Olympus OM-D E-M5

November 13, 2012 by spike | 3 Comments

I don’t know if it will come as a big surprise to anyone that I sold off my Fuji X-Pro1 over the weekend.  I loved the look and feel of the camera.  I loved the controls.  But my frustration with it grew on an almost daily basis.  Despite all of the firmware updates to the camera body and lenses, I came to the conclusion that it’s good for shooting stationary objects.  The slow contrast detection auto focus, even slower in low light situations, became a deal breaker for me.  The ads went up, the offers came in, and when I went to meet someone to hand off the camera on Saturday, it was with a twinge of regret, tempered with the fact that I’d bought it used, used it for six months, and got a price that wasn’t too far off from what I paid for it.

The next task was getting a good deal on a used Olympus OM-D E-M5 (ugh! what a ridiculous name!).  Then I found a woman who only used it in church on Sundays bought one, used it lightly, then decided to replace it with a Nikon D600.  I bought it from her with the kit lens, the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3.  I’d read that as kit lenses go, this one doesn’t suck, though there is that F6.3 on the tele end.

I didn’t have time to look at the manual.  I just went for a walk, everything in full automatic mode.

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Everything is from JPEG here, with some retouching in Lightroom.

 

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After walking around for awhile, it was time for me to meet the man selling me his used Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm F1.4 lens.  This in no small part was one of the reasons that I opted for this camera – there’s a relatively large selection of lenses available for the Micro Four Thirds format (far more than for the Sony NEX series or the Fuji X mount).  I’ve got my eye on several other lenses including the Olympus 12mm F2 or 17mm F1.8, the Olympus 14-150 zoom, and then the Olympus 45mm F1.8 or 60mm F2.8 macro or 75mm F1.8.  But these will have to wait.

(The guy who sold me the lens was interesting.  He’s not a professional photographer, he said he just loved to buy every new camera, play around with it for a month or two, then sell it off and get something else.  He told me he currently has the Nikon D800, which he wants to swap for a D800E, as well as the Sony NEX-7, the Fuji X-Pro1 and the Olympus OM-D.  I gave him my card and asked him to contact me when he’s selling off more stuff.  )

Anyway, I didn’t have much time to shoot with the Pana/Leica lens, but enough that I know I’m going to like it.  (You thought I’d say, “I’m going to Leica it,” but even I won’t stoop that low. Well, not always, anyway.)

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Here’s a crop from the above photo.

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I discovered two things when dealing with the JPEGs in Lightroom.  The first was that I had to make adjustments to the white balance on almost every photo.  The second was that even though it was set to auto ISO and even though the camera is capable of going to 25,600, the auto seemed to max out at 1600 –  I need to figure out if and how to change that.

This is the first Olympus digital camera I’ve ever owned.  The menus are completely unfamiliar to me.  It will take some time to get used to them.

I love that the camera has a feature similar to the Fuji’s Q menu.  It’s slightly annoying that I have to press one button to bring up the menu and then another button to activate.

The electronic viewfinder is great – perhaps not as good as Sony’s but beyond my expectations.  The articulating touch screen is great.

The camera is just slightly small for my hands.  The only Olympus grip you can get comes in a set with the battery grip and I may have to get that if I can’t find a suitable third party option.  Some of the buttons are also a bit on the small side for my fat fingers.

But most important, the auto focus is fast.  Not as lightning fast as my D800 but noticeably faster than the Fuji, without any of that annoying hunting that the Fuji is so prone to do.

I’ve been reading through the manual today.  Tomorrow night I’ll be out with the camera shooting RAW in manual mode.

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Posted in Gear, Hong Kong, Olympus

Britrock!

November 11, 2012 by spike | Leave a comment

My buddies from Hong Kong band The Sleeves put on a show called Britrock at the Hong Kong Brew House in Lan Kwai Fong yesterday.  They were joined by Black Coffee, The Paisleys and Danny Hunt.  It was a fun night out.  My only complaint is that the HK Brew House (a place I actually like) only has one single crappy light for the entire stage.  It was an interesting challenge because I needed completely different settings on the camera for anyone who wasn’t standing directly under that light, but it did give some interesting shadows and contrasts.

