Kirk Picks His All Around Best Camera Value of the Year (2019).

In all of 2019 there was (and still is) no greater bargain; no greater offering of superior imaging potential, bulletproof build quality and video wonderful-ness than the Fuji X-H1. For some insane reason Fuji took a $2,000 camera (and worth every cent even at that price!) combined it with the wonderful battery grip, threw in two extra batteries and priced the whole assemblage for about $1,200. My jaw still drops. 

If I were the kind of photographer who buys cameras as long term tools, middle term "investments" and items that one uses until they fall apart in one's hands, the Fuji X-H1 Pro would be my first and only choice... if putting together a system from scratch.

Starting with specs: It's a 24 megapixel APS-C camera that inherit's Fuji's stellar reputation for wonderful/pleasing/virtuous color science. At 24 megapixels it's about as much resolution as even hardened professionals need for their daily work. It's 4K video is superb and made even better with a clean HDMI output. And one of the biggest pluses of the Fuji X-H1 is its access to tons of very good and well planned lens choices. The 56mm f1.1.2 is (both varieties) awesome. The 90mm f2.0 is stellar. The 16-55mm f2.8 might be all the lens most people need, and if they need more then there is the flawless 50-140mm f2.8 lens available at a reasonable price. Add to all of this the camera's beautifully tuned (audio) shutter and fully competent image stabilization and you have a package you could make money with and enjoy at the same time. 

Sure, the full frame cameras look better on paper but when it comes down to actually using the camera and making good work the X-H1 is fully competitive. 

Once I started using the X-H1 I began to mostly ignore the X-T3 and then I bought two more X-H1s just because the price was right and we had three projects that could use three video camera to good effect. It was almost as cost effective to buy the two extra cameras than it would have been to rent something comparable. 

In 2019 no better bargain existed than the sale price of the X-H1+battery grip+ two extra batteries. 

Why did I sell mine? I'd been waiting for the Lumix S1 series to drop into the market. It's something I wanted since the announcement and since my time with the Panasonic G9. In effect, the Fujis were placeholders. The nice thing is that they held their value well. 

That's my "bargain" camera of 2019. The Fuji X-H1. 

Which Lumix S camera is the better one? The S1 or the S1R? And does it even matter? ( A VSL reader requested an answer.... )

This image of Belinda is not from one of the Lumix cameras.

It's from a Sony Nex 7 and I included it as a small, non-confrontational rebuttal of 

Michael Johnston's contention that black and white imaging

is more difficult with digital than with film tech. Note

the ample middle tonalities...

I'm vacillating lately. Do we really need any camera more substantial than an iPhone 11 Pro for most of the photographic work being done in 2019-2020? Does computational photography level the playing field between small and large sensor cameras? Do we just like the idea of "ultimatism" and have enough extra cash to be able to play in both realms? Is traditional photography dead? And, if it's not really dead (just sleeping?) then which Lumix S1 camera is the right one to choose?

I recently had a meeting with a non-profit organization I consult with. At the end of the meeting I was asked to recommend a small, cheap video kit that they could use to make 15 and 30 second videos for social media marketing. An example might be a person speaking into camera, a quick clip of a panel discussion and some other stuff. They have absolutely no expertise about audio engineering and only a vague grasp on shooting video; although a few people on staff are very good at post production and editing. Their budget was very limited....

My first and only suggestion was to get the person who would be doing the actual video capture one of the new iPhone 11 Pros, an app called "Filmic Pro" and a dedicated phone gimbal (instead of a tripod). My logic was that the phone would always be with the "artist" and could be instantly brought into service by the operator, that the new phone has very, very good 4K video, that it's easy to use and the video is easy to share instantly, and finally, everyone is comfortable with using phones to capture photos and video. They took my advice and a week or two later called to let me know that they had increased their use of video dramatically and that it all looked great. 

