Thoughts on the GF-1

I can hardly contain myself - I am so pleased with the Panasonic GF-1! We recently travelled to Australia, and I wasn't wanting to take along my entire D-SLR kit... so I began researching many options for a smaller, yet still great quality, camera. If you've read a few of my prior posts, you'll know that I had some issues getting another point'n'shoot repaired, and that I bought a Canon D10, and then the issues were resolved, so I returned the D10... yadda yadda...
At any rate, the GF-1 with the 20mm/f1.7 lens is amazing! First of all, it is relatively compact - not much larger than my DMC-LX2. Second of all, it is unbelievably adaptable to many shooting conditions. I had it on the plane, in the city, at the beach, at the aquarium, in bright sunlight, in overcast light... I was impressed by it's response and results every time I used it. Of course the 1.7 aperture capability creates numerous fun opportunities, and the 20mm fixed focal length is usable in most all situations.
I have yet to take any pics in RAW format, because the variety of jpeg photo setting options is so endless... I haven't even begun to experiment with all of them! What I do know for sure so far, is that I am liking the GF-1 pictures almost as much as the ones I take with my Pentax. Who'd have thunk??
Cheers.

Resolution

No, not the '640x480' kind of resolution... I'm talking the 'camera repair issue' kind of resolution. That's right - London Drugs graciously stepped up today and replaced that lemon of an Olympus I was complaining about. Granted, they gave me another Olympus, but none the less I am very appreciative that they finally took my problem seriously. Last week I went back to them for the fourth time in ten months, with all the documentation and info about the multiple problems, including prints of the blue-and-red-vertical-stripe-covered photos it was taking. I was mostly rational as I explained my disappointment to the uninterested clerk, who then paged a manager, who then said to leave everything with him and he'd see what could be done. I actually left the store feeling like the effort was futile, and shortly afterwards I went and bought the Canon D10.
So you can imagine my surprise today when I received a phone call from the store - they hadn't heard back from Olympus yet, however they were willing to offer a replacement to me and then deal with the manufacturer themselves. WOOT WOOT!! Now THAT is what I consider customer service. And as a result, London Drugs is back on my list of acceptable places to shop... hee hee!
Moving right along... Seeing as how the new Olympus would mean I was going to be in possession of TWO waterproof/freezeproof cameras... and since the camera I have truly been eyeing up is the Panasonic GF1... I boxed up the D10 and all its parts, headed back to McBain Camera (http://www.mcbaincamera.com) and traded 'er in on the GF1. I know, I know - WTF?? But now I think I honestly have the best of all the camera worlds - D-SLR, compact point'n'shoot, and the in-between micro four thirds. We leave in a few hours for Australia, and I'm taking one Pentax K20D body, a few lenses, and of course I'll be using the GF1 (with the 20mm f1.7) as much as possible on the trip. I am so excited to check it out!
Cheers!

A New Toy!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I can be somewhat impatient when it comes to things like my Olympus 1030SW troubles. I'll always give something a fair chance to prove itself... but if I don't get satisfactory resolution within a reasonable timeframe, I tend to move on. And move on I have. To the Canon D10 - Canon's first stab at competing in the world of waterproof / freezeproof / shockproof cameras.

The D10 is a 12.1MP point'n'shoot which resembles a tiny, turquoise submarine (or at least mine is turquoise... apparently interchangeable covers are available). It's unconventional styling grabbed my attention right away, but the great reviews it received (check out http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q209waterproofgroup/) solidified my decision to buy one. In truth, I've always gravitated towards Panasonic products - I've owned several and have been more than pleased with every one. Panasonic did have a competitor in this group, and for me it really came down to the TS1 or the D10. The greater underwater depth rating of the D10 and the fact that it is touted as 'freezeproof' (to -10C) are what pushed me over the Canon edge, however. Don't worry though - I'll be continuing my Panasonic saga... the GF1 is next on my purchase list... more on that, later!!

