For all the stuff that doesn’t fit elsewhere!
I get many a kick from seeing friends succeed doing something they love to do. It’s inspirational, and helps put my own lofty goals into perspective, making them seem more reachable, less silly sounding while echoing around the empty space in my brain bucket. Today I get to share one of these success stories, and how we turned an informal Sunday morning shoot into something that both of us came out feeling stoked about.
Having spent my formative years, growing up in the 90’s, I’ve always felt my generation was somewhat skipped over when it came to culturally defining moments. Sure we witnessed many notable, global events, but when it came to a statement or generationally demarcating movement, we seemed to fall short. We existed between the calamities of the Bush presidencies, and lived through a decade of relative peace and economic stability. Capitalist commercialism seemed to be figuring out how to reach every corner of the alternative culture, and we struggled against that tide.
We were also a generation that had to navigate through some pretty horrendous fads, and quite possibly the shallowest pool of pop music talent that has yet existed during a decade length span. Along came the grunge revolution which at the time for those of us too young to understand the influences, seemed cool, different perhaps, but the voices that spoke loudest to me and my group of friends weren’t coming through the radio, or television and we liked it that way.
Adorama has the Panasonic, micro 4/3 GM1 camera with 12-32mm pancake zoom for $598 which comes with a $200 Adorama Gift Card, dropping the price for the camera and lens to an effective $398! The lens itself retails for $348, and while that may be a little steep for the lens itself, it is a true 24mm e-fov wide angle lens that is sharper than many of the comparable prime lenses for the system at like aperture, across this zoom lens’ range. While the asking price for the lens itself might be debatable, the quality and sheer minuscule footprint cannot be. Sure that $200 gift card is only valid at Adorama, but if you’re like me, you’ll find a way to eventually spend two hundred bucks on something there.
That’s a pretty sweet deal for this little powerhouse of a camera and lens that I feel is the best kit lens I’ve used for the system.
You can see the deal, currently running at Adorama via my affiliate links below:
GM1 (Blue) with 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (Silver) + $200 Adorama Gift Card HERE
GM1 (Orange) with 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (Silver) + $200 Adorama Gift Card HERE
If you’d like, you can read my thoughts on the GM1 HERE and the 12-32mm Kit Lens HERE.
I bought my GM1 as soon as it was available, and it has been with me every day since, literally. With the right lenses, this camera is pocketable and is small enough to go anywhere. It has the same sensor as the GX7, which is rumored to also be included in the soon to be announced G7, which is a great performing sensor, especially for RAW file capture, and in my test/review, out performed the Sony sensor in the Olympus OMD EM5 in most every way. The GM5 is essentially the same exact camera with a hot shoe and an EVF. Both great additions, but for this price, I think it would be hard to find a better overall value of size, performance and build quality offered with the GM1. It’s a great little machine, and by little, I mean tiny.
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Happy shooting.
Tyson
This is purely a personal journey here. A little retrospective look back at the last couple months to see what I’ve been getting out of the new Sony a7II (Sony Alpha a7II Mirrorless Digital Camera -Body Only- at B&H HERE). I tend to spend a lot of time looking at specific things in regard to a lens or camera for the blog here, and I figured I’d compile a few shots from the combination of lenses I’ve been using. I have mostly used my Canon EF mount lenses via the Metabones adapter (review on that HERE), but have recently acquired the Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 because I felt the camera deserved to also be shot with a high quality native mount lens, plus I was curious to see how it handled this new, crazy feature all the kids talk about in auto focus. Click any image below to see a larger version, and let me know your thoughts in the comments. Less talk, more rock as it were. Without further ado… Continue reading
Hi All! Many of you are familiar with the Garda wrist straps, which I’ve been selling for well over a year now. For the last few months, I’ve been working on some new straps, using a completely different, high end nautical line. A different finish, a different look, and a completely new design.
Still entirely hand built and guaranteed to last. C’mon in to see more about the Cascade and to see how to order one.
I know, I know. I don’t want to bombard anyone with sales and promo posts, but it has been difficult with just about everything on sale right now. Queue the Adorama sale on most every Panasonic micro 4/3 lens HERE. Up to $200 off of lenses through the 21st, if you’ve been waiting for a sale, here it is. You know I don’t like to promote stuff unless I actually have used it, approve of it and like it, and in this case, I’d say it’s very relevant.
Come on in if you’re interested in seeing what I’ve had to say about the Panasonic lenses I use for the micro 4/3 system…
Welcome to a new series on the blog, FREEBIE PHOTOGRAPHY 101 where we will explore both technical and artistic aspects of photography and our cameras. The aim with the Exposure Trifecta (the relationship between Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO value) is to learn how to better understand and control our exposure manually through examples and exercises to gain a better grasp on some of the seemingly daunting exposure modes and tools involved. I’ll add articles about metering, exposure compensation, white balance and other often automated, yet powerful to understand settings that our cameras provide us the ability to control as time goes on as well. It doesn’t matter if you’re shooting with a phone camera or a fifty thousand dollar medium format machine, understanding how an exposure is created, how a camera works while perhaps overwhelming at first, is easy, it really is. With just a little time and effort, you’ll be understanding the hows and whys of different photographic effects and how to apply them in different situations.
