CouchRocket made me go to the Car Show

[azkaisr]

I set off yesterday in a quest to replace my beat up Nikon Cool Pix that has served me well as a pocket camera for the past few years. My initial intent was to maybe go bigger and get a G10 but upon getting to the local camera shop here in town, the owner told me about the Panasonic DMC-FX37 he had on sale.

 

 

It is a worthy little camera that fits in my pocket great and has a Leica lens an shoots 16:9.

 

Diane's parents wanted to go to the Phoenix Car show so I had my first chance to try the little guy out!

 

Lets see what was there...

 

Ooo an Austin Martin!

 

The interior of these cars is what always gets me. Still not worth the price tag, but I am a sucker for wood in a car dash

 

The R8 from Audi. Made me think of "Top Gear"

 

I was impressed by the little KIA Soul. It took the concept that the SCION has and made it more ascetically pleasing to me. I was amazed at how much room it has inside too. And fully loaded it will be like $20K. Diane thought it was still a box with wheels.

 

I couldn't afford a bigger picture

Besides, I am still not really into Italian Cars...

Not that I can take it up the Burr Trail, but riding in this up 12 would be worthy.

Speaking of Torrey. I bet 99.9% of the people at the show have no idea where it is. Thank god.

They have just spent several years working on the civic center downtown. I thought the old church was sort of cool surrounded by new buildings

There is still a cult following for this car.

Dodge's next concept 4x4. Looks like it could be right out of 1944.

Diane really fell for the new VW Cabrio. While she also really liked the Toyota Matrix, I think this has a better chance to be in the stable when the lease on her Honda is over next year. It just is a lot more fun of a car.

She looks great in it!

 

From there we went back to her folks where we discovered this little guy

Diane of course has no fear of these guys and just picks him right up. Turns out to be a shedding night snake.

 

Hope you enjoyed the show.

 

Kaisr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[David]

There are some remarkable pictures in that batch, especially the one of the two towers behind the glass and the interior of the convertible with the yellow seat. Did you bump up the saturation much on those?

 

I have the Leica version of that camera, but I don't get shots like that.

[Bullett]

I vote for the Cabrio for Diane, as well. I love convertibles!

 

On the other hand, what on earth is Chevrolet thinking. That has to be the ugliest Camaro ever; looks like a cross between the new Chrysler 300 and the old Chevy SS.

 

Edit: OMG! I guess I never realized the SS was the original Camaro.

[azkaisr]

There are some remarkable pictures in that batch, especially the one of the two towers behind the glass and the interior of the convertible with the yellow seat. Did you bump up the saturation much on those?

 

I have the Leica version of that camera, but I don't get shots like that.

 

I did move it up some but not a whole lot. I am really happy with the camera. The Red of the Ferrari seemed to give it some issues but otherwise it has needed little adjustment. I am still figuring out how to set ISO on the thing to get it less then MAX800. Guess I need to read the book afterall

 

I think moving slower then normal helped me "see" more shots. I just wish I could have bent down better to have taken more.

 

 

 

Thanks for the kind words. I am rather pleased with the results of the little guy so far and can't wait to see how it does on some outdoor shots. I think it will become fast friends with the Gorilla pod.

 

 

 

[David]

I wonder if another ingredient in those great shots is the white balance. It wouldn't surprise me if the auto show people know exactly what color temperature to use to enhance the pictures.

 

That Lumix looks to be in a smaller package than my Leica, too.

[keithb]

Do you guys know if VW has come out with a new sedan? I saw what I think was a VW sedan that looked really nice on the road last week. It reminded me of the Mercedes that is very sloped (S500?) from the front of the car to the back especially the roof.

[azkaisr]

Yeah it is called the CC. They are really a 4 door Coupe. Fully loaded, and I mean FULLY, it is under $50k and is a car that I will consider. The car beyond Diane sitting in the EOS is it. Rumors are also floating that it will have a Turbo Diesel in 2010.

Pretty cool car

[Lets_Play_Two]

The VW EOS is a great car. My wife has had one for two years. Now that Sirius and XM have merged my only complaint about it has been removed.

 

The 2.0T gets up and goes and there is still a fair amount of trunk space even with the top down. Back seat only suitable for family pets however!!! Or camera gear.

[Couchrocket]

Tom,

 

That camera sucks... you should throw it away, er, send it to me for evaluation!

 

What sort of ISO were you using? I see some chroma noise in some of them, but nothing that LR won't deal with nicely. They are amazing little machines, especially since they are truly pocket-able.

 

 

[azkaisr]

I was at ISO 800 Scott. I have since read the instructions and can now make things a little less noisy. I will be glad to send this out to you. All you have to do is send me the G10.

 

I am here to please

[Couchrocket]

I was at ISO 800 Scott. I have since read the instructions and can now make things a little less noisy. I will be glad to send this out to you. All you have to do is send me the G10.

 

I am here to please

 

For ISO800 those shots look just fine! Very good performance for such a small sensor. I'm impressed. Now you just need an itty-bitty Arca-Swiss plate for the bottom so you can slap that sucker on your tripod!