Thru the Eye of the Zuiko

Zuiko and It's Time

2012-01-24T00:49:00.000+08:00

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I have to admit, it has been quite a while since I held my E-5!

I guess I have been too busy doing other things that I had time to do some photography with it. First it was the XZ-1, then later it was the Sony arc S. No doubt photography is possible with such simple device, especially with the mobility and connectivity it has to quickly make the images available on any social media sites. Somehow, there was something missing in terms of satisfaction and exuberance.

I guess it's time to get back to basic photography. Get back to simple pleasures of the exposure triangle. I miss this with the cameraphone.

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED 14-35mm F2.0

35mm, f/2.0, 1/20s, ISO400, -0.3ev

This image reverberates my desire to seriously shoot again. The simplicity, the balance, and the timelessness. To me, these are what photography means to me. Forget about the world for a while.

Take a chill.

Keep cool.

Relax.

Expand the mind.

It was not difficult to create the image. Just focus on the composition, the mood and the focus. Let the effects done by the Art Filters. Just focus on the basics. No need to photoshop the image. Just shoot.

Snap. Process. Upload.

Hmmmm... though the steps are not as fast as my Sony arc S, somehow the workflow kind of work for me. All in-camera and only uploading is done with the SD card transferred into my netbook.

Not bad!!

iZuiko and a View Out of the Window

2011-06-29T22:34:00.003+08:00

Take a peek outside... the window.

There's nothing much to see actually from my room. Just the neighbor's house, a mirror view of my own house!

That's the typical view of a Malaysian suburban house, terrace mostly.

XZ-1, 6mm, f/4, 1/800s, ISO100, Grainy Film Art Filter

And would you believe if I say that my house has appreciated in value from a mere RM330,000 to RM650,000 in just less than 5 years? Well, such is the bloated price for houses in Klang Valley has become, it makes most people cringe! That's the reality. Whilst other price of goods have steadily risen in double digits annually for the past couple of years, the price of land and property is much more staggering.

To survive in Klang Valley now takes more than just a good paying job, a middle-income earner needs to have strong financial support from other sources, if he/she yearns for a house! To think that the starting salary for most jobs has not changed much for the past 15 years says a lot too. When I started work back in '96, I was paid RM2,600 a month. Guess what? A fresh grad is getting the same amount now, in '11!

Take a peek through the window...

The harsh reality for the next 15 years? I wouldn't know, but I think it will get harder every time!

Zuiko and Picnik

2011-05-24T13:31:00.004+08:00

I have been using the Picnik software in flickr.com for quite a while.

And, I love it.

There are so many effects that can be used to make the picture more alive and stand out. Or quickly get some special effects that require hours using Photoshop, rather.

Click HERE to see the full picture.

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED7-14mm F4.0

7mm, f/5.6, 1/1600s, ISO200, -0.3ev

From the original picture, I crop it from 4:3 into 16:9 to give the cinematic effect. Then, changed the tonal and focal impact using the Orton Effect filter and added vignetting to the sides to emphasize more on the central subject.

That's all to it... Well, other than using a super-duper ultra-wide lens, that is!!

i.Zuiko and Contrasting Flowers

2011-05-24T13:16:00.004+08:00

This was taken quite a while ago. I was embraced with the contrasting colors of the flowers and grass. The brown leaf gave a contradiction of colors to the whole composition, which to me added some dimension to the image.

XZ-1 with 6mm, f/3.5, 1/800s, ISO100

i.Zuiko at the Pediatrician's

2011-05-24T12:48:00.004+08:00

What I like about pediatricians is that they provide play areas for the kids while waiting for treatment. And usually, the play areas are filled with strong colors.

11mm (25mm 4/3 equiv.), f/2.0, 1/13s, ISO200, PopArt filter

My wife and I always frequent this clinic at SS19 Subang Jaya because the doctor has excellent injection skills. So, whenever jabs are due, this is the place. His touch is very delicate for quite a large man, and both of us are quite amazed, actually.

i.Zuiko and Kucing Longkangan

2011-05-24T12:34:00.003+08:00

Well, it has a been a while since I posted my last entry. I am kind of busy with things lately, not much chance to pick up the camera and shoot.

Somehow, one day, I managed to make this shot.

24mm (56mm 4/3 equiv.), f/2.5, 1/80s, ISO200

What I liked most about this picture was the tone. The bright sky with the evening sun blocked by the row of houses provided a beautiful tonal rendition that was begging to be taken.

I was in the midst of finding a subject to shoot in such a situation, and suddenly the cat jumped into the drain. Rummaging through the scraps, it searched in vain to find food. I took a couple of shots, and to me this pose was just the one I was looking for.

i.Zuiko and a Video

2011-02-28T07:15:00.003+08:00

I am not much of a videographer... well, since the XZ-1 sports an HD video camera, here's a shot of a recent lion dance at the office.

The XZ-1 supports 720p resolution with Motion JPEG format. The lens zoom and tracking focus worked well during video shoot, and I was very pleased with the results.

Quite an interesting show, especially when the lion started to jump on top of the stilts.

Till next year...

i.Zuiko and Photography Class

2011-02-24T13:54:00.005+08:00

A kitten was lying on the pebbles, and I just took the shot with the fast XZ-1 lens

I recently conducted a short beginners class for 5 students. It's simple and direct approach to photography, with emphasis on key skills to create beautiful images.

My class is a half day morning event targeted for 4-6 students at RM50/pax. Location is outdoors, most probably at Shah Alam lake gardens. If interested for any class, as I can cater as much topics as possible, please contact me at 012-2040883.

A beautiful banana flowerette with smooth bokeh rendition

24mm, f/8, 1/160s, iso200, +0.3ev

This was a DSLR course, but as the teacher, I opted to use my Olympus XZ-1 as the tool of instruction. Though it's not a DSLR, it has all the key features for a basic beginner's DSLR with kit lens. Even the lens depth-of-field effect is achievable with the XZ-1. That's good enough for the class. Also, for me to lug around a full size E-5 with the Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 lens will be tiring as I have to chase around the field with my students scattered like little lambs.

The monotones are just nice to accentuate the telephoto landscape effect

Just focus on a few rules to create great images:

Look for the tones (check in black & white)
Capture sharp images (in correct focus)
Set the subject off-center with the Rule of Thirds
Try to grab the story and emotion

Till next time...

iZuiko and a Lion Dance

2011-02-09T17:06:00.002+08:00

Dancing on stilts

14.1mm (33mm equiv.), f/3.2, 1/160s, iso100, -0.3ev

Well, we are still in the Chinese New Year period, and all around Klang Valley we can see the Lion Dance troupes zipping through traffic with their open-top lorries and the dancers sitting inside with the lion attires and drums. Lion dance galore.

Warming up for the main event!

When I went to have lunch today, little I had expected a performance near the cafe that I always patron. Luckily, the XZ-1 was with me! Great!!! Got my order in, and waited for the show to begin.

Jump!

What got me interested was this time around, the Lion Dance did a few jumps on elevated stilts. It's not often you see them do this for such a small crowd. Well, it was about time I tested the speed of the XZ-1 to capture action shots. Somehow, oddly enough, I opted for single-frame shooting. But, it worked!

Crane stance!

What a good show!!

iZuiko and Low Light

2011-02-08T07:14:00.002+08:00

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6mm, f/1.8, 1/15s, iso800, -0.3ev

Nothing more challenging to a compact camera than to capture children action portraits in low light. I love doing it, capturing my children's action. Previously, I could only do it with my bulky E-5 that weighs a tonne. Well, with the S90, I couldn't do much at the long end for great portraits. Well, the XZ-1 is such a joy with the top-notch i.Zuiko. Small, unobtrusive and fun.

Children can't stay put for long. They have high energy, and are super fidgety. The challenge is to get the reasonable shutter speed to capture both motion and crispness in a single frame . Well, the XZ-1 sure delivers.

iZuiko and XZ-1: More Impressions...

2011-01-31T22:43:00.002+08:00

6mm, f/1.8, 1/60s, ISO800, -0.3ev

Another round of getting the mileage out of this little pocket rocket... Mostly put to the test were the focus accuracy and low light performance.

For a compact camera to have very shallow DoF, focus accuracy could be a problem. The comparative real-estate for the measurements might be much smaller than a DSLR; thus, might exhibit some frustration to get pin-point accuracy, more so due to the larger sensor area of the CDAF system. I am not to comment further on this, because I just felt it that way. Maybe some other guys can elaborate more; I might be incorrect on this, though.

6mm, f/1.8, 1/20s, ISO400, -0.3ev

I found focusing to be hit and miss, and I must confess I used a lot of lock & pan technique. Well, a good thing the 11-point AF navigation was made quite easy to control, more akin to a DSLR. I might have to adjust my shooting style by playing with the 4-way navigation pad to get higher AF accuracy rate.

As for low light shooting at higher ISO, I wouldn't dare to go past 800 with the XZ-1. It's just a hunch, mostly coming from the Canon S90 experience. I limit at 800 with that pocket darling. So far, the image looks promising indeed. Upon quick check using Olympus Studio, the Noise Filter setting was defaulted at Standard (it is not possible to change the strength in-camera).

Since I have the FL-20 lying around since my C-750UZ days, I gave the flash a shot. And, boy did it do wonders!!

Some new findings so far:

Navigating the AF was much easier than thought; the left keypad have direct access to the 11-AF points, and consecutive pressing the Info button have direct access to the AF modes (there are 5: auto, macro, supermacro, tracking and manual)
For low light, I think it's more user friendly to use P-mode rather than A-mode. The ISO speed control was more practical where the XZ-1 would put aperture at the brightest exposure.
While the FL-20 was attached to the camera, the built-in flash can be accessed. But, it didn't fire while the FL-20 did. So much for E-330 multi-flash capability. The XZ-1 didn't dance the tune.
The XZ-1 would retain the setting for a particular shooting mode after selecting a different mode with different settings. Once the previous mode was reselected, the settings would be reset to the previous mode.

More shots in various conditions, mostly indoors.

*** NOTE ***: All shots were in RAW, and post-processed in-camera for the desired effects (Natural, Monotone, Art Filters, Cropping, Aspect Ratio, Sharpening, etc.)

Just loved how the reflection worked out...

What's going on here?

Hanging on...

Siesta time!!

Monotone with Green Filter. The tones were just beautiful

IS test. 24mm (56mm equiv.) at 1/40s. About 2.5 stops, so far so good.

Where's the bottle?

Learning all the alphabets

Where's the bottle, in pinhole

Good night @ ISO400

iZuiko and XZ-1: It was raining and...

2011-01-30T10:19:00.003+08:00

No doubt the XZ-1 is a STAR performer!

6mm (14mm equiv.), f/1.8, 1/50s, ISO200 (focusing distance 15cm)

I have the XZ-1 ready for some shots!! Well, since the XZ-1 is not an E-5 that can withstand all the rain and thunderstorm, I was stuck at home for the morning shoot.

Well, at least there's something in the garden...

Most of the shots were in macro modes, and all in RAW for in-camera processing for my desired Art Filter.

From my short stint shooting the boring garden subjects, I discovered the finer points about the XZ-1.

In super macro mode, the ISO was locked at 200, and only available at 6mm
In Art Filter mode, there's no way to manipulate the "love triangle" (aperture-shutter-sensitivity)
The AF during idle was in tracking mode, meaning as long as the focus was not locked by the half-shutter press, the AF was working on the subject
The AF was fast and crisp to lock focus
The AE ESP metering was very good, to the extent that I am at awe
Backlight metering was very good
The ISO button was not far from quick control, if set right in the INFO. A click on the OK button highlighted the ISO.

Just love the texture and diffraction

6mm, f/1.8, 1/20s, ISO200

Tie the lens cap right away!!

Super macro mode wide open was tack sharp

6mm, f/2.8, 1/40s, ISO800, -0.3ev

The backlight was tamed by the great AE system (ESP)

6mm, f/1.8, 1/60s, ISO100 (Focus distance 31cm)

Max zoom for the compression effect

24mm (56mm equiv.), f/2.5, 1/40s, ISO200

Just love the shades

6mm, f/2.5, 1/50s, ISO800, -0.3ev

iZuiko and XZ-1: First Impressions

2011-01-30T06:25:00.006+08:00

Off he went with my credit card

6mm (14mm equiv.), f/1.8, 1/50s, ISO200

I got a text message last Friday from my dealer, "your XZ-1 is here!"

I was on leave that day, and my daughter got a flu bug; thus, I didn't have the time to pick it up. And actually to go all the way to KL on a Friday is like suicide because of the traffic mayhem.

So, I only managed to get it yesterday. Yes, the ordeal of having to wait an extra day was a bit tough for me, but my family is always first!

A quick drive on the NPE on a Saturday, and I here I was at Leo's Ampang Park. The XZ-1 was there, waiting for its master to claim it!

After testing some shots and applying the screen protector, the deal was done. Yippeee...

I got the camera quite late in the day; only managed to snap a few shots. But my first impression was "just" excellent. I was expecting excellent, but... here's why!

I am startled at how the lens cap is shoved off its position at startup (need to tie it up real quick, or you might lose it) :: 1- point
The handling is excellent, as the camera and lens has the perfect balance (considering the lens is pretty huge!) :: 5+ points
The tactile response is reminisce Canon S90, though the ring cannot do zooming :: 2- points
The lens is awesome! :: 20+ points
The Jpeg is awesome! :: 10+ points
In-camera editing as in the E-5 :: 10+ points
There's no AEL/AFL button, but not a big deal to me considering I am super casual with a compact camera :: 5- points
The Auto ISO tend to stick to ISO200, even when the shutter is below the typical human freezing motion speed of 1/30s; this is super unacceptable for a compact camera!!! :: 20- points
There's a menu function to attach the TCON-17; half-yippeeee, because I only have the WCON-07!! (Aaaarrrrggghhh.. just checked my adapter won't fit the XZ-1 thread!!) 2- points
Well, the rest are as I expected coming from a compact camera

A few more shots that I managed to capture... more to come soon!

*** NOTE *** :: Lens equivalence is depicted in 4/3 format (in which I am very familiar with).

A 1cm macro shot of the typical TV remote

This is much better than the S90

Mind-boggling-sharpness low light shot at low ISO

6mm (14mm equiv.), f/1.8, 1/13s, ISO200

Notice the thin DoF,

even at wide open it can miss a few centimeters of pan-lock focus parallax error

12.9mm (25mm equiv.), f2.0, 1/13s, ISO200, -0.3ev

Zuiko and a Little Planet

2011-01-16T20:38:00.005+08:00

Little Planets.

This is the first Little Planet shot,

and the nadir point is covered with pure clone stampings.

I came across this type of photography a couple of years ago. And, though I was intrigued by the techniques to achieve such creative output, I never put the time and effort to learn how to do it.

Somehow, out of the blue, today I took the plunge from zero to hero!

It's a good thing that Flickr.com has a group dedicated to this art. All I did was read through the threads and learned the techniques rather quickly. It did help having an ultrawide angle lens like the Zuiko Digital ED7-14mm F4.0 to assist in getting high quality 360-degree panorama with the least stitching. In fact, I only needed 7 to 8 frames for 52-45 degrees coverage per shot (in portrait orientation), and 2 frames for the nadir point (this is the point where I stood).

As advised by the group, I downloaded the freeware software "Hugin Panorama Stitcher". This software is really very good. The stitching is near flawless as I had a tough time identifying the stitch borders in the panorama pictures.

The software is rather straight forward. It starts with the Panorama Stitcher screen with the "Assistant" tab as the main controller. This tab has a 3-step process to stitch the panorama. It is quick simple as the first step is to 1.) Load Images (where the Lens parameters are very important to ensure the least distortion and error to the image output), and secondly to 2.) Align (where the software automatically scan the images and stitch them into place).

Next is to transform the normal panorama scene into radial that is called Little Planet. On the Hugin "Fast Panorama Preview" window, there's a tab called "Projection" and select "Stereographic". Next, there's a tab called "Move/Drag" and change the "Pitch" parameter to 90 and leave the other two parameters 0. Then click "Apply". The image immediately transforms into a planet, a very small planet. Just slide the zoom applicator and the image will enlarge. Crop to taste.

Finally, 3.) Create Panorama (great output controls which includes TIFF/JPEG and also HDR processing).

Wham... I was hit with the problem. Just look at the picture below!

This is the result just after stitching, and the heptagon is clearly seen.

Wow!! That's a big hole!!

How did that happen?

Well, I forgot that the nadir point, i.e. the point I was standing was not in the picture. Thus, the heptagon was so revealing in the picture!! Definitely not what I wanted! Well, to cure that, I simply cloned the road. Not a very elegant solution, I would say. But, it worked none the least.

The image below is the one with the nadir point shot taken (2 frames, in fact).

A refined planet with nadir points using actual frames,

and cloned my feet off the picture

To compare, I did another Little Planet. This one used 8-frames for the 360-degree panorama plus 2-frames for the nadir point. I find this image is much finer in reproduction as it has more frames to construct the planet.

Oh ya!! As I was using Dramatic Tone Art Filter for these shots, I didn't activate the HDR feature in Hugin during stitching. I find the E-5 effect much to my liking.

But I prefer the first image in this blog, as the picture is biased to my house and enlarged it in comparison to the rest of the neighborhood.

At last, I have my own Little Planet at home!

Olympus XZ-1 Cometh....

2011-01-07T14:56:00.005+08:00

Woohooo!!!! Finally, my dream camera has arrived.

