It was a rather successful endeavour, as I managed to snatch a couple of new/old cameras…

These will be my first ventures into the world of film photography, so hopefully I will be able to share some new, creative endeavours, soon.

Related posts:

1. Australia Day, Photography and Cosplay thoughts
2. How quick thinking and a bowl of rice saved my Lumix GF1
3. Lumix DMC-GF1 Arrives + First Shots

To give some background, the Photo Marathon was a daylong event, where 12 themes are presented (6 at the start, 6 half way through). A photo for each theme must then be presented; with photos [in theory] taken in the order the themes are given, with no Photoshop/Aperture/ whatever editing allowed.

Examples of themes for the Canberra event included “Light”, “Evolution”, Earth Hour (which was that night) and my entry number (70). It was really well organised, with entry into the National Zoo and Aquarium included.

Naturally, I was eager to participate in this event, and it started off well. However, about an hour into the 12-hour event, tragedy struck. Attempting to fulfil the theme “Upside-down” I was taking images of the National Library as reflected in a pool of water. I had my Lumix GF1 sitting on a tripod along the edge of the water….

I turned around for just a second to assist my brother with his tripod, in that time; I heard a splash and turned to see my camera sinking into the water, it was only a few seconds, but it was enough to get water into the body and into the lens (the same lens I’d waited months for Panasonic to supply…).

My gut reactions were to do all of the right things, pull it out, drop the battery and memory card out and then proceed to dry it off as much as I could.

As I had to refrain from turning the camera on, the Photo Marathon was cut short, but that was the least of my concerns (although I was pretty disappointed it happened BEFORE I made it to the Zoo…)

Over the next few days, the camera and lens were alternated between spending time in the sun and in a container of rice. Rice apparently is a natural desiccant (absorbs moisture). After a couple of days doing this to draw the wetness out of the camera, I dared put the battery back in.

It worked…

The lens seems fine, with no noticeable blemishes, the body operates fine and its taking photos just as well as it did before going in the water. There was some condensation on the LCD screen that lasted about a week, but that cleared up gradually and now it’s fine.

A couple of test photos, let me know if you notice anything that doesn’t look right (besides technique issues…):

So… if you ever have a camera end up in the drink to the following:

• If not already, turn it off
• Drop the battery/memory card out
• Get as much water out of it as quickly as you can
• Open all compartments (battery, flash, and connector sockets) and leave it in a warm spot, to help evaporate the water.
• Store the camera in a container with rice, pour rice into the container, place a sheet of plastic (like a bag) onto the rice for the camera to sit and seal well
• DO NOT TURN IT ON FOR AT LEAST 3-4 DAYS, be confident its dry before turning it on again

After having such a good week, there’s nothing worse than wondering if your expensive camera will ever be the same again, but be patient.

Related posts:

1. Mushies and the Lumix Vario G 14-45 lens
2. Lumix DMC-GF1 Arrives + First Shots
3. 2010 National Multicultural Festival – Canberra

Panasonic Australia

Just before New Years, I ordered my Panasonic Lumix GF1 from my local camera store. I ordered the 20mm lens kit, with the 14-45mm lens ordered additionally. Basically, I’d heard good things about the 20mm prime, but didn’t want to lose the convenience of a zoom lens, so I ordered both.

I received the kit in January after a short delay, which, seeing that it was just after Christmas, was understandable. At the same time, I was told the 14-45 lens would be another 2 weeks. Understandable, so I waited.

Throughout the rest of January and February, I continued to enquire about availability. I was continuously told that Panasonic Australia would supply the lens in “another 2 weeks”. As I was expecting to wait 2-3 weeks before receiving the lens, I was getting frustrated when come the start of March, I was still being told that there was a 2 week wait. After already waiting 8 weeks, how could it be possible to still be 2 weeks away? Were Panasonic Australia doing anything at all?

The Lumix GF1 is a micro four-thirds camera, advertised and sold on the premise that it is an interchangeable lens camera. In fact, Panasonic Australia lists the lenses that are available for the camera on their website. I do not believe it’s fair to market a camera in this way, as well as advertise lenses, if they are unable to actually supply them.

After a 10 week wait after the initial order, at the request of the camera store (who acted admirably and were extremely helpful and sympathetic to my wait), a 14-45mm lens was removed and separated from one of their body+lens kits, just so that they could fulfil my order.

The camera itself has performed fanatically, I love it! Panasonic has produced really a high quality camera and lenses, but are just pathetic when it comes to actually supplying them.

