ROBIN WONG

During the 5 short days I had with the OM System PEN camera loan from OM System Malaysia, coincidentally SUKMA (Malaysian Sports Games) was happening, and I had some opportunity to put the camera to some serious torture. I borrowed the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO lens to be used on the OM System PEN. Initially, I had some very grand plans - I wanted to shoot Muay Thai and Gymnastics, but there was only so much I could do in a few days, and I managed to shoot tennis and weightlifting, both locations not too far from where I stay. I was happy to put the human AI subject detection AF to test, and it did splendidly in following the fast-running tennis players chasing the ball all around the court. Mind you, it was indoor court, because it was raining and the game went on, so I had to ramp up the ISO numbers. Sure. the OM System PEN is not a professional grade camera and should not be recommended for use in such straining environment, but hey, I thought if it can handle some serious sports shooting, it should handle day to day situations without any issues. 

While I welcome third party manufacturers making AF lenses for Micro Four Thirds, which is a rarity these days, we already have so many 25mm lens options that another 25mm F1.8 lens from SG Image does not exactly scream excitement. Well, I did get curious due to the extra low price tag of USD99 only for a new lens, and at that price, I thought what could possibly go wrong? I guess I had to find them out the hard way. I bought one and tested the SG Image 25mm F1.8 AF on my Olympus PEN E-PL7. I have also made a YouTube review, in case you prefer video version, you can check it out here (click). 

This is a continuation from previous post about outdoor shooting session using the OM System PEN camera. An important note - all images were shot in JPEG instead of RAW, because at the time of testing the camera there was no RAW compatibility with post-processing softwares yet. It instantly reminded me of how amazing the JPEG engine of Olympus/OM System cameras are, the images come out very optimized straight out of camera. I simply love the color rendering, they look so natural and true to life, and the skin tones look very pleasing too. I did some minor post-processing, mostly adding contrast and correcting some exposure imbalance (my own fault really, I am not a perfect photographer, I make mistakes). Here are the remainder shots of the outdoor session with Lily, taken with OM System PEN and Olympus 45mm F1.2 lens. 

I was very happy when I found out that OM Digital Solutions managed to include the human AF Subject Detection AF in their latest OM System PEN, though the camera uses older internals. I was curious to see how that human subject detection AI AF works, so I brought the camera with the Olympus 45mm F1.2 PRO mounted to shoot my beautiful friend, Lily in an outdoor setting. The AI AF worked so well, it was super-efficient and sticked to Lilys face throughout the entire shoot, and I got to say the reliability of the AF surpassed what I managed to get from even the OM System flagship cameras like OM-1 and OM-3. I was so impressed, go job OM Digital Solutions! I did a POV video to show how effective the AF works; you can check it out here (click). 

OM Digital Solutions has just launched their latest camera - OM System PEN. I was really excited about this camera for a few reasons - 1) This is officially the first PEN camera from OM Digital Solutions, some sort of a soft reboot of the PEN camera line-up from Olympus previously and 2) It has been a while since I last did a full camera review! Spoilers alert, I actually really do like the camera, it has almost everything that I have wished for in a Micro Four Thirds camera, and I am buying one. I have made a video review on YouTube as well; you can watch it here (click). 

I am very happy to announce my next photography workshop that will happen next year! This time, it will be in Helsinki, Finland, from 2 to 6 August 2027 and I am doing this together with my friends Peter Forsgard and Matti Sulanto. Following the success of our Kuala Lumpur Photography Workshop 2026, we will do another one next year, and this time we shall make some changes in the workshop format with more exciting photo projects and assignment. This workshop is open to any photographers at any skill levels, from any genre and using any camera, it does not matter as long as you want to do street photography, and you are looking to upgrade your photography game to the next level. Since this workshop will be at Matti and Peter's backyard literally, I am joining and exploring Helsinki for the first time - I shall do my best to provide guides, support and feedback to help you elevate your photography skills. We have an early bird promotion that runs until 15 October 2026, please do sign up early and I hope to see some of you there next year! I made a video to talk about this here (click). You can check out the official workshop website and sign up here (click)

After 7 long years, finally my YouTube channel has hit 100,000 subscribers! It felt like a lifetime getting here, and I only have all you beautiful people to thank for. I always say this, without you guys, there is no Robin Wong. So, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, thanks for the views, the shares, the likes, comments and all the coffees and generous contributions you have sent, the support and love were real! I appreciate you being here, and I can only promise this, I am still here, I am not going anywhere, shutter therapy must go on, and I will continue to blog and create new videos, week after week. I have more exciting news and updates coming very, very soon and I can't wait to share with you guys! Until then, I shall go out and treat myself to a fancy slice of cake.