Last Sunday I was told by one of Olympus sales rep that the XZ-1 was already in the office; albeit being the pre-production units. I was elated to say the least. Then, Olympus announced it yesterday, and I quickly asked if there's a test unit available. Sadly, all units are now in the nationwide roadshow; and I have to wait if there's a unit available. So, my comments for the XZ-1 will be highly hypothetical combined with real experience of using the LX-3 and S90 compacts.

If you have been following my blog for the past year, I have been expressing my wowness to the Canon S90. And, to snub the Olympus PEN series suggested my angst towards the lack of real compactness; which is to have a camera that is really pocketable with a standard bright zoom lens.

Thus, I got the S90 instead of any of the PENs and loved the camera so much. At the same time, using a Canon seemed realize my inner conflict to keep this blog true to the Zuiko name. In effect, I don't post many of the S90 photos here. A rather sad thing really...

Alas, come yesterday, I am rejoicing. No more the hesitant blogger. The compact Zuiko (named as iZuiko) has finally come. Thru-the-eye-of-Zuiko will be 100% pure again.

Well, other than just praising the camera with glowy fanboyish praise, what really makes this compact tick?

To me, it boils down to the lens. Simply, it's a Zuiko. To know one is to use one.

The legendary Tatsuno quality should be inherent in this camera, I believe it carries the highest quality coating and most sublime polishing technique; to be true with the E-system Zuikos. To be fair, the S90 optics is no slouch; but, comparing the speed and length of the iZuiko, the S90 seemed to be handicapped significantly. (I have to admit that my fanboyism towards Zuikos are really apparent here). But, if you remember a few blogs back where I actually dissed the PENs and mZuikos and opted for the S90 was a real surprise even for myself.

The camera is gorgeous looking. Simply stunning. The lines exhibit the PEN influence, and the placement of the photography-critical buttons is made simple.

There are so many things to like about the XZ-1. Coming from the S90, I welcome the creative use of the lens ring as a dial to complement the rear dial. This what really made me love the S90, the handling is so tactile to the DSLR shooter.

The iZuiko Digital 6-24mm F1.8-2.5 lens

This lens is bright. With the equivalent focal length of 14-56mm in the 4/3 format, this compact has a crop factor of 2.3x. The large aperture starts at f1.8 and stays up to f2.2 at nearly 3/4 of the focal length is very impressive. Compared to the S90 lens which stepped down so fast to f2.5 at it's first 1/3 focal length, this Zuiko really shakes the boat.

Why is it so important to me? Well, most indoor shooting requires sub f2.8 aperture to hold at least ISO400 with a respectable shutter speed to maintain image sharpness. The XZ-1 excels at this for the whole focal range.

Although it is a small compact, if we think about Depth-of-Field, by using a simple conversion factor, the XZ-1 should have a similar performance as the m.Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 on the PENs. Looking at the f1.8-2.5 and multiply with 2.3x, this lens has a DoF range of f4.1-5.8. Not bad actually, after considering its size.

High Sensitivity 1/1.63" CCD Sensor

To couple the bright lens, the XZ-1 has a large, highly sensitive 10MP CCD sensor. Why CCD? Well, I won't know for sure, since the 4/3 and m4/3 uses nMOS sensors. But, what I know is that it is huge for a compact. This bids well for low-light shooting. With the Canon S90, I have little trouble shooting at ISO800, and I believe high ISO performance will be at least similar, if not better!!

Along with the E-5, the XZ-1 shares the same digital image processor the latest TruePicV. All I have is praise for this processor. As an E-5 shooter, this little piece of sand has really milked every pixel sharpness out of the Zuiko lenses. And I can only say that XZ-1 is one lucky camera to have it with the ultra fast i.Zuiko zoom.

And, it also has 6 ART FILTERS, with the latest addition DRAMATIC TONES that is released in the E-5. Samples of this effect can be seen in my previous blog entries.

Well, I think I have said enough... Most of my observations are theoretical and comparative. In the end, it all boils down to usability. A good camera makes you want to use it. And the S90 has served me well till now. Moving on, it will be put on sale pretty soon. I know the XZ-1 is the next step forward. It's time to be a true Zuikoholic again!!!

Full Specifications: CLICK HERE

p/s: Actually, I just pre-ordered one. With the price at RM1,699, it's quite steep. But I can guarantee that it is worth it!!

Zuiko and a Happy New Year

2011-01-01T14:43:00.002+08:00

Yes, it's 2011. A new year brings new hope.

Well, not really a good thing for me today. Coz, I am stuck in the office doing some emergency stuff.

So, while waiting for the system to settle down, I took some simple shots, and fiddle with the HDR stuff in the GIMP.

A simple two-button press to access the Exposure Bracketing mode, and set to 5 frames of 1ev steps with 5fps rapid shoot mode I am good to go. Fraap, frapp, frapp, fraappp, fraaapp.... am done!

Original Frame

High Dynamic Range Frame

Using the GIMP, I opened 3 files in layers mode, being the -2ev, 0 and +2ev exposures. With the layer masks, it was easy. Desaturate the -2ev and +2ev layers and invert the +2ev layer, and merge. A final touch of Dodge & Burn action finished the HDR job.

Well, it's not perfect though. As I didn't really take the color channel shifts and contrast loss into account in the final correction process. Maybe another time, as I am still fine-tuning my HDR techniques.

Happy New Year!!!

Zuiko and Monotone Filters

2010-12-22T10:12:00.007+08:00

Not much to do. I am sick today. Caught the flu bug, as the weather here in Klang Valley has been total haywire the last few days. Tropical sun and thunderstorm mingling interchangeably during days and nights without end. Time for some rest.

Red Filter

Good thing my E-5 is around. Nothing much to shoot, though. Thus, resorted to playing around with the E-5.

Do you know that all Olympus DSLRs allow in-camera processing of RAW files for any JPEG style you want? Yes you can!! You can do anything the camera allows, like different color profiles (Natural, Monotone, Art Filters, etc.), different image parameters (sharpness, contrast, etc.), and also different JPEG compressions and various aspect ratio crops. The possibilities are more than I can fathom, and I don't have to worry much if I don't have my PC to post-process the RAW files.

Yellow Filter

For this blog entry, I am showcasing the monotone filters. All of the JPEG files are treated with Red, Yellow and Green filters with Large SuperFine JPEG files (pretty large at 8MB, and no other manufacturer offer this JPEG quality!).

Green Filter

Well, nothing much to say as the pictures tell the story. Nevertheless, I always preferred the Red filter for brighter skin tones rather than Yellow and Green. And, with E-5 much better image quality, the noise often associated with older DSLRs like the E-3 is much controlled with the Red filter.

Time to shoot more monotones!

Zuiko and a Touch of Soft Monotone

2010-12-14T23:18:00.004+08:00

Simple photography. Get back to basics. I always remind myself.

Composition.

Mood.

Story.

In my journey to recover and rejuvenate, I am resorting back to simple basic stuff. Always go back to solid composition with the typical rules and lines and curves and contrast and tones. See the light, and the pictures will come.

I like this picture. It's not a complex fast-action nor close-up nor low-light nor portrait nor landscape shot. It's neither of these that makes it interesting to my eyes. It just simple composition, with the correct mood and outline to the story. The mood is quietness, something that I find serenity in the picture. I am not sure why. I took more than a dozen shots, but I am stuck with this shot. Somehow this has character, a story waiting to explode from the frame. But, the amazing thing is I cannot put why and where. That's what makes it interesting to my senses.

I overexposed the shot, blowing out the sky with the priority not to blacken the subject. Furthermore with the High Key curve profile, the shadows were minimized. A minimal crop to bring the subject closer, use of Red filter to highlight skin tones in monotone, and a touch of Soft Focus Art Filter effect was all it needed to tighten the loose ends. The low vantage point, the contra of subject with background, the curves of the pool and gazebo, the diminishing twin towers, the empty cabana chairs, and the placement of children made the quietness deafening.

Back to basics, take note of the subtleties in details, and just pray for the best.

Somehow, I am inclining to explore the works of Sam Abell....

Zuiko and The Aquaria at KLCC

2010-12-12T22:48:00.007+08:00

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD

14mm, f/2.0, 1/50s, ISO2000, -0.7ev

It was the school holidays, and we asked the kids about a visit to The Aquaria. And of course, they were ecstatic.

The vari-angle LCD coupled with class-leading IS system enabled this handheld shot from the top angle. The E-5 + HLD-4 + 14-35/2 lens was not light either!

It turned out to be a packed place; though we were quite early arriving there. We took the Family Package for RM99, which saved us up to RM21. The small space was easily filled with people within minutes. And, to have a stroller to strap my youngest kid in place put me in a tough situation for making some great shots in the cramped and dark fish-filled facility. Having one hand manning the stroller, and the other coping with the E-5 required some creative handling manoeuvres.

Tracking this large shark was good even though it was dark. Ramped up the ISO to 2000 and let the lens wide open at f/2.0 made the shutter fast enough to capture at 1/100s to freeze it.

It turned to be a nightmare for photography, and I resorted to video shooting towards the end. But, I did manage to get some shots. It was tough. Kids control was top priority as I did not want them to stray more than 10 feet away, and managing the E-5 with the Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD was no easy feat.

It was tiring, but worth it!

Zuiko and Hello Goodbye

2010-11-30T16:49:00.005+08:00

Well, the decision was made.

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED 14-35mm F2.0 SWD

30mm, f/2.5, 1/320s, ISO200, -0.3ev

With the coming of E-5, the E-3 and E-30 had to go. There's no two-ways about it. I don't really shoot that much. The thing is, when the buyers asked about my shutter count, I found both cameras registered low figures. The E-3 only had about 17k and E-30 a meager 5k. With the E-5 being rated at 150k, I believe consolidating into a single body is the way to go.

From the 2 cameras, I find more nostalgia with the E-30. This is because of this camera was when Olympus found me. I remember vividly to this day the events that happened. The day when they asked me to review the E-30 in December 2008. Boy, was I proud to be an Olympian - to be recognized by the camera makers themselves. What an honor.

Now, with the E-30 gone, a new chapter in image making surfaces. I need new ideas, new perspectives, new point-of-views. The E-5 should push me to new limits of imagination and creativity. I wonder how to do that, though.

All dried up!

Sadly, I actually went into photographer's rut and malaise during the middle of this year. With dearth of ideas and inspiration, I rarely picked up the E-s. Maybe it's a natural progression, I was not sure. One thing for sure, I was glad it was only for a few months.

I need a push. A push of inspiration.

Some friend advised me that inspiration comes with effort. Maybe that's how I should approach the E-5. I should put more effort to explore the things that are foreign to me. Naturally, fresh new ideas should flow, and my work should flourish into a newer dimension. That's my motivation with the E-5!

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED 14-35mm F2.0 SWD

14mm, f/8, 1/320s, ISO200, -0.3ev

For now, I bid farewell to my E-3 and E-30... May you find good use with your new masters!!

Zuiko and Dramatic Tone for Landscaped Portraits

2010-11-26T12:11:00.004+08:00

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I am still warming up with the E-5. Though it is mostly based on the E-3, the technical jump has challenged my creativity to a new level. Notably on the technical improvements are the image quality ranging from ISO100 to ISO1600 with the excellent sensor pixel sharpness. With my collection of F2 zooms, this has opened a plethora of situations with regards to exposure value parameters (aperture, shutter speed, and sensor sensitivity). On the creative improvements, the addition of Art Filter 10 Dramatic Tone and Hi-Def video at 720p have pushed a new level of imaging possibilities.

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED 14-35mm F2.0 SWD

22mm, f/8, 1/100s, ISO200, -0.3ev

Recently, I have been focusing a lot on the Dramatic Tone art filter. And why not? This new filter beckons to be explored. I started with simple landscape shots during my E-5 review. The 3-day loan was not long enough for me to explore its creative possibilities. Only now do I have the time to explore the beauty of the E-5.

The previous blog entry showed how the Dramatic Tone art filter interacts with wireless TTL flash setup. The diffused lighting seems to bid very well with the filter. I really like the output. I am looking forward to explore different lighting setup with this filter.

In this entry, the exploration of the Dramatic Tone filter with portraiture against strong backlight; in this case direct sunlight, was done. It's simple, actually. I put my composition setup as shooting landscape, meaning small aperture (f/8 or something like that) and pseudo hyperfocal distance focusing technique (not that I use Manual focus, but during Auto Focus, I keep in mind the hyperfocal distance relationship towards the subject to achieve image in-focus sharpness across the frame).

And I purposely did not use the flash for fill-in, as I really wanted to explore the capability of the filter to lift the near silhouette subject, in this case my ever-willing son.

To my surprise, the filter did a very good job. No doubt there was still noise even at base ISO200, but considering that the filter lifted easily about 3 to 4 stops of exposure, I considered this to be very good indeed. I doubt whether the E-3 or the E-30 can deliver this quality (just take a look at the SAT output). The TruePic V processor really shines!

In case, if you noticed, the solar ghosting and flares were also tamed. With the Dramatic Tone tendency to exaggerate contrast, I was smitten with the clear and crisp output. This was practically due to the Zuiko Digital ED 14-35mm F2.0 SWD lens. The optical properties for this lens was just phenomenal!

Hmmm.. what's next? Maybe shooting with the Circular Polarizer (C-PL) with wireless TTL Flash. That sounds interesting. The color saturating properties of the C-PL should produce more vivid output to the already eye-popping Dramatic Filter effect.

Now... where did I put my filter pouch?!!!

Zuiko and Flashed Dramatic Tone

2010-11-20T18:03:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, I bought a back-issue photo magazine, if I was not mistaken it was the American Photographer. I like to read up old pro-grade magazines because to buy them new is very expensive, in the territory of RM40 for an issue. The old ones, about 5-6 months old, is about RM10.

I was particularly interested to read the article about lighting technique by Joe McNally. Apparently, the magazine showed Joe's work in Petaling Street right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Now I remember, Joe came here for a workshop early this year. The article was very interesting, especially about the part that he shot with full wireless TTL flash. That's very me, too!!

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD + FL-50R

19mm, f/6.3, 1/125s, ISO200, -3.0ev

Looking at his techniques and gears, I could not stand the fact that he used the Lumiquest Softbox III on his SB-900's. Prior to this, I did not hear pleasant comments about this box. I checked with a few flash shooters that I knew, and none have much good to say. But, looking at Joe's results, I might be missing something here. A quick rush to the nearby camera store, J-One at AmCorp Mall was a Godsend! They had a unit. Without hesitation I bought it immediately. On the box, it literally stated that it only works with full TTL flash.

Duh, now I get it why there were some unpleasant comments about it. Lucky me, I am a full TTL flash shooter. I just couldn't stand Manual or Auto flash settings!

Now, having gotten the E-5 a couple of days back, I couldn't resist waiting any more. Quickly I set up the flash on the Manfrotto table-top tripod, and do a rapid TTL flash exposure setting (-3ev on the body, +1 on the flash); this setting will get me the blue sky background. All I needed was the subject. A good thing though. My kids were in a very good mood for a photoshoot. Without much hassle they did the Ultraman and Barbie poses. Shooting was a breeze, both on the photographer and the models.

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD + FL-50R

17mm, f/10, 1/250s, ISO200, -3.0ev

I just loved the combination of Dramatic Tone effect with Fill-flash effect. The subject and background just popped up. No post-processing required; the output was just right!!

The E-5 continues to intrigue me in ways I have yet to fully phantom!! This is indeed the best camera Olympus have ever produced, even easily trumping the OM-4!! ( I have the OM-4 in the dry box, the shutter is jammed and I have yet to get it fixed. Bummerrrr!!!).

Zuiko and the E-30

2010-11-18T09:04:00.002+08:00

Two days back, I picked my E-30 from the Olympus Service Centre. Again, I was not charged for the service. Thanks, Olympus Malaysia. The problem with my E-30 was the jumping shooting mode, particularly the A, P and Art Filter mode. The technician claimed that the mode dial contacts are dirty. After a whiff of cleaning, true to his word, the mode dial is working normally.

With all the hype of the E-5 running around the forums, I still find myself at awe with the E-30. Clearly designed for the advanced amateur, this little wonder surely deliver the great images. It is in most technical aspects far more superior than the E-3, in which I already sold to a charming gentleman.

After more than 21 months with it, I admittedly still not able to use it to its most capable potential. I remember when Olympus Malaysia explicitly wanted to tout its blazing fast continuous AF with 5fps, and its groundbreaking Art Filters. This was when the rest of the world already shooting with 7-8 fps and hi-def video. Call Olympus nuts, but the E-30 stood by itself. By a far margin it's not the best seller, but I bet it is still the finest designed 4/3 camera.

Why?

Because it does not have the aura of complication like the E-3/5, or the bias of rank-beginner like the E-620. This little gem is so refined that many of the things it can do are directly adopted to the E-5, without further development. To hear that Olympus is going to cease its succession really break my heart. Come on, this great camera, the finest in Olympus stable deserves a successor. Call it the E-35, and be done with it.

This jewel is not big nor small, is not heavy nor light; all powerful, it is just right!!!

And that's all it takes to make a great camera.

Zuiko and Beef Rendang

2010-11-17T23:43:00.002+08:00

Today is Eid Adha, the celebration of sacrifice and performing hajj in Mecca. In this land of gastronomic paradise, feasting is very essential to complete the celebration. Traditionally, the rendang dish is synonym to the Eid festivities, be it Adha (sacrifice) or Fitri (rebirth).

For this year, I have decided to make beef rendang - after learning that my in-law is making chicken rendang. A quick rush after work Tuesday to get the essential ingredients ready, I worked on the cooking later in the evening.

