An Emphasis on Micro Four Thirds

While LUMIX also has nicely filled-out compact point-and-shoot and full-frame lines, the LUMIX G Series Micro Four Thirds lineup and innovations are worth exploring.

What started as a Four Thirds collaboration from Olympus and Kodak morphed a few years later into a collaboration between Panasonic and Olympus, resulting in 2008’s LUMIX DMC-G1, the first mirrorless interchangeable MFT camera.

The new mount was an open standard, clearing the way for smaller companies like Blackmagic Design and DJI to quickly adopt MFT for cinematic and drone use, something Panasonic/ LUMIX also embraced.

Micro Four Thirds: What It Means in Practice

If you haven’t shot with MFT before, there are some things you need to know, both good and not so good. For example, the smaller sensor helps reduce power needs, leaving plenty of capacity and space for LUMIX and other MFT brands to pack camera bodies with extra features like strong IBIS or in-camera LUTs.

Also, in general, MFT gives you the equivalent of double the reach and depth of field compared to the same lens specs on a full-frame sensor. That’s absolutely just a rule of thumb, not the detailed technicals, but it works to keep in mind in the field.

The smaller sensor’s 2x crop factor means you effectively get a crop when shooting, rather than later in editing. Your 300mm lens will look like you shot on a 600mm lens for a full-frame camera. Depth of field will also be larger, with an f/8 behaving more like f/16, although you aren’t changing light that drastically.

Note: The DOF is based on stepping back to frame how you would on a full-frame camera. IF you don’t step back and accept the crop, the DOF remains the same.

Another quirk of the MFT sensor is more noise, or more noticeable noise at lower ISOs than larger sensors, at least. You’re packing a lot of data into a small space, and that contributes to noise showing up earlier, especially in low-light situations. In the same vein, that smaller sensor means you can collect only so much data in one shot, and MFT sensors typically average 20 to 25MP.

Shooting With a Lumix Camera

I recently spent the better part of a month shooting with LUMIX, and there’s a lot of love. But a few things broke my heart as well.

Three things I fell in love with: 

• Fabulously tactile controls, especially the dedicated top buttons for ISO, white balance, and exposure compensation on the G9II.
• Sane menu setups. Many systems have complex menus that leave even long-time brand acolytes scratching their heads. Lumix’s easy-to-navigate menus were a breath of fresh air. There was no need to adjust a dozen settings before starting out. I was able to pick it up out of the box and quickly make minor adjustments on the fly without deep research into menus.
• I was pleasantly surprised with RAW images straight out of the camera. The color handling and lighting often needed very little editing compared to other brands’ RAW images. 

Three things that broke my heart:

• No mechanical sensor protection when the camera is off, so you are left constantly fighting sensor dust when changing lenses.
• Buffer speeds were sometimes disappointing when shooting the G9II, and I frequently missed action and wildlife sequence shots. While the buffer size itself is good, it clears rather slowly to the card even with a fast HDSC card.
• Charging via USB is common, but even with better battery life, many of us like to keep multiple batteries charged. Relying on in-body charging alone makes that cumbersome. Treating external battery chargers as an add-on with several models, rather than included with camera bodies, is a personal pet peeve.

Lumix Lenses

Impressive sums up my thoughts on Lumix and Leica DG lenses. Even the kit lenses, like the Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4 ASPH, were solid performers with tack-sharp focus and quick autofocus. I found myself leaning heavily on the kit lens in many shooting situations.

Like LUMIX cameras, the lenses have a solid retro feel to them, more substantial and metal to the hand than most brands without adding a lot of weight.

Honestly, my only issues with the LUMIX and Leica series lenses I tested were that 1. the camera bodies are so lightweight that even small lenses tip them forward on flat surfaces and 2. even the tiniest bump popped off the lens caps.

Portability

It’s hard to argue with less carry fatigue. Lightweight bodies plus being able to use smaller lenses thanks to that 2x crop factor meant less energy spent carrying the gear and more available energy to hold the camera at the ready while waiting on subjects. Not super noticeable on short treks, but when you’re hiking a few miles to get to a location, it makes a big difference.

Favorite Features

Brands always emphasize all the bells and whistles of their gear; that’s the norm. But what really struck me with LUMIX was that the bells and whistles were useful, not just more marketing hype.

Granted, exact features vary by body, but my favorites from working with the LUMIX gear were:

• Built-in LUTs: I’m always going to like the freedom of RAW editing, but the convenience of well-done LUTs, including a Leica Monochrome, for ready out-of-camera JPEGs is incredibly freeing for most shooting situations on the G9II and GH7.
• Outstanding IBIS: The smaller MFT sensor has made truly outstanding in-body image stabilization possible. I was able to capture usable shots as slow as one second handheld.
• High dynamic range options: Features vary between bodies in LUMIX’s MFT lineup, but options like dynamic range boost (DR boost), in-camera stacked-shot HDR, and HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) profile all add more flexibility to your shoots.
• Subject detection: Like all brands’ subject detection modes, LUMIX’s are occasionally hit-or-miss, but I was glad to see they perform fairly strongly most of the time. It was also nice to see that some models, like the GH7, differentiate between cars or motorcycles and trains and planes as well.
• Extra resolution: Handheld or tripod mode options to stack burst shots for up to 100MP (depending on model) give you that detail boost you need when you know you have to deeply crop after the shot.

Panasonic’s LUMIX Micro Four Thirds Camera Lineup

The LUMIX G Series features MFT sensors and offers great flexibility from top-end pro shooting to pocket travel cameras to drone use. One thing that really struck me about the LUMIX G Series lineup is the versatility. It isn’t just for one type of photographer or filmmaker, and even the budget-conscious entries offer a lot of performance.

LUMIX BGH1 Box Camera

Great for: Multi-camera livestreamers, solo videographers, event videographers, drone/gimbal/vehicle video

Created for video, the BGH1 is built with cinematography in mind. Designed for drone, gimbal, and vehicle mounting, the Lumix box camera features powerful remote controls and live streaming options.

