Not liking the LX7.. what am I doing wrong?

I suggest you read a book explaining the aspects of obtaining proper exposure for photographs. There are variables involved: The amount of light, Aperture, shutter speed and ISO. These will all affect how a photograph is exposed. This one is good: http://www.amazon.com/The-Digital-Photography-Book-Volume/dp/0321524764/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y


And this: http://www.amazon.com/Understanding...hotographs/dp/0817439390/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z


The shots you're taking are blurry, suggests that you know little about photography as you stated. If you open your Aperture up wide and raise your ISO, you'll effectively let more light in to the lens and therefore minimize blurry shots (if subject isn't moving).

If you'd rather not know any of these variables, you could set the LX7 to iA (or one of the SCN modes) or P mode and let it do the rest. It is an advanced camera and one you can grow into, but it can be used in full Auto if that's what you wish.

Most major online retailers like Amazon have a no questions asked returns policy if it's in brand new condition. Did you buy it during black Friday sales? I think you might only have 30 days.

I'm a beginner and enthusiast-ic. If you keep the LX7, try a high ISO setting like 1250 or 1600. Set aperture to f/1.4. Put camera dial on "A" mode. Make sure AF is set to the faces symbol. Wait until you see yellow bracketing around faces before you take a shot.

Because of the powerful "fast" lens, the depth of field is shallow which makes it a bit hard to obtain focus for casual users in poor lighting, since you really need to keep the lens wide open for the light. Perhaps the high ISO will give you a fast enough shutter speed to avoid motion blur. If you learn to use the AF system right, you will hopefully get the correct DOF too, shallow as it is.

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I'm a total novice, but also a recent LX7 buyer and while I'm leaning toward returning it, it's not because iit's given poor performance indoors. Quite the contrary, I was surprised at how well it did perform. Admittedly, I haven't been trying to catch kids playing, though. But unless you simply got a bad camera, it seems bizarre that a camera with so much faster a lens would give you worse results in low light than a camera with a much higher minimum aperture. Just to be sure: are you comparing apples to apples? Are you using them in similar modes, either auto or with similar settings, with/without flash, the same?

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Mike

ps I should add that with a little training, I am super happy with my kid pics compared to what I used to get. I am one beaming daddy.

It's doable, really! In fact, once you get a little bit decent at it, you may find your pics are sharper than they ever were before, due to the powerful LX7 lens. I know I have.

There are situations that I'm still missing. I can't freeze motion at night with our current indoor lighting situation. Might get a DSLR or SLT for that. But day shots with some sunlight coming in the window are really so much better than they ever were before.

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My LX7 hasn't arrived yet, though I have an LX3. But I prefer the Panasonic ZS15 and a Canon TX1 for photographing my grandchildren, because I can zoom from a greater distance, unnoticed and avoiding the kids 'look-at-me' hamming to the camera.

Whatever the camera, I find it hard to click the shutter at the right time to catch the kids at the right moment during play. So I take a series of video clips, step through them to review each frame, and make do with postcard-sized stills from the best frames. At 25 or 30 frames per second, there is a good chance of capturing a few good moments from a clip of a few seconds.

Of course, burst modes would be better, because they could provide full frame RAW files for maximum detail. But one or two seconds or so is often not long enough to catch "the moment", and the following dead interval whilst the file is written to memory can miss just the action I want to capture. In comparison, a video clip can run for many minutes, and the separate button is easy to access.

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Cyril

First, a basic question when you out the camera on automatic, did you put it on"A" (aperture where you set the f stop and iso and the camera sets the shutter speed) or iA (this is the setting where the camera sets the speed, ISOand f stop)?

If you are using iA, then try to determine whether the reason why your out of focus photos are caused by

1. The camera selecting too slow a shutter speed; 2. Camera movement when you are pressing the shutter release; 3. Movement by your subject; 4. Pressing the shutter release so quickly the camera was unable focus; 5. The camera is defective and should be replaced.

I have a LX7 as my small camera and most or nearly all my photos are in good to excellent focus.

I wish you good luck in solving your focus issues.

