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  Photos Taken With Panasonic MFT And LX7 Cameras...  

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DAVID RUETHER     All Copyright 2012-2017     (updated 10/22/17)
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INTRODUCTION: 

All of this began with an effort to improve video performance (and operational control ability) over what I could do with shooting video with the excellent Panasonic TM700 camcorder. While the image-quality was very good (it appeared to be the best of what was offered by small-sensor equipped camcorders using the AVCHD 28Mbps 1920x1080-60P standard), it could be improved upon in some ways, and I was never a fan of the TM700's menus and controls, especially when switching between automatic and manual modes. The quest for a better (affordable!) video camera led me to Panasonic's still cameras, the best of which appeared (in side-by-side comparisons) to easily surpass the competition in most respects for video image-quality. I was headed for the Panasonic GH3, but while I waited for it to appear on the US market, I began using a borrowed GH2 (and soon after that I bought a small GF3) for checking lenses. As I began to collect the lenses covered below, I also began to realize that an interest in still photography was returning (and this has become my third "incarnation" as a photographer...;-). During the next two and a half years I took about one hundred thousand stills - and I have been having great fun again with photography! 

Photographers have many different approaches to photography, but most can be placed in two groups: 
those who see photography mainly as a way to capture a viewed reality at a moment in time, and those who mainly explore the graphic possibilities of photography. The former group is likely more interested in "capturing" events, portraits, and similar; the latter group is likely more interested in exploring the graphic possibilities of whatever is in front of the camera for organizing compositions using forms defined by brightness, color, and texture in the image relative to the edge-defining photograph's frame. Those in the first group may be particularly interested in expressions and body-language, or in the recording of actions or activities; those in the second group are more likely to be more sensitive to, and interested in, the nuances and effects of the overall graphic characteristics of their photographs. Those in the first group may be interested in isolating "subjects" within their photographs, using such means as limited DOF, darkening of "unwanted" areas, etc.; those in the second group recognize that *all* parts and image characteristics within the frame edge are graphically important, and all need to be organized within the frame to form the graphic whole called a photograph. Likely obvious from the photographs below, I fall into the second group of photographers...;-) 

I used to teach photography at a nearby college, and one of the lessons I used was to bring to class a black and white photograph with a wide white border, a black field within it, and a lemon in the middle. I would hold it up and ask the class what it was. The answer was invariably, "a lemon". On the blackboard I would then start a column, and ask for descriptions of the "lemon's" characteristics. We would often have about 25 to 30 characteristics relating to color, shape, size, weight, thickness, tearing, folding, squashing, taste, smell, feel, construction materials, and anything else we could think of at the time. I would then pull out of my pocket a lemon (the fruit...;-) and ask the same question about what it was. The same answer would also invariably come back, "a lemon". So we would then, in a column next to the first, describe the equivalent characteristics of the second "lemon" as carefully as we could, lining the answers up the best we could with the corresponding characteristics of the first "lemon". There would be *NO* characteristics that exactly matched! None at all! So, I would hold up the first "lemon" again, and ask what it was. Generally it would take a while, but eventually I would hear it, "a photograph of a lemon", and I would clarify that to, "a photograph that happened to be taken with a lemon in front of the camera, but which recorded NOTHING accurately about that lemon". The point of the lesson being that a photograph is a new object which has its own (graphic) characteristics, and that a photograph is a rather poor medium for accurately recording the characteristics of  what was in front of the camera at the time the photo was taken. Further, photographs "lie egregiously", since people assume that they do record things accurately, when "in reality" they rarely record anything at all accurately. The further point is that being a graphic medium, the photographic characteristics may be modified at will for ends other than "to record things". Also, that ALL parts within the frame of the photograph are "subject", since nothing else is "real" or "recorded accurately" - although the graphic image called a photograph may well remind the viewer of what may have been in front of the camera when the original image was taken with it. While this does free the photographer to go as far away from the "reality" of what was in front of the camera, I prefer to go not TOO far away from that with my own photographs - but that is simply *my* choice only...;-) 

In terms of my personal choices for photographic gear, I now prefer light, compact, and pleasant-to-use tools - but they must also be very able, with the fewest practical limitations possible (and they must also not be so expensive that I cannot buy them!). This led me to the Panasonic MFT gear for both stills and video (and to the very compact Panasonic LX7 for stills), and I now have gear that can cover from 180-degrees of view in a single photo (or more, with using panorama-mode), to the tiny field of view of a 2,000mm (35mm FF-equivalent) lens, with most of it being hand-holdable even with very long focal-length lenses, and some of it is capable of photographing very small objects - and all of it is capable of producing excellent results. Since I recognize that any and all parts of a photographic image should be capable of being sharp and free from annoying digital faults (such as visible chromatic aberrations), some choices in gear were eliminated (some of which are commonly-used, expensive, with great reputations, and preferred by others - but I'm a "nit-picker" when it comes to my gear...;-). 

