ROBIN WONG

I was approached by Futuromic Malaysia (official distributor for Nikon in Malaysia) to do a project on their latest camera, the Nikon Z50 II. At first I thought it would be something to do with me reviewing the camera, or shooting some sample images with the camera to be shared on their socials. When I asked further it was none of the above assumptions I have made, in fact they wanted me to do something with my YouTiube, about making a video as a content creator and share my experience using the Z50 II in such capacity to a real life audience in one of their consumer events. I immediately jumped in and said yes! The images shown in this blog entry were all taken by my amazing friend, Van Ligutom. 

I have always loved shooting with 28mm equivalent wide angle for my street photography especially when I am doing environmental portraits. I believe Micro Four Thirds has the best setup for 28mm street shooting - Panasonic GM1 + 14mm F2.5 lens. This combo is so compact, yet it performs so well and can deliver amazing results. This is truly what Micro Four Thirds is all about, truly tiny footprint that can produce impressive big results! I brought the GM1 and 14mm lens out for some street shooting and I am sharing my experience using this combo with some fresh street images in my latest video here (click). 

I may have mentioned in my recent blog entries that I was in Medan, Indonesia in the last weekend of 2024 for a wedding shoot. During that short travel, I did not have much time for myself, but I managed to squeeze in a bit of shutter therapy time. It was a day after the wedding, on a Sunday morning, and I had about several hours of street walk time before returning to hotel at 11am, and checking out at 12pm. In those short 2 hours plus, I roamed around the streets around the Medan train station area (the train to the airport), it was a quiet Sunday morning, but I did get some cool shots. Images were shot on Nikon Z50 II which was on loan from Futuromic Malaysia, and Viltrox 35mm F1.7 lens which I was in the midst of reviewing. Admittedly these are not my best work, as I had limited time in a location that was alien to me, and I was also physically and mentally drained from a full day wedding shoot I had the day before, and not having enough sleep did not help things either! Nevertheless, Medan is such a beautiful place and I do plan to visit again, hopefully soon. 

I recently added the Nikon 28mm F2.8 Z into my Nikon Z system arsenal mainly because I needed a wide-angle coverage for my street shooting. I have the venerable 40mm F2 Z, so adding the brother lens 28mm F2.8 Z makes sense - both are compact-sized, budget prime lens designed primarily for street shooters. I found the Nikon 28mm F2.8 Z on Lazada (online retail store here in Malaysia) at such a good price during a recent sales event, I just could not resist the temptation, and since I have the lens, I have been shooting on the streets with the lens mounted on my Nikon Z5. I am sharing my quick thoughts on the Nikon 28mm F2.8 Z for street photography, as well as plenty of fresh images! I have also made a video to talk about this, you can find it here (click). 

Happy New Year 2025 to all you awesome people out there! 

Thanks for still visiting this space, and I appreciate your patronage here. To kick start the new year, let's play with something not so new - the Pentax Q! It is almost impossible to find a Pentax Q in Malaysia, I am not even sure if it was ever sold here, and I was very lucky to nab one recently in the used market. I brought the Pentax Q out for a shutter therapy session, and I am sharing plenty of fresh images in this blog article. The Pentax Q is super compact, cute, beautiful in design and solidly built, but I must be 100% honest I did not enjoy using it. The experience was very similar to using any compact point and shoot digital cameras back then - poor image quality which was a consequence of using such tiny 1/2.3" image sensor. I personally think this was a missed opportunity for Pentax, if they have chosen a larger sensor for the Pentax Q, say joining the Micro Four Thirds alliance, the landscape of imaging industry would have been very different. Nevertheless, that is the past, and I share more opinion in my latest video here (click). 

During my last week's Live Stream on YouTube, I shared a short compilation of my favorite images shot in the year 2024. Many of the images were sample images taken while testing cameras or lenses for reviews. It is strange that these images made it into my favorite list, because the usual test images are dry and uninteresting. I always do my best to use whatever camera or lens that I am testing for reviews in the best way possible, shooting meaningful images. I don't aim to please the audience (at least not most of the time) and I always shoot for myself first. Therefore, these are personal favorites which have zero chance of winning any contest or any public approval. The New Year is coming, and all I hope is to continue doing shutter therapy, making more images and have so much fun doing that! I wish the same to every one of you too!

It is my birthday today, and I officially have turned 40. That sounds so surreal, I really cannot believe I am hitting 40 already. In the midst of all the tornado of busy activities happening around me, I'd like to take a small moment to just commemorate this mini milestone in my life. I feel blessed and extremely fortunate to be alive, being surrounded by amazing and kind people all the time, for that I cannot ask for more in life. The year has been interesting - career wise there was nothing much to report, but I am still surviving and fighting, and I still enjoy every little bit of work that I have done throughout the whole year, for that I am truly grateful. If I were to make a wish for my birthday, I'd ask for more time - it seems like I can never get enough time to spend with my awesome friends, though I don't have that many honestly! Time seems to increase in value as we age.