In the past I might have recommended a micro four thirds camera or a dedicated, inexpensive video camera but the technology and computational enhancement of the latest iPhones, and their ability to make video capture easier and better makes it tough to recommend much else unless the final operator envisions a progression toward more involved style/immersion in movie making. As a separate note the client has also discovered that the phone is a great camera for most of the stuff they need to generate as photographs for the web: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Win-win for them. 

In the right hands, and with the right support stuff (lights, microphones, audio input devices, gimbals) the latest iPhone is a formidable competitor in the (total spend) category of under $2,500 solutions for creating video and photography content. I'd use mine for projects more often but I need to get over my baked in prejudice against iPhone-ography. 

To answer my first question: If you are using a camera for sheer pleasure of having photos and videos of life as it unfolds, unhampered by the bulk and complexity of big cameras, lenses, batteries and chargers, a phone is now pretty much a near perfect solution. If I did not do photography as a commercial business and decided to take a long trip with my spouse for non-serious-imaging I'd run out right now and get an iPhone 11 Pro with a huge amount of storage and leave all the other stuff at home. 

It would make just about any travel experience that much better. And as far as stealth and street photography go I can't imagine any imaging tool that would be more culturally invisible than a phone.

Are they good enough now? No. They are almost too good for most social media use. They'll more than fill the bill for Instagram (and really? Twitter? Facebook? What are you? A politician or an artist?). Drawbacks? So you won't be doing extreme telephoto stuff, fellow duffers won't be impressed, it's hard to shoot and talk on the phone at the same time, phone form factors can be a bit awkward to handle if you are not used to phone-tography; but be fair, you've been practicing using conventional cameras for years or decades. Of course they feel more comfortable. I'm sure the phone will become second nature to you after you've put in your ten thousand hours of practice.....

Does computational-ism in photography even out the results between conventional cameras, like the full frame S1 cameras, or is there still a reason (other than wanting the "ultimate" tool) for using anything other than a phone? 

Oh hell yes. If you like to see images with the best possible image quality you'll still have a demonstrable advantage in most situations with an inventory of great lenses and a big sensor camera with lots of resolution (by lots I mean 24 megapixel or so....). The latest generation of single use cameras have wonderful sensors which, if paired with the kind of computational power found in an iPhone, would blow the doors off anything we imagine today. Even without the magic pizzaz of instantaneously stacked imaging, on-the-fly (tasteful) HDR, more current "real" cameras are capable of expressing more looks, from extreme telephoto to extreme resolution and stylistic nuance than ever before. Of course all these advantages are only conveyed when the photographer practices really good technique. Otherwise both Ferraris and Kia Souls, driven at 30 mph in sloggy traffic, have equivalent performance and results. A poorly used über camera and lens versus a self stabilizing and easy to use phone camera both approach a median threshold of acceptability at which point there are no real advantages to the bigger and more complex camera. 

As long as there is a "sellable" difference between a well done image, made with a razor sharp lens on a high resolution and large sensor, I'll keep buying and using the real cameras. Would I recommend a Lumix S1R and a few Sigma Art lenses for my little sister to take along on her vacation to Europe, or Asia? Not on your life. I'd recommend the phone. And if I tagged along I'd choose the phone as well. Sorry. That's just the sensible thing. 

Now, if I head to the west Texas desert to photograph large, sun drenched landscapes, with the intention of coming home to make wall-sized prints, the camera I would choose would be (at least) a Lumix S1R along with the finest lenses I could cobble together. I'd be working on a tripod, trying to nail perfect exposures, maybe using some graduated NDs, sometimes a polarizing filter and I'd want a camera the would allow me to really dig into the scene; to be able to look at a high res EVF view of the scene instead of depending on a rear screen in a high light environment... Yes, that would be the argument for a high end system. Everything in between is degrees of "gray area." 

In reality my photographic habits are somewhere in the middle. There are days when even my techiest clients are only looking for immediately usable, web-sized images that can be streamed to the web during a conference. We set our big-ass cameras to medium or even small Jpeg settings and fire away knowing we can offload the files quickly and upload them in bulk to waiting online galleries for immediate sharing. Clients can pull them off the galleries, caption the images and have them on various social media feeds in minutes. 

