Robberfly-Macro

Shot this robberfly at one of the parks here.  

Adult stages are medium to large (3/8 to 1-1/8 inch) flies often observed on stems of plants, on the ground or flying low. Species vary in appearance and some mimic wasps and bees. Most species are gray to black, hairy-bodied, have a long, narrow, tapering abdomen containing segments that may be banded, patterned or contrasting in color. The heads of adults have a depression between the eyes when viewed from the front. They have long, strong legs for grabbing prey.

OM-D with 90mm & Raynox 250 and fill-flash.

2nd roll of film from FED5B

After almost 2 months, I finally finished a roll of negatives film in my full manual rangefinder FED5B.
The excitement of seeing the developed film is still there. Digital, the result is immediate and I can adjust any setting or composition immediately. For film especially this old rangefinder, there is alot of guessing of the exposure setting. This rangefinder does not need any batteries and there is no metering. 100% mechanical. Nevertheless, the result is good and is really different from my digital files. Here are some shots from it. My daughter was surprise to see the negative film as it is her first time seeing it.

Macro at Tampines Eco Park

This was once a no man's land inside the heart of Tampines New Town in Singapore. Good job to the NParks of Singapore, they trimmed paths and make it accessible to the public to enjoy the nature within the crowded Singapore heart land. Here are some shots taken there by OM-D and 90mm Tamron.

Budget Macro Set-up with OM-D

Do you have issue of wanting to go into nature macro shooting and find that the dedicated macro lens in the market are very expensive? After calculation, I usually find it not as worthwhile as a normal lens as the rate of usage is low for macro lens.

Nevertheless, I usually use a tele zoom lens (40-150mm or 45-200mm) or a pro-sumer digital super zoom camera (Panasonic FZ-50 etc) with a Raynox 250 magnifying filter to do macro with much success.

Recently, with the OM-D, I purchase a S$160 Tamron 90mm f2.5 adaptall lens to do macro. The results are much better the the ones I mentioned. This is due to the superb lens quality combined with OM-D new sensor. The 5 axis image stabiliser in OM-D helps me in handheld shots too. Last time while I was a fan of Canon, I always reject the idea of body stabiliser and believe the best stabiliser is in the lens due to the advertisement. There may be some truth that due to different focal length of the lens, Nikon or Canon prefer the Image stabiliser to be in the lens for optimum performance.

However with Sony or Olympus In-Body stabiliser, I can purchase a super cheap but super sharp lens and this cheap lens turns into a 5 axis stabilised lens. Only disadvantage to some is no auto-focus. But do you really need AF for macro? I use this lens for event shoots too.

My set-up for the Tamron lens is
- OM-d body
- Tamron 90mm f2.5 52B($160)
- Adaptall adapter ($10- Ebay, sorry to shops in singapore, u are too expensive)
- Raynox 250 for 1:1 magnify ($90, used)
- 49mm-52mm filter ring (to easy placement of raynox 250 clip-on) ($6)
- Nissin  flash with reflector.($150)
- Monopod or handheld.(free with bag purchase)
I don't use tripod due to the inconvenience and reduction of flexibility to capture the shot.

Overall set-up is less than S$420. Compared to a new macro lens of $600-$1000.

Thisinfo is on how to start macro with a budget. The most important is practice and read on some books on macro. There are many other ways to shoot great macro shots.

Morning sun in East Coast Park Singapore

The magic of Leica Digilux 2. In the Leica forum, many existing users of this old digital camera have expressed praise and joy for it's magical output. I didn't believe it until I try it myself. A small warning... the wow factor starts when you load your SD card into the computer and view it on your screen. Don't be fooled by it's low resolution EVF and LCD on the camera. The soul is inside the Summicron Lens.

Digilux 2 shots

What can a 8 year old , 5MP and 2/3" sensor camera can do with a superb Leica made zoom lens? 

The handling of this digilux cameras is very well thought. It come natural for a photographer with it's aperture ring on the lens and speed dial on top of the plate. ISO is always kept at 100 and sometimes 200 due to the noise it generate above 100. At ISO 100, it is as clean as any DSLR out there. I brought it out together with me during outings with my family and shot as I see the places.

Below are some shots done at Changi area and old places like Commonwealth  estate (a old HDB estate)in Singapore. 

Bokeh for a small sensor camera. Wow.

Window shopping along the shops around the old estate

The old saloon that Royston Tan "Old Places" featured.

Commonwealth Estate

The landmark of Changi Boardwalk. 

Having a meal with the famous fried chiken wings

Old stuff still available for modern kids.