The Mixology Of A Micro 4/3 Kit

Running two brands on the same format has its advantages and disadvantages. I tend to obsess about the down sides, but then I forgot about the good.

The bad;

Some lens features do not cross over.

This is sometimes a good thing. For example, the super touchy aperture ring on the 15mm Leica, something you cannot disengage on a Panasonic, is dead, i.e. not a major pain the ass on an Olympus, but also some switches and in lens I.S. are also not transferrable.

Some Flash features do not transfer.

Like the lens thing, but less of an issue off-brand units.

Things turn the wrong way (depending on how you look at it). On the Oly cameras, you can change the lens focus direction, but only in focus by wire and you are stuck with zoom rotation. My fix for this is (now) to only use Oly cameras at the paper in AF, Panasonics for my video/commercial kit and always give myself a reasonable adjustment period between the two. I also tend to use these cameras differently*, so that helps.

Panasonic AF sucks with non Panasonic lenses.

It is not unusable and for short lenses I rarely notice any issues, but for long lens sports, it is twitchy, jumpy and generally not happy. Results can be had, often more than you would assume, but without a dedicated Panasonic lens, you are in for a ride. The newest Olympus 40-150 f4 seems the best followed by the 75mm, the older 75-300 kit is by far the worst.

Using my shorter Panasonic lenses on Olympus cameras is rarely an issue. This also goes for my Sigma prime, which works seamlessly on an Olympus, but are noticeably less comfortably on a Pana.

The good.

Some of my favourite results come from mixing lenses and cameras. Generally the Panasonic cameras have lighter and brighter images, lime greens, warmer skin tones, but the Olympus cameras also vary a little, so I effectively have three looks.

This also goes for the lenses, some Olympus being warmer than others, the Panasonic range seemingly is more consistent.

Favourite combinations;

G9 and 75mm. Used for many studio portraits since I gambled on the combo for the Telstra shoot, even using the G9 for the first time for stills. I believe this combination is in my top tier for quality overall.

G9 and 45mm. The little version of above. The 45mm Olympus is optically a less delicate and lush looking lens than the 75mm, but the G9 adds that in.

OM10 or G9 and Sigma 30mm. Just very nice. I do not like the files as much from the EM1’s or the Pen F with this lens, which seems to need a little warming up, but the delicateness of the lens and G9 mesh very well.

This job in particular highlighted the benefits of cross-pollination. The file above, taken in the notoriously bad light of the school gym needed almost no processing. The OM10’s often produce overly yellow files in this situation. The OM10 mk2 and Sigma 30mm was faultless and equally the 45mm on a G9 gave nicely balanced files (although the OM10 files were better).

EM10 and Leica 15. This combo just seems to rock. I used it a few times for school shoots as the third camera and regularly found the images spectacular. The EM10’s are quite warm, the lens cooler hued and the two seem to balance out, especially in mixed lighting and the AF with screen touch focus is snappy and sure footed.

EM1’s and the 9, 12-60 and 8-18 Leica’s. Delicate looking Pana lenses with extra body from the Oly sensor.

All the other compositions from this set were with Oly cameras and lenses and the blues were deeper, the greens cooler and heavier. The 9mm Leica allows me to open up an image seemingly more naturally with a slightly “fill flash” look.

G9 and 40-150 f2.8. Not for focus tracking, which is quite frightening, but image quality.

Bag Merry-Go-Round

I have been using the F2 Ballistic Domke happily for a few months and apart from weight (my Godox 860 flash is the main culprit), it has done nothing wrong.

I decided none the less to give the F804 another go, just to see if one bag could do all and to accommodate a larger hand held reflector.

The bag is just too big. It holds a ton of gear, big things especially, but gets uncomfortable to carry and poorly laid out for smaller gear. I will hold on to it for hauling lighting gear or similar.

Then I tried to get by with the Photocross 10, but after a job with only one camera, no spare bits (my bad, not the bags), I did learn to make sure “experiments” are carried out with real needs in mind.

