tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50850780282900268722024-03-16T19:51:37.296+01:00Michael's TechBlogMy blog for anything from the techie and photography worlds.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger212125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-10300017070634201982023-02-19T10:27:00.005+01:002023-02-19T10:42:10.223+01:00TTArtisan 23mm F1.4 for macroI have the manual focus TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 lens. I have extension tubes. I wondered how they would work together. It turns out that they are a pretty good combo! In this article I'll talk about my experience. I am just an enthusiast, take all I say with a grain of salt, it is just my opinion and I haven't made any scientific tests. Maybe a real world account will be helpful to you though, if so, read on...<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Setup</b></span><div>The TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 can focus to 20cm, this isn't macro but you can get some nice close-up photos, excellent for flowers. To get even closer, I attached a 10mm extension tube and my TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 lens to my Panasonic GX9 Micro Four Thirds camera.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmSRVXWtAL1A5HcTm-gYJBfBk06UswMBJz6P5UqMyy8DxSLzK1mjjhE04E9Ht30vIR7C5KCOVnWk26NqkFTj2BxLrLLq9QNtaxeHktxam8YTb8lU4wY1ZV3_8ijr71Qt3H8Mv2BW-NVhIuQh6c4rsR65Fa7T67VM85oKckUr_oTzF_RC4xzRKd0ALPQ/s3264/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmSRVXWtAL1A5HcTm-gYJBfBk06UswMBJz6P5UqMyy8DxSLzK1mjjhE04E9Ht30vIR7C5KCOVnWk26NqkFTj2BxLrLLq9QNtaxeHktxam8YTb8lU4wY1ZV3_8ijr71Qt3H8Mv2BW-NVhIuQh6c4rsR65Fa7T67VM85oKckUr_oTzF_RC4xzRKd0ALPQ/w400-h300/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>The TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 is a very reasonably priced manual focus lens. <a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2022/10/ttartisan-23mm-f14-lens-for-micro-four.html" target="_blank">Click here for more on this lens.</a> The 23mm focal length is not really the best (a longer focal length would be better) for close-up or macro but I thought this was an interesting experiment.</div><div><br /></div><div>The 10mm extension tube I have is the Meke MK-PAF3A. But any extension tube will do. They are easy to find on Amazon, eBay, etc, for a reasonable price. </div><div><br /></div><div>I also have a 16mm extension tube. Using the 10mm, I had to get very close to the subject to have it in focus. For this particular 23mm lens, I found the 10mm extension tube was best. But of course you can experiment and it depends on your lens focal length which combination of extension tube will work for you. Generally, for close-up or macro work, it's better to have longer than a 23mm lens. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Technique</b></span><br />When I tried to focus with the lens focus ring, it didn't really work. The solution was to set the focus to the minimum focus setting on my lens 0.2 (20cm). To focus, I moved the whole camera forwards and back until the subject was in focus. </div><div> </div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVsxK1p0BQNpwEbSGKJLzUmaHVycju440tPlIfeCxRGCXvBNVMF4tKCFtuL4n7n4oLCsnOBGNmBtVWnqKWNkPnvlg0MXKr-8LjTk30FqgBK-9XRf-zHRCRT9_T124xWdc1bDHvCEi0CBo1AZLEOzT8cSYB8Ch97DCOrr_c5D0nkK21MUcfrCLzAxBfcg/s894/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm%20distance%20to%20subject.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="679" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVsxK1p0BQNpwEbSGKJLzUmaHVycju440tPlIfeCxRGCXvBNVMF4tKCFtuL4n7n4oLCsnOBGNmBtVWnqKWNkPnvlg0MXKr-8LjTk30FqgBK-9XRf-zHRCRT9_T124xWdc1bDHvCEi0CBo1AZLEOzT8cSYB8Ch97DCOrr_c5D0nkK21MUcfrCLzAxBfcg/w486-h640/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm%20distance%20to%20subject.png" width="486" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had to get very close to the subject to get it in focus</td></tr></tbody></table><br />As you can see from the above, to get the image in focus I had to be very close to it. The usual 20cm was reduced to about 10mm (measuring from the camera the sensor to the subject). This is not a good working distance but for static subjects it's fine. </div><div><br /></div><div>Even with the lens set to f5.6, because the lens is so close to the subject, it can be difficult to get the subject in focus. In the above picture, on the screen you'll see some blue, that is the focus-peaking, it helps a lot. Just wait until the subject edges have a little blue (or whatever colour you are using) and press the shutter button!<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAetYqJR68xO6ykUATQBoFybAtQx0ApQQxKeZmgUQP3XLOpMBTP8mecgC-SX0usKQ8oSGL_NhzwWjfFejo-hMmWTOTefsVGN395kxggyNNofGhijG5gdL2NoO1X6-687cpYQqdgbAZJD6bu7L4wZAfRkSWE4ClSE73n23X94K0LxwshzMUVOA8c8hn9Q/s1579/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm%20subject.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1579" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAetYqJR68xO6ykUATQBoFybAtQx0ApQQxKeZmgUQP3XLOpMBTP8mecgC-SX0usKQ8oSGL_NhzwWjfFejo-hMmWTOTefsVGN395kxggyNNofGhijG5gdL2NoO1X6-687cpYQqdgbAZJD6bu7L4wZAfRkSWE4ClSE73n23X94K0LxwshzMUVOA8c8hn9Q/w640-h244/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm%20subject.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Look carefully at the two pictures above. Getting that critical focus on the subject is not easy. I took these photos handheld but if you use a tripod this will be easier. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Aperture</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On Youtube and the web in general, everyone goes on about aperture, how the larger it is (the lower the f number), the better. The lens I'm using starts at f1.4, that's fantastic for portrait or similar photos. For close-up or macro, a higher f number makes more sense. In the example above I used f5.6 and yet very little of the photo was in focus because I had to get so close and the subject was very small. Experiment, perhaps f8 or even higher would be better. It depends on the look you are trying to get. Here are a few example photos taken with the TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 and 10mm extension tube, at different apertures.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtLLflO_E6cbBKSmaXhZyA61_tHIMeIUkCHYjt2tsGnczMwCA-eaSMTwvYrW0WNPSQ5w2RrXAsHbcKqy1eCNixFCoZf1L1u8HtdegDcEDQAwUtoOoZHAm6KgxzWwy-8yW4-pXqbY99MBnkyK8CXZXfEVC6Qp6U7_yytvZnKwHyEm7fX2Pw0Tn_sQohcg/s1579/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm%20f14-56.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1579" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtLLflO_E6cbBKSmaXhZyA61_tHIMeIUkCHYjt2tsGnczMwCA-eaSMTwvYrW0WNPSQ5w2RrXAsHbcKqy1eCNixFCoZf1L1u8HtdegDcEDQAwUtoOoZHAm6KgxzWwy-8yW4-pXqbY99MBnkyK8CXZXfEVC6Qp6U7_yytvZnKwHyEm7fX2Pw0Tn_sQohcg/w640-h244/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm%20f14-56.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first photo taken at f1.4, the second at f5.6</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmeZU2frQcwfQSWjtKprqh_CgVQz51hUeMQvM23_09Jv6_HhAsvNGn7rfJ76PEbMMmS68RUJ-Ss01sWL5TwiTWxaGpaWTJ5JmkXLaRP3yKuxO5vr6xvcUQ2dRXizE-ATZVO4k18PjjqSt2_FSCL1PI0Rkw9vcOunpr7uhRRfaww_BA8djWiidS6TFZw/s1579/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm%20f56-f8.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1579" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmeZU2frQcwfQSWjtKprqh_CgVQz51hUeMQvM23_09Jv6_HhAsvNGn7rfJ76PEbMMmS68RUJ-Ss01sWL5TwiTWxaGpaWTJ5JmkXLaRP3yKuxO5vr6xvcUQ2dRXizE-ATZVO4k18PjjqSt2_FSCL1PI0Rkw9vcOunpr7uhRRfaww_BA8djWiidS6TFZw/w640-h244/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm%20f56-f8.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first photo taken at f5.6, the second at f8</td></tr></tbody></table><br />When using the 10mm extension tube I really didn't find using f1.4 made any sense. The depth of field was so thin. F4 perhaps but often I was using f5.6 or sometimes f8. It depends on the subject, the lighting, the background. The fun of photography is often in the experimentation!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cost</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Are you interested in macro photography but don't know if you want to spend several hundred on a specialised lens? This combination of the TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 and 10mm extension tube is a very cheap option. Brand new the lens is less than USD 100 and extension tubes are perhaps about USD 20. Technically it isn't true macro but you are getting close and you can get some nice shots. I've used this 23mm lens because I have it in my collection. Maybe you have a different lens, that's fine too. There are so many excellent manual focus lenses at the around 100 dollar mark. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Alternatives</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As an alternative to extension tubes, try a converter. In a previous article I wrote about the <a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2015/09/olympus-mcon-p02-macro-converter.html" target="_blank">Olympus MCON-P02 Converter</a>. Fit it to the front of the Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens and you have a great little macro solution. It has an advantage over extension tubes, with the converter you can easily remove it and put it back on. Perhaps you want a macro photo and then see something else that is far away, with an extension tube it's a pain, with the converter it is a little quicker to remove. The negative with the converter is that it fits only specific lenses and it is nearly 100 dollars. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A more obvious solution would be to buy a true macro lens. There's the Panasonic 30mm f2.8 macro and Olympus 30mm f3.5 macro. I've not used either of those but all the reviews I've seen boil down to them being excellent choices. Both those are around the USD 300 mark so pretty good value. If you can afford it though, I would recommend the Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro. I own this lens and I love it! Here's an article I wrote on the <a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2019/05/olympus-60mm-f28-macro-lens-for-micro.html" target="_blank">Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro</a>. It is around the USD 500 mark but truly excellent!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">True macro lenses have some big advantages. They were designed for macro so the image quality is optimised for that kind of photography. You will get true 1:1 macro, which means the subject will appear at the same size in your image. Also, a true macro lens makes it easy to switch between near and far. What I mean is, if you are photographing a flower close up, then you see a bird in the corner of your eye, with the Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro you can quickly change and take photo of the bird. With a lens and extension tubes you'd have to take the lens and extension tubes off and put the lens back on... the bird would've gone in that time. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There's also the Laowa 50mm f2.8 2X Ultra Macro. I've no experience of it but it's just USD 400 and it provides 2:1, meaning the image is twice the size of 1:1. Maybe an option if you need to get closer. Although you could add extension tubes to the Olympus 60mm lens to achieve this. Perhaps the ultimate solution would be the new OM Pro 90mm f3.5 macro lens. But that is around the USD 1500 mark!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 lens on its own is good for close up photos with the native 20cm minimum focussing distance. When fitted with a 10mm extension tube the minimum focussing distance is much less and it's possible to get some excellent macro (or at least macro-like) photographs. This combination works well. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The downside is that you have to get very close to the subject. If you want to photograph insects, I'd say this combination won't work well. With the very short focussing distance you might get some shadow of the lens in your photo, that's also not good for macro as you need all the light you can get. Perhaps a longer focal length would be better... but despite this, I enjoyed using the TTArtisan 23mm and 10mm extension tube, I found it useable and fun!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnQ1pF1O2iFOsg4cS4_TbI6WUYlJfQq7R4NCICO0d8_E6WLhvRlPaftDq3_K5f1aQfVTGIJsAo-lRGPgU2VQ9Q2q5_waQPXW4nIQivpyGWQM7fHQAlQc-nOswZWUu8g1g2KYihit3ZfUVkFnvYKpFkSMW68YHSWM1Z-JcVVUgPpa4_DpBIFN8FUUv7w/s5184/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm%20photo%20at%20f56.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnQ1pF1O2iFOsg4cS4_TbI6WUYlJfQq7R4NCICO0d8_E6WLhvRlPaftDq3_K5f1aQfVTGIJsAo-lRGPgU2VQ9Q2q5_waQPXW4nIQivpyGWQM7fHQAlQc-nOswZWUu8g1g2KYihit3ZfUVkFnvYKpFkSMW68YHSWM1Z-JcVVUgPpa4_DpBIFN8FUUv7w/w640-h480/TTArt23f14%20and%2010mm%20photo%20at%20f56.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GX9 + 10mm extension tube + TTArtisan 23mm f1.4, photograph taken at f5.6, ISO 200</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Disclaimer</b></span><br />I have not received any remuneration for this blog article. This is just my opinion, nothing more. I take no responsibility for your choice or decisions. I am just trying to help here, to share my experience, I hope you find it helpful.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-58472914310156176442022-10-23T13:58:00.004+02:002022-10-24T02:03:15.943+02:00TTArtisan 23mm F1.4 lens (for Micro Four Thirds cameras)<p>January 2022, a new lens was released by TTArtisan. A 23mm f1.4 manual focus lens, designed for APS-C and Micro Four Thirds cameras. I bought this lens for my Panasonic Lumix GX9 Micro Four Thirds camera. In this article I will share my opinion and practical experience of the lens. I am not a pro photographer and I won't be doing any lab tests. However, I hope my real world experience will help if you are considering this lens.</p><p><br></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Build and handling</b></span></p><p>The lens is built mostly from metal. When you hold the lens in your hand, it feels dense and it has some heft to it. To the touch it can be cold due to the metal build. The focussing ring is smooth. It is very easy to focus, you feel in control as you turn it.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Al-jWwiEln6DJqmpF0YKHccFNTuhtmiCyYis3QoYxlGPWpj03WZ1DTJEVQ4S2hWUH40JrD6c8hmhk65qXUEhjFkv9fKI5gwFUKbVq8ogm93v-lQjqe2srM3k5ewd8HJCC9HYB_ZMMyorRZPOOOdUjmSwLdloLKuGKI2p-RK_J3fuh9Tw1hfFbPxVTA/s1780/TTArtisan23.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1780" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Al-jWwiEln6DJqmpF0YKHccFNTuhtmiCyYis3QoYxlGPWpj03WZ1DTJEVQ4S2hWUH40JrD6c8hmhk65qXUEhjFkv9fKI5gwFUKbVq8ogm93v-lQjqe2srM3k5ewd8HJCC9HYB_ZMMyorRZPOOOdUjmSwLdloLKuGKI2p-RK_J3fuh9Tw1hfFbPxVTA/w640-h216/TTArtisan23.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TTArtisan 23mm F1.4</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p>The aperture ring has clicks for each f stop. That's a nice feature, you can change aperture without taking your eye from the subject. I have heard in some reviews that the aperture clicks are in the wrong place, my lens doesn't have this issue, it is just right. Some complain the aperture ring is not nice to use but I also beg to differ on this too. The aperture ring is thin with teeth, your fingers can easily find it and grip it. Perhaps that isn't to some people's liking, to me it is practical.</p>
<p>The TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 is a very well made lens. It feels premium despite the low asking price.</p>
<p>One of the stand-out features of the 23mm F1.4 lens is its look. It is a good looking lens, retro with the black with silver accents. This may sound like a frivolous thing to some but it is a major reason I bought this lens. The look and feel of a lens and camera can encourage some to go out and take photos. Sometimes on YouTube I've heard professional photographers talking about lenses and cameras as "tools". For enthusiasts it can be different, perhaps we will be spurred on in our photography.</p><p>There is an optional lens hood available. I bought this, it is a screw on hood. It can be a pain to screw on. The hood is also metal, the edges are a bit sharp. It is square, this adds to the retro vibe of the 23mm lens.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_w8AiV_sMnmGiQVq_Xrmj_EXX0r_z8G-SEZk1kZOdJxi1VP-XjKUQ-zkhkBZ2WFpUtNS7u0QZfWbdUE7UHipcAOR3H_zdzkvzuKwRWW_4KK7lQrNvsT25H7fR5SMqIv6Ex-4cepfqT_FPGsWMafxIZWVf6BzEGxmUEOlu_SgYe16fhiETMIn7p5pGKA/s1780/TTArtisan23%20and%20GX9.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1780" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_w8AiV_sMnmGiQVq_Xrmj_EXX0r_z8G-SEZk1kZOdJxi1VP-XjKUQ-zkhkBZ2WFpUtNS7u0QZfWbdUE7UHipcAOR3H_zdzkvzuKwRWW_4KK7lQrNvsT25H7fR5SMqIv6Ex-4cepfqT_FPGsWMafxIZWVf6BzEGxmUEOlu_SgYe16fhiETMIn7p5pGKA/w640-h216/TTArtisan23%20and%20GX9.jpg" width="640"></a></div><p>I do like the look of the 23mm on my GX9. I prefer the look without the lens hood. With the lens hood on, if you sit the camera down, it will tip forward. This is because of the weight. The GX9 has some heft to it already, together with the 23mm lens, you do find yourself holding a bit of a brick. This can work to your favour, the camera can seem easier to steady. It is not a big deal but personally because of the weight, I don't think I'll ever use this as a travel lens. Of course I am used to small light lenses, if you are coming from the world of Full Frame you may laugh at me!</p>
<p>I have the JJC grip for the GX9. With the grip fitted the TTArtisan 23mm is a better balance. I prefer this, although the entire set up is of course still hefty.</p>
<p><br></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Manual focus</b></span></p>
<p>This lens is manual focus only. There are no electrical contacts which means EXIF data for the aperture and focal length are not saved.</p>
<p>The focus ring is smooth but not loose, it won't easily slip. I like the focussing, it works very well. In the camera I have switched on focus peaking and in can also magnify the image. These features are very important, especially when using the f1.4 aperture. </p>
<p><br></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Focal length</b></span></p>
<p>23mm on M43 is a 'standard' focal length. The field of view is equivalent to 46mm on full frame, close to the iconic 50mm. I enjoy this focal length, it is similar to our usual field of view. It can be used for all sorts of photography.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Minimum focus distance</b></span></p>
<p>This is not a macro lens but the minimum focus distance is 20cm, that is excellent for close ups of flowers, for example. As a general purpose walk around lens, it does the job. It is fun to get close to the subject for that detailed photo. However, be warned that at f1.4 aperture, close up it is tricky to get focus and in any case the background blur might be too great, consider stopping down to f4 or f5.6. Remember that being closer to the subject means the background blur will be greater, even if you are at f5.6 it may look smooth. The great thing with this lens is that you have the choice.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbdrIgsHlB5zexgLXLY7W9266XOTZlcX3Y94tqVMvz-X-rUzkP_dfR99lwbk1Qo8oSbAUqGucE4Ma4iTy03gvc6yNU7MWFYJdGncODhmTy10wDmLyclstaKWNLi_nXq-4u3Eg5JryN-UhvMh26xptiKtDcjXZHQIs_Gmz3L1W2h0H2MVpG_t6oVRWhTg/s5184/TTArtisan23%20flower.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbdrIgsHlB5zexgLXLY7W9266XOTZlcX3Y94tqVMvz-X-rUzkP_dfR99lwbk1Qo8oSbAUqGucE4Ma4iTy03gvc6yNU7MWFYJdGncODhmTy10wDmLyclstaKWNLi_nXq-4u3Eg5JryN-UhvMh26xptiKtDcjXZHQIs_Gmz3L1W2h0H2MVpG_t6oVRWhTg/w640-h480/TTArtisan23%20flower.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GX9 + TTArtisan 23mm f1.4, taken at f1.4</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Focus distance scale</b></span></p><p>On the barrel of the lens there are a bunch of numbers including a distance scale. It can be used for zone focussing. It's not something I use much but with a little practice it could be useful.</p><p><br></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>F1.4 aperture</b></span></p><p>One big reason to get this lens is the maximum aperture of f1.4. This means you can take photos in low light and also have some wonderfully blurry backgrounds.</p><p>In practice using f1.4 is something you should approach with care. F1.4 makes some very thin depth of field, especially if you are close to your subject. Make use of your camera's manual focussing features. Sometimes peaking only shows some edges. I recommend double checking by magnifying the image.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqMbhCViqt8GgGq8W6NtgYsrNe_h5gsdl2MYjMK5jgFzLF6ykk2zo1mEFTRTqkNICeVjExodlCDeXwW4znEK6WBq5_ElCavWyhW79Lh4OEKBWmYwKffeltqh_mFZ1kae67NzyL7Y6oWnaeRW5GNeSYANfXQXz3iJOapKztadMlxJfX227iKQfXbGpJKg/s1570/TTArtisan23%20bokeh%20distance.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1570" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqMbhCViqt8GgGq8W6NtgYsrNe_h5gsdl2MYjMK5jgFzLF6ykk2zo1mEFTRTqkNICeVjExodlCDeXwW4znEK6WBq5_ElCavWyhW79Lh4OEKBWmYwKffeltqh_mFZ1kae67NzyL7Y6oWnaeRW5GNeSYANfXQXz3iJOapKztadMlxJfX227iKQfXbGpJKg/w640-h244/TTArtisan23%20bokeh%20distance.jpg" width="640"></a></div><p>Above there are two photos, both taken at f1.4. The first is not a crop, I held the camera as close as I could to the subject. In the second photo I stood back with a greater distance between me and the subject. Both photos have a very dreamy out of focus area. Remember that the aperture is not the only factor in creating bokeh, the distance in front and behind of the subject also creates that subject isolation. </p><p><br></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Image quality</span></b></p><p>Excellent. If you want something more in-depth, there are many technical reviews on YouTube, I would recommend Rob Trek and Red35, I've added links at the end of this article.</p><p>The bokeh, or out of focus area behind the subject is smooth and I've been happy with pictures taken wide open at f1.4. There is sometimes a nice look to the photos, a sort of dreamy look. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix4QDBp0zQtqRdPwvZhvVhTnlz1N7T4XIle5vxvI1eRAYYt4_GqvdE3yqno5bGCr0ZetAqQ2XAZb6HoEQPzoW9SuBBZApTsLxdQVAl4-6aRzsKZMYAgJOGKGxlVHAcWuKJYyVpnmxw7hnHiWCfU4TXHRtxt-f-EpLLR0xTwXIaMydubECYawrPMnyi1g/s5184/TTArtisan23%20f1_4%20fern.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix4QDBp0zQtqRdPwvZhvVhTnlz1N7T4XIle5vxvI1eRAYYt4_GqvdE3yqno5bGCr0ZetAqQ2XAZb6HoEQPzoW9SuBBZApTsLxdQVAl4-6aRzsKZMYAgJOGKGxlVHAcWuKJYyVpnmxw7hnHiWCfU4TXHRtxt-f-EpLLR0xTwXIaMydubECYawrPMnyi1g/w640-h480/TTArtisan23%20f1_4%20fern.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GX9 + TTArtisan 23mm f1.4, taken at f1.4</td></tr></tbody></table><p>It works well at f5.6 too. For more depth of field and general snaps, the lens works very well. Use focus peaking, perhaps the zone focussing number on the lens barrel for a guide and you have a nice setup for street and similar photography.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5eh_7bCqcmD6eRw-WBVdFVboSDHAvpn47N5OkMGVzBlApc3Zo03SAh6Z9aN8f0Peovc5fSqP_R2_Hix4vV9Q1lTFjpVQ2reYljJvmfQ_xHAQF0g2H8wxBW84qNYWpTMqJ6H2fwK1ZMgBhFTyouhivV14BPcBLvUPcgtVonFlxvUHeyb9UlRKg7_pkRQ/s5184/TTArtisan23%20at%20f5_6.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5eh_7bCqcmD6eRw-WBVdFVboSDHAvpn47N5OkMGVzBlApc3Zo03SAh6Z9aN8f0Peovc5fSqP_R2_Hix4vV9Q1lTFjpVQ2reYljJvmfQ_xHAQF0g2H8wxBW84qNYWpTMqJ6H2fwK1ZMgBhFTyouhivV14BPcBLvUPcgtVonFlxvUHeyb9UlRKg7_pkRQ/w640-h480/TTArtisan23%20at%20f5_6.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GX9 + TTArtisan 23mm f1.4, taken at f5.6</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>The above photo is a JPEG straight from the camera, no post processing. The colours are punchy and that's not just because of the time of day I took the photo. I do feel the lens gives a slightly more contrasty picture. In any case, let's just say again, the image quality is excellent. </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Competition</b></span></p>
