A quick set of observations about the Panasonic S1H and the newest Sigma 85mm f1.4 Art lens.

Autumn leaves in Austin.

When I got back from swim practice yesterday morning I got right to work updating the firmware in four of my Panasonic cameras; in all three of my S1x cameras and also a nudge forward for my (wonderful) G9. The updates were quick and easy and I encountered no snags. By mid-afternoon I'd finished all my busy work and realized that while I have used the S1H for five different video projects I had, in fact, only put about 400 frames of photographs through the camera since I purchased it. I thought it might be a good afternoon to evaluate it as a still imaging camera instead of only viewing it through the prism of video.

Another recent piece of gear that hasn't gotten enough of a workout was the new version of the Sigma 85mm DN DG Art lens. This was a good opportunity to split two atoms with one electron so I checked the camera for battery freshness and memory card occupancy and headed out to walk on my usual walk. 

The day started out gray and chilly but by four in the afternoon the sun was dominant and the temperature climbed back up to the low 80's. I left my phone at home, dialed in the camera's diopter, left my glasses in the care and went out as low profile as I possibly could. It was nice to be untethered from the hive. 

When I started taking images with the S1H two things struck me on the first little burst of frames. One was how crisp and color-rich the images were; even with the standard profile engaged. The other was just how solid and well damped the shutter noise and operational noise of the camera was. It is easily the heaviest of my recent cameras and I think that even includes some heftier models like the Nikon D850. I like the density, heft and outrageously good build quality of the S1H but I don't think I'd tip over into the morass of excess and put a battery grip on this one unless I'm shooting video anchored to a tripod and need a long, long run time. 

The finder on the camera is exemplary. I thought this might be one of those instances where the camera maker tweaks the EVF to make images look better than they will in real life but when I brought the photographs into Lightroom they matched the camera looks without lifting a finger to intercede. 

Weight and bulk aside this may be the nicest camera I have ever used. It does make me wonder if the Leica SL2 could possibly be even better.... 

I love the 85mm focal length on full frame. I bought the original L version the 85mm Sigma art lens and the image quality was amazing. Just amazing. But the darn thing weighed about 35 pounds and stuck out from the front of the camera at least a couple of feet (hyperbole alert!!!) and after trying to casually carry it around it had be consigned to "paid job" or "studio only" duty. Not a good thing for such a flexible and muse-like focal length. 

I'm glad I traded the original version in for the latest one because it's Lilliputian by comparison and seems to me to be equally sharp. Of special note is the external/physical aperture ring which I have come to adore on the Panasonic Pro lenses as well. 

I tried to stay in the nonsense apertures all afternoon and early evening yesterday. Most of the images shown here were shot at f2.0 or 2.2. Sometimes I got crazy and went all the way to f4.0 but that was only in photos where I wanted to see more and more instead of less. 

Perfectly round bokeh "balls" in the background. Nice. 

Happy close up performance and mellow background bokeh add to the lens's charm.

I've started to trust my Panasonic S1x cameras more and more and none better than the S1H. In a break with all past history I've actually started using Auto ISO and I don't care where it lands, up to 6400, because I know it will be as saturated and noise free as the cameras I thought were great but only usable at 200 ISO. 

I've also found that I like using many of the L-mount lenses manually. While the Sigma is MF focus by wire it's well damped and doesn't overshoot like crazy. It does a dignified march to your optimum focus point. I have the camera set, when using manual focusing, to show me a magnified section of the frame when I grab the manual focusing ring. Using the "punch in" you really know when you've nailed the perfect focus. 

I also have the camera set up so I can push the AF button on the back of the camera and have it override the set MF to auto focus. When I release the button the focus remains glued into place. I don't use the back button focus when I use the camera's regular AF. It's just not a habit that's been ingrained yet. 

I didn't take a tripod with me but I did continue shooting after dusk. The combo of a great sensor and a fast lens, along with good IBIS meant that not having a tripod along for the ride wasn't important and didn't affect my photos. 