We arrived late, so opening act Black Coffee was just finishing their set.

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Next up was the Paisleys, just two kids, guitar and drums.  They were the surprise of the night and I think they’re gonna be worth keeping an eye on.

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Next up was a group fronted by Danny Hunt, who was proudly sporting a Movember mustache.

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The Sleeves closed out the night with an energetic set.

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You see that light in the upper left hand corner above?  That was it. One light for the entire stage.  One weird disco light.  For the entire stage.

Couple of audience shots:

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Actually it was busier there than these shots would indicate. I have no idea what’s up with all the plaid.

Outside, it was a typical Lan Kwai Fong Saturday night.  If we weren’t so tired after the set, I would have hung out to take more photos.  Here’s a few snaps I took during smoke breaks.

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Despite all the construction, Lan Kwai Fong remains popular on Saturday nights … and pretty much every other night of the week.

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Posted in Hong Kong, Musicians

What’s Next For Spike’s Photos?

November 8, 2012 by spike | 7 Comments

I’m nearing the two year anniversary for this web site.  The first year was kind of slow but readership picked up in the second year thanks to a bit of SEO, a few (hopefully) worthwhile comments on other blogs and probably some reciprocal links.  I have  As the two year mark approaches, I’m thinking about what I want from this page and what I will do here next.

While the site was primarily set up to share my own photos and thoughts on photography, I often included links to other items of interest to me.  I share. That’s my nature.  But sharing for what purpose?

This site had over 9,000 unique visitors in October 2012.  Less than 30 comments (not counting spam).  A certain hard core number of people who keep coming back or have me in their RSS reader but a very large group of people who find this site via Google searches for camera reviews.   I have no idea how many return, I don’t spend the time viewing reports to that level of detail.  Most of these people aren’t interested in the photos here, just whatever I’ve written or linked to about whatever camera they’re interested in.

The links that I provide to Amazon and B&H Photo that might provide me with some money are rarely clicked on.  That’s okay enough. Every web site has associate links; there’s no overwhelming reason to click on mine.   I basically earn back enough to cover my annual hosting costs, which are low.   It would be nice to earn some extra cash given that I’ve essentially been unemployed for a substantial period of time, but it is what it is.  I know what it would take to get me to that level but it’s a matter of finding the time to do it.

Nothing is free and that includes time.  My time.  I have too many things to do, too many things I’m working on, my attention and focus are often too divided for me to properly concentrate on those things that will bring me some form of return – whether that return be financial or just making some new friends.

So I doubt I’ll be doing any of those news link posts any more.  If you come here looking for that, sorry, there probably won’t be much of it in the future.  I’m still going to post my own photos, my own tales of my learning process and my mistakes, the occasional review or mention of equipment I’m using.

Anyway, happy upcoming anniversary to me.  Thanks for reading this.  Really.

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Posted in Spike

November 7, 2012 by spike | 1 Comment

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Open Show, the global organization that organizes live events worldwide, is pleased to announce their first event in Hong Kong. The public will get a chance to see compelling works and interact directly with seven international photographers, each of whom who will be presenting projects featuring 20 images. The headlining presenter is renowned New Zealand street photographer Jonathan van Smit, who will be presenting ‘City of Dreams.’

Other photographers who have been selected to present at Open Show’s first Hong Kong exhibition are Yoav Horesh, Brett Elmer, Thomas Luk, Kenny Yung, Tse Oi Lam and Sean Creamer.

The King of Hong Kong street photography, Jonathan van Smit has been photographing in Hong Kong since early 2008. His photographs are stark and gritty depictions of the underbelly of Kowloon. His work has been described as ”raw, sometimes shockingly so, but never sensationalist. It’s full of boredom, sadness, loneliness and neglect”.

