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.

Colour mono showdown #8 No brainer?

This image has always been a no brainer for me. The colour makes it and always has. The colour seems to place things better, making the lighter parts sit well against the darker.

EPM-2, 17mm f5.6

The mono version is fine I guess, but the image needs, I feel, the red contrasting with the white. I suppose I could darken the red in the mono image, effectively turning it black, but the warmth does something that a darker grey does not and the skin tones would be lost. I do like the lightness the mono image has, the way it looks more open and balanced, but not in comparison to the colour one. To be honest, if the mono was the only one I had, the image would have been seen as "B" grade at best and probably forgotten about, but the colour adds something that I really like. I think it may be the way the early Olympus sensors (EM5, EPM2, Pen 5) often render a nostalgic look to the colour, deep and contrasty. I see memories or Fred Herzog and Saul Leiter, the true Kodachrome look. I feel images like the one above (assuming they could cut it compositionally) could slide into a page of one of their books, unnoticed.

If the colour image was composed of say dark blues or just looked cold, the mono image would most likely look better.

Something I really appreciate about the OMD and Pen mini 2 cameras I have is, they look a lot like my memories of film. The mono can look like a "hot" S-curve film like FP4/XP2 with it's light and glowing whites, smooth mid tones and deep blacks (like above), or "cold" S-curve like Tri-X, with more grit in the mid tones and detailed, gentle high lights and shadows. The colour is Kodak like (again, above), but with plenty of Fuji colour (Reala) built in for taste. I also see AGFA print film looks sometimes (Portra in particular). Simply put, they often don't look as digital as some files.

Osaka

Counting?

Pen F 17mm

Osaka Street life

Just stuff you see.

Pen F 17mm

EPM-2 Kudos

My little EPM2 is probably not going to Japan this time. I think the Two older OMD EM5's will get one last hurrah, before I look at switching to EM1 Mk2/Pen F as my primary cameras. The main reason the EPM2 is not going is the internal battery has flagged, meaning the files are all time stamped from 12:00 am Jan 1st 20XX. every time I turn it off. Very frustrating when you are away for awhile and need to keep track.

All of the images are EPM and 17mm.

Harajuku happy hair

A shot taken outside a hair salon in Harajuku Tokyo, just as a group were coming out for some air.

Pen F 17mm f5.6

Friendly Hiroshima

I always like going to Hiroshima. The smaller size and pleasant layout of the city are a welcome change from the bigger cities. Like most westerners, I was drawn by the historical significance of the place, but what draws me back is the pleasant feel of the city. The last trip was uncharacteristically bright and sunny, allowing the residents to enjoy their home as much as we do.

Pen F 45mm f2.8

Fishmarket legacy

Some more images of the old* Tokyo fish market. The trolleys will go with the move I assume, but I don't reckon the rusty old chair/desk/locker will make the move? 

Pen F 45mm f2.8

The main processing done to the image above was some gentle brush work over the trolley (sharpening and clarity), to pick it out against the back ground.

Pen F 45mm f2.8

*Soon to be moved.

Ahhh sleep.

Ant where any time.

Many Japanese work 12-14 days with travel time in addition, 6 (or 7)  days a week. Even the tourists get the sleep bug.

colour, mono showdown #7

This is a classic image for showing the benefits of both colour and mono processing.

The mono image is full of character, vignetted slightly to draw the composition in, the pose is full of questions and the lighting, just so.

Pen F 45mm f2. Gotta love a lens this good near wide open with still usable depth of field.

The colour image has much the same dynamic, but the warm right/cool left give the image a whole other dimension. The left (to us) in blues and the right in warm tones, frames the man interestingly and dramatically. I feel it also creates a better sense of place and time. 

On repeated viewing, i do feel the mono image is more balanced, but I like the tension and contradicting, but complimenting hues.

Contradictions

As our next trip to Japan draws closer, I am re exploring last years images, as if anew.

The thing that always strikes me is the contradictions my photos often show. The two below were taken not far from each other and could in all reality have been taken in any city or town in Japan. The top image is a little cramped. I have vague memories of there being something in the way, an over hanging ledge?

The second image is a contradiction in itself. Old and new ideas jammed together. In many ways this is Japan. The old and the new worlds forced to live under the same roof, working because the Japanese have managed (so far) to hold onto the best of both these worlds.

Pen F 45mm

Pen F 17mm

Connections

In Japan, friends and family connect often through gentle touch. As an Australian, this is something I find beautiful to observe, but I am aware that it is on some basic level foreign to me.

When travelling, we first notice the obvious and superficial differences. We then we see the many similarities, the reality that all people are more alike than they are different.

Over time, the deeper differences show, allowing us to glimpse into the foundations that build a society. This is where we can learn and understand. This is what we need to learn and understand.

Pen F 17mm f2.8

Some experiments with contrast.

Hiroshima on a beautiful sunny day. I pretty much maxed out the blacks, shadows, highlights and contrast sliders, but what fun! 

All taken with the Pen F and 45mm.

Olympus and Lightroom sampler #4

This is a simple one and they should all be (I wish). The image is not much on it's own, but it ia part of a series. The problem is, the top of the bolt. After importing with pre set "P1 Pen F base", (not as aggressive as the OMD pre sets as I find the newer camera does not need as much work) the bolt head looks soft. In this case, the bolt head is acting like the eye in a portrait. For better or worse it is attracting all of the attention.

A little brush work, just on the head adding +50 clarity, +30 sharpness and +20 contrast has supplied a bit of a sharpness illusion, balancing out the image.

Subtle in this size, but in editing the effect is quite strong.