Thursday, 26 April 2012
Got the Sigma 30mm f2.8 for micro 4/3 today, will give it a spin sometimes this weekend, start to really love the micro 4/3 cameras and lenses, so much quality in such a tiny package, love the flatter look of the image quality too. The versatility and compactness of the system really makes photography easy and fun.
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Olympus EP-2 + VF2 viewfinder
Bought an Olympus VF-2 viewfinder the otherday for my EP-2, due to the inability to see the LCD screen in sunlight. I was totally "wowed" by the VF-2, maybe because I haven't looked through an EVF since Fujifilm S100fs, it was super clear in good light, when I was out shooting on saturday, I switched off all infomation on the display, and I forgot that I was shooting with an EVF, it felt like using an OVF, there was no noticible lag (I don't pan around too much though), the pictures are as clear as they come, and colors were pretty accurate too. The 90 degree tilt of the EVF is also a very nice touch, I found myself using it more than I expected, great for low angle shots, and no one notices you because you are staring down at your camera.
There is only two minor negative points that I have noticed, one is that the dynamic range of the EVF is limited, when pointing at high contrast scene, the highlights will be clipped. The other is when you shooting in low light, there will be some noticible noise, but the EVF will light up the scene, which will help the framing a little.
Anyways, if you own a EP-2, and found the LCD screen impossible to use in the sun, I highly recommend this accessory. I haven't taken it off since I put it on, and works great in street shooting. Trust me, you will love this EVF. Here are some shots I took on saturday with the 17mm f2.8 Zuiko, love this pancake lens, as sharp as anything even at f2.8, its no 35mm summarit m, but getting there.
There is only two minor negative points that I have noticed, one is that the dynamic range of the EVF is limited, when pointing at high contrast scene, the highlights will be clipped. The other is when you shooting in low light, there will be some noticible noise, but the EVF will light up the scene, which will help the framing a little.
Anyways, if you own a EP-2, and found the LCD screen impossible to use in the sun, I highly recommend this accessory. I haven't taken it off since I put it on, and works great in street shooting. Trust me, you will love this EVF. Here are some shots I took on saturday with the 17mm f2.8 Zuiko, love this pancake lens, as sharp as anything even at f2.8, its no 35mm summarit m, but getting there.
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Leica 75mm Summarit M f2.5 Review
It has been a while since I got my 75mm f2.5 Summarit M, I have been using it more regularly now, and here is my short review on it. I won't dwell too much on the background of this lens, since if you are interested to buy one, its most likely that you will know it well.
The 75mm Summarit M is one of the 4 lenses in Leica's "Budget" Summarit line for M mount. First of all, it doesn't look like your typical Leica lens, as the most prominent feature of this lens is the large rubber grip focus ring. Many Leica purist didn't like anything thats not metal, but the rubber grip is actually very comfortable to use and gives a good grip. The only slight downside is that focusing ring on my copy is a bit firm, should become smooth as I use it more. The build of the lens is typical Leica, doesn't feel any cheaper than other lines of Leica lenses at all. The diameter of the lens is 46mm, and its only slightly longer than the 50mm summilux pre-asph, the slenderness ratio and the weight makes it just right to hold with one hand on the camera and one hand on the focus ring when mounted on the camera. The focus throw is on the short side, but enough to focus accurately, Im not complaining as I like short focus throw.
The image come from this lens is one of the sharpest I have seen, its sharp corner to corner. In terms of sharpness, I would say this is sharper wide open at f2.5 than 50mm Summilux pre-asph at f2. Microcontrast is pretty good too, so you will get a lot of details in your shots.
The colors from this lens is nice and rich, slightly on the cool side, but definitely not subdued. It is also more contrasty than older lenses, but not as much as asph lenses. Overall the colors are correct, and contrast well balanced.
Colors are Nice and Rich
There are no visible distortion from the shot I have taken so far, no visible purple fringes that I have noticed either.
Now the important part for people who love Bokeh (and we all do). The bokeh from this lens can be smooth. creamy when you focusing on close subjects. But could be slightly harsh when your subject is at medium distances. Overall, its not too bad, If you shoot a lot of portraits and still subjects, the bokeh would be very nice. If you shoot mainly street, then you can occasionally end up with slightly harsh bokeh.
75mm focal length is a bit hard to use at first (at least for me), the reason been its so close to the 50mm frame lines (Leica M9 shows 50mm and 75mm frame lines together), one would mistaken 50mm frame lines for it in a hurry. Although its frame lines are close to 50mm, it gives a lot more compression to the photos than 50mm, so the overall look from it will be different than the 50mm. I have found it to best capture individual subjects, or a cutout of the detail if you are shooting landscape or architecture. Trying to capture the scene or surrounding environment by stepping back don't really work, as theres more compression than 50mm and 35mm. As I use it more and more, I found it more enjoyable to use, it is very different to 35mm which I use the most, unlike 50mm feels like a slight crop of the 35mm shots. After using this lens for a while, I think I have found my perfect pairing, 35mm and 75mm, there are enough difference between them yet they are not too far away from the "normal" perspective, and with both of them, one can cover both wide angle to portrait formal length.
Overall 75mm Summarit M is a great lens, great sharpness, colors, contrast, and good bokeh if you are careful. The build is excellent and I personally find the handling perfect. For a 75mm focal length, you will not regret getting this one. I know theres the more expensive and more perfect 75mm Summicron and Summilux out there, but this is close to half the price of the Summicron, unless you need perfection, I think this lens won't disappoint you.
The 75mm Summarit M is one of the 4 lenses in Leica's "Budget" Summarit line for M mount. First of all, it doesn't look like your typical Leica lens, as the most prominent feature of this lens is the large rubber grip focus ring. Many Leica purist didn't like anything thats not metal, but the rubber grip is actually very comfortable to use and gives a good grip. The only slight downside is that focusing ring on my copy is a bit firm, should become smooth as I use it more. The build of the lens is typical Leica, doesn't feel any cheaper than other lines of Leica lenses at all. The diameter of the lens is 46mm, and its only slightly longer than the 50mm summilux pre-asph, the slenderness ratio and the weight makes it just right to hold with one hand on the camera and one hand on the focus ring when mounted on the camera. The focus throw is on the short side, but enough to focus accurately, Im not complaining as I like short focus throw.
The image come from this lens is one of the sharpest I have seen, its sharp corner to corner. In terms of sharpness, I would say this is sharper wide open at f2.5 than 50mm Summilux pre-asph at f2. Microcontrast is pretty good too, so you will get a lot of details in your shots.
Look at the detail on the Lantern, this is at f2.5
There are no visible distortion from the shot I have taken so far, no visible purple fringes that I have noticed either.
Now the important part for people who love Bokeh (and we all do). The bokeh from this lens can be smooth. creamy when you focusing on close subjects. But could be slightly harsh when your subject is at medium distances. Overall, its not too bad, If you shoot a lot of portraits and still subjects, the bokeh would be very nice. If you shoot mainly street, then you can occasionally end up with slightly harsh bokeh.
Smooth Bokeh
Slightly Harsh Bokeh?
75mm focal length is a bit hard to use at first (at least for me), the reason been its so close to the 50mm frame lines (Leica M9 shows 50mm and 75mm frame lines together), one would mistaken 50mm frame lines for it in a hurry. Although its frame lines are close to 50mm, it gives a lot more compression to the photos than 50mm, so the overall look from it will be different than the 50mm. I have found it to best capture individual subjects, or a cutout of the detail if you are shooting landscape or architecture. Trying to capture the scene or surrounding environment by stepping back don't really work, as theres more compression than 50mm and 35mm. As I use it more and more, I found it more enjoyable to use, it is very different to 35mm which I use the most, unlike 50mm feels like a slight crop of the 35mm shots. After using this lens for a while, I think I have found my perfect pairing, 35mm and 75mm, there are enough difference between them yet they are not too far away from the "normal" perspective, and with both of them, one can cover both wide angle to portrait formal length.
Overall 75mm Summarit M is a great lens, great sharpness, colors, contrast, and good bokeh if you are careful. The build is excellent and I personally find the handling perfect. For a 75mm focal length, you will not regret getting this one. I know theres the more expensive and more perfect 75mm Summicron and Summilux out there, but this is close to half the price of the Summicron, unless you need perfection, I think this lens won't disappoint you.
Friday, 16 March 2012
Long Weekend of March
Last weekend March 10-13th was a long weekend in Victoria with Moomba festivities. Went out to shoot both Super Saturday horse racing at Flemmington and Moomba festival on Monday.
Horse racing wasn't my cup of tea, a bit boring especially when you don't like to gamble, you wait for hours to see horses run for a few minutes. Good place for photos though, lots of glamorous ladies and gents, cross dressing people (yep, thats right), jockeys and their horses, and of course, a few very sweaty punters. So a nice variety of people for you to snap away.
Moomba festival on the other hand is awesome, great deep fried food, stomach churning rides and great water sports on the Yarra river. A lot of screaming kids and adults on the rides, great fun to watch, I never understood why you need to scream on those rides, holding on tighter is understandable, screaming just hurts the ear of the person next to you.
Here are some shots taken with Olympus EP-2 + 17mm Zuiko and Leica M9 + 35mm Summarit. Couldn't see a damn thing on the EP-2 LCD during under the glaring sun + wearing sun glasses, but the large depth of field allowed me to shoot without framing and focusing at f5.6.
Horse racing wasn't my cup of tea, a bit boring especially when you don't like to gamble, you wait for hours to see horses run for a few minutes. Good place for photos though, lots of glamorous ladies and gents, cross dressing people (yep, thats right), jockeys and their horses, and of course, a few very sweaty punters. So a nice variety of people for you to snap away.
Moomba festival on the other hand is awesome, great deep fried food, stomach churning rides and great water sports on the Yarra river. A lot of screaming kids and adults on the rides, great fun to watch, I never understood why you need to scream on those rides, holding on tighter is understandable, screaming just hurts the ear of the person next to you.
