LX7 - newbie question - 1.6ft to infinity

Hi guys, newbie here. I'm new to photography and I'm interested in learning the basics of it. I got an LX7 and I'm trying to teach myself manual mode, learning about aperture, shutter and ISO etc.

Anyways, straight to my question... I was wondering what is 1.6ft. to infinity means when I try to focus on a subject. It flashes that on the LCD screen and in red color - looks like a warning to me. I can still try to capture the scene but I'm just curious what it means. Sometimes it shows up when I'm too close, or sometimes it shows up when I'm focusing on a scenery or sometimes randomly. All I know that green color means it's focused.

Tried to look for it on the manual but I can't find what it means or even on google. Care to explain what it means? thanks!

dmist24 wrote:

Hi guys, newbie here. I'm new to photography and I'm interested in learning the basics of it. I got an LX7 and I'm trying to teach myself manual mode, learning about aperture, shutter and ISO etc.

Anyways, straight to my question... I was wondering what is 1.6ft. to infinity means when I try to focus on a subject. It flashes that on the LCD screen and in red color - looks like a warning to me. I can still try to capture the scene but I'm just curious what it means. Sometimes it shows up when I'm too close, or sometimes it shows up when I'm focusing on a scenery or sometimes randomly. All I know that green color means it's focused.

Tried to look for it on the manual but I can't find what it means or even on google. Care to explain what it means? thanks!

Greetings.

It means that-

• What you're attempting to focus on is too close
• The camera can't focus on your subject. Perhaps due to lack of contrast within your subject.

Rich
ice nine photography
Take only photographs, leave only footprints.

"What you're attempting to focus on is too close"

Yeah, I was attempting a macro shot only on AF mode shows that warning. Changing it to AF macro solves it. I can understand now.

"The camera can't focus on your subject. Perhaps due to lack of contrast within your subject."

Yeah, focusing on some area on my wall gives me that warning. Probably due to the white paint or yellow paint on my wall?

Also one time I tried to shot a night sky (just for testing), it showed me that warning too. Probably it has nothing to focus on?

dmist24 wrote:

Hi guys, newbie here. I'm new to photography and I'm interested in learning the basics of it. I got an LX7 and I'm trying to teach myself manual mode, learning about aperture, shutter and ISO etc.

Anyways, straight to my question... I was wondering what is 1.6ft. to infinity means when I try to focus on a subject. It flashes that on the LCD screen and in red color - looks like a warning to me. I can still try to capture the scene but I'm just curious what it means. Sometimes it shows up when I'm too close, or sometimes it shows up when I'm focusing on a scenery or sometimes randomly. All I know that green color means it's focused.

Tried to look for it on the manual but I can't find what it means or even on google. Care to explain what it means? thanks!

Those numbers represent the range at which the camera can focus. It varies as you change the zoom.

The 'macro' focus mode starts closer than the non-macro mode, and (I think) starts its attempt at the close end. The non-macro mode (again, I think) starts its attempt at infinity.

Non-macro mode will give you faster focusing if you don't need the closer "macro" range.

Beyond that, the camera behaves the same in both modes

Sherm

Francis Carver wrote:

sherman_levine wrote:

Those numbers represent the range at which the camera can focus. It varies as you change the zoom.

Obviously it does not vary. Read the original poster's original comment first, please.

The 'macro' focus mode starts closer than the non-macro mode, and (I think) starts its attempt at the close end. The non-macro mode (again, I think) starts its attempt at infinity.

No idea what you are talking about, however 1cm macro mode at wide angle is a heckuva lot shorter distance than 0.5 meter or 1.6 Imperial feet might ever be.

Non-macro mode will give you faster focusing if you don't need the closer "macro" range.

Beyond that, the camera behaves the same in both modes

Sherm

I guess I am not following you on this still, what any of this you are saying has got to do with OP's question??

Francis, please calm down

Sherm is right in all his points. The OP's problem was that he was too close. But what is 'too close' depends on the selected zoom and the macro mode switch. And that's exactly what Sherm has pointed out.

A veteran member has a lot of knowledge. Once again .

sherman_levine wrote:

dmist24 wrote:

Hi guys, newbie here. I'm new to photography and I'm interested in learning the basics of it. I got an LX7 and I'm trying to teach myself manual mode, learning about aperture, shutter and ISO etc.

Anyways, straight to my question... I was wondering what is 1.6ft. to infinity means when I try to focus on a subject. It flashes that on the LCD screen and in red color - looks like a warning to me. I can still try to capture the scene but I'm just curious what it means. Sometimes it shows up when I'm too close, or sometimes it shows up when I'm focusing on a scenery or sometimes randomly. All I know that green color means it's focused.

Tried to look for it on the manual but I can't find what it means or even on google. Care to explain what it means? thanks!

Those numbers represent the range at which the camera can focus. It varies as you change the zoom.

The 'macro' focus mode starts closer than the non-macro mode, and (I think) starts its attempt at the close end. The non-macro mode (again, I think) starts its attempt at infinity.

Non-macro mode will give you faster focusing if you don't need the closer "macro" range.

Beyond that, the camera behaves the same in both modes

Sherm

Perhaps the best place to start is the advanced manual, which should be on the CD in the box. If not, grab it from here

http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMCLX7_ADV.PDF

The PDF is searchable and has links. For your sort of question (something strange on the display)

Save the file to your desktop and open in acrobat reader (Don't view it in the browser plugin)

I started from the index.. which at the very end had a listing for "List of LCD monitor displays" and clicked on the page# (206).

and got the first of 3 pages which show what's on the LCD

The third page of the series shows what you saw....and it has the label "focus range"

Now, tap Control+F (for find) and type in the window which opens at the top right

focus range

and tap enter.  Each time you click the right arow in the find box (or F3) it will take you to a different location of that text. Page 102 seems to have the best description. You can see, for example, that in AFMacro, the minimum focus distance changes from 1cm (max wide) to 30cm (max zoom). The max is always infinity.  You should see the corresponding changes in the "focus range" field.

Hope this isn't too detailed. The PDF is a much better tool for finding information than paper

Sherm

Thanks Sherman! Actually I have the pdf already and been browsing for it for quite awhile but I immediately noticed that my pdf has a different image, it says 0.5m - infinity, probably that is why I did not notice it. Hmmm... probably this is a different version of the pdf. I downloaded it somewhere on a different panasonic site.

Anyways, thanks guys for the help.

dmist24 wrote:

Thanks Sherman! Actually I have the pdf already and been browsing for it for quite awhile but I immediately noticed that my pdf has a different image, it says 0.5m - infinity, probably that is why I did not notice it. Hmmm... probably this is a different version of the pdf. I downloaded it somewhere on a different panasonic site.

Anyways, thanks guys for the help.

You have the metric version of the manual - which says 0.5m instead of 1.6 ft.

Sherm