Someone commented last year at TBEX (perhaps Don George, who’s coming back, yay for us!) the truism that although people (somewhat goofily) ask a photographer about his equipment upon seeing a particularly stunning shot, that no one asks a writer what kind of keyboard they use to produce their brilliant prose. I love this.
Something else I am learning to love is my new minicam, which (shockingly) is the only camera I have for this portion of this trip, the SF-Seattle-Vancouver-Seattle-SF loop. The camera, recommended by Pam, is a Lumix something or another, and it’s blue. I had a chance to try it out on a photo walk with some premier geeks in town for WWDC, that giant Apple developers conference that’s taking place downtown this week, and to which we have (temporarily) lost my brother-in-law. I was among men with giant cameras, and at times I wanted to shout out, “but I have a real camera!” And then I remembered, it’s not really the camera (though like a good keyboard, it doesn’t hurt).
Here’s what a little simple point and shoot action can get you if you kinda sorta maybe know what you’re doing, or so they say. All but the last taken in a part of San Francisco called Dogpatch. Not “the Dogpatch” just Dogpatch. It’s much cooler without the article, trust me. SF is a study in too-cool-for me, but I don’t mind. And now, Dogpatch photos.
Mr and Mrs Miscellaneous Ice Cream
Contrast in the dogpatch
California Republi
Yard Office
They'll need a crane
Language-oh!
Me and the mini cam
Gratuitous nephew shot
More photos, and bigger views in this Flickr set. I didn’t change colors or exposures, but I cropped one and straightened out the horizontal on another. There. Secrets laid bare. Good cameras do not take good pictures. Good photographers take good pictures. Looking forward to meeting some good writers and photogs both at the upcoming conference. If you see me, and my minicam, feel free to say hey.
That’s the camera (well, as far as I can tell from the reflection) that Heather just gave to me to replace the (2nd) one that got sanded at the beach. I am loving it. On another note, your nephew! Those big blue eyes! Cutie.
you got a second one sanded at the beach, or the new one got sanded? Can’t remember. I can find out the exact model if you want to know. Loving it so far. We can go out and have matching cameras, and be matching touristy gringas.
Second camera got sanded. Granted, it was my mom’s old one and not very good. I have bad camera luck!
oh dear. Well, that’s a mistake you won’t make again! Love the use of the word “sanded” to mean gotten sand in it.
ah yes, the eyes. They are lovely. This side of the family has those light eyes. Crazy!
Gah. So jealous. 🙂 I hope you have a fantastic time there!
And I absolutely agree. A terrible photographer will not be fixed by any gear. It’s far better to obsess over skill than toys.
It’s lovely here (except for how frequently it’s freezing!), and yes, a terrible photog will not be fixed by any gear. I’ve seen terrible pics from really good cameras!
cant believe a point and shoot took the crane one! Ill have to look into this camera. Beautiful photos!
Catherine, you missed the point! *I* took the picture, not the camera. But yes, many things are possible, though a limitation of this camera for me is that it doesn’t focus well on moving items far away. The hawk picture was tough to get.
Oh, dear! I did didn´t I? haha, Yes, YOU took great photos. 🙂 Just took me by surprise that it was a point and shoot. You are definitely correct on that it is about the photographer and not the camera!
It’s all good, was just funny. As Richard says, you can use fabulous gear and still take pretty bad photos! I saw a photo shoot once done with an iphone. With good light (and a still subject) almost anything is possible!
Thanks for playing along!
I THINK that Lumix is the camera I’ve seen advertised down here. Looks interesting and I like your shots. El sobrino….¡precioso!
the nephew is a study in adorable, as many four-year-olds are. This one also has shiny bright blue eyes, which is fun for me, the morena in the family! Thanks for commenting!
I think you could take perfect pictures with just about any camera. It’s a talent that a few have. I am not one of them. I hope you are enjoying your trip!
Just to be clear, I take some pretty bad ones as well. I just try not to publish those. But I’ll tell you about them! I think part of it is knowing how to curate your own content, knowing when a photo is “good enough” to share.
Thanks for your kind words!