All in all it was a fun afternoon and I'm over the moon with the S1H. I was already in love with the lens. 

Swimming: A little over 3,000 yards in the pool this morning. A decent amount for the 50 minutes I invested. I'll bracket the day with another walk this afternoon and then we're scheduled to have Thanksgiving (Thursday) and Friday off from swimming. TRAGIC! But there it is. 

I'm on schedule to get five more days of swimming in before I go in for the Mohs surgery next Wednesday. I'm trying to put a lot of yards in the bank to tide me over for those seven doctor-mandated days of aquatic deprivation. Working on a work around already. 

Click on the images to see them bigger. 

Meditation Benches thoughtfully added by the Hiking Trail Foundation. 

Walking over Congress Ave. Bridge. Zillions and zillions of bats live underneath and come out at dusk to look for mosquito snacks. People are getting ready to try and capture images of the fast moving aerial experts with their phone cameras. 

OMG. Kirk does a landscape. Kinda.

 

Taking a break this morning to unwrap my Holiday Gifts from Panasonic. Santa came early with updates!

 

One of the many things I like about buying and using Panasonic cameras is the company's amazing generosity when it comes to firmware updates and the "gifting" to older cameras with the latest features. 

I was pretty impressed a while back when, out of the blue, Panasonic did an upgrade to the G9 that improved focus and, more important to me, added a bunch of higher end video capabilities to the camera even though those new additions would potentially reduce the market for their own GH5 camera when it comes to video use. Impressed again when Panasonic introduced a free firmware update to the GH5 this Summer improving continuous AF in video, along with lots of other tweaks. Not a paltry move when you consider that the G9 is already two years old and the GH5 is a three year old camera. In a couple of free updates Panasonic increased the useful life of two of their most popular cameras by a number of years!

When the newest addition to Panasonic's Lumix S series cameras came out the S5 included the newest and fastest AF software in the line up. Other camera makers might have waited to see how to leverage sales of the new camera but Panasonic announced, almost immediately, that all of their S1x cameras would be getting the same high performance AF algorithms in short order. They even gave us a date; the 24th of November!

Back to the studio. When I got back to the studio and fired up the computing machine I went straight to Panasonic's site to look for firmware updates. There were FOUR camera updates for four of the cameras that I regularly use. Those included the G9 (improved I.S.), the S1, S1H and the S1R. 

All of the S1 cameras got the same AF improvements which should bring them to par with the S5. We'll see it most in continuous AF and then most noticeably in video. I can't wait to see how it affects the S1H as I'm getting more and more video use from that camera. 

I won't go through everything but I will go through some of my favorite updates by model.

The S1R and the S1 both get the red frame line around the edges of the rear monitor when video recording is active. This is a feature that was already on the S1H and also on the Atomos line of external monitors. It's a very quick and obvious way to tell whether you are actively recording or if you didn't push the right button to get things started. It's a great "user" update. 

The S1R now shoots in 5K (4992x3744) video in both 24 and 30 fps. In .Mov you can shoot in 5K internally at 4:2:0 but with 10 bits. You can now shoot 4K in 10 bit, 4:2:2 to an external monitor up to 60 fps. I can't wait to try out the 5K performance and hope that downsampling to 4K makes for a more detailed 4K file, even if I can't shoot in 4:2:2. But speaking of 4K the camera can now be using at up to 60P with 10 bits and 4:2:2  when you output over HDMI to an external monitor/recorder. That's pretty spiffy. 

In the S1R the tracking and recognition of AF have been improved by way of a head recognition feature. My hope for this is that when using face detect AF I won't lose contact with the subject when they turn their face away from camera. We'll be testing that right away.

The S1R can now do high resolution audio recording using the XLR microphone adapter. You gotta use .Mov to get this.

We can now set shutter angle in the video menu. This is great for productions when we want to match cameras and we're working quickly. It's more control and gives more accurate video settings. 

