As with the products of many manufacturers,
the LC1's menu system resembles those of other Panasonic cameras,
a standardization that helps control costs. Yet, the LC1 has
one feature which, to date, we had not seen on other Panasonic
cameras: the Function menu. The Function menu is a "shortcut" which
by default is set to present four of the most commonly needed
menu options: white balance, white balance adjustment, sensitivity
and Spot AF; but which can be reconfigured as desired.
The menus shown in any one of the modes (still image, movie mode, or playback)
all offer an access to the Set-up menu, but a few of the options presented
there vary according to the mode. In the descriptions of the options that
follow below, we have identified options available in the still image mode
with a red square, those available in the movie mode with a purple square,
and those shown in the playback mode with a green square:
Finder / Monitor: depending
on the display in use, this function serves to adjust the
brightness of either the EVF or the LCD monitor.
Auto Review: sets the
image display time after capture (1 or 3 seconds or Off).
Play on LCD: On or Off,
selects the LCD monitor for Playback instead of the EVF.
Volume: to adjust the
speaker's playback volume.
Beep: controls the camera
beeps (High, Low, Off).
Power Save: automatically
turns off the LC1 (2, 5, 10 min of Off).
MF Assist: Off, MF1
or MF2. Set to MF1, the central portion of the image is
magnified when the manual focus is used and is shown at
the centre of the display. Set to MF2, the enlarged portion
fills the entire screen.
Custom Set: resets file
numbering to 0.
No. Reset:
resets file numbering to 0.
Clock Set: to set the
time and date on the LC1.
Reset: returns the camera
to factory settings.
USB Mode: Mass Storage
(used for Direct Print), or PTP (used for PictBridge.)
Video Out: NTSC or PAL.
Language: selects the
interface language (English, French, Italian, Japanese
German, Spanish, Chinese).
A printed manual is supplied with
the LC1. However it is simply not up to par with such an excellent
camera, and this is an observation we had made about the manual
supplied with another Panasonic camera, the FZ10. The manual
is poorly written, and far too often quite confusing both in
its explanations and in its turn of phrase. Luckily, the LC1
is such a well-engineered camera, most anyone with a modest knowledge
of photography will be comfortable using it within minutes, and
without having to decipher the manual.
Software
In Canada, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1 is bundled with a
single CD that contains:
Panasonic's SD Viewer
A software suite from ArcSoft(see further);
Adobe Acrobat to read the PDF instruction manual;
Quicktime to view the videos captured with the LC1;
The USB driver for Windows 98 and Windows 98SE.
The Arcsoft software suite includes 4 titles:
PhotoImpressions 4: to edit photos.
Photobase 4: to edit and organize images and interface
with Picture Stage a program designed to upload images to
PictureStage.com so they can be shared over the web.
PanoramaMaker 3: to create panoramic images by stitching
together a series of photos that overlap.
PhotoPrinter 4: a print layout utility that makes
it possible to arrange photos to be printed.
For image editing, the best tool offered is ArcSoft's PhotoImpressions
4. That program allows a fair amount of control over the image.
Adjustments are possible for brightness, contrast, saturation
and hue, amongst other things and the program is able to display
RAW images. Worth noting though, PhotoImpressions 4 does not
offer controls over RAW images that are any different from
those offered over all images.
Fine control over RAW images
captured with the LC1 is possible using the RAW camera plug-in
(free from the Adobe site) for Photoshop CS. The
plug-in is automatically called up when a RAW image is selected
to be opened, and provides 2 levels of capability: Basic and
Advanced.
The Basic level provides controls over white balance, colour temperature,
tint, exposure, shadows, brightness, contrast, saturation, luminance smoothing
and colour noise reduction.
The Advanced level adds to this
a section called Lens which offers correction for chromatic
aberration and vignetting.
And another section called Calibrate that adds controls over shadow
tint, and controls over saturation and hue for each of the primaries: red,
green and blue.
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Interface & Software
