Monday, November 18, 2013

A new toy

Traded
I bought or traded a new toy today. I traded my EP2 with an EPL2. I know, to some, I am making a mistake, seeing that EP2 is placed higher than the EPL2. Well, EPL2 is newer and it fits more comfortably in my hand.

EPL2 with the Panasonic 14-45

Test
As usual, once a photo bug gets hold of a new toy, he, or she, will inadvertently find excuses to play with the toy. As for me, well, I had to do my morning walk. I went to Punggol Riverside again, but this time I shot nearer to the main road, not anywhere near the river.  And below are some shots while I was cooking and when I just had the camera. I love the handling so much that I shoot everything and anything with it!

At Serangoon, test shot immediately after I get hold of the camera.

Latitude
I find the exposure camera of this camera much, much better than the EP1 and the EP2. The picture appears smoother and there are more details in the shadows and the highlight. 

Chicken searing in the hot pan prior to becoming a stew. Olympus 45mm 1.8

And color and the tone is somewhat more pleasing to the eye. Perhaps its the lens, perhaps its the new image processing software. I don't know. What I know is, the EPL2 rocks!

Reflection, Punggol Riverside. 

Handling
Even though that there no more of the vertical aluminum dial, the handling is convenient enough. I don't make use of the vertical dial often enough in my EP1 and EP2 to miss it in the EPL2. The mode dial clicks confidently when you rotate it. The AF is fast enough and does not hunt as much a compared to the EP2.

Size
If this EPL2 is mated to a pancake lens like the 17mm or the 20mm or even the 14mm, this will fit into my shirt pocket sans any problem.

Red leaves.

Steve Huff did a review of the M43 which you can find it here. He seems to be very into the M43 system, and I now understand why. I am loving it.

Caveat...
I am not saying that the M43 system is the holy grain (pun intended). I still grab my Sony when I know I need to shoot in High ISO, but for general photo taking, its portability, I believe the Pen and maybe the Panasonic GF and GX series (I do not have one), more than meets the expectations.

Slim

More pictures:

Gears, converted in LR 4.

Using the Olympus 45mm 1.8

Adam, Indoors under various color temperature.

And it rained!

Droplets on leaves, using the camera's high grain black and white ART filter.


Ok, good night for now.

Slim








Saturday, November 16, 2013

Yesterday

Two places, again
I went to 2 places again, yesterday. The first was at Punggol Marina where I spent a good 3o minutes on my feet. I brought my EP2 together with my fish eye lens which I bought a day before. 
It was a pleasant walk, although my feet starts to hurt midway, while I was going back to the car. Took some pictures of the marina itself and the boardwalk. 

The boardwalk
Water taxi
Saw lots of boats tied to the piers, but what was most striking is the appearance of the "water taxis". Have not seen them before at the marina. They were brightly painted and I wonder if those are the same "water taxis" that is plying the Singapore River. That is quite a distance to travel between there and the Marina.

Yellow water taxi

Bell
I noticed a bell next to a red box with "fire extinguisher" in white painted over it. I now realised, after many countless time what the bell is for. Its a fire alarm. Its so quaint. I do not think that it is being use to signal an emergency.

Bell with the big, red fire extinguisher box.

Next, Bishan Park
I went to Bishan Park to accompany a friend to test out his newly bought used Nikkor 50mm 1.8. I took that as another opportunity to go for a walk. Which I did. Have never been to the park before I think the park is simply splendid. Big wide pavements and there is a stream that across it lengthwise. One can just simply go down to the stream and play with the water. No fence. 

The other stream.

Took some more pictures but this time, I used my EP2 and with the aid of a FOTGA adapter, which came in the mail during lunch time, I mated the EP2 with a Super-Multi-Coated-Takumar 28mm 3.5. The combo gives very sharp results. However, the use of the adapter results in me being able to focus at infinity and beyond just as the focussing scale hit 1.0m. I guess, with this adapter, one cannot use the lens focussing scale to carry out shots based on scale focussing.

I used the Diorama ART filter on the EP2. 

Bridge
There is bridge too, you can see in the background in the picture above, but I have not managed to reach there yet. Hopefully to reach there the next time I am there. Hopefully bringing my family along. I took some people fishing for the fishes in the pond. Small fish, just for fun, to be kept in their aquarium. They did not use bait but they wrap a shiny, small piece of scotch tape to attract the fish to the hook. And with a sudden jab of the wrist, I saw how they managed to get the fish.. Was not quick enough to take pictures of the fish though as I was more interested in looking for reflections in the water.

Fishing

I guess thats about it. Will write more about my daily walks.

Slim






Thursday, November 07, 2013

Another Walk

Went for my usual walk
I think I made several improvements. Instead of walking at just 1 place, I did my walking at 2 places. One was along Punggol Central and after that I went to Punggol Riverside.

Knots at Pasar Malam
I went to the Pasar Malam, in the morning, in the hope of capturing the store owners setting up shop. Alas! I was there too early. There were plenty of blue canvasses covering the wares and bananas hanging and hooks swaying in the light breeze. Parents were sending the children to the nearby school and people were waiting for buses and taxis to bring them to work. I was just mingling around with the inanimate objects that ignored me. I did take a few shots before I finally decided to go to Punggol Riverside, about 30 minutes later.

Hooks

I was surprised to see bananas hanging freely for all to see. I was thinking that was for all to take for breakfast. However, all of those bunches of bananas were in complete sets. I guess, people here are more civic minded than what we are given credit for.

Bananas

I reached Punggol Riverside and immediately went to work, or went to walk. I took my camera and I started shooting. At that hour, most of the things I can shoot of are either green or brightly colored. So I shot some flowers and leaves.

Small flowers

To be honest, I had just purchased a new lens for my Olympus EP1. Its the Panasonic Leica 25mm 1.4. I took the combo out and surprisingly I was feeling happy taking all these pictures. Bear in mind that the camera was made in 2009 and was one of the founders of the M43 standard. 

Dew on leaves

I shoot RAW mostly but the ART filters on this camera is really fun to use. For the black and white picture above, I used the High Grain Black and White Filter.

I took some signs and a few shots of people biking and jogging and even though it was a damp and cold morning, one do feel the energy emanating from these people. You feel warm.

Painted Footsteps

Some of the cyclists looked and me, many greeted me and many more nodded in approval. Many others were just enjoying the day to be bothered by the new themes of modern life.

Bothered Cyclist

I wished that I could start jogging soon.

Jogger

I ended up at PitStop where I had a glass of ginger milk tea. Helped to warm up the body and also, as people say, help to clear the wind from your body. All I know is, it was delicious. Met one of the owners and he call himself Tiger. He used to work in the club scene and I guess his nickname stuck. Nice chap. A good talker and listener.

Ginger Milk Tea


I wanted to go there again today, but Adam is not feeling well. 

Slim