Monthly Archives: April 2024

 

I still have a ton of Fujifilm gear and use it everyday!  I just wanted a light interchangeable lens camera for knock around use, if Fujifilm made something like this I would buy it in a heartbeat!

 

So NO I have not switched away from Fujifilm!

 

Blesssings,

 

 

the pilgrim

Photo by Tony Rogers

 

I woke up this morning with my heart filled with praise!  Why?  Well, let’s see, FIRST:  I woke up!  That’s always a blessing!  I love my life and as of today I still have it!  As I was waking up, I started to COUNT MY BLESSINGS:  Among them was the greatest lady I’ve ever known, the love of my life, beautiful  in so many ways, and there she was, asleep next to me, in my bed!!!!!  Then I thought of the wonderful family and friends that God has blessed me with!  I thought about how proud I am of my children and grandchildren!   I thought about the great times of fellowship I’ve had with a handful of truly great friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord!

 

As I was more awake, I felt my toes and my legs and could move my arms and could see the sunlight peaking through the blinds!  I was warm and safe and realized I’m rich beyond belief ( in the things that truly mater), how blessed can a man be!  Then a cold nose poked me in the face and Chester was staring at me saying, “let’s go papa it’s time for me to go outside!!!!”

 

None of this is earth shattering for any of you, but for me, its my life, it’s what God has allowed me to have and I couldn’t be more thankful, happy and more committed to Him!

 

Have a great blessed weekend!

 

 

the pilgrim

 

Thanks Tony, for letting me share your wonderful sunset shot, it was better than anything I got that night in the Smokies!

 

As I said in a previous blog post,  Jack picked up a Sony Compact camera and, as always happens, it costs me money!!!!!  I really like the idea of something light I could grab headed to the car for casual shooting.  I probably over did it, but I wanted full coverage and the Micro 4/3rd stuff is so light and small, I ended up with a cool little system for the purpose at hand!

 

The body is the Lumix GX85, 16 mega pixels and lot of really nice features, excellent Image stabilization and shockingly good image quality!  The images below are of some familiar targets but I was pleased with the results.

 

 

The 45mm f 1.8 lens is super sharp, I loved the texture in this mic shot!

 

 

The 35-100 (70-200) is very crisp as ell and extremely small for a lens of that speed and focal length!  That’s a pretty relaxed squirrel.

 

 

The Pure gas pumps at the Original Kentucky Fried Chicken are a good sharpness test,  35-100.

 

 

Two of my favorite alley shots from downtown Corbin.

 

 

Lastly the Southern railway car “The French Broad River” is always good for smooth gradation tests.

 

I plan a family trip to Page AZ in early May, this will be my  only sytem for that trip, we’ll see what I get!

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim

 

 

Bonus image: inside my house, I love the L Monochrome film simulation mocks the Leica Monochrome look, thus L (for Leica)!

 

 

I recently picked up a new camera to use when I wanted to go very light, I considered the new Fujifilm X100VI but the availability, even to X-Photographers, is just crazy!  I’m 78 years old I don’t have months to wait on gear!

 

So after a lot of research I settled on the Lumix GX85, a Micro 4/3rds sensor rangefinder styled compact camera.  I’ve been trying it out and the jury is still out on whether I will keep it or not!  It is well made and the included lenses, though pretty plasticky, are sharp and work well.  I’ve posted some images that, I think you will agree, are good and sharp and the color is also excellent.

 

 

The rear LCD is bright, clear and the touch screen functions wonderfully! The viewfinder is another story, though useable, it is fr from impressive!  It alone might be why I would not keep the camera.  I have been surprised at how good the noise is all the way out to 6400, and that is a big plus!  Lumix makes a number of good fast glass that will make it good for available light work, except for that viewfinder!  This camera was introduced in 2016 so it is a little long in the tooth, but still currently available widely!

 

I have the Olympus 12-40 Pro f 2.8 (Equiv. 24-80) zoom coming, so how it mates with this camera may be the deciding factor on whether it stays or goes!

 

 

I truly love the L Monocrhome film simulation and would almost keep it for, just that alone, it is the perfect combination of contrast and dynamic range to do truly beautiful monochrome shots!  As you can see above!

 

 

Colors are rich and saturated and the sensor though only 16 mega pixels is very sharp not having a non aliasing filter.

 

 

All in all I’m quite taken with this little camera, it’s fun to shoot and I think I can learn to live with the less than outstanding viewfinder!  It will all come down to how the 12-40 works out!

 

 

The camera is a bargain at around $650. and comes with a plastic, though very sharp, 12-32 f 3.5 – 5. (Equiv. 24-64) and a 45-150 f 4-5.6 (Equiv. 90-300) also the later being the  lens used for most of the images above.  Mated with a high quality, metal lens, I might just be smitten, time will tell!

 

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim