One thing I like about Kyoto is the slightly shabby look a lot of the buildings have. It suits what i like and it also suits the EM5's strengths.
EM5 45mm
Another print contender.
Starship Kyoto
Kyoto is a contradiction of a city in a land of contradictions.
Temples everywhere then this odd building in their midst. The street was so crammed with obstructions, it was nearly impossible to get a clean image, but that only added to the mystery.
EM5 45mm
EM5 45mm
One thing I had in mind this trip, was to shoot more with printing in mind (the 4th "C" completion). These had a boost in clarity and contrast to enhance their impact and will, I think, print up really well.
No reason
Sometimes you just like what you see, even if it is not really relevant to your project, or intentions.
Kyoto shop window. EM5 45mm f5.6
points of worship
There are over 1600 points of worship in Kyoto. We automatically think of temples, making the number seem a little over the top, but if you look closer, you can see how it can be true. This is living (with) religion in the true sense.
Em5 45mm
EM5 45mm
EM5 17mm
signs in the woods.
How do you not take a photo of something famous when you have travelled all the way to see it and how do you make your image relevant to you and a bit different? Usually you don't. Most of the time you end up with the same (imperfect unless you are extremely lucky) postcard image.
The Kyoto bamboo has been one of those things that I have had little enthusiasm for and even less luck shooting. The main problem is light. Because of the tall, thin nature of bamboo, it tends to cast shadows on sunny days or block out light and become dull on overcast days. The best light would probably be after a rain shower with high, bright overcast or maybe at either end of the day to further subdue the light.
Just buy a post card or a nice coffee table book on the subject (turns out Sam Abel already nailed it for me years ago).
But what if a theme I already like coincides with the iconic location?
I have always been drawn to graffiti, rust and ruin and run down urbanity, so when I found a patch of bamboo that had been "personalised", it fell in to place for me. The only trick was finding some carvings in the local language.
EM5 45mm f4
Suddenly, it is more like the image below than a touristy shot.
Rare Japanese street "art" EM5 17mm f4
Out the window
Always look out the window. You never know. A typically "perfect" Japanese parking bay. It looked a bit different every day, but the first time I noticed it was the most harmonious ( empty).
EM5 45mm f4
I just noticed, that the wheel chair access marker looks a bit like a "how to jump correctly with your wheel chair" sign from my angle. Considerate and typically organised really.
All hands
Not going back on my thoughts about "too clever" street images. Still focussing (literally) on the people, but coincidence or not, the two subjects balanced the image nicely.
EM5 17mm f6.7
Kyoto geometry
I relaxed this trip. Nothing expected or demanded. Some pleasant images came easily and some were missed. Oh well.
I really like the colour play here. The often fickle Kyoto light was unusually brilliant this trip, with few exceptions.
EM5 and 17mm at f5.6
Back from Japan
Nara parade. We don't know what it was for, but it was a wonderful surprise. After a great day in Nara, we stumbled across this (we heard it coming before we saw it) on the way back to the train.
All with OMD's and either 17 or 45mm's.
Oh yeah, I went with the safe option.
Gear update, what is working and what is not.
After a few reviews, I thought I would pass on some thoughts about field use over the last few months.
The Domke F803.
This is the most practical bag I have ever owned. All of my other bags now feel like a fashion indulgence. They lack the raw practicality and almost all cost more. So far it has been wet a couple of times, carried for hours full as comfortably as can be expected and used in some tricky situations where my gear needs changed almost constantly. It has never failed to offer up a configuration that works and has made me more comfortable trying things like in the field flash, because I can access the things needed without major disruption.
The only down sides are from user error. I learned early on to zip up the top flap pockets when my spare batteries and cards fell out opening it and to buckle the bag up, when it tipped over on the car seat spilling my whole kit on the floor. Another small issue is filling it with every possible accessory and not remembering where they are when filling another bag.
The other bag I am anticipating great things from is the Tokyo Porter satchel. I will let you know when I return from Japan.
The Pen F.
