The Travel Trail - Part two - Micro 4/3 In The Hand

The first of our Panasonic Travel Trail cameras was small but capable - our next candidate gains a little in size, but introduces you to a whole system of photography - it is a photo trail you can follow for years...This one is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX85.

Panasonic Micro 4/3 system cameras have lenses that clip on and off - you can choose from a wide variety of different ones for specialised or general tasks. And you can use lenses from other micro 4/3 manufacturers - they have all come to agreement on that.

The other great advantage for this camera is the increased size and capability of the sensor 4/3 " Live MOS with 16.84 megapixels. Together with increased processor power this gives increased detail and resolution and you can blow your pictures up larger.

As with the smaller Panasonic camera, it has the 4K video recording and can also benefit from the post-focus selection system when you take a fast photo burst in 4K.

You'd like Wifi? It's in there. You'd like to control it remotely with your smartphone or tablet? There's an app for that. Want the convenience of a touch screen? Touch away - the GX85 screen responds instantly.

If you would like to work close to the ground with a macro lens - and Panasonic make some beautiful close-up lenses - you can flip the screen out flat like an old-fashioned waist-level finder and look down without getting down. I use a camera with this feature all the time at car shows to get a natural angle on the vehicles while standing. You are not inconvenienced and are much less conspicuous in a crowd.

The lens that you see on this camera is the Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f:3.5-5.6 Aspherical lens with a powered image stabilising system.  It has nearly the same angles of view as the lens attached to the DMC-TZ110 but a greater heft - well, it needs this as the sensor is larger. It is also a perfect overseas travel lens and tourists with this attached never need to undo it throughout the trip - no letting dust and bugs into the camera.

Of course once you are home, the sky is the limit with Panasonic lenses -from fisheye to extreme telephone and some of the fixed prime lenses have a very advanced performance in low light.

Note that this camera has an extendable flash tube that pops up from the top housing of the camera when you press a button. Good for macro and for adding highlights to faces that are close to the camera. You can plug into speed lights or any sort of studio flash you fancy with the top hot shoe.

Okay - more space needed to carry this camera, and more weight to haul. This is balanced by later detailed pictures and the chance to use different lenses. The hand grip is also larger and easier to use. You choose which side of the compromise you feel best on.      

See the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX85 on the Camera Electronic website here

The Travel Trail - Panasonic Part One - The Silver Style

Today's Travel Trail brings us one of the more stylish of the Panasonic compact cameras. Those of you who have an eye to fashion may wish to look closely at the shape and colouration of this...

The Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ110 box says "Silver" but that is a kind of inadequate description for what looks very much like a two-tone titanium finish with a red accent stripe separating the different colours. Of course you can get these cameras in black, but the appearance of this on is so appealing that it rivets the eye instantly. Will we ever get past black boxes completely? No - but this is a good start.

The camera is the type that has a fixed zoom lens and provision for eye-level viewfinder as well as LCD screen viewing. For the tech-conscious it has a 1" sensor and 20.1 megapixels MOS sensor. The lens is a 10 x optical zoom that gives you the angles of view from the classic (35mm film classic) 25mm wide-angle to 250mm telephoto. This instantly identifies this as an overseas travel camera.

Why? Because you need a long lens for Alaskan bears or African lions. And for surf shots closer to home. Of course you can take anything with the telephoto and bring it in closer, but the traveller who wants to do the world circuit with the least encumbrance of gear is the person for this camera.

Now remember that you can also shoot night time, parties, restaurants, family, and an amazing number of Australian travel photos with a smaller camera like this. The fact that you are carrying that much zoom power in pocket or purse means you are never caught wanting when something develops.

On a more serious technical note, the camera shoots 4K video - the current standard of excellence. It is literally a one-button process. The fact that the camera can shoot 4K means that Panasonic have also been able to do something rather magic - they have made arrangements for small bursts of recording that take different focus points during action sequences that let you go back later and select the exact peak of focus. Here's where the sports people faced with a moving object will cry with joy -no more missed shots.

Of course Panasonic have included a number of fun programs in the mode dial - panorama, miniature effect, picture effects, etc. Macro, stabilisation and WiFi are all included. Quite frankly, this camera and a small tablet are all you need for a world trip, and that is two pockets and a space in your luggage for the charger (I pack mine in my spare pair of shoes...), a spare battery, some cards, and a "I don't speak your language" app on the tablet should do it. If you get taken for a rich tourist by the look of the camera you'll have to talk your own way out of it.

PS: That's a no-joke Leica zoom lens made by some serious Panasonic workers. I know- I saw 'em being made.

See the Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ110 on the Camera Electronic website 

Blinded By The Excitement - The Canon SX 60 HS

Okay, there are days and days. And some days you are in a daze.