LUMIX GX85

Great for: Budget-conscious hybrid shooters, minimalist photographers/videographers, street photographers, travel photographers

Its compact profile, paired with the power of larger bodies, makes the GX85 a great option for travel and street photography. Five-axis dual IBIS using optical and magnetic stabilization meets sharpness, thanks in part to the lack of an optical low-pass filter.

LUMIX G85

Great for: Adventure travel photographers, solo content creators, vloggers, street photographers, beginning hybrid shooters 

A bit chunkier than the GX85 but still compact at about half the bulk of a standard DSLR body. The G85 gives you a more substantial body to hold while staying compact enough to carry easily in almost any situation, with a more ergonomic grip than smaller cameras.

LUMIX G97

Great for: Content creators on the move, storm chasers, budget-conscious travel videographers, hobbyist photographers, budget-conscious shooters, photographers preferring in-camera editing

The G97 ticks a lot of boxes. From great IBIS and 4K video to in-camera live composite and color styles, it frees photographers from long editing sessions on the computer with usable output straight out of camera.

LUMIX G100

Great for: Vloggers, social media content creators, casual hybrid shooters, travel content creators

Pocket-sized compact freedom for content creators with a focus on video. It shoots QFHD 4K video at 24p or 30p and HD at 60p plus strong video image stabilization for moving while shooting without a gimbal.

LUMIX G100D

Great for: Mobile content creators, vloggers, travel videographers, creators with a USB-C workflow, adventure travel videographers 

This updated version of the G100 swaps the micro-USB port for a Type-C USB port. Plus, it features advanced video image stabilization and updated viewfinder technology with a smooth OLED for a better shooting experience.

LUMIX G7 

Great for: Tight budget videographers, photography students, street photography, beginning YouTube creators, shooters needing a lightweight body, photographers needing tactile controls 

Meeting tight budget constraints while still delivering strong features and quality output, the G7 helps level the playing field for beginning creators. The ability to pull a photo from a frame of video in-camera beautifully balances today’s creators’ needs for video and photo without needing a second shooter or interrupting the flow of a shoot.

LUMIX GH7

Great for: Professional filmmakers, indie filmmakers, wildlife videographers, YouTube creators, sports videographers, documentary makers, photographers exploring high-end video

Still a hybrid camera but geared for motion, the GH7 gives filmmakers and creators access to next-generation sound with 32-bit float recording with an adapter and also records internally in Apple ProRes RAW. Combined with phase detection AF, which adds subject-type recognition, the GH7 offers action and wildlife shooters (video and still photography) more reliable focus in rapidly changing situations.

LUMIX GH5II

Great for: Direct-to-platform live streamers, adventure travel photographers and videographers, indie documentary filmmakers, storm chasers

An update to the GH5, the GH5II adds even more freedom from long-editing sessions for filmmakers with wireless livestreaming, simultaneous HDMI output and preloaded V-Log L. It meets videographers in the moment they’re shooting for fast production without leaving behind the features still photographers count on.

LUMIX G9II

Great for: Landscape photographers, architectural photographers, event and portrait photographers, gear minimalist photographers, hybrid shooters with a focus on stills, street photographers, hobbyist wildlife photographers 

Geared for still shooters but still video capable, the G9II is a top-end workhorse for almost any photography type. Powerful IBIS, high-resolution photo stacking, real-time LUTs, and great RAW color handling give every photographer something to love. 

Should You Make the Jump to LUMIX?

Whether you completely ditch your old system or add LUMIX as a new tool in your existing lineup, there are a lot of options to fit your style. Plus, if you’ve ever grumbled under your breath about overly complicated menus or feel your current camera ecosystem has gotten pointlessly overcomplicated, LUMIX could be a strong contender to add to your workflow.

If you aren’t ready to ditch everything for a jump, indulging in a personal fixed-lens everyday camera might be the breath of fresh air you need. Check out what Fernando Martinez has to say about the Lumix L10 difference.

The post Why Micro Four Thirds Still Matters: A Deep Dive into the Lumix Family appeared first on Adorama.

I’m not going to go over what anamorphic lenses are.  You can find a really good article from Adorama’s own Leigh Diprose, Anamorphic Lens for Video: What You Need to Know that will help you if you need a primer. I am going to discuss my experiences as well as some tests that I ran.

Using these lenses on my Sony A7RV presented an initial challenge: the camera lacks the internal desqueeze feature found in the FX line. I avoided using a bulky external monitor so I wouldn’t disrupt the natural vibe of the wedding guests. Instead, I relied on imagination and quickly developed an intuition for framing the squeezed image. If you plan to use these for paid work, I highly recommend doing practice tests first to ensure you understand exactly how the final frame will look.

The Gear

For this experiment, I used the DZOFilm Arcana 45mm T2.1 anamorphic lens on my Sony a7RV, paired with my Contax Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 as my spherical reference. The Contax Zeiss is a vintage lens, but one with relatively clean rendering — it isn’t modern sharp, which puts it in a similar playing field to the Arcana rather than trying to compare it to a very sharp modern Sony lens. While the focal lengths aren’t identical, 45mm versus 50mm, they are close enough to make a reasonable comparison. The Arcana is a fully manual lens with no autofocus, which on static subjects is manageable but requires real discipline on anything moving through frame. Also, the Arcana is a PL mount lens, so I used a PL-to-E-mount adapter to mount it on my Sony. 

The price of these lenses, even including the needed adapter, is modest compared to most anamorphic lens alternatives. The three-lens DZO Arcana set costs at the time of this article $2,899. Individually, they are $1,099, and either individually or with the set, they currently include a DZO Octopus PL adapter with the choice of several different mounts for free. The PL adapter I used also unlocked an unexpected workflow advantage: by keeping the lens in the same orientation and rotating the camera 90 degrees, you can shoot vertical frames while maintaining consistent bokeh and flare characteristics, something I’ll be covering in an upcoming article on shooting 9:16 anamorphic video for vertical reels.