At other times client will come in with projects that will either be printed on oversized, glossy stock to make large brochures. Some clients will show up with purchase orders for images that will be used on large, life-sized posters at trade shows or conventions. When images start to go larger than 30 by 40 inches and viewing distances are uncontrollably close then I start to gravitate toward cameras at the posh end of the spectrum; with lenses to match. Clients want what clients want and giving it to them the way they want it keeps us in business. There are some photography projects for which I just don't want to try convincing a client to give me a chance with an iPhone...

For those instances (and many, many other uses) I have a couple of different camera options. The first is the Lumix S1R which is a full frame, very high resolution camera which offers very sharp, near 50 megapixel files. With the $1300 "kit" lens I can make very good images; especially if I stop the lens down a bit. With the $2,300 50mm f1.4 S Pro lens I can make incredibly detailed prints even wide open at f1.4. With the idea of making the S1R cameras my "go to" cameras for all projects requiring very high production values I've been piecing together a collection of lenses known to be good enough to give a 50 megapixel sensor a enough to work with. These include the aforementioned 50mm as well as three Sigma L-mount Art lenses, the also aforementioned zoom and the (incredibly good) Panasonic Lumix 70-200mm f4.0. 

I've been using the S1R as my personal, walking around camera as well. I like the potential of the big files even if I rarely use the whole resolution in my own personal work.

But I'll confess that if my budget were limited to one Lumix model or the other I would immediately choose the lower resolution S1. With the V-Log upgrade the camera is a dynamite choice for 4K video production. The folks DP Review awarded the S1 their prize for hybrid, video/stills camera of the year. But looking beyond video, the 24 megapixel sensor makes gorgeous files, the camera has very low high ISO noise (lower than the S1R) and the files are big enough for just about every normal use while being compact enough to help with an efficient workflow and more cost effective storage. 

I have a set of two S1 cameras and they get the most use. At events I'll use the 24-105mm on one body and the 70-200mm on the second body to cover just about anything that needs covered. I use a couple different Godox flashes for low light event work and, if it's a situation that calls for discreet, (no flash) shooting I can get great use out of my growing collection of f1.4 Sigma Art lenses. The S1 is a just right camera for day-to-day work and, if I wasn't also looking (from time to time) for a bit of perfection on demand I would have stayed put with just the S1s and never looked at the S1R. 

So, which one is better? If you shoot a lot of everything, including video, events, theater documentation, lifestyle on location, and even street photography, the S1 at $1,000 less than its more resolve-y sibling is the sweet spot. It's the one I'll most often recommend. 

If you want the best full frame imaging out there it's going to be a three way toss up (excluding medium format) between the Lumix S1R, the Nikon Z7 and the Sony A7RIV. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the options. I could shoot happily with any of the three. The nerd in me considers the S1R the most advanced and the most design-familiar for someone who has been working in photography for the last 32 years straight. All three of the camera makers are producing great lenses and all three make great cameras. Sony might be slightly better for people who always use AF-C but Nikon and Lumix have their advantages for considered photographers who aren't wedded exclusively to fast moving action sports. And when it comes to menus the Nikon and Lumix camera walk all over the Sony. No contest. 

If I were an artist/photographer who just wanted a great camera to shoot photographic art and portraits with, and I had the cash, I'd end up with the Lumix S1R as my primary camera. That, and one special L-mount Leica lens.... Oh, what am I saying? Am I too close to the black hole of German camera consumer magnetism? 

On a different note. If there really is a Santa Clause and if I've really been good this year, what would I want him/her/gender-neutral Santa to bring me?  Face a bit red, already feeling a bit guilty.... but....a Leica SL2 with a 50mm Apo Summicron on the front of it. Sadly, the lens is back-ordered. And, no. Even with my incredible powers of persuasion that's a purchase outlay that's not going to pass the test with my CFO.

Curious what my fellow VSL family want this year, if anything.....