<p>The TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 has a big advantage, it's price. About 99 US dollars plus another 10 dollars for the hood. For anyone looking for a new standard focus length lens at an affordable price, this lens hits the mark. However, you should consider whether a manual focus lens is for you. I already owned the Panasonic 25mm f1.7 lens before buying the TTArtisan 23mm f1.4. I wanted the challenge of a totally manual focus lens, the f1.4 aperture and the retro look. Your priorities may be different.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8XAZWWpaIBNQrDH6v7A1Css1Z4z4wPTGUC4lDvBryOdMhrDA9WZnAdGlsZnWSDz27fAwwQhplyQCycD1FCOi8mZr1R35_PbKx-51HWw2NTdktyh5CrLcdFUj8alQbBkVenBfnbBXMmkUCg_D4vHZCPLXCLPlUSixBU60XSoOj0tqhDyi08YzB-GDeSw/s893/TTArtisan23%20and%20Lumix25_bw.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="893" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8XAZWWpaIBNQrDH6v7A1Css1Z4z4wPTGUC4lDvBryOdMhrDA9WZnAdGlsZnWSDz27fAwwQhplyQCycD1FCOi8mZr1R35_PbKx-51HWw2NTdktyh5CrLcdFUj8alQbBkVenBfnbBXMmkUCg_D4vHZCPLXCLPlUSixBU60XSoOj0tqhDyi08YzB-GDeSw/w640-h426/TTArtisan23%20and%20Lumix25_bw.jpg" width="640"></a></div><p>If I compare the 23mm to my Panasonic, purely from a practical standpoint, the Panasonic 25mm f1.7 is the better lens. It has auto-focus, great image quality and it is light, it feels great on my GX9 camera, a better balance in the hand. The Panasonic is a little more costly, approx. 150 US dollars. Keep your eyes peeled for deals though, sometimes you can pick one up for closer to 100 dollars. If you are looking to purchase your first prime (non-zoom) I would recommend the Panasonic over the TTArtisan. Having the option of auto-focus and the light build is important. Now many might argue with me on the build, the Panasonic 25mm f1.7 is plastic. I don't mind plastic and certainly when I hold the two lenses in my hands, I prefer the light weight Panasonic. If good old metal is important to you, go for the TTArtisan.</p><p>I took some test photos to compare the bokeh between these two lenses. Below the first two photos are using the TTArtisan and the third is with the Lumix 25mm at f1.7. See what you think...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Jvzd_Layi0xcM5JQAFNlZNKCAuiNskylXrb5hQIEfVFgMqQe2-vWA-Ry2_ZQ7p8ynO8xZU0aB9jj7BFl8xXAV4AweaJIg0GQTiHDDIiTgfpgUAcoAuGbM7EGzF1uKQS8n9CCTSWERuXTNsMFyyT6oQiugj44n7wuiupQ51EGGb-6wXy1km9rb4tzeA/s2287/TTArtisan23%20and%20Lumix25%20comparison.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="2287" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Jvzd_Layi0xcM5JQAFNlZNKCAuiNskylXrb5hQIEfVFgMqQe2-vWA-Ry2_ZQ7p8ynO8xZU0aB9jj7BFl8xXAV4AweaJIg0GQTiHDDIiTgfpgUAcoAuGbM7EGzF1uKQS8n9CCTSWERuXTNsMFyyT6oQiugj44n7wuiupQ51EGGb-6wXy1km9rb4tzeA/w640-h168/TTArtisan23%20and%20Lumix25%20comparison.jpg" width="640"></a></div><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>TTArtisan 23mm f1.4, the photo was taken at f1.4 </li><li>TTArtisan 23mm f1.4, the photo was taken at f1.7 </li><li>Lumix 25mm f1.7, the photo was taken at f1.7</li></ol><div>The first thing to note is the difference in the field of view. The Lumix 25mm (picture 3) looks bigger in the frame. But to my eyes the difference in bokeh is not a lot between the images, even f1.4 doesn't make that much of a difference. Of course it depends on circumstances, in my test photos there was a fair amount of distance behind the subject, that helps create the bokeh effect anyway. </div><p></p><p>If you really must have a f1.4 aperture lens around the 23mm focal length, there are alternatives but they tend to be more expensive. The Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4 for example, a wonderful lens by all accounts but about five times the cost of the TTArtisan 23mm f1.4. There's a Sigma 30mm f1.4 at around the 300 dollar mark. The OM 20mm f1.4 is also a great choice but again it is a bit pricey, even more than the Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4. </p><p><br></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Conclusion</b></span></p><p>If you are used to modern photography but perhaps wish to taste how it was done in times past, the TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 is a great choice. It isn't expensive and for sure you'll enjoy looking at it and using it. It is fun to use. The images from it are excellent. Of course sometimes you miss the focus a little, especially at f1.4. But that's the fun factor, that you are in full control, in fact you have no choice, you must auto focus and the end result is up to you. </p><p>I think it is a great lens to give as a gift. The lens comes in a very elegant box. A nice premium feel all round. That special someone might think you've spent much more than 99 dollars!</p>
<p>I recommend this lens. TTArtisan have done a great job, providing a low cost lens for enthusiasts. The image quality is excellent. Do you really need to spend hundreds on a new lens, if you don't need auto-focus, maybe consider this or similar lenses.</p><p><br></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Reference</b></span></p><p>Buy from Pergear: <a href="https://www.pergear.com/products/ttartisan-23mm-f1-4">https://www.pergear.com/products/ttartisan-23mm-f1-4</a></p><p>Review by Red35: <a href="https://youtu.be/FIWCZ2YHbOg">https://youtu.be/FIWCZ2YHbOg</a></p><p>Review by Rob Trek: <a href="https://youtu.be/TEj62o0TK5U">https://youtu.be/TEj62o0TK5U</a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><b>Disclaimer</b></p><p>I wrote this article to help others and for my own pleasure. I have no affiliation with TTArtisan or any other photography company. These are just my own thoughts and opinion. If you disagree, that's fine. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-16656023412932890532022-01-03T12:18:00.002+01:002022-01-03T12:36:35.363+01:00Panasonic Lumix 35-100mm f4-5.6 zoom lens (for Micro Four Thirds cameras)There are many telephoto lenses for Micro Four Thirds but one in particular is often overlooked, it is the subject of this article, <b>Panasonic Lumix G Vario 35-100mm f4-5.6</b> (model H-FS35100K). <br /><br />Most of us start with a kit zoom with focal lengths 14-42mm, 12-32mm or perhaps 12-60mm. These zoom lenses cover the wide, standard and moderate telephoto focal lengths. For example, the Lumix 12-32mm f3.5-5.6, it is a tiny lens that is fine for a lot of situations, group photos, portraits, landscape, etc. <br /><br />After some time you may find yourself wishing for a lens that has a longer reach. Maybe you go to the seaside and would like to photograph a far away ship, or when you visit the zoo you'd like to capture the expression on a monkey's face? You have a few choices, you could get an all-in-one sort of lens like the Lumix 14-140mm or you could go for the lens we're discussing here, the 35-100mm f4-5.6. In full frame terms, 35-100mm is the equivalent of 70-200mm.<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>I'm not a professional photographer, I am an enthusiast only. I've not made any scientific tests, the following are from my real-world experience using this lens for a few years. I hope you find it helpful. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglcOPnzsPPGMMUlxmP4DU0TW-tDVtOBa_kUQFYWZ19wRhl-Le_vVJELNFauz0gcMVvXIJOx4ccPH730v-q0bKXqvrUxnglhr8KAfpAXzGquId6FkOIXUclqq8WQQ7D1oXTyDpACrjFpP17R1_ISH5v3PhIFSsjd8BGcXc1HBVIKSfRp8-vUeMK7Btq5A=s1380" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1380" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglcOPnzsPPGMMUlxmP4DU0TW-tDVtOBa_kUQFYWZ19wRhl-Le_vVJELNFauz0gcMVvXIJOx4ccPH730v-q0bKXqvrUxnglhr8KAfpAXzGquId6FkOIXUclqq8WQQ7D1oXTyDpACrjFpP17R1_ISH5v3PhIFSsjd8BGcXc1HBVIKSfRp8-vUeMK7Btq5A=w640-h278" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GX80 with the 35-100 mounted // The 35-100 with the lens hood stowed in hand</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Design, Build and Handling</b></span><br />Physically the 35-100mm f4-5.6 is a very small lens. It is smaller than the Lumix 25mm f1.7 prime lens, in diameter and length (when the lens is collapsed) - see the photo on the left below:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVhZNS8WmDQwwxRc4XK0e7p98s1mLMdzFG2BNE4ZJGSK7hzwvSy27C_kD5dpsp-Yh9HYzwWFbVrzHGP1zlzbfwD38kur3Sb5_cGX4dQdCzd-K9GyW20bZKgxCKBMkuMkU1iRTYfMhZ9QP6uf9O4bMuK3pjwtm8SCV--osLZXHsAoVUkQTmBgBE12YpKQ=s2078" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="2078" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVhZNS8WmDQwwxRc4XK0e7p98s1mLMdzFG2BNE4ZJGSK7hzwvSy27C_kD5dpsp-Yh9HYzwWFbVrzHGP1zlzbfwD38kur3Sb5_cGX4dQdCzd-K9GyW20bZKgxCKBMkuMkU1iRTYfMhZ9QP6uf9O4bMuK3pjwtm8SCV--osLZXHsAoVUkQTmBgBE12YpKQ=w640-h184" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>The 35-100 has a similar look to the 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 standard zoom (above, right photo). The 35-100 is about the same diameter and just over twice the length. Unlike the 12-32, the 35-100 has a metal lens mount and a manual focus ring. The manual focus ring is close to the front and much narrower than the zoom ring. Both rings are smooth and easy to distinguish between without looking. The lens is made of metal and plastic. The quality is very good, it feels better than the plastic of the Lumix 25mm f1.7 lens. </div><div><br /></div><div>The 35-100 is lightweight at 135g. You can hardly feel it when you carry it. There is no weather sealing. A lens hood is included, it is plastic, it can be put on backwards for stowing (it's not easy to use the lens with the hood on backward). The hood can be fiddly to put on. </div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdZKAUhA8EDrfTAyITrIJcEt6tuEwWfpq1I2kKeEm2PPMmnnbXZx2300dhbkJt37-H_2Be6XYQPv6MQM1XpQZY-SaYT4JZsHyLBijghigJUFXGbBeSs5bBNahQDAv7DJ7gSYEkfZTcC_SM4oIkvW8k4CmJAae4mPtrd7oR9STK1YrQBT2ootfJVAVMpA=s1570" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1570" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdZKAUhA8EDrfTAyITrIJcEt6tuEwWfpq1I2kKeEm2PPMmnnbXZx2300dhbkJt37-H_2Be6XYQPv6MQM1XpQZY-SaYT4JZsHyLBijghigJUFXGbBeSs5bBNahQDAv7DJ7gSYEkfZTcC_SM4oIkvW8k4CmJAae4mPtrd7oR9STK1YrQBT2ootfJVAVMpA=w640-h244" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 35-100 mounted on the GX80, lens hood attached, lens collapsed (left) and fully extended (right)</td></tr></tbody></table><br />When the lens is collapsed (above left). In this position, if you hold the camera face down, the lens will not slip and extend on its own, it stays in place. To use the camera you must turn the zoom ring. There is some resistance, it's a firm feeling, push past it and you'll be at the 35mm position. There is a smooth, quality feel to this. The lens barrel will extend as soon as you turn it. </div><div><br /></div><div>The filter thread is 46mm, I really like that, many other lenses are the same, such as the Lumix 25mm f1.7, the Olympus f1.8 lenses, etc. <br /><div><div><br /></div><div>I've owned the 35-100 lens for six years. I've taken it on many trips, it's rolled around inside my bag and it still works perfectly. There's just one thing I noticed recently, when zoomed to 100mm and I use auto-focus, there is an electronic sounding squeaking noise. But it doesn't affect anything and it isn't heard when videoing. </div><div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Zoom Range and Aperture</b></span></div><div>At 35mm the maximum aperture is f4. Zoom to 100mm and the maximum aperture is f5.6. This means you should take care in low light situations. For example, when photographing at 100mm, at f5.6, if the lighting is not great then you may find it hard to keep the ISO down. The lens does have image stabilisation and is Dual-IS compatible with Lumix cameras like the GX80, GX9, G9, etc. Also, it's easy to hold the camera steady with this lens. The 35-100 is so small and light, it doesn't pull the camera forward, it is balanced well, at least on the GX80 and GX9 cameras I've used it with. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you are worried about the f5.6 aperture, check your own photos and see how many are taken below that. In most cases I've found that I often photograph at f4 or f5.6 anyhow. This is especially true when on holiday in good light. </div><div><br /></div><div>The reach of this lens is fantastic. The 100mm maximum focal length is the star of the show. I've taken photos of boats on the lake, then later on the computer I have zoomed in and then I've noticed the people on the boat! For a safari maybe a longer lens would be better but for general holiday photos, 100mm is great. The minimum focal length of 35mm is limiting though, I wish it were wider. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Image Quality</b></span></div><div>Excellent! I haven't made any scientific tests but I'm very happy with this lens. The images have contrast, good colours, the background blur is pleasant, there is little to complain about here!</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwhFH0MD92eH25UF2vQASj3m9zMuMQTM-VgfUXaifNA_qBJxf7_C_Uv5hSYV_gWAsKjdjObVQn8_rt6Ndo7X1DoYh7VyjfkPuhLC80M98X3KdnVkeoLUBYmpqCvB4oSeBITDy-gO6aB-ocJkdNPyWQYJreN6cCSUuysu5AITpsuoKX8mfVYzArvS1mKQ=s2348" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="2348" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwhFH0MD92eH25UF2vQASj3m9zMuMQTM-VgfUXaifNA_qBJxf7_C_Uv5hSYV_gWAsKjdjObVQn8_rt6Ndo7X1DoYh7VyjfkPuhLC80M98X3KdnVkeoLUBYmpqCvB4oSeBITDy-gO6aB-ocJkdNPyWQYJreN6cCSUuysu5AITpsuoKX8mfVYzArvS1mKQ=w640-h164" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Example photos taken with the Lumix 35-100mm f4-5.6</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Throughout the zoom range the quality is consistent, although I must admit I have not pixel-peeped nor made any scientific tests. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Portraits</b></span><br />In addition to giving you a capable general purpose telephoto lens, the 35-100 f4-5.6 can be used as a portrait lens. Don't let the f5.6 put you off, if you put enough space behind your subject, use 100mm, at f5.6 the background blur will be very nice. But of course if you are serious about portrait photography, there are better choices.<br /><br />Early 2020 I visited Zurich. Mostly I used my 12-32 but upon visiting Zurich Zoo I switched to the 35-100. The photo of a monkey is a good example of what this lens can do, I took this photo indoors, handheld:</div></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5cFsUitzS0LiXFy04JN8bokyeirPCCrg9afBlQUGvooiyqSJsIGexJvt6gZGmWpFHye7xreXHIOmA6YGs8QfhEhKCoMvjvRRWDeUVoow8RGpj6znKqiWQ5bvZ8r9TImtgz2M0SSlHu73xfElePKCiX01-e1BbK9JiUiDreuQy3hUa3Jz-udA7zGzi8A=s4592" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3448" data-original-width="4592" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5cFsUitzS0LiXFy04JN8bokyeirPCCrg9afBlQUGvooiyqSJsIGexJvt6gZGmWpFHye7xreXHIOmA6YGs8QfhEhKCoMvjvRRWDeUVoow8RGpj6znKqiWQ5bvZ8r9TImtgz2M0SSlHu73xfElePKCiX01-e1BbK9JiUiDreuQy3hUa3Jz-udA7zGzi8A=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GX80 and Lumix 35-100mm f4-5.6 -- taken at 100mm, f5.6, ISO 2000</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Close-Focussing</b></span> </div><div>The minimum focussing distance is 90cm. This is ok for flowers but it's not really my favourite for this kind of photography. </div><div><br /></div><div>It is possible to buy some extension tubes and use with the 35-100 to get closer. I tried the Meke mk-paf3a 10mm and 16mm extension tubes:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbyE453c4FHF6LzS1Z70BYQLdUVjeyWzzB8UCZQbFh5WafpZRnIG4zmSHa5dWXpSRp3A7m0MiCDUb_92t0oU_LeRnI2gehsZF8ZAdJdsI-joJ5_8s0TLildxZRmH7ZXfRuPIH6KIw9dg1ln5UXJ1ov2Sk9qfW6ZA0cHvxLnFeYpBg6mitZdkdbofz2fw=s4160" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4160" data-original-width="3120" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbyE453c4FHF6LzS1Z70BYQLdUVjeyWzzB8UCZQbFh5WafpZRnIG4zmSHa5dWXpSRp3A7m0MiCDUb_92t0oU_LeRnI2gehsZF8ZAdJdsI-joJ5_8s0TLildxZRmH7ZXfRuPIH6KIw9dg1ln5UXJ1ov2Sk9qfW6ZA0cHvxLnFeYpBg6mitZdkdbofz2fw=s320" width="240" /></a></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>At 35mm, I could get as close as 13cm (distance from the camera body to the subject)</li><li>At 100mm, I could get as close as 32cm (distance from the camera body to the subject)</li></ul></div><div>For me, I found being at 35mm was best. However, if you are serious about macro, I wouldn't recommend this combination. Make the investment in a dedicated macro lens such as the Olympus 60mm (it's amazing - see my review <a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2019/05/olympus-60mm-f28-macro-lens-for-micro.html" target="_blank">here</a>). </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Negatives</b></span><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Close focussing is only 90mm, I wish I could get closer.</li><li>The lens hood is fiddly to fit. Once it is on it is fine though.</li><li>It starts at 35mm, this means I have to keep swapping lenses when on holiday. I wish it started at 25mm, that would've made it ideal. 35mm is just a little too tight for general photography.</li><li>I can't think of anything else... It would be nice if it were weather sealed but it is so small it is no trouble to shelter it from a shower. </li></ul><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Price<br /></b></span>Shop around, the 35-100 f4-5.6 is often around the USD 350 mark or cheaper. Second hand, probably half that. </div><div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Competition<br /></b></span>All other lenses with a similar focal length are bigger, heavier or more expensive. The Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8 is a monster by comparison. Olympus have a 40-150mm f4-5.6 but it is bigger, although you do get some extra reach with it. <br /><br />I feel that the biggest competition to this lens actually comes from the 'catch-all' lenses such as the Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm f3.5-5.6. It is a reasonable price (under USD 600) and replaces the 35-100 plus your standard zoom (12-32 for example). The 14-140 is bigger but it is not huge, it could be a good compromise. Olympus/OMDS also have some nice options with the 12-200mm f4-6.3 if you really don't want to compromise on the focal lengths covered. <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Conclusion</b></span><br />I believe the 35-100 f4-5.6 is exceptional. It is extremely small, lightweight and affordable. This lens is what Micro Four Thirds is all about! Paired with a GX80 or similar camera, perhaps a 12-32 or prime lens, you have a great travel kit. The compact size of this lens demonstrates the true nature of Micro Four Thirds, especially if you compare to the equivalent Full Frame 70-200mm lens that would be many times bigger, heavier and more expensive.<br /><br />For anyone who doesn't normally take telephoto pictures, this also maybe a nice lens to have. I say this because being so small and light, you could carry this in your bag for those few times when you need the extra reach. The reasonable price is also a bonus. <br /><br />Often when reading or watching reviews of lenses I hear lots said about the Pro models. But how much better are they than the consumer lenses such as this 35-100? The question to ask yourself is, do you need a Pro lens or would this smaller, lighter, more reasonably priced lens be enough? Maybe you only photograph at night, then f4-5.6 is no good. But if you take such a lens on holiday the chances are you are photographing in daylight mostly, maybe even sunshine, in which case f4-5.6 is perfect. <br /><br />As an enthusiast I've had a lot of fun with this 35-100mm f4-5.6 lens. I love the quality of the photos from it. I feel it is a good choice. Perhaps one day I will go for a 14-140, as that might be a simpler option than swapping lenses and I believe it focusses a lot closer. Until that time, the 35-100 f4-5.6 will stay close at hand.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>References</b></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Review of the 35-100 by David Thorpe:</div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/1itRjvF4SdM">https://youtu.be/1itRjvF4SdM</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Specifications at DPReview:</div><div><a href="https://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/lenses/panasonic_35-100_4-5p6_ois/specifications">https://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/lenses/panasonic_35-100_4-5p6_ois/specifications</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Disclaimer</b></span><br />I wrote this article to help others and for my own pleasure. I have no affiliation with Panasonic or any other camera company. These are just my own thoughts and opinion. If you disagree, that's fine.<div><br /><br /> </div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-33659376994638513782021-08-23T17:14:00.002+02:002021-08-28T11:00:17.032+02:00Panasonic Lumix GX80 and GX9 camera comparison<p>The Panasonic Lumix DC-GX9 is the successor to the DMC-GX80, but how much difference is there? Is it worth upgrading to the GX9? In this article we'll explore the strengths of these two cameras and discover some of the notable differences the later GX9 has to offer.</p><p>Panasonic name their cameras depending on where they sell them in the world. The GX80 is also known as the GX85 or GX7 II. The GX9 is also known as the GX7 III. In this article we'll refer to them simply as GX80 and GX9.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The GX80 was released back in 2016. It has a 16 megapixel sensor in a compact range-finder style body. It was aimed at the enthusiast level. <br /></li><li>The GX9 was released in 2018. It has a 20 megapixel sensor in a very similar body to that of the GX80. </li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>My Story<br /></b></span>I used the GX7 for a number of years. The GX8 was too big, I waited. The GX80 came and for four years I have used and loved it! It is just the right size for me, it has a lot of features in a small package. The GX9 was always tempting, to get the newer 20 megapixel sensor, but the price was too high for such seemingly small differences with the GX80. However, I recently bought the GX9 due to a fantastically low price. Was the upgrade worth it? </p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Common features<br /></b></span>The two cameras are very similar in looks. On paper the GX9 is slightly bigger and heavier but you can't really tell. In the hand both cameras feel the same. The rear screen flips up and down but not far enough for selfies. Both have an EVF (electronic view finder), 5-axis IBIS (in body image stabilisation) and the same battery. There are three custom positions that are easily accessible from the model dial C position. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieGozHX7L-URJANbspSPIEGlyi5-k94LYFC4AH3rFRFXQVQA0A6qh-_y7DI5QIiHwmjDCJAjlI0ekW0pQX7HQA220Hrvy7ZSOftWVQeqDRU5YDjznf8RmAJO6toQXk7UjXaWXl3PuTiNxR/s1024/GX80-GX9+top+down.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieGozHX7L-URJANbspSPIEGlyi5-k94LYFC4AH3rFRFXQVQA0A6qh-_y7DI5QIiHwmjDCJAjlI0ekW0pQX7HQA220Hrvy7ZSOftWVQeqDRU5YDjznf8RmAJO6toQXk7UjXaWXl3PuTiNxR/w640-h480/GX80-GX9+top+down.