Random Blog

Some time ago I bought a fountain pen because I like writing with a fountain pen (pretty old fashioned eh?). But like everything else you have to like something to keep using it, and use it well. Because I didn't really connect with the first pen I bought, I bought another one. That was ok too but I felt there was a pen out there just waiting to be bought that would suit me to ...

Small and very light weighing in at a mere 55g it packs a bigger punch than it's reputation. Just my opinion of course. It's actually so small it looks out of place on the bigger MFT bodies. It's a 28mm equivalent on FF so it might not suit everybody.

However, mount it on one of the smaller bodies like a GM1 or GM5 and you have a perfect carry everywhere camera system.

Don't you love it when you rediscover something you really hadn't seen for some time? It's like meeting an old friend you haven't seen in ages. This happened to me when I went through my camera gear as my interest was re-vitalized again after a long break. I came across the Panasonic GX7 and realized it really feels good in my hand. Looking through the viewfinder (which isn't the best) and realized it tilts up ...

The Olympus E-PL1 was the first interchangeable lens camera that I really enjoyed using. It also impressed me with what was possible in this strange world I had stumbled into. My first "real" digital camera was the Canon 300D but that had some major drawbacks at the time. For me the E-PL1 had it all. I purchased the 14-150 f4-5.6 with the camera and I was thrilled with the performance and image quality. The colour ...

If you’re looking for an all-in-one lens from the Olympus stable right now you have two choices. The first one is the 12-100 f4 which has been out for a couple of years, and now you have the 12-200 f3.5-6.3.

Lets have a look at the specs of this lens:

Olympus 12-200 f3.5-6.3
Weight: 455g
Size: 78mm x 100mm
Aperture: f3.5 - f22
MFD: 22cms
Filter: 72mm
Price: €900

Not quite as heavy as the ...

My Fuji system is small and light with superb XF lenses and the cameras are a joy to use. They have a plethora of small light and quite bright prime lenses and they really shine too.

Since the introduction of the X-T30 and X-T3, Fuji have finally cracked the autofocus speed problem that their earlier cameras had. Not that they were really bad, it's just that other system cameras were a lot better. I took the ...

I'm sure you've all heard the term GAS before. It's very common in photographers who think that the next piece of new kit is going to improve their photography. Of course it doesn't but there's no point preaching to them, because they just want new toys to play with. I'm not sure if Gear Acquisition Syndrome is only symptomatic to photographers, but I'm assuming it isn't.

I know all photographers go through this at some ...

After going through all of my images from my Loire Valley trip (and deleting some 90% of the images), I have come to the conclusion that a couple of things have to change. I always tend to do this type of thing, it's the only way you're going to find out what works, what doesn't and what you have to change. I normally don't like a post-mortem, but this is exactly what I am doing ...

Today took us out to two more chateaus, the first being Chateau Langeais. Originally founded in the year 992 today's chateau has no resemblance to the original castle. The old keep itself lies in ruins. It is the second earliest knows chateau and is where the marriage between Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII took place in secrecy (1491), which bonded Brittany to the rest of France. The new chateau, what stands today, was started ...

Today we moved on from Blois to a little town called Veretz. It's not too far from Chinon (which I always thought was a large town - it isn't) and planned to stay there for the day until our friends turned up later.

Chinon wasn't exactly on the way to Veretz but we had time to spare until our friends came.

We stopped at Chinon (population 8000) for the day before driving further ...

Today was going to be a long drive. Unfortunately it was the only day we could do it on but I wanted to see this location. It was rather cloudy and grey but there wasn't anything we could do about that.

Fontevraud Abbey was founded in 1101 by the hermit Roberts d'Arbrissel for both men and women and was the largest of its kind in France. It is quite large but is only ...

Today, for our first visit, we did a village north of the Loire River. All, or most, of the popular chateaus seem to be on the south side of the Loire. I wonder why? Anyway, the first village we visited was Talcy. Of course it also has a chateau. I think every little village in this part of France has a chateau. We didn't visit these villages for the sole purpose of their chateaus, we ...

To make up for the disappointment yesterday we headed for two different locations. My shutter therapy is falling short right now!

Our first stop was Cheverny. Built between 1620 and 1634. All the finishing on the towers weren't completed until 1648 however. It's the first chateau to be built as a chateau without any defensive or military purposes in mind. And what a beautiful building it is. I could see me living there too, ...

Today we took a break from looking at chateaus, even one chateau per day can be too much at times so we headed out for the town of Orleans. With some 120,000 inhabitants, it's one of the bigger towns in the region and offers some great sights to see. It was the capital of medieaval France until the mid-18th Century. During the French Revolution it bacame stauchly Republican. The cathedral dominates the town (Cathedrale-Ste-Croix) and ...