Field Workflow & Desqueezing

When I do event work, I often send off a few images to the client right away. This little unexpected extra makes them very happy and is always worth the minimal effort. So, as usual, I also wanted to deliver a few images to the bride and groom immediately after the wedding, on my train ride back. The workflow in the field was simpler than expected. Blazar makes a free app that batch desqueezes anamorphic images directly on your phone. I offloaded select shots from the Sony to my phone on the train ride back home, ran them through the Blazar app, and had desqueezed images to edit with Snapseed, and then sent these to the bride and groom the same night — not final edits, but good enough for immediate sharing.

For full resolution work, unfortunately Lightroom does not yet handle anamorphic desqueezing, so I had to go the Photoshop route. I looked up a way to batch process the images using a script I found online that automated the Photoshop desqueezing process, which saved me a considerable amount of time, though if you go that route, be careful about the source.

How to Download the Blazar Desqueeze App

Google Play store
App Store for iPhone

The Wedding

The wedding gave me my first real test of the format on human subjects. Anamorphic is a very specific look. You get great separation between the subject and background, but it still isn’t a format for every subject. Shooting a solo portrait, I found the wide aspect ratio working against me. A single centered subject in an ultrawide frame leaves a lot of real estate on either side that needs to be justified compositionally. I could of course crop in and change the framing, but that would defeat some of the purpose of using this lens. The balance of subject to background feels off to me in this frame.

Where anamorphic photography earns its keep is when the environment has something to say. When the sun started to set, I was able to get images where the composition made more sense.  In the image below, I exposed for the sky and brought the subjects up in post, which gave the frame a scale that felt proportionate to the occasion. The width of the anamorphic format suddenly had something worthy of it. With him pointing into the empty space to the left of the frame, the city behind both of them, the clouds, the fading light, a standard 3:2 frame would have forced a choice between the sky and the skyline. The anamorphic didn’t.

Anamorphic Against Spherical Comparison

The two images below show the same market, Markthalle Neun in Berlin, from the exact same distance. I didn’t move to compensate for the shift in horizontal coverage. The anamorphic frame pulls in a café seating area on the left that simply doesn’t exist in the spherical image. Not because I cropped the spherical, but because the lens captures a fundamentally wider horizontal field from the same position. Again, there is a difference in the lenses as the top image was the anamorphic lens at 45mm and the bottom shot was at 50mm spherical. I will be honest and say that this is a much larger difference than I was expecting, even accounting for the 5mm lens difference.

I also made an animated gif that shows the difference even clearer. This shows not only the difference in rendering of space, but also what effect anamorphic can have. In this image and with this specific anamorphic lens, you can notice the large amount of barrel distortion and vignetting. While this might be a turnoff for many photographers or filmmakers, I personally find that the quirks of this lens work, at least for this subject. 

Matching Framing & Spatial Dynamics

My next experiment was to take the opposite approach. I had to match my anamorphic framing with my spherical lens as closely as possible. I did have to back up quite significantly. I’d say around 5-6 feet. That physical distance changed the spatial relationship between subject and background. In this example, the difference was much more what I was expecting.

While shooting at Markthalle Neun, a stretch Trabant rolled through the frame. I got the shot on the anamorphic, but didn’t have the time to switch to my spherical lens. Looking at this image afterward, it struck me that some subjects are simply made for this format. The car is inherently horizontal. It fills the width of the frame naturally. Shooting anamorphic changes what you look for. I had a feeling this would be a strong image for this format, and I’m pleased with the outcome. Also, with a spherical I would have had to use a much wider lens to get even close to this framing.

Berlin at 3am

I went out one night specifically to shoot for this article and to scout locations for an upcoming anamorphic vertical video shoot. At around 3 am, I spotted a cluster of construction cranes against the summer night sky. They looked like giants, waiting for their time to work, and the anamorphic frame suited them perfectly. The horizontal arms of the cranes have room to breathe in an ultrawide frame in a way they simply don’t in 3:2. This isn’t a subject you’d reach for with a standard lens. It’s one the format revealed.

The Spätkauf around the corner felt like an obvious candidate, wide, brightly lit, very Berlin. But this is where the format showed its limits. With nowhere further to back up, as there was a bush right behind me, the lines of the sign bend visibly toward both edges of the frame in a way that I don’t personally like. However, I bet some photographers wouldn’t mind this look. Something I learned is that to get solid anamorphic shots you need a bit of distance. In a tight urban situation where you can’t back up, the distortion compounds quickly, and trying to correct it in post kind of defeats the purpose entirely.

The Verdict

Anamorphic lenses for stills isn’t for everyone, and it shouldn’t be. It takes real experimentation to discover whether it fits your style, your workflow, and the subjects you shoot. The format has genuine limitations. It needs distance, it punishes tight spaces, and composing through a squeezed viewfinder takes a lot of practice.

But when the conditions are right, there’s a quality to the image that’s difficult to replicate any other way. A width that doesn’t feel artificially wide. A separation between subject and environment that has weight to it. A frame that makes certain subjects, such as a couple on a rooftop at sunset, construction cranes at 3 am, a stretch Trabant rolling past a Berlin market hall, feel like they were always meant to be seen this way. It’s a specific tool, not a replacement for what you already carry. But for the moments when you want a touch of cinematic weight in a still frame, it earns its place in the bag.

The post Are Anamorphic Lenses for Still Photography Worth It? appeared first on Adorama.

Yes, you have amazing scenery in front of you. However, capturing it accurately, coming up with interesting compositions, and getting all the technicalities right is challenging to say the least. As one who often got home with unsatisfactory fall photography, learning that the process of taking good photos of fog and mist starts way before leaving the house was a breakthrough.

Read along to find out how to come home with stunning photos of fog and mist while still enjoying their moody appearance.

Knowing What a Location Can Offer

You can hardly show up in an unknown location and hope to get good photos of fog and mist. You may get lucky, of course. However, on 99.9% of occasions, you need to know the location beforehand to make sure you get the shots.

When I seek locations to take photos of fog and mist, I usually consider the depth of the scenery first. That means I first take a scouting trip. I look for places that have something happening in the foreground, middle ground, and background, with maybe a few hundred meters between the layers. If the background is farther away than that, it will probably be completely hidden by fog. Not by low-hanging mist, though. That’s why I like to know what I’m dealing with in the meteorological department, too.

What Are Fog and Mist Really?

Fog is a sort of mass of suspended little water droplets or ice crystals, if it’s very cold, that limits visibility to less than 1km. It forms above the ground level (but way below the clouds) when the air cools to the ‘dew point’ and condenses into water droplets. Situations when fog appears include quick cooling of the ground overnight (which is why you often get fog in the morning), the movement of moisture-charged warm air over a cool surface (which is why you often get fog above the sea), and extreme low temperatures (the ice crystal case).

Mist is pretty much the same thing as fog, the difference being that it limits visibility to a lesser degree than fog (i.e., over 1 km) and tends to stay even closer to the ground than fog. If you prefer a less technical definition, mist is a less dense fog that dissipates fast. When you see your breath on a cold day, you see a small amount of mist that you yourself produced. Of course, nature produces larger, longer-lasting amounts of mist than you do.

Note: Don’t confound fog and mist with haze. Haze is produced by dry particles suspended in the air. It limits the visibility, too, but it’s made of dust, sand, or other dry particles, not water droplets. Hence, it has a different effect on photography.

As a result, when I choose a location for a foggy season photo session, I also consider the characteristics that improve my chances of getting fog and mist. You have to be near a large body of water, small valleys, on the right time of day, know the weather forecast, and so on.

Knowing What Compositions Work Best

When working with fog and mist, not all compositions are equally flattering. Because much of the view is usually hidden, the image may seem flat, dull, and unappealing. As there is not much happening, the viewer will glance at the photo and move on. Unless you find something to catch their attention.

My go-to type of composition is a three-layered scenery. Fog and mist naturally create a sense of depth and separation between elements, so why not take advantage of that? All you need are the elements. Look for scenes with multiple layers, such as trees in the foreground, a misty middle ground, and a distant, faded background. This layering adds a three-dimensional feel to your photos and keeps the viewer engaged for longer. As I said before, you need rather short distances between foreground, middle ground, and background. Otherwise, you’ll miss the background layer.

I also like composing with silhouettes, especially with fog. This is because the high density of fog can create a perfect backdrop for this. A lone tree on a ridge, a person walking in the distance, or a boat on a lake can all become powerful, minimalist subjects with a rich, mysterious story. A silhouette is a hook.

That’s not to say you can’t go completely minimalist and abstract and fill the frame with fog. Although a strong focal point captures the viewer’s attention, your photos may convey intense feelings without one. In its absence, textures and colors take the scene, creating a more lyrical composition.

Knowing Your Camera

Photographing fog and mist challenges your exposure skills. Your camera’s light meter may easily be fooled by all the white or gray in the scenery. Thus, it makes poor decisions. You’ll often need to overexpose by a stop or two to ensure the fog looks bright and airy, not dull and bleak. It’s one of the cases where you will need the histogram. Because you can’t rely on the camera’s light meter or your eyes, the histogram becomes the only accurate tool for checking exposure.

I advise you to stop, breathe, and take in the view. Then, decide what type of story you want to tell because the mood of your pictures strongly influences camera settings. A long exposure makes the fog look opaque, but also brighter. A wide aperture may brighten the scene, but it creates a narrow depth of field, which adds to the scene’s already blurred appearance.

Take the time to understand the harmony between the scenery and your camera because this knowledge will change the way you approach fog and mist photography. For instance, I prefer not to use too long a focal length, as everything becomes hazy and washed out in dense fog. With such a lens, you need to be close to the subject for it to be fairly visible in the fog. I find a wide-angle lens a much better choice for my style.

Knowing How to Approach Storytelling

We can’t talk about exposure and composition without touching on storytelling. Photos of fog and mist are essentially stories. You can try an aesthetic approach and focus solely on how the image looks. However, you will miss about 90% of that image’s potential (my estimation). Storytelling is key here.

So, don’t shoot only the vast landscape. Look for small details enhanced by fog that act like characters in a theater play. For example, I like spotting water droplets on spiderwebs, a single leaf with mist swirling around it, or a patch of moss on a rock. These details are very intimate and compelling. They evoke powerful emotions and create a multisensorial experience. The viewer can feel the cold, the humidity, or the softness of the moss, hear the rustling of leaves, and smell the mountain or sea air.

Ultimately, you’re not just photographing a meteorological phenomenon. You’re photographing the feeling it evokes, which may be mystery, tranquility, or a sense of solitude. See what emotions the fog brings up in you and then think about how you can use composition and subject matter to convey that mood.

The best way to go home with good photos of fog and mist is to be intentional about it and expose your own feelings. If you, like me, are happy when surrounded by fog, don’t try to create sad stories just to impress your audience. Look for fall’s amazing yellow and gold tones brightened by fog and share your joy and excitement. If you prefer dramatic contrast and shapes in fall photography, give up color altogether and create outstanding black and white compositions. Fog looks impressive in black and white, by the way. Fall has plenty of stories to tell, and those unique moments when it is embellished by fog or mist make them very special.

Final Thoughts

Fog acts as a giant natural diffuser, softening harsh light and eliminating strong shadows. This is a dream for photographers, as it allows you to shoot almost any time of day without worrying about harsh midday sun. It also makes fall’s stories even more intense, emotional, and nostalgic. It may take a bit of practice before learning how to choose a location and how to set up your gear to get beautiful photographs or fog and mist, but it’s worth it, nevertheless. In my view, it helps to approach fall photography in a very personal matter, forget about dos and don’ts, and start a conversation with the amazing nature around you. Each step reveals a unique story.

The post How to Do Better Fall Photography of Fog and Mist appeared first on Adorama.

I was thinking more about this after my editor sent me a Medium article titled “The Doorman Fallacy: The Hidden Cost of Blind Efficiency” by Dr. Cristina Imre. In it, she talks about a particular kind of organizational thinking that can look smart on paper but overlook what actually creates value.

