01776: Camera Practice


It has been a week since I got my new Panasonic Lumix ZS30, which is a much later version of my prior camera, the Panasonic Lumix ZS7. And despite the two cameras being rather related in terms of general design and principles, there has been a number of changes made over the past few years. They've certainly added a number of bells and whistles to this new camera, but they also took away a lot of features that I had gotten very comfortable using. But hey, we move with the times as best as we can.

The camera comes with a lot of lighting augmentation enhancements such as automatically taking multiple exposures to make-up for bad lighting and such, but I've found myself needing to turn them all off since they actually get in the way of my photography. I'm sure they work in locations with more ambient lighting, but given the bulk of my photos are in the controlled madness of O Bar. And that particular environment really defines the bulk of my "work" in a loose manner of speaking.

I've been tinkering with the various settings and I think I've found the configurations that suit my specific needs for the most part.  It's just a bit of a trick to rapidly switch between modes on-demand. I have a faster shutter setting to catch the live performances. I have a light enhancing version for shots of people. And there's all the fun stuff in-between.

And the neatest trick is how I can turn my mobile phone into a remote control for the camera. Apparently the camera is able to send out a control signal via WiFi that the mobile app links up to. From there I can review photos on my phone or pretty much take some of the best bar selfies ever.

But the camera and I are becoming fast friends and I foresee a long and fruitful relationship together. I just really need to do something about getting a larger memory card and possibly an extra battery.

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