Switching to a Mirrorless Camera

Invoking personal changes.​ 

Every once in a while it is good to step out of your comfort zone and test your mettle. That's my opinion anyway, as long as it doesn't affect my business. Well I took a bit of a leap this past weekend and went on a photo shoot with out my camera gear. Yep!!! That's right, I left my full frame DSLR(s) and my bag full of lenses in my studio. Over 45 lbs. of gear plus the backpack and the accessories I usually haul when shooting an airshow, fireworks, and a twilight outdoor concert. I had spread them all out on my planning table, which is my usual routine, and just walked away. Which is never part of my routine. Yes there is a catch. No, I didn't rely on my amazing iPhone. In place of all that weight, I took a Lumix G9, and two lenses. The 8-18mm and the 100-300mm IS. Total weight was about 4.6 lbs. What did I give up? A sore back, and two sore shoulders. I also missed two places with the sunscreen but that really has nothing to do about anything. 

Lumix G9​ 

The G9 has what is called a micro 4:3's sensor. It's smaller by nearly 50% of the big full frame camera sensors I have been using. It's also a mirrorless camera so technically is not a DSLR, there is no "R" or reflex, meaning no mirror flapping up and down between shutter actuations. Because the sensor is roughly 50% smaller, the focal length of the lenses have the full frame equivalent of 2x longer. So that 8-18 was my 16-35mm F 2.8, and the 100-300mm was a whopping 200mm – 600mm with Image Stabilization. So I reduced my 45lbs of gear to a Lumix G9 body and 2 lenses. Nice and small. However it's big on features and very light. Now I never really got to use the full potential of this camera because I only received it the night before I needed to use it so I did a self taught crash course on "naviguessing" my way in and around this remarkable tool. Even thought I did not have all the settings optimal for what I was shooting, I walked away astonished in the quality of the image and the sharpness of the glass. The focus was also fast and it had a burst mode for the shutter that was 30 FRAMES PER SECOND. HOLY MOLY !! I didn't actually use that feature, I didn't read about it until the day was over. LOL !! But I was shooting at least 8-10 frames per second, which is very impressive. Because technically there are no more mechanical hindrances of controlling and synchronizing a mirror and a shutter, the operational features are flat out amazing. Just in focus control alone, features that would have only been on the highest priced 5.5 lbs. DLSR's were integrated into this body. The Lumix G9 sensor is more or less in continuous live view, so the processor is getting the data in real time. One of the focusing modes is face detection, you see live with little boxes over the faces the camera is tracking and focusing on. Oh, AND metering on as well. That's some hi tech there. Or you can select all 255 focus points, or a few of them in an oval or a square, or just one of them for precise focusing. You can even set it up to track a moving subject either predictable or unpredictable. I was pretty amazed to say the least.

Again I wish I had it long enough to really test it out, and I did use the wrong mode for a portion of my shooting and I still came away with some pretty awesome images.

Here's the best part, The dollar value of the gear I would have normally taken to shoot this day would have exceeded $15,000. YIKES !!! The price of the gear I shot with brand new was under $3,000. Are you following me now !! The Lumix G9 is the top of the line body and it retail for only $1700. Now I am not yet claiming to be the expert on micro 4:3's and mirrorless digital photography. Actually I'm investigating the technology a little late as they've been out for a while. Several years, in fact. There are also full frame sensors out there in mirrorless that will save a ton of weight, and they are also loaded with features and produce totally awesome images. BUT they aren't going to save you any money as they are equally priced as DSLR's. Yes there are exceptions. I still have a lot to learn and as I sort of hinted earlier I cannot risk producing lower quality images for my clients. Lumix puts out a bunch of lenses that cover the gamut of fish eye to 400mm (800mm equivalent) and many option in between including macro. They also have the identical mount as the Olympus digital mirrorless so you can swap lenses with them. They also make an adaptor that would allow me to mount my Canon lenses, but the only one I would probably keep would be my tilt-shift since they don't make one of those. The rest, why bother, they are very heavy by comparison.

So am I hooked? Not entirely sure, but I'm definitely following the bait. Closely. Thanks for hanging in there with me. 

These are my actual images, limited basic post processing, all hand held (left my tripod on the planning table remember?)