I was able to get outside with my new toy recently, to work it over for real. Overall, I'm happy thus far with the results. I mostly took pics in Program mode - with ISO settings of 80 and 100. The day was overcast and a bit blah, but the colors that were recorded were saturated nicely. And the macro is impressive! The camera sure starts up quickly and can find a focal point super-fast... but I didn't think the images were as sharp as the reviews made them out to be. Sometimes though, I wonder if I'm a bit spoiled and have overly high expectations... I've been shooting with a D-SLR for a couple of years now, so I forget the limitations of a smaller camera. The following two photos are from the same spot along the trail... keep in mind these are resized...

Pentax K20D

Canon D10

Over the next 6 weeks, I'll have the opportunity to try it out both in the water and on the snow... and I'm looking forward to evaluating its performance in these adverse conditions. Hopefully I won't be disappointed... I've already been let down big-time by a major player in this specialty camera game, and while I could definitely enjoy being a camera collector, I'd really rather NOT end up with a pile of non-functioning junk.

Cheers!

Disappointment!

"The Benefit Of The Doubt"... I am a big fan of giving this... whether it be to people who are behaving inexplicably, or to things that are not working as I think they should... because who really knows what's going on behind the scenes?? However, I only have so much patience when it comes to putting faith in something that repeatedly lets me down. What I am alluding to today is... my Olympus 1030SW camera!
After reading many reviews when it first came out and making an informed decision to purchase it, I was initially quite happy with the little guy. It performed well in cold temps, seemed very sturdy, the picture quality was acceptable, and the macro... well! Suffice it to say it was one of the most impressive point'n'shoot macros I've ever used! Everything about the camera was all good, until the first time it was used under water. I don't believe the rated depth was exceeded, because we were only snorkelling with it. But while we had it in the water, the LCD display quit working... so, that was the end of our video and picture taking for that day (and for the rest of the trip as it turned out). Later that evening, after it 'dried out' or something, the display came back, but only intermittently. Which rendered it virtually unusable since we were not able to see the settings or anything anymore. The camera at that point was less than 2 months old, so I took it back to the place of purchase (London Drugs) and had them send it to Olympus for warranty repairs.
I was super excited to get the 1030SW back, but my excitement was short lived. While the display problem had been fixed, now the pictures that were taken were not viewable in-camera. That's right - we could see all the settings, see how the photo was going to be framed, see the picture for the 3 seconds it was displayed on the LCD after pressing the shutter button... but we had to remove the card from the camera and look at the results on the computer. Inconvenient or what!
Back to London Drugs. Explain this new problem. Wait (more and more impatiently) for the camera to come back from Olympus. Anticipate a perfectly operational camera when the box was delivered. Nearly start to cry when we took it outdoors on a hike a few weeks later! The third problem was an atrocious one: vertical red and blue lines across every photo and throughout every video, no matter what the lighting conditions or camera settings. **SIGH**
Yep, you guessed it... back to London Drugs. Explain this new problem. Have them send the piece of crap away... AGAIN... Don't feel at all excited when the Purolator box arrived a few days ago... read the enclosed repair notice from Olympus, in which they describe their actions taken (that had nothing to do whatsoever with what the problem was!)... pretty much drop-kick the camera across the yard after I fire it up and immediately see the red and blue lines... AAACCKKKK!!
So right now, the stupid hunk of junk is sitting in the box, where it will stay until my frustration subsides. I'm afraid I may throw it at the camera salesperson's head if I go back to London Drugs anytime soon. I do realize that it's not the retailer's fault the camera is a lemon, but should they not offer me a replacement, and deal with the manufacturer themselves on this one?? Also, the lack of problem resolution from the Olympus service department doesn't leave me with alot of confidence or praise for their product. In fact, I will NEVER purchase another Olympus product, EVER. And I will NEVER purchase another electronics or related product from London Drugs, either. Unless of course, they agree with my point of view on this and promptly provide a new camera.
I'll keep you posted on this issue.
Cheers.

