Small size photo

http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4925_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4934_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4938_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4941_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4944_s.jpg

Original photo

http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4925.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4934.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4938.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4941.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4944.JPG

My piano tuning tool

Small size photo

http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4967_s.jpg

Original photo

http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4967.JPG

Small size photo

http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4973_s.jpg

Original photo

http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4973.JPG

Apple

Small size photo

http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4990_s.jpg

Original photo

http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA4990.JPG

Small size photo
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5186_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5227_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5191_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5237_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5287_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5311_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5243_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5300_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5311_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5316_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5328_s.jpg

Original photo
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5186.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5227.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5191.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5237.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5287.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5311.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5243.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5300.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5311.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5316.JPG
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5328.JPG

http://www.salenz.com/8/8.jpg

This one is to celebrate that I own nv-gs400 for a year now and nothing goes wrong with the camera. ;-)

http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5820_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5841_s.jpg
http://www.salenz.com/picture/IMGA5882_s.jpg

Regards
Leigh

Leigh,
These pictures are all very nice, but how usable is the GS400 as a DigiCam?

What I mean here is how is latency and exposure control in terms of ease of use?

I've got the predecessor (MX500B/PV953) and find that it's sluggish and unwieldy with a pretty fiddly control menu system in comparison to my still digicam.
Alex

Hi Alex,

Latency is terrible. You can only shoot one photo at a time, then wait several seconds to shoot next photo.Of course it depends on sd memory card, but I suspect not much difference even get a faster memory card. But it is ok for me, I am easy. ;-)

Exposure control is excellent.

In term of ease of use, not very good. I really think Panasonic should offer three rings instead of one multifunction ring. If LCD screen is open, it is very hard to push three buttons to switch function of the ring.

I bought my camera in Japan which has a Japanese menu system because I want to pay less. ;-) I can't read japanese. I change menu by referencing GS400 English menu I got the link from this site. Glad that Panasonic maintain same menu item sequence in the menu system. You will see how hard it is to change the menu. But I changed menu not very frequently. I can live with that.

>> but how usable is the GS400 as a DigiCam?

Reference Ken Rockwell's statement, your Camera Does Not Matter.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

Regards
Leigh

Leigh,
These pictures are all very nice, but how usable is the GS400 as a DigiCam?

What I mean here is how is latency and exposure control in terms of ease of use?

I've got the predecessor (MX500B/PV953) and find that it's sluggish and unwieldy with a pretty fiddly control menu system in comparison to my still digicam.
Alex

Thanks for that, Leigh.

I guess it's as I feared - i.e. the GS400, good though it is, is not a one-box solution.

I'm not sure that Rockwell always applies. If one is interested in taking pictures of family/children, then latency is critical!

Clearly your photo's are more of a studio nature, so it's not a bad option.

If one is interested in taking pictures of family/children, then latency is critical!

I was thinking the same thing. I've got some really great static shots with my digital camcorders but catching a child in action is a lot easier with the shot-to-shot speed of a D-SLR. I took my Sony F717 5MP last night for trick-or-treating for its laser-assisted autofocus system but I sorely missed the speed of my D-SLR.

Thanks for that, Leigh.

I guess it's as I feared - i.e. the GS400, good though it is, is not a one-box solution.

I'm not sure that Rockwell always applies. If one is interested in taking pictures of family/children, then latency is critical!


Hi Alex,

You might be interested in Nikon D70/D70s. ;-)

Here is the link.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d70s.htm

Regards
Leigh

Hello everyone,

Here are some photos I shot yesterday using my nv-gs400 camera photo mode.

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/index.php?cat=3

Regards
Leigh

Hello everyone,

I took some photo today using gs400.

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA6842.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA6869.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA6895.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/2006_4_19_1.jpg

Regards
Leigh

Some more photos

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA6848.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA6849.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA6852.jpg

Regards
Leigh

Some more photos

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA6980.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA6992.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7016.jpg

Regards
Leigh

Some more photos

My home window's view
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7026.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7044.jpg

Road

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7064.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7071.jpg

Regards
Leigh

Some photo I shot today.

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/2006_4_29_1.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/2006_4_29_2.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7076.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7079.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7082.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7141.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7158.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7164.jpg

Regards
Leigh

One more photo

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7368.jpg

Flower in my garden

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7636.jpg

Regards
Leigh

Flowers in my garden

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7972.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7890.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7809.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA7799.jpg

Regards
Leigh

The 1st one's nice.

H Frank,

Thanks for the comments.

5 of my collegues told me that they like the picture you mentioned. I seted to the explosure to be 1/2 seconds 0db. The lighting of the flower was from the street's lights. I used the flash on the gs400 camera to provide some extra lights.

Regards
Leigh

The 1st one's nice.

I like the colour(s) and the framing. :-)

I like the colour(s) and the framing. :-)

I have shot around 40 photos spread around an hour around 7pm. Unforunately I did not catch this blue background in the picture. I have set the photo in lab color mode and 16bit and change b channel in curve command in photoshop to get this blue. I also drew the moon to get the mood.

Regards
Leigh

Very nice effect. All very nice photos.

Hi Steve,

Thanks

It is nice to hear from you.