The fact is, the F2 is the perfect bag for me. The shape, size and layout fit the ideal M43 day kit. The Ballistic version adds weather proofing confidence, slightly updated extras and the classic style and design has come back into vogue.

A little like this, only the left hand camera is now gripped, the OSMO has been dropped and the lenses have white circles on their back caps.

Main compartment;

This sits lens down in one section of the four part lens insert with the camera sitting on top. EM1.2 with grip and strap (worn when out) and usually the 40-150 f4. If I know I am going into a low light situation, I will swap this lens out for the 75mm.

In the open inside section. EM1.2 no grip with 12-40.

In one of the lens compartments*. Olympus 45mm for Bokeh and when the 40-150 gets too slow at f4.

In one of the lens compartments*. Olympus 17mm for Bokeh and low light standard work.

In one of the lens compartments*. Panasonic Leica 9mm as wide/macro. This has become one of my most useful lenses. Wide enough to do most of my wide work, stable enough for normal use. I call it the politician lens, for when the “crush” only allows one arm shooting, often high or low.

In one end pocket. Godox 860, off camera controller, small LED. I wish a decent flash was lighter, because the flash is the heaviest single thing in my bag.

In the other end pocket. The Sennheiser mic and phones have been dropped, even though it weighs nothing as video has been scarce, but the LED panel has been kept and the room reserved. That lack of video has allowed me to switch a G9 for a lighter EM1 as my second body.

Back pocket. A small 60cm 5-in-1 reflector and note pad (I like the bigger ones),

Front pockets. Phone, cleaning cloth, batteries, small spare note pad and multiple pens. The 1970’s era pockets are perfect for modern accessories like iphones etc, ironic considering I never found a proper use for them before.

Inside lid. Small change, spare cards, face mask and other bits.

Still reasonably heavy, but nothing compared to the other guys kits.

*One of the best things I did this year was put padded white furnitutre foot protectors on the lens rear caps to help identify and protect them. No more dropping one on top of another or grabbing two before I get the right one.

Dual Duel.

Dual ISO comparison, quick and dirty (or not as it goes).

This image was shot at ISO 2000, the upper end of the lower ISO range.

On closer inspection, sharpness and noise are very good, certainly better than M43, but there are other considerations.

Now one taken at ISO 12.800.

The image looks harder, but that could be the light. Still sharp and clean, but their is a little grain pattern in the background.

The dual ISO thing is still a bit of a mystery to me. I get it, but I don’t “get” it in useable terms. The application of it with video makes plenty of sense, but for stills, my instincts still fall back on what feels right.

A World Turned Upside Down?

Some very high ISO tetst with the S5. I have found that even with the 50mm lesn, the camera sseems to need more light. I have checked and checked, but nothing seems out of place. The good news of course is that ISO 12,800 on the S5 is very clean, although colour can drop away a bit.

ISO 12,800 wide open.

ISO 12,800 wide open.

ISO 12,800 wide open. A little added saturation sent the file a little off the rails.

ISO 2000, f1.8.

A sneaky G9 image (Sigma 30mm at f1.4 ISO 800). So why did the G9 only need ISO 800 when the S5 went straight to 2000 and a slower shutter speed?

Realistic Needs.

I had one of those jobs the other day that pushed my gear to the limit. In hindsight, after the mild depression lifted, I realised that I had broken my own rule.

I had taken the wrong lenses for M43 to work at it’s best.

The reality envelope of this level of photography, is pretty much understood.

I can push my M43 gear to a well exposed ISO 6400 file, which can still be cropped, pushed and prodded a decent amount. From these files I have managed to read name badges from a group of over a dozen people, bring out shadowed faces cleanly and use as little as 20% of the file without anyone seeing the crop.

The job I did unfortunately, had all the elements that stretched that and I only have myself to blame. Anticipating a quiet week with no sport (a weekend off), I took my sports gear bag home, but luckily left my f2.8 40-150 in my locker by mistake.

The lens I really needed was the 75 f1.8. In this environment, I would have managed ISO 3200, 1/1000th wide open. Wide open of course is f1.8, acting like an f2.8 lens in this format.

This is plenty and well within my happy zone.

