10.24.2017

The process of "zeroing in" a camera. It takes longer than one might think...

There are hundreds and hundreds of building projects all over Austin. 
I walk downtown at least once a week and many times stumble across 
a new building that was only a hole in the ground weeks before...

I've been working with the Panasonic GH5 cameras since the end of the Summer and I'm finally starting to feel like I understand their color and the best way to use them. I think the best way to get a handle on any camera is to use it a lot for stuff that's not client-centric so you can push the envelope hard enough to break it. Then you know what your limits are but you also know where and how your system looks best. 

I think the GH5 does best at ISO 100(l), 200 and 400 for most things. For portraits the lower the ISO the better. But the compensation for not being the most stellar high ISO camera is that the camera, with the best lenses, has a really rich color palette and a wonderful ability to render flesh tones at these lower ISO settings. 

I've learned that I don't like using very flat profiles with the photographs because it's hard to replicate a nice tonality in post. Why bother when using "standard" or "natural" will give you really adorable files?

My one wish for the next version of the camera is for a physical exposure compensation dial on the camera body. I'm comfortable with the on-screen version now but....
Looking behind the advertising curtain. I love that the torn graphic exposes a couple yards of plywood. 
The same could be said for the general construction of many buildings. 
A new appreciation by contractors of planned obsolescence. 

It's all about the bright spots and the shafts of light. 
The buildings are only the foil. 

I've loved compressed building shots since.....forever.




So, when did this wall at the east end of Barton Springs Pool get painted pink?
Nobody asked me if that was okay...

I've had two lenses in my hands for the last few days. One is the 12-100mm Olympus Pro (which I love more and more each day) and the other is the Panasonic 42.5 f1.7. It's tiny and cute but an imaging machine. Working with them for hours at a time helps you feel comfortable when you have to turn around and use them for a real job. Then, they don't seem like strangers; they seem like friends.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Kirk - you may already know this, but you can set up the GH5 such that in aperture or shutter priority mode, the front or rear command dial can adjust exposure compensation. I have mine set up that way - in manual mode of course, you have to use the exposure compensation button by the shutter release as the dials are dedicated to shutter and aperture.

Dano said...

Kirk
If you were traveling for pleasure to Iceland and wanted to travel light would you take these two lens.

ODL Designs said...

Hi Kirk,
Absolutely true. Interestingly Olympus uses the same sensor for a few iterations, improving the output through refinement. WHen they do introduce a new one, I am generally so used to the older one (say the 16mp sensor from the EM5 and EM5.2 and EPL5 I own, or the 12mp sensor used in the EP2 and E-5) that it takes a little adjustment time in processing.

One example is the EM5.2, I would generally do a little sharpening even at ISO800 and 1600. However this new 20mp sensor has me reducing the standard sharpening slightly in ACR as the files are already very detailed and lowering the sharpening helps with the noise / grain without much of a detail penalty.

From a personal standpoint I like getting comfortable with my cameras, the system and processing, it makes my work easier and more repeatable.

All the best!

rlh1138 said...

A what in the ground??? :)

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

rlh1138. Thanks. Good catch.

Michael Matthews said...

Could be wrong, but I think that's the first shot of the Frost tower in a while. And a striking one it is! Almost all of these have a crispness to them that suggests micro 4/3 is far from over and done with for still photography.

As to the pink wall...unfortunate.