A mini re-review of a mini camera. April 16th.

In the car, getting ready to go walking in the appropriately designated area.

It's been interesting reconciling the need for exercise with the desire to carry a camera with me to make random photographs for pleasure. I used to swim every day. Who knows when or if that will ever come back. But I never took a camera into the pool. That was a "walking" thing. So, now I walk. Three days a week I also run, but everyday I walk. At the beginning of the crisis I walked through downtown because we were allowed to and that was where I was used to taking photographs. But now downtown is more or less closed down for all but the most essential enterprises, and the homeless. 

Group thought momentum has made walking anywhere without appearing hell bent on just exercising is infectious. I can feel the judgement from a hundred yards away. And I feel sorry for all the people living downtown in the high-rises who will be judged for merely leaving home to walk to a grocery store for food. They'll have their heads down, and the kindness and courtesy that Austin has always been famous for will die a bit more.

In the past I felt comfortable carrying any camera I was interesting in at the moment along with me when I walked around the Lake on the Hike and Bike trail. I hardly pulled a camera off my shoulder and shot anything with it but it seemed natural and sanctioned to have on at hand. At worst it was a clear sign that there was a "boomer" under the strap, as we seem to be the only ones left who still carry a single purpose camera with them everywhere.

Now relegated to the trails, and working under the current assumption that the trail is only open for the exercising of exercise, I've started to feel more and more self-conscious for bringing along a full size camera. I've downsized from any camera to something the size of the Sigma fp (small) but still wasn't feeling it so I downsized to the Panasonic GX85 and even that felt obtrusive. Unwelcome. 

Today I woke up and looked outside. It was beautiful. Spring is in full bloom, the temperatures were mild and close to perfect, and the skies were that good old fashion, horizon one hundred miles away  Texas blue. I wanted to take a long, brisk walk but couldn't bear not to take a camera along so I looked in the equipment tool case trying to find the perfectly sorted, briskly walking man takes along camera as casual afterthought camera. 

I think I found it. It's the Canon G10 Powershot that I bought from a friend about a year ago. This is my mini-review of that camera.

I've owned a couple of the G10 cameras and keep rediscovering just how good this small, dense, point-and-shoot camera is. 

The whole G series of Powershot cameras from Canon were really superb small cameras. This particular camera was launched in 2008 and was initially criticized by the all-knowing photo press for having too denser packed (and therefore too noisy) a sensor. I agree that it isn't the best high ISO camera ever produced but it had/has such a rich feature set, and it created such great images, that it could not be ignored. 

The camera featured a 14.7 megapixel 1/1.7 inch CCD imaging sensor. It was, I think, the last of the CCD sensor cameras from Canon and I think it was that older technology that gives it such a good and uniquely photographic image . The lens was a 28-140mm f2.8 to 4.5 zoom and, again, the gear critics at the time were also not at all happy to have a lens that slowed down so much at the long end. Now they just take it in stride.

I bought the camera just before starting a new book project for Amherst Media Publishing in 2008 and I used the camera, on a tripod, and at its lowest ISO (80), for every single product shot in the book. Just like my Kodak CCD-enabled professional cameras, the DCS 760C, if you used it in the best part of a narrow window of parameters you could expect very, very good results. The combination of a sharp lens, a very detailed sensor and a stout tripod yielded files for me that were very satisfactory for publishing images at up to a full page in a printed, four color book. 

The G10 was/is a wonderful camera for seasoned photographers to use in good lighting. It provides a Canon raw file and can be set up to shoot a Raw+Jpeg file as well. The camera has complete manual controls and plenty of dedicated knobs and dials so one doesn't have to jump down into the relatively clean menus to make small changes to things like exposure compensation or ISO. The ISO dial surrounds the mode dial on one side of the camera while the dedicated exposure compensation dial sits on the other side. Right in the middle is a hot shoe that allows the use of Canon dedicated, TTL flashes but can also be used with generic flashes that have a single contact. 

One result of having a camera with a conventional hotshoe and an electronic leaf shutter (as opposed to a focal plane shutter) is that the camera can sync at very high speeds. I used to use it at swim meets in the Summer at shutter speeds up to 1/1000th of a second with very good results. The shutter actually goes all the way up to 1/4,000th of a second.

The camera was, at the time, one of the first to offer decent face detection autofocus and it also has very good image stabilization. I find I can generally shoot at any focal length at a shutter speed down to at least 1/15th with very sharp results. The one parameter that won't get it much praise was its video capabilities; it only shot 640 by 480 or worse. But, it was a different time....

The little, chunky batteries are good for about 400 images with the LCD on and up to 1000 image if you turn the screen off and learn to trust the evaluative meter in the camera. But to shoot in this mode means you have to frame your shots in the optical finder and that's the one other (besides movie mode) crippled feature of the camera; the optical finder is "blessed" with both massive geometric distortion and a lower magnification. It's also showing only 80 to 85% of the final image. The OVF was not the G10's best feature....

