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Panasonic ImageApp Hack (April 1, 2020)

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Panasonic ImageApp showing DPAF

Panasonic Firmware Updates

Everyone knows that Panasonic Lumix cameras suffer when it comes to Video Auto Focus. For photography, it’s pretty snappy… but video AF is far from good.

Panasonic released firmware updates in November of 2019. Most of these updates were for the GH5 and G9. Taking inspiration from Enable CineLike D Hack, I tinkered with the latest updates to see what else I could find.

Hidden Menus

I found hidden menus available on the Panasonic ImageApp (Android | iOS). After I got it connected, I noticed I could send commands such as:

http://192.168.54.1/cam.cgi?mode=getinfo&type=capability

The above command returns a reference to V-LOG-L. You can also return a list of commands. While exploring these commands, I discovered DPAF!

How-to unlock Dual Pixel Auto Focus on Panasonic Lumix ImageApp

After tinkering for hours, I decided to make a video so it’s easier to follow. Check out these steps to unlock Dual Pixel Auto Focus.

Panasonic ImageApp (Android) showing DPAF option
Panasonic ImageApp (Android) showing DPAF option

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TAPC Snapseed Tutorial

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Hello readers! I provide knowledge on photography and video, to help ease your learning curve. Click the red button for more free content on my YouTube channel!

Hello TAPC – if you’re coming here after the Snapseed Demo today, I’ll have a complete tutorial on here in a few weeks. As of now, it’s just screenshots I saved in case the Wi-Fi didn’t work in the Trinity Arts building. If you need help with Snapseed, use the three vertical dots on the top right and access the Tutorials or Help. Check back in a couple weeks for the tutorial! Thanks for your support. -Manny

Snapseed Top Menus

Snapseed Top Menu

Snapseed Stacks

Snapseed Stacks
Snapseed Stack Brush

Snapseed Image Details

Snapseed Image Details

Snapseed Settings

Snapseed Image Settings

Format and Quality

Snapseed Format and Quality

Image Resizing

Snapseed Image Resizing

Snapseed Tutorials

Snapseed Bottom Menu

Snapseed Bottom Menu

Snapseed Tools

Snapseed Tools Menu

Snapseed Export

Snapseed Export Menu

My favorite camera of 2019

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Hello readers! I provide knowledge on photography and video, to help ease your learning curve. Click the red button for more free content on my YouTube channel!

Recently, someone asked me… what’s your favorite camera?

Well, I have the mindset that you should use the right tool for the job. But after this question. It dawned on me that there was one camera that I reached for more often than the others.

So my favorite camera of 2019?

Before I state which one that is, you got to realize that I’m choosing from the cameras I have experience with. These are: Panasonic Lumix G85, Panasonic Lumix GX85, Panasonic Lumix G7, and Canon 7D Mark II.

Panasonic Lumix G85, 4k Camera
Panasonic Lumix G85, 4k Camera
Panasonic Lumix GX85, 4K Camera
Panasonic Lumix GX85, 4K Camera
Panasonic Lumix G7, 4K Camera
Panasonic Lumix G7, 4K Camera
Canon 7D Mark II
Canon 7D Mark II

So back to the question: what’s my favorite camera?

Out of these cameras, I looked at features like portability, build quality, stabilization, and adaptability. Now the only camera that I own that satisfies all these requirements is my Panasonic Lumix GX85.

Panasonic Lumix GX85 with Viltrox EF M2 and Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 (IPA not included)
Panasonic Lumix GX85 with Viltrox EF M2 and Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 (IPA not included)

Since I already have videos on features, I’ll be linking to those rather than repeating them here. For portability, this video shows how much you can fit into a small bag with the GX85. For the plethora of camera features including stabilization and adaptability, check out my 25 Reasons video, which was made for the G85 but most of them also apply to the GX85 (with the exception of mic input, articulating screen, remote shutter port). And the build quality on this is pretty nice. Feels much nicer than the G7.

Now, in addition to those features, you can also charge the GX85 directly using a USB cable. This is perfect for travel so you don’t even need to pack the external battery charger. Another cool feature is not only does it have in-camera focus stacking, but also merging.

Now I’m not saying to go buy this camera right now especially since there have been newer models released, but if you’re on the fence about this camera, then definitely buy it right now.