Wow. Love this camera. This may be the start of an easier, more satisfying and more pleasant photographic life for me. Simple as that. I especially appreciate the way it has embraced my work/landscape zoom lenses, allowing me to free up my primes for a down and dirty 2xEM5 street kit. The Pen is special and will not be a work horse, but rather a "specific duties" camera for portrait and landscape work, with the EM5's still doing the bulk of the mundane. The longer term plan is to always have an EM5 of some type as it's partner, especially if the future Mk3 has the 20mp sensor and some focus tracking. I want this camera to be around for a long time.
The 40-150 f2.8.
It has been a bumpy ride, but I don't want to think about life without this one now. The 75mm is still my primo lens, but this is sooo close, with added versatility and great AF speed. Having the two hood options has also helped. It has effectively upgraded my EM5's on it's own.
The Filson Field Camera Bag.
This bag is lovely to have, but it has developed a habit of sagging. When full, it sinks in the middle (even if the weight is loaded to the sides), making access to gear less than perfect and carrying is sometimes uncomfortable. This is one of the reasons I bought the F803. I use it happily for portrait or street jobs, but struggle to take it otherwise.
Tripods.
I need something heavier or a better head on my 190 Manfrotto. I tried Hi Res in the field and it did not work for me (on top of a mountain in gusty wind). Normal use was fine though so maybe I will drop Hi Res.
japan next
Off to japan in the next couple of days.
I have been thinking too much about what gear to take.
I know two things for sure;
What ever I take will be wrong,
What ever I take will work fine.
My comfort zone is the two camera system with 17/45 lenses and the option of the long 75-300 tele just in case.
So I am going with the one/two camera option with a 25/75 combo.
The logic is simple. Often my best images come from the wrong lens at the wrong time. Italy many years ago was conquered with a 35/135 Canon combo on crop bodies making in effect a 55/210 combination. Some of my favourite Osaka images came from the day I used the 25mm f1.8. The whole time I felt 'cramped' by the POV, but the tight, almost too tight compositions often had more (tension?) to them than the easy, semi wide ones the 17mm takes. When I have less room than Osaka, things will get interesting.
I have also noticed that when I process images from the 17mm, I often crop them. I think the 17mm's excellent bokeh transition and width give me a safety net that could be (is?) making me systematic and sloppy.
Reservoir Dogs Osaka style.
The lenses are also far enough different to allow for conscious lens changes. I never see the value in having focal lengths that are similar mounted at the same time. Just move your feet and think quickly.
My rant in the last "thoughts" post also inspired me to break the shackles of the snap shooting street photographer and become more a candid portraitist.
JPEG or raw?
Does it really matter how we get there as long as we get there?
My foray into jpeg use for client work is going along swimmingly. The portrait shot below is from last night, with a hand held Pen F, 45mm lens at the magic f2.2 and ISO 400.
The first file is the RAW with my standard import pre set. The file looks detailed, but not overly welcoming and I know the colour will not be to my clients liking.
The second image is the unprocessed jpeg file straight from the camera and the third file is the jpeg with the slightest nudge (+15) in exposure and shadow recovery.
I actually ended up reducing clarity a bit as the file is a little too sharp for a portrait.
As for detail? The left image is the RAW and right one the jpeg (before softening) cropped to roughly 24x36" print size.
Really starting to appreciate this sensor. Early on I felt it had a "bigger" look than the 16mp one, not just in file size, but feel. It is now showing another level of file quality and flexibility, especially in the brightness that is natural to the sensor. I learned a lot about Lightroom with the EM5's, but always felt I was pushing them to the edge of what they offered to get in the ball park (testament to their file integrity). It is nice to have some of that brilliance delivered easily and at the start of the process.
As to processing the jpeg's. There is plenty of room to adjust shadows, a bit of highlight recovery, white balance (that it is rarely off) and detail, without playing with the huge number of options in the camera.
Thoughts before i am off to japan.
Just talking out loud. Maybe sharing will help the thinking process.
