Street Snapshots with Olympus Pen F

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — “Welcome to My Tea Stall” ISO200 25mm F1.2 1/160

Recently I tested the Olympus Pen-F with the 25mm F1.2 Olympus Pro series lens. I had the opportunity to do a round of street photography with the Pen-F at Georgetown Penang.

Flickr Pen-F Album

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The size of Pen-F is compact and it is quite similar with my Fuji X-100T. However, when I fitted the body with the Olympus 25mm F1.2 Pro series lens, the size of the combo becomes bulky. All in all, I found that the overall size of the combo still allow me to shoot with inconspicuous.

Here are my overall impressions :

Fast and accurate autofocus.
Touch control AF at the monitor, it allows me to shoot by positioning the camera at the chest level and swiftly triggered the shutter by touching on the monitor. I achieve high success rate of good quality street photos. In contrast to the normal way of shooting through the viewfinder, the subjects tend to feel intimidated when they see me compose and focus at eyes level. I miss out the spontaneous gestures of the subjects.
Superb optic quality of the 25mm F1.2 Pro Lens.
Good “out of camera” jpeg files.
Light and compact size of the camera. It allows me to shoot with discreet while on the street.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Flickr Pen-F

Thanks for reading.

Olympus E-P5 Does Street of Taiwan

Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Taiwan for some business matters as well as some leisure time to do street photography. I brought along the Olympus E-P5 (with EVF2 attached) body and two lens (Olympus 17mm F1.8 and the kit lens 14-42).

Throughout the 5 days trip, I really enjoyed using the Olympus E-P5 to shoot street. Why ?

1. The system is very compact and not too visible to the subjects or people that I intend to take candid shots. (Click the photos for larger and sharper view)

2. The autofocus of the E-P5 is fast and accurate especially with the Olympus 17mm F1.8 (equivalent to 34mm) lens. The camera is able to get good focusing on the subject even on a low light environment.

3. The camera is able to produce superb jpeg files. The files are sharp, rich in color and details.

Here are the additional photos captured with the E-P5 system:

Street of Taiwan Gallery

Thanks for reading, your comments are welcome.

Shooting Lion Dance with Leica 21mm Elmarit-M

Last week I had the opportunity to shoot a Chinese traditional lion dance event with the Leica 21mm Elmarit-M ASPH mounted on the M240. The very short minimum focusing distance of 0.7 meter allowed me to frame very near to the subject. Along with a 92 degree view angle, the lens enable me to capture dramatical effect of the subject. The lens felt very solidly built when holding on my hands. The focus ring was very smooth and manual focus with the 21mm Elmarit was very easy and fast.

Click the photo for larger and sharper view:

Pros – (Good things about the 21mm Elmarit-M)

No color cast at the edges of the frame when use with Leica M240.
Superb optic that is capable of producing high quality picture even when shooting with wide open aperture.
Very solid built quality.

Cons –

Some minor flare occur (when the sun is positioned at certain angle).
Big lens hood. It blocks small part of the viewfinder.
Odd filter size of 55mm. Sharing of filters with my other lens (35mm and 50mm summicron) is not possible.

Thanks for viewing.

Some Sample Photos from My Leica Monochrome

I received my new Leica Monochrome (Leica MM) last week. I took the opportunity to do a series of test shot during my business trip to China. The shooting was done using the 35mm Summicron ASPH and a Canon 50mm 1.4 LTM classic lens. I am very impressed with the photo quality captured with the Canon 50mm 1.4 LTM lens. The classic lens is able to produce sharp and high contrast photos even with the “wide-opened” aperture.

Here are the sample photos captured with the Leica MM and Canon 50mm F1.4 LTM :

Here is another set of photos captured with the 35mm Summicron ASPH :

Thanks for reading.

Leica M Does Night Photography

Ever since I received my Leica M, I was keen to test out the high ISO (ISO 1600 and above) capability of the new CMOS sensor. I decided to test it at my favorite food store. This food store is famous for its stir-fried rice noodles, where many patrons come here for their supper. The lighting was very weak at the location. The ambient lighting made it an ideal location for the testing. I shot this set of photos with the 35mm Summicron ASPH using aperture priority mode and set the ISO to auto ISO. (click the image for sharper view)

Previously with my M9, I limited my ISO usage to1600 and below. With the Leica M, I am confidence to use ISO 1600 and above in ambient lighting environment. What do you think ? Your comments are welcome.

Street Photography Using Xpan II

Xpan II 45mm Lens, Ilford Delta 400.

Gears Talk – My Leica M240

Sometimes it is a big risk to become an early adopter for a newly launched camera. My Leica M240 has to be away for a tour of Solms due to “precautionary checking” requested by the manufacturer. I might be probably without the camera for months. This morning I have completed the paperwork and packing and the camera is ready for en-route to Leica Singapore.

Hmm…… but I am not sad because another sibling of M will be joining me soon while the M240 is away, the Leica MM :).

Kiahng Photography Blog

The World Through My Lens 我的鏡頭世界

Category: Gears Talk