The S1 had a major update earlier in the year which improved the range of video options in the cameras by a great deal. It's also slated to get a big update in the first quarter of 2021 which will add 6K ProRes Raw to the mix. But for right now the big improvements, in addition to the AF improvements which all of the S1x cameras share, are more about usability and minor functions.

The camera adds shutter angle to the video menu and it's AF performance has also been improved in V-Log mode. You can also now using the {AF+MF} when recording video. A few of the improvements are less important to me such as the ability to play back vertical videos vertically or being able to transfer 4K video files to a smartphone via wi-fi. But as soon as I talk down a feature I end up having a use for it so I'm glad they are there. 

The S1H got a huge update in July with Raw video being able to be output over HDMI to the Atomos Ninja V monitor/recorder. That's actual 12 bit Raw video data. That's really cool. So, on this firmware update we got the basic improvements in AF and the lesser upgrades like being able to transfer 4K to smartphones. They also mention some operational improvements in the way of bug fixes. 

All the improvements are most welcome and they go a long way towards solidifying Panasonic's video forward reputation in the hybrid camera market. With the S1H as the flagship video model the rest of the line closes the gap by a quite a bit which means better file matching across "B" and "C" cameras. For users who only occasionally dip into video it means that the S1R and base S1 become more than "good enough" to do 95% of the video work most of us will ever need. While having traditional photography cameras that are among the highest rated for overall image quality at sites like DXOMark. 

It's like an early Christmas present but without having to go out shopping or even spend more money. 

It's one of the less advertised features that makes me appreciate the Panasonic camera line. 

If you are shooting with Lumix/Panasonic cameras go here to see what kinds of updates they've got for your cameras: https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/download/index4.html

A break for swimming. Swim practice left me with mixed feelings today. We've done so well as a group at practicing pandemic safety at the masters swim workouts. We're supposed to be masked any time we're not in the pool swimming. But it seems like "pandemic fatigue" has set in with a number of our swimmers who are starting to act like the rules don't apply to them. That attitude really put me off today since we're in the midst of rising case numbers and hospital beds filling up. 

I talked to our coach and let him know we needed to honor the contract we make each week as we sign up for our choice of swims during the upcoming week. I hope he follows through and gets people back on track. I would hate to have to escalate to the club's B.O.D. (I served as V.P. of the board for 10 years and I'm sure they'd hate to have to deal with this...) and get everyone twisted up. 

Otherwise it was a good swim. Lots of medium distance repeats for a change. I'm still working hard at extending my reach in my freestyle stroke. You always need a target for improvement. 

Keep masking up till we get those vaccines out to the public. It might save someone you know from a world of pain.

Zeiss XZYZX1 camera. Oh Boy! Here we go again. Ghost/Zombie of the Samsung Galaxy NX....

Back in 2012 Samsung announced a camera that they assumed would take the photography world by storm and revolutionize the (then) burgeoning market for mirrorless cameras. Working with an existing (and very, very decent --- sometimes inspired) line up of interchangeable lenses they unveiled the Samsung Galaxy NX. Like the new(?) Zeiss zx1 the Samsung camera ran on a version of the Android operating system which allowed for lots of great(?) third party apps to be included. While the Zeiss camera is running Adobe's Lightroom the Galaxy NX was much more promiscuous with its selection of apps; it actually came with Candy Crush preloaded and ready to go. The Samsung also featured a huge, five inch screen on the back of the camera so you could take advantage of the camera's ability to send images via wi-fi, cell data or Bluetooth, and also to aid you in making some changes (although rudimentary on the Samsung) to the images you captured. 

I was asked by Samsung to take possession of one of the first few Galaxy NX cameras in North America, to put it through its paces, and to share the results/information I discovered about the camera with both Samsung and photographers in our vast market. As the camera's firmware progressed and the camera improved I was asked to go to the 2013 Photo Expo in New York City and demo the camera in Samsung's trade show booth. I spent two days there shooting two gorgeous models and watching my images float up to a pair of big flat screens in near real time. In this way visitors to the booth could see what could be done with the camera and its ability to stream at full resolution. 

