It is your thread, so if you want, I'll post the two .jpgs.[/quote]

Beautiful photos!! :thumbup:

You were using a tripod, right? What camera were you using the lens on?

I had my 100-300 mm on my Olympus E- M1. Seemed I had to refocus several times to get right on target so sometimes missed the perfect pose on some of my subjects.

Cute......

I still have some old film canisters. Even some old metal Kodak ones. Plastic ones are good for saving seed samples for my garden. Metal ones maybe will have some collectible value some day? :roll:

Yes, please send your photos. I returned to the Phoenix Zoo yesterday, when to my disappointment the Desert Botanical Garden had a FULL sign at the entrance. I just purchased a full-year membership and here I was unable to get in without a reservation. So off to the zoo I went just a short jog down the road.

I gave my 100-300 mm Panasonic lens a good workout. I hate using a tripod but will probably have to get used to it at some point. But it's hard track moving objects when anchored down to three heavy legs. So most of my photos came out just a little soft I'm guessing from slight motion on my part. But I did get a few sharp ones, at least in comparison to most of them, so I guess I can't blame the lens. Here is a tight crop of one. Hope it does not show up too small of see the detail.

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Nice to know the problem might resolve itself. It functions okay but just doesn't glide smoothly as you would expect a zoom lens to do. Will give it a couple of weeks to see if it just needs a little breaking in.

I haven't done any video yet. The only "wildlife" that I've photographed so far have been rock squirrels, ground squirrels, and quail.;-) My avatar is a vicunia (sp?) that I photo'd at the Phoenix Zoo. But not with this new lens.

Was hoping for a better option but you are probably right. Wish there were other alternatives.

I recently purchased a Panasonic Vario O.I.S. f4-5.6 lens. I find the zoom to be a bit sticky. If I run my hand around the barrel then for awhile the zoom extends and retracts smoothly....a small layer of oil from my hand seems to be what's helping. I don't have this problem with my Panasonic Vario 45-200mm zoom. Anyone with similar problems with Panasonic zoom lenses? Is there anything safe that would make the barrel surface a bit smoother?

Yes, it will work just fine. I have the E-M1 and it does a great job. Don't think there is anything critically different between the two but maybe someone will disagree.

Check on the Panasonic website for tech support. Will try to get back to this post later. Sorry, haven't been home much today. I don't own a FZ 70 camera but do own another style Panasonic bridge camera.

I'm not quite sure what the question is. First of all, have you looked at the full PDF users manual. Here is the link http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMCFZ70_ADV.PDF

If you are trying to zoom in on something, look at functional part ("button") #16 in the manual. That is what you use to zoom in on something thus enlarging that portion of the image.

How did you get away with shooting in the Sistine Chapel?! I only had my tiny Panasonic bridge camera with me and still got yelled at. :? Lucky you.

[quote=kenArchi]Handheld that is. I was handholding my Sigma 24-70F2.8 Hsm lens taking some nice pictures. Big mistake!! Not one sharp photo. On A tripod with mirror lockup and cable release, perfectly sharp, sharp, sharp.

Then I compared my Sigma 18-125f3.5-5.6 OS lens handheld and the photos were sharp. Same with my 70-300 OS lens.

For whatever it is worth........ Flash is definitely helpful if appropriate. Sometimes it is not possible. I was photographing an Native American hoop dance competition here in Phoenix a few weeks ago. Lots of fast action and moving all around the arena. Added to that I was not situated in an ideal spot. There was so much action that using any type of tripod would have been impossible. I raised my ISO up to 400 so that I could raise my shutter speed up to 1/800 - 1/1000 sec, my aperture to 5.6 which was as open as it would go for that zoom focal length (around 109mm) and that froze the action nicely. I sort of held my breath when shooting and really tried hard to not feel self conscious every time I hit the shutter button which would have made me tense and thus caused me to move the camera a bit. It helps to go into a meditative state and go with the flow. Frankly I don't think the image stabelizer on its own does a whole lot at least with the lens I use. So in my humble opinion you need to get that shutter speed up high any way you can. Flash works, too, if your situation allows for it.

You can use the Photoshop text tool to type in a signature and use the opacity slider to make it as opaque or translucent, transparent as you like.

Sounds like a good idea. Never noticed one like that. No zippered sections on the outer side? How do you get at the camera quickly without taking the backpack off. Being a klutz I'd take something out while getting at something else and leave it behind. I'd opt for some kind of digital "mousetrap" for those risky places. Unfortunately I'd forget it was there and zap myself. There must be something like that out there somewhere however. :roll: Guess the sling still works best for me.

Oh and just one other comment.....Even thought he road to Hell is paved with good intentions :twisted: with the greatest of good intentions to save some people grief..... I suppose a bear in the woods could come up behind you and rip off your backpack but more likely is it that a human could dip into it without your knowledge. Knowing of one particular city that I've visited in Europe (trying to be very general here out of political correctness) a sling pack is the safest way to keep your eye on things. Backpacks in some populated places are a bad idea. Pickpockets are supremely good at what they do. Not worth the heartache to find out that it doesn't only happen to someone else. .....My last word........

I don't remember what type of camera gear you have so I can't imagine what your "equivalent weight" refers to. For a wimp like myself, I am only carrying approx. 5 pounds in my sling pack. Being that my back is somewhat touchy, I have stopped using back packs. Everyone's anatomy has its own glitches. One style doesn't fit all I know and for some of us slings of a certain construction are just the best option. It's nice if you have a pro camera store around so you can test drive your equipment in some of these bags (back or sling type) to see what they feel like loaded up. Of course, there is no test like schlepping this stuff around for hours on end. :wink:
My legs are in better shape than my back so walking I can do for hours on end.....like being on autopilot. That is where ergonomics proves itself. Twenty plus years ago I used a backpack loaded up with an amazing amount of weight and carried a heavy Bogen tripod, too, but no more. ;)