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.

Morning Travels with a camera. Set on "Photographic Nostalgia" mode.

The lens of the day is the 42.5mm f1.7 Panasonic. It's sweet. It's tiny. It's sharp.

I spent all last week shooting what my clients wanted to today I got up with the sunrise and headed out the door to shoot stuff that was just for me. My style. My subject matter. Nothing serious or well thought through but satisfying to my eye and my ongoing curiosity. I cut my teeth with square cameras like Rollei twin lens cameras, Mamiya twin lens cameras and an endless assortment of Hasselblads. For years pretty much nothing but Tri-X film saw the inside of my personal cameras. So, when I found the dynamic monochrome filter setting on the GH5 I thought I'd see how close I could get to the feel of yesteryear in modern Austin. 

I parked at Barton Springs Pool and headed around the lake to First St. where I left the hike and bike train and lurched into downtown. I shot along Second St. and then, after buzzing through the Seaholm Power Plant I reconnected with the hike and bike trail for my long looped return to the big pool. 

The photography this morning was fun. The GH5, in square, black and white mode is very satisfying, mostly because the EVF is so incredibly good. But the real nice thing is how life affirming early morning is in central Austin. Hundreds and hundreds of people are running around the hike and bike trails, people are already swimming laps in the brisk waters of Barton Springs, couples are walking their dogs, talking and laughing. 

When I walked across the street and into downtown I saw so many people biking to work, walking down the broad sidewalks with their cups of coffee and already having animated conversations with their work mates. I saw people with stabilizing rigs shooting their video versions of Austin morning and a number of photographers doing just what I was doing; getting exercise and working on their vision the world. It was glorious. 

It makes me wonder why we go to work at all; there's so much other fun stuff to do!

Getting Lucky with the "Brick Wall" test. On Sixth St.

I was walking around with the Olympus 12-100mm f4.0 Pro lens stuck on the front of a GH5 when I saw this wonderful brick wall to photograph. Sadly, there were no kitties or puppies to also include in the frame... At any rate I loved the blatant advertising messaging from the bar attached to this wall. They really cut to the chase with their marketing "promise."

I just don't understand where the bike rentals fit in.....

My first glitch with the GH5. Three corrupted files. Let's explore.

I got on a kick two days ago of using my GH5 and 42.5mm f1.7 lens as a kind of mini-Hasselblad. A nod to the old days of square format, black and white film. I set the camera to large, fine Jpegs, the aspect ratio to square and I went off the usual control freak script and engaged the little painter's palette setting on the control dial. In the "filter effect" menu I chose: Dynamic Monochrome.

As a side note I was happy to see that the camera offers an additional amount of control, offering: "Simultaneous record w/o filter". This setting will allow you to also record an unchanged file. Nice. 

Now I don't know if it's a fault of the camera or if the older, Transcend SDHC 32GB memory card was at fault but I got three different "damaged files" out of the hundreds I shot on the card, today and on Sunday. I've included them here.

In the 30,000+ images I've shot (mostly in raw or raw+Jpeg) these are the first glitches I've gotten. I've marked the body with a piece of tape and I'll keep checking it as I go along. My current thinking is that I tweaked the photo gods by recently writing about not having had a card failure in quite a number of years and they may be anxious to punish me quickly for my hubris.  Of course, I could chalk it up to the idea that nobody should be using these cameras in a silly "palette icon" mode but then, there it is. I was doing just that. 

If you are shooting with a GH5 and you've had a few file glitches can you let me know in the comments? I'd like to keep a running tally of this to see if it was an isolated thing caused by getting up too early and trying to operate a camera without sufficient coffee or, if there is a hidden stumble in the mix. Thanks!