GH5 with Leica 12-60mm at Shutterfest
This was one of my very first images captured with the GH5 using the Leica 12 - 60 lens while the model was being prepped. The image is a jpg capture in sRGB. Click on the image to view it larger.
Panasonic Lumix GH5 - High ISO tests
These images were captured with the Lumix GH5 at ISO 6400 over the past few days during the Florida Birding and Photography Festival in St. Augustine.No in camera or Lightroom noise reduction has been applied. Images have been cropped for composition and white and black points set.
Misshaps do happen - Day 1 and 2 with the Panasonic Lumix GH5
Day two of the Florida Birding Festival in St. Augustine started great with lots of interest in the GH5 combined with the Leica 100 - 400. Then disaster struck when someone wanted to test the kit to photograph birds in flight. Not supporting the camera while undoing the tripod clamp sent the GH5 and lens down to the boardwalk (I saw it in sloooooooow mooooooo) - total separation of lens from camera in a flash. NOT GOOD. The GH5 seems to be working fine but they are both going off to be repaired and tested as soon as I return home on Monday.Now for the good news - the GH5 is just awesome - no questions asked. Birds in flight, awesome focusing and equally awesome performance. I am more than impressed with the stills performance and the quality of images from this camera and lens combination. I am still working on the best settings for the style and subject matter I like to shoot but even so, the results are impressive. Images are sharp, the color rendition is great and focusing is impressive.Here are a few images from last evening and this morning.
So the lens and camera body will be shipped for repairs and I will be back in business soon.
Reddish Egret at Ding Darling NWR
Managed a little time at the Ding Darling NWR on Sanibel Island. The Reddish were very active but because of the water levels remained at a distance. These two images were captured using the Panasonic Lumix G85 and the Leica 100 - 400 mm lens. It is nice to have an 800 mm equivalence. 
You don't need big bucks
Recently, I watched a high-end photo shoot demonstration where multiple Broncolor studio lights and power-packs were used to photograph a bottle of single malt Scotch Whisky. At least four Broncolor Strobes with Broncolor Strip boxes and focusing light modifiers were used to capture the image. It was an excellent demonstration and the results were great. Well here is my version:
Westcott was kind enough to provide me with a set of Rapid Box Strip lights that I decided would have to do the job.Each Rapid Box Strip was mounted on a light stand and a Nissin DI866 flash head triggered by a Yongnuo wireless trigger was used as the light source. A third Nissin i40 flash also triggered by a Yongnuo trigger was used as the light for the label on the bottle. A Rogue Flashbender was formed into a snoot to concentrate the light and prevent any spill.The camera was a Panasonic Lumix GX8 with the Lumix 35 - 100mm f/2.8 lens. A Yongnuo mounted on the hot-shoe was used to trigger the lights. Exposure triad: f/7.1, 1/100 sec, ISO 200. Lens focused at 42mm.Here is a behind the scenes image.
Day after New Moon
On a whim I set up the Swarovski scope to its lowest magnification at 30X. The camera was the Panasonic Lumix GH4 set at ISO 1600, and 1/60 sec shutter. The image when clicked on is the full frame from the camera 4680 X 3072 pixels. The adjustments made to the raw file are: highlight recovery of -29, white balance adjusted to 5700 Kelvin (to taste), noise reduction using Topaz Denoise version 6. A a touch of contrast and clarity to finish. All this in the hope the weather stays good and I can get a few images of Jupiter this weekend. I did not use a remote shutter release but will for the Jupiter images.
Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100 - 400mm F/4 - 6.3 lens
Last week at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife festival I had the opportunity to briefly try out a pre-production unit. The lens was one of the first pre-production units and a lot has changed since it's manufacture. The final units will be way better in image quality, performance and handling. With that said, I will say I was truly impressed with the way the lens performed.The Leica 100-400mm is an f/4-6.3 telephoto zoom lens that gives the equivalent of 200-800mm in 35mm equivalence.The lens has a lockable zoom pull feature, so you can pull the end of the zoom to set the zoom position, or when it is locked, you need to rotate the zoom ring to vary the focal length. The lens has Power Optical Image Stabilization, and high-speed 240fps AF drive, which makes it incredibly fast in focusing performance. It is also, splash and dust proof.A feature I found most useful was the lens collar and foot that also rotates all the lens function switches. This allows you to easily access these in any orientation, landscape or portrait.In thumbnail view, hover over the thumbnail to see the focal length and exposure details. To see a larger rendition of this slide show please click here
