Tag Archives: Panasonic

I Got Myself A REAL Camera After A 3.25-Year Gap — The New Fujifilm ‘X-S20’ Mirrorless.

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by Anura Guruge
on July 5, 2023

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My Fuji X-S20 with XF 18-55mm kit lens.
Very first pictures. ALL the pictures here have been DOWNSAMPLED to make them SMALLER.

Bokeh & Selective Focus. WOW.

Click to access the ‘Cardinal Camera’ listing.

I was getting fed up of people asking me what kind of camera I used. Plus, I wanted one for shooting events, especially concerts, with a superzoom.

I had been THINKING about it for 9 months or so! I am now too old to rush in.

To be honest I did have two other cameras, a ‘Panasonic ZS80’ & a ‘Panasonic ZS200’, BUT I NEVER USED them. Finally, about 6 months ago I sold them both ‘online’. Hence, the ‘REAL’ in the title. I didn’t consider the Panasonics real! They were toy cameras.

Yes, this, unlike my last REAL camera, a ‘Canon EOS RP‘, is NOT full-frame. But, I didn’t want full-frame!

My needs & preferences have changed DRASTICALLY.

My Google Pixel Phones, currently the Pixel 7 Pro, will continue to be MY MAIN ‘cameras’ as they have been for the last 3 years.

The Fuji is just for special occasions. I plan to go days, weeks & during the winter, MONTHS, without using it.

So, I am NOT going crazy. Got the kit lens + one SuperZoom. I will tell you about that later.

I will at most get 3 other CHEAP lenses — all PRIMES I think because I already have two zooms that cover a huge reach.

As with the last 4 cameras I bought (& 5 altogether) I bought the camera kit & superzoom lens from ‘Cardinal Camera‘ (rather than Amazon)! That says something as most of you know that I do 95% of my shopping on Amazon (given that I do own a fair amount of Amazon shares).

But, I LIKE CARDINAL CAMERA — ‘Kurt Seelig‘ (the owner) & ‘Scott Lui‘, Kurt’s main man. Scott, who I have dealt with before, takes good care of I. I am happy. More on Cardinal Camera in future posts.

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‘KEH (Cameras)’ Delivers On Its Promise Of Buying Used Cameras — In My Case, 2 Panasonic DC-ZS Compact Zooms.

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by Anura Guruge
on October 14, 2022

Click to ENLARGE. Click here to access the ‘KEH’ Website.
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I had got a ‘Panasonic ZS80‘ (24-720mm zoom) & a ‘Panasonic ZS200‘ (24-360 mm zoom with 1″ sensor) as trade-ins for my full-frame ‘Canon EOS RP‘, from ‘Cardinal Camera‘, in May 2020. I had got a ‘Google Pixel 4’ 6-months earlier & had realized that I was using the Pixel rather than a camera for taking my daily quota of pictures. So, there was little point holding onto an expensive full-frame camera.

My thinking was that I would use the ZS200, with its 1″ sensor, for higher quality images & the much smaller senor BUT longer reach when I fancied zoom photography. But, that was the theory. With me taking a ‘Pixel 5’ later in 2020 & a ‘Pixel 6 Pro‘ in 2021 I basically STOPPED using these cameras. I would take one or both with me but they would NEVER get used. Yes, I will admit I was not overly enamored with either of these two Panasonics. So they just sat in a drawer getting old.

Then I started seeing Ads by KEH Camera. While I knew I wouldn’t get much for these two ‘low-end’ cameras, anything was better than them sitting there collecting dust.

So, I started the process. It was slick & painless.

I shipped the cameras out, in one box, via FedEx, on September 11, 2022. It took KEH a week, i.e., up until September 18, 2022, to acknowledge that they received the cameras. Wasn’t too thrilled with that (especially since I had NOT retained the FedEx tracking (& as such had no visibility as to when/how they were delivered)). But, eventually I got the e-mail saying that they had the cameras & will start evaluating them.

It then took another 17-days before I got my offer. Much to my surprise & delight the offer was about $18 higher than their original estimate. I was NOT expecting that. But, to be fair, the two cameras were in essence ‘nearly new’/’unused’. I don’t think either had a shutter click count greater of even 1,000! So, in the end I was COOL. Yes, the process had taken a tad longer than I had hoped — but, when I checked, it was only a day longer than what ‘BuyBackWorld‘ had taken when I sold them my ‘Garmin Fenix 6’. So, I guess that is the norm for these online buyers. Fair enough.

All said, I would DEFINITELY RECOMMEND KEH to anyone who wants to sell a camera online bypassing the hassle of trying to sell it themselves on eBay, Facebook, Craigslist, etc.

Got Myself A ‘Google Pixel 6 Pro’ For 2022.

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by Anura Guruge
on December 31, 2021

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First 2 pictures with it — & the ONLY pictures taken with so far. Will start, in anger, in 2022.

Over the last few years it has become a new tradition of my own making. I gift myself the latest Google Pixel phone for Christmas. Last year it was the Pixel 5 (which I used until today). In 2020 it was a Pixel 4. That said, I did NOT get a Pixel 3 in 2019. I gave that a miss. In 2018 I got myself a Pixel 2 — which happened to be the VERY FIRST smartphone I owned!

Yes, I am still quite new to smartphones. So, this yearly upgrading is kind of an over-compensation (for which I am known).

Prior to 2019 rather than phones I used to upgrade cameras. I got a new camera, on average, every 10 months! I also kept at least 2 cameras. I still have two cameras, both Panasonic, BUT I rarely use them.

Following with the Pixel 4 I — to my utter amazement — opted for using Pixel phones for my daily photography in place of expensive cameras. Age was becoming a factor. I was getting tired of lugging heavy cameras everywhere I went — & yes, I did have full-frame cameras, but ALWAYS mirrorless.

I got the Pixel 6 Pro for its camera. Supposed to have a nice zoom. I spent 10 seconds looking at it so far. I will start, in anger & earnest, tomorrow, January 1, 2022. New Year. New Pixel phone.

Moving from the Pixel 5 to the Pixel 6 Pro — staying with Google Fi as the carrier — was quite easy. Had to restart the phone. Had to mess with some Google Assistant setting. But, by & large it was OK.

I will keep you posed. Stay tuned. Happy New Year.