Downtown Boston. 50mm f1.8 and Nex 7. 

The Ritual of Checking Out Each New Camera Body. This Time a Lumix S1R.

I bought an "open box" camera from B&H Photo/Video last week and it arrived on Tuesday (a day before it was scheduled). But I had stuff to do on Tuesday, like painting a fence, so I didn't have time to put the camera through its paces. By Thursday I'd carved out some free time and decided to take the camera and the 50mm S Pro lens to the Blanton Museum to test. I shot a few frames in the studio to make sure there were no gross problems with the camera before I headed out. So, my first test shot is of a flash and its umbrella taken in the studio. My focus was on the product logo on the side of the flash and, when blown up to 1:1 the lettering is sharp and pretty much noise free. It was shot with the lens at its widest aperture.

Seeing no obvious defects I moved on to the museum and shot there under available light and also at f 1.4. While you won't be able to see it on the blog because of compression and file size reduction, in the image below I can zoom in to 1:1 with the full 47.5 megapixel frame and clearly see the texture/weave of the woman's sweater in the adjacent gallery. It's a very impressive performance. 

I spent the better part of the afternoon inside and outside the museum making images. I looked for any defects or dirt on the sensor. I shot sky images at f11 as that's a surefire way to show up dust spots, if they exist. And I shot white walls with the lens wide open to see how much vignetting the camera and lens combination would produce. When shot in Jpeg or converted via Lightroom software takes care of vignetting for the most part. 

Testing cameras is important. You need to know if there are any faults or glitches before you show up for a paying job and only discover some glaring fault after the fact. Part of that testing is also involves just cycling through hundreds of frames to see if you can elicit any untoward camera behavior that might indicated an intermittent problem with a particular unit. 

After shooting the newest arrival, Lumix S1R on both Thursday and then again today I feel confident that I got a good copy. There's no dirt, no focus inaccuracies with the three lenses I tested in conjunction with the camera, and there were no shutdowns or needed reboots. 

I wondered why B&H would sell a like new, current camera, sealed in the original box, for about half the retail price or MAP price (Minimum Advertised Price) of this camera. I asked friends who had been in the camera sales business and all declined to make a public guess but the various presumptions were that it may be a way to skirt MAP pricing for a short term, Prime the Pump promotion. The promotion may have been made necessary because the store misjudged the sales potential of the camera and ordered too many, or they were given all, or the majority of, the factory reburbished units to date and nudged to get them on the market to help spur sales of the system lenses and accessories. 

Most of the people who e-mailed me to discuss their purchases of the same camera from the same dealer via this open box special had pretty much the same story: the camera came quickly. It was sealed in the original (and very nice) presentation box. They were offered a rebate in the form of a warranty extension from one year to four years by the manufacturer. I don't understand retail deeply enough to make any sort of definitive guess but I can say that I feel I was well served by the open box sale and the cost savings. Putting the camera through its paces assuaged any hesitation I may have felt about the provenance of the unit. 

But my field tests are not limited only to used or "open box" camera purchases. Everything that comes into the studio is suspect until we've gotten through the first 500 or so exposures. Most electronic devices will either fail very early on or at the very end of a long cycle. My gut feeling is that most cameras that are perfect for the first 500 to 1,000 shots are generally going to be fine right up until you hit some sort of astronomical shutter count, or until the camera has spent many, many months riding on the floorboard of your work pickup truck as you bounce around on ranch roads and occasionally brush the dust and mud off the camera's exterior. 

As a general rule I handle my cameras like precision tools that are inherently delicate. Why? Because I want them always to work and I want them to look more or less pristine when the time comes to sell them or trade them in. 

If you happen to know why "open box" and "white box" sales happen can you let me know? This is  actually the second time I've bought an "open box" product. The first was a Nikon 24-120mm G lens a few years ago. It was perfect and worked well. It's all a mystery to me....

I knew of Lawrence Ferlinghetti as a poet and publisher but not as a painter.

