the demanding traveler

photos and travels

Almost too good to be true

by

courtesy from Olympus

courtesy from Olympus

2016 is going to be an odd year for digital camera sales , especially mirrorless. Every manufacturer is being afftected by the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan. As a result, lots of rumored or announced  new products have been delayed (think Nikon DL line for instance). It is safe to assume that Photokina next month will see more products being launched without  a specific release date.
That being said, this may help to get products at bargain price as manufacturers & retailers need to move some stock off their shelves.
For micro 4/3 users, Amazon US currently has  a deal which is hard to miss. The very competent OMD-EM10, originally priced at $699 is currently available at the amazing low price of $399. This includes the body and the 14-42 kit zoom  but I would argue that, even if you do not need this kit zoom, this is really a GREAT bargain

this deal is available for both the black version and the silver version. This could constitute a great back-up body for users who already have another OMD model. Grab one while you can !

 

Panasonic GX80 Review Part I : First impressions

by

2016 is a Photokina year. Photokina is the most important photo fair which takes place in Germany in September every other year. Traditionally, during photokina years, a lot of manufacturers wait until the summer to release their main new products. This year has been very different in this regard as each major manufacturer had released some major products over the last 6 months already. Even if one limit the search to the mirrorless camp and high-end compacts we got new products from almost each brand :

Olympus introduced the Pen-F , Fuji got the Xpro-2, Sony got out the third version of its RX10 and the Alpha a6300 to name a few… It is now Panasonic’s turn to bring out a new product the GX85 which is  kind of the child of the Gx7 and the GX8. GX85 is the name of the model for North America only as Panasonic  has decided to give it no less than THREE different names depending on the market (GX80 in Europe, GX7MII in Asia) ??
This new product seems to compete directly with the Olympus Em5 mark II  (as well as the  Olympus OMD-EM10 mark II) and being now the owner of both I think it is interesting to  dedicate a portion of this rolling review to compare both models.

ERGONOMICS & MENUS

Let’s get out the good news first. The GX 85 built seems pretty good especially when considering its asking price ($699 body only in the USA, €699 in Europe). The body seems  generally well put together with the notable exception of the battery door, which is, alas, not specific to Panasonic in the mirrorless world.
As a example of this, I was last week handling a new  Olympus pen-F in a store and the battery compartment door came off when handling the camera. Rather shocking especially on a camera priced at nearly $1,200 (body only) [Read more…]

Hotel in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

by

Planning to spend a week-end in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.If you do,I have an hotel recommendation that you may enjoy :The Lloyd hotel and Cultural Embassy
I stayed at this hotel for 4 nights in April 2016.Despite what a cursory look at a citymap may suggest, this hotel offers a great location because it has both quick and direct access to most important locations with two lines of tramway and allow you to stay away from the cheesy and noisy parts of town.The staff at the front desk is both very friendly & very professional. Rooms are original (shower in the closet) but well designed. My room was #201 and was about €160/night all inclusive. There is a very nice and big breakfast/lobby space. Free wifi and optional free safe option downstairs (not in the room). There is no fridge in the room. There is a supermarket one block behind the hotel which is open until 10pm during the week.

Five tips to take great pictures of street events

by


This month I got to cover two unusual street events in Europe.On the first Saturday of April, there are over 50 cities who participate in the “international pillow fight day”. I covered this event for the first time last year in Berlin. This year I decided to go to Amsterdam instead which turned out to be on a much  larger scale. A few days ago, I was in Paris to cover the “color run” which takes place in different cities (lots of them in the USA). On both occasions, I was reminded how important it is to be prepared to avoid some mistakes and make the best of it. I thought it might be useful to share my recommendations  for those of you who might be interested to attend and photograph this type of events : [Read more…]

Brussels is mourning

by

As you probably noticed, there has been no recent activity on this site as I was traveling through south Asia. An emergency in the family forced me to shorten my trip and fly back to Brussels (where I currently live) on tuesday morning . Fortunately I left The airport 15 minutes or do before the first bomb exploded.
Belgium is now mourning and I want to offer my condolences as well as my sympathy and support to all the families and loved ones of all victims of this coward terrorist attack.