To add to my dramas, the outer ring lights used for bikes were the on, but not the stronger main overhead lights, so basically most faces were in shadow.

Instead I needed ISO 6400 at 1/500th f2.8, which was on the edge. ON1 bought the files back, but I did the big no-no, I underexposed several files. They only just made news print quality, not fine art by any means.

All systems have a limit and most need some type of awareness to get the most out of them. My systemic advantage is extra reach for the speed, but I have to bring that. If I am in the same situation as everyone else, the full frame shooters have an edge. If I play all my tricks, balance returns.

Another photog there had a Canon R3 with a monster 85L ($13,000au). Her issue was reach, made up for partially by cropping a few more pixels and cleaner ISO performance, balanced against sometimes shallower depth of field, so same-same. The reality for her was a little more reach at the expense of a bit of speed would have been better (135 f2?) as she sometimes needed to be a little too close.

The huge difference to me is my EM1x and 75mm come in under the price of the lens alone and most importantly, it is more than enough. I just did not bring it, so my bad.

Taker Or Maker Redux

I did a post a while back called “Taker or Maker?” asking whether you, the reader fall into one or the other camp, but the context was confined to street photography. This time I am going to apply it to more general photography or more specifically, general journalistic photography.

I am a photo taker. I see something and if appropriate and I am able, I grab the shot. Simple as that. How I get the shot is an ever evolving process, but still it’s that simple.

That has always been me and always will be. Thirty plus years of photography has allowed a style to emerge naturally and that style is to watch, see and capture. I see no value in manufactured reality. It does nothing for me and it never occurred to me to evolve any differently.

For a long time I thought this was a matter of practice. The skill set that was not developed, but could be. Over the years though I have noticed a strong resistance in me to reverse the process from the natural see > capture to a very forced and uncomfortable make > capture.

This may be normal of course. Most people have a fear of public speaking or performance and to some extent manufacturing an image smacks of that, but in my case I have developed several comfortable skills when communicating with others, from sales to training to running field trips. I seem to have no fear when it comes to communicating to control peoples actions, but I still feel uncomfortable posing people.

Why?

I guess creatively, I respond to genuine actions with purpose, to the subject unaware candid and the beauty of life’s authenticity. The early images that inspired were National Geographic or Outdoor Photographer covers, books of travels and candid portraits of people in exotic places (i.e. Street photography before it was called that). During that period of my life and the history of photography, still life, weddings, newspaper and commercial work all had formulas that served their needs, but none appealed to me.

I am attuned to natural observance and feel very self conscious when breaking that reality.

This was grabbed, then I went to get names. better to ask for forgiveness than permission, because asking for permission kills the moment.

While there, this happened. Nothing set up, just reacted to. Prior to these I got a set of the usual sit-and-pose images and they were fine. Workman like. Interestingly, the editor chose these two as hero images, along with one of the artist (performing, not posing), then used the other shots as small fillers, so there is clearly something in this for everyone.

The watcher or taker is only after a natural moment. Nothing can be forced, made up or faked. If I have to set up a shot, I will take the role of choreographer and let the characters play out their roles, hopefully allowing me to work my way.

Good makers, like wedding or commercial shooters are a different breed and in some limited circumstances I can do what they do, especially in a studio, but generally, meaning 99% of the time, I work best watching and taking.

I have been trying to grow another foot at the paper, become a good photo maker, one who sets up polished formulaic shots, but it is just not me. This is part of the reason I have asked to go back to part time with an emphasis on weekend work. Weekends are where the sport is. I need some space to practice what I am good at, to do some work I actually enjoy and more than just occassionally.

This is the made photo, predictable, forced and practiced (but by shooting the process over the person it was effectively “taken” by me). I also noticed the maddening habit all the drivers got into of holding up the one finger, something even the host web page used sparingly. Making images can be a two way thing, which only adds to their fake nature. If the interaction is necessary, then the process ia at least smooth, but if it replaces a lack of imagination…………. .

This is the taken image, with adding context, action, interaction, authenticity and story elements. It required preparedness and speed, but this just adds to the fun and feeling of achievement.