For starters, rendang is one of the signature dish in the Malay cuisine. It's the festivities food. A must for big occasions. It is a very rich dish comprising mainly on the meat, coconuts (lots of them), seed spice, root spice and leaf spice. The preparation time is tedious as the amount of ingredients range from fresh to pre-processed sources. For the authentic rendang lover, all of the pre-processed ingredients are made fresh prior to cooking (which significantly extends the tediousness of preparing this magnificent dish).

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED50mm F2.0

Beef Rendang with Rice Ketupat

I decided that 800g of meat, cut into bite-sized cutlets should be enough for the feasting of 6-8 adults. The coconut was freshly grated at the nearby shop, and I pressed about 600ml of it with a cup of warm water. After a few straining to separate the spent coconut flesh, the thick coconut milk (santan pekat) was ready.

Next came the root spice preparation. I used about 20 shallots to 5 garlic pieces, 6 inches of ginger (halia) with 5 inches of galangal (lengkuas) and 6 stalks of lemon grass (serai). All of these aromatics were pureed with a dash of warm water to make a paste.

Then, the seed spice was prepared. About a tablespoon of coriander seed (ketumbar), 50g dry chili (to boil) and a tablespoon of curry mix. All these were pureed with warm water to make a paste.

Finally, the leaf spice. I used 4 large size tumeric leaves (daun kunyit) and 10 kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut). These were finely sliced into strips of roughly 2mm. The leaves were supposed to "dissolve" in the rendang.

Heat a half cup of oil in the wok, and sautee the root and seed spice. I continued stirring until the aroma started to permeate, and then I watched the heat so that the concoction wouldn't burn. I added 4 table spoons of brown sugar to sweeten the mix and let it caramelize. Then, I put in the coconut milk and beef, lowered the heat, and closed the wok. I let it simmer slowly for about an hour until the beef absorbed all the spicy goodness through the coconut milk.

Then, I put in a tablespoon of tamarind paste to counterbalance the sweetness. Finally, I added in the leaf spice and coconut paste (kerisik). Now, what makes a rendang a "true rendang" is the quality of the kerisik. What is so special about it? Well, it adds the extra dimension to the richness of the rendang. The kerisik is the soul of the rendang. It adds texture, taste and color to the rendang.

What is kerisik? Simply put, is toasted grated coconut pounded into paste. The finer the grate, the finer the texture and more even the toasting. The taste is richer, too. Once toasted, the coconut is pounded with a pestle and mortar until the texture is very fine and the oil starts to appear. The darker the toast, the more tart the kerisik will be. I am from the southern part of Malaysia, where prefer the kerisik to be a bit lighter. The northern part tends to have a more strong tasting kerisik; thus, darker rendang. To make kerisik from scratch takes about an hour from one coconut fruit.

Once I put the kerisik, the rendang was nearly ready. All it needed was the salt seasoning, and the final frying to make the gravy drier (the drier the rendang, the longer it will last without refrigeration). Then, I pair it with another traditional food; the ketupat (rice cake encased in coconut leaves). Personally, I prefer to have the ketupat with glutinous rice, which is much richer in taste as it is cooked and sauteed in coconut milk.

What can I say? This combination is full of good helpings of trans-fat and cholesterol. So, just watch the waist and blood pressure, and all should be fine. Just don't over-indulge, which is very difficult with such a succulent tasting dish!!!

Bon-a-petite....

Zuiko and Char Kuay Teow

2010-10-24T13:16:00.004+08:00

Malaysia, the melting pot of cuisine.

For hundreds of years the region has seen many fusion of cooking from the many traders that landed port in Malacca, Penang and Singapore. The root and leafy fragrant spices of the Malays archipelago, the elegance of Chinese cuisine and the wholesome seed spices of India fuse together to bring out the best in taste and aroma!

The typical Malaysian food that range from Nasi Lemak, Char Kuay Teow, various types of Laksa, Satay and many more fusion foods have made this country a haven for gastronomic aficianados. For me, I am not that really affectionate about the best food , but I appreciate the comfort of having great delicious food when it matters. Be it alone or with friends & family, food is the common bond between the many races in this country.

50mm, f/8, 1/100s, ISO1250

One of my all-time favorite foods to cook is the Char Kuay Teow. I have learnt to cook this comforting delicacy from my mother, later refined by observing the many hawkers' techniques to get the best recipe to suit my taste.

50mm, f/8, 1/8s, ISO2000

I usually cook it on Sunday mornings, just after getting the freshest of ingredients from the weekly Pasar Tani (Farmer's Market in literal translation). The basic ingredients are three servings of kuay teow (I like to get the finer noodles about 1cm thick), one medium onions, four pieces of garlic, six pieces of dried chili, a dozen prawns, two eggs, a couple of fish cake sticks, a handful of chives and two dollops of kicap pekat (thick soy sauce). Traditionally, the cockle is used instead of fish cakes. Somehow, I don't have the liking of cockles; thus, the change in recipe.

*Interestingly, the word Ketchup has its roots from the kicap.

Clean and de-vein the prawns and save the shells to make the stock. Blend the onions, garlic and chili; however, the dried chili needs to be boiled first. Sauté the paste in the wok with high heat until the aromatics of the blend permeates, and crack in the eggs. Stir roughly until the eggs harden, and pour in the prawn stock. Let it simmer then put in the kicap and the kuay teow along with the slivers of fish cakes and chops of chives. The secret in cooking this delicacy is by maintaining the high heat throughout and keeping the wok clean always. The molasses property of the kicap will cover the base of the wok, and having a sturdy metal spatula is very important to scrape it clean. Keep stirring and folding the kuay teow until there's some charred burning on the prawn, fish cake and the kuay teow. Finally, put two pinchfuls of salt for seasoning.

50mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO2000

Whilst my adult Malay taste bud craves for a much spicier recipe, I have kids in mind. They wouldn't be ready to savor the typical Malay hot & spicy liking until they are much older. For now, I just put less chili and more kicap. My daughter definitely loves to eat this dish, sometimes she often reminds me to cook it. It's just a simple hawker's dish, which is definitely comforting.

Another tip, eat it immediately as it tastes the best piping hot!!

Zuiko and Taking it Easy

2010-10-23T20:15:00.005+08:00

Beautiful photography is within painless reach with the E-30!!!

Sometimes pictures turn out better when I take things easy. This was the case just this late afternoon when I took the time to photograph my youngest kid. Instead of thinking too technical about it, such as depth-of-field and noise, I took the liberty to set my E-30 to P-mode. Yes, P-mode with the ISO stuck at 800. I could have chosen 100 or 200 for better image quality, but somehow I want it to stay at 800.

To make things much simpler, I used the only prime lens I own; the Zuiko Digital ED50mm F2.0 Macro. This lens is known for its slow focus notoriety; mainly due to the lack of a focus limiter. What this means is that if I miss focus, the lens will scan through its range from 24cm to infinity. This will take ages in Auto Focus world, and most of the time will be such a pain shooting fast moving objects. Somehow, I did not bother about this fact. Though my kid was moving fast around the porch, I paced myself to track his movements wisely so that the lens won't feel useless, and won't take away the fun of shooting him.

What do you see, daddy?

The day was quite cloudy, with the shadows muted as if it's not there. He was running about the terracotta tiled porch playing at the gate and on the rattan chairs. My goal was to catch him at his many varied facial expressions and movements. With this lens, I was able to be around 5 to 10 feet away. Both of us were comfortable.

As for composition technique, I automatically set the subject off center; somehow the rule-of-thirds was ingrained in stone every time I scan a subject in the frame. Next came leading lines, both visible and imaginary. Then it was the contrasting lights between the subject and background. Lastly came the negative and positive space relationship, that somehow loosely based on the Golden Mean.

What popped?

These were the things that came to me automatically, after years of learning and practice. Yes, it sounds laborious, but somehow it worked for me on many occasions. Some people say breaking the rule is the way, but somehow after so many images, I still yet to find one rule that I broke. It's tough learn it, and much tougher to break it.

That being laid out, the cat and mouse game began.

Come on, daddy. Give it your best shot!!

The first few shots I used plain P-mode on the E-30.

One of my many teachers told me to focus on the eyes,

and so I did

Later, I shifted to Art Filter mode that totally liberated me from the gear and made me focus more on photography.

Soft Focus had always been one of my favorites, as it highlighted the eyes and softened the background.

Woopsss... A bit too soft? I am sorry, but I like!

Grainy Film added the grittiness of the moment, and focused more on the inner dimension of the subject.

Do you see my profile, daddy?

Pinhole provided the added focus on the subject without being too constraining to the viewer.

Surprised? I was too! With the details and sharpness.

Pop Art just oozed the primary colors to bring more color to the already awesome subject.

Am I too fast for you, daddy?

What I liked most with the Art Filter function was that it didn't tie me down. I let the E-30 handle the magic, and I focused on the story. Both combine to produce telling results that left me gobbsmacked when I saw the results on my PC screen. Even more satisfying was the fact that I just hit the upload button in Flickr.com without the slightest concern of postprocessing. What I saw at the time of the shoot was all it needed.

Balance!

Somehow I felt like I was shooting film, too.

Zuiko and E-5: In Retrospective

2010-10-19T19:37:00.007+08:00

It has been close to two weeks now since I laid my hands on the E-5. The three-day ordeal was not enough to satisfy my insatiable inkling to it. The good thing was that during this period, I managed to spend more time with the E-3. This gave me time to reflect on the performance of the E-5 compared to the E-3. In retrospect, it did give me an alternate insight to the true capabilities of the E-5. To be fair, during the 3-day test, my opinion might be biased based on the many enhancements that the E-5 supposed to do, as was briefed by the Olympus representative. Now, I believe I am more clear and objective about what the E-5 can do.

A bit of a struggle to get the right focus with the strong backlight,

Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0

To start with, my type of photography mostly revolve on things and events that happen around me. I tend to shoot people and events that cover a wide range of photography from portraits, candid and photojournalism. My style is casual with being the third-party observer rather than involve in the photographic experience. This is the area where the need for the E-5 is required. As for other types, I have the inkling to shoot the mundane things around me and try to make it interesting. In this aspect I don't think the E-5 will do much difference than the Canon S90 as the image composition and parameters are more controlled, and rather the lens choice is the main factor for fresher perspectives.

The ESP metering saved the background with the foreground underexposed a stop,

this is recoverable in post-process using Contrast Mask technique

So, to satisfy my need to cover fast moving events, does the E-5 able to cope and deliver the goods? Well, in one aspect I would say that it's excellent, and in another aspect, it's still lacking behind king Nikon. (I have various experience shooting the Nikon cameras ranging from the D3000 to D3 part being a teacher to photography classes, where the Nikons are very common).

Let's look into event shooting, and the real needs of the clients. (Clients can be your family members, too).

Loads of depth-of-field to cover sharpness across the frame

Bottom line, the clients want properly exposed crisp images with great colors. They don't care about the artistic value of your pictures, well it may add to the aesthetics of your presentation, but what they care about is the priceless moments of the events. Pictures must be accurately metered and exposed. The focus must be tack accurate and sharp. They don't care what lens you use. What they care is the head must not look much bigger than the feet, for example. This is the real challenge for the photographer and the gear.

Frontlighting with dark background didn't fool the meter, but I still see white clippings

lower shutter speed used to invoke motion into the composition

Looking at how the E-5 delivered the pictures in the two events that I managed to cover, I would say that it definitely advanced much from the E-3. For a start, the exposure is better. Though still using the same 49-zone ESP metering system, the handling of strong backlight has shown significant improvement. This was attested by one of my Nikon buddy (he's an active wedding photographer) who saw one of the samples and acknowledged how the E-5 properly controlled the bright sunlit window of an interior shot. Not an easy thing, he said. Well, that's good to hear from a quite neutral observer. This is so important feature for me. I am an ESP shooter, and when it comes to fast moving events, this is the real deal. There's no time to tinker with the features to play with the spot meters.

One person in the shadows, one person in the highlights

I like how the exposure turned up

In high contrast scenes, specifically with strong highlight and shadows in 9 zones, the ESP meter tends to over expose up to 0.7ev. I don't get it with Olympus. Why do they care so much for the shadows that the highlights get clipped? In the end, the smaller 4/3 sensor tends to show more noise in the shadows. I prefer the shadows are blackened, i.e. a supposedly Zone II shouldn't be exposed to Zone III where the details actually are noisy. No matter, though, as the E-5 have a preset exposure bias module, similar to the E-30. Just remember to set it to -0.3ev or -0.7ev once I get the E-5 in November (hopefully, somehow I haven't pre-ordered it yet).

Following the kids' fast movement was a bit of a challenge,

the hit rate wasn't very good but it delivered where it matters

As for the auto focusing, the feature that deals with crisp and clear pictures, I have a slight reservation on its overall performance. Please be reminded that the E-5 is a pre-production unit with the AF module still in debugging stage. Being a user of the E-3 and E-30, I don't find much difference in performance from the E-5, with regards to all lenses that I have (7-14mm/f4, 14-35mm/f2, 35-100mm/f2 and 50mm/f2). I can only hope that the production E-5 will have this solved and bring to life the 14-35mm SWD speed as it's supposed to do.

Kids don't sit still for long, they are always in action

The quick AF was crucial to get this snapshot as he's about to jump off the chair

In the two events that I covered, I focused on my two main workhorses, the 14-35mm f2 and 35-100mm f2 lenses. All I can say was that the 35-100mm was superb in AF control, partially due to the lens focus limiter that lowered the AF tracking range. I might say that there's some improvement to the E-5. Alas, for the 14-35mm f2 lens, I can only say that the E-5 is on par with the E-30. For strong backlight, the E-5 can't cope with the erratic 14-35mm AF jitter. My hit rate was about 80%, which was quite disappointing. In events, the hit rate should be in the high 95%. Well, I might be hoping too much on the E-5 that I forgot to apply the tricks I used with the E-3/E-30 to get the higher hit rate.

Hit rate was on and off for this shot with the 14-35m f2.0

I got it quite okay out of 3 shots

One thing that I really applaud about Olympus is the great JPEG engine. Out of camera images have always been superb, without much to postprocess. The colors are blended to appear pleasing to the visual acuity, without focusing too much on color accuracy. I was told that Sony has the best color accuracy (possibly meaning that the six primary and secondary colors are the most accurate), but I still find Olympus JPEG pleasing (partly due to the tonal transitions of the colors interweaved within the shadows and highlights).

The colors looked great in this shot even though it's ISO1600,

accurate AWB also played the role to ensure the color tint was correct

As for the E-5, this has been further enhanced mainly due to the more accurate Auto White Balance sensor. Another appeal to the E-5 for an event shooter like me is the that the AWB is much improved. After comparing with the E-3, the E-5 is the clear winner. In tricky lighting like cloudy mornings, mixed tungsten and incandescent interiors, the E-5 just delivers accurately. Even when I tinkered the RAW images to compare the pre-sets WB and the AWB shots, there's not much difference that's easily visible. To my eyes, the E-5 is the king in AWB! And imagine the time saved in the workflow to process the images for clients with high anxiety disorder!

At last a usable ISO1600 with the F2.0,

a shutter speed above 1/60s was achievable for this shot to freeze motion

The ISO has improved by 1 stop; though I think Olympus should have made it to 2 stops. Nonetheless, I managed to get high quality ISO1600 pictures, which was not the case for both E-3 and E-30 (the E-3 was simply horrendous, and I limit it to ISO1250).

It didn't take much to look cool and appealing - shades and a guitar,

maybe Olympus need to realign their strategy to make the E-5 more appealing

In summary, for an event shooter, will the E-5 be good enough? In my opinion it is. However, when we look outside and compare with king Nikon, there are still areas that the E-5 need severe improvements. Firstly the auto focus needs to be more responsive for fast action (E-5 is quick, but not smooth), secondly the frame rates should be higher at 8fps (not that it really matters with social events), and thirdly the sensor should have at least a stop higher ISO at 12800 (ISO expansion starts at 3200, in which I thought Olympus is being too conservative).

Notably, the E-5 is still the best overall for the fast and lazy event shooter. It's completely weather-sealed along with many of the Digital Zuiko lenses (I wouldn't care less on the environment being wet or dusty), the tank-like built meant that it can be used ruggedly without much care (my E-30 body was crushed and broken by the 14-35mm and 35-100mm lenses in the ThinkTank bag!), the JPEG and AWB is class leading (I would imagine the Sony or Nikon coming very close, but I still prefer E-5) that comprehensively eliminates color related post-processing time wasting, and somehow the resolution oozes pixels (this was clearly shown in my past blogs, and the SHG lenses were mainly to blame) that eliminates E-30 to the relegation zone.

One point to note. I actually have to commend Olympus for being bold to ditch the xD format. Now with E-5 sporting the SD-CF combination, it has opened up the flexibility to a new level. What I had experience in the event shoot was an eye opener. The client asked me when can the images be available, and my quick answer was "do you have an SD card in disposal?". It was a cinch, SD cards are too common, and it took me less than five minutes to transfer all the files from the CF to the SD. Coupled with the E-5 awesome out-of-camera JPEGs, I bet the client wouldn't be disappointed.

Great colors, tack sharp.

All you need is "F4 and be there" with the 4/3 system

In fact, the E-5 doesn't look so bad. It could have been better, but I can manage with its limitations. Come on Olympus, be bold for a change (and I don't mean the innovations, but in terms of competing with the big boys). The OM system was a well kept secret, don't let the E-system be another OM. In the 21st century, the market has changed, having well-kept secrets are not good for business. Olympus needs to be more like Apple ~ Innovative and loud!!

Come on Olympus!

S90 and a Bicycle Ride Around the Neighborhood

2010-10-19T08:07:00.004+08:00

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Last weekend I went for a ride on my bicycle around the neighborhood. Since I have my Android phone with me, I activated my SportyPal app to record my ride using the built in GPS. The Canon S90 was the obvious choice as the E-system does not prove to be compact enough for me to carry during the ride.

