I wanted to start a thread about real hobbies. Others should also post about their hobbies, give us some detail and insight and then we can expand all of our hobby opportunities.
My new hobby is photography. I bought another camera today - Panasonic LUMIX DMC - FZ300.
I was getting my passport photo printed and I was looking at the cameras the photo shop has for sale. I always like asking small shop owners questions because they really know alot that the chain store sales people don't know, and this guy who owned the shop didn't disappoint. This is his livelihood and he really knows alot.
He spent about 40 minutes with me, showing me all the cameras, all the features, explaining each camera, taking test shots for me, uploading them to the computer for me to see how they differ in characteristics per camera etc. I was so impressed with this guy, I ended up buying the Lumix camera. It has a great lense. It is able to shoot at a constant aperature of 2.8 throughout the different zooms and the brightness and clarity is awesome. The test shots he took for me were in auto mode and the camera results were so good, it looked EXACTLY like the item he was shooting looks in real life. Absolutely no difference between what the photo produced and what my eyes saw on the counter. It can also shoot macro at a distance of only 1 cm away, which is what interests me the most. I am focused on macro shots.
For anyone who is interested in cameras, you might want to look this camera up. As I said, the lense is great, it has raw shooting capabilities, 4K video, 24x optical zoom but can still shoot at 1 cm macro distance from your subject, it has a flash dock so you can add an external flash, 12 MP censor, and a shutter speed max of 1/16,000. I did want a slightly higher MP capability because it is a new camera, but I do know that 12 MP can produce better than 4k pictures, so really, 12 MP is more than enough.
With 4K video, you can take amazing live video of what you want to shoot and then you can freeze the shot and extract a photo from it too. So, you could always find the best point to freeze and produce amazing still photos from the video. Alot of cameras either are good at pics or video, but it is unusual to find one with an amazing lens and 4K video for such a cheap price.
And it was a good price, all things considered, for $699 plus tax. I know I could have gotten it $50 cheaper at Best Buy, but I was so impressed with the guy's knowledge and service attention that I wanted to buy it from him anyways. If I stick the smaller guy and get the service from him but buy elsewhere to save $50, I will drive him out of business. Then his expertise goes out the window and I lose in the end, with other future cameras I may buy from less knowledgeable sales people. What I am saying is that consumers should reward the smaller shops when they give beter service, which results in a better buy and a better product experience. If we don't, the service will disappear and every store will resemble Home Depot, where no one is in sight when you have a question.
http://www.panasonic.com/ca/consumer/cameras-camcorders/point-shoot/dmc-fz300.html
My new hobby is photography. I bought another camera today - Panasonic LUMIX DMC - FZ300.
I was getting my passport photo printed and I was looking at the cameras the photo shop has for sale. I always like asking small shop owners questions because they really know alot that the chain store sales people don't know, and this guy who owned the shop didn't disappoint. This is his livelihood and he really knows alot.
He spent about 40 minutes with me, showing me all the cameras, all the features, explaining each camera, taking test shots for me, uploading them to the computer for me to see how they differ in characteristics per camera etc. I was so impressed with this guy, I ended up buying the Lumix camera. It has a great lense. It is able to shoot at a constant aperature of 2.8 throughout the different zooms and the brightness and clarity is awesome. The test shots he took for me were in auto mode and the camera results were so good, it looked EXACTLY like the item he was shooting looks in real life. Absolutely no difference between what the photo produced and what my eyes saw on the counter. It can also shoot macro at a distance of only 1 cm away, which is what interests me the most. I am focused on macro shots.
For anyone who is interested in cameras, you might want to look this camera up. As I said, the lense is great, it has raw shooting capabilities, 4K video, 24x optical zoom but can still shoot at 1 cm macro distance from your subject, it has a flash dock so you can add an external flash, 12 MP censor, and a shutter speed max of 1/16,000. I did want a slightly higher MP capability because it is a new camera, but I do know that 12 MP can produce better than 4k pictures, so really, 12 MP is more than enough.
With 4K video, you can take amazing live video of what you want to shoot and then you can freeze the shot and extract a photo from it too. So, you could always find the best point to freeze and produce amazing still photos from the video. Alot of cameras either are good at pics or video, but it is unusual to find one with an amazing lens and 4K video for such a cheap price.
And it was a good price, all things considered, for $699 plus tax. I know I could have gotten it $50 cheaper at Best Buy, but I was so impressed with the guy's knowledge and service attention that I wanted to buy it from him anyways. If I stick the smaller guy and get the service from him but buy elsewhere to save $50, I will drive him out of business. Then his expertise goes out the window and I lose in the end, with other future cameras I may buy from less knowledgeable sales people. What I am saying is that consumers should reward the smaller shops when they give beter service, which results in a better buy and a better product experience. If we don't, the service will disappear and every store will resemble Home Depot, where no one is in sight when you have a question.
http://www.panasonic.com/ca/consumer/cameras-camcorders/point-shoot/dmc-fz300.html