As stated in a recent post, if forced to shoot naturally, I need to put people in a comfortable place, then take their image naturally, organically even if a little fake.

A bit like late night and morning people, I don’t think you can force one to be the other. Although the two other photographers at work are well practiced at making photos, one of them I feel is not any more comfortable than me, just well practiced and resigned to it. His great love is the landscape (found not made).

I can do the set shot thing and have to, but I will never be good at it*, nor will I like it and I will always push back with what I feel is a better representation of the world.

Protesting With Impact

My first job today was a protest.

The group in question protest a lot, usually with high commitment and most often climate based. This time, they were protesting our lazy preparedness against flooding on the eve of the aniversary of Lismore’s floods last year (which are still being cleaned up).

One of the things I find tough about my job is the general cynicism that most causes are greeted with, but I am impressed by the protesters courage and in this case creativity.

The numbers on the walls are significant floods in Launceston’s past (although one a few years ago is not on there and let’s not talk about floods to many others in the country).

A little Alice in Wonderland, a little Pink Floyd and some Stalinist monument.

One Job

Could I do one photographic job as a career now?

One sport, one genre, one style or one operational process?

I had not tried panning in a while, but gave it a go at the Penny Farthing bikes. It worked ok, so it seemed logical to do it with the cars.

To be honest, once you have a few basic styles knocked, a sport like this just becomes a matter of planning, patience and a little luck, because you can’t be everywhere at once. I only spent a few hours at the track this weekend, unlike the pro racing shooters who spent three full days behind the lens. In that time I got the required pan, corner and pit lane shots of every car and had to ask myself “what else is there?” apart from catching an accident or other drama.

We worked out that to guarantee at least a chance of catching all the action at even our small Symmons Plains race track, you would need a minimum of four shooters working together.

I got really lucky with this one, ironically a product of a working photographer who had several other jobs to do that day. It was taken during an early practice lap, so the driver was only warming up and I was the only one at this corner. During racing I stuck with this corner, because I did not have time to go too far and the pits were close, but then I had lots of company.

I cannot honestly think of a single sport I would like to cover at the exclusion of all others, let alone a career shooting just sports only. I simply do not have a great enough passion for any one sport and enjoy too many other types of photography.

At a paper at least we get daily variety and plenty of opportunities within that, even if they are often limited. My plan to drop off a couple of editorial days in favour of weekends will hopefully balance my load better.

The truth is, after the first few encounters with a new sport or photographic style, I tend to either get obsessed (which leads to over working it), or bored. I love shooting some sports, but can still get too much very easily. Some sports, often ones I actually like to watch or play can be bland to shoot and all come with compromises*.

The paper and school have reinforced my preference for candid, take as you see shooting with plenty of scope for variety.

My ideal. A person comfortable in their space, respectfully captured without intrusion allowing us an insight into their world.

Maybe, if I had the means to achieve it, a working portraitists career could work, but with lots of other forms of photography as hobbies. I am aware that over time, even that would start to become tedious.

Travel and street, similar and mutually supporting interests I had before I found employment, seem to be the ones I will go back to easily. It does not hurt that Japan is the lure for both.

In a nutshell, I guess my “one job” needs to be the “all job” that free lancing, hobbyist or news photography provides, I just need to find a balance within that spread.

*Motor sport, red ball Cricket etc, where the action happens fleetingly and sometimes rarely.

The Constructed Candid

I hate set-up shots. To clarify that a little, I hate obviously set-up shots. Sometimes I feel like a day at the paper is nothing but these and it is driving me away.

There is a way though, to escape this oh so obvious provincial newpaper looking image*.

My C.I.A mantra is a start only, but looking closer, I realised you can interpret that a lot of ways, so here is a more flexible version.

Control the elements, by putting into place (Composing) what you want and excluding what you do not.

Once placed, this couple, a pair of safe crackers by trade were quite relaxed when I simply said “talk amongst yourselves”.

The Interest value should evolve from the Interactions that come naturally from that space.

No posing, I just asked them to hold their place and look to the camera.