Like all contrast detect AF systems the Canon takes a second to lock onto whatever you've put under the AF indicator square. I'm sure you could try the C-AF settings but I'm equally sure you would be frustrated in most situations. This camera (and most like it) was made for taking travel shots, quick portraits, and other types of photographs that showcased mostly non-moving subjects. 

There are two G series Powershot cameras that I really, really like and kind of own. The first is this one. The G10. To make an analogy with another camera system I own, the G10 is the high res version of the family in the same way that the S1R, with its 47 megapixels is the high res Lumix camera. In the Canon G series the camera with better ISO performance is the G15. The designers throttled back the pixel count from 14.7 to 12 and implemented a new CMOS imaging sensor that handled higher ISOs with more grace than any of its predecessors. The G15 was the Lumix S1 of the Canon G series family. 

I say I "kind of own" the G15 because, in reality, I lent it to Belinda for a vacation trip and never got it back. She really, really likes that camera. It's small, fast to use, has a faster lens and takes better images under low light. For someone who has no desire to play with accessories or to change lenses the G15 may be one of the great travel cameras that you can buy (used) for less than $200. 

So, I took the G10 with me this morning because I could "palm" it and carry it in my hand without a strap. Its smaller profile probably looked more like just a chunky cellphone at a quick glance. Funny that it's commonplace for nearly everyone to hike or run with their cellphone clutched like pure oxygen in their clenched hands but at the same time to begrudge people for carrying conventional cameras.....

I've made peace with cameras that mostly depend on the rear screen for everything. Maybe my bifocal prescription is just better. But I'm able to make photos in stark daylight using the rear screen and that's pretty cool for a camera screen that's twelve years old. 

This morning I shot raw and then post processed in Luminar 4.2. It does a very nice job converting these old raw files and I find a lot of the hokey presets in the program are fun and...endearing in their kitsch-y aesthetic. So Eggleston. When I got back home I was happy to see that I'd gotten about 20 images that I really wanted to play with and look at. Nice. See images just below. Some even have captions....

 Systems check in driveway. Camera? Extra Battery? Glasses? Face Mask?

Small bottle of hand sanitizer? Pants? All yes? Then we're a Go. 

Barton Springs. Totally empty. No swimming allowed. 

And I'm too egalitarian to even try bribing someone for access...

 Don't worry. The little train that runs through the park is also shut down. 

These are not Union Pacific Railroad tracks. I was not in mortal danger at any time.

But I took the photo to show off my skills at social distancing. 

Again. Social distancing. No harm, no foul. 

New for today!!! The powers that be have decided (and I agree) that the trail should 

have all traffic going in the same direction; especially since the trails are laid out in interlocking circles. Now we all go clockwise around the trail. This will alleviate (somewhat) people blocking 

the entire trail and breathing towards the oncoming people traffic. 

And yes, I read the European study saying we need more distance if we are running behind someone...

Loving the creative examples of distancing. Nice. Fun. 

It's okay to have fun in times of crisis. Gets the message across better.

Canon G10's monochrome is first rate. At least I think so. And lots of detail!

No conflict with safety on this little used part of a branch trail...

Maybe I'll take up disc golf. Like I need a new hobby....

So far Austin and Travis County have done a better than average job of keeping infections down. We are no where near seeing a trend toward exponential contagion. The number of cases per day seems to be flat for now. Hoping all of our mask wearing and social distancing is paying off. Helps to have an educated population that pays attention and is generally able to work together for the common good. Makes me proud to live here. 

Stay safe. Buy more cameras. Take em everywhere. We don't want people to get acculturated to a camera-less society. Right? 

Dealing with bureaucracy really makes me want to throw in the towel, sell everything and go live on a mountain top somewhere. How the IRS screwed it up this time....

Remember those enormous checks we sent into the IRS year after year? Huge, debilitating checks that provided funds for our government that they continue to use up trying to fight the cold war. With fleets of nuclear subs and gaggles of unstealthy stealth fighter jets.  The checks my government is using so my "president" can play golf more frequently than Arnold Palmer and Ben Crenshaw's life time rounds combined. Checks used to pay for all sorts of misguided nonsense! 

I never complained until today. this was the day I decided to look and see where my Crisis/Disaster/End of the World check for $2,400 was hiding... (well, not actually a check but hopefully a direct deposit...). 

Apparently IRS widget made expressly for this kind of information has been crashing non-stop since early this morning. Par for the course. I'll try a nine iron...

But here's the insight I gained today.... All the government reports about the one time "relief" payment suggest that if you have filed your 2018 and 2019 tax returns, and have given the IRS your bank information to complete those returns, you need do nothing more and as quickly as you can putt a six incher you'd have the cash in your accounts. Hole in one. It's supposed to be....automatic.

