More Infrared: Pitt Lake

I was out at Pitt Lake yesterday and lucked out with the clouds and sun. This was perfect weather for dramatic light and infrared photos. These were all shot with my IR-converted GF2 camera again...

Panasonic GF2 Infrared Conversion

Today, I finally received my GF2 back from LifePixel, after its infrared conversion. As usual, they did a great job and I would say the assembly of the camera was even better than from the factory, with perfectly aligned body-shell seams. There was just a hint of sun during my lunch break, so I snapped off a quick series of shots near Beau Photo. Hopefully I'll have some sun next weekend, so I can get out and take some more shots with it! Two more photos after the break...

Happy New Year! ... and my first photo of 2012.

My first shot of 2012 is of my new Panasonic GX1 with its optional LVF2 viewfinder and my new 14mm f/2.5 pancake lens. It was taken with my new red Panasonic GF2! Why red? Well, next week I will be sending the GF2 down to LifePixel in Washington to be converted to a dedicated infrared camera and I figured a red body was fitting and will make it easier, at a glance, to tell which body is the IR one. That, and the fact that Panasonic was out of black GF2 kits that came with the 14mm pancake!

I received both these cameras just before Christmas and have been shooting with the GX1 quite extensively for the last week. Watch for an upcoming review in the February Beau Photo newsletter and on the Beau Photo Digital Blogs, but suffice to say for now that I am very impressed. In fact, I would say its image quality on stills is slightly better even than my GH2, although I do miss the multi-aspect-ratio sensor. How is it better? Well I am judging the colour to be slightly more accurate and the dynamic range to be a little better. Also, while high ISO noise levels are similar, I feel that the GX1 offers a slightly tighter "grain" pattern with a little less blotchiness and less pattern artifacts like banding, when compared to the GH2. Again, these improvements are very minor so I would not hesitate to grab either camera in any given situation.