Whether you’re into video or photography, it’s a camera that can handle both exceptionally well.  That’s an absolute steal, especially during the current sale. My recommended lenses are the 42.5 f/1.7, the 25mm f/1.4, and the 15mm f/1.7.

Now I can’t end this video without giving props to my other cameras. As I mentioned in the beginning, I use the right tool for the job. The G85 is my main camera at home and does its job well. The G7 was my very first manual camera (long-term review) and it’s now a backup to my G85 and the 7D mark II is perfect for wildlife and BIF photography.

  • Great White Egret
    Birds-in-flight: Great White Egret taken on the Canon 7D Mark II and Sigma 150-600
  • Red-Shouldered Hawk
    Wildlife Photography: Red-Shouldered Hawk taken on the Canon 7D Mark II and Sigma 150-600

Even with all these amazing cameras, GX85 is still the one that I reach for more frequently. Now more important than the features already mentioned, this camera is a joy to hold and shoot with.  The small build makes it convenient and I can fit it into a jacket pocket. It’s a camera that ticks so many boxes that it’s hands-down my favorite camera of 2019. 

Now, tell me… what’s YOUR favorite camera? Let me know in the comments below!

If you’re interested in any of the gear mentioned, please use the affiliate links to help support the website.

Slow USB Transfer Speeds on SD Card/Reader

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Hello readers! I provide knowledge on photography and video, to help ease your learning curve. Click the red button for more free content on my YouTube channel!

My desktop has both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, along with an SD Card Reader. Recently while transferring several Gigabytes of data, I noticed the SD Card was transferring around 8 MB/s (that’s “B” as in Bytes). First I was a bit shocked. Had I been transferring data from SD Cards at that speed for the past year? Why hadn’t I noticed it sooner? Perhaps I wasn’t transferring often or transferring such large files as I do today.

I searched online to see USB 2.0 speeds and saw that the MAX is 60 MB/s. Mine was nowhere near that. I decided to update the USB drivers and purchase a USB 3.0 SD Card Reader.

The card reader was delivered after a few days. And drum-roll… Now I’m getting speeds up to 90 MB/s on the external card reader! WOW!! So was I really copying at 8 MB/s for the past year? I guess! So remember to keep your drivers updated. Apparently Windows updates don’t catch all your devices.

Enjoy this screenshot of my current transfer speeds. Mind you, my SD Card is rated U1 and Class 10 with speeds up to 80 MB/s. I will gladly take 88 MB/s!

If you’re looking to update your device drivers, search for “device manager”. It should look something like this:

Device Manager
Device Manager

If you know which device you’d like to update the driver for, just right-click and select “update driver”.

Device Manager - Update driver
Device Manager – Update driver

Sample Windows batch script to copy JPGs, RW2s, and MP4s from SD Card to local computer.

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Hello readers! I provide knowledge on photography and video, to help ease your learning curve. Click the red button for more free content on my YouTube channel!

I came across a common problem among photographers: lack of storage space. With RAW images at 20MB/file, my hard drive is filling up quickly.

I came up with a plan to filter images directly on the SD Card before I copy to the local machine. Since I save both JPG and RAW images on the card, I could filter the JPGs that I liked (delete the JPGs that I don’t) and then copy the remaining JPGs and respective RAW images to my local machine. Unfortunately, this posed a problem of having to manually select the JPG and respective RAW images. It seemed like an enormous waste of my time so I did not even attempt it manually.

I knew I could solve this programatically. I wrote a Windows batch script to check the current directory for existing JPG images, then copy both the JPG and corresponding RAW images to the destination folder.

Batch scripting took me back to the early 90’s! It’s been a while! After some research, I was able to put together the script below. You will have to update it with your destination directory.

 REM For each JPG, copy both the JPG and RAW image to the target folder
 set target="F:\Media\2019."
 FOR %%y in (*.JPG) DO CALL :loopbody %%y
 copy *.mp4 %target%
 GOTO :EOF
 :loopbody
 set filename=%1
 set jpg=%filename:~0,-4%.JPG
 set rw2=%filename:~0,-4%.RW2
 copy %jpg% %target%
 copy %rw2% %target%
 GOTO :EOF