Action or Angle is the bit where you capture those interactions, quickly, quietly and intuitively (preferably invisibly), adding a level of enjoyment and accomplishment in the process.

The shot before the one above. No posing, just recognition and take.

This is looser than the original mantra probably sounds, but is the key to breaking that painfully ordinary look. There are ways to make bad look good, but to me the best is to simply avoid the bad.

*There are actually two, but the other requires lighting and more time than you usually have.

More Noise

Days two and three of the racing and I have it sorted in my head.

Taken with the 75-300 the day before, this lens is impressive regardless of price.

The 40-150 f2.8, got a run today, because all I needed were podium and the odd action shot, so I went one weather sealed lens with plenty of cropping and light gathering power with the 1.4 tc as an option, just in case promised late afternoon storms happened. The 40-150 f4 would have done, but the f2.8 does not get much use.

Gee that lens is nice. The Bokeh can occasionally get a little busy, but equally, when it plays nice it is sublimely sharp, then “smokey” soft.

The kit zoom again in dull light.

Lots of big weather around, but it came to nothing.

Lots of time to practice my panning. At about 1/180th to 1/250th, I got pretty good, but slower was an issue. The main consideration was a bit of track long enough to get a good slow pan. Where I was was a sequence of corners with a dip.

Like most things, fun in small quantities.

Big Noise

Motor sport this weekend.

Open wheelers, Masters Touring cars, “Tin Tops” and more.

A rare mistake.

Limited time and opportunity still allowed me to get a couple of decent “hero” shots each day, but importantly, I got all the cars once or twice.

Pit lane was of more interest, faces and action aplenty.

That budget friendly 40-150 f4 constantly impresses.

Lenses used were the 40-150 f4 and 300 f4 on practice day, but I swapped to the 40-150 and 75-300 kit lens on the following day because it was enough, it allowed me to set one camera to panning mode (1/180th) and the other to action freezing and the nose of the kit lens poked through a safety fence on the most likely bend to have some action, something the big nosed lenses did not allow.

A decently tight crop from a kit zoom shot.

Tomorrow is a full race day, so plenty of action to be had.

Surprised Them All

I did some golf today.

Last time the big 300 and my 40-150 f4 went, but I felt after running around a hot golf course, that the 75-300 “sneaky little cheat lens” would have done. A no tracking, good light environment is it’s happy place.

So, I took a punt (and a literal load off my back), going with one camera and one kit lens.

Quality?

From this,

to this.

and again,

to this.

Plenty to print, more than needed for web use. I could shoot wide for banner and cropping options, still providing enough quality to get in close. Effectively three or four different imge options per shot.

My favourite of the day (shame I only got half the ball). Capture 1 managed to salvage this from slight softness, when the focus hit the foreground bush and only depth of field saved it.

Really need to get my volunteer stuff sorted. Horse racing fashions, golf and politics are not doing it (and this morning I had a combination of two, yesterday the other).

Got The Key

The Portkeys PT5 II came today. I missed out a few weeks ago when the fire was burning, put in a notification request and forgot about it. When notified I ignored the email for a day or two, then decided to go for it.

It is gorgeous!

Shorter than my iPhone, but about twice as deep without a battery. The sun screen brackets can be removed, making it look even more like a phone.

The advantage it has over my 7” Feelworld is a clear jump in contrast and touch screen with a much smaller footprint.

Compared to the camera screen (G9 or S5), it is about the same quality, but twice the size and more conveniently located with a sun screen option.

The rig above is perfectly balanced. This stays true for the S5 with either Lumix lens and the G9 with most lenses.

I have no intention of relying on auto focus for video, especially now I have focus ring control on the Pana lenses, so the big things to fix are viewing screen and manual focus.

Focus I am happy with, with every lens I run bar one (the old Olympus F series) focussing the same way with consistent throw (120 degrees seems ideal), so a follow focus is not on the horizon.

Viewing was improved by the 7”, but it is big. This will be kept for the static camera rig. The 5” is for the moving camera and also better for outside use.

Cool stuff.

The Big One

So, the World Game came to town (Wanderers vs Phoenix).

