The Birthday Party:
Yesterday was our 4 year old’s birthday party — a dance party no less. Ever try to take photos of a little kids dancing and running around? It’s quite a frustrating endeavor! However, the Panasonic GX8 with the Leica 15mm is the tool for the job! I set it to shutter priority and shot at 1/200 of a second, auto ISO, face detect, vivid mode, and tap to shoot. These are the photos straight out of the camera! I’m quite pleased with this combo — it was the right tool for the job, and the photos are great! My only two complaints with this camera are:
- I prefer a tilting LCD as opposed to one that flips out off to the side.
- The autofocus in video mode is too slow for action. I had to use a camcorder for video.
Fireworks:
Our little girl had a great birthday party. Coincidentally, that very night there was a local fireworks display nearby. We met up with our friend and her kids down at a nearby park. It was dusk, the sun had almost set, and I was armed with the GX8 and the Leica 42.5mm f/1.7 lens. Considering the ISO was pushing 6400 for a micro 4/3 sensor, the images are quite nice! Again, these are the out of camera JPEGs. The last photo was pretty darn near pitch black outside.
Then the fireworks began! I’ve taken my share of terrible fireworks, and really expected to take some pretty lousy shots. I put the camera in aperture priority, f/1.2, auto ISO, vivid, and set the focus manually to infinity. These are the photos straight out of the camera! Honestly, without a doubt, these are THE best fireworks photos that I have ever shot! The brightest parts of the fireworks tended to ghost, reflect on the inner lens elements, flare, or whatever you want to call it, but I like the effect.
