. Presumably one for the hyperactive user.

Quick AF

This has the AF system hunting constantly for focus before you touch the shutter button. In my experience it’s not all that quick and uses up battery to no particularly useful  purpose.

Eye Sensor AF

This activates focus when you look in the viewfinder.

Quick AF and Eye Sensor AF are presumably intended to speed up AF acquisition. Fair enough but I never use them preferring the camera to focus when I instruct it to do so.

Pinpoint AF Time  and Pinpoint AF Display

Panasonic has included pinpoint AF on its cameras for several years.  It is selected via the Autofocus Mode portal. I have this on the Q Menu.  It can be useful for focussing on a bird in a tree or similar situations where you want the camera to focus on a  specific small subject element.

I rarely use it these days as ordinary [1-Area] AF on the latest Panasonic cameras now provides very small AF box sizes.

But pinpoint is there and it works as advertised. When the shutter button is half pressed (or AF/AE-L button is pressed if it was set up to focus) two things happen.

The camera focusses, a bit slower than regular [1-Area] but decently quick, and a magnified preview image pops up on the screen for a variable time, so you can check that your chosen subject element is really in focus.

The display can be [Full Screen] or [Picture in Picture]. Take your pick. I use PIP.

Display duration can be Long, Mid or Short. Mid is about 1 second which I find usually enough time to check focus.

AF Assist Lamp

Low light AF on all the recent model Panasonic cameras including the LX100 is so good the assist lamp is not required. In addition it will annoy anyone in front of the camera.

Switch it OFF.

Direct Focus Area

I discussed this at length in Part 1 of this series of posts. I set Direct Focus Area ON.

Focus/Release Priority

There may be some theoretical advantage to the [Release] setting when burst and AFC are in use, however I have never managed to convince myself of this.

So I just set [Focus]  in the hope that this will encourage the camera to find focus before firing the shutter.

AF+MF

Recent Panasonic cameras including the LX 100 have a very sophisticated focus technology which allows MF in AF and AF in MF.

My practice with other cameras including the GH4 and FZ1000 has been to set [AF+MF] ON.

With the LX100 if [AF+MF] is ON you can AF with half press of the shutter button (or the AF/AE-L button if so configured)  then turn the lens ring to touch up the focus manually.

The problems I have with the LX100 are

1. The lens ring is easily bumped while operating the aperture ring or the aspect ratio lever or just holding the camera with the left hand.

2. My experience is that manual focus on the LX100 is less reliably accurate than auto focus. The peaking seems not peaky enough at any setting.

Anyway the consequence of all this is that I set [AF+MF] OFF.

MF Assist, MF Assist Display, MF Guide

When manual focus is activated the camera displays an enlarged image of the subject to assist finding best focus.

[

MF Assist] determines which control will activate this display. The choice is between the lens ring, the left cursor button, either or OFF. 

Trying to sort this out has me persuaded that the user would be better served by fewer options.

You can spend hours playing around trying to figure out what effect all the permutations and combinations of options have on the user experience.

For me the most natural setting appears to be [Lens Ring] since that is where my fingers go when I want to focus manually.

[MF Assist Display] is FULL or PIP.  Either works but I find PIP less disruptive to the viewing experience.

The [MF Guide] is an analogue style display near the bottom of the screen with  flower (near) and mountain (far) symbols. This provides some assistance to the user in determining the direction in which the lens ring must be turned.

Unfortunately it cannot be used to preset a focus distance by scale and is not accurate enough to set infinity focus.

Peaking  Page 130 of the Instructions.

This is an electronic color display which shows where edge contrasts are highest. It uses the on sensor contrast detect focus system. In my experience its usefulness as an aid to improving manual focus accuracy and /or speed is variable.

On the FZ1000 it has worked well for me.

I have had less success on the LX100 with variable accuracy at any detect level setting or color. It seems to me that on the LX100 the peaking display is not peaky enough.

You can set the [Detect Level] to High or Low or switch the feature OFF.  The Instructions say High is more accurate but I have had difficulty convincing myself of this.

You can also set any of 3 colors for each of the High or Low detect level settings.  Selection is a matter of preference not function.

I have no idea why peaking seems to work less well for me on the LX100 than on other recent Panasonic cameras.

Unfortunately manual focus without peaking is not much fun either, providing similar difficulty assessing the best in focus point.

Histogram

Some users really like having the histogram on screen as an aid to correct exposure, in particular to prevent highlight clipping.

You can move it over to a corner with the cursor buttons.  Set histogram ON and it will appear with a yellow bounding box and yellow directional arrows. To move it to a different location go to the Menu, switch histogram off,  then on again and the directional arrows reappear.

The problems I  have with the histogram are:

1. It is a big intrusive thing parked on the preview screen no matter where it is positioned.

2. I find it routinely impossible to figure out whether highlights are just at or beyond the clipping point.

3. Peering at the histogram is a distraction from the capture process.

So I always have Histogram off and Zebras, which I find more useful, On.

