Flu Shots, Post Boxes and A GF1
Post Boxes - Regal Arbor 8, Great Hills Trails & Research Blvd, Austin
The family piled into the mini van and headed to the doctor’s office for our annual flu shots on Saturday morning. I used to figure that flu shots were a waste of time until ten years back when I spent Christmas week laid up in bed while the vaccinated remainder of the household happily traded presents by the tree; I have not been so foolish as to skip my appointment since.
I took the Panasonic GF1 just in case an opportunity arose for making a photograph; the girls wanted to pick up a take away lunch from Firebowl Cafe on the way home so I had ten minutes in the parking lot. Now parking lots are one of my favorite places to be with a camera – like I said in my last post, I’m strange that way.
I am still a little surprised and delighted by the quality of the images that this small machine produces; it does not look especially serious but it is. The low resolution viewfinder leaves much to be desired but the output, with the 20mm pancake mounted, is detailed and crisp. The grid of squares in the example above would betray any hint of distortion from the lens; there’s nothing significant to be found. The auto focus can hunt some on low contrast subjects, but that’s easy enough to work around. And I have grown to love the extra composition real estate of the 4/3 aspect ratio; I am starting to prefer the world in that frame over the classic SLR 2/3 ratio. It is perhaps ironic that I chose a sample image that virtually self crops itself to 2/3 format with its foreground tarmac.
With 11th hour timing, Panasonic has at last acknowledged the enthusiast market and unveiled the GX1 as the true air to the GF1 throne. The GX1 is not a revolution in design but is a significant incremental refresh, starting from a strong foundation. It looks to be just what the doctor ordered despite the still separate viewfinder. The Sony NEX-7 is seductive; its ‘Tri-Navi” controls and integrated high-res OLED viewfinder are ground breaking in a compact however, on paper (web page), the GX1 offers enough improvement to retain my loyalty. Final decisions won’t be made until I actually get to look through the finder and see for myself if the 6x increase in EVF detail and faster focusing is sufficient but I am hopeful. I foresee my SLR bag being left behind for our trip back to the UK next summer; replaced by an REI fanny pack with room for two 4/3 bodies and three or four lenses; that will save my back in the airport.
I must admit to still being tempted by the Leica M9. I made the mistake of taking my M6 out of its storage place to ponder the question; handling it again did not help. I might just be able to afford the body and one lens. I only have Voigtlander 35mm and 15mm for the M6 and there is no point in spending $7,000 or more for a body and not putting Leica glass on the front, that glass is the point after all. There, that’s all I needed to do, write the numbers down – there is no way I can justify $9,000 on one camera and one lens. I am not speaking for everyone else here, I do understand the Leica effect all too well, but I just won’t make enough use of any camera to support an expense of that scale. There’s a school I know of in Guatemala that can put that kind of money to much better use. I can add a GX1 body and two lenses for the price of a Leica 50mm Summicron.
