A few S5 night tests

Why have a great camera on one's shelf when Aurora is showing off and a bright comet is doing its thing? 

I've picked up a G100 μ43 body since it also uses the Lumix Sync app to download images. It does a fine job and I'm more familiar with its workings. The S5 is similar in its Lumix-ness but massively more complex, and I haven't read every corner of the user manual yet. Still, I often learn the hard way - so off I went into the darkness to shoot the sky. 

Early images were uninspired but a bank of higher clouds left around midnight PDT on 10/11th October - and things got interesting in a hurry! I test-drove many ISO and shutter options with the 20-60mm zoom at 20mm f/3.5, and captured plenty of red and green glow in the wide field. I switched to my Pentax 28/2.8 for a while but skies were bright enough for f3.5 so the zoom got most of the action. I even tried a few videos which haven't been reviewed yet(!).

 Jpeg and Raw images compared 

Then I remembered time lapse. I'd wanted to try that in May's auroral storm but 1230am isn't my sharpest for memory. I set up about 100 shots with 10 seconds between them and off it went. Now and then I adjusted the shutter speed as the glow pulsed. When finished it asked if I wanted a video, Yes I Do!! I chose 3fps so it lasts about 33 seconds, and it's excellent!

Not bad for guessing at some features that I didn't fully know how to work yet.

Ten days later I was out seeking comet Tsuchinshan/Atlas as it receded from the neighborhood. I'd seen it a few days prior, but the G100 took that job. It did nice work, but again: why not use the Max camera for these few faint photons? 

Skies were again striped with high clouds, but after 15min things improved. I took many nice shots (oops, jpeg only!) as it dropped near the trees. The clouds returned after 20 minutes of decent clarity, so we returned home. I only brought the DA70 lens since it's bright at f/2.4.. but for a second time I missed my 85/2 lens for a night of sky records. It's around here someplace!!