Cats And Dogs

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P1040577Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO500)

Another blog post featuring a cat? The reason is simple. It’s a very nice cat and I’m pleased with the shots I got. Especially when I consider the “cheap” equipment that I used this time.

About three weeks ago I visited friends with a special guest cat. There is a blog post about that shooting on this page. Just go to the main page and click on Cute Killer. When I went there three weeks ago I took my big gear: My Canon 6D plus the fantastic 2.8/70-200 IS II. That combo is almost 4.000.-EURO and weighs more than 2 kg. This time I took my Panasonic GM1 plus the great Olympus 1.8/45. The GM-1 is about 500.-EURO today including a very nice and super small 24-64mm zoom lens and the Olympus lens you can get around 270.-EURO. So the Canon combo is five times the price of the Panasonic/Olympus team. I almost forgot: The small gear is exactly 321 grams!

It seems rather crazy to compare those two. So lets do it! (I cut the ear tips on the shot below. Sorry, it wasn’t my intension. It’s just that I can hardly see what’s going on on the screen without reading glasses but that is hardly the fault of the GM1.

P1040579Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO320)
 P1040630Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/2.2, 1/250 sec, ISO200)

Usually small gear comes with a lot of scarifies. One is the lack of an EVF. I think I mentioned that already. But there is a GM-5 now that is just a tiny bit bigger but has a built in EVF. Problem solved!

Beside the lack on an EVF I can’t truly see anything beside negative beside the fact that shooting the camera for a couple of hours would most likely give my a cramp in my hand. But the risk is low that we will see a huge number of professional wedding- or wildlife photographers with serious hand problems in the future.

Not because I think it is impossible to shoot a wedding or wildlife with the GM1. It’s just that the chance is high that a wedding photographer would at least irritate his clients when he would show up with this camera.

P1040704Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/1.8, 1/160 sec, ISO200)
 P1040709Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/1.8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
 P1040713Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/2.5, 1/100 sec, ISO200)
 P1040733Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO200)

But I’m not a pro and I was visiting friends not clients and I already had a shooting with my serious gear. This time I brought my Fuji X-T1 plus kit zoom plus 1.4/23 and the Panasonic GM1 because I did not trust AF on the Fuji especially when shooting with the tele zoom. I started with the X-T1 but changed to the GM1 soon.

Especially the “touch screen shutter” is an amazing feature which works extremely impressive with the 1.8/45mm lens. You just push the part of the screen where your main subject is and the camera takes the shot. There is almost no delay. Your subject pops into focus and a picture is recorded. This is magic. Because there is no delay in acquiring focus and taking the actual shot there is no chance for your subject to change distance last second before exposure.

Even if you don’t trust this feature and leave shutter activation to the shutter button it is still extremely fast. Point on the screen to set the position for AF with your left index finger and take the shot with the right index finder. It is so fast and feels so natural (thanks to the iPhone) that I really would love to see this on a fast action camera like the Canon 7DII too. Unfortunately Canon decided that the 7DII doesn’t need a touch screen. Beside the lack of WIFI the only other weak point I can see on this otherwise very impressive camera. I#m confident that with the 7DII and the 70-200 IS II I would have been able to take some action shots too. With the GM1 that was clearly not the case. Although its autofocus is extremely fast it only works for static subjects.

But that’s the same with most mirror less cameras. Their AF system is getting better and better but most of them still fail to track anything faster than a turtle.

P1040738Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
 P1040745Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/2.2, 1/160 sec, ISO200)

But I don’t want to complain here. To me it is still nothing but a sensation what can be achieved with digital cameras today. When I switched to digital in 2002 I used to shoot a Nikon D1 and as a side shooter I had a Canon Ixus II. Back than I never thought that there will be a camera the size of the Ixus but with the performance of the Nikon D1. Beside focus tracking it is as good no it is so much better than what was once the leading professional camera.

Especially image quality is on a completely different level. There are no high ISO samples in this blog post but there are some in my review of the Panasonic GM1 and a size comparison with my Canon 6D.

The GM1 with the 1.8/45 lens is a case of small camera, small lens but big results.

P1040769Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/3.2, 1/160 sec, ISO200)
 P1040771Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO200)

Last but not least my favorite shot of the day. Yes I know it is not sharp and the framing is a little tight but I love the photo. I love it because of the light and the beautiful autumn glow in the background. I love it because of how focused this little cat watches a bug flying above her head. She just killed her first fly in the morning so the picture may not be as peaceful as it seems.

It reminds me on a photo I took many years ago. It was a ground squirrel standing and holding a flower as it was admiring it. Next moment it started to eat it.

PS: If you ask yourself where the other cats or dogs are. There are none. The title is a song title. I guess it has become a compulsive act.

P1040777Panasonic DMC-GM1 (45mm, f/2.8, 1/160 sec, ISO200)