Pigeon Crossing the Wasteland

Wow! So I'm away for a couple of days, and when I check back in, I've been given Blip of the Week! Wow!

I'm honored, needless to say, and totally surprised. Thank you, Blipcentral, and thank you everyone else for all the kind comments. Definitely an auspicious start for the E-P1.

Speaking of which, I'm still loving it. More impressed every day - there are a ton of customization options and I've only really scratched the surface as of yet. The kit lens (I got it with the 14-42 zoom) is actually quite good, with a lovely bokeh. I'll probably get the 17mm pancake later, but for now, I'm quite happy with this one.

I'm also more and more impressed with the image stabilization and the high iso performance. The combination of those two things means it performs exceptionally well in low light. I was able to handhold street shots last night, with only street lamps for illumination, and come away with sharp, amazingly noise-free photos. The noise at iso1600 (I have it set not to go any higher than that - that's another nifty feature - manual adjustment of the auto-iso range) is definitely better than my 40d, which isn't bad itself. But I could never handhold streetlamp shots with the 40d - it had to be at least propped on a car or something.

The one thing that's occasionally frustrating is focus speed. It's perfectly fine for 90 percent of what I shoot, but I do go for the occasional flying-pigeon shot, and I haven't been able to manage one of those yet. Or any shot, really, where you're in a hurry - the 40d definitely has the edge there.

But the E-P1 is so much easier to carry around - I can throw it over my shoulder (doesn't really fit in a pocket - maybe a coat pocket) and forget it's there. That alone more than makes up for the occasional focus speed frustration.

There are a couple more shots from today here. I almost posted the flower shot, but I was just more in the mood for the pigeon today. Seems more me, anyway.


Oh, and here's a poem (another Auden).


Good night, all!