EP-1 Landscape

Got up in the wee hours of the morning and get my foldable bike into action. I ride from my home to the beach and came across this area. Setup my tripod and EP-1 with 9-18mm, I am off for a shooting spree.

The advantage of mirrorless camera like Olympus EP1 is that it is small enough to be kept into my waist pouch. My tripod was secured on my bike's rear rack.No need any camera bags and I can ride in a small bike for 2hrs. If I am to pack a DSLR and the lens and tripod, that is not so simple.

The tide was low today and the sun came out nicely with some clouds infront. This magic moment last only 5mins.

Beijing with Fuji Xe1

Packed with Xe-1 and 2 lens (18-55mm & 55-200mm) into a F-6 Domke, I am off to Beijing for an incentive trip by the company I represent.

The Domke is like the Lowepro Passport Sling. Able to put my photo gear and a sweater plus passports and other things into the zipper compartment. It is much useful  than the Lowepro due to the zippers. The material of the Domke is soft and comfy too.

Beijing is a great city and is filled thousand years of history. Here are some of the street shot gather by the Fuji XE1. The AF speed is good enough for such application. The setup is much lighter than DSLR and carry the load for a 12hrs period is no issue.

I find zooms lenses of Fuji are of serious good quality. The variable apertures(f2.8-4)are reasonably good for low light to good light situations. The 18-55.mm f2.8-4 is good for all situation including indoor as combining with XE-1 good high ISO performance, it is great combo for low light situations.

The 55-200mm F3.5-4.8 is super great for"sniper"shoots in a foreign country to capture the candid. This tele-zoom as seen in many reviews, never fail to impress. The bokeh is great looking and it makes my subjects to "pop" up. This lens main setback is the size and weight for a mirrorless lens.

Olympus and Panasonic m43 I personally feel they should come out a mid range zoom lenses like the Fuji instead of a constant aperture of f2.8 lens to cater for hobbyists like me. Their constant aperture zooms 35-100mmf2.8 etc is great but the price is not too good for hobbyists.

18-55mm

55-200mm

55-200mm

18-55mm

55-200mm

55-200mm, colorful umbrella

55-200mm

18mm (18-55mm)

18-55mm

18-55mm

55-200mm

55-200mm

55-200mm

55-200mm

55-200mm

18-55mm

18-55mm

18-55mm

18-55mm

18-55mm

18-55mm

18-55mm

18-55mm

18-55mm

18-55mm

18-55mm, iso 6400

18-55mm

Pulau Ubin Island

Waking up at 430am and make my way to the Changi Village Jetty reaching by 545am. This was the plan with some of my photography friends on the 1st of May 2014 Labour day holiday. 4 of us paid the full ferry price to bring us to the island at the wee hours. The usual capacity of the bump boat was 12paxs.

The weather initial was quite bad. Lighting and dark clouds were everywhere. We proceed with the plan and reached the island about 6am. We continued to setup our gear onto tripods in preparation for the sunrise which I personally felt will not be good due to the bad weather. But thank God the sky cleared and we are able to enjoy the sunrise shoot. We proceed for breakfast in the island after the sunrise shoot. After which we continued to explore some of the island's interest spots.

Equipment used- Olympus Ep-1 w 9-18mm and Fuji XE-1 55-200mm/18-55mm

Easter Weekend shoot with Olympus Ep-1

During the long weekend of Easter, I went to an offshore island in Singapore called St John Island. The ferry took about 20mins from the new Marina South Pier. As it is a public holiday, there was a significant crowd.
There is not much to do in the island and that's the beauty. We had a simple picnic and we think hard to play with the kids. In our so called busy life style in Singapore, we always busy with kids enrichment, work, TV, Ipad and Handphone. Going to a simple island like St John is a good break. We have good bonding session with our kids too.

The next morning, I also went to the Sembawang park to shoot some sunrise shots with one of my church friend who love Landscape shooting.

The equipment used was Olympus Ep-1 and the new 17mm F1.8 and the super wide 9-18mm.
The new 17mmf1.8 was bought to replace the Fuji 35mmf1.4. I personally preferred a (m43/ 17mm with is 35mm equivalent focal length rather the 52mm equivalent on the fuji 35mm lens) The 50mm focal length in fullframe term seems too tight for me in most situations.

In comparison with the 35mm Fuji X lens and the 17mm Olympus, I found that the AF on the latter is much smoother and positive thus giving me more joy and confidence. If I were to upgrade the EP-1 in the future back to a Ep-5 or OM-d, it will be much more faster in AF. But for now the EP-1 is good enough for me.

I really don't know why I still prefer Olympus Pen (m4/3) more than the Fuji X system. In term on image quality, although the Fuji wins hands down in terms of noise in high ISO. I still find my Pen more appealing in terms of simple handling and colours.

Here are some photos.

Exploring the island

Old sampang (boat) 

Abandon House in St John 

One of the many cats in St John

Hilly contours in St John

Sunrise in Sembawang