Sunrise over Putra Avenue

My first ride was late in the day, around 6pm. A sunset picture would be nice, along with the 5km ride. About 2km from my house, there was this empty lot with a pond. Apparently the pond was made to capture and hold water during heavy rainfall as means of flood management. The lotus leaves provided a beautiful scene although from the roadside the area looked like ordinary shrubs. A ten-foot walk across the roadside was all it took to see the difference in scenery.

Thirty minutes before sunset, and the sky was still blue

I continued my ride for another 2km on an open field. I was looking for a sunset shot overseeing the power lines. I found out that this kind of shots really put the Canon S90 to the limit. The limited aperture range up to f8 and shutter speed up to 1/1000s really made it difficult to control the sunlight.

Solar energy overpowering fossil fuel, not until 10 years from now

The next morning, the sky was a bit cloudy. Nonetheless, I carried on with my ride. I was eager to capture the sunrise on the other side of the neighborhood. After a 2km ride, I reached this vista point. Actually, the KLCC Twin Towers and KL Tower are visible during clear days.

Sunrise atop Putra Avenue and parts of Puchong

Riding up the rocky hill with my Hybrid bike proved to be okay, but I thought a proper MTB should be the best. Somehow, I managed to go up halfway to the Putra Heights landmark point. That's quite an achievement for a bike made to speed like a Racer and climb like an MTB.

I may need an MTB for this

The sunrise had a beautiful glow to the grass, that I took many shots. The S90 had trouble coping with the strong backlight that many pictures did not came up to my satisfactory level.

The split ends were an interesting aspect of this grass

Maybe I will return with a better camera, the E-system for the ride. But I have yet to figure out how to pack the camera effectively for comfort and easy access. For now, the S90 provided some nice images, and I couldn't have been more glad.

Zuiko and the Orchid Gardens

2010-10-14T21:17:00.007+08:00

It was the first time I ever set foot at the Kuala Lumpur Orchid & Hibiscus Garden. Since it was on a weekday, I got in for free. During the weekends or special holidays, there is an RM1 entry fee.

I needed some shutter therapy lately. The amount of stress at work is quite high, and a relaxing stroll in the gardens should be good to lessen the strain. It was a bright cloudy day, which in effect, produced the best lighting condition to shoot flower macros. This was a good thing, because for some unknown reason I left my FL-50R flash at home. The soft diffusion by the clouds meant that the sunlight was evenly spread out without any harsh shadows; thus, the need for fill-flash was moot.

The only lens I brought along the E-3 was the Zuiko Digital ED50mm F2.0 macro lens. It proved to be more than enough for me to capture the beauty of the flowers in the gardens.

Upon entry, I was greeted with lush and bright colors of the orchids; white, red orange, purple and even green orchids! The richness of the colors brought in some therapeutic effect to my mind, body and soul. Throughout the entire trip I was immersed in the nature's beauty.

Indeed, such a beautiful creation, the flower is.

And it brought me great relief and satisfaction, too!

Zuiko and a Football Legend

2010-10-13T04:22:00.004+08:00

This picture was taken quite a while back, around June.

Santokh Singh aka Iron Man was one of Malaysian football stalwart in the late 70s early 80s that qualified for 2 Olympic games, Munich 1972 and Moscow 1980 (in which Malaysia boycotted due to the Afghanistan invasion). Malaysia at the time was easily considered among the elite in Asian football (twice 3rd place), and the players at the time included Dato' Soh Chin Aun (Towkay), Jamal Nasir, James Wong, the late R. Arumugam (Spiderman) and the late Mokhtar Dahari (Super Mokh).

I remembered watching them on the small black & white TV screen chasing the white speck of a ball. Yes, resolution was non-existent compared to the 720p resolution we have on Astro TV nowadays! I was merely 7 or 8 years old at the time, and was very proud of them. Those were the time when it was proud to play football. (Eventually I changed sports code to Union Rugby in my teenage years after experiencing the football grassroots politics at school level that may be one of the actual cause of the pitfall of Malaysian football now).

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm F2.0

100mm, f/2.8, 1/200s, ISO800, -0.7ev

The talk was short and entertaining. See, this was done in June, when the FIFA World Cup Finals mania was at its peak. And, the spirit of Malaysia Olympic Team 1980 was rejuvenated to rekindle the football glories past. Santokh was a simple chap, and his witty quips made the crowd laugh. When asked to comment on the current football situation, he passed.

I think many of the 1980 Golden Generation wouldn't want to make statements that actually most Malaysians already know. It's a continuous debate among all walks of life on how to cure the Malaysian football disease, and it has been 30 years since! Until now, there's none. I bet cancer and HIV have a better chance of getting a cure than our national football team. For one, there's no way in my lifetime to see Malaysia play a minute of football in the FIFA World Cup Finals. I can guarantee that.

Aaaah.. such a sad state in our football is in.

At least, I learned one thing from Santokh though. One person did ask if he had any advise to the young players to at least bring back some pride or fresh air to the state of our football. Santokh's answer was simple, "Just have the 3D's! Determination, Discipline, Dedication!".

Though, I still remember when Malaysia lost to England 2-4 in June, 1991. That was entertaining football and the Malaysian players actually were at awe with Gary Lineker. Eventually, he scored all goals for England. Hmmmm.... I thought Malaysian football was getting better.... Ohhh Boy, was I wrong. The icing on the cake was the big bribery bust of 1994/95 which hurtled Malaysian football to the Stone Age!

Zuiko and the Palm Frond

2010-10-11T23:56:00.003+08:00

It was one of those lazy Sunday afternoons, where I was stuck with nothing to do.

Sitting down on the rattan chair, watching my decrepit garden slowly being overrun by weeds, I glazed on the barbecue grill. It had been a while since we had a cookout. Hmmm.. now, since I am thinking about it, maybe looking forward to have one before the month ends. At the bottom of a grill was the fan I use to flame the fire, and it's made of palm frond. The shape really looks like the playing cards "spades" insignia, that posed an idea for a photographic subject. Now that looked like something worthwhile to shoot.

50mm, f/2.8, 1/640s, ISO400, -0.3ev

I panned my E-3 with the Zuiko Digital ED50mm F2.0 Macro lens at various angles looking for interesting images. Many angles and composition later, I saw this effect. It looked cool. The palm wavy effect, coupled with fading of both ends of the fan created a dreamy yet eerie abstract. To add depth and tone, I positioned the fan's edge facing the lawn to compose the greenish fade out to the image. I was thinking of red, rather than green; however, I think not to change the color in post-process. I can live with that.

Aaaaahhh, life simple pleasures are sometimes just a click away. Never close your eyes for you might miss the beauty the world can give.

:)

Zuiko and the Shrouded

2010-10-09T15:35:00.008+08:00

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Weird as it may seem, but the E-5 has put back my lost Mojo recently. I feel reborn, with the new spur to create images with my E-3. Since I got the E-30, the E-3 got a rather 2nd class treatment. It spends most of its time in the dry box, only to be used as a backup for event shoots. It is simply because of the more superior E-30 image quality.

Somehow, the E-5 experience has breathed in new spirit into the E-3. I can't explain the sensation, but boy am I glad to shoot picturesque with the E-3 with greater purpose now!

Recently my 16-month young boy has been very active walking and climbing at anything in the house. I make a point to follow his movements using the E-3 and the Zuiko Digital ED50mm F2.0 Macro. The choice is simply due to portability and ergonomics.

50mm, f/2, 1/400s, ISO1600, -0.3ev

One instant time, I saw him playing with the day curtain. Without hesitation, I pressed the shutter to capture the glowing moment. I was amazed with the E-3's matrix metering to handle the strongbacklight and its rapid auto focus to tame the erratic 50mm lens.

Sometimes I have to ask myself that some things are meant to be simple. And this old workhorse has proven itself to be worthy again.

Oh, yea.... for those interested to buy my E-3, please contact me directly. It's on sale to finance my E-5 pursuit!

Zuiko and E-5 Withdrawal

2010-10-05T21:18:00.008+08:00

* A word of caution, image may not be suitable for vegetarians.

Urrrgggh... no E-5 to shoot with!

What should I do to remedy the pain??

Wait a minute... why don't I pixel peep some of E-5's pics. Since I didn't have time to do it due to severe time constraints during the E-5 weekend madness, now is the perfect time to nit pick some of the images that I captured.

* Please take note that the E-5 used for this blog review was a pre-production unit with Firmware 1.0.

Well, to be honest, the rapid shots I did with the E-5 mostly were events type, and not really pixel peeping material. I had a hard time finding a handful out of hundreds. So far, I found one.

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm F2.0

33mm, f/4.0, 1/250s, ISO200

All the shots I posted in my 4-day blog with E-5 are either straight-out-of-camera JPEGs or straight-out-of-Olympus-Studio RAWs. I did not do any postprocessing with regards to any image enhancement techniques.

Well, for this image, I did some work with the GIMP software. I just upped the contrast with masking and bumped the sharpness a tad with High Pass Filter. Other than that, nothing was done.

To start with, I am going to nit-pick on the exposure. This image was metered with the ESP 49-point matrix metering system. I believe there's not much tweak in the current E-5 compared to the E-30. Notice that my exposure was not set to biased -0.3ev as I usually do with the E-3 and E-30. This was purposely done during the test to see how the E-5 metering cope with high contrast scenes. When I processed the RAW file in Olympus Studio, I noticed that the cook's white hat was in Zone XIII or IX as there's no detail at all. I tried to pull down the exposure by 0.7ev, and the whole histogram shifted within an acceptable shadow-highlight range. Typical, I told myself.

Thus, the best way to deal with this is to pre-set 0.3ev in the Exposure Shift function of the E-5, or just bias the EV by -0.3 using the dial.

As can be seen the highlight is blasted into kingdom come, image is 100% crop

Actually, there's enough range to cover this scene from Zone II to Zone XIII but instead the ESP metered between Zone III and Zone IX, as the shadows still show some detail but the highlight is burnt. I don't blame much on the meter, as the overall scene is biased to be darker, and in the effort of the AE to compensate for potential underexposure, it overexposes for the goodness of the cook's hat.

But there's still space for shadows to show detail, image is 100% crop

Hmmmm.. I wish Olympus can produce a much improved ESP metering system, but for a seasoned E-system user like me, I know how to cope with it.

Okay, enough with the exposure stuff. I will now move on to nit-pick on the resolution of the whole system with the Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm F2.0 lens.

In general, I am very satisfied with the edge sharpness of the image, and somehow I didn't get sharp focus at the center of the image when it's cropped 100%. As the general rule, I used f/4 in many situations to get acceptably sharp images for event shoots. Maybe there's not much depth-of-field for this shot, maybe f/8 should do it. Ah well...

If only I have used f/8 aperture, then this would be sharp. Then again, I won't be able to get the mood I wanted, image is 100% crop

The below image that is slightly off to the bottom left of the frame exhibits excellent details, especially the grains of spice used to marinade the lamb can be clearly seen.

Texture is detailed clearly with details of the spices used, image is 100% crop

And finally, the last image below really shows the details even at the edge of the frame. I have nothing much to comment on the E-5's ability to resolve the SHG lenses. I salute Olympus for a job well done!!

The fabric's weave on the collar can be clearly seen even at the edge of the frame, image is 100% crop

Wow, I found another picture with edge-to-edge sharpness. This is even better than the sample above. Why? Because this picture was straight-out-of-the-camera-JPEG without any additional sharpening done!!!! Please click HERE to get the full 12MP resolution, and marvel at the amazing detail with shots made by the Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm F2.0 at WIDE OPEN F/2.0!!!!!

The two hours I took to write this blog has been a good therapy for me to cope with the E-5 withdrawal. I don't know how long will this last; maybe I need to write another blog tomorrow!!

How about commentary on how accurate AWB is compared to preset WB?

Zuiko and E-5: Day 4

2010-10-04T20:36:00.004+08:00

This is the day. The sad day. The day I have to return the E-5 to Olympus Malaysia.

E-5 with Zuiko Digital 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 mk2

On my way to work, a small mishap happened. I ran out of gas!!! A small miscalculation on the reserve. I was just 1km away from the nearest petrol kiosk. But then, it turned out to be a blessing.

While waiting for the ELITE Expressway Patrol to pass by, I managed to make some C-AF rapid shots. The fast moving cars at the excess of 100km/h (55mph) were just perfect!!

As I had experience shooting C-AF sequence at 5fps with RAW + SuperFine JPEG (total of 18-20MB per shot) during my kid's concert yesterday, the limit of the buffer was 7 frames. As can be seen in the panorama stitch shot above, I was stuck after the 7th frame!

About the C-AF performance? Well, most of it was based on technique and approach. In this case, my experience was about 70-80% hit rate. This was the only clean sequence I got out of 4 attempts. To tell you the truth, if I had been doing this type of shots day-in day-out, the hit rate might have been in the high 90%.

A quick landscape shot of the ELITE and KESAS expressways interchange

After my mishap was settled, I sped off to Olympus Malaysia office at Mont Kiara. I was thinking, I might as well milk out the last drop of pixel out of this E-5. Yeah, that's a great idea! The indoor shots were between ISO800 and 1600, while outdoor shots were at ISO200. All using Dramatic Tone, as I was at high emotions actually!

Dark parking bay below the office.

Olympus office is somewhere here.

At Olympus, I was greeted by Mr Yang (not a real name). I shared my experience, and felt very sad about it. We exchanged experiences shooting the E-5, and he showed me some great prints at A3-size to show the edge-to-edge details. Well, I haven't printed my shots yet, and boy were the prints looked great!!

After about half an hour chit-chat, I bid farewell, just after we were joined by Mr Big Boss. I also exchanged experience about the shoot with him, and also tried to lobby them to loan a couple of E-5s to our small community's upcoming trip up Mount Ledang (the MyChiaroscuro.net). Hope they agree to the idea, because brother Robin Wong will be joining the trip, too.

Entering with sadness...

Olympus cameras display

I just wished that I just could just grab hold of the bag and ran away!!

Well, now I am having a severe E-5 withdrawal syndrome. My mood is a bit off, and strangely when I arrive home I immediately grab hold of the E-3... Three days were just not enough!!! And, I apologize for any shortcomings of my write-up regarding the E-5 as I did not have much time to really study and test its capabilities.

It's going to be a tough few weeks for me to cope with the loss!!

Zuiko and E-5: Day 3

2010-10-03T07:17:00.008+08:00

It's a cool morning today, the sky seems quite blue. Let's start off the day with some technical discussion. Olympus has briefed me about how they achieved "Highest per pixel sharpness" with the E-5. What this means is that with whatever technology that Olympus has, hopefully it's cutting edge, the Truepic V+ "Fine Detail Processor" looks into each pixel and process the sharpness and moire to ensure the best image quality the sensor can capture. Also, the Optical Filter, aka AA (Anti Aliasing) Filter is much weaker than the E-30 to allow more resolution from the Zuiko Digital lens to pass to the 12M Live MOS Sensor. In effect, the only changes made from the E-30 to the E-5 with regards to image capture are these two.

From the sample images, I have started to see improvements on the sharpness of the E-5 over the E-3. I have yet to take some E-30 images to compare, though. I might do it today or tomorrow. I apologize for not having time pixel peep, as I only have 3 days to test this camera.

I managed to make a shot to compare the E-5 and E-30. All settings at default, with ISO200 base and pre-set Sunny WB. Noise Filter is OFF.

1st Image is E-5; 2nd Image is E-30. Click on the camera name to see full 12MP resolution.

From my first impression, the E-5 exhibits sharper resolution, but it's really hard to tell. I think I need a better sample. Hmmm.. maybe later in the afternoon if time permits. Now it's time for breakfast.

What a long and hectic day. In the morning rushed to my aunt's house for the Aqiqah feast (it's a celebration for the birth of a child, where it's recommended to slaughter a lamb and have a feast with family and friends). This time around, I mostly used the Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm F2.0 lens.

The roast lamb being prepared for the feast.

Prayers for child's well-being and family's prosperity

Matrix metering seems able to cope with strong backlighting

At ISO 1600, the shadows are well controlled in strong backlighting

AF is responsive to follow children's playtime action

Colors are still vivid at ISO1600

Later at noon, we rushed to our kid's kindergarten concert event at Shah Alam Convention Center. I decided to leave the Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 in the car, and solely used the Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm F2.0 lens. Most of the shots will be from a long distance, anyways. I think all shots in the grand ballroom was shot at ISO1600, and I am very satisfied with the results. The FL-50R became redundant.

See, focus, snap. The AF is fast to rapidly record in split second to get the mood.

Eagerly waiting, the E-5 AF was so quick to lock within milliseconds to capture the moment even at low light

I see Ultraman flying in the hall

Costumes and colors galore in this concert event, and the kids had a great time

Well, that sums up the 3rd and last day of shooting with the E-5. I will be returning the camera on Monday afternoon, during lunch time. I don't think I have time to squeeze during working hours to churn out more shots or explore the E-5.

Zuiko and E-5: Day 2

2010-10-02T08:15:00.014+08:00

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Well, I started the day early today. Drove off to a spot near my house to shoot sunrise. Ohhh... what luck, it was cloudy. I got to think of something else.

I went back to the house, and thought of doing some simple comparison with the E-3. No, it won't be the ISO thingy, nor the resolution thingy. We should know that in no way the E-3 can top E-5 in both categories, so I won't bother doing it. What I thought was, how about a test for Auto White Balance accuracy.