This painting is hanging in the modern gallery in honor of

the artist's 100th birthday.

No dust blobs in the sky. Be still my beating heart (but not too still, please!)

O.T. Observation.

I recently read an article by a physiologist whose research showed that only 5% of Americans over the age of 65 could be categorized as "physically fit." About 45% of the older population is still ambulatory and able to fend for themselves but are in decline or "accelerated decline", physically, while nearly half of older Americans require assistance of some sort with daily living. Of that half many are obese, morbidly obese, diabetic and largely sedentary. 

The differentiator, more impactful than diet, was the amount of vigorous exercise the 5% pursued. While there are some conditions with genetic dispositions that may account for some decline the reality is that most of the decline cited could be reversed or at least slowed down profoundly by increased and regular exercise. The greater the level of exercise the more likely the various demographics were to be in good to excellent health regardless of age. 

The bottom line is that people give up too soon. I can't fathom not wanting to be healthy to the extent that I would not spend at least an hour a day exercising. Even if it's just to put on a pair of comfortable shoes and walk briskly for an hour. 

Perhaps the real benefit of camera ownership is that it gives some of us an excuse to get out and walk. The heck with whether or not any photography actually gets done. The much more important thing is just getting the exercise.

I stumbled into a big Photo Expo at Precision Camera today. I just dropped by for some ink. I forgot the ink....

From the downtown "Day of the Dead" parade, earlier this Fall. 

Lumix S1 + 24-105mm lens

Holiday traffic all over Austin is horrible this afternoon. You'd think Christmas was tomorrow! Around 11 a.m. I headed up to my favorite camera store intent on buying some more ink for my ever thirsty ink jet printer and I was amazed to see the parking lot at the shopping center filled with cars. I walked into Precision Camera and immediately understood; they were having one of their Photo Expos. It's an event wherein the representatives from all the major camera makers, and most of the big accessory suppliers come and set up their displays of all their current product so customers can drop by, ask questions, and potentially buy stuff, with a 10% savings. 

I had ink on my shopping list but I had "lens" on my mind. I wanted to purchase one of the Sigma 35mm f1.4 Art lenses for my L-mount cameras. I had seen them on sale at both B&H's website and also on Amazon.com but I didn't need one right away and thought I'd rather spend the money locally. While my sales person quickly matched the (outrageously great) price of $629 he then burst my bubble of excitement by letting know that they had ordered a passel of the 35mms back in late September and still were waiting for them. Low price = universal shortage? Fortuneately, we had the Sigma rep in our sights and we grilled him about the store's order status. He got right on the phone, called H.Q. and broke the log jam. 

The store should get their inventory in by Monday or Tuesday and I'm pretty certain my lens will get delivered into my hot hands only minutes later. I spent some extra time today at the Lumix booth and at the Sigma booth so I could play with product I've been too busy to fondle before. 

The Sigma 35mm Art lens isn't nearly as big as I remembered it when I first played with one a while back. It's probably just a change in perception since I've been walking around with the massive Lumix S Pro 50mm f1.4 lens lately. I can't wait to get mine on a camera body and spend some time shooting with it... (Hidden rationale: wouldn't the 35mm and 85mm Art lenses make a great set to travel with? Yes, together they take up space and are heavy but it would mean reducing down to two lenses and that would mean less brain weight required to make choices. One camera for each lens and then you'd get to switch from wide to tight with fluidity and aplomb).

I got to play with the new Sigma 105mm f1.4. It looks bigger in photos because it's usually shown with the lens hood attached. If the lens hood were a coffee cup it would look to be about 32 ounces or better. Take the hood off and the lens seems more manageable. It's still huge for a 105mm but how much convincing would it take for someone who already bought the remarkably dense 85mm Art lens to add one more big lens without too much debate about weight? I hope people don't start body shaming my lens collection....

All the Sigma Art lenses still seem beautifully made to me and well worth their asking price. More so when they go on sale. 