We headed south west in the direction of Chenonceaux which is the village that gives it’s name to Chateau Chenonceau. Aptly named as  the “Palace of Women” because over the ages only women have owned and lived in the chateau. Originally built in 1512 by Catherine Briconnet it was Diane de Poitiers who would build the bridge that spans the Cher river. Catherine de Medici then added the galleries over the bridge.

Chenonceau ...

The heat is oppressive today. We feel like taking a shower every 15 minutes. Despite this we battled our way to the largest chateau in France, Chambord.

As you can see from the map above, Chambord isn't far at all from Blois where we were staying for some 10 days. The map shows where a couple of hundred chateaus are situated in the Loire Valley. That's why we chose Blois as ...

Ten hours it took to drive from Frankfurt, Germany to Blois, France. Blois is the regional capital with some 50,000 inhabitants. After finding the flat we had rented for the next 10 days, out we went to see what delights the town could offer.

For those who are curious to know where Blois is, it's right in the middle on the Loire Valley where most of the chateaus of this famous valley lie. From Blois, ...

An earlier post I did was about "Lens GAS" and all the excellent lenses I would dearly love to own but can't justify. Well, lets see what excellent lenses I do own and can highly recommend.

Since I own quite a few excellent lenses, I'll mention only those I think are outstanding and can recommend all photographers take a look at them (if you own that system of course). If you don't own the system, maybe ...

I'm sure you've all heard the term GAS before. It's very common in photographers who think that the next piece of new kit is going to improve their photography. Of course it doesn't but there's no point preaching to them, because they just want new toys to play with. I'm not sure if Gear Acquisition Syndrome is only symptomatic to photographers, but I'm assuming it isn't.

I know all photographers go through this at some ...

What better time to test a couple of new cameras than a family weekend in a new city. We do this once a year at around the end of May when everybody seems to have the time before summer starts. We select a different city every year and this year it was Wuerzburg. It’s situated in Bavaria, Germany and all of us can be there within a couple of hours by car.

I’ve already done the ...

I know, I've been threatening to do this for some time as I've mentioned in a couple of posts. I've updated my Sony Nex-5N and Nex-7 cameras to an A6000.

I never seem to sell any cameras and I've still got those two models. So, what model did I buy? It's actually an older model, the A6000. I just couldn't justify an A6300/A6500. Just too expensive for what I do with them.

However, I ...

I've been so impressed with the Samyang lenses that I started thinking about them in general. Although they are all manual focus lenses, once you get used to them you really don't miss autofocus at all. Well, that's me speaking of course. Horses for courses and all that.

I now have the 12 f2 for MFT and for Fuji X mount.

This lens is small, unobtrusive, weighs in at 260g and ...

1 Go into the Menu and turn on HD image.
2. Select time delay before image is taken.
3. Go to SCP and select HD option.
4. Select sl + raw
5. Limited to ISO 1600. Flash off. Tripod a must.

If anyone would like to add something to this, please do.

Having being enchanted by the Fujifilm X-T1 and X-T10, I was really looking forward to purchasing the X-T2 when it came out. Come to think of it I was also looking forward to the Olympus E-M1 II. However, as I realized what the manufacturers were charging for these engineering marvels I sat down and thought it all through again.

The X-T2 is retailing presently in Germany at €1700 and the Olympus E-M1 II is at a ...

Not having the willpower to say no to such things, I went ahead and purchased the Olympus 12-100 f4 lens. After looking closely at my use of lenses I came to the conclusion most of my images were taken between 12mm and 200mm and not really being a lover lens changes, the 12-100 f4 would be my ideal “travel” lens.

My last holiday was done with 2 Panasonic GM5 cameras paired with the Panasonic 12-32 ...

Brought onto the market by Panasonic in 2007, this lens was my permanent buddy on one of my 4/3 Panasonic L1 bodies. It always went with me on my holidays and it has seen a lot of action over the years.

Weight: 520g
Size: 90mm x 79mm
Aperture: f3.5 - f22
MFD: 50cms
Filter: 72mm
Price: €1000

I believe I paid in the region of €1200 for ...

The Panasonic 12-60 f3.5-5.6 is the kit lens that accompanies the new G81 camera. It was either get the camera only or get the kit with the lens for a pittance more. I selected the second option. I’m certain I can sell it on a popular auction portal for a higher price than what I paid for it if need be.

It has Power O.I.S. built in so theoretically using this in conjunction with the ...

Nice and compact, very light and allows you to put this, attached to an Olympus E-M10 or E-M10 II, in your jacket pocket. All the lens has on the outside is the zoom ring, and that is it.