Natural Light

I'm sure you are looking at this post - or more specifically, the images in this post - and you must be thinking that I am soooooo vain...!! Who pastes pictures of themselves all over their blog??!! Jeesh!! Well, before you X out of this window in disdain, let me explain myself.

I recently have become totally fascinated with natural light portrait photography. Not that I want to be a portrait photographer... but I do end up with people in many of my photos, and it's fun to change it up once in a while. Black and white is fairly standard and sepia doesn't flatter every picture... so I'd like to try something different. The look I find especially intriguing is the one where the photo almost looks overexposed, and the colors are washed out. The picture ends up looking a bit soft and dreamy, a bit old and worn. A friend of mine is a professional photographer and I have flat out asked what settings she shoots with to get these kinds of results. She has completely ignored my query. What's up with that?? Anyhow, since I couldn't get a straight answer, I was left with no choice but to experiment... on myself!!

My testing took place indoors, against a neutral colored wall, next to a window, on an overcast day. Quite frankly, I thought the light was stellar, and I think it would be difficult to replicate with a flash. By turning and either facing right into the light or slightly away from the light, I could adjust the angle of the shadows or even completely eliminate the shadows on my face. A smaller lens aperture obviously lent to a larger focal area and greater depth of field, but my 31mm wide open (f1.8) created some neat effects too, like only getting one of my eyes in focus out of my whole face. I tried many different shutter speeds, many different f-stops, all at ISO100... I reduced the saturation and increased the contrast... Sometimes, half of my features would be blown out and my hair looked like a solid black mass. Sometimes, the photo was sadly very normal. Booo.

In the end, I've decided that post processing is the only way to achieve what I am after. I can't figure out for the life of me how to get the results in-camera. And even using Photoshop CS3, I'm not 100% satisfied with what I've got. That being said, I'm not exactly Adobe literate so I could be completely missing something. Feel free to comment with your suggestions!!

At any rate, I followed up my disappointing test session with some further Google work. I think perhaps these guys have what I am looking for: http://www.autofx.com/products/mttc/detail.html. Auto FX Mystical Tint, Tone and Color 2.0 seems to have the solution to my particular problem, plus Auto FX offers a whole whack of other cool digital enhancement tools - the possibilities look endless! I am going to download a demo and give it a whirl. For my next experiment, I promise I will find a different test subject!

Cheers.

Trying to Lighten the Load

Okay. In my camera case - which has been getting progressively, and I'm thinking UNNECESSARILY larger - I have two (yes, TWO) Pentax K20D bodies and six lenses (one of which weighs over 4lbs). Add to the gamut my filters, chargers, extra batteries, a flash, tripod, cleaning supplies... and D'OH!! I now am the proud owner of a cumbersome backpack weighing in at about 25lbs. Can you say CAMERA NERD!!
While this is fine for storage (I love having everything so organized!!) and even for day-to-day use (I usually grab one body and at the most two lenses and an extra battery), it really bites the big one when it comes to travelling - specifically air travel. Because I'm the type of person who prefers to fly with carry-on; I check a suitcase only if absolutely necessary.
Thus brings me to my dilemna. I am doing research and am trying to decide upon the most amazing point-and-shoot ever!! Then, instead of lugging my gargantuan camera pack on the plane and being forced to check everything else, I can carry a purse-size case for my pared-down photography gear and still have room on my back for other belongings if I so choose. I am hoping to find something that might fit into a coat pocket... yet I'd like it to provide stellar picture quality... a decent zoom range would be nice... fast lens... image stabilization... RAW capability... the list goes on and on!! The biggest kicker is: I am leaving in a month on vacation to Australia, and I would really like to try out this new travel style!
A couple of possibilities so far are:

• Panasonic GF1 - with either the 20mm/f1.7 or the 14-45mm/f3.5-5.6; price is a little steeper and the 20mm obviously has no zoom, but image quality is wicked!
• Canon SX20IS - mega zoom, but no RAW format
• Canon G11 - not in stock at very many stores yet, but it may be worth waiting for as an underwater housing is made specifically for this camera!
• Ricoh Caplio GX200 - possible contender, except that it's not available anywhere in Canada
• Panasonic DMC-LX3 - has almost everything I want, but I already have the LX2!!