Hey Eileen-Great stuff! Of course you have 2 particularly charming subjects to focus on (kid 1 & kid 2!) It looks like the same camera I have (the red one), although yours is probably a newer model. I couldn’t be happier, except that the battery charger seems not to have followed me home from a trip and I haven’t been able to find another. The up-side is that the folks at the Panasonic store (who sell Lumix) here in Santiago were great and even offered to charge the battery for me while I shopped! So bonus points for great service!
Oh yeah? I liked your minicam, but it was seeing Pam’s videos that she shot in Antarctica that convinced me. Glad we both have good taste! And also sorry to hear you haven’t got the charger still. Let me know if you ever want to borrow mine, but we’ll have to sit around and drink coffee and gab while your battery charges.
In other news, yes, my niece and nephew are horribly adorable, and disgustingly photogenic. Score photo subjects!
I remember when people bragged about the megapixels of their cameras. And you’re right..its the photographer that makes the shot work.
yeah, it’s all sensor, though the megapixels of course help when you’re going to blow the photos up, which I never do. I seldom even print them out. Do you? Maybe I’ll make it a goal for this year, to print out some photos.
Hi-How is the macro lens on your Lumix (what model is yours)? I am looking for a relatively inexpensive camera but it has to have a good macro lens. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Yes, I should have mentioned what model it is! It’s a DMC-257. I don’t know what you want the macro for particularly. It is very inferior to my DSLR setup, which is a Nikon D300S (or D40X) together with a
Nikon AF-S Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED Macro Autofocus Lens. But that lens alone costs nearly twice what the point and shoot does.
So I would say the macro is okay. It’s not going to catch the infinitesimal detail on a finger holding a bug, like here. (my photo with the combo I listed above). My main issue with the macro (and the camera in general) is that it’s slow to focus on moving subjects. It has a very short focal length (not sure how long) and it has two macro fxns, one with the zoom and one with the “two foot” zoom (the one where you walk up to something and take a pic from very close up). Here‘s an example of another bug (apparently I take a lot of pictures of bugs) I took with the Lumix, but not as close as the first pic. I’ll see if I have any from that close, and let you know. Perhaps when I get home I’ll compare my various setups. Anyone got any ladybugs on hand?
But certainly you should tool around on photo websites and see what trained, fancypants photogs have to say. I know what I like, but it depends alot how you shoot. On this part of my trip I am only traveling with the Lumix so I can learn about it’s strenghts and weaknesses, but I still insist, it’s more the photographer than the camera. I like http://www.digital-photography-school.com/ for photo blabla, but I don’t look at it as often as I should.
Got a blog somewhere?
Thanks for commenting!
Thank you for the feedback. I do not have a blog but I will have a website up soon. I realize that for what I want I will probably will need a camera that has a fast f2-f2.8 focal point. I need the macro feature for photographing jewelry that I make. I bought a cheap Lumix (not with a Leica lens) for snapshots but it is worthless for what I want to do. Cameras are very expensive here in Chile so, I might end up buying a refurbished camera in the States and having it sent to me.
No blog but a website soon, I need the camera to take photos of jewelry I am making. I’m kind of in a catch-22 due to it. Might get someone in the States to get me one and send it to me here in Chile.
for jewelry I think this particular camera would be good. Its main limitations tend to be around focusing on moving items. I would be happy to take and upload a few pics of jewelry if you think that would help. I have a couple of things with me. Are we talking beads or metal? And why am I so insistent on helpin a person that I don’t even know? I guess I’m just like that!
Thank you. That would be great. The jewelry is wood, recycled paper with a metal clasp. Size is about 1″ square. Whenever you have time. thank you sooo much.
and yes, I know camera and gear in general is really expensive in Chile. However, with good light and a steady hand, hopefully you can get photos of what you’re making without too much trouble.
Nice crane shot. I am a big big fan of point and shoot [and a bit of analogue as well]. I like to take low light/night shots, with no flash and can do it handheld pretty well with my p&s. But I am thinking of getting a new p&s. How does your Lumix go in low light situations? Also, have you tried taking any pics whilst riding? [ I do that too!]