new camera!

 

28th November, a new era begins.

I found the whole process traumatic, but it is done. I felt I wanted better photos. I would have loved to stick with a bridge camera but there aren't any significant upgrades from the one I use, by Panasonic, the brand I wanted to stay with. In November they launched the G9ii an update of the G9; a great micro four thirds. The reviews were great and better, especially when paired with the new 100~400 lens for wildlife. Being a micro four thirds that means 200~800mm equivalent which gives a huge reach from a system smaller and lighter than a full frame. Perhaps not the same low light performance as a full frame due to the smaller sensor, but most of the subjects I love (butterflies, dragonflies) avoid low light, as do I. 

So it seemed an obvious choice. The dealings I had with one of the few camera shops left in town (Wex) mostly went smoothly although I felt a bit sick with apprehension and anticipation. The list of necessary accessories (neccessories) is quite a business. The price of a superfast SD card (which can store more gigabytes than a PC from a few years ago) is more than the price of a compact camera. I bought the non brand name one although to utilise the maximum slow motion (high speed) capabilities of the G9ii I believe I have to purchase an SSD drive and plug it into the camera. 

So is it any good? Well, yes! Although I have been too busy (and the weather has been crappy) to take it out more than once. I did a visit to Cammo where I was confident the small birds would come to a photo call if I bribed them with some bread, seeds and peanuts. I hadn't yet bought the protective case and backpack so went by bus and wore it round my front. It is quite a bit heavier than my previous although about the same size. Most of the weight being in the substantial lens which tired my arms way quicker when holding it up to point at stuff. I worried it wouldn't have as much of a reach as the bridge camera and it wouldn't get me as close to the birds. I was sort of forgetting it is the equivalent of 800mms and therefore longer than the Sigma 60~600 I had been considering getting if I went down the full frame road. However it (the 600mm) is about a yard long, weighs a ton and just wouldn't be as compatible on long walks over rough ground. And if I want further reach there are extenders.

What I actually miss is not the further reach of the bridge camera but the near reach. I can't do a wide shot with the long lens on and have to change to the 12~60 kit lens. I nearly didn't buy this as I spend maybe 90+ percent of the time at the zoom end of the bridge camera. However the inability to do establishing shots, (selfies, interiors) panoramas and wide landscapes suddenly becomes a huge sacrifice and I'm very glad I added the 12~60 to the never-ending tab. It does mean a time consuming lens swap, never to be done in dusty or rainy environments, and makes me consider taking the bridge camera on trips as well as the new job. The G9 is far more weather proof than the FZ2000 so it is not all compromise in one direction. And the photos are pretty good. We'll get to the photos in a moment, I am just working through the trauma of change and throwing a fuckton of cash at something that may bring quite a lot of inconvenience without actually bringing a significant upgrade in photos.

The most impressive thing about the G9ii is animal detection. And animal eye detection. When you put an animal in the frame, the camera will try to detect it. I don't have a finite list of animals it can recognise and I suspect it is "most". Crucially I wonder about insects - butterflies and dragonflies. You probably have human detection on your camera or phone. It will recognise a human in the frame and focus on that. The G9ii will do that for birds and squirrels, drawing a box round the whole creature and then putting a smaller box directly over the eye if it is visible. Previously I would use the open touch screen and my left thumb over it to drag a box to position the focus. There is a 8way joystick button on the back of the G9ii to position the focus although I have set the focus to the centre of the screen and generally position the subject there so it gets the idea. However animal detection is a game changer as it will keep the focus on the animal or bird even when a branch or grass stem blows in front of the desired subject. So far it is very good. Not 100% perfect but close enough to give you a huge helping hand. And once it latches on to a bird it tends to stick with it as it hops around. 

A subsidiary focussing aid is a 'near' and 'far' focus facility. (Which you can programme to one of several non-specific function buttons on the camera body.) If the focus has found something in front or behind the object of desire you can push the near button and it will jump forward, similarly the far. All this helps get the image focussed on the subject asap, and more chance of a shot before the subject flies off. The real test will be dragonflies in flight, which are nearly impossible. Birds in flight are another tricky one, and the camera promises to help out there as well. There are dozens of how-to tutorials on youTube. Some great, some awful. But slightly better than reading through an encyclopaedic manual which is dry as dust.

animal detection focussing on bird rather than grasses

I would have liked a wider shot here than this 
but it was all I could manage without changing the lens

animal detection recognised the blackbird over the nettle or twig
how? I have no idea!

it even spotted this robin among similar coloured leaves

After a bit of a wander I returned to the feeding station beside the curling pond. The sun was behind the trees now and the light was pretty poor, although the birds were still enjoying the food so I took a few more shots and was impressed with the results which were considerably better than the bridge camera would have managed in the poor lighting.

This (above) was maybe the shot of the day. (None was outstanding but it was a good introduction to the new beast.) You can see the focus is on the eye of the nuthatch rather than the various stumps of wood all around. It is a short depth of field because there is precious little light around but the camera manages pretty well even from the distance away I was standing. (4 metres?)

I chose the nuthatch for the focus as it was swithering between the 2

As I left there was a terrible racket from neighbouring trees. After a bit of a search I tracked it down to this jay. It was a long way up a monkey puzzle tree and mostly just a silhouette against the sky. With a bit of cranking in post I managed to reveal something of its true colours. Which is good going given it was maybe 40 feet up.

Likewise these starlings (below) which were on the weather vane at the top of the scooby doo building at Barnton Roundabout. By the time I got back to Leith (all the way down to Wex to pick up a spare battery and look at cases) the moon was out. It looked a day off full. 

Initial reaction to the camera is that it is a very specialised tool that could easily help me get the quality of wildlife photos I am after. I found it easier to use than I expected although there is a daunting amount to learn and become familiar with. Hopefully that will keep me entertained for years rather than drive me nuts. It is not as friendly as the bridge camera I have been using which from day one I loved. It was a jack of all trades and covered every sort of photo easily.

In order to get better results I have had to swap that simplicity for a more complex situation. It will take a little time to adapt to but I suspect an upcoming holiday will bed it in. I haven't really fallen in love with it and it feels like a responsibility rather than totally a joy as yet. The price tag is a difficult one to ignore (although I have got insurance now, yet another expense) to just concentrate on having fun. I'm fairly sure this will change. I don't expect the improvements to land immediately but think if any camera can do the job, this is the one.