Below are a few photographs taken with the Panasonic LX7, GF3, G5, G6, and GH4 cameras - and, due to my being a "lens-nut", they are organized in groups according to what lenses were used for taking them, with links below for jumping to particular groups. I hope you have as much fun viewing them as I did taking them! 

        

A - LX7 COMPACT-CAMERA  (MFT-equivalent lens: 12-45mm)
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B - ROKINON 7.5mm f3.5
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C - PANASONIC 7-14mm f4
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D - VOIGTLANDER 12mm f5.6
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E - PANASONIC 14mm f2.5
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F - PANASONIC 14-42mm f3.5-5.6
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G - PANASONIC 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 II
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H - PANASONIC 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 PZ
  (plus GFC1 fisheye conversion lens)
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I - PANASONIC 14-45mm f3.5-5.6
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J - NIKKOR 16mm f3.5
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K - TAMRON 28-135mm f4-4.5
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L - PANASONIC 45-175mm f4-5.6 PZ

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M - SIGMA 60mm f2.8
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N - PANASONIC 100-300mm f4-5.6
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O - NIKKOR 500mm f8 Mirror
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P - Other Adapted NIKKOR And Nikon-Mount Lenses
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Q -
Additional Photographs Taken With More Cameras And More Lenses Are Here

 

 

     A - LX7 Compact-Camera (MFT-Equivalent: 12-45mm)


 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 


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     B - ROKINON 7.5mm f3.5



 


 



 



 



 



 



 



 



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     C - PANASONIC 7-14mm f4


 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



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     D - VOIGTLANDER 12mm f5.6


 



 



 



 



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     E - PANASONIC 14mm f2.5














 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



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     F - PANASONIC 14-42mm f3.5-5.6


 



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     G - PANASONIC 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 II


 



 



 



 



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     H - PANASONIC 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 PZ


 



 



 




     PANASONIC 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 PZ plus GFC1 fisheye conversion lens


 



 



 



 



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     I - PANASONIC 14-45mm f3.5-5.6


 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



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     J - NIKKOR 16mm f3.5


 



 



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     K - TAMRON 28-135mm f4-4.5


 



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     L - PANASONIC 45-175mm f4-5.6 PZ


 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



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     M - SIGMA 60mm f2.8


 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



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     N - PANASONIC 100-300mm f4-5.6 (most are with in-camera digital 2X for 600mm)


 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



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     O - NIKKOR 500mm f8 Mirror (the last are with TC300 + short tube for 1,000mm)


 



 



 



     - 500mm f8 Nikkor Mirror + TC300 (2,000mm-equivalent) -

 



     - 500mm f8 Nikkor Mirror + TC300 (2,000mm-equivalent) -




     - 500mm f8 Nikkor Mirror + TC300 (2,000mm-equivalent) -



     - 500mm f8 Nikkor Mirror + TC300 (2,000mm-equivalent) -

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     P - Other Adapted NIKKOR And Nikon-Mount Lenses


     - 75-300mm Nikkor -

 


     - 50mm f1.4 Nikkor -

 


     - 75-300mm Nikkor -

 


     - 50mm f1.8E Nikkor (reversed) -

 


     - 300mm f4 Nikkor AF -

 


     - 50mm f1.8E Nikkor on Tilt-Adapter -

 


     - 14mm f2.8 Rokinon (Nikon-mount) on Shift (PC) Adapter -

 

                   
                         - 14mm f2.8 Rokinon (Nikon-mount) on Shift (PC) Adapter -

 


     - 50mm f1.8E Nikkor on Tilt-Adapter -

 


     - 50mm f1.8E Nikkor on Tilt-Adapter -

 


     - 50mm f1.8E Nikkor on Tilt-Adapter -

 


     - 28-70mm f3.5-4.5 AF Nikkor at 28mm -

 


     - 28-70mm f3.5-4.5 AF Nikkor at 70mm -

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