After the Photo Expo I was also invited along with a half dozen other photographers from around the world to go to Berlin, shoot around Germany for a while with the camera (with upgraded software!) and to write honestly and without any pressure from Samsung about my experiences with the camera. I have several nice things to say about the Galaxy NX. The 85mm f1.4 lens and the 105mm macro lenses were both superb and made beautiful images. The sensor rendered beautiful flesh tones which converted nicely and easily to great black and white photographs. 

The rest of my experience with the Galaxy NX was fraught with frustration. The battery, though huge, ran down quickly because of the full operating system which was always muddling away in the background, and the huge screen that must have been as inefficient, electrically, as having a cathode ray TV set glued to the back of the camera. The Android OS took nearly 30 seconds to boot up (a similar complaint with the Zeiss cam...) which meant that a fast response to a beautiful scene/event was well nigh impossible. And the camera, with even firmware 1.0 loaded tended to shut down and re-boot often. Again, because of the Android OS. But when it worked the camera could make very, very good images. 

I'm guessing that Samsung sold about 1200 of these cameras world-wide and I'd further conjecture that the mass market rejection of the product was at least partially responsible for Samsung's decision, about a year and a half later, to completely exit the consumer camera market. A stunning move since the NX1 camera that followed the Galaxy NX was a great product about which ardent fans still rave.... But a wise decision when one looked at their small market share and the rapid and radical decline of the entire camera market.

All of which brings me to the Zeiss product. The ZX1 (or is it the XZ1? Can't keep that straight...). I simply don't get it at all. According to early reports the Zeiss development team went back in time to 1988 and acquired a focusing module from an early AF camera. It's reported to be dodgy, at best, and is set up to measure focus only at one center point. There are no recent decade goodies like face detect AF or even reasonable focus tracking. Just one dead center AF sensor with the response of a sedated box turtle. And, again from early reports, the "hit" rate in single AF is embarrassingly low. Painfully low.  Especially for a $6000 camera, released in 2020.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. What is the Zeiss ZX1? Like the Samsung Galaxy NX it's a camera that's running Android OS. It's built into the Zeiss cam in order for Zeiss offer a truncated version of Adobe's Lightroom photo editing software in the camera. As I understand it you can run the camera without paying a monthly fee to Adobe to use the embedded software but you'll only be able to generate Jpegs. Yes, if you want to shoot raw and export the resulting files you'll need to subscribe to a third party software vendor. Even I'm shocked at the thought. And I subscribe to all kinds of Adobe work-ware.  

The camera features a big rear screen, a la the Samsung Galaxy NX, as well. Perhaps Zeiss will offer a Bluetooth keyboard for an additional $1200 and you will actually be able to write e-mails with it and send them via your AOL account. Or post images to MySpace.

The camera has a new design aesthetic which I call: "Weird camera design for the sake of just wanting your camera to look different and modern in a 1960's jet age style." Given the spare exterior interface and lack of settable buttons I believe that Zeiss was following the playbook from Leica in trying to make menus and settings as minimalistic as possible but I think they stumbled over their own feet by trying to include ponderous and ungainly operating system software which adds many layers of near useless complexity to the system. 

The camera is small enough and it does look pretty. To like this camera you have to be a fan of 35mm focal length lenses because this one is built onto the camera body and non-removable. While I know many are fans of the 35mm focal length I'm not one of them and the fixed lens on this camera, like the fixed 28mm on the Leica Q2, puts both cameras into the dreaded "deal-killer" category for me, right off the bat. 