I'm interested to see the new Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 Art lens that's supposed to come out on the 17th of December. Why? Because it's supposed to be really good and it's about half the price of the already available 24-70mm f2.8 lens from Lumix. I spoke at length about the Lumix 24-70mm with Jack from Panasonic. "What makes it $1,000 better than the Sigma?" I asked. He said, honestly, that the optical performance of the Lumix might not be significantly better than that of the Sigma but that the Lumix adds the manual focusing clutch (nice for both video and for manual focusing, when you want to do that...) and a dual motor focusing system that's optimized for the Panasonic DFD auto focusing which should make the Lumix S Pro variant lightning fast to focus. The 24-70mm Lumix feels very nice in the hand and does focus incredibly quickly. It's also weather sealed and Leica certified. Interesting system in which a 24-70mm f2.8 premium zoom actually weighs quite a bit less than their "reference" 50mm f1.4 lens!!!

Apparently there is one lens that Panasonic over-engineered and it's actually creating some problems for the company. Nearly everyone who buys an S1 or S1R is also buying the (extremely sharp and overall great) 24-105mm f4.0. I have one and I think it's the best standard zoom I've owned yet. But the company never figured (or didn't count on???) the S1H being in such strong demand, coupled with the fact that just about everyone who is buying that camera is also pairing it with the 24-105mm. They are finding it a bit tough to create enough kits because of the paucity of the standard zooms; their only available "kit" lens! I would say that it's a nice problem to have but I understand the power of being able to deliver into demand. They need to get as many systems into people's hands in order to build the momentum needed to drive the system while it's fresh.  I shoot mine at f4.0 all day long and I love the results (see image at the top of the blog). I can't wait to see it at f5.6 or f8.0. Maybe some day I shoot some stuff with it there...

Jack, from Panasonic, and I did have one discussion about a technical issue I had questions about. It seems that all the technical review sites like DXO concur that the S1R has a very high dynamic range when used in raw mode but some other (more emotional, less informational) sites have dinged the flagship camera for having "one stop less dynamic range" than their two closest competitors ( Sony A7RIV and Nikon Z7 ). It seems, according to Jack, that the S1R has a different characteristic curve applied automatically in post than the other two cameras. It's part of the distinctive look of the files from that camera. Ostensibly, when working with a raw file you can ignore the applied curve and create your own look in post processing which should allow you to exploit the full dynamic range of the file with no DR loss. I've shot the camera a lot in the last week and haven't noticed any differential in DR, personally. But it may be that I am less sensitive to the difference in look between some of the competing cameras to have pegged DR as a variant. In real world comparisons I think cameras with lots of dynamic range expression can look a bit muddy....but all three that are mentioned here seem pretty stellar right out of camera. 

The camera that's in shortest supply for Panasonic right now is the S1H. Apparently it's selling like gangbusters but it's a complex camera to make and test and, currently, the company can only churn out so many of them per month. Far fewer than the number of video producers waiting to get their hands on them around the globe... I've also heard, anecdotally, that of all three cameras the S1H has the nicest skin tones for still photography when the ISO starts heading for the stratosphere. I went into my own camera buying spree knowing that a high resolution camera like the S1R (47 megapixels) would be better in higher light environments (like studios, sets and outdoors) and less advantageous in low light with higher ISOs. In my mind that makes 24 megapixels still the sweet spot for an all around, full frame stills camera. And I'd expect the S1H to be in that same ballpark. 

One thing I did note was how nice the top screen on the S1H camera is. It's very clean and visually neutral and you can see all the information with ease. It's a nice touch. Do I really need an S1H? No, not really. Not until a client with a monster budget for video comes knocking on the door....

One more Lumix note: the next lens up on the roadmap that I think we'll see will be an 85mm f1.8. I don't expect it to be dainty and feather-light but I do expect that it will be much smaller than the Sigma 85mm f1.4 Art lens. There's an argument that having both is reasonable. One for serious, serious, serious work and the smaller lens for walking around shooting without having to attach an extra carrying strap just for your lens. We'll check in on the price. Good to always remember that there's a nice, lightweight 85mm f4.0 hidden in the middle of that 24-105mm lens!!!

