I was surfing around the net…

and I came across this site: http://infraredatelier.wordpress.com/

It’s a photography blog ran by a Mark Hilliard. The interesting bit is it’s dedicated to infrared photography. What makes it even more interesting is that among the many cameras that the blog author is using or had used, one of his favorites is the Olympus E-PL1. It’s not a beginner’s guide to IR photography (you can find that easily on the world wide web) but the site does contain lots of interesting bits of information such as where to get IR conversions done, IR filter comparisons, etc.

I, myself, have been quite interested in delving into IR photography for a long time now but I never quite got around to saving up enough for a quality IR filter (somehow the budget tends to get “misused” towards more lenses), much less getting an IR camera conversion done. I’ve bought a couple cheapo no-name IR filters in the past off of eBay but it turns out that the IR cut-off rating is never accurate and I can’t get the faux IR colors that I’ve been wanting to get (or maybe I’m just no good at it). So my advice if you want to get into IR photography: get a genuine brand that’s been proven to work as advertised.

Quick thoughts on the E-P2

I never really did any kind of official review on past cameras I’ve owned, and I don’t think I’ll start now. For actual (bordering on scientific) reviews on any camera, I would suggest you point your browser to DPreview which usually dishes out more info than I’d care to digest on any given camera or lens.

But having said that, I’d like to share my thoughts on the Olympus E-P2 now that I’ve had a few weeks to play around with it and I’ve had the chance to try out almost all the features I figured I’d need from the camera. This is just a quick and dirty list of my likes and dislikes, so think of it what you will.

Likes:

• In-body image stabilization. This takes out one of the dilemma I faced when I was using Nikon – should I invest in the fast lens or settle for VR? Or do I need to upgrade to the new lens version with VR? And so on and so forth. Now I can have my cake and eat it too.
• Auto white balance. Prior to the E-P2, my past DSLR-level cameras were the Nikon D80 and then the D700. Both were fantastic cameras for sure, but sometimes they struggle to get the auto white balance (AWB) right, especially under fluorescent lighting. It might just be a placebo effect on my part, but I haven’t yet found myself having to change the WB setting to date unless I’m aiming for a particularly warm or cool look to my images.
• Superb JPEG output. This is probably like beating a dead horse, what with most reviews saying the same. But just to share my experience, I’ve only really had to use RAW when I was playing around with an IR filter.
• ADAPTABILITY! A major surprise (in a good sense) to me when I bought the E-P2 was its adaptability with other lens mounts which opens up a whole plethora of lens choices. Yes, limited to manual focus (MF) it may be, but that’s the next plus point!
• Easy manual focus. It’s obvious that the E-P2 has no optical viewfinder (OVF) and relies on an electronic viewfinder (EVF) instead or the back screen to help you in manual focusing. But that’s why it’s so good. The EVF/back screen can brighten or dim the image to simulate the exposure (similar to what prosumer bridge cameras do these days). And it can zoom in to an area if you need to ensure a spot-on focus. In comparison, the D80 had a hopelessly dim OVF for manual focusing unless you got a really fast lens, and the D700’s bright full-frame OVF can’t really match up to the added functionality of the E-P2’s EVF.
• Auto exposure metering with MF lenses. Despite no electrical contact from lens to body when it comes to most MF lenses, the camera can still calculate what shutter speed to use. Sometimes it’s a bit off, but then you can just dial in some exposure compensation.
• Portability. I’ve had the ‘pleasure’ of lugging around my D700 and a few lenses on trips across Europe. I can feel my back and shoulders start to ache every time I think back to it. On the other hand, I’ve bought a smallish bag for my E-P2 and I barely feel its weight as I carry it around with me everywhere I go these days.

Dislikes:

• Menu system. The menu sucks. End of story.
• Not enough dials. Coming from Nikon DSLRs, I miss the feel of Nikon’s front and back dials. Olympus’s solution isn’t half bad, but I find myself still yearning for Nikon’s control system at times.
• Kit lens’ focus by wire. The 17mm f/2.8 kit lens is the first “focus by wire” lens I’ve owned, look it up on the net if you don’t know what it means. Suffice to say, I don’t like it. It needs way too many twists just to adjust focus a little bit.
• Cramped buttons. It’s a necessary evil if you want to limit the need to enter the menu just to change some quick settings. Between the labyrinthine menu and the cramped buttons, I’ll take the buttons but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. There’s been too many annoying accidental-press occasions.
• No IS in movie mode. A minor gripe on my part since I don’t do movies often. To date, if you want image stabilization in movie-mode, it’s best you go for one of those Panasonic mFT lenses with built-in image stabilization.
• Few options for wide-angle lenses. Micro four-thirds is great for telephoto shots due to its 2x crop factor. A 300mm lens effectively has a field of view similar to a 600mm lens. On the other hand, this also means what would’ve been a wide-angle 25mm lens, for instance, will behave more like a standard 50mm lens. So the options for wide-angle lenses becomes very limited on the mFT system and your only real option now if you want to have ultra wide-angle images is to go for Panasonic’s 7-14mm zoom or the 9-18mm zoom offered by Olympus.
• It’s either the flash or the EVF. While pop-up flash are not really much use in brightening a room, they do have their uses as fill-flash on a pinch. The way the E-P2 was designed, if I wanted to use flash then I can’t use the EVF, and vice versa. I foresee a bright day where I need to use the EVF because the LCD screen is washed out, and at the same time I need to use flash to lighten up the shadows on my subject caused by the bright sunlight.
• Sensor performance. Coming from a D700, I’m so used to shooting at ISO 3200 or even 6400 and not have to worry about noise. Now I limit myself to ISO 800 but try not to go past 400 on most occasions. It’s a bit unfair comparing a full frame sensor vs. a mFT sensor, of course. It does perform marginally better than what I remember my D80 was capable of though.