In Australia, Football (or Soccer as we still tend to call it) runs behind AFL, Rugby League and is likely on par with Rugby Union for fan base, but it still has a solid following.

Not sure of the lights, I still decided to give the 300 a go, but backed it up with the 40-150 f2.8.

I shot a youth game earlier in the day and the combination of 300 (600) and 40-150 (80-300) was ideal for both ends of the ground from any corner. Lighting was the question.

I did have some trouble at the UTAS stadium, not with overhead lights, but with the running “billboard” lights around the ground, with mild banding and sometimes a jittery-laggy view finder. The other two togs there were using Z9’s and also complained of banding.

After some success at the dim indoor pool with the 300, I thought it would be fine and once again that proved to be the case.

It does not hurt that the ground laid out for Soccer is half the size of an Australian rules ground.

The shorter lens, when I remembered to switch in time, also covered the close end.

This is already a decent crop,

from this.

This is down to about 10%, at ISO 1600 and f2.8, then run through ON1 just for kicks. Pre-ON1 this image had more “theatre”, the programme not only cleaning up noise, but occasionally removing small glints in eye, fine sparkling highlights and the odd drop of sweat.

Love the drama off the ball.

As usual this was mounted on the EM1 mk2, which seems to perform as well as the EM1x with this lens although I did notice the few files I dropped over to ON1 for de-noising, were from this camera, even with a stop more speed.

Another win I feel for the kit. The only thing I need is a little fold up stepping stool to sit on, like the other togs used (knees not what they were and recently watered ground was not nice).

A Penny For Your Thoughts

Job two from yesterday was to cover the National Penny Farthing Championships in Evandale.

Have not pulled the panning trick out of the bag in a while.

Taken very seriously by Penny Farthing enthusiasts, this is a long running event, world renown by all accounts with international competitors. Throw in a few thousand supporters in a picturesque village and you are set to go.

I know of no other sport that draws so many characters and then promotes that character.

This was the 40th anniversary, making it a genuinely consolidated event.

The eventual mens winner.

A pair of pennies or where the left-overs go?

Unfortunately, I had card/camera issues* so missed the women and over 50’s racing, only able to get presentations for the women and the over 50’s presentations were delayed until after we left by a two ambulance accident, proving that the combination of height and speed are not to be taken lightly.

*Breaking with normal processes, I went with a one camera, one small bag dynamic as my day involved many “shapes”, in the process forgetting to pack my basics, so of all days, Murphy’s Law spoke and I had issues.

Red Hot

Hot day yesterday. I managed to work all day in the sun sans hat, sunscreen and shade. A matter of circumstance (fluid day) and mild stupidity on my part.

My last job of the day was a bit frustrating at first.

Situated late in the working day (we would normally stagger shifts, but the day changed shape after the fact), at a venue notorious for parking shortages with big events, the Red Hot Summer Tour started late afternoon, finishing late into the evening, but my day was scheduled to end at 5:30, so a light fit all around.

I was conscious I had three jobs already shot, but no processing done. You can imaging my dizzy delight when I had parked miles away, made a bad call turning left towards the sound, managing to walk around to the back of the venue, then had to go all the way around it again to get to the front door (who put a ruddy great lake in the middle of the golf course?).

Turning a five minute walk not a twenty minute ramble, my mood was rescued by a very decent security guard at the gate who smiled and waved me through.

Big event it seems, Mark Seymour entertaining the ever growing crowd.

I took a shoot first, ask questions later approach to socials.

By this time, my already baked face was sizzling, so I beat a hasty and as it turns out I adequately timed retreat, to be all done by 6. Events like this really need a little more time and planning, but it snuck up on us on a busy day, being included at the expense of some other gigs.

Since COVID restrictions were dropped it seems the local populace are flocking to events in greater numbers. We had four major events in Launceston this week end and all were packed.

For the one job I was not looking forward to on the day (too time tight, hot, noisy and busy to easily do socials), it worked out well with a little application, luck and positive thinking.

Remembering What The Point Was.

