A "landscape" photograph of downtown Austin today. Chilly but beautiful. Tech note at the bottom of this post for Panasonic S1x users!!!

 I'm going to have to walk more over the next two weeks otherwise I'm going to get fat. I just re-read the instructions from my surgeon. Surely his handout/pre-op written materials are aimed at worst case scenarios but it threw me for a loop when I read "no strenuous exercise for two weeks." That's criminal. We'll negotiate, but I have a feeling walking will be the recommended recourse. We'll beg for swimming dispensation after the first few days. They do make waterproof bandages you know.

Since I have to be out walking anyway I thought I should work on my landscape photography skills. I took that old, rusty Lumix S1R out today, along with the dusty and dented 24-105 lens. I do appreciate it when the weather cooperates. That's the actual sky; not a retouch. 

Austin can be beautiful in the Fall. I was going to break all the rules and get on a plane to go watch the Aspens turn but someone told me that already happened this year and look! Our trees are turning color too!

I'll probably be grumpy and in pain, and addled by my experience at the clinic on Wednesday so don't expect a flurry of early December posts --- BUT that doesn't mean I'm pulling the plug and wandering off into the desert. By Thursday I should be so bored and restless I'll be banging on the keyboard for hours. 

Tech Note. People with S1 and S1R cameras are reporting issues with the new camera firmware (1.6). Some weird pulsing and stuff during AF; especially under fluorescent and other non-continuous lighting. The current "fix/workaround" is to set the EVF screen refresh to 60 Hz instead of the typical 120 Hz refresh and that seems to help temporarily resolve nearly everybody's issue. 

I'm sure Panasonic is getting an earful this week and that they'll have a fix rushed out in no time. But I think the update really did make the C-AF faster in video. Too bad it messed up something else. Unless you really need the new video features you might want to wait on that firmware upgrade until we all have more info.