But let's move on and explore a few more "features" of the Zeiss camera. You might be pleased to find that you don't need to buy memory cards for this camera. It's got a built in 500 GB hard drive to fill up. And, I suppose, at the time the camera lingered at the design stages that seemed like a lot of memory, and much cheaper to acquire than standalone SD cards or, God forbid, CF Express cards. But what it really means is that you'll need to drag your computer around with you to offload images as you fill up the card. You also end up with "all your eggs in one basket." If you go on a "once in a lifetime" trip with this camera and fill up that drive and then you have a massive drive failure your trip will probably remain forever undocumented. There's certainly no mechanism for in-camera back up with this one.... But hey, instead of being out, seeing the sites and sampling the night life at your vacation destinations you can ignore your spouse and remain hunched over your camera, editing the day's images and then exporting them to some imagined audience as you watch sports on TV. Sad. 

The camera ticks a few popular boxes but it never rises to "best of class" in any regard. The sensor is big and  full frame but a bunch of camera companies offer bigger, newer, better full frame sensors. I'm sure the lens is technically great but good luck taking that tight, non-distorting portrait photograph of your favorite super model with the system. Or, coming at it from the other direction, maybe you'll have to spend the rest of your free time stitching together frames to make one decent super-wide shot.

In short, I think Zeiss learned very little through observation of the Samsung Galaxy NX fiasco. The one thing they seem to have learned is that they might need to sell far fewer of these to make the same amount of money since the Zeiss camera is priced at least three times higher than the Samsung product was (and that one came down in price at an exhilarating pace...). 

Do you want a good, handy camera with a fixed 35mm equivalent focal length to carry around? Have you heard about the Fuji X-100-V? It's pretty great if you're looking for nice usability and built in formalist boundaries. And HEY! you can buy four of them for the price of one Zeiss. Yeah, you'll have to supply your own memory cards but.....

Am I being overly harsh about this one? Maybe. I guess you could make an argument that the Zeiss camera would make good male jewelry. If you didn't have to depend on it exclusively for photography it might make a nice symbol of financial success to wear around one's neck. And it may take really nice snapshots (as long as it can nail focus on a non-moving object) if you work at it. 

If I'm going to do some post processing to a photograph I really prefer doing it on a 27 inch, 5K Retina screen. If I'm going out to take some photographic "art" I really prefer and assortment of focal lengths that can be better matched to various subjects I might come across. If I want to play the Android version of Candy Crush I'm betting I still have an NX Galaxy laying around somewhere. In short I am considering this camera to be a cruel joke, and a poke in the eye to other camera designers who are more serious about providing useful solutions to people who are passionate about picture taking. 

If you are sitting at Zeiss H.Q. and reading this you are welcome to send along a copy and try to prove me wrong but if I were you I wouldn't risk it. Not given my track record of new camera involvement. You might end up deciding to exit the entire market altogether. And that would be kinda sad. You guys do make good lenses! 

This particular idea of camera "design" must be some Zombie virus that infects otherwise rational camera engineers on some cyclical time frame....

 The End.

A few thoughts on loss and learning to live with changes one doesn't like... Oh, and cameras.

Kenny Williams at Zach. The Ghost of Christmas Past.

I have been photographing Christmas plays at Zach Theatre for nearly 30 years. I loved taking pictures of the last three or four years of Zach's amazing and modern interpretation of "Christmas Carol." Many of the cast members have been friends for a long time. The music in the show has always been incredible and mostly sourced from current and recent popular music. It changes year to year.

I would leave the dress rehearsals of the holiday shows with easily more than 1,000 images per show and I'd love 90% of them. I have  photographed the productions with everything from Hasselblad film cameras to the current Lumix cameras, and every size and variety of camera in between. I've seen the images plastered all over newspapers, magazines and community circulars, I've smiled big, toothy grins when I pulled season brochures out of the mail box, and I've hung on to every holiday postcard Zach's marketing crew has produced with my images. 

By this part of the season, in normal times, I would have already photographed a few early rehearsals, some dance rehearsals, and now we'd be getting ready for this Tuesday's big dress rehearsal on the Topfer Stagefor a last non-stop run through before playing to a full house on the day after Thanksgiving. 

