Excellent Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8

Since I have the Olympus 60mmf2.8 macro, I always like to sell the 45mm away as it seems the 60mm can do portraits too. However, I still love the 45mm's physical size, image output (brillant bokeh), fast Autofocus for candid shots and sharpness.

I was attending a friend's wedding after work. With OM-d (without grip) and 20mm + 45mm combo, I can easy slipped the equipment into my briefcase. That can't be done with a DSLR setup.

The images this combo can output is impressive too. The mirrorless system is really a joy to use.

Haze- No shooting for the time being

Singapore is experiencing the worst air pollution from the burning of forests in our neighboring country Indonesia. The PSI (pollutant index) has crossed 400 today. It is considered hazardous. Never we have seen such high index. The last worst pollution was in 1997 which peak about 150.

With this, I have to stay indoors most of the time and only travel when necessary (meeting clients etc).
For photography, it is time to stop. I use my free time to clear unwanted photos in the harddisk and doing house keeping.

Here is one photo I found worthy to post.
Hope the haze will go away soon. I will be back.

Manual focus with Nikkor 85mm f1.8

This 1977 lens was adapted to my Olympus OM-D recently. I soon find it that it is one of my favorite lens.  Although I find the manual focus may be slower, but with practice, it seems  to be able to capture the moments as per auto focus too. I uses the 2x magnifier or the 5x manual focus assist on the OM-D.

Due to the 85mm(170mm in 35mm for m4/3) focal length and wide aperture, the images it produce is quite outstanding. It is longer than my 45mm or 60mm.  I love fixed-focal length as it force me to see my objects as per the lens character.

100% crop from the above. Shot at wide open

Why I enjoy Macro

 

Making my way to nature photography is always a fun thing to do. Nice cool morning is my favourite timing of the day.The smell of fresh air in the tropical rain forest makes my day. With a light weight camera setup like m4/3 with impressive image output really complete my photography joy.

 

Domke F5XB

This is a small camera bag that is suitable for rangefinders and the new compact system mirrorless camera like my OM-D.

I was pleasantly surprised that I could put 5 lenses including a Fullframe lens like the Nikkor 85mmf1.8. The OM-D was fitted with the grip and the beauty of all m4/3 fixed-focal lens (small, light, large aperture and sharp) are shown in the photo.

If an external flash is required, one of the lens will have to give way.

Other accessories like the torch, extra battery, filter and a gunshot sling are actually inside.

It is made of soft canvass material and I got it at a used price.

It is a well design camera bag. It looks rugged, stealthily and really small in size. The overall look of this camera bag doesn't look like a camera bag at all.

I personally preferred the brown coloured version but settled with this olived colour as it is available at a good price.

Highly recommended bag for people who love portability and ruggedness.

Bokeh comparison Nikkor 85mm f1.8 and Olympus 60mm f2.8

Modern lens or classic lens?
Modern lens best asset is the auto focus that will help the photographer to shoot fast and accurate.
A classic manual lens like hte Nikkor 85mm f1.8 need some patience and skill.
Nevertheless, both are great lens. Here are a comparison of 2 lens shot at wide open.

1) Nikkor 85mm

2) Olympus 60mm

3) Olympus 60mm which the Nikkor 85 can never do it unless with close-up filters or extension tube

Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AI

This is a 1977 lens from Nikon Manual SLR days. Have been eyeing this large aperture 85mm lens for awhile. Got it at a reasonable price. The adapter to mount this Nikon F mount to m4/3 seems to be on the high price in Singapore. About 3times more than the ebay. I still got it to cut short the shipping time which may take 2weeks to 1month.
My initial test is positive. It is sharp wide open and bokeh is creamy. Some old manual lens may require to stop down to f2.8 to get reasonable sharp image but this lens is sharp wide open which I am happy about.

Here are some home-made bokeh test.

1) F1.8

2) F2.8

3) F4

4)f5.6

5) f8

6) f11

7) f16

8)f22

Had a realtime shooting with this classic lens.
Here are some of the samples. Mainly in f1.8 ISO200