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top: GX9 | Bottom: GX80 - both fitted with the 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 compact zoom lens</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Physical differences <br /></b></span>The GX9 has an improved grip due to the large thumb rest. It isn't a massive change but I like it a lot. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD38tDHL2XhPXxxunJhRX9-ANwULyT2oTsc1HKJw3AMcOLozAjG1TLGDob4K9ZAgB86YWXDePW6VMqM1GedmEfl2YfDW88guiXbVQrxGHIU9UZ3WRyFKAwlLM-2Svw5pSA9_kc127epvHn/s1365/GX80-GX9+Thumb+Rest.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD38tDHL2XhPXxxunJhRX9-ANwULyT2oTsc1HKJw3AMcOLozAjG1TLGDob4K9ZAgB86YWXDePW6VMqM1GedmEfl2YfDW88guiXbVQrxGHIU9UZ3WRyFKAwlLM-2Svw5pSA9_kc127epvHn/s320/GX80-GX9+Thumb+Rest.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GX9 thumb rest and dials on top</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Exposure compensation dial. This is nice but it doesn't make a lot of difference as changing the exposure compensation on the GX80 was so easy. On the GX9 it is possible to disable the physical dial and do it the GX80 way if you prefer. So far I have been using the exposure dial as it is. It doesn't have a lock but I've not had a problem with it moving accidentally yet. </p><p>The main PASM mode dial is smaller on the GX9 because it sits on top of the exposure compensation dial. I would've preferred it to stay the same size as the one on the GX80 but it is ok like this. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiklUzTmCR60BBpw_YTSgTJav2CF7Cvj7BLUw8Abey-tm_hLQQ24UcEUWukJdMqC4jiaqcWOY7kiwacD7CbUJVM_dlc3Cqn9TxVCUkgvJGtKQ0x3n0JZILjyeGXwHc-vn57FvD5kXLQfHd2/s1024/GX80-GX9+AFS-AFC-MF.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiklUzTmCR60BBpw_YTSgTJav2CF7Cvj7BLUw8Abey-tm_hLQQ24UcEUWukJdMqC4jiaqcWOY7kiwacD7CbUJVM_dlc3Cqn9TxVCUkgvJGtKQ0x3n0JZILjyeGXwHc-vn57FvD5kXLQfHd2/s320/GX80-GX9+AFS-AFC-MF.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GX9 switch for AFS, AFC or MF</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The GX9 has a switch for AFS, AFC and MF (Auto Focus Single point, Auto Focus Continuous and Manual Focus) - just like my old GX7 did! In the same place on the GX80 there is a Fn button that by default is set to 4K Photo. For me having the AF/AFC/MF switch makes a difference. On the GX80 I had a Fn button programmed to it but I prefer this little switch. By the way, it works fine with the MF clutch on my Olympus 17mm F1.8 lens, when you move the clutch, MF is engaged automatically. It overrides the AF/AFC/MF switch position. <p></p><p>In relation to the GX80, the GX9 power on/off switch has moved just a few millimetres to the left. It's not a problem, just something to get used to. </p><p>On the GX80 the EVF is static. The GX9 EVF swivels up. This can be useful for looking down or if you are at odd angles. However, in practice I don't find this useful, not when I used my old GX7 and not now on the GX9. It's just a nice to have feature. </p><p>According to the specs, the EVF image quality and size are the same on both the GX80 and GX9. However, in my opinion the GX9 view finder image is better. Anyway, that's just my subjective opinion, both EVFs are small in any case. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia64c36X3kCH_1alSP7OEVMN2vwK-741oYZtigaoVEyoLijX0gMhNtJd3KenZrx61nL24nwp1k8Vts2l5NiibA-MnwURW8dYTDrB1TDB3AvwYIyyGIpZG1KOkO8pPTdC4-X5yOyJ85nUUd/s1024/GX80-GX9+Side-by-Side.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia64c36X3kCH_1alSP7OEVMN2vwK-741oYZtigaoVEyoLijX0gMhNtJd3KenZrx61nL24nwp1k8Vts2l5NiibA-MnwURW8dYTDrB1TDB3AvwYIyyGIpZG1KOkO8pPTdC4-X5yOyJ85nUUd/w640-h360/GX80-GX9+Side-by-Side.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: GX80 | Right: GX9</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>The LCD back panels on both GX80 and GX9 are also very similar in specification. Subjectively I do find the GX9 a little more vibrant but that might be more due to the newer menu graphics looking cleaner. </p><p>USB and HDMI ports on both cameras are on the right side. On the GX80 there is a flap covering the ports. The GX9 has a very nice little sliding door. I prefer the GX9 solution, it is more refined.</p><p>The lens mount on the GX80 is a sharp edge. On the GX9 it is tapered, it curves slightly. This means if you mount smaller diameter lenses there are no sharp edges for your fingers to touch. This is a subtle difference but I like it, again a design refinement. </p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Internal improvements<br /></b></span>The GX9 has a 20 megapixel sensor. It's better than the GX80's 16 megapixel on paper. Practically do not expect any massive difference in image quality. </p><p>Both the GX80 and GX9 have WiFi. The GX9 has Bluetooth. The Bluetooth can be used to log GPS coordinates in photos as you go. It's also possible to use the app as a remote trigger using the Bluetooth alone. There maybe other advantages but I have not fully explored this yet. Whether this is important or not is debatable. If you use a tripod a lot then perhaps the remote trigger would be nice because it doesn't use so much power as the WiFi. On both cameras the WiFi drains the battery fast!</p><br /><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Software improvements</span></b><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>The menus in the GX9 have been updated. The graphics have a cleaner look, they look higher resolution, the black is a deeper black. More menu options can be seen at once, for example, on the GX80 the first photo menu has eight pages whereas the GX9 has four. There has been some rearrangement too, now the third menu (C and spanner icon) is very short, just five options. But select any of those menu items and there is a sub-menu below. This might seem cheating but I don't mind this, I think it is better. Having a very long list makes it difficult to find what you are looking for, this is an improvement over the GX80. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBIg-nrX1tWGw5u8fyGVeqpM0Qiy4nRQEyie36nplfFM6jTtxbkNMjS88cz3BdgOame3R_Ev7q5YmEQJpUsNZ9FHhvv1VUMXMaajoVIbzT3Gkz6qWIBqWR4YqwYvZHfSu2DgOlFY3lraYq/s1024/GX80-GX9+Back.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="1024" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBIg-nrX1tWGw5u8fyGVeqpM0Qiy4nRQEyie36nplfFM6jTtxbkNMjS88cz3BdgOame3R_Ev7q5YmEQJpUsNZ9FHhvv1VUMXMaajoVIbzT3Gkz6qWIBqWR4YqwYvZHfSu2DgOlFY3lraYq/w640-h212/GX80-GX9+Back.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: GX80 | Right: GX9<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>In the menus on the GX80 of you wanted help there was a line of text scrolling by at the top. I didn't find that helpful. With the GX9 press Disp and it shows a little window with an explanation. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDzOSoxRMS2fhKxNdHluuRBkaXHfhn3dp_e4E8xbIikapHfJEVc_yMOIJx7yDRrdq2J0Q7b48dXAS1eHXlTU6hFONAN-qTZYMNJlI_loOqrC0DBjUzzjPXWwx0Zl0PLH5WSfabgkTnkGSa/s1024/GX80-GX9+My+Menu.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDzOSoxRMS2fhKxNdHluuRBkaXHfhn3dp_e4E8xbIikapHfJEVc_yMOIJx7yDRrdq2J0Q7b48dXAS1eHXlTU6hFONAN-qTZYMNJlI_loOqrC0DBjUzzjPXWwx0Zl0PLH5WSfabgkTnkGSa/w400-h300/GX80-GX9+My+Menu.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>The biggest practical update to the menu is having My Menu. It's a customisable menu for you. Add any menu items that you like. I've added things like Time Lapse and WiFi - always the sort of options I usually cannot find but don't want to assign to a button. I am impressed with Panasonic for including this My Menu option to the GX9, they could've decided it was a consumer level camera and left it out. Adding it really means they understand some of us appreciate this extra customisability (Olympus, I hope you are listening - add such features to your lower end models, why not?). </p><p>On my GX80 the battery level indicator had three bars. It wasn't a very precise way of telling how much juice you had left. The GX9 has improved this, now there are four bars. Yes it's not a big improvement, but it's better than nothing. Dear Panasonic, if you are reading this, please give us a percentage number instead. </p><p>A minimum shutter speed can be set on the GX9. This could be useful if you wanted to photograph in Aperture priority but you still wanted to keep your shutter speed within a certain range. </p><p>The GX9 has a completely new feature called Sequence Composition. This is in the Playback menu. First take a 4K Photo clip, have something move through the frame. Use Sequence Composition to select some frames from the 4K Photo clip and merge them. The resulting image will have whatever was moving through the frame, appearing multiple times at multiple points. I haven't tried it yet but I'm looking forward to some fun with it. </p><p>4K Photo Bulk Saving is a new feature that will save lots of frames from a 4K Photo clip. </p><p>Sometimes on my GX80 I would want to use a filter but I assign the Filter option to a menu button. This is because when using the mode dial, it's in Auto. Using a button means I can control my exposure and then apply the Filter. But on the GX80 the assigned Filter button would switch the current Filter on/off. With the GX9 the button will give you the choice of filter to select.</p><p>The Post Focus feature is available from the Drive button. This is a good idea because on the GX80 it was only in the menus and a pain to find. The Post Focus option can be useful for focus stacking. I hope the GX9 focus stacking has improved, it wasn't the best on the GX80. Something else to try! </p><p>If you have a lens with a button on it, there is an option in the GX9 menu to configure it. </p><p>The GX9 has an option to configure the folder structure and filenames. </p><p>The GX9 has a new Photo Style called L Monochrome D. Set it up how you like, it is even possible to add simulated grain to the image. There's also Cinelike D and V Photo Styles.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Video<br /></b></span>When filming 4K video, both the GX80 and GX9 have a crop. The crop is greater on the GX9. For me it isn't an disadvantage because I don't use video much and usually I stick with Full HD. Having a crop does mean you can get slightly closer to the subject too. But I know this is also a disadvantage because it means the view you have for photography is not the same as the view you have when you switch to video. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEFzjnaK7UiRP200UOFfMXqZ7InrBps1PQkCf3UFPcy3IeI1puzQ00J0RxZo_iXImrVboLW2Ga0Vz_JmX4M3e0RH5QinjnR3K9ZMditWvpyIHNrr75sWaHBukrAvqA9loMEpne0I2yOi4B/s1024/GX80-GX9+Video.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEFzjnaK7UiRP200UOFfMXqZ7InrBps1PQkCf3UFPcy3IeI1puzQ00J0RxZo_iXImrVboLW2Ga0Vz_JmX4M3e0RH5QinjnR3K9ZMditWvpyIHNrr75sWaHBukrAvqA9loMEpne0I2yOi4B/w400-h300/GX80-GX9+Video.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GX9 video modes including PAL and NTSC</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The GX9 does have a better selection of video modes. The GX80 was set to 25 and 50fps for Europe. However, the GX9 allows for 30 and 60fps too. </p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span><br /></b>The GX80 is a wonderful camera, they already got so much right with it. The GX9 is an enhancement over the original. It is like two Bakewell tarts and one has a cherry - that is the one you want but the other will be just as delicious. </p><p>If you already have a GX80, my recommendation is to stick with it unless you see the GX9 at a fantastic price (that's what happened to me!). Or perhaps if your GX80 dies, get a GX9 next time. </p><p>I do applaud Panasonic for these two models. The GX9 is a refresh of the GX80 where they kept the spirit of a small but powerful enthusiast level camera. For a travel and street camera, the GX series works so well. I do hope Panasonic will not forget to give us a GX10 in the near future.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">References and links</span></b></p><p>A written comparison between the GX80 and GX9: <br /><a href="https://mirrorlesscomparison.com/panasonic-vs-panasonic/gx9-vs-gx85-gx80/">https://mirrorlesscomparison.com/panasonic-vs-panasonic/gx9-vs-gx85-gx80/</a></p><p>Specifications: <br /><a href="https://www.dpreview.com/products/compare/side-by-side?products=panasonic_dmcgx85&products=panasonic_dcgx9">https://www.dpreview.com/products/compare/side-by-side?products=panasonic_dmcgx85&products=panasonic_dcgx9</a></p><p>A video review of the GX9 but with reference to the GX80 and other GX models: <br /><a href="https://youtu.be/3UleohHc8CA">https://youtu.be/3UleohHc8CA</a></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">Disclaimer</span><br />I wrote this article to help others and for my own pleasure. I have no affiliation with Panasonic or any other camera company. These are just my own thoughts and opinion. If you disagree, that's fine.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-50831932008360739362021-04-04T12:11:00.006+02:002021-04-04T13:31:20.912+02:00Olympus 17mm f1.8 lens (for Micro Four Thirds cameras)I've been using the Olympus 17mm f1.8 lens for a few months and wanted to share my impressions. I'm not a professional photographer and there are many technical reviews available. This article is from my subjective point of view, my thoughts and experience of the lens. The Olympus 17mm f1.8 is a <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Micro Four Thirds</a> (M43) lens as used primarily by Olympus and Panasonic Lumix G cameras. <br><br><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0y3Jf73oTFtclR3XFwT7l9dBGXjfCYPGObDlz0SnYr_9jd2CyHynkeMn6cn7Oz9ihCdGKk8L6Ie6DUZT-7VKwzVLuamjOdbszHOyu06Q1pmelzLeRYYnpVvJK0TQOR3_No0to8dyJYpeK/w640-h480/Oly17f18.jpg" style="color: #0000ee; text-align: center;" width="640"><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0000ee;"><br></span></div><br><br><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Design and Build</b></span><br>As soon as you pick up the Olympus 17mm f1.8 lens you smile because you are holding a quality product. You have that feeling because of the metal build. There is some plastic trim, the focus ring and cap are also made from plastic but overall, the Olympus 17mm f1.7 feels like it is built to last. Although a thoroughly modern lens in many respects, I also get a bit of a retro vibe from it. Perhaps due to the build but also the numbers and distance scale on the barrel add to the feeling. The front lens element is small which is nice because there's less to be damaged in a glancing blow. The filter thread is 46mm which is the same as some other popular M43 lenses, handy if you already have 46mm filters.<div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSV4UUg54-_BLYd6UNjjCI7EenTPadaYQIfgYDPNws7FToNw-VFhk8UsEawFkeWMvahyphenhyphenwKyC8qH6DlaxEiOvVTR_i4-S3Z0A2d0Lj1YxLdfLz9B1eL_cy_gbbUc0iMqvCXAnLhVC7OYhF/s2048/Oly17f18+on+the+GX80.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSV4UUg54-_BLYd6UNjjCI7EenTPadaYQIfgYDPNws7FToNw-VFhk8UsEawFkeWMvahyphenhyphenwKyC8qH6DlaxEiOvVTR_i4-S3Z0A2d0Lj1YxLdfLz9B1eL_cy_gbbUc0iMqvCXAnLhVC7OYhF/w640-h478/Oly17f18+on+the+GX80.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panasonic Lumix GX80 and Olympus 17mm f1.8</td></tr></tbody></table><br>When mounted on my Panasonic Lumix GX80, the Olympus 17mm f1.8 looks right at home. I think this lens is perfect for any small or medium sized M43 cameras. The weight is just about right, it's slightly heavier than the Lumix 25mm f1.7 for example.<br><br>Size-wise the 17mm f1.8 is also just about right. It's not as small as a pancake lens but it's smaller than comparable many lenses. Below you can see both the 17mm and the Panasonic Lumix 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 zoom next to each other. The 17mm is not a lot bigger than the tiny 12-32.</div><div><br></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1RIJfDOcerthy-pzCTnLiuhoKOoRVNSOPWga4exUjWmMcN2eKjVmX9DV0sXO0biFWNqzC8Vn5kVd0PPBpILrxXZvnAHF2VGNsyADQM83hooA2TRYQNRmRZAHM8pxqHik1kaXiQijTXzW/s2048/Oly17f18+with+Lumix+12-32.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1RIJfDOcerthy-pzCTnLiuhoKOoRVNSOPWga4exUjWmMcN2eKjVmX9DV0sXO0biFWNqzC8Vn5kVd0PPBpILrxXZvnAHF2VGNsyADQM83hooA2TRYQNRmRZAHM8pxqHik1kaXiQijTXzW/w640-h360/Oly17f18+with+Lumix+12-32.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lumix 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 and Olympus 17mm f1.8</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br></div><div>The 12-32, when set to 17mm, has a maximum aperture of f4. If you are considering the Olympus 17mm as a compliment to the 12-32, I think it's a good choice. </div><br><br><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Focal Length<br></span></b>M43 17mm is equivalent to 34mm in Full Frame (FF) terms. That's close to the classic 35mm angle of view. Therefore the 17mm is a moderate wide angle lens suitable for all kinds of photography. I would characterise the angle of view as 'comfortable'. What I mean is, for the majority of day-to-day photography this is probably all you need. It's not very wide so there's no distortion when you get close to the lens. <br><br>It is not suited to portrait shots, although it can be good for what's called environmental portraits. That's when you include some other elements with your subject. The best example is when you are on holiday, you want to take photos with someone in it but also some background. It is a personal choice though, I must admit that I also like the 25mm (50mm equiv.) focal length too. If you are considering a 25mm lens instead, click <a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2018/04/three-months-with-panasonic-lumix-g.html" target="_blank">here</a> for an article I wrote on the Lumix 25mm f1.7. <br><br><br><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Close-Focussing</b></span><br>It says 25cm is the closest you can focus but it seems to be more like 20cm to me. This is pretty good for most situations. As the field of view is wide, it isn't easy to get close-up (macro style) photos. However, you can still get some nice flower photos as long as the flowers are big enough. In the following photo the flowers are small, because of the 17mm angle of view you can get more in the frame.</div><div><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdp14nDGq2afg76zHdSWio2-q1alemkugYnOO3ddoMAIGk6QWIguhvHuuESggyrg7kALPlyTQSJRzSyMvLKLYHBnQXllykfvCYnI0H72DuPbiSAQHYnChqegGJ98v24piMfh1eniAnMcL/s4592/Oly17f18+flowers.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3448" data-original-width="4592" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdp14nDGq2afg76zHdSWio2-q1alemkugYnOO3ddoMAIGk6QWIguhvHuuESggyrg7kALPlyTQSJRzSyMvLKLYHBnQXllykfvCYnI0H72DuPbiSAQHYnChqegGJ98v24piMfh1eniAnMcL/w640-h480/Oly17f18+flowers.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olympus 17mm f1.8, taken at f4, ISO 200</td></tr></tbody></table><br><div>To get those close up shots of smaller flowers you could consider buying the Olympus MCON-P02 macro adapter, it screws onto the front of the lens. I have one for use with my Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens. The MCON-P02 also works well with the 17mm:</div><div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5xXAVtc54ATCg0C44VK-tmkRx_zcfxRK6CUt2WwRQm-gB6FfCKC27Xrl2UrqFOW5GjFj-20RnJ-JUDmpB4WkO_RB4PQXyVyNwZBRYFFhvBW1GKKAvMPbaf0hcLH8Yl9645Ro35jW9-9Ux/s2270/Oly17f18+with+or+without+macro+converter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="2270" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5xXAVtc54ATCg0C44VK-tmkRx_zcfxRK6CUt2WwRQm-gB6FfCKC27Xrl2UrqFOW5GjFj-20RnJ-JUDmpB4WkO_RB4PQXyVyNwZBRYFFhvBW1GKKAvMPbaf0hcLH8Yl9645Ro35jW9-9Ux/w640-h170/Oly17f18+with+or+without+macro+converter.jpg" width="640"></a></div><br>I took the three pictures (left to right) of daisies (small flowers) above in Aperture Priority at F4, ISO 200:</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Olympus 17mm f1.8 lens only, as close as I could get</li><li>Olympus 17mm f1.8 lens + MCON-P02 macro adapter, as close as I could get</li><li>Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens + MCON-P02 macro adapter, as close as I could get</li></ol><div>The 17mm and MCON-P02 definitely gets you closer (photo 2 is closer than 1) but is it worth the extra USD 90 (approx.) and hassle (screwing it on/off)? In my opinion, no. I think you'd be better off getting a dedicated macro lens. Where the MCON-P02 makes a big difference is when used with the Olympus 45mm f1.8 (photo 3). If you also have that lens then it might be worth getting the MCON-P02. A more detailed article on the MCON-P02 is <a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2015/09/olympus-mcon-p02-macro-converter.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Auto-Focussing</span></b></div><div>Fast and silent. I have no complaints using it with my Lumix GX80 camera. Way better than the Lumix 20mm f1.7, if you are comparing those two lenses, I would recommend the Olympus 17mm f1.8.</div><div><br></div><br><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Manual Focussing</b></span><br>The Olympus 17mm f1.8 has a Manual Focus Clutch. The focus ring can be pulled back, this reveals a focussing distance scale and activates manual focus in the camera. <b>On my Panasonic Lumix GX80 camera this works perfectly.</b> Pull the focus ring back, the camera goes into MF. Push the ring forward and I'm back in AF mode. <br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5VP-9aev8T8zuhxhyGjFE-KLYh4gd_x-RuIyCIfTC1XHarF97OG0iXHp8R-ivYHciSQ_vFbFovR9rD2cAJ5n5CpFbgh7eiJRlmuxDTz6y9QQCZj_wLhiYmCAn7PJkkSPUgQ4MsOVKl0Po/s2048/Oly17f18+MF+clutch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5VP-9aev8T8zuhxhyGjFE-KLYh4gd_x-RuIyCIfTC1XHarF97OG0iXHp8R-ivYHciSQ_vFbFovR9rD2cAJ5n5CpFbgh7eiJRlmuxDTz6y9QQCZj_wLhiYmCAn7PJkkSPUgQ4MsOVKl0Po/w640-h480/Oly17f18+MF+clutch.jpg" width="640"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div>Once the focusing ring is pulled back the distance scale is visible below an aperture scale. The idea is that in the camera you set your aperture. You match the focus ring distance scale to that aperture. For example, set your aperture to f5.6, use the focus ring to line up 1m with 5.6. That means that one metre from your camera most objects will be in focus. This is useful because you could leave your camera like this and just snap photos. You just have to remember to move within 1m. It can be good for street photography where you don't want to spend time focussing, just point and shoot. <br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div>Practically is the MF clutch useful? I haven't used it much so far, the auto-focus is so fast on my GX80. But it is a nice feature to have, something to explore.<br><br><br><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Image Quality</span></b><br>Superb! I am not a pixel peeper and I don't do scientific tests. I can only say that I'm very happy with the photos when I use this lens. I wouldn't say the 17mm is a huge improvement over other lenses, such as the Lumix 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 for example, because that's an already sharp lens. However, the low-light capability of the Olympus 17mm f1.8 puts it head and shoulders above such a lens. For example, if you are outside photographing flowers and then go inside to photograph, fine, the lens does a fantastic job in both situations. If you can use a low f number, your ISO can stay lower, giving you more detailed photographs in low light. <br><br><br><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Background Blur / Bokeh</b></span><br>Yes, it's possible with this 17mm lens with f1.8, you can get some nice out-of-focus effects. But don't expect too much because 17mm is wide and to get the best bokeh effect you really need a longer focal length. If you are deciding upon your first prime and bokeh is important to you, go for a 25mm (50mm equiv.) or better still, a 45mm (90mm equiv.) lens.