New Camera!

[MountainDon]

I know many people who use their phones as their camera. I've done that too, but am often a little disappointed in the results. Not to mention I have trouble seeing the image on the display sometimes when outdoors. I've been using a Panasonic Lumix TZ4 compact digital camera for something like 10 years and have liked it a lot. It needs a new battery, the display screen is scratched some and a bit smaller, dimmer than some newer cameras, etc. So I looked around, read a lot of reviews. I decided on a new Panasonic Lumix ZS100. It is a little larger than the old one, but not much. Four features attracted me to it. One, it has a 1" sensor. That is about 4 times the area of the sensor in typical compact digital cameras. That makes for much better low light performance. Two, It still has a 10:1 zoom Lecia designed lens that has a wide end equivalent to 25mm lens in a 35mm format. Three, it has an electronic viewfinder with a diopter adjustment! Very rare in a compact digital camera. That makes outdoor, bright light use, much better than relying on the LCD display. And it feels like what you're used to if you recall the days when almost all cameras were raised and held to your eye. Four, it has full manual settings available as well as A, S and P automatic modes. Even manual focus if you want.


The new camera and I...


The rear side with the electronic viewfinder. It is smallish, but it works!


Pop up flash for when wanted. Better design than the old camera

I bought an accessory grip for it. The factory skimped on the finger grip. This is a 3D printed item I found on Etsy.



The grip is a good size; lots of grip but not too large overall, nice texture on this version/color.  A worthy add-on IMO.  I've had it a couple of months now and absolutely love it. It also has wi-fi which can be handy for downloading images. It does HD 1080p video too. It also comes in an all black version which is an exact color match for the add-on grip.

[hpinson]

Nice camera. It's pretty much equivalent to the Sony RX100 III and costs a lot less. I used Lumix for several years, and like the photos the Panasonic sensor produced. I had problems with poor sealing of the sensor, and was forever taking them apart to clean dust off (which was a major PITA), so switched to Sony which at the time did a better job with the seals. I hope Panasonic has improved on that!  Sony improved but also doubled the price of the Camera with MKIV and V which are weather sealed.   I have a DMC ZS8 on my desk right now which I still occasionally used.  Mostly use an Sony a6000 now which is an incredible camera for the price.

[MountainDon]

Yes, both Sony's are nice cameras. Third largest camera company now I think. Sony innovation and marketing on top of solid Konica Minolta bones/heritage.

[hpinson]

1500 or so photos to go through from Scotland!

Here's one I did this morning. It's the most photographed boat in Scotland. Ben Nevis is in the background, all snowy. I have no idea how I stumbled on this boat - was not looking for it, though I knew about it. I think it wants its picture taken! For some reason it is shrinking down here, so click to enlarge (and you get to see how dirty my sensor is!).

[MountainDon]

Nice!  Yes, the editing can be crazy. Numerically the editing task is much more immense than it was with film. But then I think it took as long or longer when film was used especially if you were a B&W negative shooter. Then the darkroom took huge chunks of time. I virtually gave away my darkroom equipment a few years ago.

[hpinson]

There's a new generation very interested in film and development.  I had someone recently offer real money for my Canon AE1 frames.

[akwoodchuck]

That's a beauty!....when I turned 21, I was getting interested in photography, so my dad said he wanted to buy me a camera....of course I wanted the latest autofocus, motor-drive SLR, digital if possible....he looked at me like I was crazy and went, "no, you're getting an all manual Nikon film camera"....lol!

After playing with that for a while, I went on to take classes on how to develop my own B&W negatives and prints, Photoshop, etc....ended up displaying my work in multiple galleries, coffee shops, and restaraunts. Got to the point where I was travelling a quarter to a third of the year around the country taking pictures....then my kids showed up, lol!
....would love to get back into it someday, maybe get my daughter a camera like that one, she's pretty into it, too!