The sun was shining and I felt it was an ideal opportunity to take only the LUMIX camera along with me to see just how it fared — overall, this small lightweight camera performed incredibly; there were some snags, but in all honesty they were down to me. Some images proved difficult to accurately focus where I intended, but this was due to my trying to rely on the autofocus, and could easily be overcome by my resorting to manual focus.
The array of different features offered by this camera is astonishing, and I have barely explored any of the more complex capabilities, because I was intent on mastering the basics. The back and top are awash with various controls, many with sub-features, and these take time to become familiar. On this occasion, I was not trying to explore beyond the basics, I was concerned simply with deciding composition, focus, where in the zoom range I wanted to be, whether I used single shot, or a burst to allow for the breeze, whether I flipped out the screen for a low level viewpoint, or whether I altered the aperture to gain extra or less depth. The difficulty I encountered with relying on the autofocus, was due to the subject having a low contrast, whereas beyond and to a lesser degree in front of the pale yellow/green flower it was surrounded by crisp, dark, fine twigs, whose contrast was far greater.
I purposely took the opportunity to break off from shooting a closeup of a tiny flower to get shots of an overflying aircraft taking off from Luton Airport. I was pleasantly surprised by the result. I did not make the purchase of this camera for the same reasons as my other three, Canon bodies; it was as a camera for those times when I was out and about and the circumstances offered unexpected opportunities and this was the only camera that was to hand.
This trip to Luton was made to purposely limit me to just this camera, and to check how I fared in such a situation and, for me to gain experience of its handling. It passed, and more than met my expectations, so will often now join me in the car for those serendipitous occasions which present me with opportunities where I can capture images with a very reasonable and acceptable quality. There are possible ways in which I can tailor some aspects of the features so they reside nearer the surface as opposed to being buried deeply, but that needs further exploration.
Lovely colours from the Lumix!
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