</div><div><br></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAMA0SdeCSI8M0eFNCNElo2x_BcAwAtGog1NB44rl3kvtJ9j7jkXQ9ouT-w3z3LnzXdrX7gj-ylPlnKfO3kB_l69P-FSNvqdRk5xyD3SZ88LAMX9i0zZpp56fbBSRop2eI0mKN2Ev6X1C/s4592/Oly17f18+flower+close.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3448" data-original-width="4592" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAMA0SdeCSI8M0eFNCNElo2x_BcAwAtGog1NB44rl3kvtJ9j7jkXQ9ouT-w3z3LnzXdrX7gj-ylPlnKfO3kB_l69P-FSNvqdRk5xyD3SZ88LAMX9i0zZpp56fbBSRop2eI0mKN2Ev6X1C/w640-h480/Oly17f18+flower+close.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olympus 17mm f1.8, photo taken at f1.8, ISO 200</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyWkJlPjCIYvk9oso6n2kbB5kSDnoe1d0iz_YINIZHdw6WxAvZ95sIaKSD763AdrRdYgEOuOjsZ4psAGheG93V09Om4JnVMOkEwpK8sQbp7FG8_VBpffS8p3b0v7wm71bI-7lSpvlH_Qr7/s1024/Oly17f18+flower.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>It's also worth mentioning that traditionally this 17mm (35mm equiv.) focal length is preferred by those who want depth of field, they don't want so much bokeh. Often a photograph can be best with more in focus, always keep this in mind, don't get too swept up in the notion that bokeh is always needed in your photos.<br><br><br><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Negatives</b></span><br>The Olympus 17mm f1.8 is excellent, these are the only downsides I can think of:<br><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>A lens hood is not included in the box. It's a shame as sometimes with direct sunlight there are some blue flares that appear. The official Olympus lens hood costs an arm and a leg! There are third-party ones, that's probably the best choice, maybe later I'll get one.<br><br></li><li>There's no weather sealing but no other lenses in this price range/style, have weather sealing. Also, weather sealing is not important unless your camera body is also weather sealed. It's also a small lens so easy to shelter under your jacket if you get caught in a surprise shower.</li></ol></div><div><br><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Price<br></span></b>When originally released it was pricey. In recent times the 17mm has often dropped to around USD 350. I was lucky to get mine on sale, brand new, for about USD 230! Keep your eye out, you might get such a bargain. If you compare to a lens such as the Lumix 25mm f1.7 or Olympus 45mm f1.8, then yes the 17mm is expensive. However, remember that the 17mm is a lens with a much higher build quality and the manual focus clutch too. The 17mm is a premium lens for the discerning photographer! <br><br><br><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Competition</b></span><br>You could stick with a zoom lens such as the Lumix 12-32mm f3.5-5.6. It covers all the most popular focal lengths and it's small and light. However, it's not the best in low light, at 17mm the 12-32 will give you a maximum aperture of just f4. The Olympus 17mm f1.8 can open up a lot of new photography opportunities. </div><div><br></div><div>For other primes I'd say the Panasonic Lumix 20mm f1.7 and Leica 15mm f1.7 are the closest competition. They are similar focal lengths to the Olympus 17mm f1.8 and are also small, compact lenses. I used to have the 20mm, it was great but the auto-focus was slow and the 20mm focal length didn't suit me. I haven't used the Leica 15mm f1.7 yet but all the reviews I've seen rave about it. I wanted this lens but I ended up with the Olympus 17mm f1.8 instead, the reason was price. The 15mm is often much more expensive.</div><div><br></div><div>Olympus have another 17mm, their Pro level lens, it has a maximum aperture of f1.2 and it is weather sealed. However, it's huge and heavy compared with the 17mm f1.8. Also, the Pro lens is super expensive. If you are looking for the best, of course the Pro lens is it. If you are looking for the best value, the 17mm f1.8 is the lens you are looking for.</div><div><br></div><div><br><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Conclusion<br></b></span>The Olympus 17mm f1.8 is a fine lens that is a joy to use! The focal length is general purpose, the lens is light, compact, it has great build quality, it looks the part... it's a great little lens. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">References</span></b></div><div>Here are a few reviews and other links:</div><div><br></div><div>Micro Four Thirds: </div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system</a> </div><div><br></div><div>Specifications:</div><div><a href="https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/lenses/olympus_m_17_1p8/specifications">https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/lenses/olympus_m_17_1p8</a></div><div><br></div><div>Review by David Thorpe: </div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/HyjQp7W5A9c">https://youtu.be/HyjQp7W5A9c</a></div><div><br></div><div>A comparison between the 17mm and the Olympus 14-42mm kit lens by Rob Trek: </div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/2NAfyV7UcPQ">https://youtu.be/2NAfyV7UcPQ</a> <br><br></div></div><div>A comparison between the Olympus 17mm f1.8 and the Pro lens, here's a video by Peter Foresgard: </div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/53AmXtsU2Hs">https://youtu.be/53AmXtsU2Hs</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Disclaimer</span></b></div><div>I wrote this article to help others and for my own pleasure. I have no affiliation with Olympus or any other camera company. These are just my own thoughts and opinion. If you disagree, that's fine. </div><div><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-55008164801118844042021-03-27T10:34:00.010+01:002021-03-27T10:36:14.425+01:00Godox TT350 can't adjust the zoomI noticed that on my new Godox TT350 (O) I could not adjust the zoom setting. The zoom is a number representing the focal length of lens you are using. The zoom will make the flash spread the light more or less. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC8YRy_zpZCCPdQEtBIFq28S6E-PsYGa5Vnw-55py4r63jlQpu0r-6UIZasGWNMlvV6ARiAVtVCXG2wxRyyJm_Ww8xEeaXXI6IOx_MnNkgLHF9EIP0mic6XhOPgoygo9KVUNW1YXLTc5J6/s2048/Godox350-zoom1.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1534" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC8YRy_zpZCCPdQEtBIFq28S6E-PsYGa5Vnw-55py4r63jlQpu0r-6UIZasGWNMlvV6ARiAVtVCXG2wxRyyJm_Ww8xEeaXXI6IOx_MnNkgLHF9EIP0mic6XhOPgoygo9KVUNW1YXLTc5J6/w400-h300/Godox350-zoom1.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>In the manual it says to press the Zoom button and use the wheel to adjust the zoom number. This did not work, the number stayed on 14mm (see above screen shot, top right).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Solution</span></b></div><div>The flash has a pull out <b>catchlight panel</b> and a white card. When this catchlight panel is pulled out for use, the zoom number is forced to 14 and cannot be changed. Check your pull out catchlight panel, make sure it is pushed securely in until it clicks. Then you should be able to adjust the zoom number by pressing the Zoom button and spinning the wheel.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpcT7kIurNZszeZrnTy6yMSuntbK-BbLUWCqt709JibEqHTgLqQ-AZ76zvM2kqekuEwUc51vjxP1RT-J8cY_sDzfxhBRpw0OztFubuxvExr1jIquTInNszd1V5k_x5lzeVhAaApLnej8vp/s2048/Godox350-zoom2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpcT7kIurNZszeZrnTy6yMSuntbK-BbLUWCqt709JibEqHTgLqQ-AZ76zvM2kqekuEwUc51vjxP1RT-J8cY_sDzfxhBRpw0OztFubuxvExr1jIquTInNszd1V5k_x5lzeVhAaApLnej8vp/w400-h300/Godox350-zoom2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />The catchlight panel is protruding a little...</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnv0OU8wGWY85nlWHgnYJ8ORpFH0FSTXeVPVViOwWyRb2iHT-wF9Xx2qvNRmHPeymwky9zt4W-3sJIlth_XvcAnhQtK4eK0hJmr3GQ-3SiJ7sTmA4WSOiRl-KRqXBs_xn7EYvIhYZgOhk9/s2048/Godox350-zoom3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnv0OU8wGWY85nlWHgnYJ8ORpFH0FSTXeVPVViOwWyRb2iHT-wF9Xx2qvNRmHPeymwky9zt4W-3sJIlth_XvcAnhQtK4eK0hJmr3GQ-3SiJ7sTmA4WSOiRl-KRqXBs_xn7EYvIhYZgOhk9/w400-h300/Godox350-zoom3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Push the panel down until it clicks in place, it should be flush with the black edge<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdP1iJtiM_ddxVJewbJwjZk5Gly5L80qSTW_F0cuC2CABHI4Mq6zgBTUYjSVnPpNPayKog3raAS9kyypl32hDCQCIFfI4T0oBIgNlvIz6SICfN6o4x5hsoVIyJWBp3-4RdATh6iZm6J5e-/s2048/Godox350-zoom4.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdP1iJtiM_ddxVJewbJwjZk5Gly5L80qSTW_F0cuC2CABHI4Mq6zgBTUYjSVnPpNPayKog3raAS9kyypl32hDCQCIFfI4T0oBIgNlvIz6SICfN6o4x5hsoVIyJWBp3-4RdATh6iZm6J5e-/w400-h300/Godox350-zoom4.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Press Zoom, spin the wheel (SET) to adjust - in the example it is at 50mm zoom</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-20334357026541709172021-01-30T12:10:00.001+01:002021-01-30T12:10:25.731+01:00Grunmods Dune 2000 stutters, freezes or crashes<p>A few months ago I found <a href="https://gruntmods.com/dune_2000_gruntmods_edition/" target="_blank">Gruntmods Dune 2000</a>. This is a freely available download of the classic Dune 2000 real-time strategy game. I downloaded and installed it. During play sometimes it would just freeze with the sound stuttering. I'd have to switch away and 'End Task'. It got to be quite annoying. </p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Solution</span></b></p><p>Open <b>File Explorer</b></p><p>Browse to <b>C:\Program Files (x86)\Gruntmods Studios\Dune2000</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrE-0WzM5qvEZr1G3fZWdtKRI0io0XqpsIbVmak5QUgrAottXxShmfhH5rzOPHXKBomd0InD3XfD1zY0jKy0dDD5-gW_3LK6bRRQjnH72QasKDF9m4EJJheh14eC_tYQBxDJqavHBp5_4U/s921/DUNE2000_exe.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="130" data-original-width="921" height="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrE-0WzM5qvEZr1G3fZWdtKRI0io0XqpsIbVmak5QUgrAottXxShmfhH5rzOPHXKBomd0InD3XfD1zY0jKy0dDD5-gW_3LK6bRRQjnH72QasKDF9m4EJJheh14eC_tYQBxDJqavHBp5_4U/w640-h90/DUNE2000_exe.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><u>Right</u> click <b>DUNE2000.EXE</b></p><p>Click <b>Properties</b></p><p>Click the <b>Compatibility </b>tab</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisiFPPHz2SveS3U_qo5kkUZG-kLzNlCQ-HSdu5tkSnb9VhxpNfSOM783e65aulRAm4VgpSzxfdOFLZl1YUIYpi2Y24o1hRhvYT5gVBJa5Wg2BU6VQR2Ie09izPpdy93kgc2w1R-Tqe5s8X/s802/DUNE2000_exe+Properties.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="543" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisiFPPHz2SveS3U_qo5kkUZG-kLzNlCQ-HSdu5tkSnb9VhxpNfSOM783e65aulRAm4VgpSzxfdOFLZl1YUIYpi2Y24o1hRhvYT5gVBJa5Wg2BU6VQR2Ie09izPpdy93kgc2w1R-Tqe5s8X/w434-h640/DUNE2000_exe+Properties.png" width="434" /></a></div><br />Change the settings to match the above<div><br /></div><div>Click <b>OK</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Now launch Dune 2000 as normal, through the shortcut. All should be well!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Configuration: Video Options</b></span></div>If you search online about this kind of issue many have tips about changing the Video Options in the Dune 2000 Config screen. For me I didn't find this so helpful. My Dune 2000 has been running smooth with the following settings, I'm including the below screen shot just in case it will help you. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9WPM4UzI9rEtDfLJyZHo_XDMRyoois-YYiDH_LhLQxra1172B47BzWoMOKL9VSHBHdMRnCgThoZ2kyXiY5PQevvgf-uIpSYLWVS9d5x7KWV6meRWj4bSL77r4smW6RKkiJ67aniPQwwVY/s916/DUNE2000+Config.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="916" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9WPM4UzI9rEtDfLJyZHo_XDMRyoois-YYiDH_LhLQxra1172B47BzWoMOKL9VSHBHdMRnCgThoZ2kyXiY5PQevvgf-uIpSYLWVS9d5x7KWV6meRWj4bSL77r4smW6RKkiJ67aniPQwwVY/w640-h424/DUNE2000+Config.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Disclaimer</b> </span></div><div>I'm sharing my solution and experience in case it can help others, if it doesn't help you I am sorry. I am guaranteeing nothing. Every computer and set up is different, maybe try some of these compatibility settings. If you search online you'll find lots of discussion on this topic, good luck!</div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-86040701693759914942020-12-30T18:16:00.000+01:002020-12-30T18:16:03.259+01:00PDFtk - how to fix blurred text<p>PDFtk is a great little app for merging PDF files. Since I started using Windows 10 I found that when using PDFtk the text on the app was a little blurred and difficult to read. Here's a screen shot:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqgBhr-MkBaLQmRCiZkctTV7VTbQLAw1C3tu0wmJ1JGHBuy2K_CB624vqzbWn0J6hNRxJVgue65Sb8STdFcZ69AszxQsIle2D59o5L96wyv8qOzyPzEDEAqS8HhbHJa9wl6thdyCRh_mwO/s1078/PDFtk+-+blurred+text.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="1078" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqgBhr-MkBaLQmRCiZkctTV7VTbQLAw1C3tu0wmJ1JGHBuy2K_CB624vqzbWn0J6hNRxJVgue65Sb8STdFcZ69AszxQsIle2D59o5L96wyv8qOzyPzEDEAqS8HhbHJa9wl6thdyCRh_mwO/w640-h494/PDFtk+-+blurred+text.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Do you see what I mean? It's ok, I can use it but it's not pleasant. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Solution</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Click <b>search</b> (magnifying glass icon) next to Start</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Type <b>PDFtk</b> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><br /></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u>Right</u> click on the PDFtk app in the Start menu</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Click <b>Open file location</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the <b>PDFtk </b>shortcut, <u>right</u> click, click <b>Properties</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Click <b>Compatibility </b>(see the screen shot below)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBQ2nMvwvybcgZ9B8nVIbQPi6mMGdCJ0f3hwi8N91xc85-ze7r64dKt27rRQzjgvBsqnTsLuoht3IPKF7jvdNVqqgmlHb0d-o-2jV4d7Xwaaz8CMGw7hGYeNOlLyhyphenhyphenj99unRxBQ9uds0oE/s651/PDFtk+-+change+high+DPI1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="484" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBQ2nMvwvybcgZ9B8nVIbQPi6mMGdCJ0f3hwi8N91xc85-ze7r64dKt27rRQzjgvBsqnTsLuoht3IPKF7jvdNVqqgmlHb0d-o-2jV4d7Xwaaz8CMGw7hGYeNOlLyhyphenhyphenj99unRxBQ9uds0oE/w476-h640/PDFtk+-+change+high+DPI1.png" width="476" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Click <b>Change high DPI settings</b><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0WDftY1aw3dnGpSxtD8yzCtYCNcFgoWUhoF1VjztUQT1tynIRCb6A_cP-5OZja9UtFStm71p_hmFEK3H9ENsWYp5o81LkrngbvOKs2qI81eprLKWK54AAGMDi4ED2sXiCzSrUgelVceu/s493/PDFtk+-+change+high+DPI2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="394" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0WDftY1aw3dnGpSxtD8yzCtYCNcFgoWUhoF1VjztUQT1tynIRCb6A_cP-5OZja9UtFStm71p_hmFEK3H9ENsWYp5o81LkrngbvOKs2qI81eprLKWK54AAGMDi4ED2sXiCzSrUgelVceu/w512-h640/PDFtk+-+change+high+DPI2.png" width="512" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Enable <b>Override high DPI scaling behaviour</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Set the scaling to <b>Application</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Click <b>OK</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>When you next open PDFtk it'll look much better:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7iNcrydNzCnqVDURHoF6g7GjXX5A0ubFuYiQvRmimOcs0U9_DSN_6h6orDiM_1Ju7g-dKKU104AbF-M2ryZ1rq_CEUiWsu49nM7PF51NFOsSVbN3dNBDc7wX5OBlAnwM0oFLZDTTnZ2Z/s1007/PDFtk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="819" data-original-width="1007" height="520" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7iNcrydNzCnqVDURHoF6g7GjXX5A0ubFuYiQvRmimOcs0U9_DSN_6h6orDiM_1Ju7g-dKKU104AbF-M2ryZ1rq_CEUiWsu49nM7PF51NFOsSVbN3dNBDc7wX5OBlAnwM0oFLZDTTnZ2Z/w640-h520/PDFtk.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>It makes a very noticeable difference! </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span></div><div>I presume that the scaling technology changed with Windows 10 and some applications have not been updated to use it. But as you can see, using this compatibility setting it's possible to improve how the fonts appear. </div><div><br /></div><div>This isn't only for PDFtk, you can also try this for other applications that have blurred text. You might need to experiment with the settings but you should be successful. </div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this has helped :-) </div><div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-14664020167961275472020-11-08T15:12:00.002+01:002020-11-08T15:12:46.946+01:00Sony Android TV connects to the WiFi but not the internet<p>One day my Sony Android TV (KD‑49XF8096) suddenly stopped receiving anything from the internet. For example, YouTube did not work. </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I checked the router (WiFi), all was fine, I could surf the web from my phone and computer.</li><li>The TV itself was working, it switched on, started up and appeared to work fine, apart from not communicating with the internet. </li></ul><p></p><p>One thing occurred, maybe there's a time sync problem? This can be an issue for computers. Let's check the time setting:</p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Solution</span></b></p><p>Press <b>Home </b>on the TV remote</p><p>Click <b>Settings </b>(gear icon on the top right of the screen)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDO_WroSdjH_vzlSC0AGFYDRvZMbUEDvcOpvbalNLHbS4TVaLVVebOC_HTpkTycoMdzY2T_f_sk8zOqAVMAwXAPKU4-OdfxjTXisdPUIbKcqJcGpAO-J7wu5LT93ObY1gxAt2VcHqVxoLp/s1571/SonyTV+internet+connectivity+issue01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1571" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDO_WroSdjH_vzlSC0AGFYDRvZMbUEDvcOpvbalNLHbS4TVaLVVebOC_HTpkTycoMdzY2T_f_sk8zOqAVMAwXAPKU4-OdfxjTXisdPUIbKcqJcGpAO-J7wu5LT93ObY1gxAt2VcHqVxoLp/w400-h153/SonyTV+internet+connectivity+issue01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Click <b>Date & Time</b><div><br /></div><div>You'll see the data and time setting is by default 'Automatic' and set to use 'Broadcast time'. This is the time from the internet, it should be a good option normally but under some circumstances it can cause this issue.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnoEH1sDdDSgBOP56fBdKb9vNd6T5hxvoL1CT4_bbRYKzHRpdSBKNNNUReVfWoALKSMzFQ7B4R4hot8Lszejvo5O5h2shK9iMCND9TdlH_V7ZTN6Y9dOQI_dqDh-YjWvsjgI4NiBiXVjK2/s1571/SonyTV+internet+connectivity+issue02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1571" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnoEH1sDdDSgBOP56fBdKb9vNd6T5hxvoL1CT4_bbRYKzHRpdSBKNNNUReVfWoALKSMzFQ7B4R4hot8Lszejvo5O5h2shK9iMCND9TdlH_V7ZTN6Y9dOQI_dqDh-YjWvsjgI4NiBiXVjK2/w400-h153/SonyTV+internet+connectivity+issue02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Click <b>Automatic date & time</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Click <b>Use network time</b></div><div><br /></div><div>This fixes the problem because 'network time' is the time from the local router (WiFi). This is the first 'hop' in the communication from your TV on its way to the internet. Your router will get the correct time from the internet, therefore all will be well, all the devices will have the correct time and stay up-to-date.</div><div><br /></div><div>Most importantly, for me this solve the problem, YouTube was working again!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span></div><div>If you've had this issue, I hope this helps you! If not, I'm sorry, I hope you find the solution soon. At least you have ruled out this particular issue from your troubleshooting. </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /><p><br /></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-25017116679015537272020-09-27T11:43:00.005+02:002020-09-27T11:46:10.424+02:00Outlook - disable e-mail auto-read<p>By default Microsoft Outlook marks e-mails you click on once, that appear in the preview pane, as 'read'. </p><p>You might not want this behaviour because, perhaps you have access to not only your personal mailbox but also one for the team your work in. Imagine an e-mail comes into the team mailbox, you click on it, you read it in the preview pane. You realise it is not for you. Outlook will mark it read, others in your team might miss it. </p><p>It might be better to take control back from Outlook for you to decide when an e-mail is marked 'read' or 'unread'. This can also be useful for your own e-mails, to help you manage them better perhaps. Here's what to do...</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Instructions</b></span></p><p>In Outlook, click the <b>View </b>menu:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhslW4_DORcZpisknOogHqT7aqz3oYDTrYpMPyclaLoutz6YzguXAKWBgY8JYO4eK1wNs6_w8gKq5lRVj5w5IIdLlmkk0bcwGko9_ETRvH5JkHv_WV_Hh2-10OekqqO_34VrLgQHDwJsukU/s1214/Outlook+-+View+-+Reading+Pane+-+Options.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="223" data-original-width="1214" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhslW4_DORcZpisknOogHqT7aqz3oYDTrYpMPyclaLoutz6YzguXAKWBgY8JYO4eK1wNs6_w8gKq5lRVj5w5IIdLlmkk0bcwGko9_ETRvH5JkHv_WV_Hh2-10OekqqO_34VrLgQHDwJsukU/w640-h118/Outlook+-+View+-+Reading+Pane+-+Options.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Click <b>Reading Pane</b> (right near the end)</p><p>Click <b>Options</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8lr4UM6-WktxXznLyDWrhUHVCkCO3fGRoTB8NdXTc9e8noQ5t7nrLGo1ZM-LkMS5TWGQCqwe-VUS8iNjYSFT9bUHPs4yVVPtBRAVa0ru8zjvWImzul8dHmije0Na8fB47wTuyOVtOsiU-/s426/Outlook+-+View+-+Reading+Pane+-+Options+-+Mark+items+as+read.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Outlook Reading Pane Options" border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8lr4UM6-WktxXznLyDWrhUHVCkCO3fGRoTB8NdXTc9e8noQ5t7nrLGo1ZM-LkMS5TWGQCqwe-VUS8iNjYSFT9bUHPs4yVVPtBRAVa0ru8zjvWImzul8dHmije0Na8fB47wTuyOVtOsiU-/s16000/Outlook+-+View+-+Reading+Pane+-+Options+-+Mark+items+as+read.png" /></a></div><br /><p>Click to disable (remove the tick) <b>Mark items as read when viewed in the Reading Pane</b></p><p>Click <b>OK</b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">Behaviour</span></b></p><p>Whenever you click on an e-mail it will not be marked as read. It will remain open/unread. </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>To mark an e-mail <b>Read</b>, click <b>Ctrl-Q</b></li><li>To mark an e-mail <b>Unread</b>, click <b>Ctrl-U</b></li></ul><p></p><p>If you <b>double click</b> an e-mail it will be marked <b>Read</b>.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span></p><p>I've been working this way for a couple of months now and I prefer it. At first it was strange but now Ctrl-Q is second nature. I've also found that when I really want to work on an e-mail properly, I do tend to double click it to see it in a separate window. It therefore makes perfect sense that in this circumstance, it is automatically marked Read. </p><p>As we all receive so many e-mails, this is one way we can help ourselves manage them. Of course this method isn't for everyone, I'm just making a suggestion here, it's up to you! Also there are many other tools in Outlook to assist, the Follow Up and Reminder options are excellent and well worth using. It's always best to experiment to find the way of working that feels best for you.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-6802383385850115462020-09-26T13:35:00.014+02:002020-10-07T17:55:59.687+02:00Windows 10 EmojisAt any time, nearly anywhere in Windows 10, if you want to add an emoji, perhaps a smiley or an arrow, whatever, there's a really easy way to do it:<div><br />
<div>
Press the <b>Windows key</b> and <b>dot</b> "<b>.</b>" at the same time!
</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
Here's what you'll see. At the top you'll notice three categories, a smiley, a
text smiley and a symbol:
</div>
<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoELMI8HeiWqJ0qfwDBM7WA79kuvvn9stnEbQZIm2TItY-rID-KUfFYWY_ouMtoRm_zEB0ABTV73EsqURRRA4SLUIWQE4pv23wL2fXrUJu_gr9cBbDIfRCQ9VMgoNIsDpPG1L_vAkdI-tL/s578/Emojis+-+Overview.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoELMI8HeiWqJ0qfwDBM7WA79kuvvn9stnEbQZIm2TItY-rID-KUfFYWY_ouMtoRm_zEB0ABTV73EsqURRRA4SLUIWQE4pv23wL2fXrUJu_gr9cBbDIfRCQ9VMgoNIsDpPG1L_vAkdI-tL/w355-h400/Emojis+-+Overview.png" width="355" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>For each of those categories there are sub-categories at the bottom of the window. There's a lot to explore!</div><div><br /></div><div>
To add an emoji to your current application at the cursor, click the emoji you
want.
</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>Here's that smiley you see in the above screen shot: 😀</div>
<div>Here's a computer emoji inserted directly into this blog article: 💻</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sometimes emojis look different</b></span>
</div>
<div>Here's an example of how an emoji appears in Gmail:</div>
<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlufZsTnRC6cN_4xCpwrZAzzc89NBBUGTdTw71fvwjDomTRr5HEbqYNP9wRQJF5qYVLnib2l6NR9JvD27lradr8MWyEeqBNYWI9bZJzg5Nk5lpdZBdwkwTjHS6jg1diGa0zMEUKaMkNgNY/s765/Emojis+-+Gmail.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="765" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlufZsTnRC6cN_4xCpwrZAzzc89NBBUGTdTw71fvwjDomTRr5HEbqYNP9wRQJF5qYVLnib2l6NR9JvD27lradr8MWyEeqBNYWI9bZJzg5Nk5lpdZBdwkwTjHS6jg1diGa0zMEUKaMkNgNY/w640-h208/Emojis+-+Gmail.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<div>Below I inserted the same smiley into Notepad:</div><div><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM0Y_2sBu56am0jjfzNSdXM96W71XaaIqLscFKqKnyUebx6facCGjTjzH3gAid5TVRAUkFCsQWK03ifVwNBUQByk-_kHUF7BQVLn1FQT3dTszGokpd7G6MyLJ0F4y-pBLHTp3gpwkM99ze/s759/Emojis+-+Notepad.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="759" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM0Y_2sBu56am0jjfzNSdXM96W71XaaIqLscFKqKnyUebx6facCGjTjzH3gAid5TVRAUkFCsQWK03ifVwNBUQByk-_kHUF7BQVLn1FQT3dTszGokpd7G6MyLJ0F4y-pBLHTp3gpwkM99ze/w640-h184/Emojis+-+Notepad.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<div>There's a difference, in Notepad (and therefore plain text) we see a
monochrome version of the emoji. Emojis will usually appear the same but
sometimes, depending on the application you are using, their appearance may
vary. These emojis are standard in the unicode character set but it depends on
how applications interpret them. If you are working on something important, I
would recommend you test before publishing the final version.
</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
For example, I have tested with Adobe Experience Manager (for intranet pages)
and most emojis appear correctly. However, some don't have the same colour.
There's a phone emoji that's red but appears black, odd things like that.
You'll have to experiment.
</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
Emojis may also appear different on other platforms, like on Android, iOS or
Linux for example. For example, I found when viewing the icons on a Windows 7 PC, the icons appear but are black and white. I've not systematically tested myself but what do you see
when you view these emojis? Do they appear correctly compared to the screen
shots I've included here?</div>
<div>😀😁😂🤣😃😄😅😆</div><div><br /></div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Another example</b></span>
</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiklXXudyjFHnd3DGc5aegXpco9D8zDzmJQlJWitY22Zz9WShJ_iaFocKaFlYMa7BW_EquhY3pyV3BLz1fvt_yF_UbYq6ZxDkNAMTvuKfkOo8U_XBhyphenhyphen0Ufn3pN8yRN9gpGLV6PLDI2Veg_D/s578/Emojis+-+page2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiklXXudyjFHnd3DGc5aegXpco9D8zDzmJQlJWitY22Zz9WShJ_iaFocKaFlYMa7BW_EquhY3pyV3BLz1fvt_yF_UbYq6ZxDkNAMTvuKfkOo8U_XBhyphenhyphen0Ufn3pN8yRN9gpGLV6PLDI2Veg_D/w355-h400/Emojis+-+page2.png" width="355" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
The above is me selecting the <b>man technologist 👨💻.</b> It's nice they
all have names. This is important because you can search for them by clicking
the magnifying glass icon and typing. Type "man" for example, this one will
appear in a short list.
<div><br /></div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Symbols</b></span>
</div>
<div>
<div>
I think the symbols are also useful, to get to symbols, at the top I clicked
Ω
</div>
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This has lots of useful symbols. At the bottom click $, it shows all currency
symbols. Click Ç you have accented characters - useful if you need to write in
another language but you don't want to switch keyboard layouts.
</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span>
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It's a really nice feature. There are many emojis included, perhaps too many for
this little window they provide and the vertical scroll bar that means there's a
lot to look through. But of course once you get used to it and where to find
your favourites, it's fine. There is a Recently used category, the clock bottom
left 🕒.
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-9557244270709876712020-08-13T18:53:00.003+02:002020-08-13T18:54:24.666+02:00Excel - Compare two tables using COUNTIF<p>Do you have two tables (lists) in Excel, perhaps one is newer or you suspect it is different? You'd like to compare the two tables and see the differences easily? There are a few ways to do this, here I'm going to show how the COUNTIF function can be used, I've found it to be quick and easy to use.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Example<br /></b></span>The following is an example where I have two tables in one Excel worksheet. You could have these tables in different worksheets of course. You also don't need to use Tables, this example would also work with ranges. It's just an example, I hope it is helpful to you:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7fcKuCyXvlQgH43r1WHcupaAehn4K2Tk5K2bxBqdFNz-7kyIzWticRs5CG9eklpvosEmYEFyloJEz219mB6I2oU_YeNtLsQ8Hcg1IIZuLvq-Lr3nnnxtJiIEu9YfqEa89J62S0OkI0ntT/s1440/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+01.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="1440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7fcKuCyXvlQgH43r1WHcupaAehn4K2Tk5K2bxBqdFNz-7kyIzWticRs5CG9eklpvosEmYEFyloJEz219mB6I2oU_YeNtLsQ8Hcg1IIZuLvq-Lr3nnnxtJiIEu9YfqEa89J62S0OkI0ntT/s640/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+01.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The tables are named Table1 and Table2.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzzsHWf0me7jLyEtxTR4aoHNIuxnoCiRLaBBzz8o1s7prSXtMnQalQuMYQIaqRRZPWPwQnhVs0CtFBSV3n1rS9dLq7BIFxfleWA_NGy9cyUI0nwrkEOjboMImoLF9WDUuxjR2kLcWIf6Z/s1440/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+02.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="1440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzzsHWf0me7jLyEtxTR4aoHNIuxnoCiRLaBBzz8o1s7prSXtMnQalQuMYQIaqRRZPWPwQnhVs0CtFBSV3n1rS9dLq7BIFxfleWA_NGy9cyUI0nwrkEOjboMImoLF9WDUuxjR2kLcWIf6Z/s640/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+02.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Table2 has less rows, only 1714 compared to 1718 in Table1. The question is, which rows are missing?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKkN0GlhrcaVrddE39pL1XhBqV1xQAoIE56I1AiRCbnvTbahqrJgjn5uPtiqvTTMBZewSihCQgbpgpJHArAI8oQP_FqWAXUr7W9fWJIpxsy4rCSXUn4UZ-7VvxQbtzOfDUgIOod7J2pqz/s726/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+03.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="123" data-original-width="726" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKkN0GlhrcaVrddE39pL1XhBqV1xQAoIE56I1AiRCbnvTbahqrJgjn5uPtiqvTTMBZewSihCQgbpgpJHArAI8oQP_FqWAXUr7W9fWJIpxsy4rCSXUn4UZ-7VvxQbtzOfDUgIOod7J2pqz/s640/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+03.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Enter a title to create a new column (above), a new table column will be created (below).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhORMHUMjV902e5-64p4kRveTg-MmIxQ9ShJG_XjNHkrMUnlouJG3I1AY18rTV7xELtz8qCbO-X-Lo_GXm0r9L6OwwP2EdQuyBnCdLaW-PmE2SZWeUWVi7CziSmOBNvKblRgnQCe-CSURd/s730/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+04.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="147" data-original-width="730" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhORMHUMjV902e5-64p4kRveTg-MmIxQ9ShJG_XjNHkrMUnlouJG3I1AY18rTV7xELtz8qCbO-X-Lo_GXm0r9L6OwwP2EdQuyBnCdLaW-PmE2SZWeUWVi7CziSmOBNvKblRgnQCe-CSURd/s640/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+04.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the first cell in the new column you can enter the COUNTIF() function.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimTKGp_Ll-4evZ8y4b8UZRRZM1jf-m4dxIsv0BJhTyVly5Qs0I8Sc9jio7Ga80bSX_3P_HObBKju4rO0Ae-N86G6NfbC9pfySOmpi5zN-yAJAo20RD7BMX4DTX55VaN8vSjiDTQBe9HEcG/s734/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+05.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="734" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimTKGp_Ll-4evZ8y4b8UZRRZM1jf-m4dxIsv0BJhTyVly5Qs0I8Sc9jio7Ga80bSX_3P_HObBKju4rO0Ae-N86G6NfbC9pfySOmpi5zN-yAJAo20RD7BMX4DTX55VaN8vSjiDTQBe9HEcG/s640/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+05.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Enter:</div><div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: x-large;"><b>=COUNTIF(Table2[Town], A3)</b></span></div><div><br /></div><div>This means that we want look in the Town column of Table2 for whatever is in A3 (Table1). For example, it will look to see whether "Ampthill" is present in Table2 or not.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrEc65mN6WHPB_vJcnzgfioEQjBfoJCIt2NVijZz6xmCeeVoWex-wGtI-ExSMypWgfws1qir_Z9mEBTHYx94vwSd0h8sa4ncFlKkai7UAqCbD4_zPWo8DEdZ2hFIDC1bQRS59eQdKaQl7/s1306/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+06.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="1306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrEc65mN6WHPB_vJcnzgfioEQjBfoJCIt2NVijZz6xmCeeVoWex-wGtI-ExSMypWgfws1qir_Z9mEBTHYx94vwSd0h8sa4ncFlKkai7UAqCbD4_zPWo8DEdZ2hFIDC1bQRS59eQdKaQl7/s640/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+06.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Because you entered the function into a column in a table, it'll replicate the formula all the way down. As you can see in the above example there is a result in each row of the column 'In Table2?'. COUNTIF() returns the number of times it found what it was looking for. Therefore you can see that on row 20 there's a zero, this means that "Ascot" could not be found in Table2.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Filter</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Filters are automatically available for Tables, this makes it easy to see those results that are zero:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpXSt-B5peBWIdYhj2KMnNVp8RW9qScgwoZKDE_D7IYXhqwiMIwk_8nqadoTo-QsVC_lselYyrUj-iqegUTHDHoWNsaREvV0W6EJ4R0beJq5VdO448trFOlh7vlU0shlpEj_CFqaLW41jC/s700/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+07.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="700" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpXSt-B5peBWIdYhj2KMnNVp8RW9qScgwoZKDE_D7IYXhqwiMIwk_8nqadoTo-QsVC_lselYyrUj-iqegUTHDHoWNsaREvV0W6EJ4R0beJq5VdO448trFOlh7vlU0shlpEj_CFqaLW41jC/s640/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+07.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Filter the 'In Table2' column for all the zeros (where it did not find anything in Table2).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Enhance the look</b></span><div>For something quick the 0 or 1 is fine. If you want to share this with a others then you could tidy it up. Here's one way to do this:</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LGvGvd5CGoMt0aa5Dc4s81rJ2byQw6wMMZ7pOugKN5OQ-pHNAm_Cf5FiSTBP9kxzja00rhXIuEURbwA1k5Oqli6dhcgJuSFazVX7TCvavLzPqpMrDu0MSobLePBMnkubS8LI6sslhzW9/s739/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+08.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="196" data-original-width="739" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LGvGvd5CGoMt0aa5Dc4s81rJ2byQw6wMMZ7pOugKN5OQ-pHNAm_Cf5FiSTBP9kxzja00rhXIuEURbwA1k5Oqli6dhcgJuSFazVX7TCvavLzPqpMrDu0MSobLePBMnkubS8LI6sslhzW9/s640/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+08.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Change the formula, add the surrounding IF() statement to set a Yes or No result. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><b>=IF(COUNTIF(Table2[Town], A3),"Yes", "NO!!!")</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWFkOyS9AbKxwsjiXNnqfuLQiLPjik5NJhgdjDYFenBZZpN_PVtsipxU5mxcK3Xc_ht9Vqjgcqe5g7gFLsWRhNfZL6cscJ12cnxADphncQxL_TpUuD8Qlf6odeANg5uuXUVsTgbaUrzryX/s1308/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+09.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="1308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWFkOyS9AbKxwsjiXNnqfuLQiLPjik5NJhgdjDYFenBZZpN_PVtsipxU5mxcK3Xc_ht9Vqjgcqe5g7gFLsWRhNfZL6cscJ12cnxADphncQxL_TpUuD8Qlf6odeANg5uuXUVsTgbaUrzryX/s640/Excel+-+compare+two+tables+09.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Having "NO!!!" makes it easier to spot where Table2 is missing this item.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span><br />This is just one way to compare data in two tables in Excel. It's nice and quick, I'm sure it can help anyone who just needs to quickly understand which rows are missing from a data set. </p><p>I used the Excel 365 version as of August 2020 for this article. As the COUNTIF function is not new, I am sure this solution will work in older version of Excel too. That's another reasons it's a good choice.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-19788251645871086142020-07-09T16:35:00.001+02:002020-07-11T13:09:36.721+02:00Happy 10th Birthday LX5!Ten years ago, in July 2010, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 was released. For me this is a very special camera that encouraged me to learn more about photography. In this article I will explore what makes it a special camera.<br><div><div><br></div><div><br><span style="font-size: large;"><b>2010</b></span><br>Back in 2010 phone cameras were rubbish. Most people had a compact point and shoot for their holiday snaps. I had a <a href="https://www.digicamdb.com/specs/sony_cybershot-dsc-w17/" target="_blank">Sony DSC-W17</a> compact, I wanted better quality and I wanted to learn more about photography. I had little understanding of aperture, shutter speed or much else. I didn't want an ugly huge DSLR because I knew I would leave it at home, so what's the point? I had heard of the then new mirrorless system cameras from Olympus and Panasonic but I felt changing lenses would be a hassle, I wanted to have a pocket camera but with more power, something to stimulate my interest in photography. I came across the Panasonic LX3, it was due to be replaced with a new LX5 version, I decided to go for it!</div><div><br></div><div>In July 2010 Panasonic released the LX5, a compact camera with full manual control, a zoom lens, image stabilisation and even high definition video! To make it even better, the LX5 had retro camera styling which appealed to me. I bought it as soon as it was released.</div><div><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYezTB-MdZnS5t4vHRg9w2ry9-AEbmkKgas2-ivow1g7hJ5iF-vk6TRz2zlLXfFcB4Qns3Eu9UzLqinOARl3rgon9xQy3IWvaJU6sJBQxlqaOcQDsHsGND8VTPlBhQT53phSj5Hd8YmT0Q/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3448" data-original-width="4592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYezTB-MdZnS5t4vHRg9w2ry9-AEbmkKgas2-ivow1g7hJ5iF-vk6TRz2zlLXfFcB4Qns3Eu9UzLqinOARl3rgon9xQy3IWvaJU6sJBQxlqaOcQDsHsGND8VTPlBhQT53phSj5Hd8YmT0Q/w400-h300/LX5+lens+extended.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5<br></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br><br><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Specifications</b></span></div><div>10 megapixel small sensor, a fast bright Leica 24-90mm (equivalent) F2 to F3.3 zoom lens, image stabilisation, built-in flash, bracketing, raw, multiple exposure, four programmable custom mode settings, a very small retro-styled body... Here's a full list:</div><div><a href="https://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmclx5/specifications" target="_blank">https://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmclx5/specifications</a></div><div><br><br><span style="font-size: large;"><b>What the LX5 does NOT have</b></span><br>There are some things that today we take for granted. Here are a few things the LX5 lacks:<br>No WiFi or Bluetooth, you have to take the SD card out and plug it into the computer or connect a USB cable to transfer files. It did come with a cable and free image (raw and jpg) editing software on a CD. There's no level gauge, I miss it, it's very useful for composition (although the LX5 does have the rule of thirds onscreen guidelines).<br><br></div><br><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Design, build and syle</b></span><br>Classic! The LX5 is very small yet has that classic look. The lens sticks out so it isn't a camera for your jeans pocket but it can certainly slip into a large coat pocket. It's easy to take this camera anywhere.</div><div><br><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNxKQYi8ScXldbH6WTcPkjpAXFlRQINFHlfkcsibTUk63bTQI0XW2E_n3IMjKHx1AwUNqbH49ZnCfkh6AVEpcWTwiVBWalG6HLWQ6IOzImjt4EsobEQjCXPALEHKqJR5b0XpDd1Bhus6s/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3448" data-original-width="4592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNxKQYi8ScXldbH6WTcPkjpAXFlRQINFHlfkcsibTUk63bTQI0XW2E_n3IMjKHx1AwUNqbH49ZnCfkh6AVEpcWTwiVBWalG6HLWQ6IOzImjt4EsobEQjCXPALEHKqJR5b0XpDd1Bhus6s/w400-h300/LX5+top+angle.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5 with the lens extended<br></td></tr></tbody></table><br></div><div>The camera is made from metal with seamless plastic. It has a quality feel. The mode dial has a satisfying click. The buttons on the back are metal (or they feel as if they are) with their function engraved in them. This is great because ten years on, the button labels have not worn off. On/off switch and zoom lever are also metal. The slider switches on the lens barrel are plastic but on my camera are still working fine. There is a pop up flash, a small plastic switch releases it, all working fine. It's very small, I do take my hat off to the engineers because these small moving parts are working well after so long. The rear LCD screen is 3" and fixed (no flip out or tilting). </div><div><br></div><div>The Leica lens is fixed in place. I protrudes about 1cm from the camera when off. When you switch on, it extends to about 3cm. There is a filter thread on the lens barrel. The only downside with the design is the lens cap which you must remove before you switch on the camera, this slows down your startup readiness from off to being ready to take a shot. However, the lens cap is easy to take on/off and is attached to the camera by a small string. I never lost mine!</div><div><br></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6EUOFHUcAHo_y9hRIQ2M0iRjQTi_jTCVRhwrRTf-2xsNDwEUmUNRj3KFSaGNJhTefyaTYPWmWWseRhiUEbLgBSM_6hyHrpgDctDMLPmrs7x0qXiFX855B9fPPggBxmwqPYQ0CUibYtJq5/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3448" data-original-width="4592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6EUOFHUcAHo_y9hRIQ2M0iRjQTi_jTCVRhwrRTf-2xsNDwEUmUNRj3KFSaGNJhTefyaTYPWmWWseRhiUEbLgBSM_6hyHrpgDctDMLPmrs7x0qXiFX855B9fPPggBxmwqPYQ0CUibYtJq5/w400-h300/LX5+size+in+my+hand.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The LX5 without a case in my hand<br><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>I bought the official leather half-case my LX5, this again accentuates the classic appeal. You hang it around your neck, undo the poppers, the lens is exposed almost ready to take the shot. The cover can easily be removed by undoing one popper. The screw mount is available at the bottom of the case, this allows for it to be mounted on a tripod without having to take the case off. Unfortunately to change the battery or SD card you do have to remove the case. </div><div><br></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhScszShJpSjfLvHuLHgsB0rPTOs0xWuIF56NCr6RICwM4oSndDXmn2C1h1Qf-I-J9IjeJjtrMAIY4DMbZomKG3Ljat1NVxSCxUw_80vm61kWbYi05E8RT7yciiThOTxZ34_eT3P6qP37bg/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="2348" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhScszShJpSjfLvHuLHgsB0rPTOs0xWuIF56NCr6RICwM4oSndDXmn2C1h1Qf-I-J9IjeJjtrMAIY4DMbZomKG3Ljat1NVxSCxUw_80vm61kWbYi05E8RT7yciiThOTxZ34_eT3P6qP37bg/w640-h164/LX5+case+views.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5 in the official leather case<br><br></td></tr></tbody></table><br><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Handling</b></span><br>It's a small camera but it does feel good in the hand, especially with the leather case. The LX5 is very light, there's no way you'd tire of it while carrying it with you all day. </div><div><br></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRmEMuWR17rRjz2ncQ6KOcPFiTfp8fD0aUkKYadXflZBPQuP_YZ7pwKMuKhtCaCw_DKg1DE43dreKrjp7eSt57kTJz7uUnp9zJ2hvU0Ys_TQi8FvnGI-ztQWW9oUI7lb3D797m0lCgE89/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2439" data-original-width="4336" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRmEMuWR17rRjz2ncQ6KOcPFiTfp8fD0aUkKYadXflZBPQuP_YZ7pwKMuKhtCaCw_DKg1DE43dreKrjp7eSt57kTJz7uUnp9zJ2hvU0Ys_TQi8FvnGI-ztQWW9oUI7lb3D797m0lCgE89/w400-h225/LX5+back.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5 back 3" LCD screen and controls<br><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>The buttons are small but as they are metal and the body plastic, your fingers find the buttons easily. To zoom there is a lever around the shutter button, left for wide, right for telephoto. The zoom is electronic which is not as nice as a focus ring but it does work well enough. There's an option in the menu to set the zoom to stay at a particular focal length on switching on the camera. For example, if you like shooting at 50mm, set the zoom to that, the next time you switch on the camera it'll resume at that focal length automatically, nice!<br><br><br></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Aspect Ratio</b></span></div><div>The LX5 has a 10 megapixel sensor that is multi-aspect ratio. Few cameras have this, it's a sensor that will always give you the full 10 megapixels, no matter the aspect ratio selected. For example, in most cameras (and smartphones) they have a native aspect ratio. If you change to a different ratio they are just cropping the image like you would on your computer in post production. With the LX5 multi-aspect sensor you always get 10 megapixel photos whether you select 1:1, 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9.<br><br>Mostly in my photography today I don't change the aspect ratio often. But when I got the LX5 this was actually an important feature for me. When just starting it's fun to experiment with different aspect ratios, it can really aid in composition. The LX5 has a switch for this on the lens barrel.<br><br>Back in 2010 photographed a lot in 16:9 because I liked how it looked on the TV! I progressed to 3:2 because that is the classic photo ratio. I didn't like 4:3 much as it reminded me of old televisions. Now I know you might think 1:1 would be good but I hardly used that, 2010 is before Instagram made 1:1 photos popular.