That’s about all I can sum up based on my experiences so far. I’ll probably share a bit more as I get to know the E-P2 better. I realize as I typed this that there seems to be a lot of dislikes, but when all is said and done, I’m very happy with the camera and the reason is that I’ve already expected most of those issues from reading the reviews so it falls within my expectations when I got the E-P2. But I also find myself eagerly waiting to see Olympus come out with the next generation and what improvements it will bring with it. Plus I think I ‘need’ a second body. You know, for backup. Yeah.

Lightroom 3 is out of beta!

The next version of one of the most useful software out there for digital photographers is finally out. I can’t say I’ve tried the beta as I didn’t want to risk my Lightroom catalog getting messed up, but I have been using Lightroom 2.x for a while and it is a very good tool to have, plus I’ve read of some very good improvements in Lightroom 3.

Check out Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 from the Adobe website. You can get it direct from there as a download purchase for US$299 and you get an additional 30% discount if you buy it together with any version of Photoshop CS5 which knocks down the price of Lightroom 3 to US$209. Users of previous Lightroom versions can get the Upgrade version for US$99.

But then again, judging from these statistics, a majority of Photoshop users are pirates so the prices probably wouldn’t concern you. As for me, I’ll stick with Lightroom 2 for a while longer till I can scrape together enough money for Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5. First, I need to get my lens buying addiction under control.

Micro 4/3 and the danger of LBA

I’ve been playing around with my E-P2 for a little over a week now. I haven’t had the time to actually go out and shoot, but what little I did manage with my E-P2 has so far  met my expectations of it and some.

I had sold off my Nikon D700 which had just over 8000 shutter count in order to fund my E-P2 purchase. That’s not to say I wasn’t satisfied with it. Far from it. It’s just that the sheer size of the D700 makes it impractical for me to bring along every day wherever I go, especially with what limited time I have these days to go out simply to take pictures like I used to.

Back on topic, my intention with the E-P2 was to have a compact and portable system I could bring everywhere. With this in mind, I set myself to just acquiring compact prime lenses. I knew that the micro four-thirds (mFT) system doesn’t have a lot of native lenses in its repertoire yet, but I had read of the ability to utilize old lenses via the use of relatively cheap adapters. Hence my problem.

LBA is the internet acronym for “Lens Buying Addiction”. I had underestimated the adaptability of the mFT system when it comes to re-using old lenses. As of now, I have managed to restrict myself to just buying used Nikkor and F-mount primes off of eBay. A brief search for mFT adapters on the internet will show you that there are adapters for just about all major past and current lens mounts: Nikon F-mount, M42, the various Leica mounts, Canon FD, Pentax K. You name it, it’s probably out there. They vary in price and quality so you’ll need to do your research, of course; but nevertheless, they’re there and they are very tempting.

I’m ashamed to admit that I have no less than FOUR Nikkor lenses currently en route to me, all purchased from eBay, and all while the F-mount to micro four-thirds adapter itself is still on its way, as well. And did I mention that I’ve only had my E-P2 in my hands for a little over a week? Yeah. I think I need help with my addiction.

What can you do with the PEN’s movie mode?

Here’s what: Youtube music video clip

Shot using the Olympus E-PL1 and the 14-42mm kit lens by a member of the mu-43.com forum, Robert Watcher. More info on the video available on the Youtube page.

News bit: 8mm fisheye lens from Panasonic

The choice for native micro four-thirds lenses are quite limited, but it is growing. The latest one to join the family is this 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens from Panasonic. This will give it an equivalent of 16mm field of view on full-frame cameras.

The good guys over at DPreview have posted a preview and some sample images of the lens in question. Expected retail price is USD 799 for those in the US, and 790 Euro for the Europeans.

