Micro Four-thirds: One Camera, One Lens Vacation
Special Guest Post by Mark Toal
I just returned from five days in Florida visiting family taking along only a Lumix GH2 and Lumix 14mm lens with the wide adapter. (As I wrote here last week I wanted to take only one camera and lens with me on this trip.) Now, this was mostly a family visit and not a real vacation but I never regretted it for a moment. I photographed everything from flowers to dinosaurs to the Airstream Ranch. I had to spend a little more time finding the right spot and moving back and forth. The only time I wished I had a second lens was for a few family portraits. The 24mm equivalent (I always use the Lumix wide adapter on the 14mm) was a little too wide for that.
Another thing I found about carrying the small MFT camera was that people tended to ignore me and let me shoot anything I wanted. When someone questioned me for getting too close to the Airstream’s or Dinosaur’s I pretended to be a tourist looking for a snapshot and they left me alone. When I was warned to watch out for the Alligator in the pond by the Airstream’s that’s when I did decide to leave.
It’s become a cliché, but the best camera really is the one that you have with you and the small size of Micro Four Thirds camera makes that possible.
Mark Toal works for Panasonic as a training representative in Portland, Oregon. His views on this blog are his own and do not represent Panasonic. You can see more of Mark’s photos on his web site at www,marktoalphotography.com . Mark can be contacted at marktoalphotography@gmail.com
Do you ever get “gear overload” where you’ve been buying too many photo gadgets and reading too many equipment reviews or photo forums? Now that winter is over here in the Northwest my mind turns to getting out and taking more photos. I’m also headed to Florida for five days and I don’t want to haul a lot of camera equipment with me.
All of this got me thinking about how my photography changed when I started using Micro Four-thirds cameras. I used Nikon film and digital SLR’s for years and loved them but I never carried them with me. I always had to have a reason to want to take this big, expensive camera with me when I walked out the door. I started to carry a point and shoot with me all the time, but it’s small sensor and limitations in low light left me wanting a better image. And don’t even talk to me about phone cameras.
Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May and until 1882 was known as Decoration Day . It originated after the Civil War to commemorate fallen Union soldiers. By the 20th century Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. On Memorial Day the flag is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. On June 28, 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved four holidays, including Memorial Day, from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a three-day weekend.
On a Snowy January in 1944 in the Ardennes Forest along the German/Belgium border, a US Army medic, much like thus young man, was involved in the “Battle of the Bulge.” In this battle there were more than one million soldiers —500,000 Germans, 600,000 Americans and 55,000 British—plus my Dad. It was a Army medic who pulled my Dad from a mortar crater where he had been wounded and patched him up so he come home after the war to my sisters and me. This image is an homage to all the brave young men and women of our armed forces.
Last week 
I saw the cases on the day they arrived at my local camera store here in Portland—
Last week a photographer in Eugene, Oregon emailed me asking if it would be possible to try out the 
We then headed to downtown Eugene with a homemade beauty dish powered by a Canon 580 strobe and triggered by Pocket wizards. I handed the GH3 to Bob and I shot all of these outdoor photos using a Panasonic Lumix LX7.