When I took finally took receipt of the lens, I got the hint that the lenses were still not expected to arrive until mid-April and that wasn’t even a solid date. I can’t believe that 4-5 months to fulfil an order is acceptable by Panasonic’s standards, especially in light of them receiving an Australian consumer award for their products and service.

Related posts:

1. Lumix DMC-GF1 Arrives + First Shots
2. Mushies and the Lumix Vario G 14-45 lens
3. Waiting for inspiration…

• Increase my fitness
• Save money
• Find a place to live – move out of the family home
• Continue to produce work and study that I am proud of (not specified originally, but should be mentioned). This includes Work (capitalised to denote actual employment), Photography, reading and generally seeking knowledge.

I have specifics to these goals, that I will keep personal, to use as a measure and ensure that I meet these goals. It’s only been two days, but I have already crossed on of them off the list. Today I received confirmation that an application for my first apartment! It will be shared with a mate from Uni, located much closer to work and Uni itself, plus providing the freedom and excitement of moving out of the family home, which I have been living in ever since I was born (22+ years…). Point 3 taken care of. A first.

Last night I attended a Climate Change Forum at my Uni, being one of the very few “young people” to attend. Surprisingly, interesting events like this, whilst hosted by a University, attract very few student attendees. Before and after the forum, with a little spare time at hand, I sought out some chances to take some photos (see below). Combined with a a reasonably busy week at Work, I think I’ve made a pretty good go at meeting Point 4. Notably the first image, which represents my first decent capture of lightning in an image, learning technique as I went. Another First.

Oh, with almost daily exercise, Point 1 is being addressed too, but as most fitness attempts, lapses are easy, I’ll be conservative and delay claiming success just yet.

The last two pictures are of a couple of the many sculptures that have been installed around the Canberra city centre, the first is part of the ‘Icarus’ series, the second is called ‘Relic’. There has been some criticism of the amount of money spent by the ACT Government to bring these art pieces into Canberra, mainly due to their obscurity. I do like them however. I believe public art brings character to a town centre. If they stand out, to the point that people are debating whether they are aesthetically pleasing or not, I think the goal of their installation has been achieved. Art needs to stand out and be noticed, otherwise you may as well not have them. Over time, people will grow accustomed to their presence, and will form a part of the city scape.

Related posts:

1. Crashing back to Earth…
2. Spurts and Stutters…
3. Figma 003 Saber

I suppose I should start off with my standard photo updated. I’m really hoping to be able to take a lot more, higher quality, photos in the near future. I’ve made the investment in the equipment, so I may as well, but I discovered that I really am quite limited at the moment. I am still waiting for a 14-45mm zoom lens to arrive. Whilst the 20mm pancake lens I have currently is producing blow-my-mind images and DOF effects, it’s not that brilliant at the landscape architecture shots that I like to do [I believe in a good balance between landscape and close photography]. The prime lens is a little limiting when trying to shoot objects further than, say, 20 meters away. I don’t know if this is standard, but its probably just my technique. I noticed this especially when I went to shoot Parliament House.

On a separate note, I think I may finally make my first venture into the world of Cosplay… I have been a bit of a closeted fan of the anime/manga culture, and it had only been recently that I have really actively entertained that interest. I don’t know why I haven’t earlier, I think I may have had the idea that there was some sort of stigma attached to, particularly Western, fans of anime and cosplay, as though it was something weird. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am myself rather weird, I really dislike following the mainstream.

I have a bit of a soft spot for the PS3 game Valkyria Chronicles, made by SEGA. I was the first anime style game that I really enjoyed, so fittingly, the cosplay I am considering would be as a member of Squad 7. Such as this costume produced by Cosplay Station.

I’ve made the pledge to myself, that in the time between now and when University restarts for the year, if I look after myself, i.e. increase my fitness, save some money and find my first place to live, I’ll organise a Squad 7 cosplay in time for this years SMASH.

Related posts:

1. Mushies and the Lumix Vario G 14-45 lens
2. Solio, Saber and more test Shots
3. First ever HD video test

It’s been so hot here in Canberra, around 35C for the last three days. Not much you can really do when it’s so hot and seeing that my car doesn’t currently have air conditioning, I’m pretty limited to where I can do and test out my new camera.

Oh yeah, as I mentioned, I’ve finally done a test run to see how the Lumix GF1 goes with HD video. Whilst not entirely convinced with the quality of the actual picture (I do find there is still a reasonable amount of noise in the picture), I am impressed by the camera’s ability to utilise the 20mm pancake lens. I just enjoyed using it to shoot video and play with deep-of-field effects for the first time. I know these might be old-school tricks for some, but there is a certain novelty in it to me, that’ll probably soon wear off, but will enjoy nonetheless.

