In January, I traveled up to London with my erstwhile friend for an evening's shoot around Canary Wharf. I've walked around there a couple of times during the day, and captured a few architectural shots (as well as processing a bunch in a science fiction aesthetic). The purpose of our visit? The Canary Wharf Winter Lights festival. My friend had previously want to head up for this, but for various reasons it never happened. When he announced that he was booking a day off work and going up regardless, I jumped at the opportunity to join him.
I didn't really know what to expect. I'd been told that there would be a variety of art installations which had the creative use of light as their medium. How well would this translate to photography? And what compositions could one shoot without the photo ultimately being a record of the artist's work?
The works were colourful and varied. Some featured audio background to them, which lent some of them a very eerie atmosphere (particularly for Whale Ghost).
The temperature around that time was cold - very, very cold - with a great deal of wind chill. It averaged -2 degrees Celsius. I'd done my best to wrap up warm with a three-in-one jacket, hat and scarf, but I really could have done with some long-johns on underneath to stop that wind cutting through my legs. A warming hot-chocolate at the start of the session, and a hot meal before we started shooting definitely helped a bit.
Remember to look after yourself when you go out on photography trips - you're not going to enjoy it half as much if you're shivering all the time.
And also remember to ensure that any spare batteries are kept on your person, rather than in a camera bag that will be around the same temperature as your surroundings. Due to the cold, my G9's battery diminished much faster than normal, and to my chagrin I discovered that the little charge that was in my spare battery (I hadn't charged it...) was completely gone. Which meant missing some great opportunities later on in the evening.
I also yet again hired a lens to take up with me - the Panasonic Leica DG 8-18mm f/2.8-f/4 premium ultra-wide angle lens (once again courtesy of the brilliant Hireacamera team). I've owned the Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm UWA lens for a while now (it was in fact the third lens I purchased back in my GH1 days), though I've gradually become dissatisfied with both the quality of image that it produces and the actual angle of view.
You wouldn't think they'd be much difference between 8mm and 9mm on Micro Four Thirds, but that is equivalent to 16mm to 18mm - an angle of view of 84.06 degrees versus 67.4 degrees. Quite substantial!
Now, it was quite dark at Canary Wharf - a necessity for the art installations to work - and this is where the wonders of the G9's in-body stabilisation came into play. I was regularly shooting compositions with a shutter in the 0.4 second range, and in fact I have a few shots which are pin-sharp at 2 seconds. This was with all the lenses I was using that evening (Voigtlander 17.5mm, Leica 8-18mm, Lumix 42.5mm), only one of which benefited from the DualIS2 capability.
What can I say about the 8-18mm? I love it, that's what. Fantastic build-quality, with focus and zoom rings having the right feel to them, and the images that it takes are very sharp across the frame (even at f/2.8). I will definitely be replacing my older M.Zuiko when I get that chance.
Should I look at the Laowa 7.5mm f/2.0 manual prime instead? Possibly, but it would have to do something pretty damn special to replace the Panasonic Leica UWA.
I didn't really know what to expect. I'd been told that there would be a variety of art installations which had the creative use of light as their medium. How well would this translate to photography? And what compositions could one shoot without the photo ultimately being a record of the artist's work?
The works were colourful and varied. Some featured audio background to them, which lent some of them a very eerie atmosphere (particularly for Whale Ghost).
The temperature around that time was cold - very, very cold - with a great deal of wind chill. It averaged -2 degrees Celsius. I'd done my best to wrap up warm with a three-in-one jacket, hat and scarf, but I really could have done with some long-johns on underneath to stop that wind cutting through my legs. A warming hot-chocolate at the start of the session, and a hot meal before we started shooting definitely helped a bit.
Remember to look after yourself when you go out on photography trips - you're not going to enjoy it half as much if you're shivering all the time.
And also remember to ensure that any spare batteries are kept on your person, rather than in a camera bag that will be around the same temperature as your surroundings. Due to the cold, my G9's battery diminished much faster than normal, and to my chagrin I discovered that the little charge that was in my spare battery (I hadn't charged it...) was completely gone. Which meant missing some great opportunities later on in the evening.
I also yet again hired a lens to take up with me - the Panasonic Leica DG 8-18mm f/2.8-f/4 premium ultra-wide angle lens (once again courtesy of the brilliant Hireacamera team). I've owned the Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm UWA lens for a while now (it was in fact the third lens I purchased back in my GH1 days), though I've gradually become dissatisfied with both the quality of image that it produces and the actual angle of view.
You wouldn't think they'd be much difference between 8mm and 9mm on Micro Four Thirds, but that is equivalent to 16mm to 18mm - an angle of view of 84.06 degrees versus 67.4 degrees. Quite substantial!
Now, it was quite dark at Canary Wharf - a necessity for the art installations to work - and this is where the wonders of the G9's in-body stabilisation came into play. I was regularly shooting compositions with a shutter in the 0.4 second range, and in fact I have a few shots which are pin-sharp at 2 seconds. This was with all the lenses I was using that evening (Voigtlander 17.5mm, Leica 8-18mm, Lumix 42.5mm), only one of which benefited from the DualIS2 capability.
What can I say about the 8-18mm? I love it, that's what. Fantastic build-quality, with focus and zoom rings having the right feel to them, and the images that it takes are very sharp across the frame (even at f/2.8). I will definitely be replacing my older M.Zuiko when I get that chance.
Should I look at the Laowa 7.5mm f/2.0 manual prime instead? Possibly, but it would have to do something pretty damn special to replace the Panasonic Leica UWA.
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