Speaking of video, I did get to play with the Sigma FP camera and while I like the minimalist amount of exterior buttons and controls I found it to be a much less "sticky" product than I thought I would. By "sticky" I mean that there was really nothing about its handling, menus, operation or function that made me even think about reaching for a credit card and grabbing one. It just seems too focused on video and not quite focused enough on still imaging. The fully electronic shutter is a stumbler for me. I get that it's standard/needed for video but the lack of a mechanical option means more rolling shutter artifacts in fast moving still captures and more chance of image banding under less than perfect, non-continuous lighting. It may be the antithesis of a theater camera. I put it back down and thanked myself for not pre-ordering one earlier in the year. Yes, it looks darling with the Sigma 45mm f2.8 on the front of it but....what camera wouldn't?

Well represented at the Photo Expo at Precision Camera were: Sony, Olympus, Sigma, Panasonic, Nikon, Canon, Fuji and many other photography suppliers. ou could also play to your heart's content with all three Fuji medium format models and all the associated lenses. I was at the store midday and it was packed with customers. There were demos happening in every corner of the store, and the two that were ongoing while I was there was a photography workshop with Tony Corbell and a lighting workshop with Profoto. 

I guess the traditional photography industry is not quite dead yet. Not by a long shot. Well done Precision Camera!

And, yes. I really did forget the ink. I was just having so much fun playing with the big toys...

Sorry, no affiliate links. If you want to work on impoverishing yourself via photo gear you'll just have to hunt for the stuff you want. But that's half the fun.

If you need a good store you might consider Precision Camera. They match the prices of the big, national firms and they have a wonderful bricks-and-mortar store you can actually visit. Take a look at their website: www.precision-cameral.com Ask for Ian or Ron. Tell them I sent you. I might get a free ballpoint pen.

A day in the life of a specific photographer. More stuff. Slow accomplishments.

When last we corresponded I was about to paint a fence and I was on pins and needles to see just what I'd get from B&H re: their "open box" S1R mega-sale. I am back to report on both. So, here's a run down of the day: 

First things first. Swim practice! I swam with two dedicated people in my lane today. Matt, who is relentless about plowing through every last morsel of workout that the coach puts up on the white board, and Ed who is fast, fun and enthusiastic. Altogether we plowed through about 3700 yards in our allotted hour and fifteen minutes. Everyone seemed to be right in the middle of a good flow. All synced for the same speed and downright gracious about lane-sharing etiquette. Crisp flip turns at every wall and nice streamlines off the wall. As I've said before, the push off from a good turn, and then a streamlined glide, is the closest we'll ever come to the feeling of flying.

After workout I headed to the Benjamin Moore paint shop in the neighborhood to pick up the green paint for my fence. I wanted two gallons but because of a communication jumble they only had one gallon ready. I took it and headed home.

Let's get this out of the way right now, while it's top of mind for me, painting fences sucks. It just sucks. But the weather was nice and the fence just seemed painfully ready to be painted and so I forged ahead, sporadically. Knowing that I'm a sloppy painter I changed into an old pair of shorts (complete with paint stains from some previous project) a shirt I no longer liked and a pair of Crocs that will look better with splotches of paint than without. I took off my new dive watch and my favorite eyeglasses because I've ruined earlier models handily with misguided painting dynamics. 

I cranked and cranked on the fence and I think I did a wonderful job... right up until I ran out of paint. Belinda thought a gallon might cover it but, NO. I'll need to head back to the paint store in the morning if I want to finish the project. I need to finish the project because the neighbors are having a holiday party next week and we'd like to be good neighbors and have the fence look acceptable. Maybe we'll even take a couple of the refrigerators off the front porch and get the pick-up off the blocks.... Oh wait, we live in a nice part of Austin. The most I can ever get away with is a partially unpainted fence. 

