Stability and Variations

^The clouds are the continents, linked by the plane.

In addition to the benefits discussed yesterday, there are two other noticeable advantages.

One is enhanced steadiness in holding the camera. It goes without saying that with the VF, the GX200 has to be pressed against the photographer's eye whenever a shot is taken. Understandably, this helps steady the camera set to a slow shutter speed. In my case, there has been a proven eight-stop gain in dragging down the shutter speed.

^This photo was done with a shutter speed ten stop lower than the safe speed without shake correction. The image is not razor sharp but acceptably clean.

To put it in another way, the proven safe shutter speed now becomes eight stops instead of four stops below the 1/focal length in use (only shown when the step-zoom is turned on). The gain will probably be greater when without drowsiness resulting lack of sleep or of restraint in alcoholic abuses, I think.

The other is what could be used to address a reader's enquiry in response to the first post this week about the VF: more varied shooting angles.

The varied angles certainly include those awkwardly low ones for shooting with the LCD screen, kudos to the tiltable VF. I have yet to find such scenes worthy of bending my knees to shoot during these two brief weeks. But I still notice the benefits.

Shooting the daytime skylines or the sky itself is now eye-squinting-free with the VF attached to the GX200. With the VF tilted up to 90 degree up, the photographer simply looks down into the viewfinder instead of up facing the bright sunlight when doing such shots.

^ The orange area is not flame, but the sky being burnt by the sunset colours.

In fact, as shooting upwards becomes more comfortable, the VF lures the photographer to explore scenes above the eye level at whatever time of the day. A case in point is shooting sunset or sunrise.

I have also tried the camera-at-chest-level, me-face-down shooting position in the street. Much to the benefit of the street shots, the passers-by are more easily oblivious to or unaware of me shooting them (not if at a close distance of course). The greater attention I have got is rather from the amazed lookers, mostly photographers themselves with DSLRs around their necks.

^This shot is overexposed on purpose to give a heavenly look of the subway. I was face-down looking into the GX200 at my chest-level through the VF-1. The passers-by were oblivious to my presence.

Another varied shooting angle beyond my imagination before using the VF is shooting in a vehicle with the camera lens pointing sideward through the window and the VF tiled all the way up. This is a novel and comfortable shooting angle I had never found in my years of photography.

^This shot was done with the lens-sideward position I just mentioned.

A novel angle gives the photographer new perspectives to the scenes. If you agree that perspectives are important to photography, the VF is an apt footnote to the agreement.

(All photos taken with the VF-1 attached to the GX200)