Monthly Archives: February 2006

Panasonic L1 DSLR

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Now, I’m very happy with my Lumix FZ5. I’m taking some great pictures with it, and having buckets of fun. Still, sometimes I wonder if I’d like to take the plunge into the world of DSLRs: Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras. The “digital” in “DSLR” is obvious enough; the “SLR” part implies that the camera takes interchangeable lenses and has a “through-the-lens” viewfinder. In short, DSLRs are the digital equivalent of the serious 35mm cameras of yore.

My FZ5 has a number of advantages over any DSLR. Because it has a smaller senser, it’s got a much deeper depth-of-field at larger apertures; that makes it easier to take pictures with an extended depth of field without using a tripod. Its built-in 12x zoom Leica lens gives me the ability to shoot both telephoto and (somewhat) wide angle without changing lenses. It’s both light and compact, so it’s reasonable to carry it around me all over the place. In short, it’s a great camera for taking snapshots of the kids on family excursions, and with its manual features and outstanding lens it’s also a great camera for serious shooting.

Moving to a DSLR would buy me a number of headaches. You can swap the lenses on a DSLR; but on the other hand, you pretty much need to swap lenses to get the range of focal lengths my FZ5 has built-in. Plus, when you swap lenses, dust has a chance to sneak in and collect on the (electrostatically charged) sensor. In Understanding Digital Photography, Bryan Peterson explains that the first thing he does when he loads any new image into Photoshop is examine the whole thing at 100% and remove any dust specks. Ugh! And of course the ability to swap lenses brings with it the need to buy lenses to swap. A typical lens might cost almost as much as my FZ5 does.

When you use a DSLR, you can look through the lens, and see precisely the image the sensor will see, which is very cool. But unlike my FZ5, you have to use the viewfinder; the very design of your standard TTL viewfinder means that the current image can’t be displayed on the camera’s LCD. I’ve taken lots of neat pictures that I simply could not have taken if I’d had to look through the viewfinder to do it. During my recent jaunt to Old Town Pasadena, for example, I took a lot of pictures with the camera held down near the ground. To do the same with a DSLR, I’d have had to lie down on my stomach–and given the state of the some the alleys we were shooting in, I’m simply not that dedicated to my art.

On the other hand, DSLRs buy you a lot too. The sensor is larger, which means you need to use much smaller apertures to get equivalent depth-of-field…but that just means that you’ve got much greater control over your depth of field. I like that. Because you can swap lenses, it’s much easier to take extremely wide-angle and macro shots. It’s more work…but you can do more, including things my FZ5 will never do.

So happens, Panasonic has just announced its first DSLR: the Lumix L1. The full details aren’t available yet, but I think perhaps I’m in love. Please note: this is a DSLR with a through-the-lens viewfinder and a continuously updated LCD. You get the best of both worlds. Plus, it has a special cleaning system that gets dust off of the sensor each time the camera is turned on.

This is very new technology; frankly, I suspect I’d be wise to wait a year or so and see how it shapes up. In any event, the L1 is still in development, and the full specifications aren’t yet available. But if it proves to be a DSLR with the usability of my FZ5, I’m going to be extremely tempted.

Miles and Miles

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Jaq has just revealed that he’s only read the first two of Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Miles Vorkosigan” series. Now, I realize that one can’t have read everything. As they say in Silverlock, if he hasn’t read Bujold, it’s because he’s read other stuff.

But Jaq–yes, I’m talking to you!–you need to understand that when a new Bujold book comes out, it’s a major event at our house. Everything stops for three days or a week while I read the book aloud to Jane. That includes the Vorkosigan books, which are simply outstanding. Now, you’ve evidently read Shards of Honor and Barrayar, which these days are usually published in a single volume, Cordelia’s Honor; next, you must find a copy of Young Miles, which similarly combines two (or maybe three? I don’t have a copy) of the chronologically earliest books involving Cordelia and Aral’s son Miles. Trust me on this, Jaq, The Warrior’s Apprentice (the first selection in Young Miles) is everything you’ve been looking for.

In fact, it’s beginning to sound like a darn fine way to spend the afternoon.

Umbrellas

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Umbrellas

Originally uploaded by will.duquette.

This is a detail of the front of a restaurant in Old Town. There are two sets of tables with umbrellas…a large area on the ground floor, and a row of them on a terrace on the second floor. I liked the way they looked together.

Balustrade

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Balustrade

Originally uploaded by will.duquette.

The Test Lead and I spent a good bit of the morning traipsing about Old Town Pasadena and shooting whatever took our fancy. I was using my trusty Lumix; the Test Lead was shooting Medium Format color transparencies. Mine are cheaper; his will contain much more detail.

Here’s one I took first thing; it’s a detail of the balustrade overlooking the Gold Line Metro Station at Memorial Park.

Learning To See Creatively, by Bryan Peterson

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This book contain’s Peterson’s take on the subject of photographic composition. It’s considerably more freewheeling than Grill & Scanlon’s book on the subject, and covers the ground rather differently. There was little in it that was surprising–the main points are all touched on, though in less detail, in Peterson’s other books, Understanding Digital Photography and Understanding Exposure. I enjoyed it, though, and I expect to read it again later on, when I’ve more experience under my belt.

Escher

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Escher

Originally uploaded by will.duquette.

This picture of reflections in a still fountain does some really nasty things with perspective. It doesn’t work as a picture, but it’s still interesting to look at. You’ll probably need to look at the largest size to get the full effect.

Mad Ship, by Robin Hobb

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This is the second of Hobb’s “Liveship Traders” trilogy, following Ship of Magic. In that volume we discovered the city of Bingtown, which perches on the Cursed Shore near the mouth of the Rain Wild River. We also discovered the Bingtown “liveships”, ships made of rare wizardwood from up the Rain Wild River that with time actually come to life and can speak and move for themselves. (The face of a liveship is its figurehead, naturally.) We met a range of people, including Althea Vestrit, who was cheated of command of the liveship Vivacia and wishes to regain it; her nephew Wintrow, priest-in-training, who is forced against his will to travel with Vivacia; his sister, Malta, who is young, callow, melodramatic, ignorant, and rash; and Kennit, a pirate captain who wishes to be a pirate king.

We also met the mad liveship Paragon, who twice set out with a full crew and returned later (years later, in one case) capsized and empty. When he returned the second time, his face hewn with an axe so that he could no longer see, his owners beached him. For many years, Paragon has been chained above the high watermark so that he can never float again.

Now Kennit has taken Vivacia, and Althea’s only chance to recover her is to restore mad Paragon to service. Meanwhile, war is brewing with Chalced…and very odd things are happening far up the Rain Wild River.

In general, I like this book rather better than its predecessor; we actually begin to learn a few things about the origin of the liveships and a number of other mysteries, and at this point in the story arc the more childish of the principal characters have gained a pleasant taste of maturity. I confess that I picked up the third book in the trilogy, Ship of Destiny, no more than an hour after laying this one down.

As a side note, the author’s biography points out something I hadn’t previously noticed: Hobb has also written under the pen name “Megan Lindholm”, including one book (The Gypsy) with Steven Brust.