Panasonic LX7: Any way to save RAW images in iA mode?

c5karl

New Member
We bought several Panasonic LX7 cameras for reporters to use in cases where we don't hire a photographer. Unfortunately in journalism today, reporters are expected to be photographers, even though many are not really susceptible to even basic photography training.

The reporters don't understand the principles of exposure. I want them to use the camera's iA "intelligent automatic" mode, since it will, for example, choose the camera's portrait scene mode when appropriate and do things like focus on the eyes and try to achieve shallow depth of field. I feel like that's my best bet to get usable photographs.

But I also want RAW versions of the photos. No matter what I tell them, our reporters tend to take pictures in mixed indoor lighting with, for example, one side of a person's face lit by sunlight from a window and the other side lit by fluorescent light. It would help to have RAW files in these cases so that I'd have more latitude to adjust white balance. I really hate using unflattering photos with green or purple skin tones.

To my dismay, I learned that one of the settings disabled by iA mode is the ability to save RAW images in addition to the JPEGs (this is also true of the scene modes). Is this something I'm stuck with? Is there a workaround? A firmware update I should apply? Or someone at Panasonic who accepts feature requests for future firmware updates?

I'm guessing there's no way around this, but I'd welcome any ideas.
 
I don't have my LX-7 with me at the moment as it's traveling with a friend via motorcycle without me. But no I'm not jelly.

I don't think you can shoot RAW in iA, but maybe you can instruct the writers to use the flash with all of their portraits. I'd check to see if IA is smart enough to set a good exposure and white balance under a variety of conditions.

Good choice on the LX-7, it's very good all-rounder with more than enough IQ for the application.
 
Good choice on the LX-7, it's very good all-rounder with more than enough IQ for the application.
The main selling point for me was the fast lens (throughout the zoom range). The little popup flashes often do more harm than good, so I wanted something suitable for available light photography indoors.
 
The little popup flashes often do more harm than good, so I wanted something suitable for available light photography indoors.

Yes they do, but I wonder if the LX-7 flash is smart enough to use it as a fill when light levels are good. It would also help in plenty of indoor situations, like where the subject looks like badger because of strong shadows under their eyes from the poor, hard ceiling floods.

I wish I had mine around to test...
 
If you know that the picture to be taken is most likely a portrait, does it make any sense to preset your cameras to favour portraits? I don't know the LX7, so I don't know if you can select a portrait 'scene' yourself, or whether that's something the camera does for you automatically. But even selecting centre weighting for exposure and maybe centre focus might help (on the basis that novice photographers tend to place the subject in the middle of the frame).

-R
 
The LX7 does have the ability to set up custom modes, which then can be accessed from the Mode dial, positions C1 and C2. Perhaps you can establish some settings you'd like them to use for certain situations. A total of four sets can be established.

Details on setting up and using Custom modes are found on pages 90 and 91 of the Owner's Manual for advanced features. So long as the settings are used in P, A, S, or M modes, RAW will be available as an option.
 
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