ROBIN WONG

Olympus OM-D E-M5 original was a legendary camera that paved the way to mirrorless revolution. I think that camera is still an awesome camera today and is great for street photography. It has built in EVF, tiltable LCD screen, fast AF, built in 5-Axis image stabilization, is weather-sealed, has magnesium allow build, handles like a mini DSLR with efficient dual command dials control, and produces excellent image quality. In the used market today, since the E-M5 original was released 12 years ago, you should be able to get one in a fairly cheap price, and it can still deliver great results! I talk about this and more in my latest video here (click). I share the same photographs in this blog entry, all taken with E-M5 original and 25mm F1.8 lens. 

I have never actually owned the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 Macro lens before. Previously, I had one for long term loan from Olympus when I was involved with them as an Olympus Visionary (a fancy name for ambassador). Since I left, I have returned the macro lens together with a selection of other amazing lenses, and I never looked to purchase one for myself because macro photography was not what I was doing for a living. Fast forward many years to today, I found the Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro in the used marketplace at a really good price I cannot resist, so I bought one, and my hands got so itchy I went out to the nearby park to grab some insect macro images. I made a video about this, you can watch it here (click). 

I bought a new wireless microphone set - the Hollyland Lark M2. I bought this to replace my old Sennheiser XSW-D Portable Wireless Microphone which has dying batteries, and they could barely last me 30 minutes of recording time in a single charge. The Sennheiser wireless setup has served me so well over the past few years, it had zero hiccup, super reliable and I still think the audio quality from the lavalier microphone in unmatched by any newer microphone offerings from other manufacturers. I also bought the new Hollyland Lark M2 to be used on my DJI Osmo Pocket 3 which I got just the basic set without the wireless microphone transmitter (available with the creator combo). I use the DJI Pocket 3 as my main vlogging camera, and for recording POV video for main YouTube channel. I brought the Hollyland Lark M2 out for the first time to test, and I did a quick vlog, you can check it out here (click). I am quite impressed with the tiny size, super ease of use and overall, the sound quality is not too bad. 

This was probably the only time this happened so far, instead of the manufacturer approaching me to review a lens, it was the other way around, I requested a review sample of the 17mm F1.7 from Yongnuo. I did so because I was curious about how the new 17mm alternative lens performed and if it can do better than Olympus 17mm F1.8 which I openly talked about how much I disliked its rendering. Yongnuo sent me the lens and I did several street shooting sessions on the streets of Kuala Lumpur on my own OM System OM-1 and Olympus PEN E-PL7 cameras. Long story short, the lens performed admirably, and I do prefer the Yongnuo better than the Olympus 17mn lens. I have made a video to talk about this, you can view it here (click). 

I was at Malacca for a few days last week for a quick shoot, so of course, I took this opportunity to do some street shooting and filled my stomach with amazing Malacca food. It is so interesting to note that just by driving 2 hours away from Kuala Lumpur, we get a different selection of food, some we can't find in Kuala Lumpur, and even if they have it here, the taste and quality would not be as good as they were in Malacca. In another life I could probably be a full-time food photographer, I enjoy shooting images of food as much as I enjoy eating them! I must admit though, I did not shoot all the food that I ate during this trip, there were times I was just so hungry I dived into the food ignoring the camera. Not pictured: satay celup, ponteh pork, cendol. 

TTArtisan sent me their 75mm F2 AF lens for Nikon Z mirrorless full frame mount cameras. I tested the lens on my own Nikon Z5, and boy oh boy, was I surprised. The lens performs incredibly well despite its compact form factor and light weight, and for the asking price of merely USD178, I thought this is too good to be true! I have also brought this lens to shoot several paid jobs, though I can't share my images from my private clients, but I also have done some street shooting with it and you will see these images here in this blog. I have also made a video sharing my thoughts about this lens here (click). 

I saw the moon floating around in the sky just outside my bedroom window and my hands got a bit itchy. So I grabbed the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II with M.Zuiko 75-300mm II lens and mounted them on a tripod, and took a shot of the moon using the tripod high res shot, yielding an effective 50MP output. This was JPEG, I could not be bothered with processing a RAW file since this was not going to be delivered to a client and I wanted a quick result. Sometimes, I enjoy instant noodles too. I thought the resolution resolved from a cheapish 75-300mm II lens combined with the pixel-shift composite method worked really well, not the best moon shot out there, but my finger itch was satisfied. This reminds me of the song from Radical Face, Bad Blood having these lyrics "but there's no magic inside the moon, it's just a rock you can't reach".