E-3 with Zuiko Digital ED50mm F2.0 Macro

Auto White Balance, ISO100

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED50mm F2.0 Macro

Auto White Balance, ISO200

It was cloudy, and I always have this opinion that the E-3 Auto WB tends to be warm. I took a couple of shots, both with base ISO and tried to see what happened. Both cameras had the external WB sensor On. Voila!! To my eyes, the E-5 has better Auto WB for cloudy skies. This is good!! Now, when will the sky clear for sunlight shots?

Okay... it started to rain. Seems I am grounded for today; no point shooting in the rain as I did it yesterday. I guess some product shots of the E-5 was due.

As for the rest of the day, I will be doing some weekend errands. Let's see how to fit in the schedule for some more test shots.

Throughout the late morning and early afternoon was spent at Ikea. We got ourselves a pair of study desks for our kids. Well, that's done, oh ya, I didn't bring the E-5 along as Ikea don't like to see a photographer with a behemoth of a camera and lens running around its store.

Later in the afternoon, I sent my kid to tuition and had an hour or so of spare time. It is about time to test the video capabilities.

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD

Dramatic Tone art filter, with S-AF at 4 different points

My observations are as follows:

Video is smooth with crisp details captured by the Zuiko lens.
When using Art Filter, expect lost of smoothness or details depending on the type of filter used.
Auto Focus in single mode works, with the adjustment of focus to the selected AF point (there are 11 to choose from) can be made by pressing the shutter button.
SWD lens have smooth CDAF action, with some subtly soft ticking noise captured by the microphone
Jitter is visible in locking focus for the 14-35mm f2.0 SWD lens. Non-SWD lens like the 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 mk11 does not exhibit visible jitter in locking focus.
AF seems to be very responsive in strong backlight and lowlight situations.

Done with the videos, I waited at the front entrance of my kid's tuition center. I saw the nice sunshine hiding, but waiting to reveal itself from the clouds. It's time...

Though it was raining in the morning, it turned to be uber hot in the afternoon. This is typical Malaysian weather. Looking at the sun, I remembered a long time ago during my days as a novice photographer. One of my many teachers taught me how to make the brightest star seen on Earth appear as a star! It was a two step approach; underexpose by 1 or 1.5 stops, and shoot small aperture f/16. Well, the real challenge to do this shot were the patience to wait for the clouds to clear, and the strong eye to withstand the bright sun!! I think I made like a dozen of shots, and this is the best I could get. By the way, by counting the rays, you can know the number of iris blades in the lens. In this case, there are 18 rays, thus 9 blades.

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD

14mm, f/22, 1/250s, ISO100, -1.0ev

Wow.. I am beat!!

I just assembled my daughter's desk, and painted it pink. Now waiting it to dry before putting in the second coat.

I am not sure I have time to do some wireless flash shooting tonight.

For tomorrow, it will be a long day! Firstly, there's an open house and aqiqah invitation in Shah Alam in the morning; where I am expecting a lot of people to be there. Later in the afternoon, my son's kindy will be having the annual concert at a hall in USJ1.

What an eventful day tomorrow. I need to recharge the batteries, and not to forget myself!!

Let's have a piece of New York Cheesecake, and be merry.

Before I went to sleep, I managed to do some lowlight stuff. I set the exposure value at around 2.7EV, which was a room lit with two 60W tungsten bulbs. The subject distance from the lamp was about 5 feet.

The exposure is f/2, 1/20s, ISO1600. That is quite dark indeed. The AF seems to be very responsive.

I am now a very satisfied Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD user

The E-5 really does justice to both resolution and AF speed for this lens!!!

Zuiko and E-5: Day 1

2010-10-01T17:12:00.013+08:00

As promised, I picked up the Olympus E-5 test unit from the Olympus Malaysia office at Mont Kiara during lunch.

Weather-proofing legacy from the E-1 to the E-3, and now the E-5

As always, I was briefed by the Olympus Malaysia executive, Mr. Yang (not a real name) with regards to this little monster. In summary, Olympus sees E-5 as having 4 major improvements or sales pitch.

Highest pixel sharpness
Dust-and-splash proof body
World's 1st 3" Hypercrystal LCD with dual-swivel weather-proof monitor
Dramatic Tone art filter.

To me, the real deal from his presentation was on how Olympus worked on the image quality. Learning from the E-3 debacle, the new TruePic V+ is the super-engine behind the new and improved sharpness. Simply put, the new image processor kicks ass!! Compared to TruePic III+, the E-5 does not require a strong AA filter to reduce the Moire. In effect, with lower strength AA filter, the overall resolution captured by the 12MP Live MOS Sensor is maintained. The TruePic V+ then effectively cleans the Moire.

He also pointed out that the Art Filter now is no longer part of the camera Modes, but part of the image parameters; it's in the same category when selecting Natural, Vivid, Mute or Portrait. This is a good thing, as the camera settings are retained in the Mode selection which enable me to change any image parameters that I want such as ISO, F-number, WB and shutter speed.

My first touch of the E-5 is rather ordinary, as it is really an E-3 construction. The balance, heft and ergonomics are the same. The changes at the back panels are negligible for me. But one thing I notice is the LCD screen presentation. The crisp images are a welcome for chimping; well, I am a chimper! If you think E-30 trumps E-3's LCD, then E-5 is KING!!!

There's this new battery, BLM-5, which is white in color and has a charge of 1620mA. It's compatible with BLM-1 with the exception that it only can be charged with its own charger. Bummer!!

One caveat, though. Although it was confirmed the Firmware to be 1.0 (production), he told me that the AF performance is still not stable. Hmmmm... so much for drawing AF speeds conclusion.

Right after the briefing, I straight away dived into the menu and quickly changed the settings to my liking.

After a quick lunch, I did a quick shoot. Since this test unit is loaned over the weekend, I do not have much time to lose.

A quick trip to Kuala Lumpur City Center was the easiest. The sky was getting darker as the strong winds blowing in the dark clouds. I had to move fast!

In this 30-minute rapid shoot, I shot in Art Filter 10, aka Dramatic Tone. I also shot in RAW for processing later using Olympus Studio. Oh ya, that reminds me to update the Studio to support E-5 RAWs. It has been a while since I did the last update.

UPDATE!! The Olympus Studio is using the latest software; meaning I can't RAW process the Dramatic Tone art filter!!!

Towards the last 5 minutes, rain was pouring. Nothing to worry here, as the whole system is weather-sealed!

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED7-14mm F4.0

Dramatic Tone art filter that tries to mimic HDR effect

Upon coming back to office, I happened to bump into my colleague who owns a Canon 7D. Without hesitation, I offered him a look at the E-5. He being a hardcore Canonite, was not smitten with the E-5 with the exception of the Dramatic Tone filter. He deliberated the E-5 for a while, and end up asking about video. I told him it's not full 1080p, only 720p. Well, he's not that particular about it, nor am I. But the funny thing about his question was how to activate the video!!

It was hell when there's no manual to guide me, and I scrolled into the menu many times to look for the button. To no avail, it's not in the menu. After 5 minutes scrolling, we never stopped noticing that the AF points button has a video icon next to it. Pressing the button won't do anything except selecting the AF points. I was feeling embarrassed with my Canonite friend. Then, I thought to myself... Oly tends to do things differently, being odd mostly!! Though there's a button for video, it's shared. Thinking outside the still photography box, and into motion photography box, I concluded that "Hey, what if I activate the Live View?". And yes sir, the AF button is transformed into the Video button. Whew, but why, oh, why do I need to press 2 buttons in sequence to activate the video?

Going back home, I had to walk about half a kilometer to the parking lot. There's a mega construction going on down the lot, and I took a shot.

Comparison of Natural colors with Dramatic Tone. Click texts to see full resolution, and feel free to download as these are set as Creative Commons.

Zuiko Digital ED7-14mm F4.0, 7mm, f/7.1, 1/400s, ISO200, -0.3ev.

It's night time already. Time to make some the low light shots.

For tonight, I am just warming up to the feel of shooting high ISO; thus, won't be making much time writing techno-babble. For a start, the ISO acceptance seems to be up by 1 or 2 stops from E-30. In effect with E-5, I am starting to use ISO1600 as my confident level before having to sweat out perfect exposures (see, with higher ISO, perfect exposure is very vital for low noise images). This is also based on the Noise Filter set to Low, which is my default setting.

E-5 with Zuiko Digital ED50mm F2.0

50mm, f/5.6, 1/30s, ISO1600

There are some complementary tin-can-bottle images depicting ISO increases by 1 full stops from 800 to 6400 in my portfolio. You are free to download these, as I changed them to Creative Commons. Most of the images are full copyrighted, sorry.

Link to E-5 portfolio on Flickr HERE.

Maybe tomorrow I will try to focus on some comparison among the E-5, E-30 and E-3. For a start, I might plan for some AF speed tests (though E-5s AF is not stable yet, at least for the test unit I am using now), or some high ISO tests. Let's see how things go tomorrow.

Olympus E-5

2010-09-29T13:51:00.001+08:00

Just got word from Olympus Malaysia that a test unit is coming my way this Friday.

Well, it's going to be a fun weekend!

Zuiko and Around the Corner

2010-09-25T19:25:00.002+08:00

It has been a wet week recently here. The rain comes and goes without warning, and most of the time is the cats & dogs variety. A no-no for most cameras; however, glad I have the E-3 and SHG lenses in my drybox! It has been quite a while since I shot the E-3 and the Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm F4.0 uber-wide angle lens.

The rain just stopped, but there were still drizzles flying around. The dark clouds were still lingering in the evening sky. I was itchy for some shots. Really in the mood for some serious photography. My mojo was back!

E-3 with Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm F4.0

7mm, f/4, 1/400s, ISO200

But, I wouldn't want to use the E-30 come the sudden rain. E-3 should do it. What-the-hey!!! This archaic camera still works, albeit the recent announcement of the E-5. I was a bit worried the camera stopped working out of jealousy as I am lusting for the E-5 ever since the rumor came about.

I was lazy to go somewhere just for the sake of taking some nice photos. I told myself, what if I just walk around the corner of my neighborhood and take some interesting snaps. That was a thought, and I was glad I did it.

E-3 with Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm F4.0

7mm, f/4, 1/200s, ISO200

My son tagged along, but mostly he was on his own running across the empty road, zig-zagging his aeroplane run with great sound effect. He was minding his own business, and so did I. Both of us had a great quality time.

Zuiko and the Balancing Act

2010-09-21T23:02:00.004+08:00

In my class, I cram my students with many photography nonsense. Especially with the mantra, "When outdoors in the hot sun, shoot with your flash on and 100% direct." Most of the time, my students will show blank stares disbelieving what I just said.

There are many other mantras, and one of them is, "If you don't like a person in a group picture, please use a wide angle lens." Well, this may be a good topic for another blog. For now, let me stick to the hot-sun-flashing-shooter thing.

Ah, well... I give them the assignment, and these are the results.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD + FL-50R Flash

33mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO100, -2ev, flash +1ev

My approach is simple. Most of the time, the camera using Matrix metering is quite smart enough to detect the background exposure. Thus, by dialing down the overall exposure compensation to -2ev, the background is darkened. The flash, then is set at higher compensation, say +1ev, to illuminate the darkened scene. In total, the image has a composite of -1ev exposure, which is just the right balance for portrait with landscape picture.

The above image uses slow x-sync flash that limits the shutter to 1/250s; thus, entails for small aperture exposure. In this case, it is f/11.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD + FL-50R Flash

14mm, f/3.2, 1/4000s, ISO100, -2ev, flash +1ev

Say that you are a sucker for shallow depth-of-field, or bokeh-anywhere type of shooter. Then, you can dial up the aperture to f/2 for example, and the shutter speed will still jam at 1/250s. In this case, the Matrix metering is dumb! The picture will be overexposed. The only way to jump the shutter up is to use high-speed sync, in Olympus language it's FP Flash. Be careful though when using this method, as the bulb tend to be abused with low power but long bursts of light. I killed my FL-36 during a wedding once due to FP abuse, and it was not nice!!

Notice the blur effect due to the larger aperture even at wide angle 14mm? I should have used f/2.0 to get more blur. Doh!!

Using the same exposure principles of the first picture, the second image is recreated with the same exposure balance.

Zuiko and a New Compact System

2010-09-20T17:01:00.006+08:00

It seems Olympus is coming out with another system.

From the dpreview.com site, there's a mockup camera that has the granular similarity with the Canon S90. I just can't believe this!!!!

If this is to be true, I am hard pressed to thinking of upgrading my S90 with the S95 in the near future.

Hmmmm... I hope more revelations appear in Photokina.

UPDATE!
At Photokina, dpreview.com has reported a bit about this compact.

Click HERE to look at the sheer size of the lens, with respect to the body.

From the extended lens, I can deduce that the lens is larger than the S90. Two things are possible:
1. This is a large aperture lens throughout its range, maybe an F2.0-2.8, with a sensor size of 2/3".
2. This is a large sensor compact, maybe 4/3, with lens aperture F3.5-5.6.

Another hint from dpreview.com, it may be a return of the legendary C-5050 specification; thus, I can conclude that it may be a large aperture lens with 2/3" sensor.

Well, only time will tell and I really expect it to be worth the wait!!

SE X10 Fun with the Vignette App

2010-09-16T14:43:00.002+08:00

I love this app with the Sony X10 Android phone.

The ultimate in photo processing!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

The Olympus E-5 is here

2010-09-14T16:53:00.002+08:00

At long last, the successor for the ageing flagship has arrived.

From the initial specs, it is easy to assume that the E-5 is actually an iteration from the best of 3 Olympus cameras: the E-5, E-30 and E-P2. Let's checkout the specs:

From E-3 comes the body construction, weatherproofing and 100% viewfinder.

From E-30 comes the 3" screen, AF calibration and Live View AF.

From E-P2 comes the 720p HD video, SD card and the latest Art Filters.

Well, there are other features that are inherent in E-5 predecessors, but I only listed the obvious ones to my mind.

Topping all the current features are some things that may shed high interest.

First is the newly designed image processor, aptly named TruePic V+. I hope this processor provides better sharpness, color and noise control. The only way to know is for me the get hold of one as soon as possible. Hope Oly Malaysia is reading this blog and already reserve one unit for me. :)

Next is the new 920+k screen. This is already standard for some manufacturers and I am happy Oly is doing this for E-5. I just hope the contrast is good at strongly lit sunshines and will not drain the battery easily during Live View shooting.

Lastly the so-called I-FINISH mode that supposed to provide control to Art Filters. I am not sure what this means, but I hope this is a killer feature.

I know that my statements with regards to the E-5 are pure estimates from my experience with its predecessors, but it serves as some expected benchmark of what the E-5 can do. Hope to see more image samples, and also if lucky can review the unit soon.

Till then....

The Olympus E-5?

2010-09-14T07:59:00.002+08:00

Well, the picture of the purported E-5 is out in cyberspace.

It doesn't surprise me one bit for it to be very similar with the E-3. The silhouette image in my previous entry sure is the E-3 form factor.

Compare the E-3 with E-30 for ergonomics, the E-3 wins hands down for me.

But, what's more important is what it can do. From the purported specs, I can see the mashup of E-30 and E-Px technologies. There's no standout advancement feature so far, but there is rumour that the optical viewfindef will have "translucent technology" which means the LCD display can be seen on the optical prism. In fact, I am a bit sceptic about this.

Well, too much rumor mongering is not good for anybody's health. I would just wait for the official announcement tomorrow.

Now, where did I put that Olympus Malaysia business card??

Olympus E-5: The New Flagship

2010-09-13T04:09:00.002+08:00

Lately, there is a strong buzz about the upcoming E-5 at Photokina. Come 15 November, Olympus will unveil its latest flagship camera to the world. It won't be Full Frame camera for sure. However, I bet it will be next level of technology Olympus like to showcase; namely by merging E-3 ruggedness, E-30 sophistication and E-P2 brilliance, not to mention an additional bag of trick or treat into the new E-5.

For me, the goodies sound nice. But will it be good enough to satisfy the hunger of my 4 brilliant Zuikos? E-30's 12MP resolution does not boast a challenge to the 14-35mm F2.0 optical prowess. Neither does the E-3's optical viewfinder to detail the 7-14mm uber wide coverage. The E-P2's 720p video won't do justice to the 35-100mm cinematic potential. Maybe the E-5 can solve the 50mm Macro focus limiter problem, though. Well, hopefully the E-5 adresses at least one of these problems. Or maybe not.

Will the E-5 boast at least 15MP? Or will it support EVF functionality?

As an insecure Olympus shooter, I am asking for things that is outside the ordinary. But what the heck! I see Olympus has the technological will to do many things, but it really lacks the commercial will. Somehow, being a small company with limited resources really dictates the do's and dont's of things. How sad!

Well, enough rambling from me for now. In just a couple of days we will know.

Hang on tight. If I am lucky, Olympus Malaysia may spare me a review unit!

Such exciting times ahead...

Zuiko and Fruit Fest

2010-07-25T17:58:00.003+08:00

14mm, f/3.2, 1/800s, ISO200

The majestic durians in abundance

Recently, my company hosted a Fruit Fest for all staff and family members. Local fruits were abundant, ranging from durians, mangosteens rambutans, langsats, longans, bananas, local fruit ice creams, and topped with fresh coconut drinks.

The durians were of the D24 variants, with luscious thick yellow meat and sweet tart taste. The smell, oh yeah, the most deplored smell in the aviation and hospitality industries was fully savored. What is a durian without the trademark pungent smell?

Kids enjoying the fruits.