But here's the rub that I've discovered. If you've never gotten a refund from the IRS and all the money has flowed in one direction (to them) they won't/can't use the banking information you gave them for your payments to them to get this one time payment into your account. Even if it's the same account. No. You have to go online and give them your banking information for  this payment all over again. 

And the only way to do so it through the new site widget. Which is broken. But otherwise you can wait with all the other folks for a check to hit your mail box in August --- if we decide to continue the national postal service. Enter information into the site! But the site is broken. It's like being in an endless sand trap with no wedges, only woods. 

Who actually gets refunds? I've never gotten a refund. I wouldn't know what they look like. Apparently we're one of the few households where the IRS money only flows in one direction. 

If I sound angry it's because all of this is such a waste of time and energy. And it's not a service my CPA or attorney is offering to do for me.

But this particular rant is mostly intended as a public service announcement to our readers: If you pay taxes with direct EFTs (electronic fund transfers) from your bank account don't depend on the IRS reciprocating automatically and depositing your money there. You must give them your account information to get money back from them.

But there's this Nigerian man who offered to help if I could just send him all my banking information.....

Just a few odds and ends as we wait for either the end of the world or the re-opening of global commerce. Caution: Caustic Content Ahead.

I have a two part plea to make today. First, I would like for the city of Austin to try every possible workaround to prevent ever closing the Hike and Bike trail again. Fit people need a safety valve and with all the pools, gyms, basketball courts and such closed tighter than a clam's ass the hike and bike trail, for purposeful walking and running, is the last resort. I'll be happy to wear a face mask, practice good social distancing, even pay a fee, but for God's sake we can't expect people to sit in abject fear, staring into their TVs and monitors, watching Trump evolve fully into Emperor Palpatine before our very eyes (not being political here; you'll understand if you saw Monday's horrifying press briefing/campaign rally/psychotic ramble...) without a meager carrot of hope dangling in front of us. Which would be time on the trails.

The second part of that plea is to the runners and walkers. Please, please, please follow all the rules so we can keep this resource alive. Run far apart from each other. Practice good situational awareness at all times. Stop spitting when you run!!! And for the love of all that's rational and pure, please treat the f*cking trail like a two way street instead of spreading all the way across, or running straight  down the middle. 

We have to do our part or the authorities will start to channel the current federal government and try taking away all of our most basic rights. The most basic is the Hike and Bike Trail and our freedom to run.  

And here's a personal request to all the type "A" business guy assholes using the trail for the first time: Hang up your stupid cell phone and stop making loud, obnoxious, arrogant 'business' phone calls in a very, very loud, braying voice as you trudge up and down the trail. I don't think the female runners are impressed. At all. And I know I'm not.  Not having a phone in your face might help with your situational awareness and increase public safety. I don't want to hear about how your company is planning to game the system and take money intended for poor waiters, retail employees and health care workers out of the current stimulus bill. I don't care if you need it for the down payment on your next Escalade. I just want you to walk forward in a straight line instead of weaving all over the place as you bluster...

Okay. We're through with that rant. 

I'm ramping up my marketing, it's something we do when we perceive that we're about 60 days away from a new seller's market. Come hell or high water the politicians are going to open up the economy on May 15 --- June 1st at the latest, no matter how many additional deaths that might cause. Something about shareholder value and using those new tax incentives... But whatever the reason it might be an opportunity to make some cash before the system crashes again with the next sloppy outbreak of contagion. (see today's news from China and Singapore).

Part of the new marketing is finding ways to make virus preparedness and virus workarounds into stories that allay client fears about doing video and photography work. We'll talk a lot about sanitizing things, using longer lenses to distance ourselves, we'll wear protective gear instead of those stupid photo/fishing vests and we'll have belts with a holster on either side to hold our spray bottles of hand sanitizer. 

When it comes to actual production we'll turn our own fear of driving to jobs with assistants or crew crammed next to us in cars to pitch the benefits (both health/safety and economic) of having a solo person instead of a swollen team to interact with on location. What could possibly go wrong?

I wanted to write something here about travel and vacations but that would be too mean and may be impossible for a good long times as all the places I want to go are being too careful to welcome me from my home country. 

Instead I'll write about how I was thinking it would be cool to shoot more video in a style similar to what we do with street photography and less as though we were trying to shoot big production movies. To that end I've been thinking about getting a smaller and less complicated video camera that could be used more nimbly than the typical interchangeable lens, hybrid solution. Full frame, 4K cameras are great for measured and carefully planned shoots but I started thinking how great it would be to have a camcorder or palm sized video solution. Something with built in neutral density and a long zoom range. Fast focusing and more depth of field...

Thinking about this for nearly a day seemed to work and I pulled out a Panasonic FZ2500 that somehow magically re-appeared. I'd forgotten what a great, little camcorder substitute this thing is. More to follow on that later.  Extra batteries charging (uses the same battery as the Sigma fp and the Panasonic GX8. Happy days.)

In lighter and happier news we had a great anniversary. We ate scrumptious Chinese food and drank Moet Chandon Imperial Champagne. Belinda made a delicious chocolate cake with walnuts (my fave) sprinkled all the over the top, in the icing/frosting. We watched a fun movie on Netflix and generally said nice things to each other. We promised to hold it all together for at least one more year.

Novoflex Leica R to L-mount adapter coming from a place called CameraWest on Friday. Can't wait to be able to use the 90mm Elmarit lens on one of the big S1R bodies. Should be fun. 

Finally, I was reading Thom Hogan's blog today and he was writing about the market for cameras in the USA being down by 60% this March versus same time last year. I never thought about it until he mentioned it but both Canon and Nikon must be taking the global economic shut down especially hard. With no sports being played, or broadcast, or covered for ESPN, etc. and the postponement of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, those two camera makers must be getting endless cancellations of all orders of Nikon D6s and Canon 1DXmkxxxxx cameras. Why bother buying them if no one, NO ONE is paying you to use them? And as I was writing this it dawned on me that this would also adversely affect lenses sales...I foresee endless rebates on a forest of white and gray lenses. But even with rebates will mortals take the bait? And where will the extra cash come from?

And if no one is in the market for these cool cameras then is DP Review still going to write 20 or 30 different reviews for each one? And why? Amazon won't be selling anymore as a result. Oh, the trickle down is merciless...

Finally, as the ad revenue at the big site dries up have you noticed that new camera reviews have been largely replaced with soppy articles and videos about which camera the writers started out with as photo-children and how to shoot film with that old Konica you found in your parent's attic. Sexy writing for sure. Can't wait to read all over again about the Pentax K1000... Or the Nikon FM. Or to read the younger writers as they wax poetic over their bromance with their first Nikon D70. Canon Digital Rebel or Sony Photo Magic camera. If the market for cameras doesn't recover will we soon be reading quasi nostalgic articles about how to develop your first roll of film. I want to see some video of Barney trying to load a roll of 35mm onto a developing reel. That should be sweet. We'll tell them afterwards about how you have to turn out the lights first. 

Go and buy a camera from your local camera store. Maybe they'll appreciate the gesture. Me? I'm still waiting for the next price drop on used Leica SLs. Do they read this on the west coast???

OT: Sometimes the old "gear" is the best... Celebrating a big milestone today.

You probably have one old camera that you'd never, ever get rid of. It probably represents consistent performance, trusted reliability and no doubt has given you the best results for years, and even decades, of time together. Sure, new models come and go but fancy stuff is often without much substance and obscures the real measure of value in cameras. I'll nearly always trade "new and improved" for "trusted and satisfying." 

By the way, we're celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary today. I can't say all 35 years were perfect. I can still remember the two arguments that we've had in all those years. Both, of course, were my fault... 

Any success I've had in my careers was made possible only with the wise guidance and unrelenting support of my best friend. And all the joy we've shared was only possible because... we've shared it. I hope you are as lucky.

my secret to success in life: Always marry someone who is smarter/wiser than you are.

With the pandemic it will certainly be a different celebration this year. No opportunity to go out and buy B. a diamond tiara. Likewise, I'm not expecting to see a Porsche with a bow on it in the drive way. We won't be going out to our favorite, fancy restaurant to celebrate either. Seems like it's one of those celebrations that will veer more toward drinking some Champagne on the couch and watching "Casablanca" for the XXth time. That's fine by me. That works just as well. 

Where am I sheltering in place? A few pix.

This little building sits just in front of our house and is

my studio, office, photo cave and storage area.

When we bought the house some 23 years ago this structure was a two car carport,

the only distinguishing feature of which was a high ceiling.

We got right to work making it into a photo production facility. 

We've literally done millions of dollars of photography and video 

production with this small space as H.Q. 

I thought it would be interesting to see where people are when they have to shelter in place. Since I can't hop on a plane and go around visiting each person's home turf I thought I'd put mine up and show you where I spend about 22 hours a day. At least from a business point of view. I'll photograph the house interior when I clean up all the stacks of books, etc. 

We are fortunate to live and work on the same plot of land. It's in the rolling hills just south of the Colorado River and a few miles west of downtown Austin. We're close to everything but we have the joy of living in a quiet and established neighborhood filled with trees and broad, quiet streets. 

The studio door sits about 16 feet from the front door to the house. 

Makes it easy to work on files up to the last possible moment before dinner...

It's always a mess because I'm always trying out a new piece of gear, 

shooting something to illustrate a blog post, or actually doing 

business for my clients. 

This is the reverse angle from the image above.

There's about 600 square feet (and it is square...) in the main room 

and then a closet with solid core doors that runs along the south side of the room (on the right) for gear and archive storage. 

The ceiling is 14 feet at the peak.

This is a wide angle view of one part of the backyard. 

It's where I used to sit on our bench at sunset with Studio Dog.

