More Italy with the Panny 20mm 1.7

Moto Morini at a flea market in Assisi
Panny 20mm 1.7 @ f/2

More scenes from Italy made with the Panny 20mm 1.7 :

Faster than a speeding bullet...

Well, maybe not quite that fast. But rocks and bugs and such coming at you on the road can catch you unawares, and the proper gear can really make your day...

Impact!

I never saw it coming, and still don't know what it was. But I certainly heard it hit me. I assume it was some stone flying off a vehicle's tire. This is why full-face helmets rock, boys and girls. This was nothing more than a blip, barely caught my attention. I can assure you the experience in an open-face helmet, or none at all (yikes) would have been very different.

The force of impact took a good, deep chunk out of the helmet's finish, down to the composite layer.
Glad it wasn't my jaw instead...my lovely visage remains intact

Italy Highlights...

I thought I'd share a few select photos from my recent trip to Italy, many made with my recently acquired Panasonic Lumic G 20mm/f1.7, and all made with the Olympus EPL-2...

Altar of the Fatherland Monument, Rome

St. Peter's Square from the cuppola of St. Peter's Basilica

Michelangelo's Pieta, in St. Peter's

Dome of St. Peter's across the Tiber from Ponte Sant'angelo

Foro Romano at night, from above the Portico Dii Consentes

Growing thunderhead above Ponte Vittorio, Rome

Santa Maria Del Fiori from Giotto's Campanile (belltower)

Benedictine Church of St. Peter in Assisi

Piazza del Campo, Siena, from atop the unfinished 14th c. extension wall of the Duomo

Today's Photo...

A venerable R90/6 on Duke's West Campus
December 10th, 2013
Lumix G 20mm/F1.7 @ f/2.0 (that's one sharp lens)

NC State Fair with the Pana 20mm

1/6 @ f/5.6

We got a small window of freedom last Sunday, which allowed us a very, very short visit to the State Fair. I brought along my new Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens to get used to using it as my new walk-around lens.
Overall, I was pleased with the experience, even though using this lens will certainly take some getting used to. The format (fixed focal length, 40mm equiv) was ideal for walking around, just wide enough to show context in most photos, but not too wide as to cause noticeable distortions. The most problematic things were the slow auto-focus in dim light, and remembering that I now would have to resort to "zooming with my feet" to properly crop what I wanted to see.
My resulting photos weren't too interesting, as I wasn't "shooting" the fair, but simply using it as an excuse to experiment with the new lens. Still, from a technical standpoint, most turned out just fine.
A small gallery follows:

New Lens - LUMIX G 20mm / F1.7 ASPH

Tiny lens that's big on performance...

For initial thoughts on my newest lens acquisition, read on...

Ah, the smell of leather in the morning...

"Found" image from Google Images, chosen
because my best memories of motorcycling
include having Pillion along.

For quite a few years now, my riding apparel has consisted primarily of textiles, and mesh/vented textiles at that. Living and riding in the Southeast, there are many, many more warm humid riding days than there are dry, cool ones; so mesh technology has been a great boon to my increased riding comfort. While trading off the ultimate protection of road-grade leathers, armored textile riding gear still provides very good protection, while also being much lighter, cooler and in some cases, more waterproof than leather.
But with the cooling temps approaching as we head into fall (my favorite season by far!), I pulled out my old classic Schott "Perfecto" leather jacket for the last few rides. Still fits great, and the sheer weight and thickness of it makes me feel invincible, like I'm wearing mithril from middle earth. But the best part is the smell of it as the jacket heats up in the sunlight. That classic leather smell, mixed with the aroma of burning petrol as I cut a few curves this morning, took me right back to my early riding days, learning to ride and wrench on my '78 CB750. The feel and smell of the Schott, and the memories it revives, and the very experience of remembering, are just more reasons I love riding.