And, when there's durians, the mangosteens were there too. Such a royal couple! It is the perfect fruit to counter the repulsive nature of the durians. Sweet and refreshing, rich with antioxidants, the mangosteens we had were not really sweet, rather bland sourish. I bet it was plucked semi-ripe, as the skin was not dark purple and not watery when it was broken open. At least there were no purple stains on the shirts.

Well, the other fruits were just sidelines to the King and Queens of fruits! I won't dwell much to write about them...

Then again, it was a mystery why there were no mangoes, jackfruits and chikus. Ah well...

Local fruit ice-cream, the kids got the durian and chempedak flavors.

My family really enjoyed the nature's bounty, and a great occasion to spend quality family time.

Playing with Slow Sync Flash

2010-07-25T17:48:00.003+08:00

7.5mm (35mm equiv.), f/8.0, 1/5s, ISO500

Slow sync Flash, +2ev

One guy told me that his brother knew a little trick to make the portrait shot has a spinning background. He didn't know how his brother did it, but I told him that I can guess the technique.

Quickly I whipped out my S90, and made the shot. Well, to make a perfect shot, more samples must be taken. This was just made with one shot!!

He was impressed, and told that's exactly what he say his brother did.

Zuiko and Sports Day

2010-05-30T14:09:00.003+08:00

Friends in arms.

35mm, f/4.0, 1/160s, ISO800

A few weeks back, my daughter's kindy held a sports day at the MPSJ sports complex.

It was drizzling with rain when we arrived there, and the event was delayed by up to nearly half an hour. Knowing that I had to shoot this in the open, I opted for the Olympus E-3 with the Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm f2.0 lens. The lens gave me the distance coverage I needed as there was a large crowd of parents and friends encircling the telematches. I couldn't get close enough!

Boys Brigade provided the marching tempo

The old Zuiko motor was able to track the fast marching

On your marks!!

Hard at work collecting the bumper crop.

A medal for the effort!

There's nothing much to say, except that shooting in an uncontrolled crowded situation is very tough. Gotta be fast to get the best location. In this type of shooting, location, location & location is very important!!

Also, notice the compression effect in the pictures. Thanks to the sole usage of the telephoto lens, the effect of people bunching up together within the frame is further magnified.

And my son had a blast too playing with the umbrella!

Byee......

Zuiko and the Sony Experia X10

2010-05-30T11:20:00.002+08:00

For the past few weeks, I was busy with a new toy. Regrettably, I was left with little or no time to spend time with my Zuikos or even the nimble Canon S90. The Sony Experia X10, equipped with Android Donut 1.6, loaded with applications and features, was my focus of attention.

One of the nifty applications is the Retro Cam. I downloaded it last week, and got a good time playing with its 4 different camera effects. With the ability to hook the pictures directly with Facebook and Flickr makes my usage of this little contraption ever more worthwhile. The X10's 8MP sensor, with the right photographic situation, delivers enough resolution to rival the Canon S90.

Let's look at what the Retro Cam can do...

Effect with Xolaroid 2000 camera

High X-processing, blue/green cast, high contrast, glossy instant frame

Effect with pinhOle camera

Low saturation, multi-color swirl, medium-high contrast, full-bleed film

Effect with Little Orange Box camera

High X-processing, red/purple cast, high contrast, square damaged frame

Effect with The Barbl camera

Low saturation, red/purple cast, high contrast, square damaged frame

Well, the SE X10 won't be able to match the S90 overall output quality, or so much to challenge the Zuikos top notch optical performance. Nevertheless, the complete package offered by this smartphone is more than enough to not let me spend some time with other cameras. Nothing beats the instant capabilities to upload the pictures to Facebook and Flickr via high speed HSPA connection!

No worries, I will continue blogging away with regards to my Zuikos; but this new toy is so time absorbing!!

Another Session...

2010-04-28T17:12:00.006+08:00

I just conducted another basic photography session.

A bit of activity to teach the tricks of group shooting.

To my students who are reading this blog entry, take note that the photo above is perfect composition based on the Golden Mean where the triangles A, B & C are clearly seen.

Me and my students.

The gist of my basic teachings are :
1. Get the exposure right, know the exposure triangle
2. Get the focus right, know where to point the lens
3. Get the perspective right, know the right angle, lens, and distance to get the shot

Zuiko and Bicycles

2010-04-17T22:34:00.005+08:00

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED 35-100mm F2.0

35mm, f/3.2, 1/400s, ISO100, -0.3ev

I have rekindled an old past time - cycling. The last time I rode a bike was when I was a teenager, which was a 17"-frame road bike. This time around, I got myself a 17"-frame hybrid bike.

I have found that for the past twenty years, a lot of technological development had advanced this mechanical wonder. I remembered the cumbersome gearing system, the heavy iron frame, and the non-friendly tooling for wheels, brakes and fitting setups. Now, with the wonder of materials engineering the frame is much lighter, and the inclusion of easy clip-ons for easy fittings and tooling. The gearing system is very friendly, too.

What makes this past time worthwhile now is that I have a cycling partner - my lovely wife. She loves mountain bikes, but I came from road bikes. The easy way out was for me to get a hybrid bike so that we can go on trail and park rides on many occasions. So far, after one week getting the bike, I am getting the feel of riding again. Well, not counting my motorcycling days with the Aprilia RS125, the exuberance and excitement of pedaling this lovely machine really hit the right spot. I am feeling the freedom, the speed, the youth; and, using just plain clean energy while riding is just great!!

Except for the sore buttocks for the first couple of days, the light aluminum 6061 frame and wonderful Shimano equipment have helped eliminate the potential pains to my arms, back and legs. Lovely!!

Daughter coming straight at me, Continuous AF to track her approach

100mm, f/3.2, 1/640s, ISO100, -0.3ev

Well, it seems that the whole family also on the bike thing. My two kids are also enjoying this leisure. It's a good way to spend quality time with my family.

Son diligently putting on the helmet, hard at work trying to lock-in the straps

100mm, f/3.2, 1/160s, ISO100, -0.3ev

As for photography on wheels, I have decided to go back to 135 camera system, especially the OMs due to its lightweight design and small size. I seem to have about 30 rolls of Fujifilm Reala 100s in the fridge. It's about time to unleash Full Frame.

Till then....

Zuiko and Green Apples

2010-04-05T23:03:00.003+08:00

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I had some spare time after sending my daughter to Enopi Math class. The 30-minute gap was used to do some quick flash shoot.

35mm, f/4.0, 1/60s, ISO100

This was processed in High-key to accentuate the full breadth of flash coverage

Green apples.. that looked simple but cool!

How did I do a 2-minute setup?

Get the E-30 with a moderate telephoto lens, in this case the Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD.

Get the FL-50R flash, and set to Remote mode. Quickly activate the Remote Commander menu on the E-30, and fiddle with the TTL setting.

Place the two apples on a dark glass table. Shut the room lights, and use ISO100 to blacken as much as possible the disturbing backgrounds.

Position the flash in various angles and height to see the different effects.

And don't forget the Do's and Don'ts of simple composition techniques. Rule-of-Thirds, Depth-of-Field separation, contrast isolation, parallax error, etc, etc.

Shoot in RAW only, and later process it using the Olympus Studio software. The E-30 Art Filters are available in Studio v2.2.

Voila!

By changing the angle and light intensity, a different effect was created.

This was processed in Low Key to accentuate the dark contrast zones.

Zuiko and Flash Techniques

2010-04-05T21:51:00.006+08:00

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Event shooting is all about getting the right shots and meeting the client's needs. You only have one chance and there's no repeat! Hustle, hustle!!

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD + FL-50R

23mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s, ISO400, -0.3ev + Direct FP Flash + Spot Metering

Those were the mantras I kept repeating in my recent Event Shooting class. And boy, did the participants got a whole load of flash techniques.

You name it; the basic flash techniques for quick event shooting were covered. It started with simple direct flash and output balance calculation. Then we proceeded with the bounce & white card, and estimating ceiling height factors. Next, it was dragging the shutter in dark lit room, playing with 2nd/rear curtains. We went outdoors, and played with FP high sync flash to negate "the skull effect". High speed coverage with rapid flash and rapid movement followed, which was finally topped off with the indoor/outdoor flash balance technique.

Of course, the basic EV measurements along with GN calculations and DoF controls were thrown in the whole sha-bang! At least I managed to confuse most of the class before they got their hands dirty the next day and saw what I was talking about the whole day before!

Though I was tired, it was satisfying. To see the participants learning a lot within a short span of time was very rewarding.

On to the next class....

Zuiko and Curtains

2010-03-28T11:04:00.005+08:00

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD

35mm, f/2.8, 1/100s, ISO800, -0.3ev

I was lying down under the window, when I noticed the pleats of the curtains providing beautiful abstraction of light rays pounding on soft fabric. I quickly took the shot with my camera. The surrealism of the curves of light on the fabric gave an eerie effect that I thought was mesmerizing, at least.

A bit of light balancing post-process techniques that included Contrast Masking with Layer Blending mixing providing the tones and hues that I wanted.

The abstraction looks a bit frightening at a quick glance, though.

Zuiko and a River

2010-03-16T17:12:00.003+08:00

A river runs through it.

Canon S90, 7.5mm, f/8.0, 1/20s, ISO80

It has been more than 10 years since I visited this small Malay village en-route to Slim River from Tanjong Malim. The water still flows cool and clear. The scene is still beautiful. Nature at its finest.

It was an impromptu visit, and I didn't have my swimming trunk and even the DSLR with me. Luckily, the Canon S90 point-and-shoot was there.

While the IS helped a lot to get low shutter speed to get the water flowing effect while ensuring the image is sharp and crisp, I was not able to get a lower shutter speed to say 1/4s. This was because of the f-stop limitation! The S90 only allowed until F8.0, as this was the theoretical limit before diffraction effect kicked in. Even with ISO80, the shutter speed wouldn't go lower than 1/15s.

Nonetheless, the S90 did a very good job. I got the image as I perceived it to be. That's the bottom line.

Zuiko and Event Shooting Class

2010-03-16T12:05:00.003+08:00

Lately I am quite busy with non-photography stuff; thus, the lack of new pictures and even substance for my blog. I am trying to find the time to do some photography, but since January, my weekends are swamped with family commitments.

Nonetheless, my teaching of photography is still on. Next week, I will hold a class on Event Shooting with additional Photoshop session. The 3-day course will be mostly practical as I expect the students to already master the basics of exposure and composition as this will be a very fast ride in advance skills and techniques.

Today is the day I have to submit the learning materials to the training organizer; and I hope all goes well.

Scrambling now....

Zuiko and Birthday Wishes

2010-02-22T13:48:00.005+08:00

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Wow... I didn't touch my DSLR for quite a while. Having the S90 in the back pocket did not help the situation at all. But, for this occassion, I had to shoot the DSLR. I knew the S90 won't cut it! My son's birthday was 12 days ago, and I confessed that setting up the DSLR gears took quite a while for me to do!

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD
31mm, f/2.8, 1/160s, ISO800, -0.3ev

Making a child happy is the greatest thing any person could do. It's the most wonderful feeling. The moment, the innocence, the cheeriness - everything is shown through their eyes. Seeing and feeling it with him is wonderful, and to capture the right moment is magical.

Birthdays are easily one of the things that make a child happy. Having his friends around him celebrating in joy, the presents, and the fun of it all. To see them mesmerized with the event and immersed with the love is just bliss!

And, make sure the flash batteries are all charged up, coz I forgot mine! Maybe due to the monthlong isolation from serious photography has made me a forgetful photographer. And, somehow without motor drive mode, I managed to get the shot! Talk about luck!

Zuiko and Evolve

2010-02-19T16:56:00.002+08:00

Recently, Olympus Malaysia has created a website titled http://www.evolve.com.my/. There was some hype in Facebook and Mychiarosuro.net websites.

9 days to evolve? Hmmmm...

There's rumor everywhere on the unveiling of the new E-5, or even a new line of E.. the E-700 series. No matter what it is, I really hope this will be something that is really, really good for us Fourthirds users.

Nonetheless, I have a feeling it's not for the Fourthirds... I am guessing it's for the microFourthirds E-PL1 camera. This is considering the expected launching of the E-PL1 in March 2010.

Ah well... let's wait and see.

Zuiko and a Self-Portrait

2010-01-12T22:46:00.004+08:00

A simple self portrait I did with the E-30 camera and the Zuiko Digital ED7-14mm F4.0 lens.

I used a two-light source, main at high point, fill at low point; with self portrait composed using real-time Live View screen and triggered with a wireless remote.

I tried to do a macho look, so-called a self-portrait of the ultimate maleness in myself. Hmmm... I think I didn't do quite a good job.

The thing is, when I was doing this, I solely relied on two features in self-portrait shooting. 1. The remote trigger, in this case the usage of the RM-1 remote trigger. 2. The flippable LCD, in this case I used the LCD screen flipped facing me so that I can compose myself into the frame (this was done in full Live View mode).

Oh yeah, I used full TTL shooting with the Olympus wireless flash system; with the main using FL-50R and fill using FL-36R. The E-30 was mounted on the Manfrotto 709b table tripod for a very low angle shot.

Well, these feature made shooting self-portrait much easier. But, it still did not solve the problem that I was not a very good model.

Ah well....

Zuiko ED50mm F2.0 Macro

2010-01-07T18:28:00.003+08:00

I love this lens. It serves 3 purposes. And it is small too, just mere 300 grams or so.

Firstly, it's a macro lens. Based on the specification, it can do 1:2 magnification. Roughly means, it can frame up to 36mm by 27mm. That's quite a good magnification, considering the size matches a Full Frame 135 size sensor.

Secondly, it's a fast lens. The F2.0 maximum aperture ensures its capability to shoot in low light scenes. The above shot is rated at EV2, or F2.0, 1/20s, ISO2000. Typically EV2 is like shooting a total eclipse of the moon. That's low light!

Thirdly, it's a portrait lens. It has a telephoto angle of view similar to 100mm in 135 format. The bokeh of this lens is excellent, along with the razor sharp performance. It may pose a problem with skin details, but better be sharp than blur.

Well, there's no perfect lens. Optically, this lens is flawless - no problems in matching the Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm f2.0 and ED35-100mm f2.0 twin zooms. However, the 50mm lens suffers with Auto Focus performance. Unlike the 35-100mm lens that has a focus limiter, the 50mm does not have it. And considering it is a macro lens, the focus performance can be a real nightmare. Miss focus, and it will travel to and fro such a long focus range that is highly annoying.

Despite this one flaw, I love this lens.

Zuiko 11-22mm f2.8-3.5 Wide Angle Lens

2010-01-05T22:33:00.003+08:00

Historically, this lens was the my first purchase into the 4/3 system. Long before I got an E-system camera. Sounded like I was a lunatic, but back then, getting an 11-22mm lens in the shops was quite a rare occasion.

I loved this lens. It really has no equal. Large aperture, reasonably wide, and weather sealed. Put it next to the Zuiko Digital 14-54mm f2.8-3.5, and you'll be hard pressed to choose which is which. To the experienced user, the front element is the differentiator. It is a bit weird for it to have the 72mm thread, since the 14-54mm and 50-200mm sport the same 67mm thread.

At wide open, this lens is stellar. It has little barrel distortion, and has excellent flare control. Optics is top notch. The shortish 2x zoom factor is not a real issue, since it is 22mm at the long end and is pretty much a normal lens at f3.5 maximum. Not bad at all.

Put a polarizing filter, and the bright colors blossom in abundance. This lens has very high contrast and color tones. Primary colors are punchier.

I would like to keep this lens till today, but my desire to get the Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm f2.0 lens meant that I had to sell it off to fund the purchase.

I only wished I did not sell it...

S90 at the Playground

2009-12-27T21:11:00.003+08:00

Shooting with P&S has its advantages.

Rather than having to lug around 1kg or more of gear, a mere 165g was all I needed for some action shots. And, the capability to sync flash at higher speed also meant that I did not have to scratch my head to get the flash to work to freeze motion. Think 1/500s. With a DSLR, I definitely need to get the external flash to work in FP mode. That's additional weight and size on the already heavy camera & lens setup.

6mm, f/7.1, 1/500s, ISO80, -0.7ev

It was about 10.10 am, and the sun was still low to get some shadow effects. I got the camera at higher angle, which was easy with live view (DSLR live view still can't beat P&S, except for the E-330) and focus on the shadow positioning. The sun was strong, and I needed to reduce the contrast. I simply set the fill flash to Auto with -2/3ev flash exposure compensation to get the balance right. As for focusing, all I needed was to pre-focus on the location of the subject, and just wait for her to move just the right moment for the composition.

Oh, yeah.. to get similar results with the 135 format the focal length would be 28mm with f/32 aperture. Or with the 4/3 format, it would be 14mm with f/16. To get 1/500s, the ISO would higher, too.

Hmmmmm...

Zuiko and a Talent Contest

2009-12-20T13:59:00.006+08:00

I was asked to cover a talent contest, and it would be in a very dark and small auditorium.

Immediately I assessed the situation:

Fast lens with high ISO and high shutter speed setting was a must
Working in compressed and limited area was inevitable
Lighting and white balance would be very difficult

Wow, this was going to be tough! And since I was using the Olympus E-system - a system that anyone would say won't cut it for such an event. I took this as a challenge, it's good to see how it would fare in those situations.

Show some 'ttitude, bro!

35mm, f2.5, 1/80s, ISO1000, -0.3ev

And at the same time, I had the E-P2 on loan from Olympus Malaysia for me to test out and write a short field review. Thus, I knew that I had to limit my E-system setup so that I would not bog up my gears. The E-30 was chosen for its better high ISO performance than the E-3, and I paired it with the Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD and ED35-100mm F2.0 PRO lenses. I also had the FL-50R flash for any flash situations.

