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$75 Manhattan Photography Tour

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I visited Manhattan in June and decided to tour the city. I had been there a couple times, but never had the opportunity to immerse myself in the city. After speaking to family members about traveling throughout the city, I decided on a bus tour with the company, Top View (by no means is this a sponsor – there’s other companies as well). The Double-Decker bus tour was under $50.

The List

I made a list of places to visit:

  • Times Square (just because)
  • Washington Square Park (Dosa Man)
  • SoHo (just because)
  • Chinatown (Casey Neistat popularized this in his film class)
  • Battery Park (Statue of Liberty)
  • IAC (I heard it was cool)
  • Hudson Yard (for that interesting-looking structure)
An Empire State of Mind

Times Square

I took an Uber from Central Park to Times Square. It was about $15. I visited Times Square before, but never alone with a curious eye. It was very lively with many tourists. There was a TV show being recorded – I didn’t bother with it. I took some photos of the architecture in the area and walked towards Broadway.

I got on the bus in the Theatre District (Broadway). Unfortunately the bus broke down before the first stop and everyone had to exit to wait for the next bus. The clouds cleared and the sun emerged, making it much hotter. I ducked into Macy’s and changed into shorts.

Interesting Architecture in NYC

The Dosa Man


I got on the next bus and was looking forward to Washington Square Park – to see the “Dosa Man“. Unfortunately, the bus didn’t stop at Washington Square Park and kept going. I was stuck upstairs in the back of the bus. I took the next stop at SoHo. Determined to eat dosa at the park, I got out Google Maps and mapped a way back to the Dosa Man. It was a 20-minute walk North. Well, I was hoping for an immersive experience and I received exactly that!

The entrance to Washington Square Park

It was a pleasant walk to the park, but unfortunately, it turned out that the Dosa Man was not working that day. I spoke to a couple locals to get this information. Apparently the Dosa Man posts his updates on instagram, so definitely check before making a trip out there.

I got back on the bus – I had to walk a few blocks, but the stroll was peaceful. Again, if it’s not clear from my writing, I was excited to be exploring NYC!

EXITVS AC TA PROBAT : THE OUTCOME JUSTIFIES THE DEED

Chinatown

I stopped in Chinatown to buy a couple hats for the kiddos. I ate at Bodhi, a vegan restaurant. Great reviews, a cute little lunch spot that brings in tons of locals and tourists. I saw the reviews for dumplings but since I was there by myself, I ordered the Vegan Kung Pow. It was delicious with a generous amount of sauce.

Outside the Bodhi Vegetarian Restaurant

It was nearly 2pm when I finished my late lunch. I needed to get back to the family, but alas, I hadn’t seen the Statue of Liberty. As an immigrant to this country, the Statue of Liberty is symbolic to our freedom.

Pro tip: Don’t get off at the stop immediately before “Battery Park”. Battery Park is closer to the Statue and there’re ferries available from the park. I don’t know the price differences.

I took some photos of the statue and sat down to have a chilled beer.

Statue of Liberty

The wind in my hair

My back to the city

The lady by the water

Helicopters and planes in the sky

Boats on the water, ferries too

Trains underground

Double-deckers all around town

My pulse with the city

The torch’s flame

Burning for freedom

On the way back from Battery Park, the stop was crowded with people. A bus arrived and it was already packed, so hardly anyone was able to get on. I realized I was next to the train station, Bowling Green.

I made a quick call to get some 411 about the subway system back to Central Park. It turned out to be a $3 subway ride.

NYC City Hall

If I could do it again, I’d start with a subway to China Town – visiting it first, then resume the journey onward to Battery Park. You can see my recommended list below. In fact, the next time I return, I think I’ll do this exact tour.

My recommended tour in Manhattan:

  • Subway ride or Uber (more immersive) to Chinatown
  • Chinatown (Casey Neistat popularized this in his film class)
  • Battery Park (Statue of Liberty)
  • IAC (I heard it was cool)
  • Hudson Yard (for that interesting-looking structure)
    Times Square (just because)
  • Washington Square Park (Dosa Man)
  • Subway ride to your final destination

Pro Tips

  • The best seat on the bus is at the back row of the bus on the top level. Because you at the back of the bus, you get a much longer focal range to choose from. And because you sit on the top level, you can shoot over obstacles such as vehicles on the street. The elevation helps you take better photos.
  • Bodhi vegetarian restaurant is known for their dumplings.
  • Check Dosa Man’s insta before heading there.
  • Chinatown is fun if you like to haggle for good deals
  • Camera setup: I recommend two bodies with a 24-105mm and the other with a 70-200mm lens. For one body, I’d recommend a 28 to 280mm focal range.
  • I used a Panasonic Lumix GX85 with Leica 12-60mm and Leica 100-400mm.