Imre quotes behavioral economist Rory Sutherland, who gave this pattern a name in his 2019 book Alchemy: “The Doorman Fallacy.” It’s what happens, he describes, when your strategy becomes synonymous with cost-cutting and efficiency. “First,” he wrote, “you define a hotel doorman’s role as ‘opening the door’, then you replace his role with an automatic door-opening mechanism. The problem arises because opening the door is only the notional role of a doorman.”

Except, of course, that’s not really the job. The doorman also greets guests, recognizes regulars, calls taxis, makes people feel welcome, and keeps an eye on who is coming into the hotel. He gives the impression of service and status before a guest has even checked in. The door is just the most obvious thing he does….

Efficiency and Cost-Cutting vs. Creativity

Speaking earlier this year at The Drum’s Predictions 2026, Sutherland warned that businesses are sleepwalking into a future defined by cost-cutting and regulatory fear. AI, he argued, is being sold in exactly the wrong way and marketers will pay the price if they don’t push back.

 “My predictions are slightly pessimistic,” he said, before outlining what he sees as the dominant mindset across much of business. “Most businesses only have two principal modes,” he argued. “Cost reduction and regulatory paranoia. Don’t fall foul of the regulator. Don’t have a reputational disaster. Spend as little money as you can.” Marketing and innovation, he added, sit uncomfortably outside that worldview. And AI, for all the excitement around it, risks being pulled firmly into the same cost-obsessed logic. “The bill for AI is going to come due. Insane amounts of money have been spent. So how do you sell it to clients? The easiest way is cost reduction.”

Now let’s see how this applies to photography, since many of the photographers I know like using AI for tedious technical editing tasks but not for creative editing, style, or vision.

Watch the video here:

More Than Just Taking Pictures

Simply put, a photographer gets hired to take photographs. But the job can also include making a nervous subject feel calm and comfortable, being aware when someone is about to reveal something genuine, knowing when to give direction and when to move away from the person, and anticipating a moment before it happens.

Wedding photography may be the clearest example. A wedding photographer is not merely documenting a wedding. They are dealing with personalities, schedules, emotions, family dynamics, and moments that will never happen again.

Elizabeth Messina, who has built a long and successful career photographing weddings and portraiture, considers that relationship with the subject as an essential part of the job.

“That’s the part of the job that isn’t easily measurable,” she says. “But I believe you can feel it in the final images. It’s the difference between simply making a technically competent, beautiful photograph and creating an image that feels honest and genuinely reflects the person in front of you.”

Teaching More than F-Stops

That same idea extends to the way Messina teaches photography through The Arte Society, the creative community she founded. “My intention isn’t simply to give photographers more information about cameras, lighting, or technique,” she explains. “It’s also to help them examine their own work critically, understand why an image is or isn’t working, develop their own visual voice, and become part of a community. What I loved about art school was being immersed in a community of artists, making work, exchanging ideas, and learning from one another.” The Arte Society is more than education; it’s about cultivating human connection.”

Going further, Messina believes human connection will become even more valuable in her field, not less. “The reason the human doorman matters is that no two doormen are alike,” she says. “They are each a unique person, one more chatty, one more personal, one more hands-on…  It’s the same with photography and photographers. “Our differences, our individual perspectives, are what make photographs compelling. Without that individuality, photography becomes like a song with one note.”

As Sutherland pointed out during an episode of The Knowledge Project late last year, “When you pursue efficiency, generally you start looking at numerical or mechanical factors. And of course, in the process, you disregard psychological factors where the greater gains may be found. And so, you focus too heavily on cost reduction and too little on value creation.”

The Parts of Photography That Don’t Appear in the Metadata

Many photographers have the same concerns on the job: Is the image sharp enough, and is the subject in focus? Is the exposure correct? Is the color accurate? How fast can I deliver the files?

Those things matter. But some of the most important photographic decisions don’t show up in the metadata. Things like: Why did I press the shutter at that exact moment? Why did I wait? Why did I choose the imperfect frame over the more boring but perfect one?

These are judgments. And judgment is difficult to automate because it depends on context.

I explore this concept more in-depth in a previous Adorama article, “Why Human Guidance in Photography Matters So Much in the Age of AI.” Yes, AI can be incredibly good at analyzing information and identifying patterns, but that doesn’t mean it knows the context behind a decision or why one choice might matter more than another.

An algorithm can determine whether a person’s eyes are open. But can it discern if the photograph of the person’s eyes half-closed is the one that reflects who they really are?

It can identify the sharpest frame in a sequence. But is the sharpest frame necessarily the best photograph?

It may make a photograph technically cleaner. But does cleaner always mean better?

This is another point where the Doorman Fallacy seems particularly relatable to photography. We tend to assume that if something can be made more technically perfect, it automatically becomes more valuable. Or does it?

Grain, motion blur, a strange expression, or a slightly awkward composition are what can give a photograph its character. A perfectly polished image can be beautiful, but an imperfect one can feel more personal, more surprising, and trickier to reproduce.

Automate the Workflow, Not the Eye

If automation allows a photographer to spend more time with a subject, experiment with an idea, talk to a client, or look more closely, then efficiency has done exactly what it should. It has taken friction out of the creative process.

The problem is when efficiency becomes the goal itself. When the goal is simply to shoot more, edit faster, deliver sooner, make images as perfect as possible, and minimize human involvement. At that point, we may discover that we’ve optimized the wrong thing.

As Liz Masoner wrote in a recent article for Adorama on How AI Pushback is Bringing Humanity Back to Photography, “Proof of reality is replacing perfect photos. Thanks to AI, hyper-polished photos, super-saturated colors, and improbable situations spark more suspicion than wonder. As AI images flood social media, audiences are searching for authenticity, process, storytelling, and proof over perfection. I never thought I’d say it, but AI is saving humanity in photography.”

For photographers, the better question is what that efficiency gives them back. Ideally, it allows more time to do the part of the job that technology still struggles to replicate, like paying attention, making judgment calls, developing a point of view, and deciding what is worth photographing in the first place.

The camera will continue to get faster. The software will continue to get smarter. The workflow will continue to become more efficient. That’s not necessarily something to fear. It may give photographers more room to do the part of the job that matters most. It’s not merely about pressing down on the shutter. Or opening a door. In the words of Rory Sutherland: “AI risks being introduced first as a cost-cutting exercise rather than a way to improve the customer experience.”

The post Doorman Fallacy, Automate the Workflow, Not the Creativity appeared first on Adorama.

What Is the Open Gate Functionality in a Camera?

Open Gate is a feature that allows a camera to record videos using the entire area of the digital sensor. Hence, instead of getting videos at only,the aspect ratio you requested (e.g., the standard 16:9), you get video footage at a 3:2 aspect ratio from a full-frame or APS-C sensor and at a 4:3 aspect ratio from a Micro Four Thirds sensor.

Regardless of the sensor’s aspect ratio, you get more pixels, which comes in very handy in post-processing, as you’ll see later on. For example, the image below has a 3:2 aspect ratio. If you shoot 16:9, you’ll miss some of the data near the top and/or bottom edge. If you shoot vertically, 9:16, you’ll miss even more data from near the left and right edges.

The difference in aspect ratio translates into an increased resolution, such as 6K and even more, which means ultra-detailed images and endless cropping options while still getting the final videos to have high image resolutions. Why? Let’s take a camera able to record 3:2 6K in Open Gate. You get 6000 x 4000 pixels, which means a vertical 9:16 image can have a maximum height of 4000 pixels and a maximum width of 2250 pixels. A standard 9:16 4K video has 2160 x 3840 pixels, which means you can crop a 4K vertical video from the 6K Open Gate recorded footage.

What Cameras Can Record Open Gate?

Open Gate is available in mirrorless and cinema cameras. The Panasonic LUMIX GH5, released back in 2017, was the true pioneer of the format. Blackmagic added Open Gate to its lineup with the Cinema Camera 6K in 2023, around the same time as the LUMIX G9 II and Fujifilm’s X-S20. Nowadays, the feature is also present in camera models by Leica (e.g., SL3-S), Fujifilm (e.g., X-H2S), and Canon (e.g., C50). Nikon has not yet released an open gate camera, though the company has confirmed the feature is planned for its video-focused Nikon ZR in 2027.

Full-frame cinema cameras, such as the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera 6K and the new Canon C50, offer impressive 6K/36P (6048 x 4032 pixels) and 7K/30P (6960 x 4640 pixels) Open Gate recording, respectively. But even an ultra-portable mirrorless camera, such as the Panasonic LUMIX S9, with its 24.2MP full-frame sensor, records almost three times more data in Open Gate than in a regular 4K video recording mode.

Actually, the entire Lumix family offers impressive resolutions in Open Gate mode: 6.4K S1R II, 6K S5 II X, 5.8K GH7, and 5.8K G9 II, which is not a surprise, being that Panasonic is one of the first to trust in the functionality’s potential. It is worth noting that the resolutions quoted above refer to the taller, full-sensor Open Gate frame, and are separate from these same cameras’ standard 16:9 or 17:9 video modes, which top out lower.

More Cameras Worth Knowing About

Panasonic’s commitment to Open Gate runs deeper than the flagship models above. The GH5, GH5S, GH5 II, GH6, S1H, S1 II, S1 IIE and S5 II all shoot Open Gate as well, making Lumix by far the widest Open Gate lineup on the market.

Fujifilm has also expanded the feature well beyond the X-H2S, bringing it to the more affordable X-M5, X-S20 and X-T30 III, as well as to its medium-format GFX Eterna 55 cinema camera. Canon, meanwhile, has added Open Gate to its EOS R6 Mark III and R6 V, both capable of 7K Open Gate capture.

Leica’s Open Gate lineup now includes the 60-megapixel SL3-P alongside the SL3-S, and the standard SL3 gained the feature through a late-2025 firmware update. Sigma’s BF also shoots Open Gate, and on the cinema side, Blackmagic offers it across the PYXIS 6K, PYXIS 12K, URSA Cine 12K LF, and the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, 6K Pro, and 6K G2.

Perhaps the biggest shift came in 2026, when Sony added Open Gate to the FX5, marking the company’s first camera with the feature after years of sitting out the trend while Panasonic, Fujifilm, and others built out their Open Gate lineups.

Sensor Size and Image Circle

Of course, cameras with smaller sensors will transfer the disadvantage in the Open Gate’s performance, but still, setting aside the crop factor, Open Gate provides much more detail, higher resolutions, and plenty of room for editing.

Camera model aside, you need to consider the range of compatible lenses, too. If the lens’s image circle is too small for the full size of the sensor, the camera won’t record correctly in Open Gate mode (e.g., optic issues, vignetting, etc.). It happens with some spherical and anamorphic lenses, so make sure you choose compatible ones, such as the CN-R series for C50, Leica L-mount lenses for Lumix S9, Sigma Art lenses for Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera 6K, and so on.

How to Use Open Gate Shooting

Open Gate shooting (you’ll find it in camera menus under full sensor readout or Open Gate mode, depending on the camera’s brand) dictates the way you record videos. Instead of recording the same footage at different aspect ratios for, say, YouTube and social media, you will record it just once at the full height and width of the camera’s sensor. In addition, you won’t need a special rig for vertical filming. The camera can stand on a standard one and shoot horizontally, as most of them are designed to, and you still get vertical footage regardless.

The challenge comes with framing because you need something to let you know when the subject is or is not in the potential future cut area. However, all it takes is a read of the camera manual because manufacturers thought about this. LUMIX S9, for instance, comes with a wide range of Frame Markers that appear over the scene while recording, so you can keep the subject in the area where it will be in the final video. C50 also has built-in frame markers, such as 16:9 and 9:16, and grids, which may be helpful as well.

Editor’s Note: I reached out to LUMIX, who sent the above image and the following quote:

“Then, with our Real Time LUTs which allow you to preview and apply signature color presets directly in-camera instantly, you can essentially capture color-graded content in all aspect ratios with Open Gate, transfer that content instantly from the camera to the smartphone via the LUMIX Lab App and post to social within seconds.”

Give Yourself Space

If you don’t want to rely on markers, remember that if you have the subject in the center of the frame, Open Gate shooting will give you more data above and below it than a standard 16:9 recording and more data on its right and left sides than a 9:16 recording. These are the areas you’ll crop in post-processing. Keep the subject as close to the center of the frame as possible to satisfy all the aspect ratios you consider.

Take a close look at the background, too, because the depth of field may differ. Framing a tall subject using a landscape-oriented aspect ratio, such as 3:2, may require moving the camera further away from the subject, which results in a deeper depth of field. It’s not that a deeper depth of field is bad, but you should be aware of it and make informed decisions.

Editing Open Gate

Once you have the footage, you need to edit it. The obvious edit is to crop the footage to the exact aspect ratio you need for each medium (e.g., 16:9 for YouTube, 9:16 for TikTok, 1:1 for Instagram, etc.). However, due to the ultra-high resolution of your footage, you can do other interesting edits, such as reframing, panning, and zooming. The resulting video will still have a high resolution and professional look. Alongside the huge reduction in shooting time, this creative freedom is what made Open Gate such a success. Just imagine shooting a live event and going home with the footage to realize you should have shot it vertically. You’d be happier with Open Gate footage.

Although it is very easy to switch to Open Gate shooting and improve your video production workflow instantly, the functionality comes with a few drawbacks. First of all, recording at these ultra-high resolutions requires faster transfer rates (e.g., over 200Mbps), which means you will have to use fast CFexpress cards. You will also need more storage space for your video files, both on the memory card and your computer or online storage solution. In addition, capturing all this data takes a toll on the camera. It needs a good cooling system to get by, but even so, you can’t avoid sensor wear.

More Images Area, More Storage Space

Processing larger files takes a powerful computer and complex editing software. Yes, you get more data to work with, which is nice, but you need advanced tools to do so, which may come at a cost.

Nevertheless, the Open Gate recording is not something you do unless you need it, so don’t let the drawbacks stop you. For instance, if you only need one aspect ratio, there is no need to shoot Open Gate regularly and wear the sensor.  If you perform minimal editing on your videos and don’t have the required processing power (or the need for it), again, there is no need to use this feature. But if you want it and plan to use it all the time, it may be a lifesaver.

Final Thoughts

Open Gate caught my attention because it offers significant advantages, albeit only for a particular category of content creators. But if you seek flexibility and efficiency, have a steady video production workflow, and have the means to process large data volumes (e.g., robust hardware, storage solutions, advanced video editing software, etc.), give it a try. If you need to repurpose footage in various aspect ratios, give it serious thought. The creative possibilities Open Gate provides may elevate the professionalism and versatility of your work.

The post How to Use Open Gate to Improve Your Videos appeared first on Adorama.

MFT cameras from Olympus and Panasonic stand out as great equalizers for gear minimalists, budget-conscious shooters, and solo filmmakers. Plus, it makes photography more accessible for many facing physical disabilities. Still, it’s not always the right choice in every type of photography.

What Is the Micro Four Thirds System?

We’ve been chasing more in photography for decades. More pixels, more battery life, more dynamic range, and more lens options. Micro Four Thirds ticks a lot of boxes, but not all of them.

Micro Four Thirds was the brainchild of Olympus and Panasonic over a decade ago, and uses a shared lens mount for wider lens availability.

At 17.3 x 13.0 mm, MFT sensors are much smaller than full-frame sensors or even APS-C at 23.5 x 15.6 mm (22.2 x 14.8 mm for Canon) and have a 2x crop factor. This effectively doubles the reach of lenses, affecting depth of field and bringing in some diffraction issues. Also, MFT sensors are in a 4:3 ratio instead of 3:2.

Generally, MFT cameras have fewer megapixels than their full-frame cousins. Still, they use a lot less power, and cameras are often packed with extra goodies using that surplus power, like the Lumix G9II’s amazingly advanced IBIS. 

That smaller sensor also means more noise and diffraction challenges, however. Like most things in photography, that’s not a deal breaker; it just means adjustments have to be made. In the words of Genie in Disney’s Aladdin, “Phenomenal cosmic powers! Itty bitty living space.”

The Vibe: The Experience of Shooting MFT

As a confirmed gear minimalist, I love Micro Four Thirds for an everyday carry camera. They are typically lightweight and small enough to leave slung over my shoulder or tucked in whatever bag I have for the day, and with the 2x crop, carrying an emergency zoom for random birds is easily doable. For me, MFT is a great way to find the joy in shooting again.

Weight

I got into photography way back in the land-before-time days of manual film cameras, so I’m no stranger to heavy cameras. Back then it was metal everywhere, and your gear doubled as a self-defense bludgeoning weapon. 

Cameras have gotten leaner and meaner, but MFT takes it to a new level of portability. From compacts small enough for your pocket, like the Panasonic Lumix LX100, to more robust DSLRs and mirrorless bodies, weight is minimal. 

Not only is that great for an everyday carry camera or saving weight on a long hike, it also makes photography much more accessible for folks with physical challenges.

A lighter body and smaller lenses mean less strain on wrists and shoulders, and many MFT bodies are compact enough to operate comfortably one-handed, something that matters a great deal if arthritis, tremor, or limited grip strength make a full-size DSLR or full-frame mirrorless kit exhausting to hold up for a full shoot.

Unobtrusive and Overperforms Against Perception

Smaller, lighter MFT gear works fabulously for street photography as well. Your gear is far less obtrusive and draws less attention, making it easier to get shots without fielding a million questions from passersby. 

The downside is that you don’t necessarily look like a pro to the untrained eye at events. When there’s a line of shooters using giant lenses on monopods, and you stroll up and start shooting handheld with a lens about the length of legal paper, like the 150-600mm OM M.Zuiko, you get a lot of side-eye. And I mean a LOT.