Regards
Leigh

Some house photo

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8241.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/2005_8_12.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8050.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8084.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8110.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8248.jpg

Sunrise
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8524.jpg

Night 1
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8334.jpg

Night 2
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8341.jpg

Night 3
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8354.jpg

Night 4
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8383.jpg

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

Some photos taken last weekend

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8557.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8565.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8594.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8726.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8791.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8836.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8844.jpg

Regards
Leigh

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8949.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8899.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8917.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8884.jpg

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

I have manipulated the color etc in some of the post photos to get the look I want. That really show nv-gs400 is really a nice tool to express myself. ;-)

Regards
Leigh

www.smootharm.com

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8990.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA8998.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9010.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9033.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9037.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9054.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9072.jpg

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9013.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9017.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9149.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9158.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9232.jpg

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9365.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9318.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9373.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9395.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9415.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9429.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9459.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9469.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9487.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9489.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9496.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9502.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9542.jpg

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

Leigh, I have two words for you: "You're Awesome!"
These are some incredible photos! What is you're techniques? Do you use a flash? Or is this all natural lighting?
Did you take a class or something? Do you get a paid to take these, or is it just pure fun?

Keep it up, man!
~Gabriel~

Hi Gabriel,

Thank you for the word. ;-)

I was studying photography based on Mikko's suggestion which I shot boring video footage for my demo video of SmoothArm. I want my demo video for my SmoothArm to be interesting and I prefer to do demo video myself, just to save money of course. That is the reason I work hard in the last three years to learn as much as possible. Now I realized that it is the observation to make a difference and takes life time to have fun and there is no instant result. That is pretty sad for me to know about that. I like most others to prefer instant great result. But in the end, it is me to make a great art, and not the camera.

I did not take a class, but lots of people suggested me to do that. The reason for not taking a class just simply I don't want to spend the money. I spent around US$400 to buy photography books and video training dvd to learn.

Most photos I shot are natural lighting mainly because I can't afford to buy professional lighting gear and carrying around with me. I have to wait to get the color I want and I spend around an hour to get the car shot in the sunset in my previous post and I shot around dozens of photos to get one picture I am very proud of. ;-)

I did use flash to get some flower shot in the sun. The reason for that is without flash, the contrast was so great and endup grey became white and shadow become black.

Hope it answers your question. ;-)

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

Leigh, I have two words for you: "You're Awesome!"
These are some incredible photos! What is you're techniques? Do you use a flash? Or is this all natural lighting?
Did you take a class or something? Do you get a paid to take these, or is it just pure fun?

Keep it up, man!
~Gabriel~

Wow! Great job. Keep it up! I'll be watching.

~Gabriel~

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9821.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9639.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9704.jpg

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

Wow! Those new ones are really nice! Are you using a macro lens?

~Gabriel~

Wow! Those new ones are really nice! Are you using a macro lens?

~Gabriel~

No

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9639.jpg is just a normal close shot. The flower is too bigger for me to take macro shot which is more than 10mm in diameter.

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9704.jpg I was using a 50mm normal still photography lense, reverse handheld mount to gs400 and zoom to take the shot. Unfortuantely the flower is quite big and not so great for macro photography. I love the flower size around 2mm to 3mm in diameter. ;-)

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9821.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9770.jpg

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

Very impressive. I really like the most recent one! Nice job.

~Gabriel~

Hi Gabriel,

Thanks ;-)

Regards
Leigh

Very impressive. I really like the most recent one! Nice job.

~Gabriel~

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9898.jpg

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

Yet another great one!

Yet another great one!

Thank you. ;-)

Regards
Leigh

You're welcome!
I see that you are in New Zealand. Have you ever been to some waterfalls? I've heard their is some great ones.
If you ever feel like visiting some, here is a website that has a list of waterfalls. http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/

Best of luck!
~Gabriel~

Hi Gabriel,

Thanks for the suggestion.

The problem for me is I don't drive car and I am working on to get a learner's license first. It is bit harder for me to ride bicycle to get to the place. Maybe in a year will be great. ;-)

Regards
Leigh

You're welcome!
I see that you are in New Zealand. Have you ever been to some waterfalls? I've heard their is some great ones.
If you ever feel like visiting some, here is a website that has a list of waterfalls. http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/

Best of luck!
~Gabriel~

I too, have the same problem...

http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA0025.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA0050.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA0074.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA9981.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA0175.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA0187.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA0210.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA0245.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA0295.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA0327.jpg
http://www.smootharm.com/picture/nfpicturepro/albums/userpics/10002/IMGA0478.jpg

Regards
Leigh
www.smootharm.com

Great stuff! I love the most recent one, its very.... Strange. What did you do to the image in post? I really like it.

Keep it up!
~Gabriel~

Great stuff! I love the most recent one, its very.... Strange. What did you do to the image in post? I really like it.

Keep it up!
~Gabriel~

First select the background which I want to hide and change curve to make it as grey as possible, after that make it little blur, and deselect everything, change the level to make the whole image brighter, and change the curve of the image to adjust color to get red more red and blue more blue. Then use umsk to sharp the image and combine all layers together. And reduce the size to the original 25% and here goes the picture on your screen. ;-)

The goal is what I want to express. After understand that before clicking the button to take the photo, everything is done in my mind. The trick part is how to properly select the back ground.

Hope this answers your question.

Regards
Leigh