I have to confess that I have forgotten to take a picture of the subject of this column - the Canon SX 60 HS camera. It was in my hand for a day, and I shot pictures all over the place with it, and then forgot to set it down on the table and take a picture of it. My only excuse is I was so excited about what it does that I concentrated on that and let the external appearance go.

Okay, You're looking at this weblog column on a computer. Google over to the Camera Electronic site for the camera and see what it looks like and read the gush about it. Then come back and I'll tell you what I found out.

Right. The target buyer for this camera has always been stated to be the newbie African or Alaskan traveller. They would benefit from the long zoom contained in the camera and as it can be run in a pretty sophisticated way straight out of the box, they are likely to produce some good animal and scenery shots even if they don't know how or why. Good thinking, Canon, and please always include something of this nature in your lineup.

I figured the best studio review test would be to imagine I was one of the novice tourists -  I had just picked it up, hopped on the plane, and then hit the ground shooting in Johannesburg or Vancouver*. I charged the battery, threw in a San Disk card, and whizzed round the back of the studio looking for airplanes.

None, but the birds were on the wire and the TV aerial and they sat still long enough for me to find out how good this lens and sensor combination is on distant wildlife. It is very good indeed. Note that I shot JPEG at Intelligent Auto setting with no more knowledge of what I was doing than a clerk in a lumber yard.

Next to the studio table and a '41 Chevy hot rod. ISO, WB, and focus selected by the camera - I just pointed, zoomed, and shot. The results haven't been tweaked - it really does what you see as a straight JPEG. By any criterion, it is doing good studio work.

That's kinda horrifying. It calls into question all the other fussy things I do to get these tabletop scenes and suggests that the careful artistic genius and fabulous technical skill I exhibit could just as easily be done by a guy in gloves holding a snow shovel. As long as he was holding the Canon SX 60 HS he could beat me.

Just as well I forgot to take a picture of the thing - you might have come into the shop and bought one and gone out and made me look bad. There are dangers everywhere...

Vancouver - City of Mystery. Home of the British Columbia Museum Of Wood Pulp. Twinned with Odessa in the Ukraine...bet the Ukrainians are nervous about that...I spent a month in Vancouver one week...

That's Why - the New Canon G3X

It looks like...but it also looks like...and what's with the two tripod sockets?

Okay, you're going on safari or bear hunting. You want to take landscapes as as well as  wildlife. You don't want to take a big camera. You want to take video as well. You don't want to have to change lenses. You have a tablet and a mobile phone and want to back things up and send off reports to social media every night.

Easy to do? Up till now, no - few cameras combined all those requirements. Now we have the new Canon G3X and it does.

Long lens - up to 600mm equivalent.
Wide lens - back to 24mm equivalent.
Articulating screen that can go to 180º for selfies.
WiFi inside.
Instant access to social media.
Full video.
Man-sized grip without massive body weight.
External control access and two custom channels.
Macro.

The two tripod sockets are really one threaded and one smooth - to integrate with the anti-twist mechanisms that many tripod manufacturers put onto their quick-release plates.

A very good travel idea.

The Camo Card And The Stealth Filter - Lens Coat

We had a training session on the Lens Coat range of goods today. I'm glad it was in the clinical surroundings of the laboratory - had it been held in the garden or bush, the products would have disappeared from view...

Lens Coat make a series of fitted covers for telephoto and zoom lenses - they can fit out lots of examples from the Nikon, Canon, Sigma, and Tamron range. We've had them on lenses in the rental department for some time and they form a pretty good way to reduce knocks on these long lenses. When they are in camouflage colours they help to disguise the outlines of the lenses when shooting in the bush.

It is sort of like putting Hello Kitty neoprene covers on mobile phones except if you are going to Africa with your 400mm telephoto lens you don't really want to say hello to some of the kitties they have over there - thus the blend-into-the-grass colours.

The real surprise was the extent to which Lens Coat have taken these camouflage fabrics for other products.

The first one is a wallet designed to hold CF memory cards. You can get a range from 6 to ten of the cards in them and there are models that fit SD cards as well. And several patterns of camouflage colour to blend into wherever in the world you will visit. The one for the Las Vegas Strip is pink.

The second product is a dirty white and grey camo for two filters - a little teardrop-shaped pouch that hangs on your belt and lets you tote a polariser and a lens cloth very conveniently. The colour combination is intended for Alberta in February or Toronto any time...

The Long View From Nikon -Coolpix P900

A question arose the other day as to what camera would be best to use for South African safaris or Alaskan bear expeditions. After the clamour died down - everyone has their own favourite best perfect opinion around here - I took the Nikon Coolpix P-900 out of the Nikon cabinet, dropped a card into it, and walked out front of the shop.