Panasonic 12-60: The Queen of Lumix Kit Lenses

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The Panasonic Lumix 12-60 f/3.5 – 5.6 is a kit lens I got bundled with the G85. It also ships with the G95, and sometimes the G9 and GH5. When I declare that this lens has a place among the “Royals” of lenses, I’m referring to the class of Panasonic Lumix and Olympus non-pro lenses.

Price

This lens is going for $500 on Amazon and you can find it used for around $270 on sites like KEH. If you’re looking at this lens and also need a camera, I recommend picking it up with a bundle as it’s a much better bargain.

Competition

12-32mm – Check out this comparison video.

14-42mm (and 14-45mm) – The 12-60 is wider and 18mm longer.

Build Quality

MountThe lens mount is made of metal and includes a weather-sealed rubber gasket
Zoom RingThe zoom ring is wide and smooth, but it wouldn’t hurt if it was smoother
Focus Ring The focus ring is smooth to turn, but ring is quite narrow. Like many M43 lenses, it’s a focus-by-wire lens which works for most consumer scenarios
Physical Buttons There’s no physical buttons are present on the lens
Minimum Focusing DistanceMinimum focusing distance (.2m, .66 ft)
Weight Weight: 3.52 ounces / 100G
Filter Thread The filter thread is 58mm
Build quality descriptions

Features

Variable Aperture

Aperture is variable from 3.5 to 5.6, again, if when you zoom from wide to telephoto, the exposure will change.

Stabilization

It’s a stabilized lens which I really like and I’ll speak more on this later.

Weather-sealing

This lens is weather-sealed.

Conclusion

Reasons to skip this lens

  • If you’re looking for something sharp, there’s other sharp lenses available like 25mm f/1.4 or the Lecia 12-60 f/2.8-4.
  • If you’re looking for constant aperture, you’ll want to skip this lens as this has variable aperture.
  • Focus is not parfocal, so if you get focus at 12mm then zoom into 60mm, you will lose focus.
  • The widest aperture is f/3.5 so this isn’t great for low-light video or photography. If you need something for low-light, you’ll want to look at low aperture lenses, like 25mm f/1.7, 15mm f/1.7 or the Panasonic 10-25mm f/1.7.

Reasons to get this lens

  • Dual Image Stabilization. That’s the power of this lens. If you shoot video and control the camera movements, you can avoid using gimbals.
  • The 12mm is a perfect FOV for vlogging and if you want to capture footage at a far distance from you, the 60mm comes in handy. Remember the 12-60mm on Micro Four-Thirds is equivalent to a 24-120mm on full frame. It’s also perfect for home video, travel, and non-professional photography.
  • The best Panasonic (not Leica) kit lens and it’s worth upgrading from 12-32 or 14-42 for the higher focal range. Many Lumix MFT cameras have a crop in 4k so having that extra reach with 12mm, comes in handy. This is the only Lumix kit lens with weather-sealing.

Why queen? If you’ve played chess, you know the queen is the most versatile players on the board. The Panasonic Lumix 12-60 f/3.5-5.6 also has that same versatility among the Micro Four-Thirds lenses. The wide 12mm, zoom range, and dual stabilization. The G85 with the 12-60mm lens, is one of the best budget camera bundles. It makes an even more compelling case to pair this lens with the Panasonic Lumix G7 – as this camera body doesn’t have in-body image stabilization. Pair that with a rode video mic and an ND filter, and you’re set for YouTube, social media and home videos!

The Queen of Panasonic Kit Lenses: Panasonic Lumix 12-60 f/3.5-5.6

ON1 NoNoise AI 2021 – First Impressions

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The quest for noise reduction

Just last week, I was looking at Topaz Denoise… and today a photographer, Jay Gosdin, sent me a promo code (NN50PLUS) for 50% off for ON1 NoNoise.

So I played around with it for a little bit and so far, I’m impressed. Let’s take a look at this image I edited today. You can click the images to view full-size:

Here’s the original RAW file (.CR2) saved as JPEG for the web.
Canon 7D Mark II + Sigma 150-600 C @ f/6.3, ISO 640, 1/1600s, 600mm (960mm FF equivalent)
Here’s the same image before NoNoise… you can see I’ve cropped it much further into the image.
Here’s the image after ON1 Noise… I can see not only has the noise been removed, but it’s sharper than the original.
And here it is after retouching.

Click here to see the final image on my Flickr.

Conclusion

This is an impressive piece of software. Not only does it remove noise, but it sharpens the image as well. Moreover, this noise reduction software also opens up new avenues as shown in this article – I can now go back and crop into photos without worrying (as much) about the noise quality. In addition, I’ll have more confidence at the time of shooting as I won’t have to check and recheck the ISO levels. So there’s multiple reasons to use ON1 NoNoise.

At $38 this is a STEAL!

If you’ve been considering a noise reduction software, this software will not disappoint.

GX-85 in 2021: 10 Reasons to buy this camera

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Would you rather watch a video than read? Well, here’s 10 reasons to get the GX-81 in 2021.

