6.01.2023

Why I like photographers. And what I am shortlisting, camera-wise, on my wish list.


 The camera in my hands is the Panasonic Lumix S5. It's a great, smaller, full frame camera. It takes all the lenses offered in the L mount system. It's been replaced by a newer model... The S5ii. If I were buying a camera right now, today, it would be the S5ii. But why?

Before I get into year another essay about a camera I thought I'd talk about the first section of my headline; "why I like photographers." 

First of all, let's get this out of the way... I tend to have a flawed writing style for conventional blogs. I use a lot of determinative sentences and my writing makes it seem like I'm constantly putting out unarguable, declarative statements of fact. Not that I really mean to. I'm always flexible enough to imagine: "What if the other guy is right?"

But over the years many folks have written in to let me know that just because I say something is so, with a firm clackety-clack, on the keyboard doesn't make it so. I guess I'll try to get over that but who knows if I ever will? It's not like I'm disposed to head out to some writer's workshop and reform my entire approach to my (non-profit) blog site... I'll just depend on the several world class writers that frequent VSL to give me a kind but firm swat on the typing hands when needed. 

I have a book that keeps popping up on my bedside table begging me to re-read one or more of its essays before I nod off to sleep. I've had the book for at least 15 years and when I first bought it I was put off by the writer's style of writing. It seemed to me to be overly fussy. Now I realize that what I took for "fussiness" was really a focus on making the words the writer had written present his thoughts in crystal clear exactness. Thoughts which are as opinionated in their own way as mine. At any rate the book has withstood my growth as a reader, my tendency to look for more sensational writing, my desire to cloud my brain with technical stuff instead of philosophy, and more than one emergency regarding spilled coffee. 

The book is entitled: Why People Photograph. It was written by an English major/professor turned photographer turned back again to a writer. And an able guide to thinking about photography in ways far different than I used to. The book was published in 1994 by Aperture. Its form is a series of essays about photography, writing, and art.

After swim practice this morning I remembered that after this afternoon's calming and benevolent cup of coffee I'd be down to the very bottom of the coffee supply in the house. Sure, we have a jar of instant somewhere but I've heard that it should just be used for emergencies. Even read somewhere that in a number of countries having to drink instant coffee is a routine punishment for petty crimes such as shoplifting or speeding. 

I figured it was time to head up the street and two blocks to the right to visit my local coffee shop and coffee roaster. They have a Columbian medium roast coffee that will bring tears to your eyes. Unless, of course, you've surpassed that level of coffee connoisseur-ship  and can now only drink Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee or perfectly roasted Kona. 

Sometimes, mostly in the mornings, the shop can get busy and there is a wait for one of the coffee professionals to get enough of a break in the action to head over and bundle coffee for me. So I take a book. That way I can look studious and I don't have to talk to anyone ---- if I don't want to. The book I've been re-reading is the above mentioned. 

I had a bit of a wait today. But it was worth it. For every twelve pounds of coffee one buys at Trianon Coffee one gets a free pound. Since I was buying coffee for myself and for my adult child, whom I have ruined for cheap coffee, I had time to read one essay while waiting and smelling the heady perfume of fresh coffee everywhere. Sad for people who only drink lattes and cappuccinos. The different blends are so much fun to try.

I nursed a small cup of Costa Rican coffee and turned to the first essay in the book, entitled: "Colleagues." 

And in a moment I came across something that Robert Adams wrote that seemed aimed directly at me today. Exactly at this point in my life. I'll copy it here:

     "I have to admit that there is another reason I like photographers -- they don't tempt me to envy. The profession is short on dignity. Nearly everyone has fallen down, been the target of condescension (the stereotypical image of a photographer being that of a mildly contemptible, self-indulgent dilettante( been harassed by security guards and dropped expensive equipment. Almost all photographers have incurred large expenses in the pursuit of tiny audiences, finding that the wonder they'd hoped to share is something few want to receive. Nothing is so clarifying, for instance, as to stand through the opening of an exhibition to which only officials have come.

     Experiences like that do encourage defiance, however. Why quite while you are losing?"

--Robert Adams. 

Bleak but, in a way, satisfying. No one gets out of this "gallery" alive so why not tilt at all the windmills you want to? And it speaks to a commonality between all artists, and I would assume, most writers...

Now. On to the ruminations about  cameras.

