Gear Tip Number 1: Schrodinger's Full Frame Mirrorless

By now, you have seen umpteenth videos of Youtubers ranting about the Nikon Z7 or the Canon EOS R full-frame mirrorless bodies. Reactions of praise and bliss alternate with heated arguments of contempt. They are both peerlessly beautiful and high performing as well as heavily flawed and poor first efforts of Pro cameras. In effect, they're Schrödinger's Full Frame Mirrorless Bodies - each exists in a state of quantum superpositions until you, yourself hold one in your hands.

Quick Content Tip 1: Embrace the NON "Standard"

I've been active in several photo discussion groups. Often gear focussed. Sometimes medium focussed. Sometimes region focussed. Sometimes theme focussed.

Unless participants are empathic, that is, they can put themselves in your shoes and see with your eyes, they often have difficulty understanding the intent of your image and cheering you on with your endeavour. They want to sit in their own comfort space, and look from their frame of reference.

Just keep faith with yourself. You sometimes need the validation of peers. Sometimes you don't. If you seek validation every time for every photo, you won't be able to contribute your uniqueness or personal flavour to the world. Even flaws are unique.

Playing with the Panasonic G9

Thanks to Panasonic Australia who arranged a Photowalk with Rob Mulally as part of Michael's Camera and Video Melbourne Photoshow, I got to play with the Panasonic G9 for a little while. I don't have the infrastructure to carry out an objective and detailed test, so just journaling some of my impressions in this article.

I am somewhat interested in an ultra-wide MFT lens - I'm quite satisfied in the images from my old Four Thirds Olympus Zuiko Digital 7-14mm but it is quite bulky and heavy, so just looking with #GAS. Of the ultra wide MFT lenses, the Leica DG Vario Elmarit 8-18mm is the most entrancing to me.

The photo below is quite interesting for me. It's the Lumix G9 with the 8-18mm.

Taken into Adobe Camera Raw October 2018 with Process Version 5. I first applied the Camera Matching Cinelike D Color Profile. This seemed to handle the deep shadows (where the people are standing) and the super bright sun further away without needing work from me.

Then I chose Auto in the ACR Exposure section of sliders which automatically removed the still deep shadows and delineated tones in their clothes.

This is a scene with very challenging dynamic range and the software / hardware combo did well.

Finally, after depositing the image in Adobe Photoshop, I invoked the DxO Filmpack 5 plugin. I have the free edition. I don't particularly like the magenta cast that sometimes plagues images coming from Panasonic cameras, and this time, chose the Kodakchrome 64 look from the Filmpack - the sky light blue and the reddish brick is what I like.

Lumix G9 + 8-18mm lens, processed ACR, DxO Filmpack

The photo below is also with the Lumix G9 with the 8-18mm.  The workflow is the same as the one above. However, before I transferred it from Adobe Camera Raw, the magenta cast was quite undesirable. Like a faux aged Agfacolor process. I manually adjusted the cyan-magenta slider in ACR and also the blue-yellow white balance slider. With the Kodakhrome 64 profile from DxO Filmpack, the result is actually quite pleasing with soft "organic" hues.

Lumix G9 + 8-18mm lens, processed ACR, DxO Filmpack

Bottom line: They're not the famous "Olympus Color" that Olympus JPEG enthusiasts like but they are quite satisfying for me. Will I be satisfied with the Panasonic colour (JPEG or raw) with less tweaking? Can't say, I would need to do more photos with the G9. (I do have the old G2 and the GF3)

Stamping text on your images in bulk

From time to time, people ask about a way to date stamp or filename stamp a bunch of images as a watermark on their images.  There is a free and easy way, use XnView.

It's in the Tools > Batch Processing menu