The skyline towers of Perth are a long way away from Stirling Street - longer even than the distance that you would choose for lion or grizzly bear shots.

The lens of the Coolpix P-900 has the equivalent of 2000mm in the old film estimation - a fabulous thing in the day and a focal length than none of us ever aspired to. Thus this camera is an extension of our capabilities far beyond what we could do.

The two shots are hand held. No tripod, no monopod. The camera was set in pure tourist mode - AUTO everything. Point, find the target, shoot.

Sharp enough? Close enough? You judge. Come stand out front of 230 and look at those towers.

Nikon are remarkable designers and they have come out with a truly remarkable camera- that is eminently affordable. Don't leave home... for Kruger or Denali... without it.

View Nikon P900 specs

I've Already Got A Camera, But...The Ten Big Questions

1. But I'm going to visit France and I don't want to carry something the size of a trench mortar through the fancy boutiques and restaurants. Can you sell me a compact camera?

2. But I'm going to visit Alaska to photograph the grizzly bears and I need a camera the size of a trench mortar to bring them into focus without getting so close that they maul me. Can you sell me a DSLR with a 400mm lens?

3. I'm going to visit Ukraina. Can you sell me a trench mortar?

4. I want to take pictures of spiders. Can you sell me a macro lens, a macro slider, a tripod, and a can of Mortein.

5. I want to take street pictures in the rain and look cool and hip like the pictures in the advertisements. Can you sell me a mirror-less camera that's weather-proof.  I can organise my own red Nikes and two-day stubble.

6. I have no idea how it works. Can I take a course that will tell me what to do?

7. I need a memory card. Do you sell memory cards?

8. I need to do a wedding shoot tomorrow. Can you set my camera for me and sticky-tape the controls down? I'll pay for the sticky tape...

9. I put the memory card in upside down and now nothing works and it won't even open up. Is there a technician on duty?

10. No-one makes film any more. I read that on the internet, so it must be true. Can you sell me some film for it?

The answer, as if you couldn't guess, to all these questions is " yes ". We regularly encounter random requests and do our best to fulfil them. In the case of the trench mortars, they are made by Nerf and are suitable for use inside the home.

Good Design From Panasonic - In Store Now

The Panasonic FZ 1000 has been a camera on the lips of many callers over the last few weeks - now at last we can satisfy the curiosity and ambition of the people who rang - we have the camera in stock.

It is a bridge camera, whatever that has come to mean these days and if previous cameras were stone arches, this one is a cantilever suspension with multiple spans. The big daddy of bridge cameras.

It starts with a 1" sensor - large enough to deal well with detail and electronic noise. It has an f:2.8 lens ( that goes to f:4 at the longest focal length...) and it has a massive zoom range - the equivalent range of 24mm to 400mm.

The electronic viewfinder has been upgraded to 2,359 K OLED. and there is a hybrid form of image stabilising incorporated.

The big move for the video side of it is the 4K High Speed Video with an FHD of 120fps /100fps.

This currently may well be the ultimate convenient Africa/Alaska camera for the wildlife tourist. It has been made with an attention to the ergonomics of the hand that is characteristic of Panasonic - the good grip design that they showed with the GX-7 is echoed here. A man's hand can comfortably operate the camera. The eyepiece is also made with enough extension that the nose can comfortably fit behind it. Not an inconsiderate matter for some.

Come in and try it - we're charging the battery right now.

Going On Safari? Come Up And See Me Sometime...

The Safari Season is upon us. People are gearing up to look at the wild animals in Africa, Alaska, and Europe*. As we speak tourists are packing backpacks the size of refrigerators with DSLRs, lenses, flashes, laptops, and waterproof apple corers. Because you never can tell when you will need to can apples in Constantinople in a rain storm.

Wise tourists who have done this before and have the chiropractor's bills to show for it may elect to take a smaller rig this time. Consider if your ambitions and plans might well be suited with a camera that has a 30X zoom lens, 4 second to 1/2000 second shutter, manual aperture and shutter wheel, and GPS built-in. And a Leica lens. And a proper viewfinder on the LHS of the body. And full HD video with stereo sound.

And fits in your top pocket as you go through the door of the airplane. And for which you have not paid excess baggage.

Panasonic TZ-60.

You may not know which wine to drink with your biltong or cheese fries, and you may not know a bear from a banjo, but you can capture the fun and the scenery without making a guy or a mule of yourself. You will be less likely to attract the attention of the local pickpockets, or at least they will concentrate on your passport and wallet, if you are not carrying a camera shop on your neck. The grizzlies and hyenas will be less likely to demand a fee for posing if you do not shoot with a DSLR.

You'll still have to deal with the Europeans, but at least you will have your hands free while you do it.