We'd smell the air together and eat treats. On the other side of the 

trees are more trees, and then more trees and, about 150 feet away....a neighbor.

A different angle of the same back yard with part of the house in the background.

Here is the overly landscaped stone walkway leading up to the front of the house.

Go right for the house door and go left for the studio door. 

Love the Japanese Maple in the center...

This is the south side yard. 

With a 150+ foot long fence built to keep Tulip and (when younger) Ben safe from skunks, 

marauding deers and the few raccoons who were 

too lazy to climb over or under. 

The screened in back porch and my favorite bench for eating yogurt with fresh blackberries

 and watching storms blow infrom the west. Quiet and peaceful. 

By mutual agreement this was Tulip's side of the yard.

She could roam anywhere but she liked this side because she could roll in the sun, lay in the grass and still keep an eye on us in the kitchen and dining room through glass double French doors. 

And we could keep an eye on her...

Early this morning, just before full sunrise, there was a nice little herd of deer out in our front yard. I suspect they were there to admire my fabulous Subaru Forester but Belinda assures me they were there to nibble on the landscape. A rock wall separates our front yard from the street so the deer feel a bit protected, I guess. 

I could tell by some of the divets in the front yard that an armadillo had been by in the night, digging for grubs, and as we set off for our first walk of the day a fox ran out of the foliage in the side yard and careened so gracefully into the neighbor's yard, and disappeared. 

Having your office at home is pretty wonderful. I'd been paying $1800 a month for warehouse studio space in downtown Austin back in 1996. We also owned and lived in a condo in Tarrytown which was not cheap. When we had Ben we wanted to move into the best school district in the state and when we found this place we had been looking for nearly two years for the right property. Being able to fold both uses into one location meant cutting our outlay for real estate by nearly half.

Now that the house is paid for it's like getting office and studio space for free. The location is super; it's about a mile to the swimming pool (I hope it will open again someday...) and we are less than a mile away from all three schools Ben attended. Being in the middle of a beautiful neighborhood I'm able to work on stuff in the studio; maybe a portrait or product shot, or some post production, then put on a pair of running shoes and head out the front door to run, with giant trees providing shade nearly every step of the way. 

Our street is a long dead end so there's no cut through traffic. We only see neighbors, people working on new houses and remodels, and delivery services. No manic speeders or lost souls...

When I finish a run I can head right into the house for a shower and a cold drink of water and then head right back out to work. 

The studio is big enough for most still life projects and all kinds of individual portraits. If we need more space for a bigger production we can move the furniture out of the living room in the house and then we have a 24 by 48 foot shooting space with 18 foot ceilings. When we're not using it for a shoot it's a comfortable place to sit around and watch movies. Or, before the crisis, to entertain friends...

This where we're hunkered down for the current crisis. I find it quite adequate. Comfortable.

A production photo from "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" at Zach Theatre, in Austin,Texas. Taken with.....a camera.

I miss all those great actors and all the great crew that put together such wonderful productions at Zach Theatre. This is a moment before the doors opened to let in the audience for, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." I hope we're all back in our seats again soon, watching magic unfold right in front of our eyes...

Anne with a Rollei 6008i. After coffee at Jo's on S. Congress Ave.

Yeah. We always brought our cameras to coffee. We still do. At least I still do. Loved the Rollei. Hated the batteries... Loved the lenses.

A portrait of Neely over at the old studio on San Marcos St.

Neely. Circa 1995.

It's Sunday and I'm about to start printing. Who would have guessed?

I've got a backlog of printing to do but none of it has anything to do with commercial photography. Nope. I wanted to make some prints of my late dog, Tulip, so I've been going through thousands and thousands of family image files looking for photographs ranging from puppyhood to sparky oldster. I have lots and lots of digital files but never got around to actually making prints. That's something I thought I'd do if I retired and had some downtime...

I'm not retiring yet but there's nothing I can do, photographically, for the business right now and, from a marketing point of view I'm trying to keep my advertising budget "powder" dry until I can see the path to recovery appear. Why advertise when no one is even thinking of buying?

But what this enforced stoppage of business has delivered is plenty of time to get my family files in good shape, take a few laps around PhotoShop and Luminar 4.1, and get some printing done. And, in the process of memorializing Studio Dog, I've also found little treasure caches of Ben and Belinda images that have never been printed or even post processed well. When you are a busy-busy everything not tied to a job gets pushed forward to a vague time in the future; which generally means --- never.

I bought extra ink yesterday for my Canon Pro-100 printer. A printer that's about ten years old and still functioning well enough to kick out decent prints. I know there are much better printers on the market but printing has been such a low priority for me over the last ten years that I haven't even looked around to see what's available. If I find emotional success from my current printing jag and I find a project that just screams out for prints then I'll start researching in earnest. As a percentage of the overall budget printers are pretty cost effective; especially if you consider a 10 year + replacement cycle...

