this business was operating in Austin for over 50 years.
It is now permanently closed.
Hi Everyone. We're in high spirits here as I've devised a way to have coffee with a friend-at-a-time. Trianon Coffee is open for take out and across the parking lot is a long, unused, tree shaded line of picnic tables. We get our individual coffees and then head to the table. First arrival stakes out the prime position and then "guest" gets to pick his choice of seating locations in the 8-10 foot range. It's outdoors, which is healthier, and the space is currently not used by anyone else. I loved being able to sit and try to sort out the world's problems together with my good friend, James, today. Made me feel like we're making some progress... Masks at the ready and bottles of hand sanitizer spray in shirt pockets.
Yesterday I had an absolutely delightful time documenting fresh art in the downtown area. Go see yesterday's post if you haven't already. Some of the graffiti and new art is wonderful.
I wanted to write a quick post today to talk about the camera I decided to use yesterday. It felt like a nutty kind of selection but I think it was the perfect camera for that particular project. The color was right on the money and the lens/sensor combo was plenty sharp. The camera I took was the recently acquired Panasonic FZ2500. I decided on it because it's a convenient video tool and has built-in neutral density filters. I ended up not shooting any video but I did use the 1/4 ND in some sun-drenched locations. If you take a look at those photos and the ones here you'll see that the camera and lens perform very, very well. No problems with any lack of sharpness or detail.
The camera was purchased used from the folks at Precision Camera, here in Austin, for about $500. It came to me in mint condition and it's as good as I remember. (I owned one for about a year; purchased when they first hit the market some three or four years ago).
There is an oft-repeated rumor that the camera model has a soft lens, particularly at the long end, so I was anxious to test that out for myself on this unit. I shot mostly wide open yesterday and depended on neutral density and high shutter speeds to compensate. I did this for two reasons: 1. With a small, high density sensor, the wider the aperture the less sharpness gets robbed due to diffraction (bending light rays is mind bending...) and, 2. If the lens has an issue with low sharpness or low detail that should make itself known most obviously at the wide open aperture where lenses are less well corrected.
You can look for yourself by clicking on these images and you'll see what I saw at 3200 pixels wide. There may be some mushiness introduced by Blogger Compression but I don't think it's that much.
Different cameras do different things well and I think this camera does video well and also has a great zoom range; in fact, some of the images are shot from across a four lane street --- but I can't tell in the finals. At a certain point you'll have to pay more attention to what I write about sharpness here than what you might see on your monitors or phones just because it's different when you can compare and see stuff at full resolution on a 5K monitor. For $500 this camera is, to me, a steal. Never should have sold the last one. YMMV.
An Austin favorite for decades, now also out of business.
Just settling in for a week of writing proposals.
Helped Belinda paint the back porch last week. Love the new look.
Adirondack chairs for the back yard now arrived and thoroughly enjoyed.
No new cameras to write about. Oh well. No real loss.
7 comments:
My first "real" digital camera was a Panasonic FZ-1, the great grandfather of your FZ2500. It was a meager 2mp, but had an outstanding lens that let you make the most of the sensor. It was a fun camera to shoot, had a great zoom range, great color, and it took me quite a while before I could come close to it when I upgraded to a Nikon D50. There is something just fun and carefree about those superzoom do-everything hybrids like the FZ2500. Great photos. Glad your porch is done.
On a more somber note, quite sad to see the documentation of businesses now gone forever.
Nothing as fun as Austin Art here in Sarasota. But I just pulled the FZ2500 out of the pelican case and I'm heading out!
I have said it before but I really do not understand the love for these 1 inch bridge cameras. The only advantage I can see are the huge superzooms some come with.
The Fz2500 weight 966 grammes - almost a kilo. And it can't be put inside clothing.
A Panasonic G85 and 12-35mm F2.8 weights just 810 grammes. In every measurable way ( IMO ) the M43 camera is much better in terms of IQ and capability and also a lot more fun to use. Admittedly, it cost more than $500 but there are cheaper lens options that close the gap.
Like I say, I don't get it.
YMMV of course but I thought I would throw this into the debate in the spirit of nerdy gear talk.
Be safe out there. :)
Perhaps I should have acted on my own convictions re the Panasonic 1-inch camera. When I went through the many samples of storefront art my reaction was admiration. Liked the designs, liked the colors, even Googled the artist who painted the tin can phone image to see more. At no time was I aware of the FZ2500. It was completely transparent (or I was completely oblivious). Point well made.
I just gave away a Nikon Coolpix, the mega-zoom of all cameras. Stunningly good IQ and a zoom range which was actually sort of scary. No viewfinder, though, which threw me off. 300 bucks and it's now starting a young student photographer on his way, so money well spent. Back to the FM2!
The earlier FZ1000 is said by some to be a better stills camera than the FZ2500, which is a better video camera. The FZ1000 NEW is under $500 at B&H, I believe. Fits very easily in the hand, controls easy to access, no dust problems because the 25-400 equiv. lens is bolted on, terrific image stabilization. I used one for a lot of pro work. You're still dealing with a small sensor so it's not the camera for someone making large prints, which is what I do when I'm not working for other people, but otherwise...
I owned one and if I never shot video that's the all-n-one camera I would buy as well. It's great. Thanks for the suggestion!
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