Spot the difference

For once the weather forecast proved reasonably accurate and the rain did abate after lunch. There was intermittent sunshine too. This meant a drive out to the quarry to play with the potential new toy. A few warmer days and some rain made the place look different in subtle ways. Although I had decided to call it a day I might continue visiting the place to make more pictures as the seasons change. It was also much noisier than it has been all winter. Birds were singing their heads off, including a number of chiffchaffs.

Despite not having a manual for the camera I had managed to set it up in a way that I could just about manage. The only thing that bugs me is making exposure compensations. As far as I can work out it needs two or more button presses. I'm sure that with practice it would become second nature, but both the dial on the X10 and the press-button-spin-dial method on my DSLRs are dead simple. Other than that the camera was easy to use. One feature that I found really useful for low level shots using the flip out screen was the focus point can be chosen simply by touching the screen. Focusing is a lot faster than on the X10 and there's a very usable back-button for focusing when using the electronic viewfinder. All in all it's very nearly a mini DSLR as far as handling goes.

In the interests of pixel peeping I took some shots of primroses using three cameras. Most definitely the stage has come when for most purposes pretty much any camera will do these days, and making the choice boils down to handling.

Of course there are differences in image rendering caused by the qualities of the lenses, and depth of field differences caused by sensor size. Depending on your needs smaller sensors can be beneficial in this respect, or not! Peeping the pixels on the PC there is a noticeable increase in noise on reaching ISO 400, by no means awful just noticeable. Having made an A4 print from an ISO 1600 file containing fine detail I'm more than happy with the output.The only bad thing I've noticed so far about the files is a tendency for blues to become vivid when altering tones and exposure. Pale blue-grey hills turn dark navy. Easily rectified, but annoying.

I guess I'm easily swayed. At the price it's going for, and given that the controls are better than on the newer model, I'll likely be the owner of a micro four thirds camera tomorrow. I can quite understand now why a lot of hobbyists have ditched their DSLR systems in favour of the smaller, lighter gear. What holds me back is mostly the 'look' of pictures made with the larger sensor, and the ease of handling of the cameras. But for a 'knockabout' camera the G2 seems to be closer to that handling than the X10. The X10 feels more like a real camera, it's files are great and the physical controls easy to use. But that damned viewfinder bugs the hell out of me. The EVF on the Panasonic isn't perfect, but what you see is what you get (no matter which aspect ratio you select) and the rear screen isn't partly obscured by 'information' when using that to frame shots. No doubt I'll find niggles in time, but with the flippy-outy screen it should make a good fishing camera for travelling light!

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