<br><br>Learn more about aspect ratios here:<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZp9hZ_NNJn7kZTC27MjQ9bR3F2a6u0WeMRa0BG-25Ps4mCByCWfdHuo6YgRH98XG6ZO2aqbgGOWnF9LgbcbcV-sydAo71lfBlaznjIzwmOA68Rfx0JBypwzWYkqLyzPsBvoToTg_zOyt/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Flash up // Focus switch // Aspect Ratio switch" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="2348" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZp9hZ_NNJn7kZTC27MjQ9bR3F2a6u0WeMRa0BG-25Ps4mCByCWfdHuo6YgRH98XG6ZO2aqbgGOWnF9LgbcbcV-sydAo71lfBlaznjIzwmOA68Rfx0JBypwzWYkqLyzPsBvoToTg_zOyt/w640-h164/LX5+flash+and+switches.jpg" title="Flash up // Focus switch // Aspect Ratio switch" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flash up // Focus switch // Aspect Ratio switch</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br><br><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The lens, focusing, zoom and macro</b></span><br>It's a Leica optical zoom that ranges from 24mm to 90mm (equivalent), that's a three times zoom. This is a really good range that covers most photography. Something very special is that, at 24mm the aperture can go to F2, this lets in lots of light. Back in 2010 this was a big deal, there were very few compact cameras that came close to F2. When you zoom the aperture closes down to F3.3 at 90mm, that's still very good. Also consider the overall size of this camera, it's tiny and they managed to make such a lens, it's great.<br><br>The zoom is electronic but the LX5 has a nice feature in the menu called Step Zoom. When switched on you can see the focal length, it jumps from to the popular focal lengths 24, 28, 35, 50, 70 and 90. When switched off you smoothly zoom. In video mode step zoom is not available.<br><br>The minimum focusing distance from your subject is 50cm, that is at any focal length from 24 to 90mm. That's not bad but the LX5 has a slider on the barrel of the lens, set this to Macro and the minimum focusing distance is 3cm at 90mm (fully zoomed). If you are at 24mm it goes down to just 1cm! That is incredibly close and means the LX5 can take some great close-up photos. Below are two photos I took recently, in bright sunshine at 24mm. As the buttercup and daisy are small, I had to be careful not to cast my shadow over them but still, I feel the photos are pretty good for a ten year old compact camera.</div><div><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMRfHGaaRzVQK1vlW5-LNd5wd_-2ALHQhq4QdnegnzIk8UZE6cAq9yyCwckqxKJMYAqzWcVc5jqd29uk3WJSPii8VmwAhQPswJPJGL3SO3reuRNp9B_IRpxJ_1E7UJQ53DFQBM6gb39xoT/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMRfHGaaRzVQK1vlW5-LNd5wd_-2ALHQhq4QdnegnzIk8UZE6cAq9yyCwckqxKJMYAqzWcVc5jqd29uk3WJSPii8VmwAhQPswJPJGL3SO3reuRNp9B_IRpxJ_1E7UJQ53DFQBM6gb39xoT/w640-h480/LX5_photo+Buttercup+Macro+24mm+F2.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5, macro, 24mm, F2<br></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3rRkY5uUKFmrgYYL28I7LY3gpp0V5XzsOd6CWT-JTMNNAF0eZwMZDKOBOiYTV9UqDdTY72oKyBI8fOZLVKey6JSiYD9Xx9UO5SA7gP-V6_6CSWJ5MQCJm0er1IH7TvoXUs6zJPGkYYxck/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3rRkY5uUKFmrgYYL28I7LY3gpp0V5XzsOd6CWT-JTMNNAF0eZwMZDKOBOiYTV9UqDdTY72oKyBI8fOZLVKey6JSiYD9Xx9UO5SA7gP-V6_6CSWJ5MQCJm0er1IH7TvoXUs6zJPGkYYxck/w640-h480/LX5_photo+Daisy+Macro+F5.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5, macro, 24mm, F5</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br>If you set the mode dial to iAuto, the camera will automatically put you in macro mode when you move the camera close to your subject. You don't need to move the physical slider switch in this case. That's a nice touch but also a little confusing at the same time.<br><br>There's a manual focus option, again it is the slider on the lens barrel. To focus you must press the back wheel in and after you can use the left and right arrow buttons. Part of the image is magnified to help you. Unfortunately there is no focus-peaking though. The LX5 manual focusing works but it isn't something I would recommend, it's fiddly and the camera is small, it can be frustrating.<br><br>The single point auto-focus is fast. The LX5 does not have a touch screen so to move the focusing point you use the arrow buttons. This is OK but you might prefer to leave it in the centre and do the focus-recompose trick. There's also a 23-area focus mode. A tracking mode (I never tried it) and a face detect mode that works well.<br><br><br><span style="font-size: large;"><b>In search of bokeh</b></span><br>In 2010 I didn't understand how it was possible to isolate the subject by blurring the background. I knew I needed a wide aperture (low F number) so F2 was great. But it's still pretty difficult to get that bokeh effect with the LX5 because the sensor is small a long focal length is best but the aperture goes down to F3.3 at 90mm. However, restrictions taught me a lot and it is definitely possible to get bokeh with the LX5!<br><br>The closer you get to the subject, the more chance of creating blur in the background. As the LX5 has a great macro mode, this is the best way to get bokeh, especially at 24mm and F2.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtVGwCwEfS4ikxwweQH4cHEc8GgiFwscKthL5V7nNvHdIRSzL_vhiUCO29ZHS9ZQpjFcPb2foR6UN0Sy2nPxe10UIxULDsv9qe_B_mrXi0ZSD-E70lD-uuyGiyAgz-7LBBIjFkOfwbCipb/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtVGwCwEfS4ikxwweQH4cHEc8GgiFwscKthL5V7nNvHdIRSzL_vhiUCO29ZHS9ZQpjFcPb2foR6UN0Sy2nPxe10UIxULDsv9qe_B_mrXi0ZSD-E70lD-uuyGiyAgz-7LBBIjFkOfwbCipb/w640-h480/LX5_photo+Macro+wide+24mm.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5, macro, 24mm, F2<br></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9iLuq6fTp26k7ArWQ8HfUtWqDZE3Ni8YuOT3rsqPZh3pdou1602gSk02bY7G0EaLeuDSm0eyzc_MZ3T2fMViNp6Um_DA3CRAATxUTlbz_mSRQzwtZf8hyphenhyphen-2mcj_hZ5FA9N-48TCQhfhJU/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9iLuq6fTp26k7ArWQ8HfUtWqDZE3Ni8YuOT3rsqPZh3pdou1602gSk02bY7G0EaLeuDSm0eyzc_MZ3T2fMViNp6Um_DA3CRAATxUTlbz_mSRQzwtZf8hyphenhyphen-2mcj_hZ5FA9N-48TCQhfhJU/w640-h480/LX5_photo+F3_3+zoomed+90mm.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5, macro, 90mm, F3.3<br></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br></div><div>Otherwise you can extend the zoom to 90mm, focus on the subject, if the background is very far away it will be blurred. To achieve this you need to think carefully and set up your shot ahead of time. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div>It's not impossible but it needs some work with the LX5. This taught me a lot. I did move on to a larger sensor camera after the LX5 and the main reason was to more easily obtain bokeh. However, never listen to anyone who tells you a small sensor camera "cannot" give you bokeh, that is simply not true. It just takes more effort!</div><div><br><br><font size="4"><b>ISO performance</b></font></div><div>The LX5 has a range from ISO 80 to 3200 with the full 10 megapixel resolution. There is an extended upper range from ISO 4000 to 12800 where the image resolution drops to 3 megapixels. </div><div><br></div><div>The low starting value of ISO 80 means in bright sunshine you can get very clean, sharp photos. It's nice there are steps 80, 100, 125, 160, 200, etc. </div><div><br></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnWVXvaoYefVHVVJ8Ib7vtjPwY_dKf4fR1EAVs5KbDKBsvcIoalSYJ1SyKeRmiIQP9r3CHPfQPCwG34Pu2_JrDCBh8ZAkrwqmpO4JfRjeKqHocVhtOv73ILCQ92AqWG5JlRMoJR3VtpXl/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2232" data-original-width="3968" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnWVXvaoYefVHVVJ8Ib7vtjPwY_dKf4fR1EAVs5KbDKBsvcIoalSYJ1SyKeRmiIQP9r3CHPfQPCwG34Pu2_JrDCBh8ZAkrwqmpO4JfRjeKqHocVhtOv73ILCQ92AqWG5JlRMoJR3VtpXl/w640-h360/LX5_photo+sunshine.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5, ISO 80, Rolle, Switzerland, 2010<br><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>The LX5 has a small sensor, even in 2010 I don't think anyone expected to get amazing quality in low light. However, the LX5 tries hard. There's a menu High ISO NR, when this is switched on, it is supposed to improve the ISO 1600 to 3200 image quality. Realistically the LX5 performs best at ISOs under 1600. I use Auto ISO, I've set the upper limit to ISO 800. This way I will get good results. If I am in a low light situation I can set the ISO manually and perhaps switch to black and white, that is always a good way of disguising ugly high-ISO artefacts! </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><b>Low light performance in practice</b></font></div><div>In practice it's best to keep the ISO as low as possible, in a range where the LX5 can perform at its best. The LX5 has image stabilisation, this and a steady hand can help. Here's a photo I took back in 2012 early one morning as the sun was rising over Lac Leman:</div><div><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECV-OE0qRNDtBSSMmSuUBIv76ppygVeXbpV3ADFAZw9-vCMb7L_uAYswdUOfLBOIDAa4U67EsTXviwBarwgohOl0jv-C3CP51cvft9pT5Ae1RW6ydcnlYIxAqXNQpNN9YkziD4kjryxJY/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2520" data-original-width="3776" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiECV-OE0qRNDtBSSMmSuUBIv76ppygVeXbpV3ADFAZw9-vCMb7L_uAYswdUOfLBOIDAa4U67EsTXviwBarwgohOl0jv-C3CP51cvft9pT5Ae1RW6ydcnlYIxAqXNQpNN9YkziD4kjryxJY/w640-h428/LX5_photo+low+light+example.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5, 24mm, F4, ISO 400, 1/50 sec<br></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br></div><div>This next photo is from one December evening in 2011, it's a 2,5 second long exposure photo, the camera was on a tripod attached to a bridge railing, I used the self-timer to avoid any camera shake:</div><div><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwrEdUDThu4T5jRfd5FbmMRL0X_YK6BfczscshFHImdY9MF3Ar67BFqDeFvzEqt92H2Eo6p5DwaziPEAXBz6JeaqLYXQkrZ7-kL_hMmwexhIxgvnWfnAbt1MI_4qd2qBS2lDgWQLZ2xA08/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2520" data-original-width="3776" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwrEdUDThu4T5jRfd5FbmMRL0X_YK6BfczscshFHImdY9MF3Ar67BFqDeFvzEqt92H2Eo6p5DwaziPEAXBz6JeaqLYXQkrZ7-kL_hMmwexhIxgvnWfnAbt1MI_4qd2qBS2lDgWQLZ2xA08/w640-h428/LX5_photo+Long+Exposure+example.JPG" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5, 70mm, F4.5, ISO 125, 2.5 sec<br></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br></div><div>On this blog you can't see the original quality of the above photos, however, the originals are excellent. Of course for any social media they are more than good enough.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><b>Jpeg or Raw</b></font></div><div>The LX5 can save photos in Jpeg or Raw format. I photographed only in Jpeg. I preferred Jpeg because I was learning and wanted to take the best photos in camera. The other reason is that when you set the camera to save as Jpeg + Raw, it takes a couple of seconds to write to the SD card. Using Jpeg only is almost instant. </div><div><br></div><div><br><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bracketing</b></span><br>The LX5 has two bracketing modes: <b>Auto Bracket</b> and <b>Aspect Bracket</b>.<br><br>Auto Bracket is exposure bracketing. When enabled, press the shutter once and three photos are taken at different exposures. This is useful when it is snowy or in another situation where maybe you are not sure what to set your exposure to.<br><br>Aspect Bracket is a bit more specific to the LX5. When enabled on the screen you'll see guidelines for the different aspect rations, very helpful for composing your shot! Press the shutter once and it'll a single photo but save it four times at different aspect rations 1:1, 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. It is fast to take the photo but you have to wait a few seconds for it to save the four photos.<br><br>The camera has four directional buttons, the bottom one doubles as Fn1. You can configure this button to be a shortcut for either Auto Bracket or Aspect Bracket. It is not possible to have both these modes enabled at the same time.<br><br><br><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Custom Sets</b></span><br>With Custom Sets you can set the camera up the way you want it, save to a Custom Set. When you need those settings you can select that Custom Set. For different types of photography you can set the camera up in different ways, having Custom Sets makes it easy to recall those settings quickly. The LX5 has four Custom Sets. On the mode dial there's C1 and C2 positions. C1 is the first custom set. Mode dial C2 has the three other settings which you pick from the menu. For a compact camera this is great, in fact perhaps overkill. I don't remember using more than the C1 setting. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Mj4FCP2zy262BhNr0-UbSZa1YazQ_uGiGx4Am3sR4Ginzc81q2IaTeHZw6ZMXRzcqSje5pG3eobolfQ9QfbaNmKdKvmfYetFReK5MJP3NifOaSY6hvBCNOkfd2brNipzHQDvX2ZQ4xD0/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3448" data-original-width="4592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Mj4FCP2zy262BhNr0-UbSZa1YazQ_uGiGx4Am3sR4Ginzc81q2IaTeHZw6ZMXRzcqSje5pG3eobolfQ9QfbaNmKdKvmfYetFReK5MJP3NifOaSY6hvBCNOkfd2brNipzHQDvX2ZQ4xD0/w400-h300/LX5+top+view.JPG" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LX5 top view, the mode dial has two Custom positions, the red button is for video</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br><b style="font-size: x-large;"><font size="4">Video</font></b><br>The LX5 has 720p, that's high definition (not Full HD 1024p) which back in 2010 was pretty fantastic. Even by today's standards it's not bad. The LX5 video is also very capable, you can zoom while filming which is smooth thanks to the electronic zoom and it has stabilisation. There's a movie record button but crucially there is also a mode dial setting. When using the mode dial setting you have full control for the exposure. Use any mode, art filters, white balance, ISO, it's up to you.</div><div><br></div><div><br><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Miniature Mode</b></span><br>A year after its release Panasonic updated the firmware for the LX5. They added a great feature called miniature mode. It's a filter accessible from Art (My Colour Mode) on the mode dial. It might not seem like a big deal but actually it's rather fun. Put the LX5 into Miniature Effect. Press the red button to start recording video. It works best if you put the camera on a tripod and there are lots of people walking by. When you play back the video it is a fraction of the length and it shows everything faster, people running around like Benny Hill-style! Yes I know these days we have lots of fun features on our smartphones but this was nearly ten years ago and I found it fun to play with at the time. For any users of more modern Panasonic Lumix cameras today, look at your Art mode dial setting, Miniature Effect is still available today, I have it on my GX80 for example.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sNuxQfJMiYs" width="320" youtube-src-id="sNuxQfJMiYs"></iframe></div><br><br><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Art Filters and Film Mode</b></span><br>The Art mode dial option allows you to cycle through different art filters including the Miniature Effect as described above. All can be used for stills or video. Another good one to try is the Dynamic B&W to have a moody effect. </div><div><br></div><div>You can also select similar filters using the Film Modes. These are accessible from within a mode. For example, switch to A or P and press the Quick Menu. The first option is to select a filter (Film Mode) such as Vibrant for example. As on any camera, the filters can be fun to use. There are lots to choose from and you can adjust and make your own too. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><b>Scene Modes (SCN)</b></font></div><div>Turn the mode dial to SCN and you can select from many common shooting situations. For example, portrait, night portrait, food, party, fireworks, etc. These are great for the beginner photographer or if you are in a hurry. However, there are some other useful options in here. </div><div><br></div><div>There is a panorama mode, it isn't as sophisticated as the one in many of today's cameras but it does work well. You take your first photo, it shows that photo as a sort of ghost on the screen, you move and take the next photo, carefully overlaying on the ghosted part. You can keep taking photos and overlaying them as much as you like. When you exit, it will create a panorama image in camera for you. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><b>Playback</b></font> </div><div>Press the playback button and you can of course scroll through your photos and videos. You can zoom to check the detail of your photos with the zoom rocker control. Press the Menu button, there are options to crop your photos and for videos you can make cuts in camera. </div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span><br>The LX5 is a versatile camera that impressed in 2010 and to an extent I'm still impressed today, ten years on! It has lots of features, I especially like the macro mode, it's so easy to get nice close ups. It's such a tiny compact camera but with all the controls. The design is just right, Panasonic did a tremendous job. </div><div><br></div><div>But in 2020 most smartphones can probably match or surpass the LX5 for image quality. Smartphone sensor advancement, speed and convenience mean you'd probably not use the LX5 today. If you do want a bit of nostalgic fun, or a challenge, I would recommend you try the LX5. It's still capable, you can get some great photos. 10 megapixels is plenty for social media. </div><div><br></div><div>Let's celebrate a fantastic camera, the LX5 made a difference to me and I'm sure to many others. It holds a special place in my heart and I will hang on to mine for years to come. <b>Happy Birthday LX5!</b></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Reference</b></span><br><br></div><div>DPReview<br><a href="https://m.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmclx5" target="_blank">https://m.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmclx5</a><br><br>Imaging Resource Review<br><a href="https://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/LX5/LX5A.HTM" target="_blank">https://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/LX5/LX5A.HTM</a></div><div><br>Gavin Stoker Review<br><a href="https://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/panasonic_lumix_dmc_lx5_review" target="_blank">https://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/panasonic_lumix_dmc_lx5_review</a></div><div><br></div><div>A nice promotional video featuring Charlie Waite<br><a href="https://youtu.be/4nZgoBRzeSE" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/4nZgoBRzeSE</a></div><div><br></div><div>A retrospective look at the LX5 by Steve O'Nions, published in 2020:</div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/yK64jR7zIvc">https://youtu.be/yK64jR7zIvc</a><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b><font size="4">Disclaimer</font></b></div><div>This article is just for your interest and are purely my own opinions. I don't work for nor have any affiliation to Panasonic nor any other camera company. </div><div><br></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-67799683624643798372020-06-01T11:03:00.002+02:002020-06-01T11:03:59.653+02:00PowerPoint - Turn off Design IdeasEvery time I paste a screen shot or anything into PowerPoint (the 365 version, June 2020) a pane appears to the right titled <b>Design Ideas</b>.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjty1lKnJtBUg628OOTbKDPrawmoeSSxEYxs-EfFPZY_0_rz5yC4MYCFODywb6BWXEqyh4BkR60jOaV2zdeEkXzRcqL_gjf_nhMKMovGO_PDsOpFMXYYP3oyv3iuOjzMDvNG-PTytI-TPoj/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="1290" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjty1lKnJtBUg628OOTbKDPrawmoeSSxEYxs-EfFPZY_0_rz5yC4MYCFODywb6BWXEqyh4BkR60jOaV2zdeEkXzRcqL_gjf_nhMKMovGO_PDsOpFMXYYP3oyv3iuOjzMDvNG-PTytI-TPoj/w640-h382/PowerPoint+-+Design+Ideas.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PowerPoint Design Ideas pane<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>This Design Ideas pane might be of some use but so far it has just been very annoying. It takes up space on the screen, especially when I'm working on a laptop. I don't need this distraction. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><font size="4"><b>Turn off Design Ideas</b></font></div><div>The following explains how to switch it off for good:</div><div><br /></div><div>Click <b>File | Options | General </b><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_l3ZFMpP-NFdmWiVwOLfeLMQt2ZCSsQrKFfbH6e9cbhJ6r63IS27vabnB4_Wa5OKfQfebt9szhlV8nIWY1Apswlw3vzepZ4OvTwNheBikDz3V66m71c5qeLBYoOGqb1503Prud0xj6KgE/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="1034" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_l3ZFMpP-NFdmWiVwOLfeLMQt2ZCSsQrKFfbH6e9cbhJ6r63IS27vabnB4_Wa5OKfQfebt9szhlV8nIWY1Apswlw3vzepZ4OvTwNheBikDz3V66m71c5qeLBYoOGqb1503Prud0xj6KgE/w640-h328/PowerPoint+-+Design+Ideas+OFF.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div>Click to disable <b>Automatically show me design ideas</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Click <b>OK</b></div><div><br /></div><div>If by any chance you do want an design idea from PowerPoint, you can click Design | Design Ideas (right most button on the Design menu).<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-74117625001486173622020-05-23T19:26:00.000+02:002020-05-23T19:26:49.188+02:00How to use a Data API with Excel<div>A Data <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_programming_interface" target="_blank">API</a> is a way of easily accessing data. The Data API comes in the form of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL" target="_blank">URL</a> web link. Software applications can use that link to download data. In this article we'll use Excel to download some data using a free Data API. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><b>Example scenario</b></font></div><div>I would like a list of all the countries in the world and their 3-digit <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1#Current_codes" target="_blank">ISO</a> codes. I might want to use this information to combine with my own data for analysis. I could of course go to Wikipedia and download the list but that would be a static list. What if any of the data is updated in the future? It would be great if I could click Refresh and get the latest information. This Data API will allow me to do that.</div><div><br></div><div>The following website provides a free Data API for country information:</div><div><a href="https://restcountries.eu/ " target="_blank">https://restcountries.eu/</a></div><div>We'll use this Data API for our example here but there are many different Data APIs available. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b><font size="4">Instructions</font></b></div><div>In Excel click <b>Data </b>(menu tab)</div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGv56iDSY8QOKnpwlm7EZqfZwRRCJCCnAtsYTbjELgPZFgcfcCn80j7rUul8rE0Tl1qStGFuKuGyvIEUVKPR1e_FiurpDkjWoYo4HxSRVdd2GT7NyGJPsyYDqb8IhGhVz4ZEK23DRYZMER/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="157" data-original-width="610" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGv56iDSY8QOKnpwlm7EZqfZwRRCJCCnAtsYTbjELgPZFgcfcCn80j7rUul8rE0Tl1qStGFuKuGyvIEUVKPR1e_FiurpDkjWoYo4HxSRVdd2GT7NyGJPsyYDqb8IhGhVz4ZEK23DRYZMER/w640-h165/Data+API+01.png" width="640"></a></div><div><br></div><div>Click <b>From Web</b> (or click Get Data | From Web)</div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRmdR9DNv1iPDRx36eiTjwuya4SG6FTmTGaWeaCxxX9R-rgnWma8KCS8OCqL8nL-_6kg-_urttSpKhyphenhyphen_u-psEvxMzMHAH5iHHEO0sVcgwSJ2RRWRDMXo1yS15Oto_43Y9NzEycuGxi9FuK/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="875" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRmdR9DNv1iPDRx36eiTjwuya4SG6FTmTGaWeaCxxX9R-rgnWma8KCS8OCqL8nL-_6kg-_urttSpKhyphenhyphen_u-psEvxMzMHAH5iHHEO0sVcgwSJ2RRWRDMXo1yS15Oto_43Y9NzEycuGxi9FuK/w640-h202/Data+API+02.png" width="640"></a></div><div><br></div><div>Enter the Data API <b>URL</b>. In our example we'll retrieve only two fields of data; the country name ("name") and 3-digit ISO code ("alpha3Code"): </div><div><b><font face="courier">https://restcountries.eu/rest/v2/all?fields=name;alpha3Code</font></b></div><div><br></div><div><b>NOTE:</b> More data fields can be retrieved, just add a semi-colon and the field name. We will explore this more, later in this article.