This is a different trip to the previous ones. The emphasis is not as much on the photographic side, as just having a break in a place we both love to be. Kyoto has been done twice before by me photographically and I have found it to be a different experience to other parts of Japan. It has rained each time we have visited and the light tends towards the cool end. Kamakura has delivered beautiful light, Tokyo a mixed bag and Osaka some of the best, both times we went, but Kyoto has been generally dull to dark and cool.
As there is little pressure I am split between;
Doing my "ideal" kit of the Pen F (or Pen Mini in reserve) and my 4 primes (17/25/45/75), limiting my overall responsiveness (?), but possibly increasing my immersion with 1 lens and 1 camera, embracing manual focus and more use of the eye level finder. I will not feel as "ready for anything" as the two camera kit makes me (and won't mix models as that never works), but maybe it is time to work more methodically as the trip holds no urgency. I have a natural aversion to changing lenses, so I could either embrace the change or take even fewer lenses out with me (I feel the 25mm would become more important as the balance between too wide/too tight that the 45 and 17 offer). This kit is light, so it hardly matters and realistically it is the future for me as I upgrade*. On the last trip, I used the Pen F mostly with the little Pen as a back up, but found myself effectively using just one camera. Should I switch from mostly taker to partial maker?
I got lucky. Right lens at the right time. I don't really remember too many times I had the wrong glass mounted on that trip, but those thoughts can be fleeting and misleading. maybe when you are in the zone, it does not matter.
The reality of this set up is, a conscious effort to mount the right lens before hand and work with the focal length that it offers. Another thing to think on here is to reduce the actual lenses carried, cleaning up the thought processes (17/45 or 25/75 only) Would this be automatic and really no different to my two lens process, just making the switch more deliberate? Maybe if I think on this for a while, I may find that the perceived convenience of two cameras "at the ready" is not much more useful than a quick (and organised) lens change and maybe, the distraction of the two can be counter productive and even cluttering, both mentally and physically?
or
Doing the two OMD kit as normal (17/45 or 75-300). This gives me my favourite street short/long lens combination, less lens changes and a familiar work flow. Maybe too familiar? Is it time to attempt to get back to a more measured and less methodical approach. I know a lot of my images are captured through preparedness allowing reflex reactions, but what about the more considered image? The beauty of street shooting is the difference in file quality between the two cameras is less important, only the work flow matters.
Just the kind of shot I would miss if I only used one lens/camera at a time.
or
Really breaking the chain, take the Pen F and the 12-40 zoom with something longer and/or something faster (?). I have really been taken with the jpegs this combination produces and would try RAW/jpeg files side by side. By far the easiest set up. The lens worries me except in tandem with the Pen. I feel I am betraying my core values and some things about the lens are less efficient, such as the MF scale being a lot shorter than the 17mm's, the "portrait" bokeh not supporting street shooting as well, the bulk and having f2.8 as my fastest aperture, but otherwise the lens produced nice files. This may also negate the need to carry a camera bag, freeing me up to take a travel bag instead. My biggest issue here is the range of the lens is a long way outside of my ideal, meaning I will carry 100% of the quite chunky lens and likely only use 40% of the range regularly.
OOC jpeg, one of many that pleased me technically that day.
*I suppose the real question here is, am I ready to move on from the 16mp EM5 sensor to the better, but different 20mp sensor and if so, does this mean another camera?
My wife did put it into perspective for me by saying "why would you not take your best kit?". Hmmm, why not indeed.
Ok....oops.
Looking at some images that the Pen f produced, I made a discovery that set me back a bit.
Some of the best images I have produced from the Pen F with 12-40mm f2.8 (some of the best 12-40 images I have) were jpegs.
I don't use jpeg files. I have tried a couple of times, especially when I used Fuji cameras, but kept coming back to the safety and flexibility of RAW. I must have decided one day to find out if the jpeg corrections in the Pen are as good as they boast. I guess my answer is in the fact did not notice them afterwards as anything less than excellent.
Smooth and luscious.
Not much artificial haloing or "crunchiness".