Again, due to the heat, I was pretty much stuck at home today, so the same test subjects (flowers, fruits and vegetables from our garden) make yet another appearance. Feel free to watch it in 720HD as I went to the effort of uploading a proper HD sample to review.

The video is supposed to have a soundtrack, but due to copyright issues and YouTube’s audioswap having issues, it may be disabled at the moment.

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I’ll leave you with a thought:

By not being specifically addicted to either of Coca-Cola, Red Bull or Coffee, but using each to feed a more general addiction to Caffeine and Sugar, am I able to get away with saying that I have a rational addiction rather than a problem?
Or it is worse that I have gone to such lengths to justify to myself that I’m functioning normally despite not being able to function properly without consuming at least two of the above daily?

Related posts:

1. Lumix DMC-GF1 Arrives + First Shots
2. Solio, Saber and more test Shots
3. Waiting for inspiration…

The Fate series always said that Saber was a representation of King Arthur, which I always thought was weird, mainly due to the fact that she was indeed a girl. Before her history was revealed, I was certain that she would most likely represent Joan of Arc (thinking Jeanne d’Arc). I think theres something about a cute girl warrior, whether real or fictional…

I currently work in a field involved with the Renewable Energy sector here in Australia. Whilst I lack the money to put a full blown solar PV system on my roof, I like collecting solar powered gadgets, whether solar collectors, or things like Solar Radiometers. Solio was the first (and probably my favourite) solar charger I have purchased. I don’t use it as much as I should, but the times that I do, I allows me to feel good to know that my iPhone or PSP is running of renewable energy.

Also, just a couple more test shots from the garden, as I gradually hone my skills at the 20mm lens.

Well, its now Saturday afternoon… whilst I didn’t quite get out and about as much as I would have liked to be able to test out the camera, its starting to storm here, I did have quite a productive day. I have working on some of the left over reports I needed to write up after my recent work trip, but I managed to get them done faster that I thought I would, whilst sitting in front of the TV watching the cricket at the same time. Not a bad day… and it’s only SATURDAY!

Related posts:

1. Figma 003 Saber
2. Revoltech Alter Saber
3. Saber and Illya

I’ve discovered the great potential for exploiting the shallow depth of field that can be produced from an F/1.7 lens, but also realised, because I have never shot with a lens of that spec. before, I really have quite a lot of practise ahead of me before I’ll be able to take great shots.

A depth of field test done on my previous purchase, a Leica C-Lux 2 compact, which is essentially a rebadged Lumix Compact. As a result, I already feel at home with the Lumix’s menu layout:

Well, thats about it for now. I’d only really just gotten home from the work trip and headed straight out to the camera store to pick it up. I’ve been almost 3 weeks for it to arrive, so sure enough, when it actually does make it to the store, I’m about 400 KMs away, forcing me to wait just one more day. At least I now have the weekend ahead of me, so hopefully over the next few days, I’ll be able to upload some more images as well as some HD video (the camera is capable of capturing HD720 video). The 20mm lens is not stabilised, so I may be limited to what I can do, but I’ll give it a shot. Exciting!

Related posts:

1. Waiting for inspiration…
2. First ever HD video test
3. Mushies and the Lumix Vario G 14-45 lens

I guess the main reason the new version of the blog has gotten off to a slow start is due to the fact I’m still waiting for a new toy to arrive. I have a brand new Lumix DMC-GF1 on order with the local camera chain here in Canberra.

I’ve ordered the two available lenses, the 20mm prime (pictured above) and the 14-45 mm zoom. This will be the first interchangeable lens camera I’ll have owned. My current camera is a Leica compact (essentially a re-badged Lumix compact), which has served me well, but I’ve pretty much reached the limits of its capabilities.

I was so excited to discover the Lumix GF1. The first well executed micro four-thirds camera. I am really attracted to the idea of a small form camera, with the advantages of changeable lenses that you get with SLRs.

Waiting for my order to arrive, I’ve been reading up on reviews and picture/video samples. I can’t wait for it to arrive. When it does, I’ll share my creations through this blog. I’m already planning projects to do so that I can give the camera a good test.

Oh wells… more updates soon.

Related posts:

1. Lumix DMC-GF1 Arrives + First Shots
2. The Panasonic Australia Experience
3. How quick thinking and a bowl of rice saved my Lumix GF1