Being a corporate event, it wouldn't start until the CEO arrived. Not much protocol, just a handshake between the organizer and him sufficed.

14mm, f2.0, 1/60s, ISO640

The house was immediately set rocking with the Heavy Metal performance of Linkin' Park's New Divide. Throughout the contest, there were variations of musical genres that encompassed Rock & Roll, Bollywood, Local, Latin, and even Hip Hop!

E-P2 with the 14-42mm 3.5-5.6 did a great job here capturing the energy of the event.

I got the main spot at the front stage, just a few feet away from the performers. And just mere 3 feet back was the auditorium's seating area. It was very cramped! The vantage point was mostly shooting upwards, and during in-between performances, I quickly snapped candid shots of the VIPs attending the show.

No doubt shooting was tough. Fast action performance with audience provided the same level of energy, it was electric. Fast pace, low compromise shooting was a definite challenge!

I nearly messed up this job! Half way through, my batteries both in the HLD-4 extension pack were dying out, and very fast!!!! I told the client, and she panicked!! I assured her, there's enough juice, but may not be enough to cover the prize giving ceremony. To reduce power consumption, I flipped the LCD screen inwards and I used the top panel to check my camera settings. (I couldn't believe I shot without chimping for most of the time!!)

Latin number with classical guitar accompaniment was just immaculate!

100mm, f2.0, 1/60s, ISO2000

In between shots, I sometimes swap the 14-35mm with the 35-100mm lens for those long range shots. But most of the time, the 14-35mm f2.0 lens was the workhorse. The E-30 managed to tame the 14-35mm erratic AF, and I did get a high hit ratio.

Overall, I believed I did a good job. I did a bit of post-processing, mostly on the tone curves correction and USM sharpening. The final image was resized to 3200 x 2400 for the client. The images turned out alright, and the client was pleased.

Shallow depth-of-field with low shutter speed, a challenge to get sharp shots

f2.0. 1/80s, ISO1250, -0.3ev

Her husky voice and pro-like performance lived up to her snazzy jazz number!

Throw white balance down the drain when everyone's turned green!!

I messed up this shot with low shutter speed, luckily I realized it!

14mm, f/2.2, 1/13s, ISO200

Rock and Roll was alive in this beautiful rendition.

Thank you for the music! This was a great show!

E-P2 and the Diorama Art Filter

2009-12-17T22:54:00.004+08:00

Based on Wikipedia, the term "diorama" denotes a partially three-dimensional, full-size replica or scale model of a landscape typically showing historical events, nature scenes or cityscapes, for purposes of education or entertainment.

42mm, f/8.0, 1/200s, ISO100

As far as my short excursion with the E-P2, diorama to me was more towards entertainment. I found it amusing at least. The idea to shoot cute looking scenery which was actually real-life was just fun!

With the E-P2, there are 2 additional Art Filters which total to 8. The other new filter is the Cross Processing effect.

Interesting observation was that the filter used a masking layer with Gaussian blur at the peripheral section, with the sharp center gradually getting blur in an oval shape along the horizon. The top and bottom third parts of the frame were blurred to convey a shallow depth-of-field that created an illusion of a miniature model or scene. As observed, the row of houses are at the center of the frame and are sharp in focus. The foreground represented by the highway with vehicles speeding along were blurred, so was the background with sweeping scene of Klang Valley and the Titiwangsa mountain range.

Somehow, shooting vertically won't really work that well. I think due to the orientation of the processing that only traverse along the horizontal plane would not blend well with vertical shots.

40mm, f/9, 1/200s, ISO100

As can be observed, the effect did not look convincing as the road's white broken lines did not adhere to the depth-of-field effect and were in focus at the bottom 3rd of the frame. I thought the processor was intelligent enough to detect a flag in the orientation sensor, and did the proper processing for a vertical composition. I was wrong!

Ah well, I won't delve seriously into this little niggle, as I had said earlier in this post; this Diorama effect was supposed to be FUN!!!!

And it definitely was a joy to use!

E-P2 with the OM Zuiko 200mm F4.0

2009-12-17T17:32:00.004+08:00

The last time I tried to use the E-P1 with this long lens turned out to be a disaster. This is simply because of the ergonomics that was totally insane for any photographer to hold and stabilize for shooting. This time around with the E-P2, it was made possible with the addition of the new electronic viewfinder, the VF-2.

The VF-2 significantly provided the stability of shooting as the eye was the third point of leverage to keep the camera steady; with the right hand holding the camera, and the left hand cradling the 200mm lens. A bit of practice, especially with a rather large focusing turn angle, the 2oomm seemed to be tamed quite easily as it still had a very smooth ring action. The operation was very tactile, and there's not much need for the eye to leave the VF-2. Don't forget to manually input the IS information via the +/- button and rotate the dial. Then again, without it the framing will be very shaky and it should be very noticeable. Somehow, the E-P2 had a maximum of 200mm stabilization, so did not actually tested with the EC-14 on it.

The lens was only in a very good condition, with a bit of mold cleaned. It may had an impact on the VF-2 resolution, but I did not really notice much degradation. To me the details were adequate for framing, with very good contrast.

The sharpness was very good, with the E-P2's 12MP delivering the details. The contrast was a bit lacking, and I was using the Normal colors default setting. Manual focusing was very good in outdoors and also in shaded areas. Only shooting indoors with lower than EV6 lighting would pose a problem. As there's no electrical contacts between the lens and E-P2, the auto manual focus assist function won't work. So, this is not really good for low light shooting.

Overall, I was very impressed with the OM 200mm F4.0 performance. It might not trump my Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm F2.0 lens, but boy, the telephoto range simply was the winner! It may not be the birders' choice, but it sure packed in some punch for discreet long range shooting!

Some images I managed to make with this lens:

A neighbor's house under renovation. It was about 70 feet away.

A condominium under construction, 20 storeys up.

The sublime bokeh.

The closest focus distance was quite good!

E-P2 with the Leica Lumix 25mm F1.4 ASPH

2009-12-15T14:08:00.005+08:00

I had a short meet with my friend, as he wanted to check out whether there's something wrong with his E-P1 and Leica 25mm F1.4 lens. There seemed to be some noises coming out of the lens arbitrarily.

After a short check, I confirmed his observation that the lens when attached to the E-P1 or E-P2 via the MMF-1 adapter, will automatically stop down to a smaller aperture. Why this happened? We didn't know actually. Though we theorized that the LCD would be overexposed if the lens did not stop down. I was estimating at about F2.8-4, as the iris automatically changed constantly everytime the camera detected changes in scene exposures. The thing was during composition, the aperture was stopped down; once the shutter button was pressed the aperture would change to the desired setting. In the case of F1.4, the iris opened up.

Another point was that everytime the iris changed size, there would be a soft mechanical sound of the blades moving. This could be a nuisance during video shooting.

Focusing with such a shallow depth-of-field was tough as focus lock was a bit dodgy as the CDAF was not really accurate. Why? This was simply because the AF area point was larger than the DoF the lens was getting!

So, will Olympus come up with a firmware upgrade to fix this? Or was it a mechanical problem that require more than just a simple download? Only time will tell.

Some images made by this superb optic on the E-P2:

E-P2 Review: VF-2 Field Test at a Talent Contest

2009-12-11T23:28:00.008+08:00

I would not be writing a full review of the E-P2 this time around. The upgrade from E-P1 was minimal and mostly focused on the EVF support; to challenge the Panasonic GF1.

Knowing that I was to cover a Talent Contest Thursday, this was to be the best test I could do to the E-P2 attached with the VF-2. In stark contrast, the main camera I was using to cover the event was the E-30 with the twin kit 14-35mm f2.0 and 35-100mm f2.0 lenses.

Comparatively, the limitations on the E-P2 were apparent; slower AF speed, slower lens speed, and a lack of a practically usable flash for the event (It was obvious that my intention was to use the VF-2; thus, occupying the hotshoe). My aim was to see how the VF-2, the latest addition to the Pen stable, fared in near darkness (I am talking about EV range as low as 2 or 3).

In general, the VF-2 was of high quality construction. The round shaped eye-cup along with the sliding diopter adjust lever convey Olympus' commitment in providing the best accessories into the Pen series.

The AF is quite snappy in good light, i.e. EV9

14mm, f/3.5, 1/30s, ISO800, -0.3ev

A quick scan at the specs, I noticed that the VF-2 refresh rate was at 60Hz or 1/60s with a resolution of 1.44MP. What this means was that in order for me to use the VF-2 without noticeable movement bleed, the motion should not be in excess of 1/60s. Somehow, I already sensed that this will be a challenge. In typical human motion, to freeze action takes shutter speeds in excess of 1/125s. It would be an interesting observation, definitely.

With the E-P2 permanently slung around my neck, and the E-30 with either attached 14-35 or 35-100 permanently held, I got the show covered. Sitting just mere feet from the stage, I had a close view of the contestants. Somehow, I found the working space was ultimately cramped, with only about 3 feet of space for me to work around from the front of the stage to the barrier at my back. Just imagine sitting there for 3 hours to get the shots that matters for the client. And there were 2 other photographers and another videographer jostling for real estate mere 20 feet in length. Talk about claustrophobia!!

The typical Exposure Value (EV) on the stage was at 4 or 5, and this proved to be a problem with the f3.5-5.6 lens opening. Shutter speed was hovering between 1/30s and 1/60s at ISO800 or more. The AF sluggishness did not help, too. Although adequate for general photography, it was not the tool of choice for this type of event. I noticed that the contrast detection performance was at par with E-P1, if my memory was correct. In all, this was definitely a handicap, and could not match what the E-30 was capable of doing.

14mm, f3.5, 1/40s, ISO1600, -0.3ev

Overall, I found that the VF-2 was capable (just, actually) to cope with the low light shooting at high human form movement; in this case an all out choreographed dance moves. The high resolution coupled with high contrast helped at lessening the motion bleed, such that it did not appear to be visibly very apparent. The magnification was also good, too. I believe this could be better in the near future as the electronics display technology improves.

I am in the midst of trying to record the VF-2 screen using my Canon S90 camera to enable you to see for yourself the experience of shooting with the VF-2. It is very tricky to ensure high quality reproduction, with the need to constantly ensure the S90 lens is permanently attached to the VF-2 during filming. Let see what can I do tomorrow...

Next entry will be on the usage of OM lenses, particularly the longer 135mm f2.8 and 200mm f4.0 with the VF-2 assisting in lens usage and shooting ergonomics.

So, please stay tuned...

The Olympus E-P2 is in the works...

2009-12-08T11:44:00.003+08:00

A handsome shot of the Olympus E-P2 with the OM Zuiko 35-105mm f3.5-4.5 lens. Attached with the MMF-1 and MF-1 adapters, the lens grew about 30% longer!

22.5mm, f/4.9, 1/60s, ISO320, +0.3ev

This shot was made possible with the Canon S90, with the little dinky flash activating the Olympus FL-50R flash in slave mode. The source lighting for this shot was from 30% to the front side (S90 dinky flash) and directly from the rear (FL-50R 3 feet away @ f2.8 ISO400). The Canon S90 was mounted on top of a Manfrotto Table-top tripod.

Oh yes. The E-P2 is in the works now. My focus will be more with the EVF usage and OM lenses. I believe the OM200mm f4.0 lens will be more manageable with the EVF.

I am starting a gallery for E-P2 now, but so far the samples have little substance. I will replenish with better shots when I have more time to get things rolling.

Stay tuned.

Zuiko and Boulevard Putrajaya

2009-12-07T13:33:00.003+08:00

A shot of the Boulevard just in front of the Palace of Justice. At the end of the boulevard stands tall the Prime Minister's Office, if not so small thanks to the ultra-wide effect on the background.

E-3 with Zuiko Digital ED7-14mm F4.0

7mm, f/9.0, 1/250s, ISO100

The E-P2 Review is Coming, Stay Tuned!

2009-12-04T18:52:00.004+08:00

Canon S90, 6mm, f2.0, 1/60s, ISO800

I ventured to the Pikom PC Fair this afternoon, and I met with the Olympus Executive Mr Leo.

Testing out the E-P2 Diorama Art Filter

The E-P2 was on show, albeit a pre-production unit. Upon testing for a few while I kindly asked for a unit for review.

So, one pre-production unit for review is coming next week. Stay tuned.

Panasonic DMC-GF1 MicroFourthirds Camera

2009-12-01T17:17:00.005+08:00

I managed to test out the GF1 with the 14-45mm f3.5-5.6 G lens a couple of hours ago.

The delicious Panasonic DMC-GF1 served on a plate!

Comparing it with E-P1, it doesn't have the X-Factor, but at least it has a dinky flash that might work out well for me whenever it is required. Comparing it with my Canon S90, it makes the GF1 look like a behemoth!

Other than that, the GF1 just oozed goodness! The lens was sharp, but I find the interface was not as friendly as the E-P1. Maybe for Panny users, it's OK, though.

There's one that really got me annoyed on the ergonomics, though! I simply cannot find the Exposure Compensation (+/-) button anywhere. Maybe the Fn button is programmable for it, but the lack of a dedicated button for such an important photographic control is unacceptable!!!

Since I only tested it out for a couple of hours, I can only take some sample shots. Let the image do the talking.

Click image to activate gallery.

Zuiko: Using the 7-14mm Ultra-wide

2009-11-28T17:32:00.002+08:00

I made a point to myself to use the Zuiko Digital ED7-14mm F4.0 more.

The morning was actually quite rainy, so I chose to use the Olympus E-3 as it was weather-sealed should rain to come during the middle of the shoot. The 7-14mm was weather-sealed, too.

Palace of Justice, cropped in 16:9

7mm, f/9, 1/200s, ISO100

Initially I did not know I would end up here at Putrajaya, but thinking logically that the 7-14mm would be more useful for many architectural and landscape shots, the national capital was the perfect location.

I was driving along the main road, and the Palace of Justice struck me. Since the town was virtually empty due to the long Eid Adha holiday weekend, only a couple of tourists and keen photographers were there. This was good for architectural shots! And a bonus; the sun suddenly appeared amongst the clouds to render the buildings with good light.

Shooting with an ultra-wide lens was very tricky. One thing that could really could screw things up were the perspective. It could easily be a nightmare if not done properly. For that shot, to keep the perspective in check, I used the E-3's focus markers and put the horizon along the 5 points. And I checked the 3 vertical markers with the building's pillars to ensure the perspective was correct. And all was done handheld, without any tripods or supporting gizmos. To get it right the first time, I held my breath to freeze my framing and quickly but calmly clicked the shutter.

The composition was heavy bottom, with half of the frame being the road. Well, I just cropped off the bottom.

Another thing, to get all in focus, it was very easy as the depth-of-field for such a wide lens with the 4/3 format was very huge. I just dialed in F/9.0 and it was more than enough.

Palace of Justice framed in the Putrajaya Holdings HQ main entrance

7mm, f/8.0, 1/1000s, ISO100

For both images, the sun was directly in the frame. This posed a problem in the Dynamic Range department. And, I chose not to use RAW, instead opted for the Superfine JPEG (which means the JPEG file is ultra huge, but not as huge as TIFF). The original file showed much shadows in the buildings' details; thus, I had to post-process the images using my trusty GIMP software.

Using tone mapping with Overlay settings at 40%, I used 3 layers duplicated on top of each other and merged them one-by-one. A bit of S-curve to enhance the shadows and highlights, and increased the saturation by 40 points did the trick (during the tone mapping, the colors faded).

One thing that ticked me off during the shoot. I was actually chased away by the security, claiming that this place was not for public shooting. I was aghast, and immediately responded that I am taxpayer, and these buildings were built using the people's money. I was not even inside the building, just outside within the corridors!

I was shocked, and immediately left the place. I managed to get a couple of great shots, but those were it!

Zuiko and A Boy

2009-11-26T11:33:00.003+08:00

A simple telephoto shot from about 20 feet. Using the maximum aperture and maximum zoom, I was able to have a shallow Depth-of-Field for a full body shot.

E-3 with Digital Zuiko ED35-100mm F2.0

100mm, f/2.0, 1/4000s, ISO200

The sunlight was on the left, and was quite high up around 11am. Nonetheless, the boy's subtle posture caught my eye. The pose was good for a composition. I just needed to wait for the boy to shift his head a bit to the right and endsured that his hair on the left did not cover the metal railing.

The story was simple, I tried to invoke a sense of loneliness using the optical isolation to accentuate the boy's body language.

Canon S90 Image Gallery

2009-11-13T00:21:00.011+08:00

This will be the small gallery for my S90 shots, and the contents will updated as the images come in.

Click the small picture to see a slideshow of the Canon S90 Gallery.

*****

A typical scene at KL Sentral, with the landmark being the Hilton. Security is quite tight here, maybe not as secure as KLCC, but it's definitely above average compared to other high profile areas in Kuala Lumpur.

It's quite common to see a squad car patrolling the area. And the foot patrols are also around every 50 yards or so.

*****

I found that the Auto-focus system is fast enough to capture that "moment". Not bad for a pocket P&S!

*****

There's a cool feature in this camera, aptly named the "Color Accent" mode. What it does is it allows the photographer to choose a color in a scene using a color spot meter, and any other than the selected color will be rendered as monotone.

All I did in postprocessing is to crop it to 6:6 ratio.

*****

This is a close-up shot at 6mm and f2.0. The ISO800 is still clean, that I had to add more film grain. A bit of Dodging & Burning and adding the lens flare effect with a square crop seemed to accentuate the mood.

*****

10.7mm (25mm equiv.), f/3.2, 1/125s, ISO1600, -0.3ev

One of the greatest assets of a pocketable camera is its unobtrusiveness. Especially when casually shooting children in close proximity, the petite size of the camera and lens really help. Coupled with a great lens, fast AF and close-focusing ability, I can actually be in direct contact to interact with the children and at the same time make meaningful candid shots.