Again smooth and vibrant.
And on closer inspection, nothing to complain about.
Shot with electronic shutter at 1/12800th sec and f3.2
This one looks a little unnatural (slightly too perfect) around the fine details, but this would smooth out in a big print.
The bulk of these images were shot with the electronic shutter at the longer (supposedly weaker) end of the lens.
What I have come to realise is my opinion of the zoom is based on this set of images, on this day with this camera, in this mode. Other times I have used the lens, I have not been as impressed. I honestly did not realise they were all jpegs until today when I looked closely at the flower image and it gave a hint of "over processing". I have played with these files a bit and they have been excellent and flexible, granted the exposures were all pretty spot on.
So a wholesale change to jpeg files? No, not yet (I wish!). Colour and Mono choices alone will restrict that until I have done some more testing. What I will do however is use the Pen F on jpeg and RAW from now on, especially with the zooms, just in case the jpeg gets me to where I want to be quicker, cutting down on a lot of processing and storage space if the RAW can be dumped. Another option is to shoot RAW and process the images in camera, allowing the Olympus fixes to be added before down loading (using Olympus's own RAW processing programme is not an option due to poor work flow).
The logic is if the good work can be done by the camera, then the negative adjustments (exposure, deliberate vignetting, selective colour reductions and brush work etc.) can be completed without further harm. It is generally only additive editing that jpeg files limit as they have already dropped so much unused information leaving little room to add more.
Travel Dilemmas
I always felt I should take the EM5's on the next trip to Japan. This trip is really just a change of scenery, a holiday without photographic pressure. All of the below images were taken in a short space of time with the Pen F and 45mm lens at f2-4. The amount of keepers, the accuracy, the quality at ISO 800 and the smooth, sharp look have unsettled me.
Maybe the trip should be about just using the clean and simple Pen F and 4 primes kit. The kit that is the elegant and effective ideal.
I won't pretend that I am as comfortable with the Pen before or after the shot as I am the EM5's, but there is no denying, the quality is a step up in some regards, the EM5 sensor still has a certain charm that really suits some situations better than any camera I have used, but the Pen looks to have more in reserve and a little more flexibility in post.
Now, what bag?
Solar flare
A pretty standard exposure error is I was using an SLR (the camera ever reacting to the strong centred light- hard to get wrong with a mirrorless), but deliberately done in Lightroom, just to see what would happen. I love the "twilight" green.
Pen F 75mm
Rebellion?
Not sure here whether everyone is ignoring the signs or the signs mark a very specific area and everyone parks as close as they can, but I love the vibe.
Pen F 17mm
Colour, mono showdown #10
Another tough one.
There is that lovely film like colour I talked about in CvM #8. The file showed great flexibility, genuinely allowing me to get what I chose out of it. It was opened up from the original, the shadows lightened to show some detail, although the deeper shadows in the original added some mystery. Again I think I am drawn to the balanced warm tones, diffused and enhanced by the structure above.
Pen F 45mm f2.8
There is nothing wrong with the black and white, it just lacks the warmth of the colour image. I am seeing a trend here of being drawn to colour warmth. Notice how the mono image looks not only cleaner in composition, but also sharper, possibly through lack of colour "confusion".
Colour, mono showdown #9
Ok, what do you think?
The colour image has a useful orange "frame" that shapes the image area well and the main subjects stand out a bit better.
Pen F 17mm
The mono image looses some punch, probably needing to be cropped more aggressively as the subjects look a bit lost.
Not sure either work, but I just love the look on all three of their faces.
I love layers
I love layers. Nothing speaks to me more than 2 or more micro stories happening all at once in a street image. Sometimes the images have little, hidden bits that only come out after some study, but that makes them more compelling.
Dotonbori Osaka. Great for layers.
Same seat, different stories.
This one has a couple of elements beyond the central couple. The woman checking her makeup in her phone, the elegant woman walking past and the carelessly misplaced, "dismembered" head on the seat.
All images Pen F 17mm at f4-5.6 and zone focussed.