New camera

The poor old Sony SLT A-33 was getting a bit long in the tooth (nearly 6 years old). It has performed well but I have  had a couple of times where I couldn't set the aperture, however a reboot fixed the problem. This was my first interchangeable lens camera and I knew that you generally get locked into a camera brand by the lenses you buy. The Sony seemed like a good camera at the time and the lens mounting system had been around for quite awhile (A-mount which was compatible with the old Minolta AF mount), so I assumed that all sony's new cameras would use it. Unfortunately, Sony changed to a new system, the E-mount a couple of years ago for all their new cameras, so whatever new camera I bought I would need to get some new lenses as well. 

After doing quite a bit of research I ended up getting a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX85, which had only just been released. This has a 16 MP micro-four-thirds (MFT) sensor with all sorts of fancy in camera stabilisation. The advantage of the MFT system is that both Panasonic and Olympus make both cameras and lenses which are interchangeable so hopefully I won't get stuck in a few years when I want a new camera. I got a Panasonic 14-140 mm lens (28-280 mm 35 mm equivalent) with the camera and also got a Panansonic 100-300 mm lens (200-600 mm equivalent) for long distance photos. A comprehensive review of the camera can be found here - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gx85-gx80-review

It has lots of fancy modes and also 4K video shooting, so I spent a bit of time going through the manual so see how it all worked. It is fairly compact but feels quite solid in its build quality and both the screen for the EVF and the rear display screen are OLED screens and they make the old LCD screens on the Sony seem fairly primitive. Just like the Retina screens that Apple produced make the old screens seem prehistoric. I took the camera and the 14-140 lens for a walk around Currumbin Creek one Saturday arvo and had a play with some of the fancy modes. One thing I should say is that the autofocus is also amazing compared to the old Sony. The colours and close up shooting were great for flowers. 

One of the modes that is quite interesting is a monochrome mode called L.Monochrome which produces nice moody images. 

I was also able to geotag all the images from the walk by using the Panasonic iPhone app which records a gps log while you are shooting and then when you are back home connects to the camera by WiFi to download the track to the camera and tag each of the images. Unfortunately, this is all done without being able to get at the gps points, which means I can't use them to make a map of the walk. At present I'm shooting in Raw and jpeg mode but really only using the jpeg's as I'm not particularly good at processing the RAWs to produce anything even close to what comes out of the camera. 

The following weekend I went for a wander down to the beach with the big lens on and quickly realized that it is not real good as a general walk around lens. But I was able to get some reasonable photos and even some 4K video. 

This was looking north to Surfers Paradise at the lowest zoom (100 mm). 

From the same spot at the highest zoom (300 mm).

The 4K video I shot was of some jet skis out in the ocean at the maximum and I was a bit hard to keep the subjects in the middle of the shot but the stabilization helped to miniseries the shakes. It's on YouTube but you can't see it in full 4K just HD - https://youtu.be/7_0Nx8_NNfU

On the way home I tried out the selective colour mode on the Honey Bee Koala in the park, it lets you specify just one colour to show through with the rest of the image being converted to monochrome. Probably not the best example as there isn't that mush contrast difference with the yellow. 

All up I'm quite impressed so far and while I have a handle on the basics of the camera, I have a lot more to learn, to make use of the full features available. 

Antarctica trip Jan 2016 Day 19

The day started early as we had to be packed and gone from the ship by
about 8:30 am. SO after breakfast we said a quick goodbye to the rest
of the group and others we had met on the ship and headed off to the
buses. They dropped us and our luggage at a place where we could store
our bags for the day and then Gary and I headed off for a walk up and
down the main street looking for coffee. Unfortunately most places
didin't open until 10 am so we had a bit of a wait. We then had a
relaxing coffee and a bite to eat and connected up to the wifi to
check messages and say hello to the folks back home.
We then checked in on our respective hotels to make sure we were
booked and that was all good, so it was a walk back to the luggage
store with a detour around the port to have a look at the docked
cruise ships. There were six all up including ours, which would be
restocked and ready to leave on another trip by 6 pm this arvo. The
weather was once again superb with blue skies and a temperature of
around 15 deg C. I went back to the hotel and checked in properly and
then got myself organised and had a bit of an afternoon snooze.
Unfortunately the room was very hot with no way to control the
temperature so I ended up openning a window to make it less stuffy.
Around 3'ish I went for a wander up the main street for a look in the
gift shops but most of it was so tacky, I didn't end up buying
anything, so it was back to the hotel to read a book. I was getting
hungry around 7'ish, so it was back up to the main street where I
found an all you can eat Argentinian BBQ place (300 pesos, roughly
US$15), unfortunately it wasn't open until 8 pm, so I went for a walk
down to the harbour. Four of the cruise ships had already left and one
big, very fancy one was in the process of leaving, so I sat and
watched that for awhile. The BBQ place was very good and I made sure I
obeyed my general rule of having so much main course that you don't
have room for dessert. Back at the hotel I repacked my bags and got
ready for the plane trips home.
The next day I would be checking out at 10 am, catching a taxi to the
airport, then hopping on a plane after lunch for a three and a half
hour flight back to Buenos Aires, then about six hours in the air port
lounge before heading off on a 13.5 hour flight to Auckland. Then
another four hours in the Auckland airport lounge before the final
three and a half hour flight to Brisbane. So with the time difference
I'll leave Friday lunch time and get into Brisbane roughly Sunday
lunch time. Not looking forward to this.

Argentina_Antarctica_Day17 and 18

The first night sailing home went quite calmly and at the moment the Drake Passage seems to about the same, maybe a bit calmer than our trip to the south over a week ago. Now we have to fill in the days on the ship, so we'll have a few photography sessions and I'll see if I can finish off a couple books, as well as to continue to sort out my photos of which I have taken over 5,000 so far. I've thrown out quite a few as some of the ones taken from the zodiacs end up having focus problems or someone stands up in front of you while trying to take a photo. I've generally left on Continuous shooting mode for when there is wildlife around, so I generally end with at least two photos of everything.
After lunch we have a mini-Australia Day celebration in the Observation Deck, with some munchies, an Australian flag "Borrowed" from the captain and some Australian Crawl playing in the background. Then its a relatively lazy afternoon reading and organising photos before the dail y recap and Briefing which is followed by dinner. The chef had organised Pavlova for dessert and we had a chorus of Waltzing Matilda and rousing cheer of Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Ooi, Ooi, Ooi. Dinner lasted a while as we sat around chatting, before finally heading off to bed.
The seas were still fairly gentle overnight and seemed even calmer the next day. I'm not even feeling the need for Kwells. Today is our last day at sea, so its time to start packing our bags and making sure everything is organised for disembarkation tomorrow morning about 8am. We are having a final photography get together this morning to handle any last minute questions as well to look at a slide show that Michael has prepared showing all the high points of the trip so far. After lunch we had a lazy afternoon reading, snoozing, and starting to pack our bags. At the final briefing session they had a great presentation of some of the photos taken over the duration of trip as well as hints on how to fold the big yellow jackets, so that they fit into out luggage. Then there was a final cocktail party, followed by dinner and a chat in the bar with our fellow travellers, before a reasonably early night in bed. At this stage we were well in the lee of South America so the seas were very calm and no one seemed to be suffering from sea sickness. Tomorrow would be an early rise as we leave the boat in Ushuaia and start out journey home.

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Antarctica trip Jan 2016 Day 16

Today is the last day where we get to go out on the zodiacs, so it was a relatively early start for breakfast. It was a bit windy but as the ship entered the Graham Passage the wind dropped off as we were protected. Then it was into the zodiacs and out for a couple of hours of cruising. The scenery was spectacular with the harbour surrounded by glaciers and mountains. Our first sight was a leopard seal making a meal of a poor ex-penguin while swimming along. Then there was seals and penguins on the ice floes and the beautiful scenery. The sky was blue and it was quite warm.
Back at the ship we had some lunch and got things organised for an afternoon excursion while the ship sailed to Mikkelsen Harbour. This included the ship sailing through the Graham Passage for some more spectacular views. Once there we had another cruise around before landing on D'Hainaut Island to look at the penguin colonies and tons of whale bones on the beach. There was also an old shed that w as part of an Argentine base. The wind had picked up a lot and it was getting quite chilly, so we headed back to the ship a little early. We got out of the wet weather gear for the last time and headed off to the evening briefing followed by dinner. I had an early night in bed as we were heading north to Ushuaia via the Drake Passage. It was time to start taking the Kwells again in case things got rough.

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Antarctica trip Jan 2016 Day 15

The weather was looking quite reasonable as we all headed off to breakfast at 07:30. Today we were headed to Danco Island where we would land and view some penguin colonies, both Gentoo and Chinstrap. We landed on a pleasant rocky beach and then went on a walk up to a high spot across some snow to see the penguins. It was a relatively easy walk up the hill but by the time we were walking down it had gotten pretty slippery so a slow and careful descent was needed. Then it was back onto the zodiac and a cruise around the surrounding islands. Some great icebergs and some very lazy seals reclining on them in the sun.
After lunch the ship had moved to Foyn Harbour and the views were spectacular. The remaining clouds had gone away and we had beautiful blue skies for an afternoon of zodiac cruising. This afternoon we got to see lots of Humpback whales as they were cruising around and feeding on the krill. There was also seals and penguins on the sea ice and some very inter esting looking icebergs. We found out that the small off cast icebergs are called Bergy Bits.
Back at the ship it time for the brave souls to undertake the polar plunge. They put the gangway down beside the ship and 50 or so of the 180 passengers jumped into the cold, cold water. I had fun just watching the reactions, there was quite a few swear words involved when people first hit the water. After the days briefing and dinner, I spent some time up on the Observation deck just watching the whales swimming and feeding around the ship. It was a very serene experience, except of course for the engine noise from the ship.

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Antarctica trip Jan 2016 Day 14

They got the campers back on board about 7 am, ready for breakfast at 7:30 am. They all seemed to have enjoyed the experience and didn't really get cold but they did find it a bit uncomfortable and very bright as the it never really gets too dark at the moment. The weather was still around 0 Deg C and there was a bit of wind but no snow. We then got into our outside gear for a landing on the Antarctic continent, previously we had landed on islands.
We landed at Brown Base in Paradise Harbour and went for a walk through the snow up to a high point behind the base for a great view. As we were in the first zodiac ashore the walk up through the soft snow was very challenging and I sunk down to my knees a couple of times. There was also a small penguin colony here with some newly hatched chicks. Then it was off for a cruise around the harbour and the cloud layer started to lift and there was some nice blue sky in places. There was some nesting cormorants in the cliffs an d then some spectacular glaciers. The weather was quite comfortable without the snow blowing. Back to the ship for some lunch and we cruised to Cuverville Island where we would have an afternoon landing. The sky is clearing even more and with the blue shies it is really looking picturesque.
In the afternoon we landed on Cuverville Island to see More Bloody Penguins. The weather was clearing up nicely as the day went on with more and more blue sky showing. Wandering around the island looking at the nesting Gentoo penguins got quite hot and I needed to open up the big wind proof jacket to let a bit of breeze in. Then the cruise around the island by zodiac was sensational with warm and sunny weather giving the photos a bit more of a summer feel. Back at the ship, it was hot shower time and then a quick briefing from the crew before a BBQ out on the pool deck for dinner. Very nice bbq ribs, chicken wings, etc. with a glass of mulled wine to warm you up while sitting outside. Then a fter a chat and drinks it was off to organise a few photos. A couple of people stayed up to about midnight when the sun finally started setting and the photos show a very orange sunset.

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Antarctica trip Jan 2016 Day 13

There was an early Brekkie as we were to make a landing at Damoy Point, however as we were getting loaded onto the Zodiacs they decided that the conditions weren't good for a landing so we cruised around for an hour and a half looking at penguins, seals and icebergs. The wind was blowing at 20 or so knots, it was 0 Deg C and there was snow in the air, so I left my big camera in the water proof bag and used the little waterproof Olympus camera. I managed to get a nice shot of a penguin swimming through the water. Then it was back to the ship to warm up and have some lunch.
We had a couple or hours spare in the afternoon, so I caught up with some of my photos and then got ready for our next excursion. We had a walk around Jougla Point on Wienke Island to see some more nesting Gentoo penguins. There was some left over whale bones from the old whaling days. Then it was off to the english base at Port Lockroy on Goudier Island. They have a hut set up as a museum and gift shop, it also functions as a post office. There is a small penguin colony here as well but I'm almost starting to feel penguined out. Form memory this afternoons trip was the first where we didn't have any show blowing around.
Once again it was back to the ship to warm up and there was some spectacular views as we cruised to Paradise Harbour where we would anchor and put ashore the hardy souls who were going camping. There were a few from our group who were looking forward to it but I think my nice warm bed in my cabin was looking pretty good. Then it was dinner and after a bit more scenic viewing of the Harbour the campers were put ashore at around 9 pm and they would be brought back to the ship at around 7 am the next morning. I slept very well thinking of the campers sleeping on the shore in their Bivy bags, trying to get warm and comfortable.

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