When starting this blog 5 years ago, I did it to help friends and family who were interested in photography, to share techniques, and help answer questions I’d field to better understand basic photographic principals. The site has grown and evolved into what you see today, chalk full of camera, lens and software reviews, gear-centric comparison pieces, lighting explanations or post processing tutorials, travel ramblings and editorial articles for the design collective I work with.
As is the cyclical nature of life, I’ve recently been having more and more conversations lately with friends and friends of friends who have shown interest in better understanding these powerful image creation tools and I thought it would be a good opportunity to refresh my original Exposure Trifecta article, written over 5 years ago. Getting back to the roots as it were, and perhaps act as an introduction to some new friends we’ve gathered along the way here on the site. So, grab your camera and a cup of coffee, we’re gonna have some fun.
If you feel like you could use a refresher, would like to add your input, or know someone just starting out or looking to better understand the Exposure Trifecta of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO sensitivity, come one, come all. Through my amazing ability to ramble on, and the community we’ve built through this site, we’ll get you sorted and knowing how, and when to adjust these exposure variables to understand how to completely control your photographic vision. C’mon in… Continue reading
As with many things these days, I am a bit late to the party. Let me be the last person to wish you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. While 2014 saw many positive events for me, it was as challenging a year as I’ve yet had. I’m a pretty open book and tend to speak candidly here as I have found this blog to be a collective journey in many ways, and on top of that, a bit of a personal diary in that I can vent, ramble on and air my praise or frustration to the ether, while sharing with the community that frequently stops by to keep me company. In a weird way, that is supposed to be a thank you for stopping by. Thank you for reading my ongoing ramblings and thank you for the continued interaction and support. I love photography, I love writing, and this blog enables me to do both. If it were not for you, I’d just as soon be talking to a brick wall about my passions which of course would quickly pin me as a crazy person, so thank you for allowing me to hide that from my friends, wife and children.
As photographers, lovers of light, appreciators of detail, and constant observers of the world we wander through, I think many of us fall into a category of people who gravitate toward other artistic professionals. While I’ve no doubt come across artists (photographers and otherwise) who see creativity in others as a threat, I’d say on the whole, creative people enjoy and are inspired by other creative people.
Every eye is another vantage, every vantage another opportunity to see from a different angle and from a variety of those angles, the more easily it is to be inspired and grow our individual craft as well as our appreciation for the craft of others.
Allison is one such creative whose skill is equalled only by her amazingly light and vivacious personality. Her joie de vivre is evident as is her penchant for the rock and roll shadings playing to a slightly darker luminosity along that spectrum. No one says you can’t have both, and Allison embodies and ties those two points together beautifully in her work. You can tell when someone loves what they do, and you don’t need to go much further in conversation with her than hello to understand that about her. Come on in for more shots of Allison’s cryptic and beautiful, wearable artwork.
So, that just happened. While I’ve not yet tried every single micro 4/3 camera, of those I have tried, the GX7 is still my favorite overall. Wonderful Image quality, discrete size yet comfortable ergonomics, IBIS, Tilting LCD and EVF, wonderfully functional and intuitive interface, silent mode, focus peaking, WiFi, manual control, good video options blah, blah, blah. It has been, quite possibly, my favorite camera I’ve shot with period, which is saying a lot. It is with me all the time, and will continue to be for some time yet. Because of the combination of size, quality and features, I literally bring it with me everyday because I don’t need anything else.
On top of the $300 discount that runs through this Saturday, you also get a $100 B&H Gift Card. Seriously?! While I’m in no way disappointed that I bought this camera at full price about a year ago as it has allowed me to shoot with it as long, a $400 incentive is nuts for this machine. Okay, maybe I’m a little disappointed, more jealous I guess 🙂
Check out the deals at B&H:
Panasonic GX7 Body only $698 (reg: $998) HERE
Panasonic GX7 + 14-42mm Kit $798 (reg: $1098) HERE in Silver
Panasonic GX7 + 14-42mm Kit $798 (reg: $1098) HERE in Black
There are rumors that the GX line has been discontinued, but I think those rumors are crap. I don’t however see them replacing this camera in the immediate future. I just think that they’re trying to spur sales. It shares the same, current sensor with the new GM5 (and GM1) and I’ve done some pretty extensive comparisons between it and the current Sony sensor in the EM5/et al. You can read more of my thoughts on the Lumix GX7 below if you’re interested.
GX7 vs EM5 – Battle for my affection Part 1
GX7 vs EM5 – Battle for my affection Part 2
GX7 vs EM5 – Battle for my affection Part 3
If you’ve been on the fence, or have been waiting to upgrade I think that this camera, at this price is the best value in the micro 4/3 landscape hands down right now.
Let me know if you have any specific questions as well. I have certainly answered more emails and inquiries about this camera that I have for any other up to this point, so please feel free to fire away.
Thanks all and happy shooting,
Tyson
Tyson Robichaud Photo-blography 