I've decided to use Canon's Photo Paper Pro Lustre for the moment. I'm sure there are wonderful art papers from a number of companies that I don't even know about but this is functional and the printer profiles for it are embedded in the system. My first tests look just fine. As with cameras I'm coming to suspect that the qualities of individual printers are very much secondary to having something interesting to print.

I'm happy to report that Precision Camera in Austin, Texas is still quasi-open for business. No one is allowed into the store so you have to go online to look for specific items and see if they are in their inventory. Once you've found what you need you have the option of ordering online or, if you are local and want to get your hands on your purchase today, calling them up on the phone and transacting that way. It used to be convenient and quick to order some things on Amazon but now that all shipping priorities go to delivering groceries and essential products I'm finding the stated delivery time for photographic items is stretching out to infinity. (I ordered a  Leica R to L-mount lens adapter about a week ago and the stated delivery date --- and only shipping option available --- was April 28th. And that's a product that's fulfilled by Amazon...). If I want to wait I guess I can stick with Amazon but if I want to use something right now I'm thrilled to still have a local merchant.

Anyway, I ordered a box of 50 sheets of 13 by 19 inch paper as well as a box of 8.5 by 11 inch paper (on which to run tests) and a complete set of inks plus some extra black ink. I gave them my credit card information and requested that I do a curbside pick-up. Half an hour later I was sitting in front of the store calling on my phone. My sales person came out with a bag filled with the products. He was wearing a mask and gloves. He put my purchases on a table just outside the door and when he re-entered the store I got out of the car, sprayed the package with alcohol and took it back to the car.

When I got home I wiped down the packages inside the bag. Now I'm ready to print...

Exercise notes: We're very fortunate to live in a long established, west Austin neighborhood complete with wide suburban streets, loads challenging hills and lots of towering trees. Since there are no "cut through" streets we have absolutely no traffic through the neighborhood other than local people going to the grocery stores. We've also been here for nearly 23 years and know most of our neighbors quite well.

Every morning Belinda and I pick from three or four routes which are mostly about 2.5 to 3.0 miles total and include at least one vicious and unkindly steep hill, and several long, leisurely inclines. When I saw "leisurely incline" I mean a half mile of ten to fifteen percent grades. You will be huffing and puffing a bit to get to the crest, if you are walking briskly enough. We walk now measured by time instead of just distance and we generally allocate an hour to our morning walks.

Afterwards Belinda practices yoga and is now watching and following along on one of the many yoga programs offered free on Amazon Prime Video. They range in difficulty from workouts aimed at leisurely stretching to tougher, "sweaty" yoga aerobics. During yoga time I tend to do my regular "dryland" exercises and stretches. Some crunches, some push-ups, as much planking as it takes to get through five or six classic rock songs on my phone. Then it's time for breakfast and chores.

At some point in the afternoons I had been going to the hike-and-bike trail that runs along the river which flows through central downtown to get in either a 4 or 5 mile run but that's on hold now. They closed all parks thru the holiday weekend and there's a rumor that the parks might stay closed for the rest of the "stay at home" order. Which might cause an insurrection. One in which I am almost certain to participate.... At some point there has to be a calculus as to whether or not life is worth living if confined solely to the most boring and mundane existence. I get the concept of flattening the curve but really, running the trails? Absurd.

Sometimes, when we feel we've seen everything good on Amazon Prime and Netflix we just do another long, slower walk through the neighborhood after dinner.

A note on buying and selling gear right now: I've bought a few small camera oriented things during this time of isolation but nothing big or earth-shattering. I bought a nice, used Panasonic GX8 for $350 and a Leica R 90mm Elmarit for $300. That's pretty much it. But I keep watching the market and reading blogs in which people write about selling off gear. I can't help but make a connection to the stock market and wondering why these sellers waited until everyone was afraid to spend money to sell, or more precisely, offer... their gear for sale. It's a classic "buy high/sell low" proposition right now. I guess it makes sense for people who might be feeling like they need the cash in the moment but it might make better economic sense to wait until the smoke clears and the all clear sirens sound before divesting of the good stuff.

I've been waiting to buy a Leica SL, which I may or may not do, depending on whether the metaphoric P/E ratio for those used cameras falls into a range that I find attractive. At some point every used Leica SL in inventory could be converted to a rent payment by a merchant. That's the calculus that makes sense for buyers. But for sellers? If you have the ability you might want to hold tight. Besides, by removing attractive venues in which buyers can actually use the lens or camera the situation at hand effectively removes most of the motivation for buying in the first place. Right?

So I am continually amazed when someone announces that they are putting (very good) lens X on the market right now. Put it back on the shelf and try selling it when the country is open for business.

On Writing: Several people have expressed surprise that I am able to write so often and so much (which also sounds a bit like a critique....but I pay myself by the letter...NOT), and on a daily or near daily basis. They conjecture that I either spend hours and hours a day on a post or that I am speaking as fast as I can into a speech dictation program (which also edits and spell checks on the fly).

