Capture fleeting moments with the Panasonic G7
I wanted to share this amazing, really magic moment that happened in the middle of a snow storm here in Boston.
My Gear:
Panasonic G7: https://amzn.to/2Npg4JX
Panasonic 14mm f2.5 lens https://amzn.to/2NrfsU7
Vivtar 75 – 205mm f3.8 lens https://ebay.to/2U4hZWN
Walimex cage: https://amzn.to/2EtUcKA
Rode Mini Shotgun Microphone https://amzn.to/2Ua5w4c
In the middle of blinding snowfall an owl flew across and landed on a large pine tree that’s right outside my bedroom window.
I got a couple of things out of watching it sit there in the swirling snow.
One was that it’s just really great to connect with something completely wild even though you live, like I do, right in the city. Here’s this bird calmly sitting on a tree. It doesn’t care about the snow. It’s totally comfortable.
In fact, whatever might have been going on for me in terms of chaos and crazy-making thoughts in my head, here I was looking out and watching this owl – with all the snow coming down and swirling all around – and it’s going, “Hmm, hmm, hmmmm, I like the snow.” Or whatever it’s thinking. And it’s just completely, in its own element.
And I thought, “Hmm, how can I be more like this owl?”
So that’s my takeaway for you. How can you be more like the owl in the snowstorm? Or more to the point. How can you achieve a mindset of calm when it feels like everything is swirling around you?
My other takeaway: as soon as I saw it, I thought, “Oh my gosh, I have to go capture this.” And, as a videographer, I think it’s really important to be ready to capture fleeting moments when they happen because otherwise they’re going to be gone. So I happen to have just purchased a long lens for my camera.
Normally a lens would be a big expensive thing to invest in because lenses can be up to $1,000, $1,500 $2,000 or more. They can be very expensive! They can be more valuable and more costly than the camera itself.
But my camera, the one that I use, my favorite thing is this Panasonic Lumix G7. This is a micro four-thirds camera and what I love about it is that it’s small and light. It’s really easy to carry and because it’s micro four-thirds, any lens can be adapted and put onto this camera.
So in this case, I bought a vintage Vivitar 75 – 200 millimeter lens – and this is a single lens reflex camera lens. Nobody wants these old lenses anymore and I found it on eBay for $36!
I saw this lens for sale and I went, “Oh, I’ll just buy it. I don’t know if I’m going to use it very much, but I should have a long lens.” And no sooner did I have it, but I found myself witnessing this owl fly by right outside my window. And I grabbed my camera, put the lens on, put it on my tripod and I could shoot to my heart’s content.
And you can see the result in the video.
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