I've been saying for a while, as have many other better and worse pundits, that all cameras are good enough for our purposes now. And by this we mean that current cameras which are in our use profiles, and have similar specifications, are easily better in their potential than in our actual use. But we're always on the prowl for that "perfect" compromise which we imagine will buy us super high performance, all the haptics any person could wish for and incredible "value" (cheap bastards!) all in one tidy and prestigious package. We further hope, that when finding this unicorn camera it can be wedded with equally good lenses, also offered at bargain prices. 

For the moment I think I've figured out which camera that might be for people like myself (maybe five years ago...) who want a wonderful photographic tool that is also equally gifted at making professional looking video. It's got to be the Panasonic Lumix S5mk2. (See that declarative sentence??? Just setting myself up for grief...). 

Gerald Undone, one of my favorite (video leaning) imaging machine reviewers (on Youtube) recently reviewed the camera here: Gerald's S5ii Review and basically/literally said that the S5ii might be the best value in a camera.... ever. If you go to his channel I think he also has a supplemental review up now of the S5iiX which is a more video-centric version of the same basic camera. I agree with everything he's said about the glorious little machine...

So, here, in this inexpensive camera, you get the same processor that Leica just designed into the new Q3 and which will probably drive the new Leica SL cameras when they arrive. It's a much faster and more potent image processor than existed in any previous Panasonic or Leica camera so it will drive the AF quicker, the frame read/write quicker, and potentially do a better job processing images at speed. And, since nearly every sensor in the camera world is a Sony the main differentiator between camera brands is the quality of their color science which is determined, in part, by sheer data throughput of the dedicated processors. The more data the camera can process the more control, detail and color discrimination it can apply to your files!!!

As I mentioned, the camera serves up lenses from the L mount alliance so you have, conveniently, a great range of world classes lenses to choose from which all should work seamlessly with this camera. Wanna make yourself happy and piss off just about everyone? Put a $5500 50mm APO Summicron lens on the from of your $2,000 Lumix camera and go out for a session. 

The camera has its own cooling fan so you will have no fears of it "Canon-ing" or "Sony-frying" and coming to an ignominious, thermally-driven, full stop just as your actor hits her mark in your video production. Or while standing in 104° desert heat waiting for the light to get perfect. It just won't go there. 

For you viewing sissys there is a swivel screen on the back. Yeah, I know it's easier to get those low angle shots and for that I'd prefer a one axis tilt screen instead. No one really, really needs a screen to swing out from the side. (Another one of those "all or nothing" sentences...sorry). 

The camera has two SD UHS11 slots, a big HDMI plug, lots of options for audio, etc. But at its most basic it's got everything I want in a straight up photographic camera including a state of the art sensor, incredibly good high ISO performance, wide dynamic range and a truly professional menu system. One that even a professional photographer can understand. Add in a more detailed EVF than its predecessor and PD-AF focusing and you're ready to go. 

Any downsides? No red dot (kidding, just kidding). Not that I can think of.  Maybe the 8 frames per second with full focusing is too slow for you.... funny to write that. Even funnier to think about the need for a thousand quick frames of a stationary object... 

I have too many cameras right now to think of buying one but it's on the radar and if I go off the rails sometime soon and get antsy to do a full scale sloughing of gear I might saunter over and pick one up. How could I go wrong. 

So, in the week that the Q3 hits my thoughts have been elsewhere. Why? Because I think for most of us the S5ii makes a hell of a lot more sense. Especially if you already own most of the Sigma i-Contemporary lens catalog and all in L mount configurations. Now I just need to figure out what my rationale is for buying one.

Or, I could turn to the next page in the Robert Adams book and feel smugly smarter and more comfortable with my role as a photographer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Adams_(photographer)

Yeah. He's a landscape photographer. So what?

Click through my links and buy a Lamborghini. 

16 comments:

  1. the original s5 has chunked down £100 in price now here, still with the free 50mm lens, the part of a cameras lifecycle I like is when it gets practically given away in a kit with some nice lenses, I don't know if they have the kits left over or they've been made up specially, they're even discounting preorders of the latest s5 2 black, various factors here have caused what the media is calling a "cost of living crisis" in the UK, electricity costs 5x european average, we've left the EU group buy on gas (like the gaseous kind not petrol) and prices have skyrocketed (well, wholesale prices have dropped but the companies are still charging more), so I don't know if camera sales have slowed too or if panny is just playing hardball, I suppose all the companies want people buying into their system...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kirk

    Have you been reading Macfilos.com on the web? There has been a flurry of discussion about the adjustable screen Leica has decided to install on the Q3. My contribution was the antithesis of your comment above.

    PaulB

    ReplyDelete
  3. Don't do this to me. I am totally happy with my G9 -- until I read stuff like this.