I have an LX5 (very similar to yours) and a NEX 6. My LX was my first digital camera and I found that it is an extremely capable camera (just look and DezM's images). Why not post a few of your shots that you feel are wanting and some of the folks here can maybe offer some suggestions.

summerville said:

summerville wrote:

I just bought (after lots of advice and research) a LX7 and sadly, after a few days of trying it out, I hate it! I bought it mainly for indoor use to take pictures of my baby, pets and trips. I wanted a good quality camera that was quick, but I wanted something easy to use. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know anything about photography and at this point, I really just needed something I could leave on Auto and be able to shoot away with decent pictures for scrap booking. Originally I had the Canon Powershot 260 which I loved but found abit slow to focus. It unfortunately broke so (not having a warranty to replace it) I bought the LX7 hoping for something a bit faster. I've taken a fair amount of photos and while a few of them have been good, alot of them have been garbage. The slightest movement while taking a picture causes a blur, so pretty much every picture had blurry hands or heads. Also, when I got the pictures developed, the quality wasn't very clear. Now like I said, I realize that I can't expect miracles from a point-and-shoot on auto so please don't get me wrong here... but I'm just frustrated because I found I had better pictures from the Canon260 which was half the price, and even better from my 6 year old camera. I'm wondering if there is something I'm missing or a setting I could try putting it on? I'm worried that I bought a camera that is too advanced for me and unfortunately it was bought online so returning it is going to be next to impossible.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

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Can you post a few shots that you are unhappy with? I want to second Dez's recommendation on books. Both Bryan Peterson and Scott Kelby have advice in their books that are helpful. Don't give up yet on the LX7. Practice, practice, practice.

You got some good suggestions here. I am also wondering if you have the camera set on A thinking it is auto. The auto settings on the LX are P and iA. P gives you some control, and iA is really letting the camera make all the decisions for you. I find that Panasonic's iA mode is really intelligent, at least with the ZS15 which is one of my cameras. I also have the LX5 and I tend to use that mostly in P (auto) and A (aperture priority) modes.

The thing about the LX is that its an enthusiast's camera; usually for people who like having lots of control over the camera settings. As you learn photography you will probably want more of that control. On the other hand, you may just want a true p&s camera. If that's the case, and if you can still return it, you might want to consider getting a ZS15 or ZS19/20. What's nice about those cameras is that they have very power zooms which can come in very handy when traveling or shooting wildlife. They also have a really good iA mode for people who just want to point and shoot. I have been doing photography for the past 50 years and sometimes, probably more than I like to admit, I don't want to think about the settings and just grab the shot.

If you can't return it, then I would stick with iA mode and let the camera decide what to do. You have a really good camera, and once you get the hang of it, I have no doubt whatsoever that you will get great shots out of it.

Why don't you post some pictures so we can see what you are doing. When you post the pictures, we may be able to see the exif data, which tells us what the settings were on when you took the pictures.

Daniel

Summerville, read this post and see if it helps you with getting better kid pics on the LX7.

Summerville:

This may be a very silly thought, but your blurry comment got me thinking. It took me a while to learn to press that shutter only half way and then waiting for the camera to focus before pressing it the rest of the way. I still get carried away and press too soon on occasion.

The other factor is when you press the shutter are you jerking the camera? I have seen some folks really press with exuberance and in their excitement cause the camera to jerk just as the shutter clicks. I have to tell myself to squeeze gently lots of times.

These may not be factors in your case, but i thought i would mention them just in case.

summerville said:

summerville wrote:

I just bought (after lots of advice and research) a LX7 and sadly, after a few days of trying it out, I hate it! I bought it mainly for indoor use to take pictures of my baby, pets and trips. I wanted a good quality camera that was quick, but I wanted something easy to use. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know anything about photography and at this point, I really just needed something I could leave on Auto and be able to shoot away with decent pictures for scrap booking. Originally I had the Canon Powershot 260 which I loved but found abit slow to focus. It unfortunately broke so (not having a warranty to replace it) I bought the LX7 hoping for something a bit faster. I've taken a fair amount of photos and while a few of them have been good, alot of them have been garbage. The slightest movement while taking a picture causes a blur, so pretty much every picture had blurry hands or heads. Also, when I got the pictures developed, the quality wasn't very clear. Now like I said, I realize that I can't expect miracles from a point-and-shoot on auto so please don't get me wrong here... but I'm just frustrated because I found I had better pictures from the Canon260 which was half the price, and even better from my 6 year old camera. I'm wondering if there is something I'm missing or a setting I could try putting it on? I'm worried that I bought a camera that is too advanced for me and unfortunately it was bought online so returning it is going to be next to impossible.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

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I don't know if the original poster is still reading this, but he should make sure the IS is turned on, use Shutter priority mode with a shutter speed of 1/100 sec, and auto ISO.

danielsonkin said:

danielsonkin wrote:

You got some good suggestions here. I am also wondering if you have the camera set on A thinking it is auto.

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But sadly, the guy will return the camera because he was too lazy to learn how to use it even though there was nothing wrong with it.

Just set it on iAuto and it will do a great job all day long.