ROBIN WONG

This is a continuation from the previous post I shared about the amazing pancake lens, TTArtisan 27mm F2.8 AF, and how we should have more of similar lenses made by camera manufacturers. While the lens is not the best at any single feat, it is a well-rounded lens, being so compact in form factor made it a super minimalist setup. Just pair it with a small camera body like NEX-6, and you have an excellent street shooting combo. I thought the image quality came out really good, considering the fact that I paid well below USD100 for a used unit of the lens. Sometimes, it isn't about using the best available equipment, or the sharpest lens, it is about finding the right lens that can be so enjoyable every time you use it on your camera. This TTArtsan represents the spirit of that - super fun to shoot with!

I have a surprise news! Together with Matti Sulanto and Peter Forsgard, I will be conducting a photography workshop here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia next year, from 30 March to 3 April 2026! I am so honored to be conducting this workshop alongside extremely talented photographers, amazing content creators on YouTube and awesome people I have come to call as good friends, both Matti and Peter. This 5-days intensive workshop will cover plenty of sharing sessions from all of us and also guided photowalks around the beautiful streets of Kuala Lumpur, I will bring you guys out to my favorite hunting grounds to help you get some awesome shots! There is more - if you sign up before 31 July 2025, you will get a special early bird promo discount! I am really excited about this workshop, I hope to see some of you awesome people here in KL next year, we can hang out together, and of course have some shutter therapy sessions together. For more information, and to sign up, go to the official website here: Urban Street Narratives – The Best Photo Workshops. I have also made a short video to talk about this upcoming photography workshop, you can watch my video here (click). 

TTArtisan 27mm F2.8 AF may not be sharpest lens, or the fastest autofocusing performing lens, but it is sure one fun lens to use. I believe camera manufacturers should pay attention to this and make similar pancakes for varying focal lengths prime lenses. I acknowledge the TTArtisan 27mm F2.8 is not a new lens, it has been around for several years now, but it pairs so well with smaller camera bodies like the Sony NEX-6 that I have. For the asking price of about USD100 new (I actually got it much cheaper used), there is a lot to love about the lens - not only being so compact and slim, it has metal build, very decent image quality and admirable lens flaw controls. Seriously, for so little money, I don't think it is possible to make anything better! I brought the TTArtisan 27mm F2.8 fitted on my Sony NEX-6 to the beautiful city of Malacca, and had some shutter therapy sessions there!

I woke up to a heartbreaking news yesterday morning, on my YouTube notification I saw Ben's latest video on his The Narrowband Channel, titled "I May Have Only 3 Month Left to Live, Astrophotographer Fights On!". He has been battling stage 4 cancer for years now, and it has been really inspiring to see how Ben has stayed positive, doing his best to even churn out useful content on his YouTube for the community. The latest news was not so great, I shall leave it at that, if you want more information, you can always check out Ben's video yourself, he explained everything in great length there. The wife has started a GoFundMe page, so if you are able, please do consider contributing to Ben in support of his fight against cancer. Ben, if you are reading this, I am rooting for you mate! Stay strong, and I know you got this. 

This is a continuation from previous Part 1 (click), more images taken with the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 Macro lens on OM System OM-5 Mark II camera, while I was doing my test run at Fraser's Hill, Pahang recently. The two popular spiders found there are Trapdoor Spider and Malayan Tarantula, both I did not encounter any during my brief time hunting for the tiny bugs. These spiders are known to hide and burrow in holes, so spotting them may require a bit more effort and time, both I did not have while I needed to shoot as many sample images as I can with the OM-5 Mark II. While I did not have these Trapdoor Spider and Malayan Tarantula this time, I did not leave disappointed, I found a wide variety of spiders and insects that I normally would not encounter in more common urban parks. 

I am so sick of seeing camera manufacturers stripping away important features in newer cameras with the excuse of calling them "fun and more film like". The bitter truth is them trying to minimize production cost and maximizing profit, by removing hardware and crippling the camera, while still selling them at exorbitant prices. If we are seriously considering taking away features and make the camera "more fun", let's go to the far extreme - I am experimenting with the Olympus Air as a standalone shooting camera, with only a singular shutter button. Without the aid of viewfinder or LCD screen to compose a shot, without the ability to adjust camera settings, all I could do was just press the shutter button after aiming the camera blindly at my subject, this proved to be quite an interesting session. I got some really cool shots too! I did a video to show you how I captured those shots (no cheating) here. 

During my recent Fraser's Hill adventures I managed to do some birding with the loaned OM System OM-5 Mark II camera. I also managed to borrow the Olympus 100-400mm F5-6.3 Mark 1, and the 400mm longest end telephoto reach proved to be useful as the birds were not that near. Fraser's Hill is a popular spot for bird watching and bird photography, it was reported that 250 different species of birds can be found in this one singular location. Of course, I only had limited time divided between birding, shooting insect macro and filming my video for YouTube, so I did the best I can. I tagged along the Malaysian OM System Ambassador, Richard Chong as he guided me to locations where the birds were known to be spotted. I'd be completely useless myself hunting the birds on my own! So shout out to OM System Malaysia team and Richard for all the amazing work! Hey, it is not an everyday thing Robin Wong does birding!