The Very Talented Mr Bester

One of the guests at our Web 2 lunch this Easter just gone was Marc Bester. The last photograph on that blog post is of Marc' stunning house made chocolates. Well, he is not just a great cook, he is also a very talented photographer as the picture above and the ones that follow demonstrate.

Now I know next to nothing about photography and any good pics I get for our blog are the result of my taking many shots and having had the good fortune to purchase last year a Panasonic Lumix DMC ZR 1. But I am looking to improve. So it was, that when I saw an amazing nature still taken by Marc last weekend I asked him about his camera.

Marc very kindly sent me this link to the site for the camera he has now taken 15,000 pictures with. It's also a Panasonic Lumix but it's an LX3. The Leica lens on the Lumix cameras is outstanding and the LX3 is able to focus closer than a standard digital SLR and so is probably the best compact camera some one with my penchant for food could own.

As can be seen from the pictures above the camera is also, (if you'll pardon the pun), brilliant for taking sharp food shots in low light. All this Marc explained to me. And he lent me all these images to prove it.

These luscious strawberries also bear witness to the camera's ability to take wonderfully sharp images in good light. I just love taking photographs of fruit and desserts and the selection of Marc's pics below are evocative and mouth watering.

Now the Panasonic Lumix LX3 is about to be superseded by the LX5 due out later this month. So check it out here. At a rrp of probably $650 - $700 AUD it represents good value for some one who only wants to own a compact but wants to take professional quality shots. And make no mistake it's not just a camera for food - the photographs Marc takes on his regular bushwalking expeditions and shares with his Web 2 friends are some of the best I have ever seen. Have a look at Marc's collection on Flickr