Guide Line

This is more useful. The choices are Thirds, Union Jack or one vertical one horizontal line.

I use the latter with the two lines intersecting at the center.  This has a low clutter factor and high usefulness for evaluating vertical and horizontal lines in the composition.  The lines can be moved about with the cursor buttons and repositioned on center with the Disp button.

Highlight

This flashes overexposed highlights at image playback. Always set this ON, especially if using JPG capture. You may be able to reshoot with negative exposure compensation to bring in the highlights.

Zebra Pattern

This is a recent introduction to Panasonic still/video hybrid cameras like the LX100. The zebra pattern lets you know at image preview whether highlights (or some other tonal value) will be blown out at the current exposure settings.

There are two zebras so you can set one for, say, highlights and the other for, say, Caucasian faces or some other subject which you know you will be photographing.

I use the feature for highlights.   After much experiment I am currently using a setting of 105%.

For RAW capture I can usually pull in highlights in Adobe Camera RAW even if the zebras are flashing.

For JPG capture I click in  negative exposure compensation until the zebras just stop flashing.

Monochrome Live View

This is one of those features I wish they would leave off the list to declutter the menus. Anyway it is there for those users who want to see in preview what the picture will look like in monochrome.

Constant Preview

This one is a bit confusing until you figure out how it works.

Constant Preview only works in Manual Exposure Mode. When set ON the live view screen (EVF or monitor) gains up or down to preview how over or under exposure will affect image brightness.

When set OFF the screen stays the same brightness regardless of the exposure setting.

The feature is automatically disabled if a flash is fitted and switched on. This makes sense as you need to be able to compose the picture at normal screen brightness.

In P, A, and S Modes Constant Preview is inactive but the live view screen will gain up or down to reflect settings on the Exposure Compensation Dial.

Expo. Meter

You don’t want it. When ON and the Disp button has selected the relevant screen, this huge meter display camps all over the lower half of the screen.  Panasonic should get rid of this useless feature.

Dial Guide

When ON,  this pops up a set of totally confusing symbols in the lower right quadrant of the screen when the aperture ring or shutter speed dial are turned.  Switch it OFF.

LVF (a.k.a. EVF) Disp. Style and Monitor Disp. Style

At last we come again to something useful.  You can set the EVF and monitor to “SLR” style (my term,  not Panasonic’s) with the key exposure parameters displayed on a black strip beneath the preview image, or “Monitor style” (again, my term) with the same key parameters overlaid on the lower part of a larger preview image.

Some people say they like monitor style as a larger preview image is possible. But it irritates the heck out of me because I am frequently unable to properly see the readouts for aperture and shutter speed as they get lost in the image preview.

This is an example of the figure/ground phenomenon in cognitive psychology which I learned about in Psychology 1 in 1960. You might think that camera makers would have caught on to this by now but …………..

My strong recommendation is to set SLR style for both monitor and EVF.

Monitor Info. Disp.

Here,  in my not so humble opinion is yet another useless feature.  When the Disp button is cycled with this feature ON, a screen appears with information about camera data. But it is not a control screen. You cannot select and change any of the parameters. It is just information which is available elsewhere.

I switch this one OFF.

Rec Areaand Remaining Disp.

Select for still or video capture.

Auto Review

When ON, image review will appear for the set time after each still image capture.  Most of the time I find this an irritating  impediment to the capture flow.

However Panasonic fixed zoom cameras have another, even more annoying feature.  If the Playback button is pressed after image capture to check focus, exposure, whatever, then some several seconds later the lens retracts to closed position then resets to the default position (which is the widest setting if zoom resume is OFF).   At least that happens quite often but not always. It’s weird.

So if you had carefully set up composition and focus on a scene you lose all that and have to start over. I find this totally infuriating and  have never seen any explanation from Panasonic as to the reason for this camera behaviour. 

Anyway the lens retract problem can be avoided if Auto Review is set to ON.  

I have no idea why but that’s how it works.

Panasonic should fix this nonsense with a firmware update.

Fn Button Set

I dealt with this in Part 2 of this series.

Zoom lever

You can select continuous or step zoom. Take your pick.

(Lens) Control Ring

I covered this in Part 1 of the series.

Zoom Resume

When OFF zoom resumes to the default position on startup which is the wide end.

When ON zoom resumes to the focal length in use when the camera was switched off or timed out.

Take your pick.

Q Menu

I dealt with this in Part 2 of the setup series.

iA Button Switch

Press and hold, otherwise it gets bumped accidentally.

Video Button

I don’t do video so have it OFF. Unfortunately as with the filter and iA buttons it cannot be reprogrammed to individual preference.

For me that is 3 wasted buttons on this camera.

Eye Sensor

As discussed in Part 2 of this series:

Sensitivity LOW

LVF/Monitor Switch [LVF/Mon Auto].

And that is your lot for this LX100 setup series