There are few things as wonderful as knowing that you got the shot in-camera and don’t need to do post-production to it. It comes with a sense of pride and accomplishment that’s akin to scoring a 100% on a test when you’re a young kid. Thankfully, LUMIX cameras can help to get you most of the way — or they’d get most of your artistic vision done right in the device. I’m not talking about Real Time LUT or Live Composite this time. I’m talking about the filter settings — it’s a bit of a forgotten and lesser talked about feature that photographers should have a lot of fun with.
This article is presented in partnership with LUMIX.
Why Use In-Camera Filters
Look, you paid for the camera — you might as well use all the features that it offers to you. So why use the in-camera filters on the S5II and S5IIX? Well, because you’re looking to try something brand new that you haven’t done before. If you thought that Real Time LUT opened up a lot of possibilities, then you haven’t even scratched the surface yet. In-camera filters, for years, were looked down upon by the professional photography community because they were seen as amateur. But these days, things are different. These days, it’s truly more about getting the look as easily as possible. Shooting photos and making a great image doesn’t need to feel like a pedantic struggle when you can just do it in-camera. It’s still art — especially if you’re doing all the pre-production work beforehand.
For just a few minutes: put aside any predispositions you’ve had about photography and pretend that you’ve reconnected with the younger photographer inside you that was excited to make images and try anything. Embrace it.
How to Use In-Camera Filters
Grab your Panasonic S5II and go to your Red camera menu. Then go to Image Quality 2 and select Filter settings. Then click Set. From there, you’ll be able to cycle through the various settings. Here’s what you’ve got:
- Cross Process: This makes it look like the image you’re shooting was developed with the wrong film chemicals. The colors will be pretty funky and kind of like early 90s-feeling. Folks shot a lot of portraits and landscapes with this method. And you can see it in the look of a lot of vintage music videos from the 90s too.
- Bleach Bypass: The colors will be desaturated like they were when you develop images with a bit of bleach. Folks typically use this for fine art and documentary to give a more bleak look to things.
- Expressive: A super vivid mode. Think about Andy Warhol’s Pop art stuff.
- Retro: Take a wild guess at what this does. Think muted, soft, and airy. More specifically, imagine Instant film with a plastic lens. Try it with portraits.
- Old Days: This makes images look like really old film. We’re talking abour early color film here.
- High Key: This makes the brights pretty bright
- Low Key: This makes the darks pretty dark
- Sepia: The sepia filter
You can apply these filter settings in the Manual, Aperture, Shutter, or Program-auto mode. You can’t stack them with Real Time LUTs, however. But you’ll surely see how incredibly fun this effect can be to make photographs that you otherwise can’t make. Photographers can also adjust the setting effects of the in-camera filter on the scene to get more or less of the effect on their images. Between that and full manual control, there’s so much creative possibility.
Photography Doesn’t Need to Be So Serious
Sometimes, we like to remind people that photography doesn’t need to be so serious these days. It isn’t always about tech specs, science, data sheets, etc. Instead, it can be about the actual art of it all. Shoot these images and then make some prints. Or if you can, find a way to print them out on Instant film. Either way, you should embrace all the power the S5II gives you to not make photography boring or stale at all.