But not this year. No, with the increasing spread of Covid-19 everywhere, the Zach board made the decision not to have any indoor shows for the rest of the year, and well into 2021. I didn't think I would take it so hard but I seem to be having trouble accepting that one of my favorite productions of the season, the year, and maybe all time, will not be happening this time season. I won't get to sit in my special, reserved row with a bucket of cameras and boxes of lenses at my side, capturing the magic of it all. I won't get to see the triumph on the faces of the new, young actors as they get over their stage jitters, pull out all the stops and sing a song that makes the audiences jump to their feet to applaud. I won't get to laugh and be amazed by Serrett's incredible make-up art or the costume shop's imaginative costuming. I won't get to cry and get a lump in my throat when some wonderful, young singer stuns us with a particularly poignant version of the song, "Halo" while Bob Cratchit's family visits Tiny Tim's grave....

And I won't get to watch Scrooge have his Christmas Eve night spiritual conversion from selfish and bitter to joyous and generous. A transformation that in some ways never fails to touch our audiences where and when it's most needed. 

Zach Theatre has plans to do an outdoor concert instead. I'm sure they'll do a great job decorating the front of the theater and parts of the plaza. They're planning to have five of the subscriber base's favorite singers. Maybe they'll get lavish and have some dancers as well. But it won't be the cast of 50 or 60 we're used to. We won't have the magnificent stage lights and lighting designs or the perfect audio environment. And we'll be at the mercy of the weather. But if I go into this with just the right attitude (and the right gratitude...) I'm sure I'll leave feeling a little lighter, a good bit happier, and better mentally equipped to make the best of an odd and mostly depressing season/year. 

At least the artists at Zach Theatre are fully embracing the old, live theater motto: The show must go on. 

On the subject of living with loss I've been unable to shake the feeling, completely that my recent medical diagnosis, and the need for a bit of surgery on my beautiful mug is some kind of marker, tossed in by the universe, to prepare me for the realization that it's all down hill from here. I know that it's both true and emphatically not true but at the same time I'm just a bit anxious about....growing older. Of course aging is much preferable to the alternative of dropping dead; but I'm still uneasy about every new spot, wrinkle, stiff muscle and oddly forgotten reason I went back into the house to get something... I watched my father become fragmented and frail, and pass away in a process that came step by step. Nothing sudden and dramatic. Just little blows inflicted one after the other until the math of existence became unworkable. I understand much more clearly now that this will happen to us all. So, now is the time to make the most of whatever sum of time and health we have in our banks. 

Stuff I'm doing to make the other stuff more fun. 

I'm going to be out of commission with stitches on my face and a stern advisory from my future surgeon that I WILL NOT be able to swim for AT LEAST SEVEN DAYS following the procedure. I figure that gives me just enough down time to watch all of Brandon Li's "Unscripted Studio" online workshop. It will be the first time I've paid full price to take an online workshop! Check out Brandon's YouTube channel and I think you'll see why I want access to what's in his brain when it comes to video production, video editing, gimbal work, and production planning. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3stPIuUoCDHG7COfwr0tEA I've been following his channel for a few months now and I'm always impressed by his teaching, his delivery and his attitude. I figure $500 is a decent investment if I can learn bunch of new film making techniques and also keep my mind off the swimming pool for a week or ten days. I'm not writing this because I'm getting anything for free from Mr. Li, I just wanted to let you know where my head is in the moment.... (that's a disclaimer...). 

Since I'll have time to work on technique I took advantage of my good friend, James's gear ADHD to pick up yet another gimbal. He's matriculated upward to the new DJI Ronin RS2 gimbal and he was ready to move his "older" Zhiyun Weebill S gimbal along for pocket change. I could not resist. The Weebill S was last year's "hot" gimbal. 