Why I like this image? It is due to the purity of children expressions. The eyes say a lot about their innocence. The spontaneity is captured with subtleness.

Originally in color, I wanted to infuse more persona into the image. In this instance, monotone with grainy, high-contrast effect is the perfect projection of my vision. Please take note that I added film grain in post-process, which means that at ISO1600 it's still too clean for my liking!!

I love it!!!!

This is another shot from the same series. This is a simple shot to catch the cheery baby eyes. Due to the lack of shallow Depth-of-field to blur the foreground, I opted for selective monotone to emphasize more on the baby.

6mm (14mm equiv.), f/2.0, 1/200s, ISO1600, -0.3ev

There are more to come... stay tuned!

The Olympus E-P2, and Why I Ended Up with the S90

2009-11-07T16:02:00.010+08:00

A lot of buzz has been happening this week regarding the launch of E-P2. Well, it turned out to be a minor tweak to the E-P1. Looking at the specs, I strongly suspect this was what the E-P1 should be. And, knowing that being the fastest to market is key in this new "compact-size, big-sensor" segment, I believe Oly rushed the E-P1 out of the oven. Nothing wrong there, but it may anger a few E-P1 owners especially it's only five months back.

I am for now still not satisfied with what Olympus is putting on the plate. For one, I somehow still want a built-in flash on it, a-la Panasonic's offering with the GF-1! Simply because I want my E-P1/2 to have a wireless-flash commander on it. I have two FL-s, and it's a waste not being able to use it with any E-P1/2 camera!

Enter the Canon S90.

Well, actually to be frank, I did not know about this camera's existence until yesterday. I was merely talking to my regular camera shop guy about the Panasonic LX-3 and it's cool retro looks. You see, I was looking for a photographer's camera that fits in a pocket. And the E-P2 was also in the list until I saw it still lacked the flash!!

He pulled out another LX-3 competitor, the Canon S90. I was not impressed, actually. I am quite hesitant with any Canon's offering except for calculators, printers, scanners and copiers. Then, he showed me the ultra-cool retro aspect of the S90; there's a Control Ring at the lens!!

Kudos!

This little contraption allows many functions that include Zoom steps of 28-35-50-85-105mm (in ancient 135 terms), Manual Focus, ISO selection, Exposure Compensation, and many other stuff. It literally won me over!!! The ease of use, akin to my E-3 and E-30 ability to allow quick access to key photographic controls meant that this the compact that I have been looking for! For many years now I have been dreaming of such a camera.

To top it off, the lens is an F2.0 at least at the wide end!!... And you guys know how am I a sucker for F2.0 lenses. I already have two F2.0 zoom lenses in my Digital Zuiko stable: the pro grades 14-35mm F2.0 and 35-100mm F2.0! With the S90's classic 28-105mm (again in ancient 135 terms) coverage, it is just perfect for nearly 80% of my typical shooting range!

And, the flash is so cool, too!!.... It's tucked nicely hidden to left of the body, which is perfect for some wireless flash action!!! (albeit only with Auto mode slave setting). Then again, the beauty of using compact P&S is the modern leaf shutter design. This means that I can sync up to maximum 1/1600s for outdoor fill-flash; not like the ancient DSLR's focal plane shutter that usually stuck at 1/250s!!!

And here it is, from Canon; which I didn't expect it to be! (pun intended, ;p) That explained why I didn't know about S90's existence until yesterday. Bummer!!!

A few haggles, and the deal was done. I am now a proud owner of a legend-in-the-making camera, similar to the E-P1!!

Here are a couple of shots with it.

Canon S90 with 6-22.5mm f2.0-4.9 lens

6mm (14mm equiv.), f/8.0, 1/1600s, ISO80, -2ev

Canon S90 with 6-22.5mm f2.0-4.9 lens

6mm (14mm equiv.), f/2.0, 1/25s, ISO800

Canon S90 with 6-22.5mm f2.0-4.9 lens

6mm (14mm equiv.), f/2.0, 1/60s, ISO200

These three pictures show the high quality of the images the S90 produce; flare control is good in strong sunlight, high ISO noise at 800 is acceptable, and the wide open bokeh just melts with goodness!

This is one camera that really elevated the standards of pocketable compacts to come.

Zuiko and DSLR 101 Class

2009-11-03T19:24:00.003+08:00

My first batch of students...

And they hinted for more stuff....

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm f2.0 SWD + FL-50R

14mm, f/4.0, 1/60s, ISO800

More to be told after I conclude the next session.....

Zuiko and I Am Amused

2009-11-03T19:12:00.003+08:00

Just a simple snapshot.. out of five frames, this one was just right.

E-3 with Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm F2.0

42mm, f/2, 1/100s, ISO1000,+0.3ev

Patience and anticipation for the shot is important. Just waiting for that cute baby gesture.

A bit of contrast push, and some medium level High Pass Filter sharpening.

I love the bokeh of the Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm f2.0 lens. This telephoto marvel just oozes quality in every optical aspect. But the bokeh for me just stood out, even at strong backlight source. There's no harsh spectral effect for this lens; that typically ruins many good lenses.

Zuiko and a Barongan Dancer of Bali

2009-10-24T08:22:00.003+08:00

The rim lights provided a regal aura to the girl.

E-3 with Zuiko Digital ED50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWD

101mm, f/3.2, 1/200s, ISO400, -0.3ev

Seated about ten rows away from the stage posed no problem for the Zuiko Digital ED50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWD lens. And the E-3 had no problem locking focus with the subject in strong backlighting, too.

What I loved most about the stage lighting was how the sunlight was controlled to illuminate the performers. The soft lighting provided exquisite shadow and highlight tones; thus, resulting in sublime colors to the already intricately designed costumes.

Zuiko and Photography Classes

2009-10-14T22:21:00.003+08:00

It's confirmed.

I will be conducting a series of classes for Beginner Photography; three classes to be exact. Starting at the end of October, the classes will continue until mid November. Total students? More than 60!!!!

A training company has engaged me for my photography skills and know-how. I am building a curriculum for the next stage, maybe into Lighting and Portraiture. I just hope everything turns out well.

Wish me luck!!!!

Zuiko and the Exora

2009-10-14T05:04:00.003+08:00

Well... I did it.

I just got my Proton Exora on Monday, and boy was I amazed with this MPV, aka mini-van.

No pictures here, but I started a new spin-off blog just for the Exora.

I will criss-cross the Zuiko and Exora from now on.

The Exora being a first fully designed Malaysian MPV, there were a lot of hype surrounding it. Hopefully there's lots of things to tell.

Zuiko and the Surfer Child of Bali

2009-10-06T06:34:00.003+08:00

The surf, the sand..... and a child.

E-3 with Zuiko Digital ED50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWD

200mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO100

When I was on a trip to Bali early last year, I brought along the E-3, Zuiko Digital 11-22mm f2.8-3.5 and Zuiko Digital ED50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWD in a small shoulder bag. It's just perfect, not too heavy for a couple of hours walking.

During one of the tour, we stopped at a seafood place at Jimbaran beach. While waiting for the sunset, I saw this image of the little girl sitting with a surfboard. I observed her actions for quite a while, before deciding to make the image. The light from the setting sun provided the rim light that I really liked, and without a moments notice I took the shot. Incidentally, that was the only shot!!

Zuiko and the Generation Gap

2009-09-22T13:54:00.004+08:00

The grandma and her grandson. The latest addition, for now.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm f2.0 SWD + FL-50R

35mm, f/3.5, 1/60s, ISO400, -0.3ev

This is a shot straight out of the camera, with the JPEG setting at Large Fine, or JPEG/4. The only thing I did was to resize so that I would not clog the upload bandwidth.

Olympus JPEG is just perfect to my eyes; the Auto White Balance of the E-30, to me is equal to E-3, makes shooting a joy. Why? Because I can get perfect shot, everytime!!!

Zuiko and a Colorful Habit

2009-09-13T20:33:00.002+08:00

Awesome colors, indeed.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD

21mm, f/6.3, 1/40s, ISO200, -0.3ev, Pop Art

Alas, not so awesome when the rubbish is also prominent in the shot. Really, it is a sad tale of beautiful Malaysia. Amidst the beautiful flora and fauna, the colors rich and vibrant, rubbish has to show its ugly head.

I find it is a challenge to shoot a rubbish-free picture, when it comes to public parks and other public areas. The people's attitude got to change, and I don't see it happening in the near future.

I have been keeping this picture for quite a while, and thought now is the time to show the other side of Malaysia.

Well, at least the colors are vibrant!

Zuiko and Low Light Corporate Event

2009-09-11T05:28:00.004+08:00

Hmmm...

E-3 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm f2.0 SWD

35mm, f/2.0, 1/80s, ISO800, -0.7ev

Yes, I have heard it many times. Olympus can't shoot low light. It's too noisy, it lacks dynamic range. Bla, bla, bla... the debates go on, and on.

It is funny, though. When it comes to clients, they don't know all this technical mumbo jumbo. What they want to see are great pictures showing the important moments of the event, and please don't make the CEO look stupid on stage.

In the end, what matters most to the client is the results. Please keep that in mind, and don't really worry about your "bad" Olympus camera!!!

Covering a corporate event is a mixed situation. There are occassions where it requires quick and rapid shooting, and there are situations when it is very laid back. It is similar to wedding photography, but in my opinion it is less stressful. Partly because the client is not very particular of the nitty gritty details.

It is important to keep in mind that to shoot corporate events, make sure there are enough batteries to keep things running. And please bring the fastest lens you have!!

In this particular event, the photographers were hit with a bombshell!!

Due to videography requirements (thanks to the live screen on stage), flash photography was prohibited!! Why was that? Simply because the screen will instantly show the flash in full feedback effect, similar to a Viper fighter scrambling out of the Battlestar Galactica's flight deck! That was very annoying.

One Nikon shooter was put out of commission because he was only using the 18-200 variant with a big SB-800 flash, not knowing about the no-flash ruling. At that moment, I had my Zuiko Digital 14-35mm f2.0 and 50mm f2.0 lenses. No problem at all. I later saw him shooting with the 50mm f1.8 lens. Not much for him to shoot, though.

In this shot, the CEO was making a strong point to the staff on key milestones and goals. The expression said it all. To be honest, I took multiple shots to ensure I got the right gesture to convey the story.

Corporate people are not very boring, actually. Most of the time they are very serious at what they do. This is no fault of them. However, they can be very funny with sharp, rapid quips. And, it is very important to capture the moment. All I can say that it is rare; so, it is better to be on your toes so as not to miss any of it!!

This shot made the whole auditorium broke into laughter. The picture was actually one of the senior executives, and this snap was a shot of him gasping for breath at a recent Iron Man event!

At the end of the day, everybody was happy. The staff was happy. The client was happy. I was happy!

And isn't this what photography is all about?!

Zuiko and the Six Sigma Team

2009-09-09T15:41:00.004+08:00

I was approached to do a team shoot late last year. The client wanted a serious but cool corporate image. Since they were part of the Six Sigma Audit team, I understood the image they were looking for.

As for location, the company's training center lounge provided the perfect backdrop.

Prior to the shoot, I advised the team lead to get everybody up to character. This somehow helped a lot, as the when I arrived on location, they were all zoned in! All I needed was a setup of E-3, Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm f2.0 SWD and FL-50R. The situation was a bit of a mixed lighting, though. I had to think a bit about how to balance the shot.

E-3 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD & FL-50R

20mm, f/2.5, 1/50s, ISO200, +0.7ev

I was looking at a 3-light-source setup. The flash provided the fill, along with the sunlight from the window with the ceiling downlights strongly eminating the indoor space.

It took me five minutes to asses the situation and decide what to do.

One way to balance the lights was to shoot bright. I had two options; pump up the flash or utilize the sunlight. Apparently, I chose to get the group to pose about 5 feet from the window sill. That solved the lighting situation. Yet, I still needed the flash to bump up the shadows a bit, as I did not want a flat-looking image. Yes, the catchlight in the eyes added more pop to the shot, too.

It was quite an easy job as everybody understood their role in the shoot. I took 3 shots, and the session ended within 10 minutes.

Great job, everybody!

Zuiko and Merdeka!!!

2009-09-07T14:23:00.004+08:00

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Malaysia celebrated it's 52nd year of Independence last week, on the 31st of August to be exact.

Celebrations were low key this year due to Ramadhan. Yet, this should not hamper the spirit of Merdeka within the hearts of the people. Patriotism for the country should live on, irregardless of many differences in opinions be it race, religion or politics.

E-510 with Zuiko Digital 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 & FL-36

27mm, f/5.6, 1/50s, ISO400

I remembered one shot I did in 2007 that captured the spirit. This was an impromptu shot, with my colleague quickly draped the Jalur Gemilang across his body.

Zuiko, What's with the Grades?

2009-09-06T21:11:00.002+08:00

Any Zuikoholics would know that Olympus has a clear line in defining the lenses in the E-system. Apparently, it is categorized in three distinct grades: Standard Grade (SG), High Grade (HG) & Super High Grade (SHG).

For a normal consumer, this does not mean much, except that the higher the grades go, the higher the price.

Now for shutterbugs, more questions are abegging. What really matters if I move to a higher grade? What to gain? Nothing to lose? If it's getting better, will the high price justify it?

Really?

For me, I had started with the SG lenses namely the kits of 17.5-45mm & 40-150mm. These lenses were the defacto for my early foray in E-system; though, I have to admit that since I was not a beginner in photography when I got my first E-system camera, I did purchase the 11-22mm beforehand. And, it is a HG lens!

With the 3 lenses, I found myself understanding the precise difference of the grades. Olympus did not simply grade the lines by the differing optical speed, but also the overall quality.

I quickly found that the 11-22mm was really kicking the two kits' "asses"!

Optically superior, better build quality and superb tactile response were the immediate attributes that I quickly appreciated. Once I saw the images on the computer screen, the 11-22mm lens yearned for a better companion.

This was really an example of how Olympus really put the grades on their Zuikos. Simple and true!

Let's look at the current line of Zuikos. There are about 20 or so lenses, which is about 7 lenses per grade. Well, I stopped counting...

With the SG the most obvious trait is that these lenses tend to have f/4-5.6 openings. In no way fast; however, they are very compact and light! Ingenious optics with the ultra wide and generous spread of ED elements for telephotos mean that the SG is in now way inferior. Optically may be a bit lower than the HG range, but by not much!

I have also tested the 9-18mm and 70-300mm lenses, I found them to be high performers! The only gripe I have with these range is the slightest tend for chromatic aberration at strong contrast at the periphery of the frame. Nothing too serious, though!

For the price, I will not complain much on the build quality and ergonomics. It is simply as good as it gets!!

As time went by, I slowly sold the kit lenses and replaced them with the HG lenses. Along came the 14-54mm, 50mm and 50-200mm. The 11-22mm was not lonely anymore, and these lenses had f/2.8-3.5 openings as a minimum! That's fast!!!

The funny thing was, I was shooting with the E-510, which was not weathersealed!! Odd, wasn't it. Part of the HG lenses were for this feature, and the body was not up to par!

The most notable uniqueness of the HG line is the ability to provide high zoom range from 12mm to 200mm with just 2 lenses, with the speed honorably starting at f/2.8. And the close focusing distance of these lenses are just great for pseudo-macro shooting, too!

Olympus put a HG sticker on these lenses for a reason, and this means that it's not really the best of the Zuikos! And, from my assessment, this is true!

Don't get me wrong. The HG lenses are exceptional, but there a quirks that need to be told to understand why it's not the Top-of-the-Line Zuiko!

I never really got the 8mm Fish Eye, and it's such a specialized lens, I hadn't found a reason to own it.

From the 11-200mm range, I could tell that the 11-22mm was the best performer!! The 14-54mm was not sharp enough unless at f/4, the 50-200mm had annoying bokeh, and the 50mm macro simply was a focusing nightmare! If you can live with these quirks, you are Okay with the Zuikos. There's no need to look much further!

I couldn't! I yearned for higher performance!

Enter the 14-35mm. This was the first SHG lens that I bought. And boy, this was an optic marvel. I paired this with the 50-200mm, and boy did the 50-200mm struggled to keep up. This eventually made me move up to 35-100mm. Alas, to fund for it, I had to sell off all of the HG line except for the 50mm macro.

The SHG are high performance lenses. Big, fast, and heavy! I kid you not. Essentially, the biggest attribute of the SHG lenses is not the mind-boggling F/2 aperture, specifically designed for low light and more creative control.

In practical terms, it is catered for Full-frame type of shooting. You see, the behaviour of these lenses matches the Canikon F/2.8 variants. I think that Olympus is really trying to penetrate the pros by matching it as close as possible with the Big Boys. I won't comment on their market success; but, suffice to say that Olympus took the telecentricity aspect a bit too far and made a behemoth of lenses that are optically superb!

What I learn when I move up to SHG, I have to change my shooting style. And this is by no means an easy feat!!! Focusing distance are much farther than the HG variants, and the weight! Boy, these lenses are really heavy!! Back pain and arm stiffness may be the common ill-effect after hours of shooting, but the soothing of the eyes appreciating the optical perfections made all pain go away. It's really worth it. If you have the dough, please splurge on it!

There... my observations on the Zuiko grades. They may be different, but they are alike all the same. All the ranges have their own strength and weaknesses. Learn your needs, and buy the right lenses. Do have confidence when putting the lenses on, as the performance of Zuikos are actually above par from the competition.

Grades... who needs them, actually? It may be good for marketers, though!