Dodgy door locks and roses.

I was waiting for the locksmith to arrive (it's a long story!) so I thought I'd give the TZ40 a bit of exercise.

TZ40         1:1

Both shots have been post processed, using the Google+ implementation of Snapseed, on my Chromebook. To be honest this has now become my normal method of workflow.

TZ40                16:9

I really can't say why, but I rarely shoot in 16:9 format. Seeing this outcome though I think I'll try using it more often.

For the love of flowers...

I think these blooms can speak for themselves.

Oak Leaf Geranium.
FZ200 with +2 close up lens, iso 100 1/250 @ f2.8

FZ200 with +2 close up lens, iso 100 1/200 @f2.8

Both photos were taken handheld and when I took the rose shot it was really quite windy. I use the close up lens to enable me to get just that little bit closer and fill the frame to my satisfaction.

Comparing the Lumix TZ40 and FZ200.

I don't wish to pass any value judgements here, but rather to allow any viewer to decide for themselves what they think of these two images, and which they might prefer.

Both photographs were taken hand held using (not very good) natural light from a north facing window. Both cameras were set to program mode and zoomed to x3. In addition the TZ40 was set to macro mode and iso 400, whilst I used a +4 close up lens on the FZ200 which was set to iso 320.

TZ40, 1/25 @ f5.2

FZ200, 1/40 @ f2.8

Perhaps I should also say a word or two about my current workflow. In recent months I have tried to simplify my everyday photo' work flow, and to that end I am currently using an Acer C720 Chromebook and Google+ for handling my photographs.

I shoot exclusively in JPG and then save the image files to both a usb stick (for simple, quick access to them) and an external hard drive for archiving. The images can then be previewed on the Chromebook, and those I wish to currently use are uploaded to Google+. Once there, post processing is carried out using the Chrome OS implementation of Snapseed within Google+.

It's simple, straight forward and doesn't involve paying Adobe (or anybody else) huge wads of money, not that I would wish to stop anyone from doing that if they so desire.

Meeting my computing needs.

Pentax K7.

I have been using a couple of different sized HP laptops running Linux Mint for quite some time and I continue to be very satisfied with them. However back in January I added an Acer C720 Chromebook to the family, to satisfy my curiosity about Chrome OS more than anything.

Much to my surprise the little chromebook has since then become the first computer I pick up, and I find I'm rarely using the others except for those few tasks which I can't manage on it. I really enjoy it's small size and weight, it's amazing battery life and the way that you open the lid and it's on - zero boot up time, brilliant! It resides by the side of my chair where it's ready and willing all the time.

As always, there are lots of people out there who will tell you that chrome isn't a proper operating system and that you are severely limited in what you can do with it. What is it with these people? Trust me, most of what they say is rubbish. I've even used it to upgrade the firmware on my Pentax K7, I just pretended it was a mac! Just about the only things that I can't do with the chromebook are rip cds, print directly from it and edit video. Of these printing would be possible with a change of printer, but I print so little these days I'll put up with what I've got thank you, I save to google drive then download and print from one of the HP's. Editing video is also just about possible using an online app', but the parlous speed of my internet connection, courtesy of BT, means it's a non starter really, much easier to edit using 'avidemux' on one of the HP's. Which leaves cd ripping, again something which I seem to do less and less these days, that simply isn't possible using chrome. Alternatives abound though. Google play downloads sound pretty good to me and websites such as that by Linn, which I've used frequently, offer much higher resolutions if you need them.

Would I buy another one, definitely. Would I like to see some improvements, certainly. Especially a higher res' screen. My advice to anyone considering giving a chromebook a try is go for it, I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised.