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| Sydney, LX100M2 |
Almost every camera comes with operating instructions of some kind and most have a section on “How to hold the camera”.
Typically this is depicted as in the photo below which appears in the Instructions for the Lumix LX100M2.
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| This is how Panasonic thinks you should hold the LX100 cameras. But the hold is not as stable as it could be. If the fingers of the left hand are on the lens aperture adjustment lugs as shown here they bump against the fingers of the right hand (as also shown here) and prevent smooth adjustment of the aperture. |
But I have found that a quite different position of the left hand works better for me.
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| My way, landscape orientation. This is a bit unconventional but it works decently well. The left index finger holds the eye back from the eyepiece about 10mm for more comfortable viewing and in the process makes a reasonable barrier to stray light. The left wrist is straight for comfort. The left little finger is resting on the aperture ring which is clicky and does not move too easily. This stabilises the fourth finger of the left hand which is resting on the (smoothy) lens ring which would be easily bumped if the position of that finger were not stabilised by the adjacent fingers. |
This is because the eyecup on the viewfinder of the LX100M2 (the M1 is the same) is thin, uncomfortable and is not effective at blocking out light from above, below and each side.
If I put my eye close in to the eyecup I find it difficult to see the image preview clearly even when the dioptre is correctly adjusted.
But if I pull my eye back a bit a lot of stray light enters the area making the EVF difficult to see in bright light outdoors.
My solution to this is to hold the camera as shown in the attached photographs.
I make a kind of bionic accessory eyecup using my left index finger curled around the EVF eyepiece.
This is not entirely satisfactory but I find it better than nothing.
I wish Panasonic would make an accessory eyecup for the LX100 models as they do for the GX9.
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| Portrait orientation. The position of the fingers relative to the camera is slightly different but the principle is the same. |