Yes, I realize I am somewhat neurotic when it comes to this kind of stuff. And I'm a full-on gear junkie, I know. I can't help myself. But now I am on a quest to get myself set up perfectly for travel photography, and I have about 30 days to come to a conclusion! Stay tuned!

Cheers.

Little People

Last week, I was approached by a friend about taking some photos of his kids. He works with my significant other for the local fire department, and recently all crew members were issued new bunker gear. I guess a few of the fellows have had their children photographed in various ways with their fresh, shiny (literally! the lettering and stripes are all reflective... a flash nightmare!!) turnout attire, and Mr. T was hoping to follow suit. Since I am NOT a portrait photographer... I was nervous - but super excited - to give it a try!

Now, it's a challenge to get a picture right at the best of times. But add to the mix a little person... who is unsure of what the heck this strange, big person (with a large black blocky thing stuck in front of her face!) is doing in his space... climbing up and down a step ladder... calling his name over and over... making silly sounds... having his mommy and daddy run all over the place... etc., etc... And it makes for an interesting hour of picture taking! Poor guy!

In the end however, it turned out quite alright. We staged everything in the garage, and at mid-day with the overhead door wide open, the lighting was natural and relatively soft. Prince P and his sister Princess M are soooooo darn cute, and I found unexpected enjoyment in working to capture some of their priceless expressions. I don't mean that to sound... harsh...? It's just that I felt fairly anxious about letting the T family down, if I could not deliver what they had in mind. In actual fact, it didn't take long at all for that to wear off, because the parents are both such happy and easygoing folks, and their toddlers are adorable. Plus I figured if I snapped the shutter enough times, I was bound to catch something of value!!

Speaking of which, I took nearly 350 pics of the up-and-coming firefighters. **WHEW** The result is about three dozen images that I feel are print worthy, and I'm crossing my fingers that the T's will like them also... If it goes well, who knows... maybe I'll try it again some time!

Cheers!

Pick a lens, any lens...

...and use just this one lens, for an entire day. Now, I'm not talking an 18-250mm... because I'm sure we could all survive (if we really had to!) with a standard walk-around lens alone... I mean choose a macro, or a fisheye, or a super long telephoto... the type of lens that is usually reserved for quite specific subjects and/or events. I've read of this before, in a 'tips and tricks' section of one of the magazines I subscribe to, and this week I finally tried it. My project, so to speak, was to spend the day with my Lensbaby 2.0 (http://lensbaby.ca/), and what a project it was. The focal length is about 50mm, and the aperture is fixed according to which disc is used - making the shutter speed completely my responsibility. Add into the mix the fact that I particularly enjoy photographing my friends while they are engaged in some sort of sporting activity... and you have a very interesting day of picture taking! It took a few tries to gage the distances I needed to frame things properly, and moving back and forth from shade to sun resulted in two or three practice images each time to achieve the right exposure. Overall, it was quite a bit of fun, and in the end I came up with a few really neat pics. You should try it sometime!

Cheers.

Photo Browsing...

