November 10, 2012

The OM-D's IBIS

Telus World of Science at Fall

Taken during blue minute :). I thought I should take advantage of the great weather in Vancouver before more rain comes.

If you click the photo it will go to my flickr account and you'll see 2 more photos both created using a Nikon D80. First one is SOOC and the second is processed using HDR techniques using 1 single raw file. I must point out 2 things:

1. The photos on my flickr account were created many summers ago while the one above is during fall time.

2. The one above is handheld at 0.4 seconds while the others were on a tripod.

I had to process this photo because it was underexposed for my taste. I must say that I really love the 5-Axis IS of the E-M5. There were about 2-3 more photographers at Science World when I was there, all of them were using tripods and DSLRs. You can argue I might have been able to produce better results with a tripod but I intentionally went there without a tripod. 2 reasons, first because I want to push the E-M5 and see what I can produce in situations like the above without using a tripod and purely handholding shots. And 2nd, I know during this time of the year the blue in the sky doesn't last very long. I have limited time and I had several POVs in mind and they weren't close to each other. And as you can see there was a cloud cover so the view of the sky is limited, and it was really quick to become dark, as in really dark. I know that with a tripod in hand I will be taking longer exposures and I know that it will most likely produce some cool cloud movement in the photos but I'm totally happy with the photo above and plus a few others that I will be posting in the near future, stay tuned :). I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

May 5, 2012

My OM-D E-M5 Experience

Olympus OM-D E-M5 with the M. Zuiko 45mm f/1.8
Updated with video samples and more observations.

My Olympus OM-D E-M5 finally arrived after a long wait. I pre-ordered on Feb 20 and it arrived on May 2. My first impressions...  let me just say it was well worth the wait. I have been holding off posting photos because I have been busy testing the camera and configuring it to my taste. I do this with any new camera, I like to get the settings right, customize it to my shooting style and also get familiarized with where I can find the settings I most often use.

April 4, 2012

Worldwide Micro Four Thirds Photography Day


Since it's Worldwide Micro Four Thirds Photography Day (4/3/2012), the Vancouver-area Four Thirds group organized a photo walk at downtown Vancouver. At least the weather cooperated for a couple of hours which was great. Here are some of the pictures I took divided into two sections. First part is black and white and second section is colored. Hope you like them all.

March 31, 2012

My thoughts after a week with the E-P1


M. Zuiko 12mm F2
Photo taken with E-P1 and Leica DG Summilux 25mm F1.4
So after 1 week of having the E-P1 with me everyday I would like to share my thoughts. It makes a big difference when I'm carrying light weight gear. Even if I'm carrying all 3 lenses (12, 25 and 45) it feels like it's not even there. I don't feel any stress in my wrists even after using it for a while. That is the biggest difference for me. I like it very much and I'm enjoying every second shooting with it. There's no doubt the Canon 5D Mark II has better image quality than the E-P1 but if you can compromise, I believe the E-P1 is the best in its class before the next generation PENs were released. Even Ken Rockwell has a review of the E-P1 and according to him it has the technical image quality of a DSLR or better, it's just not good enough for sports and action which I don't shoot.

I must say that I'm not trying to convince people to switch. My intention is to share my experiences so that it may help others in case they find themselves in the same boat as me or perhaps some are just looking for a second system. If I have the money, I will say it again, I will still have my 5D Mark II with me or maybe even upgrade to the 5D Mark III. For what I do and my style of shooting I find that a m4/3 system is enough and has satisfied my likes up to 90-95% of the time.

March 24, 2012

M 4/3 First Impressions

This is more of a part II since Eric, a very good flickr friend, offered to lend me his Olympus PEN E-P1 on a short photo walk along Gastown, Vancouver. It was however quite short and I was not able to play a lot with the E-P1. I must say it was helpful still but this time around I have my own E-P1 and I brought along the M. Zuiko Digital 45mm f1.8. I was not planning on getting an E-P1 but just before I picked up my lenses I saw that it was on sale at Lens & Shutter for $199. So I called my contact quickly and asked if they still have stock. They were getting rid of it that's why there was a price drop.

Today was a good day and we are finally getting some sun and warm weather here in the Pacific North West. There was also a Vancouver Flickr Gang photo walk but I was unable to join because I have an appointment with the Honda dealership. So I thought of doing my own photo walk although I ended up taking more photos inside the dealership than outside.

March 18, 2012

Why switch and why Micro Four Thirds

Zoom

Quite a lot ask me the questions, why switch? Why Micro Four Thirds? On this post I'm going to answer those 2 questions based on my experiences and research. I want to reiterate that this is my own personal opinion based on the data I was able to gather. I'm quite sure others out there will agree or disagree and I'm all ears to what you have to say. Leave a comment please as I want to hear what you have in mind.