I got the Panasonic S5 recently and it is exactly what I needed*. With a couple of dedicated lenses and a few legacy options I now have a second video rig. That’s what I have to remember. I have a second rig, not a replacement.

Going into another format was always a concern.

By fixing the problems I had with something outside my usual work space**, I had to settle in my mind where that left me and for a while, I lost sight of that.

More than just similar looking.

The twin G9’s are now relegated to my non newspaper kit (studio, video etc), but are still the foundations of my video kit. They are for in some ways limited for video compared to the S5, but very capable none the less.

Lacking any form of LOG, waveforms, continuous recording and shutter angle has made the S5 seem far better for video, but the reality is, the G9’s are better at hand held, slightly more reliable using AF, create sharp and clean footage in a variety of well tried colour modes and have a brilliant range of dedicated lenses.

For a lot of my work, the G9’s will still probably be better than the S5. That is because the things the S5 offers are at the extreme end of what I might need, but are all the more reassuring for that. I don’t even intend to upgrade the G9’s to VLOG-L as HLG, Cine-D, Standard and Natural are plenty.

If I go into major productions that need multiple camera angles, I would likely pick up another S5, G9 mk2, do the upgrade, buy a Ninja-V or maybe get a GH5 mk2, but that is in the future and for now I am over equipped. The S5 really was the simplest, cheapest and most versatile video empowerment I could have made.

M43 has served me well. I feel more than ever that even though their is an obvious increase in some areas with full frame, the real life application of this always comes with a catch. 150mm f1.8 that fits in your hand and at an affordable price? That is the M43 advantage.

So, the point is, I am a dedicted M43 shooter who has a useful full frame alternate, like the weekend sports car or handy utility vehicle. My work and weekday vehicle is ever reliable, my backup is empowering when required.

*LOG and Continuos shooting.

**Run and gun client friendly footage up to a decent standard.

Speaking About Software

So, software.

My work flow at the moment is pretty simple and it does the job (mostly).

M43 or FF camera in RAW > Capture 1 > ON1 NoNoise if needed.

M43 or FF camera in Various > DaVinci Resolve.

For video I am well short of needing anything more yet and cannot claim to have better than a working handle on basic grading, timeline creation and sound balancing. My main focus has been on providing decent content, not the finished product, so I will have to lift here, maybe processing then dropping into imovie just for polishing.

For stills I can fix exposure issues, noise and colour, use basic tools to fix/replace/remove bits, but I shoot to avoid too much of that and always have. The area I would like to investigate is background control.

Painting a grey background and adding colour is actually plenty and I know the “tricks” of light that can avoid the need, but textures are another thing all together. I have spent the equivalent of a decent lens on back drops etc, but even then, some choices are irrevesible without software.

Drawing a line in the sand is rarely useful. Resolve, focus and confidence of purpose can easily become stubbornness, but equally, undiscerning adoption of every idea floated never results in anything useful and focussed.

I got excited with the launch of ON1 23, thinking it would do everything as well as their NoNoise plug in, but it seems it still needs some polishing with it’s automatic functions, but the reality is, all automatics are not that attractive to me, so maybe, maybe not.

Some thinking ahead.

The Future

The following post may be a sign of someone slowly slipping into madness as I officially quit the school today, so please read with that in mind :).

The more I persevere with this business the more I become aware of a few realities.

Software is streets ahead of cameras. It is the future and the at the same time, the looming nemesis of real photography as a craft.

Cameras are mechanically improving only incrementally (mirrorless was a decent leap, but so very glacially applied*). The real camera improvements are firmware related and these look sluggish, almost apologetic compared to extenal software.

If camera improvements are the backroads of photographic advancement and firmware are the sealing of said dusty roads, then software is the brand new highway to problem solving, for better or worse. Rather than accept the perfect frame blocking object, we remove it. Don’t like the sky, swap it, need more Bokeh, enable it.

Even doing things “manually” with sliders is starting to become a thing to question. Every day seems to cough up a new “AI fix”. We are not quite there yet, but soon Grass Hopper, soon**.

It is not unreasonable these days to buy a camera that falls short of expectations, only to have those expectations realised shortly after via firmware or even the need eliminated by software.