Here are some shots taken with Olympus EP-2 + 17mm Zuiko and Leica M9 + 35mm Summarit. Couldn't see a damn thing on the EP-2 LCD during under the glaring sun + wearing sun glasses, but the large depth of field allowed me to shoot without framing and focusing at f5.6.
Mario and Luigi?
Saturday, 3 March 2012
It has been a month and hafl since I have posted, got a new job, and that has taken over 90% of my life, only able to shoot once for the whole time been :(, hopefully life gets more relaxed after I ease into the new job.
Used my 75mm summarit m again, still haven't got use to the fact that is a 75mm, still thinking like a 35mm, so alot of shots went to waste. I guess shooting a 75mm needs completely different mindset than a 35mm or a 50mm (35mm and 50mm are similar). 75mm is best used to isolate the subject, and infersize on the subject alone, where 75mm shallower depth of field narrower field of view comes in extremely well. When I shot it like a 35mm, trying to show more background by stepping back, it just doesn't have the spacious feel of a 35mm, instead it brings the background closer to the subject, and make things look clustered. I guess I just have to learn to use this focal length more. On a positive note, 75mm summarit is extremely good, great resolution, excellent colors and the rubber focus ring (which I didnt like before I used it) was very comfortable to use.
So heres my short rant, and some not so great photos. I have also placed an order on fujifilm x-pro 1, I am selling my film Leica to fund this. If the fujifilm x-pro 1's image quality is 75% as good as M9, and the handling is similar to a rangefinder (with exception of AF of course), I might consider replaceing my Leica gear with the fuji, I need money to travel :) no point keeping the M9 if I can't afford to travel.
Used my 75mm summarit m again, still haven't got use to the fact that is a 75mm, still thinking like a 35mm, so alot of shots went to waste. I guess shooting a 75mm needs completely different mindset than a 35mm or a 50mm (35mm and 50mm are similar). 75mm is best used to isolate the subject, and infersize on the subject alone, where 75mm shallower depth of field narrower field of view comes in extremely well. When I shot it like a 35mm, trying to show more background by stepping back, it just doesn't have the spacious feel of a 35mm, instead it brings the background closer to the subject, and make things look clustered. I guess I just have to learn to use this focal length more. On a positive note, 75mm summarit is extremely good, great resolution, excellent colors and the rubber focus ring (which I didnt like before I used it) was very comfortable to use.
So heres my short rant, and some not so great photos. I have also placed an order on fujifilm x-pro 1, I am selling my film Leica to fund this. If the fujifilm x-pro 1's image quality is 75% as good as M9, and the handling is similar to a rangefinder (with exception of AF of course), I might consider replaceing my Leica gear with the fuji, I need money to travel :) no point keeping the M9 if I can't afford to travel.
I think she is beautiful
This is an example of "I shot this like shooting with a 35mm"
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Olympus EP-2
I bought the EP-2 when EP-3 was just released, and therefore got a great bargain. Its a nice little camera, compact enough to take around without noticing it too much, and provides good image quality. The images from the EP-2 and the 17mm f2.8 Zuiko is great, especially after black and white conversion. Its not as sharp or clear as the M9 with a 35mm summarit, but it has very fine grainy look at higher ISOs and has a overall flatter look, and looks more like a film image.
The little EP-2 is great for street photography, it focuses fast enough, can be operated with a single hand, and shooting with the LCD can be much less noticable than using a viewfinder. Im using this more often than I have anticipated, and it makes a fun break from shooting with the M9. Anyway, some images from the camera from last weekend.
The little EP-2 is great for street photography, it focuses fast enough, can be operated with a single hand, and shooting with the LCD can be much less noticable than using a viewfinder. Im using this more often than I have anticipated, and it makes a fun break from shooting with the M9. Anyway, some images from the camera from last weekend.
Victoria Market in Melbourne, I highly recommend the sweets from this shop
Thursday, 5 January 2012
More of Melbourne with 35mm
More of Melbourne with 35mm summarit M, taken during the New Year break. Really enjoying the 35mm summarit lens, as its small and has great image quality, I think its the right lens for me.
This also brings up another question in my head, do I really need a fast 35mm? I been using the 35mm both indoors and outdoors and the "slow" f2.5 aperture has been able to cover them all, the only reason that I still crave for a faster lens is because of the better isolation of subject, but from 90% of my photos I took, better isolation of the subject doesn't really make the image better, as the environment is also a part of the image. I think I will stick to my summarit for now.....
Ok, Im done talking to myself aloud, heres some images.
This also brings up another question in my head, do I really need a fast 35mm? I been using the 35mm both indoors and outdoors and the "slow" f2.5 aperture has been able to cover them all, the only reason that I still crave for a faster lens is because of the better isolation of subject, but from 90% of my photos I took, better isolation of the subject doesn't really make the image better, as the environment is also a part of the image. I think I will stick to my summarit for now.....
Ok, Im done talking to myself aloud, heres some images.
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