Olympus 14-42 f3.5-5.6 EZ (28 - 84mm in 35mm terms)
Weight: 91g
Size: 23mm x 61mm
Aperture: f3.5 - f22
MFD: 25cm
Filter: 37mm
Price: €280

It has been an interesting 2016 for all mirrorless systems ranging from Sony to Fujifilm to Olympus and Panasonic. Canon have come out with their latest model the M5 but a little late in my opinion. They have a lot of ground to make up over the established manufacturers and whether they’ll catch up is anyone's guess, but I won’t be investing in that system any time soon. Nikon have lost the thread and haven’t ...

This post has taken a really long time appear here; I never seemed to get around to it, or something else took priority. Anyway, better late than never. Before I begin I would just like to mention that throughout 2016 my Panasonic GM5 cameras have seen a tremendous amount of use. I was quite surprised when I realised that all major holidays/breaks/visits this year were done with the Panasonic GM5 cameras. I think this shows ...

What a beautiful little lens. Comes with a hood and a rubber cap to cover the front element that doesn’t come off when you take it out of your bag. This lens just smells of Leica.

It’s got Leica in the name and although it’s not built by Leica the quality is visibly superior to your normal Panasonic built lenses. They are built to Leica specifications which was a real coup for Panasonic. Quality is much ...

After my initial setup of the Pen-F I took it out on my normal testing route with the Olympus 14-150 f4.0-5.6 II mounted on it. I also have the original version of this lens and have used it extensively when I've been travelling. I've noticed lately that my original has become de-centered on one side and is quite noticeable when looking closely at the images. The question was, get it repaired or purchase the second ...

I’ve always wanted to go down to Cornwall, but never quite managed it. Don’t ask me why I want to go there but I suppose it’s to do with it’s history and the rugged coastline I’ve been hearing a lot about. The small harbours nestling among the ragged cliffs. Sounds great doesn’t it?

Well, a few weeks ago I had a chance to do just that and my wife and myself stayed in Cornwall for a ...

I’m sure we all do it from time to time; just browsing the Internet to see what’s new, what’s on offer, and if there’s any acquisitions to made, on the cheap that is. Well, I was guilty of this a few weeks back and I came across something I was hoping I was not going to see. An Olympus Pen-F with the 17 f1.8. And it was at a price I just couldn’t say no ...

With the announcement of the Fuji X-T2 things have got interesting again in the Fujifilm world. Why? Because of the little joystick at the back of the camera. Simple as that. I have the same thing on the back of the Sony A900 camera and it's something I appreciate very much, and something I use quite a bit. Only with the Fuji it's become more accurate as you have a lot more focusing points to ...

I've been neglecting my Fujifilm equipment of late as I've favoured my M43 systems, especially my Panasonic GM5 cameras and their extremely small lenses. However since I purchased the X-T10 as a backup camera for my X-T1 and being extremely impressed with the image quality I took my Fuji system for an extended weekend break. This is the first time I've actually only taken a Fuji system with me without a camera from another system.

I think photographers sometimes hit a spot at some stage where nothing seems to go right and the juices don't seem to flow. I suppose it's something similar to a writer's block where they sit in front of a blank page (or screen nowadays) and they just can't start writing. Or, they start writing knowing in their hearts it's total rubbish. It could be because of a lack of ideas, inspiration, conviction or even boredom.

It ...

UPDATE: 05.04.2016

I thought I would update this piece with a couple of images from this camera that has been printed on Alubond at 60cm x 45cms and both are hanging on my wall as I write this. My wife wasn't impressed by my choice and she stated clearly she wouldn't have picked either for printing. That's when sh was seeing the two on the screen. Yes, they didn't look at all impressive when viewed ...

A lot of users swear by full frame cameras reasoning that depth of field can be mastered best with this format. True, DOF can be better achieved with this format but it all depends what you shoot. Landscape photographers try to get MORE DOF rather than less. So that argument doesn't hold up all of the time. It also doesn't mean that it's impossible to achieve a shallow DOF with other formats. I personally use ...

Adapters for EF to E and m4/3 Mount Cameras

(Plus some more ramblings)

The reason for my purchase of the Sony Alpha Axx cameras when they first came out was to have an FF sensor (a very good sensor) in a small and light package. Since my first purchase I must admit that GAS got the better of me and now I have a few of these little marvels. Each has it's own use ...

When I was using my Canon 5D (still have it just not using it much) the 135mm f2 L lens was one of my favourites. The focal length just suited my style of photography and, let's face it, the 135mm f2 lens is one of the sharpest lenses ever made. Those who argue with that last statement must have purchased a "Monday morning lens" or just aquired a bad copy. So when I ...

Over the years I have accumulated a number of manual focus lenses from Olympus, Nikon, Minolta, Zeiss, Canon among others. All of these lenses have been tested (read used) on APS-C and M4/3 cameras with good results for most of them. Those lenses that didn't pass the test on those cameras have no chance of passing on a full frame camera for the simple reason that the sensor uses the sweet spot of ...