All the concerns we photographers have with sharpness, noise, colour accuracy, distortions etc, are all doomed to historical obscurity with the looming wall of super smart software. Sensor size is not actually a big deal, computational power is though. I see a time when the camera is only offerring a hint, a guide for post processing to perfect in an infinite variety of ways. Just a matter of the emphasis shifting. A computer alone cannot make a knife physically sharper, but a soft photo of a knife, that is another thing.

Photographers still need to buy gear and learn how to use it. they need to be there and make the effort, to edit the end product and store it wisely, but the role is becoming quite defined. Perseverance is probably the most important characteristic of the future photographer as one path leads to another, staying true is key. You may simply be an oddity if you stick to one trade. As time moves on, most photographic skills will become less difficult or evaporate to one extent or another.

One thing that is apparent is that specialists are becoming less and less a defined specialist. Want to be a cinematographer? Fine, but to get there you will likely have to also be your own sound engineer, editor, writer, director and publicist, so get good at eveything up to a point. This also helps you in your future, because it never hurts to understand someone else’s point of view. The same with stills. Post processing is the future, but not at the expense of being able to take an image properly or define an image worth taking.

Following up from that, cameras will become less relevant and more specialised as the base line becomes better and/or more accepted. Ironically, the camera is returning to much the same dynamic it had in the fim era, that of being a highly specialised, made to purpose tool***. Nobody in normal life needs a complicated, 40+ MP full frame with a collection of monster f1.x prime lenses. To be honest, neither do many pro’s, but at least they want to carry them around.

Most people get by with a phone and in the real world that is how it should be. Carrying a specialised bit of gear for any application means you are either a paid specialist or serious hobbyist, but either way you have made a conscious effort to carry that gear on top of your dailty needs. This is not most of us, or not even any of us all the time****.

Humans will do what humans do and ignore world hunger to focus on perfecting things like the fastest car, smartest fridge, the perfect lens or most powerful camera etc. Great news for those of us who think it makes a difference and lets hope somehow it can, but the long term future of photography is to become more and more specialisd until it becomes absorbed into the easy to use and homogenous “life enabling” tech bubble. We do all this of course, while lamenting our lost past and worshipping the “old ways”, but that’s humans for you.

Live it up while you can. Your Mk15 what ever with f1.0 door stopper lens is sitting in full sunshine at the moment, but the sunset is coming and startlingly quickly, when much of this will not matter to anyone but the owner/user.

Gloomy?

like these shiny pipes, much of what we are obsessed by now will loose it’s relevance, but that does not mean history is blanked out. What happens now is important, it’s just changing. Of note, this is a shot taken on a 12 year old camera, with a kit lens.

The only element that will not change is the human being.

The trick is to be best you can be at what you do.

Learn the tech, buy and use the gear, keep your eyes and mind open and follow the true path the best that you can. There will be dictractions, plenty of them (called fads or trends, evil things really), but remember that what you are photographing is not changing, only what you are doing it with.

People are people, emotions are transcendant, recording history is a one time gig and connections always matter. The worst thing you can do is not bother or be careless with your recorded memories.

Do good work, share, connect with people, love animals and above all, be kind.

Oh, and people still paint with brushes and stuff. Go figure.

*Arguably the right time would have been when digital became main stream, but why not wait another 15-20 years.

**In my adult life we have moved from mobile phones in cars being science fiction (and “smart” meant they could redial), to super computers in our pockets and self driving cars. The speed of this is picking up, so assuming we still have a planet to enjoy in the future, the next steps will gobble up humble photography like the internet replaced the fax machine.

***The four great expansive moments in photography all came down to either philanthropy (Kodak gifting a generation a camera) or enabling tech (colour print, auto exposure, auto focus, digital). between these groth “bilps”, regular photographers plugged along.

****I have only met one person who actually carried a camera with them everywhere (a well used M4 Leica) and that stopped when they realised that basically everyone does now!

Showmanship Shines

This last month, most of my favourite images have come from performances, big and small.

Even shy ones.