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For the past 5 years, I’ve been using a DSLR as my “real camera”. It started when I bought the Canon Rebel and then a few years back I bought the 40d. It’s an amazing camera that is fast & flexible. I have three very different lenses for almost every situation. It takes beautiful pictures.

But there is a problem with the 40d. It’s big & heavy and I end up leaving it home a lot. It’s not easy to carry that thing when I’m running around with three kids.

So the iPhone ends up taking a ton of photos which isn’t great. Sure, it’s excellent for the casual snapshot but I love photography, getting the right light and making pictures. 

My brother has been excited about the micro four thirds system for some time now. He’s a doctor by day and as a hobby runs a micro four thirds message board. He’s been pushing me for the past year. 

A week ago I took the plunge and bought my first micro four thirds camera - the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 (honestly, who names these things).

Quick review: easy, fast, small and takes great pictures. 

My 10 year old daughter took a bunch of shots today. It’s so fast that even in auto mode it didn’t require a flash indoors. 

Here’s a few indoor shots that Sophia took besides this funny self portrait. 

Me / Our dog / James jumping (no flash) 

I absolutely love this camera. It’s light and the 20mm lens that comes with the camera is sweet. Autofocus is fast. It takes HD video. 

Right now the only thing I miss about the 40d for everyday shots is the view finder. The view finder comes in handy on sunny days and some old habits die hard I guess. I’ll probably only use the 40d when I need my telephoto lens - otherwise I’m all about the GF1.

I highly recommend this camera if you are looking for an amazing camera but don’t want to lug around a DSLR, You won’t be disappointed. 

DPS has some great tips for taking photographs of children.

I’m still learning but I try to keep these in mind whenever I’m out with my little ones.

I took this photo of james earlier today before going sledding.

I’ve been playing around with low-light (no flash) photography for awhile and trying to get better. Mostly putting my Canon 40D in P-mode and cranking the ISO way up. This cupcake photo would have been pretty bad if I turned on the flash.

I sent my brother a few recent pix to review and he gave me some good tips. Now I’m gonna practice spot metering, adjusting light source & modifying the exposure compensation.

My brother is a very good photographer and runs Serious Compacts. It has a ton of great info about prosumer comact cameras.

He just started a new message board for Zeiss lens owners. Zeiss now makes lenses for Sony, Nikon, Canon, and Pentax.  They also make a couple film cameras and lenses for those cameras, plus there are a lot of classic Zeiss cameras and lenses.

So if that interests you, head on over to Zeiss User Forums.

I’ve blogged & tweeted a bunch about the Tmobile G1 powered by Android.

My dad just picked up a different G1. It’s the new Panasonic DMC G1. My brother has a link on his blog of a review of this new camera.

It takes great photos. Here’s my dog Jackson. Shot in low light, ISO 400.

For the past year, I’ve been using three cameras. For serious photography, I use my Canon EOS 40D. For everything else I use the iPhone. I still have a compact Canon SD800is that I use from time to time. Especially when I’m on the run and I know I’m going to need a flash. Lauren uses it more than me at this point.

The Panasonic G1 won’t replace my 40d and it’s too big for every day use.

At least for me. 

But it’s still a fine camera if you don’t want a big DSLR. My dad really likes it and he’s a big time shutterbug.

It also comes with a big, beautiful flip out LCD.