Stick with it...

A while back I was reading an article on a new 'technique' called ttv - through the viewfinder. People are taking old cameras and attaching them to digital compacts and shooting through the viewfinder of the old film camera, being sure to include the viewfinder itself. I thought it would make a good border for stock (although purists eschew fake borders, of course). I got my hands on an old Pentax k-1000 body and figured I'd give it a try.

It was harder than I thought. The viewfinder has an optical distance of about a meter so you eye can focus, so a macro lens wasn't needed. What was hard was that most lenses I had didn't have the angle of view to get the whole viewfinder in. My trusty Panasonic GF1 and 20mm lens came to the rescue.

I was disappointed to see it not accepted on Dreamstime yesterday, so i made a few changes and got rid of the ground glass and focus circle which was grainy (true to life!). This morning, this was online:


© Photographer: Bradcalkins

And while I'm at it, here is the back of the camera:


© Photographer: Bradcalkins

Winter through a pocket camera

We recently took the kids up to Big White for a week and the Panasonic GF-1 proved to be a capable companion to my Canon 40D. There was no way I would have taken the 40D along when helping a 2 year old ski - the GF-1 slipped into my jacket pocket nicely.



Of note is that unlike my old Canon G10, niether of these shots needed noise reduction or downsampling to get a sharp image. Again - not shots you couldn't have done with the G10 or another compact, but ones that saved some steps in my workflow and resulted in higher resolution files.

One point about using the LCD to compose in bright winter conditions - I can no longer say that I haven't noticed the LCD washing out in bright sun. While totally sufficient for composing, it was pretty hard to judge exposure other than on the histogram (which is fine). On the other hand, I could shoot with my ski goggles on - greatly speeding up the process and allowing me to get more shots without annoying people I was skiing with :) I should also add that I was able to take shots, adjust EV and shutter speed without taking off my mitts (not gloves, mitts!).

GF1 + EF 85mm f/1.8

The other day I slipped my EOS adapter and 85mm prime onto my GF1 and slipped it into my coat pocket (once again proving the size of the GF1 makes it very portable compared to my 40D). I was able to grab some manual focus shots of the kids sledding, but also this one of my parent standing atop a snowy hill. This and others were accepted for stock, which is a pleasing side note. I can't say enough about how much I'm enjoying the GF1. I wouldn't try to manually focus my 85mm on the GF1 for moving subjects, but having a telephoto (170mm f/1.8) for 'free' is great. The fact that it fits in my pocket AND that I can go sledding with it stowed there is icing on the cake :)


© Photographer: Bradcalkins

Manual focus is actually quite well done - a quick press of the dial on the back and you are looking at 5x for focus, then a tap of the shutter zips back to full screen. The only thing that would be better is if it showed a partial enlargement so you could still see the 'whole' image behind for faster framing.

I would also say that I'm not a huge fan of the out of camera jpgs, but as I shoot RAW anyways I'm pretty happy with the color on this camera. Here is an example shot with the pancake lens:


© Photographer: Bradcalkins

Perfect bokeh

A lot of talk goes on about the out of focus rendering on a lens. This is a shot I took recently with my new 85mm f/1.8 lens wide open. The OOF highlights are perfectly round - something you don't see in many lenses... I often wonder why not, since the blades themselves aren't even in the picture.




Then, there is the new Panasonic GF1. While I admit I love the out of focus rendering, it doesn't come close to circular blur wide open except in the centre of the frame (taken with the 20mm pancake set to f/1.7):

GF1 and stock

The GF1 is proving to be a capable stock photography camera, as well as being perfect for my go anywhere camera. Unlike the G10, which I left at home too often, the GF1 gets grabbed whereever I'm going. The G10 wasn't a camera you could slip into your shirt pocket either, so I'm not really finding any cases where I wish I had the slightly smaller G10. As a result, I'm also getting more out of the GF1 in terms of stock photography - just becuase I have it with me. Here are couple of recent uploads that were accepted this week:

Micro 4/3s adatper with EOS mount lenses

Indeed, it works! Here is a shot from a lensbaby (illustrating that it works, not that I can get a great image with it!):

The Lensbaby mounted on the GF1 (for some reason I think it looks a little dorky, but looks don't matter much versus not using it at all):

Here is a wide closeup with the EF-S 10-22mm mounted on the GF1:

And shown on the body:

I'm really looking forward to taking the GF1 on trips, with the 10-22mm thrown in the carry on for some tight interior shots. This combo works nicely due to the large depth of field wide open. The manual focusing works great too - for static subject you just hit the Focus Point select button, then hit Menu/Set (or move the area around first to focus off center) and you are presented with a live 5x or 10x view. I wouldn't choose this combo over an SLR for fast action, but for macro or landscape work it 'works'... The lensbaby, on the other hand, is perfect given that it doesn't have focus or aperture control anyways.

I'm still shocked by my ability to get excited and describe something as 'perfect' when it doesn't do anything - but that is what this camera brings out in me :) Next thing you know I'll be buying the Zeiss ZE mount lenses and raving about their MF perfection on Alt-Lens boards!

m4/3 to EOS adapter

I'll be looking forward to posting some pics from my GF1/EOS combo - the adapter arrived today. It fits both EF and EF-S lenses, so I'll be trying it out with:

EF-S 60mm Macro (alot cheaper than the 45mm Panasonic Macro if it works!)
EF-S 10-22mm (pretty wide, and with the smaller sensor I get quite a bit of depth of field even wide open - 3.3ft to infinity)
EF 85mm 1.8 (I'm very interested to see how this performs)
Lensbaby 2.0 (especially given the upcoming contest! Seems cool, but needs to be on a tripod to hold steady)

I'm curious to see how the sharpness and corners look, since I have to either shoot these wide open or do the 'hold down the depth of field preview button' trick when I take it off my Canon body.

Power meter

Here is a shot of a power meter that I took with my new GF1. We had a new meter installed so it was sitting at very close to zero, and I thought I'd better get in there and grab a photo early on. The photos were pretty boring (see example above), so I spiced it up a bit with black and white and a zoom effect. The zoom helps to get rid of the logos, at the same time as it plays off the energy side of things. Happy to say it was approved for sale today - another stock shot with the GF1. DT isn't accepting Panasonic RAW files yet, so I've been converting to DNG - probably more useful to buyers anyways (they don't have to have the absolute latest to make use of the files).

Tiny viewfinders?

I'm interested in the opinion of people who use point and shoot cameras... One of the criticisms levelled against the Panasonic GF1 and the like is that they lack an integrated viewfinder. While I agree that a viewfinder is better than not having one, all things being equal - the form factor of the GF1 versus my SLR is significant. If I need the stability of the larger camera held to my eye, I can pull it out - assuming I have it with me! Otherwise there are tripods...

The GF1 lends itself to all kinds of situations where I find I don't have my SLR with me. I'm curious how many people that use Point and Shoot sized cameras with viewfinders actually use them on a regular basis? I used to have a G10 that had a viewfinder on it, and aside from a couple of shots taken in bright light out a plane window, I almost never used it. So to me, losing the viewfinder wasn't a big deal. Anyone else agree?

Is it just that I live somewhere where there isn't as much direct sunlight? Sure I can go to the GH1 and get a viewfinder in almost the same size, but that adds a lot of cost to the package...

Flash for GF1

I told you I'd bring Canon's EOS system back into the fold! With much trepidation, I followed a large number of online poster's 'advice' and tried my 430EX on my new GF1. Happily, it fired the flash. While I don't get eTTL, manual for flash is pretty common anyways. I can balance my exposre for ambient with on camera controls and then use the manual adjustment on the 430 or 580EX to adjust the flash level. In theory, the fact that this triggers at all means I should have no trouble using my wireless trigger and off camera cords, etc. Very exciting!




Here is a center crop of a test picture. Note that this doesn't illustrate much (nothing does on the web!) other than that I can get an exposure right with bounced manual flash on the 2nd try, and that the GF1 does what I'd hoped - delivers the resolution of an SLR or Canon G10, but without the noisy, grainy look of the G10 in unfocused areas. There is something odd about the GF1 - until now I've been excited about things working together in fully compatible auto modes - but now I'm getting excited about being able to use a lens without manual focus or aperture control, or a flash in manual only :)