While the Panasonic Lumix GX-85 was released in 2016, the camera still holds it’s weight several years later. Let’s take a look at some of the features that make this camera stand out and why it makes a great buy in 2021.

Portability

This camera weighs .94 lbs and measures 4.8 x 2.78 x 1.73 inches. With the camera height slightly bigger than the Micro Four-Thirds mount, it’s as compact as you can get. This tiny photon capturing device fits into a jacket pocket which makes it great for portability.

In-camera charging

Speaking of portability, this camera features in-camera charging… meaning you don’t have to carry an external charger if you don’t want to. I still use mine, but having this feature clearly shows you the target audience… photographers on the go!

Electronic View Finder

No surprise here as many mirrorless cameras have an EVF, but did you know even with mirrorless cameras prevalent in today’s market, not all camera’s have a constant depth-of-field preview? This camera has that feature and use it to nail exposure correctly on the first shot.

In-body Image Stabilization

This camera features 5-axis stabilization that can yield silky smooth footage even when hand-held. The sample footage shown below was all hand-held without tripods or gimbals. To get this camera to the next level, use a gimbal and it’ll be similar to a dolly compared to non-stabilized cameras.

HDMI Pass-through

This camera can record internally and output externally simultaneously. Some cameras like the Panasonic Lumix G7 don’t have this HDMI pass-through capability.

In-camera slider

Why carry around extra gear when this camera has a feature called 4K live crop that allows pans and zooms in camera. This is one of the most underlooked features of these cameras. The 4k live crop mode can either pan, zoom, or both for you in-camera and output a 1080p file. This can also be done in post-production, but why spend that extra time in post when you can do it in-camera? At least, that’s my stance.

Focus stacking

Why waste hours in-front of your PC stacking photos when this camera has focus stacking built-in? I use this often for product photography and this saves a ton of time to achieve stunning results quickly. The focus stacking feature outputs in .JPG.

4K bitrates

100 Megabits per second. Compare that with the G9 which has 4K at 150 MBps, but we’re talking $600 (with 2 lenses) vs. $1000 (no lenses). The 4k out of this camera is solid as shown in the sample footage. This camera is a great bang for the portable buck.

16 MP sensor

Did you know you can print 11 x 14 in. photos with a 16 Megapixel sensor? And even more if you push the DPI. That’s more than enough for todays average consumer. Make sure to shoot in RAW to get the most dynamic range out of your photos.

ImageApp and wifi tethering

  • Transfer images to your phone or computer wirelessly
  • Change camera settings during recording
  • Use your phone as a remote shutter

These are just some of the options available with the ImageApp and Wifi tethering features on this camera. This camera has it all.

Considerations

Auto focus

If you’ve been around the Panasonic groups, you’ll know that the video auto focus on these cameras isn’t much. This camera is no exception. While I never use video AF anyway, this could be a problem to others expecting great AF. Look at the Sony a6100 or the Olympus EM1 Mark 2 (my suggestion) for great AF cameras.

4k crop

Going from 1080p to 4K yields a slight 1.1x crop on this camera. That’s much better than the 1.25 crop you get with the Panasonic Lumix GX9. While the crop is so slight it doesn’t bother me, it’s something worth mentioning.

Ergonomics

One of the trade-offs with being so portable is a lack of great ergonomics. However, I don’t have big hands and I find the size and feel of this camera adequate. It’s not great as there’s hardly any grip. There are 3rd party grips available if it becomes an issue to you.

Microphone input and remote shutter ports

Neither of these features exist on this camera. For the remote shutter, you can get around it by using the Wifi connection to control the camera with your phone. The mic input, however, is missing and I’m not a big fan of the internal mic on this thing.

Physical button for focus types

This is my biggest complaint about this camera. No idea why an external button to change the focus type doesn’t exist on this thing. You can’t go from Auto Focus to Manual Focus in the middle of recording. You have to stop the recording, access the internal menu (as opposed to a physical button), and then change the focus type.

Touchscreen

This thing has a fantastically responsive touchscreen. However it only swivels up or down, and doesn’t articulate like the G7, G85, G9, or GH5.

Look, there’s several things this camera lacks from being that multi-purpose, all-in-one camera. However, for a camera released in 2016, this camera can punch way above its weight class. It’s no wonder this is my most used camera in 2021. While it’s not a perfect camera, it may be the perfect travel camera for you. Thanks for reading and hope you have a great day!

One day in Sugarland, Texas featuring Cullinan Park Conservancy

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My family and I visited Sugarland over a weekend in March 2021. Here’s some nature footage taken while there. I was considering selling the GX85, but this trip made me realize (again) that this small, portable camera with great 4K footage is going to stay. Hope you like! It’s hosted on my nature channel: Manny’s Animal Kingdom. Subscribe if you like nature footage.

Footage taken on the Panasonic GX-85 with Leica 12-60. Bird photography taken on Canon 7D Mark II with Sigma 150-600.