Category Archives: Photographs

Runner

Micro Four-Thirds, Photographs

iISO does its thing

The iISO function in the Panasonic G1 (“intelligent ISO”), according to the wretched instruction manual which ships with this otherwise fine camera, does the following: “The ISO sensitivity is adjusted according to the movement of the subject and the brightness”. (Page 79). I use this setting in my default setup for street snaps.

Here the CPU in the camera elected 1/500 second to freeze the running boy and an enlarged view in Lightroom confirms that his shirt is, indeed, tack sharp.


Runner. iISO, Panasonic G1

It’s a two edged sword, however. If you want movement blur, it has to be switched off or, much better, simply set the large mechanical mode dial on top to Shutter Priority, in which case iISO is switched off, though that fact is buried in a footnote in the instruction book. As I wrote earlier, Panny must have had some real live photographers involved in the design of this fine camera. Too bad they weren’t involved in the writing of the manual.

A note on AE lock: You can elect whether the ‘AF/AE Lock’ button on the top rear of the body locks focus, exposure or both, much as you can on the Canon 5D, my other ‘serious’ camera (though the G1 is to the 5D as a Ferrari is to a Mack truck). In both bodies I have set the button to lock exposure only, as focus can be locked with a first pressure on the release button of either.

Canon does this right. The AE lock lasts for some 10 seconds – ample time to recompose and take the snap.

The G1 gets it wrong. You have to keep the button depressed to maintain exposure lock until you press the button. That makes for some strange contortions of the hand.

The alternative in the G1 is to enable ‘AF/AE Lock Hold’, a separate choice in the Custom menu, but they got that completely wrong. Yes, it does lock exposure (and/or focus depending how you set ‘AF/AE Lock’) but the camera’s settings remain locked to your exposure even after the shutter is released. You can only unlock things by again depressing the button on the back of the camera. If you opt for a minimal viewfinder display as I do, you don’t know that your exposure is still locked until you notice a super bright or dim screen when making the next picture. You then scramble to unlock things only to find that your subject has gone ….

What Panny should do is change the firmware so that, with ‘AF/AE Lock Hold’ enabled, the lock is released after the exposure is taken. Let’s hope they change this, as selective exposure reading is a useful tool with dynamic range-challenged digital sensors.

Sometimes it does matter

Photographs

Not all posing is right

There’s an interesting article in a recent issue of The Guardian on whether Robert Capa faked the famous snap of the Spanish revolutionary soldier at the moment of death:


Click the picture to read the article

If you click the above there’s an excellent audio commentary with many great Capa pictures – and pictures of Capa – which is worth spending a few minutes on.

I wrote in a light tone on the subject of whether posing a seemingly candid snap made any difference here, and feel it is only appropriate to add that, in this case, it probably does make a difference. If it’s unposed, this is a great piece of photojounralism; if posed, it’s an attempt to manipulate opinion to the photographer’s political leanings. Not good, as the picture was clearly presented as reportage not opinion – not something any of the candids in my earlier piece could be accused of.

The Panasonic G1 – Part VIII

Micro Four-Thirds, Photographs

Some field tests

To read the whole series on the Panasonic G1, click here

The ProStrap for the GI finally arrived.


ProStrap fitted to the Panasonic G1

No more excuses for deferring a proper outing for the camera so after attaching the strap I set out for the big city, spare (and very small) Panny battery in my Levis. The strap really does nothing for the handling of the camera which is a good thing. The right hand finger and thumb grip on the body are properly engineered for a secure grip and the left hand cradles the lens from below in traditional fashion. What this little strap confers is enhanced peace of mind that you are not about to drop the camera, and it’s far more functional for my intended use than a shoulder strap emblazoned with the manufacturer’s name.

Before setting out I did a little more checking of the confusing instruction book and made a couple more changes to the settings.

First I switched on AF+MF. This means that when you have locked focus with a first pressure on the shutter button, you can still make manual focus changes with the collar in the lens. When turned this renders the enlarged view in the EVF for fine changes in focus. A quick press and re-press of the shutter button then restores the full image with the focus locked on the new setting. Very clever.

i.Exposure was also turned on – this provides for automatic adjustment of contrast if the contrast range is too high for the sensor to handle. A tacit acknowledgment by Panasonic that things are not yet perfect with digital sensors.

Then I turned on i.ISO. If the subject is moving the ISO is adjusted upward automatically for a faster shutter speed. The electronics can do this as the live sensor video feed continuously measures movement blur. I had already limited the maximum ISO to 800 to mitigate grain/noise as described yesterday so it will be interesting to see how this works out in practice.

Bottom line? I should have things set just so for a very responsive …. point-and-shoot.

The major criticism to be leveled at Panasonic so far is that they have done such a poor job of the instruction manual. Multiple cross references, a near-useless index and a rote recitation of each menu choice and control function. What is needed is an approach which focuses on the user, not the camera. A section for street snappers, a section for the sports crowd, a section for landscape photographers and so on. How can a company making a multi-million dollar investment in wonderfully executed new technologies pay so little attention to the ergonomics of a user manual?

  • The camera is a sweetheart to carry around. Small, quiet, unobtrusive and very fast.
  • I have to learn to avoid depressing the front control wheel to avoid putting it into exposure compensation mode.
  • 2/3rds of a stop underexposure is just perfect for avoiding blown out highlights, with Lightroom’s Fill Light slider doing the rest
  • Based on my knowledge of what my Canon 5D’s sensor will do, any one of these will easily print razor sharp at 18″ x 24″
  • Grain is noticeable at higher ISOs but not obtrusive
  • The lens is simply wonderful. Minimal barrel distortion at the wide end, none elsewhere. Maybe this is Adobe Camera Raw doing software tricks in Lightroom 2.4 to fix things. Who cares? It works. Try saying that about barrel distortion with the Canon 24-105mm ‘L’. Further, there’s no chromatic aberration to speak of. A remarkable piece of optical + software design.

This camera may be the answer for many, like this fan of the magnificent M2 and M3 bodies, looking for that elusive replacement for the Leica M rangefinder.

Simply stated, Panasonic’s G1 is a keeper. I believe it marks a seismic change in quality camera design which will have the competition scrambling to keep up.

Southern Pacific

Photographs

The station in Burlingame

Dating from 1894, and used to this day, the Southern Pacific railroad station in Burlingame, CA uses 18th-century tiles from the Mission San Antonio de Padua and the San Pedro y San Pablo Asistencia. Gorgeously restored recently it’s a fine example of Mission Revival style architecture (1890-1920), visible in a very early historical picture here:

On a late afternoon trip to the bookstore – I studiously avoid the freeway because of the opportunity to luxuriate in fine architecture – here’s how it looks today; the old weathered sign has been left unrestored:

All snapped on that little pocket charmer, the Panasonic Lumix LX-1 Here’s the plaque: