It is a gift to meet someone who is so very much more than you and to be inspired just by their very presence.
As with many, the first images were serious, intense even. No doubt who was in control.
That irrepressible smile came quickly…..
…and we got there in the end.
The symbology is Ghurka, but I do not know if it is British or Indian service. Either way, I was in the presence of living history.
We can all be quite precious about our state of being.
Two eyes, all our teeth, still upright and we should be happy shouldn’t we!
Not sure we always are, but for some, the good in life is easier to see.
This little one is very special.
The first say hello and the last to say goodbye.
Namaste.
The male dynamic is somehow typical of Australian natives. Strength first, vulnerability second or not at all.
The stills camera has a rare ability to capture the most fleeting of moments, but once captured, they are timeless.
Shared moments.
I have not been with this family as a whole before.
Their dynamic is deeply moving, all partners in a whole.
Safe hands.
I am a dog person. Nothing against cats, and for some reason they seem to like me, but dog person through and through.
National cat show this weekend.
Some interesting sights.
That mostly looked back.
Intensely.
Except apparently, when you wanted them to.
Still a dog person.
Are we really so different?
Three women from very different cultures, playing much the same role in their worlds.
Are we really so different?
A special pair here, father and son.
Genuine pride and love through adversity. A lesson to us all.
Being involved with a tight community of people, with little in common except adversity has been eye opening, heart also. I found it difficult to make connections between people often because they are all so close, clear family lines are blurred. The photo shoot allowed me to connect some people and connect to them.
This group were a lot of fun, but highlighted to me the cultural gap between us.
After the first group set, the main subject was coy to say the least. Striking a deliberately “wistful” pose, he then shifted into something more dramatic.
It went how we both wanted I guess?
Still fun.
Most subject were quite formal at first. It was explained to me that this was mostly out of respect for me and the process, but I persevered.
It did not take long for most of my subjects to warm up to the process and let their inner happiness show through.
This subject (I have no names as the group largely spoke little English and they in and out quite quickly) is one of the elders of the community and a really good example of a how keeping a smile on your face keeps you young.
In what would have been quite a comical exchange, I tried to get her to shift her stance a little side on and my hand gestures were interpreted as “will you dance for me as you have previously at events?”. Either that or she was just having some fun with me.
Either way the end result was perfect.
The next image is of a person who has always stayed on the fringes of the larger group. We all have a story and I bet hers is more “interesting” than mine.
I like this more relaxed one, something I feel is rare with this subject.
This is the more formal early image showing also, the versatility of the grey backdrop.
I love my Pen F.
I hardly ever use it.
Probably a good thing as it is as near to a modern collectible that you will probably find.
Short of leaving it in its box and selling it “mint” for more than I paid, I have chosen from day one to use it for myself, which as it turns out is the only logical application for it. Actually, I bought it and my 40-150 when I came out of hospital about five years ago, inspired to get back into photography after a period of creative malaise and look where that led.
It was the only 20mp Olympus at the time with high res, an electronic shutter and “pro” grade build. I could not see past that at the time. Not long after I started work again at the same camera shop and the EM Mk2 and G9 were released, both more practical options.
This Jekyll and Hyde camera has two distinct personalities, which when combined tend to make it quite powerful, but highly specialised.
In the following ways, I consider it no better than my EM10 Mk2’s or even the ageing EM5 Mk1’s, with the added issues of more weight and preciousness. These include;
Contrast detect only AF, slightly better than an EM5 Mk1, but only just. Plenty for most uses but it precludes any serious sports or action applications.
Poor electronic shutter banding at relatively low ISO settings. Really bad at 1600 under almost any artificial light and hints at 800.
Rudimentary high res performance. First gen so as expected, just wish it was more refined, i.e. a later application.
Average high ISO performance. Past 3200 I get the jitters and generally stick to 800 or lower even with C1. It does however share the EM5’s tight film grain look.
An odd sounding shutter, especially in vertical orientation, where it sounds almost broken. Just me probably, but it sounds flimsy compared to an EM5 Mk1.
The battery and card share the same space under a regular grade door located on the bottom. This is just crappy, diminishing an otherwise jewel-like camera.
No weather proofing. This is a beautifully made camera with no external screws from a brand known for weather proofing, but lacks any sealing? Ironically the bulk of the lenses I use with it don’t have any either, so problem solved I guess.
The stabiliser is good, but only EM5 Mk1 good. The weight of the camera (it is a dead weight), does help.
Video is an after thought with no mic port which is a shame as it is quite nice. Not a priority for the designers, especially eight years ago. I would have almost preferred they not bother and use the space for other things.
Things it does badly compared to any camera I have;
It is quirky in handling with a roughly ridged front dial. The dial is workable in short doses and the over priced grip partly reduces the problem. Otherwise it feels less comfortable than most of my cameras, it’s weight being the only handling plus.
It favours jpegs. Odd considering it’s top end customer, but also logical as it mimics a film camera’s dynamic. If you are a jpeg only shooter, it is probably one of the few cameras that can “bring it”, out of camera to the Fuji range.
The screen is hard to open out. The design heavily favours an old school film camera vibe, so the nearly invisible, textured panel when folded in fits with that, but it is the only one I struggle with.
The dedicated exposure compensation dial needs two fingers to turn. I use this all the time and instinctively, so this just pisses me off.
Things it does that remind you how special it is;
The image quality is a rare combination of mature colour and a larger format look (not that m43 generally lacks that, but there is something else here), a filmic look maybe, but medium format film. It is a neutral-cool base (Kodachrome like?) with effortless biting sharpness and detail. There is a depth to the files.
Part of this is the sensor development stream. Rather than using the new phase detect hybrid in the early EM1’s, it is the end of the EM5 contrast detect only development (except maybe the EM10 Mk4). In a way it is the best of the first generation and avoided the compromises made by phase detection being shared on the sensor.
The shutter button has an old fashioned mechanic connector. This makes it an ideal landscape camera and almost all of the above issues disappear when that is the case. I originally mated it to the 12-100 as a one camera, one lens landscape kit, but lately it has been used with the 12-60 Leica.
It is truly beautiful. Of all the cameras I have ever owned, it is most likely to be a display-piece even when it is long dead.
So, a very special camera, but probably a victim of being released a year or two too early and bought again, a year or two too early. The Pen F was the best of its type for a short while, but most of the new tech was unrefined, meaning video, high res, electronic shutter were crude and other aspects hardly improved over older models. For me, a quieter, normal shutter, no tricks and gimmicks, or video and more attention to user functionality would have been better.
Lenses.
The hard sharp sensor behaves differently with different lenses.
The 12-60 Pana-Leica offers a good combination of sensor balancing warm, bright colours and high sharpness. The images above were all taken with it today.
The often “kitted” 17mm f1.8 is nice, but equally the Pana-Leica 15 adds something delicate and brilliant. In fact, I think I like the 15mm more on this camera than any other.
The Oly primes from 25 to 75 are all a good fit.
It seems to like the kit 12-60 and 40-150 for some reason, maybe matching their muted colour, hard-sharp look, even though both feel a little “under done” on the heavy body.
A last ideal fit from my kit is the Leica 9mm, again another strange handling dynamic, but with excellent output.
I really do intent to use it more, but to be honest, the weight and preciousness put me off making it a daily carry (Pen mini does that), as does the mind shift needed to master it. I am already juggling Panasonic and Olympus functionality on a daily basis, so another camera, slightly out of sync with either is a “holiday” task.
I have recently had cause to question what makes a photographer a professional.
There are a lot of things that could be seen as basic expectations, but for me is the very real issue of depth. You have to get the shot.
If you need something, then no matter how good or reliable it may be, professionally you need two or more. Shit, as they say, happens. This comes up time and again.
Twice recently, I have covered events with my backup cameras. Regularly I need a second or even third flash and/or battery change and as often as not, that lens I threw in last minute as a “just in case”, ends up being the work horse of the day. I have got to start trusting that little voice more.
Down stream, more cards and camera batteries, easily sourced accessories like light stands, even filters can all be needed at short notice and when they are, they are.
Minutes after arriving at this school formal, I was faced with the EM1 Mk2, my workhorse daily camera, not firing my YN560 flash (for some reason, most of them are playing up on EM1 and G9 cameras, then fire fine on the EM10’s and 5’s), but oddly the dedicated remote works on all of them). The little EM10 Mk2, thrown in as an option, ended up doing the whole night.
This also applies to plans. Many a time I have had an idea in my head, a pre-visualisation, only to be faced with a totally different situation or a random call mid trip to turn around and cover an unscheduled event requiring gear at the other end of the spectrum.
If I even think something may be an outside chance, then I need to make sure I cover it.
My daily bag has two ways of tackling each situation.
I use two cameras, because one just seems…….disrespectful of my client or employer. For every zoom there is a fast prime, for every fast prime there is a lighting option, for every lighting option, there is another, for every modifier there are more. Everything that relies on something like cards or batteries has backups either in or near the device.
I even carry four pens.
Ok, here is a challenge for all of us, me included.
What is your limit. How fast, dark, big can you handle?
Before any of us buy anything new, we really need to find out how much we have. I am as guilty as anyone here, often “upgrading” unwisely, sometimes even managing to go backwards while thinking I was going forwards.
So, using your best technique, software and lens, how dark can it get before you need to take “serious” measures (tripod, long exposure etc)?
How fast can you focus or more to the point how well can you capture a really fast subject?
How tightly can you crop your files that have the best subjective quality, which will help indicate how big you could print if you had the means and then ask the question, “do I ever need to”?
All have levels from lens quality, technique, software and processing, so explore the options.
Sport has been shot with single frame manual focus cameras. People have hand held medium format film cameras in near darkness at ISO 64, billboards have been made for Times Square adds off 8mp jpegs from older APS-C sensors.
You may surprise yourself.
I have the very special privilege of sharing some images I took for the Migrant Resource Centre on Mothers day.
These were quick and dirty portraits in a cramped room with a mottled or plain grey backdrop. The mottled was the Manfrotto/Lastolite Pewter which was the preferred one, but it quickly became obvious that the individual shots I had in my head were actually going to become groups, families and more, so I switched to the bigger plain grey, my work horse.
The 2.4m wide backdrop (hung sideways) filled the small room and still was not always enough, but we managed.
A mix of several nationalities from Bhutanese to South Asian to Eritrean, they all had some things in common, being an inner glow and accepting humour.
I will work my way through some of them a few at a time as they deserve some room to be appreciated.
This is the first time I have used the Pewter backdrop and I have to say, it is perfect for my needs. Textured, but just enough to avoid being “flat” (see below), not over the top.
Not sure what was funny, but it sure was funny. Even (grand?) dads rigid stance relaxed. This one was the bigger backdrop, less interesting but necessary.
One of my favourite families. The shoot went pretty much this way with most. The occasion was assumed to be formal so was treated with due respect by all, but after a little while, with little English shared, the walls came down, then the faces relaxed and the real people came out.
The boring technical stuff was simple, because simple works.
I used a single YH560 IV speedlite shot “butterfly style” (down from above) at about 1/64th through a 42” Godox brolly with a little home made reflector* underneath to fill shadows. This allowed me to shoot subjects of varying heights and as it turned out, group sizes.
Most of these images are vignetted slightly and each is processed to its merits, so lighting coverage was much wider and flatter than it looks.
The backdrops here held on a Neewer 2.4 metre stand with the Manfrotto magnetic arm.
Camera was the G9 with the 12-60 Pana-Leica lens or Olympus 12-40 f2.8 usually at f4. I love the skin tones from the G9.
More to come, just as special.
*Half of a wind-shield cover silver side up.
The 600mm lens is about the sweet spot for serious long lens photographers. If you bird, chase field sports, or surfing, even shoot the moon, the 600mm is considered the minimum needed to do professional work, but also not so long that it precludes general use.
What does often limit its use is cost, size and weight. It is simply not an option for many people or situations.
My 300mm on an EM1x compared to the issue 400 f2.8 and D750. It only took a moment to decide :). The true equivalent would be the even smaller 200 f2.8 Leica, a lens with a similar rep.
These days, it is easy enough to achieve. There are plenty of zooms available that get there or longer cheaply and with a decent form factor in most formats, many of these are excellent even at quite affordable prices. They are however, not quite “pro”.
The things that make a true pro lens are;
Weather proofing, because often the best shots come in the worst weather, no excuses.
Tough build. Same as weather, the best shots are often hard to chase down.
Compatibility with teleconverters without obvious optical compromise. A top tier lens should still be better with a converter than a zoom of the same reach.
Premium quality results through the best glass, handling, stabilising and focus.
Most importantly, decent light gathering. F4 is the benchmark and even though sensors and software are making huge in-roads here, there is still a benefit to having more lens speed. Most cars can do 150kmh, but a true sports car does it more easily, is safer and gets there faster.
In full frame terms this usually means a monster optic with a nice second hand car price tag, but if impressions make a pro, they do double duty.
For most of us, if full frame or a brand that best serves full frame format is your ride, then usually a decent zoom is the best entry point. Something like the excellent Tamron or Sigma 1XX-600 zooms, the top end 80/100-400 branded lenses on a crop body or even a decent shorter prime.
My old “trade secret” was the much missed Canon 400 f5.6L, which gave me over 600mm on a crop body or near enough to it with a 1.4x converter on a full frame. It had all the above benefits except lens speed for decent money and size. When I was shooting with Canon, the slower lens was limiting, but if I had held onto it, it’s ideal “time” is probably now.
After committing to the Olympus and Panasonic M43 twin systems, I lifted my game for sports to the EM1x and wanted a better lens option. I had the 40-150 f2.8, which I luckily managed to purchase back from a friend I had sold it to, but even with the 1.4 tc it was only a 400mm+. The little 75-300 Oly punches above its meagre weight, but lacks most of the other features listed above.
Every eyelash.
Contenders were the 100-400 Oly, new on the marked and well liked, the Panasonic Leica 200 f2.8 with matched 1.4 tc (560 f4, but also 400 f2.8), but I was aware of possible auto focus compromises on an Olympus body (I feel this was not the issue I had feared, but at the time I had little experience with newer Panasonic on Olympus and did not have a G9) or the 300 f4, a lens I had been aware of for a long time, but had not previously considered due, ironically, to relative price. Even at a decent $2-3000au over its life in the shop, the price was out of my comfort zone at the time.
On the day I went to get the 100-400, the 300 had become an option that very morning. I was walking the dogs and remembered the shop I was going to, the same one I had worked at, had a very early model of the lens that had been there since day one. They had little chance of selling it due to a small market and a niche brand/format (and the plethora of other M43 options), but I had played with it often and it was good.
The crunch time came and I did the most rudimentary of tests comparing the 300 to the 100-400 in shop and even just with a few images taken down the street. I could see a difference and that was with original firmware in the 300. This stuck out to me because I knew I could get great results from even the budget 75-300, so I had doubted there would be much to see.
So, a dud 100-400 or simply a better all around lens in the prime?
A decent crop from a 75-300 + G9 experiment. Nice quality, mixed AF results. Could I get much better?
The reality is of course, Olympus over-made a very easily to make 300mm f4, something most brands have in their lineup, because of where it sits in their range. It is their 600mm f4, so it has a no holds barred, best we can do thinking applied. This is a flagship, the sort of lens that is designed to attract new customers or keep old ones.
This may seem at odds with the small and portable ethos of M43, but is it?
Fortune smiled, as it often has with M43. Occasionally I have questioned my commitment to the smaller format, but the results are the cure. The 300mm has never disappointed and seems to be getting better through a combination of my skill improving and the EM1x’s learning AF.
The three images below, all taken on the same morning, show the versatility of the lens.
True long lens reach and snappy compression,
spectacular sharpness, insane hand-hold-ability and a form factor that does not intimidate,
and it’s a friggin’ macro. Macro is often best with a little room to move, so 600mm of room makes it very handy.
I have owned an embarrassingly large amount of gear over a long period of time and I can list my very best lenses easily. The Canon 135 f2L, 100 macro (various, possibly the old F4 FD was the best), 50mm macro EF, Bronica 75mm, Oly 90 f2 OM Macro, Fuji 60mm Macro, Oly 75 f1.8 and this 300 are the best I have ever worked with. Plenty of the other lenses come close and most are professionally useable, even the little 40-150 Oly and 12-60 Pana kit lenses, but some are just transcendent.
The good.
It is very, very sharp, but natural looking with it and can also take sharpening well, so if a file is a little movement soft or out of focus by a hair, Capture 1’s sharpening applied, usually with a brush tool brings it back to ball-stitch perfect.
Cropped a little, the focus of this shot landed on the girl behind the main subject, but a little brush work and it is sharp down to the ball stitching. I have used mostly images from games I shot yesterday afternoon and last weekend from a huge back catalogue, because to be honest it does not matter. Any day, any game, all good.
It has the reach of a 600mm full frame equivalent, but the depth of field of a 300mm, so you get a little wriggle room (basically F4 acts like F8 on a full fame 600mm). Chasing high speed sport in iffy light is a skill set that takes practice, but razor thin depth of field can make a two person deep composition impossible regardless. The image above was made possible by enough depth of field to allow for retrieval sharpening.
Colour and contrast are perfect for good light or poor. The 75-300 is well suited to strong light, which is where it is best applied and the 40-150 seems to have low light enhancement skills, but can run a little “hot” in bright light. The prime handles both well.
The light at this hill shaded ground on a cloudy late afternoon in winter (yesterday) was less pleasing to the eye than this image suggests. I used to shoot here with the 75-300, using an EM mk2 and Lightroom and regularly hit the reality wall at about ISO 3200 and 1/500th. The combination of the f4 aperture, superior contrast and sharpness, put through Capture 1 and to a lesser extent the EM1x allows me to shoot comfortably even if “available gloom” is the norm.
The dual stabilising and focussing are amazing. I can hand hold this lens on and off for hours with perfect steadiness. Add to this a silent electronic shutter and instant AF and the shooting process is a series of instant, silent, considered grabs, more like sniping than machine gun hammering.
My usual camera AF setting for sports is a stack of three boxes on one of five spaced vertical rows (linked to both orientations), which allows me to be single person precise, centred, off-centre or hard left/right at the flick of a thumb nubbin. I also have three horizontals, some clumps and the usual suspects, but the three stack is the most used. Sometimes I actually forget the thing is focussing. It just seems to be seamlessly “in” all the time.
Where my skill comes in is hitting the right point, so when I miss is the only time I see anything wrong (although something is always in focus). In the games pictured, I would expect at least a 90% hit ratio, with the misses down to me. As I have stated before, I shoot single shot, sometimes in sequence, but shot by shot by considered shot.
It is small enough to fit into a “normal” camera bag, takes normal filters and goes largely un-noticed*. It will go into my F802/804 Domke bags with a camera mounted or the little (often too little) Pro Tactic 350 with the 40-150, 1.4 tc, 75, 8-18, 12-40 and 2 pro bodies. That is pro grade 16-840mm coverage with depth in a bag that I often complain holds too little.
Weather sealing is top flight, an Olympus speciality. Use it in salt spray and wipe down with fresh water. All good.
The magical F4. No matter how much other factors improve, a brighter lens will always have an edge which is why they still sell $10,000+ full frame models. The fact that it is identical in performance at all apertures does not hurt.
Handling is ideal. I can carry it all day on a cross-body strap, never needing a monopod. I can change angle, run, lie down, use a second camera and lens with it, which all contribute to a lens you want to use, rather than one you need to use. This is particularly handy for group huddle shots at half time. I can jog between both teams and grab a series of head shots in a quarter time break.
From one spot I got this close to both teams. The light weight lens allows me to circle the whole team if needed.
When the other two photographers go out to do sport, they take their monster 400 f2.8’s often with a 1.4x TC on, mandatory mono pods or tripods and a single camera. They are limited in angle, movement and versatility. I take a one or two camera set-up and never break a sweat. If the light is anything other than semi darkness I will even use it with the tiny 40-150 f4, another giant killer.