</div><div><br></div><div>Click <b>OK </b>and Power Query opens...</div><div><b><br></b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYBxr0po-PX_qQUaVzO9LcbxL4JcvoSEm2vg5PI1msrJXHK-XGc3WeBuG8cSJHpMg5uhUwlfbBeZWgK2Rb7ZrXV0rDrKwAvNd1HQ_5MZ2gq76uhWREkkqimHFOlEJpKjfsF9KnIGC2ft7q/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="505" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYBxr0po-PX_qQUaVzO9LcbxL4JcvoSEm2vg5PI1msrJXHK-XGc3WeBuG8cSJHpMg5uhUwlfbBeZWgK2Rb7ZrXV0rDrKwAvNd1HQ_5MZ2gq76uhWREkkqimHFOlEJpKjfsF9KnIGC2ft7q/w400-h231/Data+API+03.png" width="400"></a></div><b><br></b></div><div>On the Transform tab click <b>To Table</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUaoS9a62enSB7h6rhMmM_E68nAOBb_tWRYhgj2d9Ck0d3vMQ_d6chw3ZgIN4ohei80GuKh8wTHr-y4rhgWQfrvXwCIHdmSpHb1eUoU0U7skS-hwWd-l6H6Ayzr0VsH7HiuhJ8g4W48yCz/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="875" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUaoS9a62enSB7h6rhMmM_E68nAOBb_tWRYhgj2d9Ck0d3vMQ_d6chw3ZgIN4ohei80GuKh8wTHr-y4rhgWQfrvXwCIHdmSpHb1eUoU0U7skS-hwWd-l6H6Ayzr0VsH7HiuhJ8g4W48yCz/w640-h240/Data+API+04.png" width="640"></a></div><b><br></b></div><div>Click<b> OK</b></div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtguWI04dlrV4Q6wUJhlWtp7CB-bGoe9V3hdg16zSparDgoAStgDIS3rCvciQPjFlBG840ch3n5VP86-Dlal8TJor0P9Db8xVW3-L_mT-aSYtMInI-oQ_YY4a0zhhKqPSXzEfhTmvPvZi/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="94" data-original-width="575" height="104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtguWI04dlrV4Q6wUJhlWtp7CB-bGoe9V3hdg16zSparDgoAStgDIS3rCvciQPjFlBG840ch3n5VP86-Dlal8TJor0P9Db8xVW3-L_mT-aSYtMInI-oQ_YY4a0zhhKqPSXzEfhTmvPvZi/w640-h104/Data+API+05.png" width="640"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div>In the Column click the <b><-></b> icon (as shown above)</div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5eN3OCfL_zJs4uan2qWr3QeM1nMZSIh6F4-JW0UdC1uQCO4IXBTohZEs8egmkO-mdRNLVdePXV6iylswqALyjSddR0DskD7SNX0rfoWM3SlSRRHL6g09uP8_ugQZjbDB8h5RKfFp7uz_/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="436" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5eN3OCfL_zJs4uan2qWr3QeM1nMZSIh6F4-JW0UdC1uQCO4IXBTohZEs8egmkO-mdRNLVdePXV6iylswqALyjSddR0DskD7SNX0rfoWM3SlSRRHL6g09uP8_ugQZjbDB8h5RKfFp7uz_/w400-h288/Data+API+06.png" width="400"></a></div><div><br></div><div>Click <b>OK</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Now you'll see the data in Power Query Editor:</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Omom_OlBxKaU8yADhbiBMjr5kGcCOJfVLdnmOVNwfHfTVp7aBLlJhkzmXOLR4YULP6PHoyFXSK-YT8SWQk8wuitRROFvwuK_dOCCXTCU4lvod-fAk_fY_lktYT1GMffx9zT59x3eJDt7/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="1141" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Omom_OlBxKaU8yADhbiBMjr5kGcCOJfVLdnmOVNwfHfTVp7aBLlJhkzmXOLR4YULP6PHoyFXSK-YT8SWQk8wuitRROFvwuK_dOCCXTCU4lvod-fAk_fY_lktYT1GMffx9zT59x3eJDt7/w640-h344/Data+API+07.png" width="640"></a></div><b><br></b></div><div>Click<b> Close & Load</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>A table will appear in your workbook:</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_0A2G11bTIIaou3sun7kpRAw_eMXlY9nBboOVw_2QmcRCS06GxVQ-iwCqb18wzAci3jT2zAq9g21JkIm8B93CglBA6950nMA3aBAU0JkATb6UE0aZOC7AEF8UFYVwOhQ74VV5q8pY817o/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="910" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_0A2G11bTIIaou3sun7kpRAw_eMXlY9nBboOVw_2QmcRCS06GxVQ-iwCqb18wzAci3jT2zAq9g21JkIm8B93CglBA6950nMA3aBAU0JkATb6UE0aZOC7AEF8UFYVwOhQ74VV5q8pY817o/w640-h430/Data+API+08.png" width="640"></a></div><b><br></b></div><div>The table is like any other Excel table. Use the data whichever way you like. </div><div><br></div><div>Click <b>Refresh </b>to update/fetch the data from the Data API. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><b>More fields</b></font></div><div>The Data API URL from restcountries.eu can be modified to give more data. In principle this is how other Data APIs work too. Near the end of the URL it says fields=. The field names are listed with semi-colons to separate them. </div><div><br></div><div>To fetch the country name and ISO code:</div><div><b>https://restcountries.eu/rest/v2/all?fields=name;alpha3Code</b></div><div><br></div><div>To fetch the country name, ISO code and capital city:</div><div><div><b>https://restcountries.eu/rest/v2/all?fields=name;alpha3Code;capital</b></div><div><br></div></div><div>To fetch everything in this data set:</div><div><b>https://restcountries.eu/rest/v2/all</b></div><div>Remember that the more data you retrieve, the slower it will be. Always try to restrict your request to the data you need.</div><div><br></div><div><b>TIP:</b> If you want to test a Data API, paste the URL into your browser. If it's working you'll see all the data displayed (although difficult to read!). </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><b>Excel version</b></font></div><div>I used Excel 365 (May 2020) in this example. However, it is likely older versions of Excel will work the same way or similar. Feel free to write comments below to help others.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b><font size="4">Conclusion</font></b></div><div>Like many things this is easy once you know how. There are many public data sources available, just do a search and and you'll find many, sometimes free like the one here, others free but you must register (you need an ID to access the Data API) and others where you must pay (subscribe to a service). Of course you might also use this to easily access your own corporate data - ask your IT department! </div><div><br></div><div>The best thing about Data APIs is that they can be updated easily and they are pretty easy to set up. I hope this article has been helpful, at least to get you started. </div><div><br></div><div><div>If you want to learn more about APIs, have a look at this video, it's pretty good for beginners:</div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/OVvTv9Hy91Q" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/OVvTv9Hy91Q</a></div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><b>Disclaimer</b></font></div><div>The Data API I used here as an example, it is just that, an example. I have no affiliation with that Data API site. I just used it because it was free to the public and had data that was good for this demonstration. If you find errors in the data please address any issue to that website and not to me. Everything I have written here is without guarantee, I'm just trying to help with this article :-)</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-41133861707094078082020-05-05T18:30:00.002+02:002020-05-05T18:30:54.376+02:00Microsoft Teams - add your own background to your video conferenceCopy your own JPG files to the following folder and they'll appear in the list of backgrounds available for your Teams conference call!<br />
<b style="font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace;">%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Instructions</b></span><div>
Open File Explorer<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b><br /></b></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKtThKaDktCsefSJwW9NQShj59cH9tggiwtwz5SpveKX3dRPFXzK2o4UzNWSEix7ymFVS8aMSDVvERT1Iq_mvcqZJqOlIRcF6OLbVRdNsIWPHUwNqJAk4-gSz3Lmu2WsXxeqp0DuQaThij/s1600/Teams+backgrounds+uploads+folder.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="108" data-original-width="549" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKtThKaDktCsefSJwW9NQShj59cH9tggiwtwz5SpveKX3dRPFXzK2o4UzNWSEix7ymFVS8aMSDVvERT1Iq_mvcqZJqOlIRcF6OLbVRdNsIWPHUwNqJAk4-gSz3Lmu2WsXxeqp0DuQaThij/s1600/Teams+backgrounds+uploads+folder.png" /></a></div>
<br />
Copy and paste:<br />
<b style="font-family: "courier new", courier, monospace;">%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads</b><br />
Into File Explorer, as shown above.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Copy your JPG background files to the Uploads folder. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The next time you are in Teams having a meeting, click the <b>[...]</b> button, click <b>Show Background Effects</b>, scroll to the bottom of the backgrounds - you will see the image(s) you have added to the Uploads folder. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-48218169238919354732020-04-25T10:35:00.001+02:002020-04-25T10:40:28.832+02:00HTML - Preserve text formatting such as paragraph breaksIn HTML when you want to display text generally the paragraph <p> tag is used. However, if the text you wish to display has spaces between paragraphs (carriage returns), using <p> will remove those, making your text look like just one long string of words - ugly!<br />
<br />
The solution is to use the <b><pre></b> tag instead of <p>. The <pre> will retain any basic formatting. <br />
<br />
For example:<br />
<br />
<b>Using <p></b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUut_VK_SvCioxAyhRzym7JMJfpKv0yzvCtMBJ6Lkbm5uvKtNc1v5412-FezRCTT6at288EWEgbZTkMJ4mK4eiTjFsWub1_0r6aANfk68ZyRPUxD94_icjhAGoA13FI1YaRYQxT4mG8-Wb/s1600/HTML+p.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="942" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUut_VK_SvCioxAyhRzym7JMJfpKv0yzvCtMBJ6Lkbm5uvKtNc1v5412-FezRCTT6at288EWEgbZTkMJ4mK4eiTjFsWub1_0r6aANfk68ZyRPUxD94_icjhAGoA13FI1YaRYQxT4mG8-Wb/s640/HTML+p.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>Appears in a browser as follows:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBkxE5h77DLi3jjvUvpr_e6D4uJrCxlVh4ZozRyCjVKJ2RX3agXRX5RFPJOk9hfKisC5vQwuxuCQlkbMCIAdl-EfJD_9xUfbNMtZ-_2bFcLsNNomjqo3yiSvpyuYh3o8QvWu7X_FomfIi/s1600/HTML+p+displayed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="953" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBkxE5h77DLi3jjvUvpr_e6D4uJrCxlVh4ZozRyCjVKJ2RX3agXRX5RFPJOk9hfKisC5vQwuxuCQlkbMCIAdl-EfJD_9xUfbNMtZ-_2bFcLsNNomjqo3yiSvpyuYh3o8QvWu7X_FomfIi/s640/HTML+p+displayed.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b>Using <pre></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih_LW4LwQTVz7zEH_a9b39zBxTjW0__hmzAWGsI1mJnRR5_Gf6V2M4Q-80EEfgWkkvBrBEMqBcbt54Cg2AWupvDs6SH6WmjWJYd8YxwOloVrl-8JNypfqGV0R1JkjRNK6L1FMzBdXC3CWl/s1600/HTML+pre.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="942" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih_LW4LwQTVz7zEH_a9b39zBxTjW0__hmzAWGsI1mJnRR5_Gf6V2M4Q-80EEfgWkkvBrBEMqBcbt54Cg2AWupvDs6SH6WmjWJYd8YxwOloVrl-8JNypfqGV0R1JkjRNK6L1FMzBdXC3CWl/s640/HTML+pre.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<b><br /></b>
<i>Appears in a browser as follows:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6z8wOiufmZ4giYEFQdz7Bm0pqxypImWN4gyzy7bpVNXtqx2ZkS8dlCdbJR4TuHUsPPhF74GhtMQ8k4nkB0Ry6Wpj-DhF5YDxdY1YPCSvi-HE0DlAb85Vi9CdAVQUUB-CIFewasCzjDP-6/s1600/HTML+pre+displayed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="953" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6z8wOiufmZ4giYEFQdz7Bm0pqxypImWN4gyzy7bpVNXtqx2ZkS8dlCdbJR4TuHUsPPhF74GhtMQ8k4nkB0Ry6Wpj-DhF5YDxdY1YPCSvi-HE0DlAb85Vi9CdAVQUUB-CIFewasCzjDP-6/s640/HTML+pre+displayed.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span><br />
Using <pre> allows the text to appear as it was originally written. This can be very useful, especially if you are parsing text from one source to another and wish to display that text in a browser.<br />
<br />
But it's important to realise that <pre> takes care of basic formatting, it doesn't handle rich text. It's just the spacing and line breaks (carriage returns). If you have more sophisticated source formatting you'll have to look at more sophisticated solutions such as CSS.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>References</b></span><br />
More details here:<br />
<a href="https://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_pre.asp" target="_blank">https://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_pre.asp</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-66315675815070100112020-04-13T12:19:00.000+02:002020-04-13T12:19:29.125+02:00Excel - Abbreviate huge numbersAre you often working with very large numbers, possibly hundreds of thousands or even millions? Those numbers can become very long and difficult to read. There's an easy way to format them in Excel so they appear abbreviated. For example, 100,000 would appear as 100K. Here's what to do:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DfgRqqXJl9dXAHf6fKutyKCz5LbUb7uLu75_Dn0M6I0tefxyyup-FVDQzR_b9W06M4cQ6i-VUmllqkWj5NcxVPXfHrOz4adQONr8J9s8OzzODKkt4nE7EbuLRW-GNbFvyGK7t-HYbnGr/s1600/Excel+-+abbreviate+large+numbers+BEFORE.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="141" data-original-width="324" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DfgRqqXJl9dXAHf6fKutyKCz5LbUb7uLu75_Dn0M6I0tefxyyup-FVDQzR_b9W06M4cQ6i-VUmllqkWj5NcxVPXfHrOz4adQONr8J9s8OzzODKkt4nE7EbuLRW-GNbFvyGK7t-HYbnGr/s320/Excel+-+abbreviate+large+numbers+BEFORE.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
In the above example we have a couple of huge numbers. Select both cells, right click and click <b>Format Cells</b>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivN_0-wlFFSw-b2I-SFOMpuYsezw7mE2Wr8O4GkWyVSIVNRVVMyl8ziAa1dvQxrOka30RT_VBQBSA7JRI6onp_Sf058ZURWSrmNIQviTMGt6DoAQKXSiEo4Fs_qOnKaCPnw7Jd0bI2TXxa/s1600/Excel+-+abbreviate+large+numbers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="676" height="593" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivN_0-wlFFSw-b2I-SFOMpuYsezw7mE2Wr8O4GkWyVSIVNRVVMyl8ziAa1dvQxrOka30RT_VBQBSA7JRI6onp_Sf058ZURWSrmNIQviTMGt6DoAQKXSiEo4Fs_qOnKaCPnw7Jd0bI2TXxa/s640/Excel+-+abbreviate+large+numbers.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Click <b>Custom</b><br />
<br />
Enter:<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">[>999999]#,,"M";#,"K"</span></b><br />
<br />
Click <b>OK</b><br />
<br />
Now the numbers will appear abbreviated:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsZluAB8Aacpc0TyeSrnNZzoVZMMhnaM_VqI6cL-3GKdzcVcXEhD_xdFC0mc7ukPCtqH0wKvwr-RBBMqlmov67f6-A_57YTRcf2qyzjV_gNJbMo1Ek6PR_3O6fnMLmqZBIRhJM3mLrPl0-/s1600/Excel+-+abbreviate+large+numbers+AFTER.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="135" data-original-width="325" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsZluAB8Aacpc0TyeSrnNZzoVZMMhnaM_VqI6cL-3GKdzcVcXEhD_xdFC0mc7ukPCtqH0wKvwr-RBBMqlmov67f6-A_57YTRcf2qyzjV_gNJbMo1Ek6PR_3O6fnMLmqZBIRhJM3mLrPl0-/s320/Excel+-+abbreviate+large+numbers+AFTER.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
If you use pivot tables, this is invaluable. You can format the measures (Values) to be abbreviated just as above. Click the down arrow on the measure in the Values box, click Value Field Settings, click Number. This brings up the Format Cells window. Add the Custom template as explained above. Whenever you use that particular measure all the numbers will be formatted with this abbreviated format.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-19786520584694414382020-03-19T19:18:00.001+01:002020-03-19T19:34:24.735+01:00Faststone Image Viewer - import photos into folders by date<br>
<ul>
<li>Do you want to easily copy photos from your camera's SD card to your Windows computer? </li>
<li>Would you like to have your files automatically copied to folders by the date you took the photos? </li>
</ul>
<br>
If the answer is "yes" to both of those questions then I recommend Faststone Image Viewer. I've been using it for a number of years now and it's great for taking my photos off my SD card and copying them to my computer. It's simple and it works! In this article I'll explain how to set it up:<br>
<br>
<br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Install Faststone Image Viewer</b></span><br>
It's free and available for download here:<br>
<a href="https://www.faststone.org/" target="_blank">https://www.faststone.org/</a><br>
<br>
Also, I wrote an article about it in the past, you can find it here:<br>
<a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2012/11/faststone-image-viewer.html" target="_blank">https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2012/11/faststone-image-viewer.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Setup</b></span><br>
Open <b>Faststone Image Viewer</b><br>
Click <b>File | Import Photos and Videos</b><br>
<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoOfz_7779n4e8PP9gglfoGzaV-da1o31V0zeu3enMoBMoHjwUQ0HZyE9Dm_TrV-zD3TL2YZVWd-9bmW0pxxFlYxBCvgeQWNPeQt9xQYfRbEVTLtGWmRxwy6ZM5fuy_wcpHOV-15qn8s_/s1600/Faststone+Image+Viewer+-+Import+Photos+and+Video.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="977" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoOfz_7779n4e8PP9gglfoGzaV-da1o31V0zeu3enMoBMoHjwUQ0HZyE9Dm_TrV-zD3TL2YZVWd-9bmW0pxxFlYxBCvgeQWNPeQt9xQYfRbEVTLtGWmRxwy6ZM5fuy_wcpHOV-15qn8s_/s640/Faststone+Image+Viewer+-+Import+Photos+and+Video.png" width="640"></a></div>
<br>
Make sure '<b>Use file filter</b>' is enabled (as above)<br>
<br>
In the box opposite enter the file formats you wish to copy from your SD card. In my example above I've put jpg and mp4. The exact text should be:<br>
<b>*.jpg+*.mp4</b><br>
You can add more formats by adding a + and the file extension.<br>
<br>
In the <b>Destination </b>you can specify anywhere on your computer. In my example I've put:<br>
<b>C:\Users\<username>\Pictures\</b><br>
<br>
Here comes the clever part, you can make sub-folders that represent the date. I recommend Year, Month and Date. The reason is that having the date in reverse means the folders will be listed in alphabetical order in Explorer.<br>
<br>
Create subfolder: <b>Year \ Month \ Date</b><br>
<br>
At the bottom of the window you'll see there's a tick box for 'SKIP files that have already been imported to the destination location'. It's good to enable this because then, every time you import it will only copy the new files from your SD card.<br>
<br>
Insert an SD card and click Import for it to work!<br>
<br>
<br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>How does it work in practice?</b></span><br>
After entering the above (setup) Faststone Image Viewer will remember your settings. When you insert an SD card it will see it. In my example above you'll note that it says "LUMIX", that's because my SD card is labelled LUMIX.<br>
<br>
Cameras save files to a folder structure of their own on the SD card. It is usually something that makes little sense. For Panasonic Lumix cameras this is very true. But using the import option detailed here, Faststone Image Viewer just takes the JPG and MP4 (in my example) from where ever it finds them on the SD card and copies them to the folders on the computer.<br>
<br>
On your computer you have a file structure like this:<br>
2020\03\2020-03-06<br>
2020\03\2020-03-07<br>
2020\03\2020-03-10<br>
etc...<br>
<br>
So everything is easy to find, by year "2020", month "03" and date.<br>
<br>
<br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span><br>
It works! It's free! It's simple too! I really like this, it has taken the hassle out of copying photos to my computer for years now. Having my photos in organised folders is the best part.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-3980130488521874282020-02-13T17:42:00.002+01:002020-02-13T17:44:53.967+01:00Word - view hyperlinks within your document (Alt-F9)For anyone with a very long Word document and lots of text that have hyperlinks (URLs) attached, it is very difficult to keep those links up-to-date. Periodically you have to check they are correct. You can of course browse the document and hover your mouse pointer over each link but that is a very slow solution.<br />
<br />
Instead, with your document open in Word, press <b>Alt-F9</b>. Lots of codes will be revealed. Press Alt-F9 a second time to hide them.<br />
<br />
Here's a simple example:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAsL3E3lR3YawFY57JBoJQJuPgBtz23bUK9nU9rsMzqKZlF2AbV9Y7IFYdGwlQ7Q1G94m2SivKhPoHFWdfVRvxQAhzLkuCXBNuxFdZezkRWRuZDaSDGdHbmGJby4JLQdb7qLCUxDhyphenhyphenCk6g/s1600/Word-Alt-F9_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="660" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAsL3E3lR3YawFY57JBoJQJuPgBtz23bUK9nU9rsMzqKZlF2AbV9Y7IFYdGwlQ7Q1G94m2SivKhPoHFWdfVRvxQAhzLkuCXBNuxFdZezkRWRuZDaSDGdHbmGJby4JLQdb7qLCUxDhyphenhyphenCk6g/s640/Word-Alt-F9_01.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
In the above example the second sentence is hyperlinked. A URL is behind that link, but what could it be?<br />
<br />
Press <b>Alt-F9</b> and you will see it:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpLW5UqcFj8NbBHZdDqCgyBSJuO-7DSjW_rKQw3cId_j3r8Guf_hMZs2I2Q9tLMOLhoKQNKsnU1oP7GlLlKJBzbBZD9ErkmzSyI-H1_OIHBW-TJ9ba7bfITCeK06w2piPT_MrqekUd23Mm/s1600/Word-Alt-F9_02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="660" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpLW5UqcFj8NbBHZdDqCgyBSJuO-7DSjW_rKQw3cId_j3r8Guf_hMZs2I2Q9tLMOLhoKQNKsnU1oP7GlLlKJBzbBZD9ErkmzSyI-H1_OIHBW-TJ9ba7bfITCeK06w2piPT_MrqekUd23Mm/s640/Word-Alt-F9_02.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
As you can see, it's inline, this should help you verify your links.<br />
<br />
It's just a view, if you press Alt-F9 again the hyperlink will no longer be visible.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-2602696626934843942020-02-04T18:25:00.002+01:002020-04-25T09:59:12.940+02:00Windows 10 - Clipboard HistoryNormally every time you copy something to the clipboard (press Ctrl-C) it overrides the previous thing you copied. However, in Windows 10 you can turn on a feature called Clipboard History where it stores each clipboard copy (each time you press Ctrl-C).<br />
<br />
First you'll need to turn on this feature:<br />
<br />
Click <b>Start</b>, <b>Settings </b>(the gear icon)<br />
Type "<b>clipboard</b>" and select <b>Clipboard Settings</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkp2yAirGenLi1IoajtM52DqBDLtXMKiTIv1r3FRbmVysOCZ17ic5PINym8npXb83lgxv9GQCg80pAjiYyM7bmCW_ki7F82X7o17kmENQDk0BQaPaYl1KRT-dLEcFyg0DJdBBV_49wH20O/s1600/Clipboard+History+01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="161" data-original-width="556" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkp2yAirGenLi1IoajtM52DqBDLtXMKiTIv1r3FRbmVysOCZ17ic5PINym8npXb83lgxv9GQCg80pAjiYyM7bmCW_ki7F82X7o17kmENQDk0BQaPaYl1KRT-dLEcFyg0DJdBBV_49wH20O/s640/Clipboard+History+01.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Near the top you'll see <b>Clipboard history</b> - click to enable it (turn it on)<br />
<br />
Now press <b>Windows Key</b> and <b>V</b> and you'll see the following:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBMm3YZ9OdmbmVcItGq_q0W-HJ4ETJjTzM7amYVmka2I7lmPlB5vieKVzq3bFRv9pTMfzblZW_pPO9HIvfmiPAcHtP9i2zYSpgQfHftFQPq7NzBD4gw6JzGy8DZLAC1v4lWra9qHoD2TwI/s1600/Clipboard+History+02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="402" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBMm3YZ9OdmbmVcItGq_q0W-HJ4ETJjTzM7amYVmka2I7lmPlB5vieKVzq3bFRv9pTMfzblZW_pPO9HIvfmiPAcHtP9i2zYSpgQfHftFQPq7NzBD4gw6JzGy8DZLAC1v4lWra9qHoD2TwI/s400/Clipboard+History+02.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's an example of it in use. I have Notepad open, I wrote two lines and copied them separately. I pressed Windows Key and V and I can see the two copied pieces of text. They are stored separately in my clipboard. I can reuse each piece of text individually. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNttPG4vngH9h1DgtZGsfwvHifj-9pCnG40clMMoMeJeQU6N7PJGWbHuoXczAvv6mV2y4n_wrb-Cz0oOBlo3c59BAv40odhKohjxC4nRrKJFvU5WHFPh8WIbPoXDdKyv8jLATaQbYMkgb/s1600/Clipboard+History+03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="670" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNttPG4vngH9h1DgtZGsfwvHifj-9pCnG40clMMoMeJeQU6N7PJGWbHuoXczAvv6mV2y4n_wrb-Cz0oOBlo3c59BAv40odhKohjxC4nRrKJFvU5WHFPh8WIbPoXDdKyv8jLATaQbYMkgb/s640/Clipboard+History+03.png" width="569" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-66492328387978691172020-02-04T18:13:00.001+01:002020-04-25T09:58:55.948+02:00Windows 10 - Add clocks for different time zonesAre you working with colleagues around the world, in different time zones? Windows 10 has a feature where you can have two additional time zones added to your Windows clock (bottom right corner). Here's how to do it:<br />
