[low.pfile]

I picked up another camera,a Lumix GF2 from Panasonic. 

 

I recently played with a Leica DLUX4 at a friend's house and missed my old LX3...I used to have the identical Lumix LX3 but replaced it with a Canon S90 for point and shoot purposes. The S90 has better low light abilities. but still the LX3 had some magic in good lighting that the Canon can't match.  For an upcoming vacation I was debating bring my D700--it was a short debate. I don't want the poundage and bulk.

That led me to the new micro four-thirds format.   Olympus just released what could be a very amazing camera, but the PEN E-P3 is not yet available in the US. I think I would have went with the Panasonic lenses, at least the 20mm f1/7. with the PEN E-P3, though initially it's only available with a zoom. I had to make the move to get my travel camera so I could test it out and learn it's nuances.   That's where I am today. first walk around day with it. back yard, and nearby park. all handheld nearly all ISO 100, I was playing with Program, Ap priority, and iA (dummy mode). 

The controls aren't buried too deep. Exposure comp and aperture and shutter are on the dial. so quick adjustment.  What I learned today is that I really need a wider angle for my touristy shots. I couldn't even get a typical house in the frame with the 14mm end of my 14-45mm zoom. the crop factor is 2X for m4/3.   

All the shots below are handheld and JPGs from the camera resized to 1024px   


  more samples [click here]

[PeteG]

Very nice, I been thinking about getting an M4/3 to keep in my truck, way too many lost shots I could have gotten.

How’s the metering on it.

[Jon L]

Olympus just released what could be a very amazing camera, but the PEN E-P3 is not yet available in the US. I think I would have went with the Panasonic lenses, at least the 20mm f1/7. with the PEN E-P3, though initially it's only available with a zoom.

Nice photos.  I hadn't realized it, but with the expected street price of $900 or so for Olympus PEN E-P3, micro 4/3 prices seem to be getting up there..

[low.pfile]

pete,
all the shots from yesterday where Centered weighted metering. I almost always switch out of Multi/Pattern/Smart on my cameras. I use Exp. comp to deal with tricky situations. The GF2's metering on center weighted is as expected.

I had fun taking some shots from the waist today. Very bright morning sun, medium clouds. the canopies of the FM always cause issue, most shots look like this. some are a little darker. This shot below is from under the canopy (shaded) and has some bright sky backlit canopies too in the background. The EV is minus 1/3. Works for me. excuse the bad composition please.


bigger on black

Jon
Yeah, the m4/3 prices up there for sure. then there is Leica!

[low.pfile]

I used the 20mm exclusively today on the GF2. (20mm on m4/3 is a 40mm field of view in 35mm terms)

the outside images from today are ISO 100 and the inside images are ISO 1600




It may sound like an excuse but I like images with grain. the character of the image is more appealing to me than the HD effect. so now I now at ISO1600 grain will happen.

These images are all direct JPG conversions from RAW using silkypix, resized in photoshop. though the Market sign has some saturation boost.

more 20mm samples [click here]

[JohnR]

Very nice results indeed.

[nathanm]

Those shots are very appealing, they look "analog" whatever that means.  (Except for the veggie stand shot which looks "digital" - I think it might be the blown highlights maybe?)  If you had told me they were scanned prints I might believe it.  Nice lens perhaps.

[low.pfile]

agreed nathan, blown highlights ruin a photo. the farmers market shot is not great with the blown backlighting.

The 20mm lens does do a very nice job, best when shooting closer at widest apertures. I went on a practice bike ride with camera and 20mm last weekend. The cam ended up over my shoulder for most of the 40 mile ride instead of in the bar bag. That will be the plan for the trip.

[nathanm]

I had good luck with highlights on my scrappy little Fuji when I was shooting in the desert last year.  I had set my exposure compensation to -1 stop (I also was using a polarizer, I think that helped - not specifically for highlights, just in general).  Every shot needed some work in Lightroom to get it to look 'normal' but at least there was no issue with highlights.  This is something I have to remember to do more often.

[low.pfile]

nathan,
I habituallly underexpose when shooting JPGs with the point and shoots just because most overexpose. When shooting RAW I also underexpose in camera and then bring up the exposure in the processor. That is until last week. I finally got around to trying ETTR - expose to the right, then bring down the exposure. It seems counter-intuitive and there is risk of completely blowing out highlights so it must be done carefully. What I found is that ETTR does help with is reducing NOISE. An image that was ETTR'd then corrected has a tiny bit less grain than the standard exposure and then the image underexposed in camera then lightened has the most noise (and the bad type). I've also been playing around with the Lightroom trial. I like it. no more time to play with that though until later.

[low.pfile]

Now my first shots with the 45mm f2.8 pan/leica  lens.

I wanted a better portrait lens--the f5.6 on the 14-45 zoom wasn't cutting it, so I picked up the 45mm which is also a 1:1 macro.

no great photographs here. there were no faces available for my first shots, so these are just backyard grabs of my trees and plants. Found out that one tree has a major aphid? infestation while doing this. a noisy bird kept buzzing overhead too.



a couple more [here]

[charmerci]

 Found out that one tree has a major aphid infestation while doing this.

Go to your local garden center and buy a bunch of ladybugs!