If that’s too much for you, you can always go for a Samyang 8mm f/3.5 which is available for FT mount (NOT mFT!) and other mounts so you can just take your pick based on what adapter you have. It’ll be manual focus, of course, but with these kinds of lenses, the depth of field is usually so large it doesn’t really matter and the general opinion is that it appears to be a decent performer.

You can find the Samyang 8mm f/3.5 new on eBay complete with mFT adapter and shipping for about half the price of the Panasonic fisheye.

E-P1/E-P2 with a dash of Hasselblad

I just came across some interesting bit of news from DCwatch via 4/3 Rumors. There’s an accessory for your E-P1/E-P2 and perhaps E-PL1 as well (I can’t read Japanese, so don’t take my word for it!) that will give it more than a passing resemblance to a Hasselblad. See for youself:

Images courtesy of DCwatch

It does present a certain use scenario too. One problem E-P1/E-P2 users face is that they can’t use any flash in conjunction with the (amazing) VF-2 viewfinder. So what do you do if you’re outdoors on a bright sunny day, your LCD is nigh useless, and you need a little bit of fill-in flash to light up your subjects? That’s where I suspect these will come in handy.

More pictures are available at the DCwatch article. It’s in Japanese, mind you, but it’s well worth a look. And if anyone can point out as to where all of us can get our hands on one and for how much, we’d greatly appreciate it.

Micro 4/3 resources online

For those who don’t already know, I am one of the latest to fall victim to the micro four-thirds (from here onwards abbreviated to mFT) camera system. Prior to my pulling the trigger, I’ve been scouring the internet trying to find out anything and everything about the system.
For the benefit of those who are considering joining the mFT crowd, I’ve decided to compile some of the information resources that helped influence my final decision.
So without further ado:

• Four Thirds – Official website run by Olympus with good basic information on the FT and mFT systems with offerings from both Olympus and Panasonic.
• 4/3 Rumors – Find out about leaks and rumors and lots of actual news relating to the mFT world.
• mu-43.com – A website on all things mFT. More importantly, it has a forum with oftentimes valuable bits and pieces of information to maximize your mFT investment.
• e-p1.net – Also a forum on mFT and also a good place to look and ask for information.
• MFlenses – Go here if you fancy investing in classic (and cheap!) manual focus lenses for your mFT camera and you need some user opinions.

Of course, that’s not everything. For a comprehensive review on mFT cameras, you can go to Digital Photography Review. Flickr is always a good place if you’re trying to decide on your next mFT lens, particularly for the more obscure MF lenses. And if all that’s not enough, there’s always Google.

Upload directly to Flickr from Adobe Lightroom

Just came across a useful plug-in today for exporting photos from Adobe Lightroom 2.x straight to your Flickr account. The plug-in is created by Jeffrey Friedl and it’s a “donationware” as he calls it i.e. you can choose to pay as much or as little as you want. You can try it for free for 6 weeks, after which you’ll get reduced functionality until you choose to register the plug-in.

As it is a donation-supported plug-in: you can choose to pay as little as 1-cent—just enough to cover the PayPal fee. PayPal is required for registration, but you may contact Mr Friedl directly if you don’t have a PayPal account but still wish to continue using the plug-in.

It’s very neat, I’ve tried it a couple of times now today and it appears to work without a hitch. It even goes so far as to export the tags and metadata you’ve assigned to your photos in Lightroom. But the biggest benefit is of course the huge time-savings in your workflow especially if you’re a heavy Lightroom user AND you upload your work to Flickr. Flickr’s own Uploadr is all well and good as a standalone, but if you’re already using Lightroom, why not save yourself the trouble and use this plug-in.

To get the plug-in go to: Jeffrey Friedl’s “Export to Flickr” Lightroom plug-in.

Mr Friedl also supports other photo-sharing sites such as SmugMug or even Facebook which you can find at his Lightroom goodies page.

Third time’s the charm

You may have noticed that all my previous posts are gone and there’s a different look to the blog now. If you ask why, well I felt the direction it was going in over time was rather uninteresting. Almost static. Now I’m no longer interested in just sharing photos—I paid for a flickr pro account for that so there’s little point duplicating it on a separate blog when flickr can handle that just fine, even better in fact!

I’m aiming for something more, something different than what I’ve been doing. As I surf around in photography forums and websites, I tend to pick up stuff: bits and pieces of information that I felt were very useful and worth sharing. This ranges all the way from photography techniques, post processing, and even equipment reviews if I ever get suckered into buying something. Unfortunately that happens all too often.

Mind you, this also means updates will only happen if and when I have something to write about. So short of checking back every now and then, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed. The website itself might see some further changes over the week so do leave a comment if you find something is amiss or you’d like to see a particular function on the blog and I’ll consider it for addition if my limited html skills allow and it’s in line with the blog’s new purpose.

So until the next post then. Cheers!