The Extras

Smaller sensors mean less power needed to capture images and process them. With that extra power, Olympus and Panasonic are packing tons of extra features into cameras. For example, in-camera LUTS (like Leica Monochrome in the Lumix G9II), built-in neutral density filters (ND), and high-resolution composite shooting.  

One of the features really benefiting from that power surplus is outstanding IBIS. Some MFT cameras have powerful enough IBIS for up to around 1 second handheld images in some situations. And that’s something my gear-minimalist heart just loves. Anytime I can leave the tripod at home and still get the shot, I’m a happy tog.

The Tech Bits: What MFT Technical Concerns Affect Your Photos

Like any camera system, there are ups and downs to shooting on Micro Four Thirds. Whether it’s for you depends on what you are shooting and the type of output you need in those situations. For me, the biggest technical adjustments with Micro Four Thirds landed squarely at crop factor, depth of field, diffraction, noise, dynamic range, and lens availability.

The MFT Sensor: 2x Crop Factor

Micro Four Thirds is very much an equivalent system. It leans into the 2x crop factor of the smaller sensor, complete with fewer pixels than many full-frame cameras on the market. Lumix cameras tend to run in the 25MP range while OM trends around 20MP. But paired with the crop factor, which doubles the lens reach, it works.

Yes, getting 600mm equivalent reach with a 300mm is pretty much the same as cropping out roughly half of your image from a full-frame camera. But we all know the dirty little secret of photography is that everybody crops. The only question is how much you crop. 

With MFT, you have less cropping room quality-wise after shooting, but with the added reach, cropping may not be necessary.

F-Stops: Same Aperture, Different Results

Apertures are picky with MFT. It is truly the biggest adjustment I have to make to my shooting style any time I shoot MFT. When shooting MFT, the depth of field is effectively bumped two stops (roughly), but your exposure isn’t markedly changed. This is primarily because you need to stand further back to capture the same frame (as full frame), and distance to subject is a huge part of DOF.

That means that if you shoot on f4, you get about the same depth of field as f8 on a full-frame system. For large depth-of-field scenes like landscapes, that’s fabulous. But if you need deep bokeh to hide an ugly background, it can get tricky. You really have to pay careful attention to settings for depth-of-field management.

Diffraction

Technically an aperture issue, I wanted to point this out on its own. While deeper depth of field helps your focus many times, playing on the edges of your lens’s f-stop range is playing with fire in MFT. 

Like squinting your eyes, there’s a point it helps you focus and a point where it makes everything blurry again. With Micro Four Thirds, you tend to hit the point where stopping down starts to diffract the light and create soft focus faster than on full-frame cameras. 

Noise

The smaller sensor collects less light, and that affects signal-to-noise ratio. Plus, there’s just less sensor surface. The end result is you start to notice noise at lower ISOs than full-frame systems. I knew that going in, but how early it became noticeable surprised me. Of course, exact ISO thresholds vary by body and sensor generation, so your mileage may vary.

Most bodies do a good job of noise handling for in-camera JPEG processing. If you shoot RAW, you’ll want an editing program with good noise reduction options, especially if you tend to deliberately slightly underexpose to give yourself more editing leeway.

Dynamic Range

On paper, Micro Four Thirds should have about two stops less dynamic range capability than full frame sensors. However, in shooting, I’ve found that most of the time MFT returns a fairly nicely nuanced dynamic range right out of the camera that struggles more with shadows than highlights. That said, final results will largely depend on the contrast of the scene and how a specific camera body handles processing a scene.

Universal Lenses (Mostly)

Lens availability keeps photographers with specific brands. Micro Four Thirds gives you extra choices when looking for the best lenses since MFT lenses fit all MFT cameras regardless of brand. However, while autofocus (AF), exposure metering, and EXIF should be fine, there are some limitations.

Limits typically come in with:

• Image stabilization (IS): Optical image stabilization (OIS) lenses may not sync properly with in-body image stabilization when crossing brands.
• Physical aperture rings: The physical aperture rings on some Lumix lenses won’t function on OM bodies.
• Advanced features: Some in-camera features, such as focus stacking with OM, might not work with cross-brand lenses.
• Function buttons: Programmable function buttons might not work when crossing brands.

Micro Four Thirds in the Real World: Best (and Worst) Photography Genres

Truly, you can use Micro Four Thirds for any type of photography, but there are genres where MFT truly shines and a few where drawbacks become noticeable.

Photography Genres Where Micro Four Thirds Shines

• Street photography: Small and unobtrusive, MFT keeps you out of the subject’s notice.
• Handheld video shoots: The IBIS systems help even the playing field for video without gimbals or other stabilization gear.
• Travel photography: Portability, flexibility, and great IBIS make MFT a great choice.
• Wildlife and nature photography: MFT works well for most wildlife and nature photography, and the physically shorter lenses make gear much more portable.

Photography Genres Where Micro Four Thirds Shows Its Limits

• Fashion and beauty photography: In a world where micro-touchups are common, better dynamic range capabilities and more MP than MFT offer are usually called for.
• Sports photography: This is kind of a mixed bag. Daytime outdoor events wouldn’t be as much of an issue for MFT, but indoor events with poor lighting play havoc with Micro Four Thirds noise issues at high ISOs.
• Architecture and real estate photography: The focal length doubling causes problems here because of the need for wide-angle shots.
• Astrophotography and night photography: It can be done and done well; Olympus even has the OM-3 ASTRO with a modified infrared-cut filter designed for astrophotography. However, MFT low-light and noise issues are more pronounced overall.

The bottom line is that it’s about finding the right overall system for you, not just the sensor size. Micro Four Thirds isn’t going to be right for everyone in every situation, but it sure is a lot of fun to play with, and it opens up the world for many with strength or mobility challenges. Check out Sarah Teng’s OM-3 review to see how MFT can fit into your lifestyle.

Ready to see if MFT fits your kit? Browse Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses from OM System and Panasonic to find the setup that matches how, and where, you actually shoot.

The post Why Micro Four Thirds Still Delivers appeared first on Adorama.