Most of us can afford it. If you take your sport/wildlife photography seriously, you will likely spend at least a decent amount on a semi pro camera and decent long lens. With this system you can spend the same and get a seriously pro kit. A second hand EM1x and 300mm combo, can be had for under $3000au or new for under $6000. That s half the price of a Pro camera from the big three or less than half the price of their 600mm f4’s. Total saving is several trips or the car to far away places to use it. For me it was simply a matter of having it or not.
Anything less than perfect?
Flipping the 300 as a 600 thing, the lens lacks the ability to blur the background out as well as a full frame and 600mm at the same distance. The reality is, this is relative and subject to many other factors, but it is true that a shorter lens cropped to longer does not have as soft or smooth blur as the longer lens un-cropped. The trade off of more useful depth over softer blur is I think in favour of the Oly lens, but in direct comparisons it is often noted as one of the few differences.
Snappy subject still, but the background is a little too coherent. I have no problem with that as there are ways around it. It is not a massive issue and sometimes some context is actually better. The quality of the lens still adds that certain something that long pro lenses have and at the end of the day, you have the shot, so processing can be applied.
Bokeh could be better. Pursuant to above, the blurring can sometimes be a little nervous. the semi-macro shot of the flower above is the best news, but it can be messy if the background is relatively close to the subject and very busy. I have found the sharpest Oly lenses tend to do that with the exception of the Bokeh master f1.2’s and the 75 f1.8.
So, to sum up, if you want a seriously pro-reliable and pro-performing, affordable, convenient go-anywhere, versatile long lens, this may very well be the best kept secret on the market. I use it with the EM1x, but the OM-1 is technically two generations newer, so the future looks bright.
As further incentive, how about a sub $1000 150mm f1.8 or a 300mm f4 pro (FF equiv) at the end of a zoom that can go into a pocket, or even an 18mm f1.7 that weighs less than 150grams? The lens above may be the answer to your needs, but the system as a whole needs to be considered also.
*A couple of weeks ago I remember hearing someone in the background at a footy match say something like “he won’t get much with that little lens”, while I was thinking it was a little long for the smaller than average ground! Often for Cricket, I actually find it too long especially considering the cropping potential, so I sneak the 75-300 along as well.
The game I shot late on Saturday was eventful, so I have to go back and check if I missed anything.
Bit annoyed this one slipped through.
Seems #6 from Clarence had a good day, but I was concentrating on the other team.
The 600mm only technique has it’s moments.
I know I can crop in from the far side of the ground with enough quality to print to decent sizes.
But what about the other end of the compositional “stick”?
Often you are just too close.
But the super tight compositions are compelling.
Even if they make little sense.
Sometimes, they make their own sense.
Well, usually.
Like random cut-outs of a Caravaggio painting, they are quite thought provoking, brave and emotive.
Revealing even.
From this point, I will consider myself “there” when I can get these complete, ball and all.
My single shot system relies on good timing.
I refuse to shoot a dozen frames to saturate the subject “just in case”. I want the shot I go for, hit or miss. Sometimes, I get good images, but they lack the important element of the ball.
Athletic ability, intent, everyone looking the same way and the tension of the act to come, but no ball. The next shot was binned at the time because the ball deflected away. This shot says “potential super mark”, the reality was far from that.
The fact is, if the ball was in frame, the image would be different.
As cool as these are, the have two problems. They are almost always the same two players (the Rucks) and they are pretty much a carbon copy of each other.
The ideal is the ball just hovering in front of the hands. The issue is, this is often at the expense of a clear face.
More like this.
This is ball perfect and the numbers are easy to see. perfect really, except no faces.
This one was probably shot for the off ball action, the ball was a bonus. He was not actually punching the player, but 600mm of compression can be deceiving.
I was tasked with getting this player on the weekend, which I did a few times. The shots with the ball in were not great.
There is a simple answer.
Get the face, with the ball, but that means so many shots get wasted.