Neither of these things is correct. I spend no more than 45 minutes to an hour on any one post. I used to write more when I was doing camera reviews but we don't do that so much now. So, from the time I grabbed my red cup of coffee and started typing; to this point today, the total time elapsed is 48 minutes.

People who write more slowly usually make the mistake of endlessly revising. That might be great for the creation of a novel but it's overkill for a daily blog. The other impediment is over-research syndrome. A blog isn't meant to be the authoritative text about a subject but more of an overview. I know some people who over-research for days and still only end up with a paragraph or two. And generally too many facts get in the way of reading. Get your big facts straight and stay out of the woods with the minutia.

Writing quickly comes solely from practice. Daily practice. I've written some 4,460 blog posts in the past ten years, actually hundreds more if you count the ones I hated and took down or decided were too inflammatory...  I've also moderated nearly 70,000 comments; mostly positive and happy, but some accompanied by seething and senseless rage fomented because someone might like a different camera brand better....

But like running, swimming and photographing, writing is a discipline in which the practitioner gets faster and (hopefully) better the more they do it, and the more often they practice it. It helps to read other blogs in the subject field to see what resonates in their work and what doesn't work at all. Keeps me from re-inventing another "Pontiac Aztec."

Now, off the printing races. Praying for no ink clogs....

The end of the story about the Lumix S1R sent in for repair and returned with a big-ass fingerprint on the sensor...

This it the S1R that I bought in October and which failed completely in January.

I was excited to plow into the Lumix S1 Pro system in the last quarter of 2019, not the least reason was because I'd read over and over again, in Panasonic's marketing materials and in reviews, about the "fact" that the S1 series was built to a very, very high standard of quality, with superior materials and workmanship. The shutters are rated to deliver something like 400,000 actuations and the bodies are dust and splash resistant. They are stout and feel solid when you pick them up.

Added to this, my previous experiences with a long line of micro four thirds, Panasonic Lumix cameras convincingly led me to believe that my newest acquisitions would be ultimately reliable. And it's good, in this context, to remember that I am not a photojournalist with a collection of cameras swinging from my neck and shoulders as I run from disaster to disaster with multiple cameras dangling from straps, willy-nilly, while banging into each other with gusto and creating that "great" patina of brutal wear you often see on cameras owned by P.J.'s, or other people who mistakenly believe that cameras are designed to be more like bumper cars than precision instruments....

No, I mostly use cameras one at a time. I carry them to and from advertising and marketing shoots in padded, Think Tank cases or backpacks. I don't drop them, toss them or neglect them. In fact, when I trade in cameras the general comment I get from store clerks is, "This camera looks practically new." 

Imagine my chagrin when I was in the middle of a portrait shoot (in studio, camera on tripod) when the camera became sluggish and slow to respond. Then slower and slower. And then altogether dead. Later, after I finished the shoot with a back-up camera (yes, they do come in handy) I tried every trick in the book to bring the camera back into normal life. Batteries switched out with known good batteries. All manner of card changes. Reset tricks. Everything. What I had in my hands was a catastrophically crippled, brand new camera with fewer than 1,000 actuations on it. 

I sent it back to Panasonic for their official repair service. In less than two weeks the camera returned and I put it through its paces. Everything worked just as it should. The sensor and the main circuit board had both been replaced, the firmware updated and all functions checked. All good. Until I took off the body cap to put on a lens. And there is was... like a turd in a punch bowl... a big fingerprint right in the middle of the sensor. I was shocked at first and then just pissed. And I got in touch with both the local dealer and the Panasonic rep for our area. The store offered immediately to clean the sensor. 

I pulled out the Eclipse sensor cleaning fluid and a fresh Cinema Sensor Swab and did a good job of cleaning the sensor myself, but the carelessness of it all really irked me and I pressed the Panasonic rep to just replace the camera with a new one. One complete product failure followed by a clumsy repair failure seemed to add up to a jinx'd camera. 

Communication with repair was dicey and the rep told me several times that they would take better care of me if I paid a couple hundred bucks and registered for their pro services service. My feeling was that every customer who buys a top of the line camera model deserves the same kind of service. They can't possibly have enough pros signed up yet on a brand new, not so popular product line, to be overwhelmed by priority repairs. 

After several attempts to escalate I was finally contacted by someone at Panasonic service. Here was their offer: "We might consider replacing the camera but you need to send it back to us and we will investigate all your complaints and may or may not agree and may or may not make amends. In the meantime we'll send you a loaner if you give us a credit card number and agree to guarantee the cost of a camera in the meantime. 

I would essentially be sending multiple cameras back and forth with no guarantee of either a stated timeline or final resolution. I told them I would think about it. 

Then the Corona virus hit. Then the shelter in place hit. Then the world seemed to deliver me a much more compelling set of issues to deal with. 