The Weebill S is lighter, much smaller and at least as capable as the Ronin S I've been playing with, and actually handles a heavier load than the older Ronin or the Zhiyun Crane V2 gimbal I started out with. I've charged the batteries but I'm  putting off working with it until I have time to really figure out all the features. That time should present itself this week as I no longer have parents I need to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for and no place we can think of to go that will be safe both "us" and "them." We're staying safe at home.

I'm renaming "Black Friday" "Weebill S Intro Day." Gimbals are wonderful tools for video production. I shot another video for my friend, Kenny at the beginning of last week and I just spent the weekend editing it. The gimbal made the shooting fun and quick. We did use a tripod....but only for about five minutes.

A few of my art friends have asked me why I've been sliding back into the GH system from Panasonic. The blame falls directly on gimbals. The camera and lens combinations of the GH system make it possible, because of their small size and low weight, coupled with high end video specs, to wring the most out of a good gimbal. I also like them. They are nicely familiar. 

The week ahead. 

We're staying close to home. I'm hitting Barton Springs Pool tomorrow morning, solo, to work on my kick and a few drills to lengthen and slow down my freestyle stroke. Tuesday and Wednesday we've got regular practices at the WHAC pool (my club pool) and then Thursday and Friday we'll celebrate the holiday and maybe Ben and I will do some running together. He's so much faster though that it's more like we're running in the same loose, geographic area at the same time. When Saturday rolls around I'll be back in the pool with the regular crew for our annual "Fat Burner" morning-after feasting marathon swim. However long it takes to burn off a big piece of homemade pecan pie is how long I'll be swimming that morning...

I'll save Sunday's swim as the antidote for all the mashed potatoes and stuffing.

Final note: After having lived in Austin (epicenter of laid back counter culture since forever) for the last fifty years I've finally broken down and bought my first pair of Birkenstock sandals. I went with the classics. The "Arizona." I will proudly wear them with socks as I break them in, and also on any days cooler than 50 degrees. I will be mercilessly teased for being "an old hippie" by my disrespectful, younger and cooler friends but I don't care. I want to discover why every millionaire and billionaire I've met --- who has dropped off the grid and checked out of corporate culture--- ends up swearing by their Birkenstocks (and the ubiquitous wool socks). Probably not recommended as winter foot wear for my friends in Calgary or Toronto...

But they sure feel comfy just hanging out on my feet, under my desk. 

Final, final note.  I am not given to depression or angst in long bouts. Those emotions hit me every once in a while, out of the blue, and today was just one of those times. Putting this down in words and sharing it helped me shift into a better mental space. We'll be alright. All of us. The holidays should be time for gratitude, and sharing our joy and privilege, not wallowing in our own erroneous pathos. Funny how exciting it was to buy and, at least for now, embrace the Birkenstock shoe culture. I blame photographer, Dan Milnor, for the Birks. He talked about them on his VLog over at YouTube and I've been thinking about those zany, German sandals ever since. Don't know Dan? Go here: https://www.youtube.com/user/SMOGRANCH

Jaston Williams as Scrooge. 

CHANEL. As the Ghost of Christmas present and also a soloist.

Roddrick Sandford as Fezziwig, Marley and the Minister.

curious....What does everyone want (camera and lens-wise) for the holidays this year? What't the cool toy?

I'm not doing any top ten lists since we all read the same reviews. Your take is always different from mine though.... Maybe MJ will regale us with some unexpected choices....

 

The residue of yesterday's stroll through the urban Southwest. GH5S - Style.

The GH5S is such an eccentric camera but maybe that's the way cameras should be. I think it's misguided, both on the part of the makers and the users, to claim that every new camera is potentially a multi-capable, ultra-hybrid that is capable of super high resolution, incredibly low noise, gifted with a minute profile and yet also capable of tossing off the intense heat internally generated by enormous video files while also focusing with radar-quickness --- and all at an affordable price point. 