    I do have the Robert Adams book in my Amazon cart, even though I have not finished the Annie Leibovitz book you sold me a while back.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Do you appreciate of irony of you having a "short" list of desired cameras?

    (We're all jealous.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Instant coffee can also be used to develop black and white film. I've done it. Instant coffee and vitamin C powder. Caffeinol. We must have different understandings of affordable. Cameras are insanely expensive in Canada. The Panasonic S5 is still listed above 2k body only. The S5II is above 3k body only. Not what I would call affordable for most. The cheapest new full-frame camera in this country would be the Nikon Z5 at about 1.5k if you look around and wait. The used market has completely dried up here. Pre-pandemic there was a healthy used market with Henry's, our brick-and-mortar chain here, having a relatively large selection of used gear. I don't know what they did with it but they have very limited used inventory now and many new cameras are simply not in stock. I think I'll be sticking with my current lineup for 2023.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gato, how are you enjoying the Leibovitz book? Just curious.

    ReplyDelete
  7. CR Santin, The S5ii is priced under $2K here in the USA. For what it offers it's a bargain. If one needs a less advanced camera (ie: you just want to take great photos...) the original has been offered lately for $1495 bundled with the very nice 85mm f1.8 lens. THAT'S a bargain.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've got my S5 II ordered at my local camera shop (proud to say that I have such a shop). I'll get it in about a week. So I'll have that and the original S5. And all of those great Sigma lenses for L-mount. That kit and my Leica Q2 and CL should hold me indefinitely.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Biro, Interesting. My thoughts seem to be aligning with yours. I could dump a lot of cameras, get an S5ii to complement my S5, keep the Q2 and decrease my gear footprint by an enormous amount. Let me know your thoughts after you've had time to work with the S5ii. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I find all of Robert Adams' books to be wonderful to read. And, somehow, calming. They are short, fairly to-the-point, and imminently re-readable.
    His photography I can take in small doses; many of his photography essays are rather bleak. But he has a vision, and has stuck to it, and that's admirable.
    I've looked at the S5ii...and then I see the S1R is going for rather little money these days (used), and that's a tempting image making device!

    ReplyDelete
  11. B&H has the S5ii with a 50mm for just an extra $50, or $200 for the 85mm.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kirk,

    Regarding your writing style, I'm reminded of my departed uncle, who used to say, "We [our family] don't have opinions. We have facts. Sometimes those facts just need to be explained to other people."

    So please just keep right on doing what you're doing.

    And thank you for posting that Robert Adams quote. Brightened my morning, it did.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks Steve R. My favorite Robert Adam's book is the very thin, "Beauty in Photography: In Defense of Traditional Values."

    It's always on the edge of my desk.

    Oldwino, I think Robert Adam's true talent is in writing. His images don't move me one way or another. But that's okay.

    ReplyDelete
  14. +1 to the high opinions of Robert Adams as a writer. A half-hour or so with him reliably lifts the spirits. As to Leibovitz, 'At Work,' it's the only book of hers that I own. Say what you will about her work, if you don't think you can learn something from her about how she does it, you are possibly mistaken.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Kirk -- Much enjoying the Leibovitz. Had a couple of days of buyer's remorse, thinking I've bought too many books lately that I have not read. Then late one night dipped into it and wound up at 3 a.m. halfway through. I'm taking the rest in smaller bites - so far.

    I first knew of her when she was with Rolling Stone and I was just starting photography, so she's sort of like an old friend I've never met. Very interesting to read her account of photos I remember from back then.

    ReplyDelete
  16. "But over the years many folks have written in to let me know that just because I say something is so, with a firm clackety-clack, on the keyboard doesn't make it so."

    Back when I was a student, I used to flare up inside (but kept my mouth firmly shut!) when a professor was irritatingly sure about what he was talking.
    Then it came my turn to be a professor, and I had students who didn't kept their mouths shut...and there is no better mirror to examine ourselves than that.
    So just be sure of your facts, don't let the occasional a**hole bother you and keep saying what you think should be said.

    ReplyDelete

We Moderate Comments, Yours might not appear right after you hit return. Be patient; I'm usually pretty quick on getting comments up there. Try not to hit return again and again.... If you disagree with something I've written please do so civilly. Be nice or see your comments fly into the void. Anonymous posters are not given special privileges or dispensation. If technology alone requires you to be anonymous your comments will likely pass through moderation if you "sign" them. A new note: Don't tell me how to write or how to blog! I can't make you comment but I don't want to wade through spam!