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Click the <b>clock </b>in the bottom right hand corner</div>
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Click <b>Date and time settings</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4FFYMj1EvWhY5apoNe6unZdqVIezaXZMDFAvTeUVAEeuxTYHXbKc8A8bJ6940iSsRim1WZiJAjZ7pNnHkSn-7elTO1zXaqdfXf0WzQE5P50g4mqLrPMLZt4FNOKDqUpC6GqwXQF8ASP8E/s1600/Add+clocks+for+different+time+zones+01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="108" data-original-width="516" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4FFYMj1EvWhY5apoNe6unZdqVIezaXZMDFAvTeUVAEeuxTYHXbKc8A8bJ6940iSsRim1WZiJAjZ7pNnHkSn-7elTO1zXaqdfXf0WzQE5P50g4mqLrPMLZt4FNOKDqUpC6GqwXQF8ASP8E/s640/Add+clocks+for+different+time+zones+01.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-ZgtTZM3xk6nPLnfapyGStnulIwnYdWNw39NINILoBLN5-E_H1szjgRb-UUwjkzSuLhAqw3lqbY4DTFbZkcydDuWTXKrMPRkTe3c1bcaUNrAUakiTLUjh8Z6AOyiTLW-gfA4F7iUGOji/s1600/Add+clocks+for+different+time+zones+02a.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-ZgtTZM3xk6nPLnfapyGStnulIwnYdWNw39NINILoBLN5-E_H1szjgRb-UUwjkzSuLhAqw3lqbY4DTFbZkcydDuWTXKrMPRkTe3c1bcaUNrAUakiTLUjh8Z6AOyiTLW-gfA4F7iUGOji/s320/Add+clocks+for+different+time+zones+02a.png" width="289" /></a></div>
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Click <b>Add clocks for different time zones</b></div>
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The following dialogue box will appear:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDS6dXXKAHSRXRyKIuUrWvxh_fdjJjCW_-Rx4-ztrkl7ktsdJ7ICXckBVKSKyRzv3QGcZRtGd10YAes0mGF-p-wRLYnQHaEey9Q2sozKxs81ktvjqL5qJqo9hV9M0e0kzc04mJHVbGUeQi/s1600/Add+clocks+for+different+time+zones+03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="512" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDS6dXXKAHSRXRyKIuUrWvxh_fdjJjCW_-Rx4-ztrkl7ktsdJ7ICXckBVKSKyRzv3QGcZRtGd10YAes0mGF-p-wRLYnQHaEey9Q2sozKxs81ktvjqL5qJqo9hV9M0e0kzc04mJHVbGUeQi/s640/Add+clocks+for+different+time+zones+03.png" width="528" /></a></div>
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Click <b>Show this clock</b> and select a <b>time zone</b> </div>
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You can also name the clocks. In my example above I've put Nairobi and Bangkok.</div>
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From now on when you mouse over the click you'll see your local time plus the two additional time zones you've set:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWygn2HQS3cO9vZ8t4yf4wyjnhCqlUpcrF1h7pVgYj4-Y-OJdCXGgUj5pdTPxM3E_49RjjyeYL9EgkO6YfD2yWX_yZSptLoAwgG2k4SHk6XwXl8fqP-mnmYnezQiLBYzyw7Va9sjVepOj/s1600/Add+clocks+for+different+time+zones+04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="176" data-original-width="424" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWygn2HQS3cO9vZ8t4yf4wyjnhCqlUpcrF1h7pVgYj4-Y-OJdCXGgUj5pdTPxM3E_49RjjyeYL9EgkO6YfD2yWX_yZSptLoAwgG2k4SHk6XwXl8fqP-mnmYnezQiLBYzyw7Va9sjVepOj/s400/Add+clocks+for+different+time+zones+04.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Also when you click on the time you'll see the usual calendar plus the additional time zones shown again. It's a shame we can't add more than two time zones but at least we have this! </div>
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<b>NOTE: </b>This is not a new feature with Windows 10. It was available on Windows 7 too. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-16804506987694478672020-01-30T18:11:00.002+01:002020-04-25T09:59:22.824+02:00Windows 10 - Multiple desktops!There's a great feature of Windows 10 where you can have a second, third or more desktops. I wonder how many people are using it because I don't think it's such an obvious option. It could be very helpful, especially if you often have many windows open at once. For example, if you want to have Outlook open all the time plus a browser window. You can of course Alt-Tab between those but maybe you have lots and lots of e-mails open, that could make a lot of windows and a lot of clutter!<br />
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The multi-desktop feature allows you to have two or more desktops. Not for a place to put more icons, in fact it is still just one desktop. It's just that you have multiple <i>views</i> of the desktop. In the scenario of Outlook and a browser, you could open Outlook on one desktop and your browser on the other. It just limits the amount of windows you have to deal with at one time. You are limiting your clutter so to speak. Here's how to do it:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrQYy41yWB-divi34hEjXCkAF70UVOo-PIqFKCpCpWQr7Yz5OdM8_xzNOvu9G-g13vySvsj_aJsD3SuQBeuFMkGXD7O8EH33q5gm6MiGw_eJDM52jx-6QCjIwCo4rUV5XlXBhy387UgcI/s1600/Windows+10+Multiple+Desktops.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="641" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrQYy41yWB-divi34hEjXCkAF70UVOo-PIqFKCpCpWQr7Yz5OdM8_xzNOvu9G-g13vySvsj_aJsD3SuQBeuFMkGXD7O8EH33q5gm6MiGw_eJDM52jx-6QCjIwCo4rUV5XlXBhy387UgcI/s640/Windows+10+Multiple+Desktops.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Click the <b>Task View</b> icon (to the right of the search box)<br />
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If you don't have the Task View button right click on the Taskbar and click <b>Show Task View button</b><br />
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Click <b>New Desktop</b> (assuming you don't have Desktop 2 yet)<br />
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Click <b>Desktop 2 </b><br />
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Whatever you open on Desktop 2 will be seen only from there. If you switch back to Desktop 1, it'll be as before. Try it, you'll see!<br />
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Add even more desktops by clicking New Desktop again.<br />
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To change desktop, just click the Task View icon again. An alternative is to press <b>Ctrl</b>-<b>Win</b>-<b>arrow key </b>(left or right).<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Settings</b></span><br />
By default Alt-Tab will cycle only through the windows you have open in the current, selected Desktop. However, if you want to change this, open Settings and search for "Multi-tasking", near the bottom of the screen you can change this setting under the sub-heading "Virtual Desktops".<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-31893308247949600702020-01-28T18:40:00.000+01:002020-04-25T09:59:38.433+02:00Copying files from a MicroSD card to PC failsOn an Android phone the 64GB MicroSD storage expansion card was nearly full. I replaced it with a 128GB card. I plugged the old 64GB card in my Windows PC and started copying the photos and videos from it to my hard disk. There was nearly 64GB of data so I left it copying... Upon my return I found it had stopped after only copying only a few files. There was a <b>semaphore error</b>. <br />
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Maybe there was a corrupt file? The MicroSD card could be corrupt or faulty?<br />
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I tried the file copy again but this time I used the Robocopy command line, it is more robust than Explorer and I felt perhaps it would do a better job. Robocopy also stopped after copying just a few files. It was as thorough the SD card was no longer recognised by my PC.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi73tfgShONEMRowA8Gr1vdLOFWzmLxaqdiPu5dAajz4g4Kjx2rKiP2Do_TVt8CXed_gRnOSB7FHGo_dcma1t77pJ-6cXVshiSonvqx2n7B563gfj8UtRELFCBqzIuXAmMIjUAHuFl0-1wY/s1600/The+semaphore+timeout+period+has+expired.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="579" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi73tfgShONEMRowA8Gr1vdLOFWzmLxaqdiPu5dAajz4g4Kjx2rKiP2Do_TVt8CXed_gRnOSB7FHGo_dcma1t77pJ-6cXVshiSonvqx2n7B563gfj8UtRELFCBqzIuXAmMIjUAHuFl0-1wY/s640/The+semaphore+timeout+period+has+expired.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Robocopy <b>ERROR 121 (0x00000079)</b><br />
<b>The semaphore timeout period has expired.</b><br />
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I tried a different USB port <br />
I tried a different SD card reader<br />
No success.<br />
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I ran the Robocopy command, when it got stuck I removed the SD card physically from the computer, then plugged it back in. It would copy more files... Until getting stuck again. I successfully used this method to copy a large number of files but with hundreds of files this was not a viable solution. <br />
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I noticed that mostly smaller files were being copied more often than larger ones. Video files of 100MB just got stuck. <br />
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For the video files over 50MB I used <b>7-Zip</b> to create a compressed file with volumes. I ended up with lots of 1.44MB files. I managed to copy these smaller files to the C: drive and extract the video file. I continued with this for a time, I was mostly successful. But this was slow and the semaphore error came up again. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMPYSWeUBM-6EDIIko80p0pB92FjzEp-diL1rhpzJhpn7qugxneKQRmeXzgwb-EroeP3zNHQAK7-SxJARcw_eBKGqeDZ61hKV9GGCCM4R7xt59GlJKTfK9X5jWZMxLyEhIRdfI_yQIVoYD/s1600/7-zip+The+semaphore+timeout+period+has+expired.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="147" data-original-width="319" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMPYSWeUBM-6EDIIko80p0pB92FjzEp-diL1rhpzJhpn7qugxneKQRmeXzgwb-EroeP3zNHQAK7-SxJARcw_eBKGqeDZ61hKV9GGCCM4R7xt59GlJKTfK9X5jWZMxLyEhIRdfI_yQIVoYD/s400/7-zip+The+semaphore+timeout+period+has+expired.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Solution</b></span><br />
I did a lot of searching on the web, I came across an application called <b>Backupper</b>. I tried this to synchronise a folder on the old MicroSD card to my C: drive. This worked! It does take a long time and it is quirky software because it has a percentage complete that goes steadily to 76% and appears to get stuck there. But it is still working, if you open Explorer to the destination folder you will see new files appear. Be patient though, in my case I left it running all day. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_ESufjIDMlJQd-XIiqYG29Qz0QROZcAqnbwKIbC9knrAySQnwbO0rSuQW8Tias9bJtJIioQYVA3IDfKLiGs4Ki65ym0T7VGZliy2R9j7HvU7NWTfg3WzRIoXXLS18pk6pmrhp6LCbbno/s1600/AOMEI+Backupper.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="1010" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_ESufjIDMlJQd-XIiqYG29Qz0QROZcAqnbwKIbC9knrAySQnwbO0rSuQW8Tias9bJtJIioQYVA3IDfKLiGs4Ki65ym0T7VGZliy2R9j7HvU7NWTfg3WzRIoXXLS18pk6pmrhp6LCbbno/s640/AOMEI+Backupper.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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In the above screen shot you'll see that it couldn't read a file. In this case you'll just have to accept that, because it can't work miracles, some files might be corrupt/damaged. I did recover most of the files though.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span><br />
If you have the semaphore error do not despair. Try Backupper, it's worth a go.<br />
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Of course it does raise a question over the reliability of MicroSD cards. My feeling is that when you have used a card extensively and almost filled it with so many files, the possibility of a failure like this grows. Contemplate replacing your micro SD card every few years and of course back up. Google Photos backup is free therefore at least for JPGs you can safeguard them. For videos maybe copy them off your phone periodically?<br />
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I hope this was helpful. Many thanks to Backupper.<br />
<a href="https://www.ubackup.com/download.html" target="_blank">https://www.ubackup.com/download.html</a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Disclaimer</span></b></div>
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I am not guaranteeing anything here. This is just my experience! Good luck.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Related</b></span><br />
You might also be interested in the following recent article I wrote about a problem I found with MicroSD cards. This is more related to the speed of the card and which one to purchase.<br />
<a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2019/12/which-microsd-card-should-i-use-in-my.html" target="_blank">https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2019/12/which-microsd-card-should-i-use-in-my.html</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5085078028290026872.post-25843923211107884372020-01-26T12:56:00.000+01:002020-01-26T12:56:04.467+01:00Windows 10 File History - backup your files!Your documents, pictures, videos and other personal files are the most valuable thing you have on your computer. What if those files were destroyed? Perhaps your laptop's disk drive will die or you accidentally delete (and empty your recycle bin) an important file?<br />
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You need to backup your data. But that's boring right? You are tired, you don't want to continually mess around with complicated backup procedures? You don't need to!<br />
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Windows 10 has a great feature called File History. Periodically (you decide when) it copies your files to another drive. Best of all, it keeps versions of files. For example, update a file on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Later you realise that the change you made on Wednesday was a mistake. With File History you can restore the file from Monday or Tuesday. Because File History works in such a seamless and simple fashion, I recommend it.<br />
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File History is what I term a "file backup" tool. You shouldn't only have this backup, you should have other methods of backing up too if you want comprehensive protection against data loss. Please click <a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2017/04/windows-pc-backup-strategy.html" target="_blank">here</a> for more information.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>File History Setup</b></span><br />
Follow these steps just once per drive to set it up.<br />
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Plug-in a USB flash drive or other removable drive. I would recommend 16GB or more, so you have plenty of space available. Make sure the drive is blank, it would be a good idea to format it. You can format to FAT32 or NTFS, either will work.<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> I have set up File History to use a Micro-SD card in my laptop. If you are thinking of doing this it is important to get the right Micro-SD card. Please click <a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2019/12/which-microsd-card-should-i-use-in-my.html" target="_blank">here</a> for more information.<br />
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In the Windows search box enter "<b>file history</b>"<br />
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Click <b>Restore your files with File History</b><br />
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If it's the first time you are using File History you'll see the following (or similar):<br />
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Click <b>Configure File History</b><br />
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It'll search for a drive to use as the destination. It should see your USB drive - in the example below my USB flash drive is named HISTORY:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJTnLbGDQ3_mXhe-qTcVBBQOn2wEixqzj_YxeKWUYUOhyphenhyphen7Nb4kKQEDqxfrdFE6aqHtBDTuZUQVmF_tATGlfzrVb9U8_YLA_FHQy-tEo2NZttISso3U1KHXTGdOq5PDIuRTn99SUrHXkmb/s1600/File+History+02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="736" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJTnLbGDQ3_mXhe-qTcVBBQOn2wEixqzj_YxeKWUYUOhyphenhyphen7Nb4kKQEDqxfrdFE6aqHtBDTuZUQVmF_tATGlfzrVb9U8_YLA_FHQy-tEo2NZttISso3U1KHXTGdOq5PDIuRTn99SUrHXkmb/s640/File+History+02.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>NOTE:</b> If it doesn't select the correct drive or you have multiple, on far left click Select drive.<br />
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Click <b>Turn on</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdR2pIReIsXaqkhh7TZf7sAGwetwJ74V3FriIPfWHvZMMdEAvZS9FRpk42OubtlU_k2RFzRoJLvmJ82kubFCwa2ZAajihmW4C2aJ0qPCaVVbOqYvn7lcIFXTlnlg_pncxbBKhQ-b6w3JY8/s1600/File+History+03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="733" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdR2pIReIsXaqkhh7TZf7sAGwetwJ74V3FriIPfWHvZMMdEAvZS9FRpk42OubtlU_k2RFzRoJLvmJ82kubFCwa2ZAajihmW4C2aJ0qPCaVVbOqYvn7lcIFXTlnlg_pncxbBKhQ-b6w3JY8/s640/File+History+03.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Click <b>Advanced settings</b> (on the far left)<br />
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By default File History will back up your files every hour. You can change this to be more frequent if you wish.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Y637jNr4tYaLdoiW5Ruq7n-fi2x3mr929gSIGcayr7zqJ2FX1SL3XZ9Zk_fMP8dlD_y6cFEfFJV6kBWMF8Vr0ioZxCAWeUOgjOIicxrGg7kRmfwrNXS4G01yS_pfy-ASmjI6MJSQmp5Q/s1600/File+History+04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="193" data-original-width="733" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Y637jNr4tYaLdoiW5Ruq7n-fi2x3mr929gSIGcayr7zqJ2FX1SL3XZ9Zk_fMP8dlD_y6cFEfFJV6kBWMF8Vr0ioZxCAWeUOgjOIicxrGg7kRmfwrNXS4G01yS_pfy-ASmjI6MJSQmp5Q/s640/File+History+04.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Change the 'Keep saved versions' to <b>Until space is needed</b><br />
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Multiple versions of files are backed up, when ‘Until space is needed’ is set, when the USB removable drive is full File History will automatically reclaim space by deleting the oldest backed up versions.<br />
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Click <b>Save changes</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Restore</b></span></div>
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In the search box enter "<b>file history</b>" and click <b>Restore your files with File History</b>. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-mvJYHd3TeUIJc85E771SdaGMjoZhI97NEUad8LNZ0YO53ijjCzPU-iPSLOx-Vhx_dFRbn6KdDdGbMzpbpd4qWL7nMDLn5aghtt_01K6Xe4iIOPxbD7X70w2lZdf7Uqdx0FpSQTnDugAo/s1600/File+History+05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="1091" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-mvJYHd3TeUIJc85E771SdaGMjoZhI97NEUad8LNZ0YO53ijjCzPU-iPSLOx-Vhx_dFRbn6KdDdGbMzpbpd4qWL7nMDLn5aghtt_01K6Xe4iIOPxbD7X70w2lZdf7Uqdx0FpSQTnDugAo/s640/File+History+05.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<ul>
<li>It's easy to scroll back and forth through history to find your files by date. </li>
<li>Select a file to restore, click the green button - it will restore the file to its original location. </li>
<li>If you want to restore it elsewhere, right click on the green button and click <b>Restore to</b>, a Save As dialogue box will appear, you can select anywhere on your computer to save the restored file. </li>
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NOTE: On this screen if you click the gear icon you can change the set up.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Reset File History</b></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
If you format
your removable drive and therefore all your backed up files will be gone. But
strangely you may see those files if you open File History, but they are just
ghosts, they are just the old indexes of the files you used to have backed up.
To turn off and reset File History completely, delete the following Configuration folder: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt;">
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\<b>Configuration</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next time
you open File History Restore, it will again look for a new removable drive to
use.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Considerations</b></span><br />
File History will run automatically, there is little to manage. However, remember that when you remove the USB drive the backup will not work. File History works best when you leave the USB drive connected all the time. At the same time, if someone steals your laptop then your backup will be stolen with it. You can remove the USB drive. You can use two USB drives with File History and change them periodically. Keep one in a safe place perhaps. It's also worth considering using File History together with another backup solution, please see <a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2017/04/windows-pc-backup-strategy.html" target="_blank">here</a> for more help for this.<br />
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If you have large amounts of data then it is important to buy a large capacity USB drive. If your laptop has a specific USB 3 port, make sure the USB drive you buy works at USB 3 speed and use that port. Buy a large capacity USB drive to be sure you have enough space for all your backups and versions of files.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Encryption</b></span><br />
By default File History will backup files without encryption. If you browse your USB drive you'll find all your files there, you can copy and paste them from the drive if you wish. This is an advantage in that you can very easily recover your files. However, it is a disadvantage if someone steals the USB drive. They will have access to your files!<br />
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If you are using Windows Home there's nothing you can do. Windows Home does not have BitLocker and therefore it cannot encrypt the USB drive.<br />
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If you are using Windows Professional you have the option to encrypt (password protect) your USB drive. Search for "bitlocker". It works with File History (both are built-in features of Windows 10).<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion</b></span></div>
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File History works very nicely. The best part is that it's easy to set up and it just works on its own. Very little intervention or upkeep is required. It'll even just keep using your USB drive and recycling the space. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Disclaimer</b></span><br />
I've posted this article to help, it's just my opinion. I take no responsibility for any of your backups or your loss of data. I'm just trying to help out here by explaining this feature.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Related</b></span><br />
I have written many other backup related articles, please see them here:<br />
<a href="https://mgxp.blogspot.com/search/label/backup" target="_blank">https://mgxp.blogspot.com/search/label/backup</a><br />
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