I've talked before about the RAW formats that can be used on my camera. And I decided that I prefer to leave my camera setting on Pentax's 'PEF' as opposed to the generic 'DNG'. The only thing I've always been a bit disappointed about, when it comes to the Pentax Photo Browser/Laboratory, is that when going through an initial viewing/editing of my RAW files, there is no delete function in the browser. This means that I either have to mark the files I do not wish to keep and batch delete them later, or close down the viewing window and delete the pictures one at a time. Very time consuming. So. Imagine my excitement when I recently downloaded Picasa 3... and found that it will browse my RAW files AND allow me to delete as I go!! It is fantastic!! Not to mention, it is free!! I still use the camera software to do my final editing, but Picasa 3 has cut my pre-edit time in half at least. How convenient! This great Google-based tool will view pretty much any RAW files, and it also has some basic editing capabilities which work well in a pinch. Considering that it doesn't cost anything, it's an impressive little program and I highly recommend it!
Cheers!

http://picasa.google.com/

No news is... good news??

Wow. I can't believe how little photography propaganda I have to share lately! I'm talking NOTHING... I can't even make anything up!! I do recall reading somewhere that great photographers know when NOT to take pictures... and while I'd hardly place myself in the 'great' category, I certainly haven't been taking many pictures! Actually, it's not that I haven't been out with my camera - because I have. It's just that the subjects that I've been photographing aren't perhaps the best for discussion on this blog. Truth be known, I've been having a crazy-good time, at the climbing crags and out at the lake! Rock climbing and kiting are a couple of my favorite activities to photograph. However, neither of these somewhat obscure sports make for a good, general discussion... Anyway, when I do have some sort of revelation, I'll be sure to post! For now, here's a couple of my fave photos from recent outings.

Cheers!

The RAW Dilemna

PEF or DNG? That was the question... and I think I've come up with an answer - that suits me, anyway. My camera (Pentax K20D) will take RAW photos in either DNG (Adobe compatible format) or PEF (the Pentax format), and of course in various JPEG formats. Since I have recently been attempting to use Photoshop CS3, I was wondering if it would be to my advantage to shoot in the DNG mode. CS3 can easily read and be used to edit DNG files, whereas I am limited to my Pentax Photo Browser/Laboratory software to even view the PEF files.
So, to see for myself, I spent a day with one camera set to take DNG's, and the other to take PEF's. Every other in-camera setting was identical. In all honesty, I have to say that I was a bit surprised at the outcome! Even though the post-processing of the Pentax RAW files is more cumbersome, I was completely more pleased with them. The colors and contrast in the RAW data are much more vibrant, and far less tweaking is required to achieve the same JPEG result. Who'd-a-thunk?? I must say I was under the impression that Photoshop was the be-all/end-all in editing software... and while it is quite an amazing tool, my opinion has changed somewhat. Pentax is pretty darn good itself, and I won't feel bad about leaving my camera in the PEF mode!
Cheers.

The JPEG Experiment

I recently travelled to Arizona, and I spent pretty much the whole time in the beautiful western desert around Parker. For this trip, I decided to try something different in terms of picture taking - I only shot in JPEG, no RAW. Part of it was due to me being lazy and not feeling like dragging my laptop along (it has my RAW conversion software program on it), and part of it was simple curiosity - I was curious if I'd actually be able to notice poorer quality in the end-result images. I do realize that the RAW capture in a camera writes the information directly to the card, bypassing the camera's processor... so in essence you have an unprocessed 'negative'... and of course you should see better results if you have more data to play with right from the start. But post-processing of RAW files takes substantially more effort than tweaking JPEG files - I'd say it consumes at least twice as much time per picture - and I have been wondering lately if all my efforts have been a bit in vain.
I guess since I didn't take anything in RAW, I don't have actual hard evidence to make a side-by-side comparison... But in my infinite yet limited photography wisdom, I would have to say that straight JPEGs do look somewhat less... crisp? for lack of a better term... and I am unable to enlarge them to the extent that I can with RAW format files, without noticing massive pixelation and loss of integrity. As well, any editing that is required degrades the file exponentially with every overwrite.
So, to make a long story no shorter than it was... I'll be leaving my camera set to RAW... I'll continue to spend more time than I wish was necessary on photo processing... and I will not complain about it!

Next question: PEF or DNG? Aaaack!! So many queries, so little time!