Sunday, 12 January 2014

Deciding on the camera ...

Back in February 2014 I completed an unfeasible amount of years at the company I work for. In recognition of this I was given money. The question at the time was "What should I do with this money? "
 Should I put it in the bank and see it whittle away paying for utility bills and groceries, or I should spend it? Readers, I decided on the latter.

For some years I had been avidly snapping pictures on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3. A really good little camera in my opinion. However, I've always felt slightly jealous of the SLR weilding crowd with their light meters, twiddly nobs and interchangeable lenses. Unfortunately though, these cameras always seemed a bit on the expensive side, so I couldn't think of a good excuse to buy one given that my point and shoot Lumix gave me quite adequate results.

So, the sudden appearance of extra money in my bank account got me searching around for a suitable digital SLR. Now the one thing that has put me off about SLRs is their size and weight. I don't particularly want to be walking around with one of the Nikon or Canon anvils tied around my neck, but I do want something that could take different lenses and would behave very much like a SLR. It was then I stumbled upon the micro four thirds Panasonics. The GX1 appeared to fit the bill. This, with it's compact body and a 14 - 42 power zoom fulfilled the criteria of portability (I can carry it with ease on my belt), features (DSLR-alike with zoom) and price. With the money I had enough to buy the camera, a case and a 45 - 200 telephoto.

 Now all I need to do is to learn how to use it. This is where this blog comes in. This will be a diary that will hopefully plot part of my course from happy snapper to a photographer who knows his F numbers from his shutter speed. I have now enrolled on an evening  course at a local a FE college which could give me a City and Guilds qualification.

From left to right. Panasonic GX1 with 14-42 lens,
Pancake lens (14), bolt-on macro and fish eye, telephoto 45-200. Apparently you need to double these figures for the 35mm equivalent.

















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