One day I walked into the studio and made up my mind to let it all go. I'd shot non-stop with the repaired and personally cleaned (by me) camera and, after over 1,000 actuations in less than a month I figured the camera would probably be fine. I've been using the repaired camera instead of its twin brother just to put enough frames on it to help me trust it once more. 

I think we're just about there. It seems to be doing everything just right. And it's a perfect companion for the 35mm Art lens from Sigma.

I'm lucky to have three other bodies (one other S1R and two S1s) in case the camera acts up again. But my warm and fuzzy feelings for the company itself (Panasonic) are now less warm and much less fuzzy. They need to work harder to regenerate some good will. But for the moment it's all water under the bridge. Considering how much really tough stuff so many people now have on their plates it seems downright churlish of me to give this even a moment's worry. 

I thought I'd let you know what finally happened. What happened was my capitulation to the idea that the camera is fine, the pictures are great, and all the logistics of replacing it are too silly and burdensome to consider. 

But when the crisis is over and we're all flush with cash again it's probably Leica or Sigma that's getting more of my L-mount money. Panasonic is on a time out where my cash is concerned. 

Finally, the S1 and S1R are two of the finest cameras I've had the pleasure to shoot with. In almost every respect they are a perfect match for my idea of what a camera should be in 2020 and beyond. 

Another boring lens test. Another happy portrait.

B. In "stay at home mode."

Patiently standing still at the window while I fiddle with yet

another camera and lens...

I've been slowly training myself to use wider and wider lenses. It's been an exciting exercise. Since discovering the Sigma 45mm f2.8 I've embraced the fascinating world that exists just a little wider than 50mm. Today I felt oddly compelled to pull out the Sigma 35mm f1.4 Art lens for the L-mount and give it more love. What have I found?

After using some of the bigger and heavier lenses like the Sigma 85mm f1.4 Art and the Panasonic 50mm S Pro I am now considering the 35mm Art to be compact and lightweight. Funny how much context matters. I like the way this lens feels and balances on the right-sized Lumix S1R bodies and I find it an interesting focal length to match with that camera's sensor. I can stand back a bit, frame wider than I do with my traditional (and well loved) 50mm lenses and then, if I find there's too much "air" or clutter around my subject I have ample left over pixels with which to crop. 

While the Sigma 35mm 1.4 is competently auto-focused by the S1R (center point, S-AF) I am much happier with this particular lens if I manually focus. The focusing ring is at the front of the lens and is wide and ample. Manual focusing doesn't seem to be "focus by wire" and if it is it does the world's best job at imitating a nearly perfect mechanical, manual focus. 

On the S1R, when I turn the focusing ring with the camera's AF switch set to "M" a window pops up in my finder with a magnified view of what's at the selected focusing point. The magnification of the image at the point of desired focus is the best implementation of manual focusing I've experienced since I've been buying cameras. The image comes into sharp focus with no messing around and, as you might expect, zero hunting. Hitting perfect focus is wonderful; especially if you are shooting with the lens at a wide open aperture where, in close up images, the plane of sharp focus is as thin as Calista Flockheart.

I was sitting around my office, which is twelve feet removed from our house, when I remembered that I had a somewhat willing model just on the other side of two doors. I took the camera and lens in and asked in my most pleasant voice. B. agreed and I asked her to stand next to one of the windows in our long hallway.  I set the camera to take a large Jpeg in a monochrome color profile and I added some tint to the image in post. What you see is pretty much right out of the camera at f1.4.

I've re-sized the file to 2198 pixels at its widest length so I don't have to pay a fortune to Google for extra storage but I can say that at 8000+ pixels in the original the sharpness and the fall off to out of focus are both pretty neato. 

Of all the lenses I've bought for the L-mount cameras the 35mm Art is far and away the best bargain; the best compromise between price and performance. I'm still happily amazed to think that I only paid $695 USD for a brand new one, late last year. 

Wide open the center two thirds of the frame are critically sharp and, when used four or five feet away from one's subject, while using the maximum aperture, you see that the focus drops off beautifully in the background. I'm happy. I'll keep this one!

Two images from a Medium Format camera from circa 2008.

Eleven years ago I was shooting a lot of portraits and writing about them in some magazines that still existed. Actual printed magazines. On paper! And everyone who was making medium format digital camera systems was sending me product to use and review. One of my favorites was the Aptus II-7 which was a 36 by 48 mm, 33 megapixel back on a Rollei body. Along with the Schneider 180mm f2.8 lens it was a superb combination of parts. One afternoon, as I was working on a photo book for Amherst Media we decided to make some test shots of Heidi, my model who was collaborating with me on the book. My assistant, Amy, helped me get the lighting set up and we shot about a hundred frames. Then the batteries for the camera gave out and we stopped. I just found the files again and thought I'd make few prints. They stand up pretty well, even in the age of breathless Sony sensors and the madcap rush to super high ISO....