jimcox

<p>I was in Cuba last year and stayed in a hotel in the center of downtown old Havana. I just went walking each day from the hotel. There were only two problems that I encountered. The first was people start talking to you and suggesting a place to take pictures or helping you out in some way. They then wanted money. After the first couple of incidents I just said hello and no further conversation. The second problem was taking a picture on the grounds of the Capitol building. A security person told me no pictures and then said film with his hand out. I told him 'no film, computer' and pointed to the rear display on my camera. He then wanted a $1 'fine' and told me 'no pictures'. You are not allowed to take pictures of any government buildings in Cuba. I was surprised by the problem because there were lots of people taking pictures of the front of the Capitol building and were much closer than I was. You are also not allowed to bring a GPS into the country.<br>

I will likely go back soon. The highlights of the trip were the old buildings in Old Havana, the old cars, plus the graveyard. I hope you have a great trip.<br>

Here are some links to my blog.<br>

http://jimcoxphotos.blogspot.ca/2011_02_01_archive.html <br>

http://jimcoxphotos.blogspot.ca/2011_03_01_archive.html</p>

<p>I am sorry for the late response but did not notice this thread till now. I have a G1 that was modified for IR and a friend has the same thing. It works very well except the 7-14 will not automatically focus sometimes. I just manual focus if that is the case. I had the 720nm filter installed. In previous cameras I had the filter removed and used the camera for both b&w and colour by using a filter over the lens. It has advantages because you can get both a colour and b&w shot in alignment when using a tripod but I prefer using the camera without having to play around with filters and adapter rings all the time. There is a little problem with a center hot spot but it is well manageable if you use the camera at F7.1 or F8. I had the camera modified at Spencers but would probably get it done at Life Pixel now. You can have a look at my website, most of the b&w are done on the IR G1 camera. www.jimcox.ca Try January 2012, there are a series of churches.</p>

<p>I have 2 Panasonic G1s, one is modified for IR, a 45-200mm, and a 7-14mm lens that will all fit into a small camera bag easily fitting under airline seats for carry on plus light weight for hiking. The telephoto is not too sharp on the long end but the kit and the wide angle are very good at their optimum f-stop. The 7-14 does not have the capability to use filters. These cameras shoot and focus a little slower so they are not very good for sports and they are noisy at higher ASAs but I use almost everything at 100.<br>

If you use ND filters for shooting waterfalls the camera is excellent. With the electronic viewfinder, it looks just like a normal exposure and you can easily compose images without having to add and remove the filters, you just leave them on.<br>

To use the camera in macro, I just screw on a Nikon macro filter. With the screw on filter, the images are very sharp with both the kit and the telephoto lens.<br>

I had shot 4x5 for years but now I would never go back. I enjoy taking pictures now just because it is so easy and fun without having to lug huge amounts of cameras and plates around. (I'm getting old obviously) <br>

I try to post a picture on most days if you would like to see examples from January 2009 onwards. www.jimcox.ca</p>

<p>SLR gear tests different lenses for various criteria. Here are links to the two lenses. You click on the blur index chart and can check the lens for the different f-stops and focal lengths.<br>

10-22<br>

http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/135/cat/11<br>

24-105<br>

http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/145/cat/11</p>

<p>I have macro lenses 105 and 60mm for my Nikon but use almost exclusively diopters. I have a Nikon diopter and also had a Sony made for an R1. (it was lost) I recently purchased a Panasonic G1 and use the 45-200mm zoom lens with the diopter #2. I have posted some poinsettia pictures recently as well as as 'Ice on the Window' pictures Jan, Feb, and March. 17x22 prints are quite sharp. The smaller sensor means a greater depth of field plus the lens takes very little space in the camera bag. It is a real treat to use coming from a 4x5 background.<br>

http://jimcoxphotos.blogspot.com/</p>

<p>In Canada there are different laws. Here is a link to an article about the copyright and privacy issues in Canada.<br>

http://ambientlight.ca/laws.php</p>

<p>I have been using the camera for a while now and it seems to work fairly well. There is a little bit of a 'hot spot' but it is quite manageable in most shots that it appears. Almost all my shots are done at f5.6-8. The other problem is to remember to turn off the image stabilizer when mounted on a tripod. It appears to cause a blur on the left side of the image if you leave it on.<br>

I recently purchased a 7-14mm lens and it will not autofocus in distant shots. This occurs on two different IR converted G1s but the lens works fine on the regular colour G1s. I manually focus on the IR G1 and blow up the shots quite large. The resolution looks quite comparable to the same colour shot with the nonconverted G1 so I will use it in manual.</p>

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<p>I use 1 or 2 neutral density filters. Many of the wide angle lenses are not very sharp at the smallest openings. I will stack 2 filters to try and use f5.6-f8 on the lens. I have 77mm filters with a step down ring to eliminate problems with corner vignetting. If you use a Panasonic G1 or any of the point and shoot cameras with a viewing screen you can preview the image and easily compose the shot.</p>

<p>I tried out the Panasonic G1 this weekend with the IR conversion from Spencers Camera and it seems to work very well. There does not seem to be any problem with hotspots with the kit lens and the images are sharp down to the pixel level depending on the fstop and image. Flare is more pronounced but this happened with my other cameras used in IR. I will post 3 pictures over the next 3 days taken with the camera. I am afraid the images do not look as dramatic IR because everything is covered with snow and it was minus 20C during the day. They are B&W with some cropping to remove distortion and reduced to 1280 for posting. The images are imported into Photoshop, the blue channel is turned off, and then converted into monochrome.<br>

You can go to http://jimcox.ca/ and look at the March 2, 3, and 4 postings.</p>

<p>I purchased 2 Panasonic G1s red and sent them to Spencers Camera. They have taken longer than they had told me but the cameras are on the way back now. When I receive them I will post how they work. I had them modified for 720nm but I would suggest that if somebody wanted an inexpensive way to shoot both colour and IR they should just get plain glass and use different filters on the lenses.<br>

I was looking for a light weight camera for hiking. I purchased a Panasonic G1 and have been impressed with the results. Most of the posts since mid December 2008 were done on the G1.<br>

http://jimcoxphotos.blogspot.com/<br>

or<br>

http://jimcox.ca</p>

<p>Thanks for the helpful responses. I had already sent email to Lifepixel and Maxmax with negative responses so far. I hope the lenses and the camera do work out because it would be a nice inexpensive little setup for the IR. I will have a look at Spencers Cameras.</p>

<p>I have sent out emails to different companies asking if they will convert the Panasonic G1 to infrared with no positive responses. It seems like an ideal camera for both IR and regular colour because of the contrast focusing. Does anyone know if this camera can have the infrared blocking filter removed without damaging the sensor?</p>