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Re: [OM] Hodgepodge Thoughts and Other Ramblings

Subject: Re: [OM] Hodgepodge Thoughts and Other Ramblings
From: Philippe <photo.philippe.amard@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2020 22:19:40 +0200

> Le 16 juil. 2020 à 22:01, Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> a écrit :
> 
> Instead of couching this as something important in the subject line
> and fooling you all, I decided to be clear about my lack of clarity.
> These are just a few random thoughts and items not specifically on any
> one topic.
> 
> 1. The E-400. I'm going to say that this camera falls into the
> category of "weird". When operated in the ISO and shutter-speed
> sweet-spot, it is a brilliant picture taker. This camera produces
> "straight-out-of-camera" the closest to Provia 100F I've seen from a
> digital camera.

Ummm, tried a fuji lately?

> In fact, if you want a sensor that just gets to that
> punchy result without drama, this is the camera. The size and weight
> are wonderful, but the viewfinder is horrid and the ergonomics are
> disastrous. The shutter-release is so notchy that between that and the
> mirror-shock, it's a very difficult camera to get a sharp picture from
> because of camera shake. The additional mass of the 14-54 makes a huge
> difference in image sharpness because of the shake. The controls and
> power switch are literally backwards from the other cameras and as I
> get older, I seem to be getting less flexible to these things. But the
> image quality is wonderful. Now that I've gotten a lot of time with
> the camera, the one item that absolutely bugs me is the
> shutter-release. It just isn't right. TL:DR - Sensor is Awesome, but
> the Camera Sucks.
> 
> 2. E-3. It's strange how a camera grows on a person. Honestly, when it
> comes to a pure picture-taking machine in "battlefield conditions" the
> E-3 is REALLY GOOD. The sensor has issues at high ISO and with extreme
> dynamic range, but when used in the sweet spot, it's a rock-solid
> camera that really grows on me. When you MUST get the picture, the E-3
> is the best camera in my kit to grab. However, the IBIS is totally
> fooled when I'm photographing airplanes.
> 

Sorry to read you shoot airplanes - the Russians and and Iranians do, I didn’t 
know about Alakans ...

> 3. Panasonic DMC-GX85. It's funny how this camera falls in and out of
> favor on almost a daily basis. I hate it, I love it. I love to hate
> it. I hate to love it. It's my go-everywhere camera that just delivers
> the goods time after time. Viewfinder is miserable, but the camera
> just wants to be with me. Time-lapse and the remote control app are
> dead-on. I really do like this camera. But the sensor is sometimes
> frustrating. It ain't no Kodak CCD. I fight the colors, but it does
> give me the best B&W conversions possible. Same with the L1.


Agreed as to the L1 - but watch those grilled highlight ...

> These are
> among the best cameras for digital B&W there are. Honestly, the kit
> lenses are amazing, and the elcheepo 25/1.7 is stunning.
> 
> 4. Sony A7 II. When compared to the GX85, this camera is a huge step
> backwards in so many areas. When I want to just grab and run with a
> camera, the Sony is not it. I like the Sony for the image quality, and
> the glorious shutter-release, but overall, the camera is functional,
> but not exceptional. There are times when the camera really does get
> in your way. When compared to most modern era cameras that seem to be
> more about features than brute-force picture-taking ability, the Sony
> seems competent enough, but the ancient E-3 absolutely runs circles
> around the Sony every single time.
> 

Are we aging dear Ken? The feel and menus are not for me either, far from it

> 5. Speaking of the Sony... Yesterday, I was taking pictures with the
> app (finally got it to work, the razer

> ???

> blades were put back away), and
> took slightly more than 250 pictures with it only to discover that I
> had forgotten to put a memory card in the camera. But I did have lower
> quality JPEGs on my phone. Stupid, stupid, stupid…
> 

Happens with film sometimes - when you get the counter to 42 you know something 
went wrong ;-)



> 6. Sunset skies and native colors. Photographing the sunsets here at
> the house is an interesting challenge. The Olympus cameras, even the
> E-3, nail the colors the way I want them straight-out-of-camera. The
> E-1 is the gold-standard, but the E-3 and E-300 are close. The E-400
> will default to a slightly more "CMOS look", but can be dialed back in
> to match the others.  The L1 and GX85 continue to have challenges with
> the reds and oranges, but the L1 and GX85 are sometimes on polar
> opposites when it comes to what to do with golden hour light.

Not the best time to shoot digital I’m afraid

> The Sony
> will default to a very "CMOS look", but a couple slight twists can
> bright it back in line with the Olympus, as long as I have an Olympus
> image to baseline. In a nutshell, the Olympus skews red slightly
> towards the orange, whereas the CMOS-based sensors skew the reds
> slightly towards the magenta. And the Olympus will skew the blues
> towards teal, but CMOS towards the purple. When you have a guide image
> to work from, it's relatively easy to adjust in Lightroom, but without
> the guide image, it's all guesswork.
> 

What about your own memory? Or better, your artistic eye? These would 
compensate most of the presumed flaws, woud it not?

> 7. Oh, how I despise the auto-WB feature in Lightroom. It ALWAYS skews
> warm. Ugh.
> 

Auto WB in LR is yecchy - always use ASIS is my motto - well, I trust my 
cameras more than Adobe, am I so wrong doing so?

> 8. Zuiko 28/2 lens. Man alive, that lens is so good.

Godd memories there too

> 
> 9. Focus peaking on the Sony A7 II. Yeah, that's the ticket. I'm in
> hog heaven. Shame that the Panasonic's focus peaking is not nearly as
> good.
> 

DK about your brands, but the Fuji thing really doe the trick too.


> 10. Portrait flash photography. Honestly, The E-1 is, again, the
> gold-standard. And not by a small margin. The difference is
> significant. The GX85 is second best. The GX85 is much worse in
> natural lighting, but for flash, it is right up there--better than the
> E-300, E-400 and E-3. Pretty close to the L1, The L1 and GX85 give
> better dimensionality at the edges than the E-1, but any mottling in
> the skin requires more correction to reduce. The Sony has outstanding
> skin tones, but skin mottling is definitely an issue I've not been
> able to quantify yet. The comparative I would use is this: The Sony is
> to skin tones what a green filter is to skin tones in B&W photography.
> Every blemish is visible. Very accurate, but needs whacking.
> 


NO FLASH ME tells you to shoot in nature light, and FROM the SHADOW side, as 
per the late Ted Grant

> 11. We have a momma Black Bear and two cubs running around our houses.
> Yesterday, momma chased a young moose through the yard and across the
> drive. Not sure where momma moose was in that, but Jack London would
> be proud.
> 

Read his works as a teenager - might endeavour to find time for a newer perusal 
:-)


Amities

Philippe, happy that rain came back over the last 48 hours - saves time 
watering the garden, and might save the trees in the park that were bad as some 
WH resident might say, bad !



> AG Schnozz
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