Israeli professor of photography, Yoav Horesh has exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries and museums including Germany, Italy, Israel, the United States, Hong Kong and also with Amnesty International. Yoav’s work was featured, written about and published in magazines, art journals and websites across three continents and he has given public lectures/artists talks in art schools, universities and galleries in The United States and Europe. He will be presenting ‘Where We Stand’, the project takes a look at how people perceive and relate to public space.

Australian, Brett Elmer is currently working on his PhD thesis and will be presenting ‘The Ongoing Demolition of Uyghur Culture’, a photography project which he hopes reflects the analysis and research he is conducting. The project is related to Chinese government policies enacted to hasten the assimilation of the Uyghur minority of China’s north-west Xinjiang province with the greater Chinese state. Some of these photographs have been published by The World Uyghur Congress.

Thomas Luk is a Hong Kong photographer who has had the chance to visit some textile factories in China. He will be presenting ‘Working Hours’, a document of the daily lives of the factory workers in these establishments.

Kenny Yung will be presenting ‘Thug on the Streets’, snapshots of interesting street scenes in Hong Kong.

Tse Oi Lam will be presenting a mixed media project, ‘HIDE’, which is based on surrealism and feminism.

South African, Sean Creamer will be presenting ‘Crystal Castles’ a photography project that explores the world within a world concept in Hong Kong.

The hotly anticipated launch will take place at 8pm on December 14th, 2012 at PASM Workshop, Flat C, 1/F, Block C, Chin Fat Factory Building, 3 Tsat Po Street, San Po Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

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Open Show organizes live events worldwide where the public can see compelling work and interact directly with photographers, filmmakers and multimedia producers in high‐profile spaces.  Open Show’s core activity is our monthly social screenings featuring curated presenters (from students to award-winning professionals) presenting a 20 image project or 3‐8 minute film with live audience questions and feedback.  Open Show had its beginnings in San Francisco in 2008 and since then has rapidly grown into a high-profile photography and film advocacy organization with communities in 17 countries.

Contact Details:

Yolanda van der Mescht, Lead Co-Producer

Tel: +852 6171 5580

Email: hongkong@openshow.org

Web: www.openshow.org | www.facebook.com/openshow.hk 

PASM Workshop is Hong Kong’s most unique photography studio and event space.  Founded in 2009, PASM Workshop has been the official photo studio and event photographer for the Hong Kong Fashion World Talents Awards, Habitat for Humanity China, PLAN Hong Kong and many others. The studio is available for photography and video shoots, classes, events and parties.

Contact Details:

Victor Cheung, Senior Partner

Tel: +852 3693 4044 / +852 6627 5277

Email: victor@pasmworkshop.com

Web: www.pasmworkshop.com | www.facebook.com/pasm.workshop

For those of you who don’t already know this, I am one of the owners of PASM Workshop.  I co-wrote the above press release.  I am THRILLED that we are going to be hosting this exhibition!

 

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Posted in Event, Exhibition, Gallery, Hong Kong, PASM Workshop

Mongolian Booth Babes

November 5, 2012 by spike | Leave a comment

I apologize if the heading of this post is a bit disrespectful but it’s the only one that seems to fit.  Last week I shot my first corporate event, the Mongolia Investment Summit.  Two days wearing a suit, on my feet 9 hours per day, shooting speakers, panels and the exhibition floor.  I learned more about Mongolia than I ever expected to learn in a lifetime, most of it serious but not all of it.  (One speaker informed us that Mongolia has four seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Road Construction.)

You’d think that a conference of this nature would be on the dry side (and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong).  However, even a serious event like this managed to throw in a little sex appeal.  On the first day, there were four Mongolian models in traditional outfits.

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It’s probably worth noting that each of these women stood around 6 feet tall (in heels).  I was unable to get a shot of all four together because none of them seemed to speak very much English.

The booth for Mongolian Properties wasn’t too shabby either.

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Here’s the reporter from Bloomberg TV Mongolia.  Her name is Delgermaa Munkhbat.

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All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple of days.

 

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Posted in Event Photography, Models
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