At some point I took a break for a yeoman-like lunch of Greek Yogurt, blueberries, walnuts and grains. I cheated a bit and mixed in some honey. I hope the vegans don't picket my kitchen. 

I went into the office to call the paint company and order more paint. Then I checked e-mail and saw a good opportunity to procrastinate a bit. There was a message from Fedex that my package from B&H was on hold at the local Fedex shop; it's in the same shopping center as my favorite coffee shop (which I did not visit!!!). 

I'd taken advantage of the B&H "open box" sale on Lumix S1Rs. I mean, who (among those already owning a bunch of cool L-mount lenses) would willingly pass up a half price sale on a 50 megapixel masterpiece of a camera? But after I ordered it I found a few comments about open box sales including one from a photographer who had purchased one of the open box S1Rs from B&H only to find some smudge or other stuff on the sensor of the camera. To B&H's credit he was able to swap the camera right then and there (he was at the store). I was anxious to inspect my new treasure and make sure I hadn't bought a flawed pig-in-a-poke. 

I needn't have worried. The camera came packed as new and every surface (including the sensor) was spotless. The accessories looked untouched, the battery uncharged. I strapped up the camera with one of my older Tamrac straps and popped in a newly charged battery. Everything was in its default setting and the camera had no gotchas. 

I upgraded the firmware to 1.3, put on the 50mm f1.4 S Pro and I've been walking around with it ever since. The price of $1829 for a brand new $3700 body is crazy. Absolutely crazy. But then so is actually buying a second one.

I've yet to construct a perfect rationale for owning the second S1R and the 4th Lumix S series camera extant but I'm still working on it. Right now my best response is: "because I wanted to." 

Tomorrow? More early swimming. More post swim paint purchasing. More painting. And finally I might just get around to doing some marketing. Certainly there's got to be a better way to spend my time than taking two days to paint a small section of fence. 

My neighbor's handyman came over to see what I was doing re: painting the fence. He took a long look at the fence, and then at me, and he said, "You know, you could have borrowed my paint sprayer and you could have had this done in about twenty, twenty five minutes..." Made me feel so wise. Next time.

Here you will find random photos from a big space and also of housewares. Why? I have no idea.

The Canon G10 meets my newest daily walk around camera and lens, the Lumix S1R + the Sigma 45mm f2.8. Also, I passed the 4300 mark for blog posts. Hooray for me!

I'm having a lot of fun incorporating the Lumix S series cameras into the way I do photography. I have the two S1s that are tasked with day-to-day commercial work. They handle the video and the theatrical documentation and all the regular portrait work that's destined for some company's website. They work well and the lenses are probably the best I've ever owned. The only caveat so far is just the weight and bulk of each piece in the system. But I feel spry enough to cart them around for now. When I finally hit middle age I'll trade everything in for a couple more G10s. They are small and light.

I've more or less settled on the S1R, the high resolution version of the Ss, for my daily, personal shooter camera. I use it with either the Sigma 45mm f2.8 lens but when I'm hungry for a bit of manual focus nostalgia I like to put the 50mm f1.7 Carl Zeiss lens on the camera and focus slowly and carefully. Sometimes just to make other photographers cringe... And lately I've been using it in the Monochrome L mode.

Today I was walking around the house with the dog making photographs with a tripod mounted G10 and I came across this camera sitting on the dining room table. Just a big package of potential abandoned for an ancient point and shoot. I pulled the tripod over and took a few shots down around a full second of exposure. Hey look! The big camera is totally in focus!!! Miracle!!!!

There's room on the studio desk for both. It's fun to play with new cameras. Just as much fun to re-play with the older ones.

Click on the S1R to see just how good a still life camera the G10 is...

The G10 rears its lovely head and goes on a black and white binge. This fella loves a tripod and a lot of light.

Why my sudden fascination with old, small camera tech?

Because we get slammed with all the new tech all the time.

And who wants to read yet another article about the "best mirrorless full frame cameras of 2019."

A "buyers" guide. As if.......

All images done with the Canon G10 set to B&W.