My little(?) GH5S makes no claims for all around-ness, instead it just does a few things very well. It does those things excellently, if you consider the price. But it's not going to be your uncles do everything toolkit. Especially if your uncle acquires cameras by comparing everything on a specification spreadsheet.  

Here are the things the GH5S does well: It makes very good 4K and 2K video files and does so with a wide range of file types and frame rates. It makes lovely, small raw files. About 10 Megapixels. But it's also the first Panasonic m4:3 camera to make those files with 14 bit raw files -- which is also lovely. The size of the camera, even with a battery grip mounted, is just perfect for my hands. The camera is solid but also not too heavy. It's rarely a burden. I guess if I put an enormously long lens on it I'd start to gripe a bit but then that's true with every system. 

So, if you don't want or need to print really large and you like to make your own cinema it's a practical and very well constructed camera that won't break the bank and which will go a long way on a single battery charge. 

Of course it has it's flaws. Or maybe limitations is a better way to speak about them... The camera doesn't have image stabilization. There are technical reasons for this but it is what it is. You can use stabilized lenses on it but if I use non-AF, non-stabilized lenses on it I'm either looking to shoot in good light (for photographs) or to use a tripod or a gimbal for video. No way around it. This is not a camera for photographers who want to brag about being able to handhold an exposure down to half a second. I only wish the people I want to make candid photos of would also hold still for half seconds at a time.

Some will also find the 10 megapixel size limit to be too far a reach for their style and I get that. It's why I never think of this particular camera as my "everything" "workhorse" camera. It's just not. But if you surrender to the idea that you are happy sharing your work electronically; on websites, sharing sites and blogs, you'll come to love the haptics of the camera and the pristine nature of its mature sensor tech.

If you are ready to vie with David Fincher for the title of "next great cinema master" you'll find that (excuse the hoary phrase...) this camera punches way above its cost and weight. The video files out of the GH5S are pretty sublime. If you get your exposures and color balance correct you'll be amazed at how rich and satisfying the files are. Add the DMW-XLR audio attachment and some thousand dollar microphones and you'll be equally amazed at how good the recorded sound can be. Even the V-Log is better than it should be. 

I use the GH5S, currently, as a walkable notebook. I like the way the files look when I prep them for sharing on the blog and on Instagram. I like the way the video looks when I use the camera on a gimbal, a video monopod or a tripod. One thing that makes it all work for me is the way the menu echoes those found in all my other Panasonic cameras. And, one of my favorite Panasonic Lumix hardware consistencies is the position of the three buttons right next to the shutter button. The same on all six camera models I use most. The left button is for setting white balance, the middle button is for ISO and the right hand button is for setting exposure compensation. With those three buttons and the two setting dials I can do 95% of my shooting (in photography) without ever having to hit a menu. 

While the GH5S is nobody's idea of a perfect solution to shooting everything in the universe it is a calm, happy and transparent camera that is a friendly companion with a well defined feature set. Add the Panasonic/Leica 12-60mm lens and you've got something really special. Just don't imagine that it will rival the resolution of a Sony A7RIV, the tracking AF performance of a Canon R5, or the low noise capabilities of the Lumix S1. You'll be disappointed if you do. 

If you just want a friendly camera for nearly everything you'll want to share electronically then this one is very well sorted. At least for me. 

The perfect m4:3 combo? A three pack. A GH5S for great video. A G9 for great photographs, and a GH5 for the perfect blend. Add very well designed Panasonic/Leica lenses for the win. 

It was a beautiful day for walking yesterday, here in Austin. The sun was bright, the sky was clear and the temperature never crested 80°. I grabbed a taco from Torchy's on 2nd and a coffee from Starbuck's on 3rd street. The rest of the time I spent just looking at buildings and people and working with the 25mm Panasonic/Leica lens on my GH5S. Here's some of what I saw:

I am always baffled by this place on 5th St. Is it a front for some supervillain's 

underground lair. I could be wrong, there could still be dozens and dozens of 

people in desperate need of having their floppy disks repaired.