ROBIN WONG

I am a prime lens shooter, I am not ashamed to admit that, and I have been quite vocal about it too. Nothing against zoom lenses, but I think prime lenses will give you better results, if you give it a chance. However, there are also days where I am lazy, yes I am allowed to be lazy, and I want convenience over anything else. That is where a superzoom lens comes in, and I recently acquired the Olympus 14-150mm F4-5.6 Mark II, it is super compact, light, weather-sealed, has versatile zoom working range and produces decent image quality. Yes, I turned on my lazy mode, mount the lens on my Olympus PEN E-PL7 and did some shutter therapy on a lazy Sunday morning. Images came out looking not too shabby, I must say! 

I attended quite an unusual theater play at KLPAC (Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center) recently - the show was called "Being Carried". The casts include a diverse group of disabled, deaf, mute and neurodivergent people, bringing together series of heartfelt, painful and hopeful stories in the form of performing arts, mainly story-telling and dance. It was one of the best shows I have watched and I was glad I brought my camera to document the scenes from the stage. I was a seated audience so I had no freedom to move, I shot everything with the Olympus 14-150mm F4-5.6 Mark II on my Olympus E-M1 original for this entire show. 

I recently found an old lens from the Four Thirds DSLR days, the Olympus Zuiko Digital 70-300mm F4-5.6 at such a good price, I just had to nab it. I mount it on my OM System OM-1 and brought them to the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park to do some close up bird portraits. I am starting to think the birds there can recognize me and really like me, you can see how some of them flew close to me at the end of my latest video talking about this very lens. The Olympus 70-300mm is perhaps the most economical 300mm lens with autofocus for Micro Four Thirds.  It isn't perfect, it has some flaws, and I'd still recommend the new Micro Four Thirds native version Olympus M.Zuiko 75-300mm II over this lens for being smaller, lighter, having better AF and produces slightly sharper results. Nevertheless, if you already have the old Olympus 70-300mm DSLR version lying around, or if you can find one at such crazy cheap price in the market, why not? It is still a fantastic lens and can deliver good results. Video here (click). 

Since I flirted with the Sony RX100 Original quite some time ago, I cannot help but wonder if there are significant improvements in the later iterations of the camera. I found the RX100 Mark III in the used market so I gave it a go, hoping I will be impressed with it, and maybe will become my daily driver. On paper, the camera really did have dramatic upgrades - better, faster zoom lens, newly improved BSI 1 inch image sensor, built in electronic viewfinder and LCD is now tiltable. However, real world use case is not exactly all roses, there are some noticeable stutter and lag during camera normal operations, the controls could have been more efficient especially when moving the focusing points and the handling of the camera is a nightmare. I felt that Sony could have fixed these issues which already existed since the Sony RX100 original, and they left them unchecked, while pushing technological specifications to sell the camera. Not the best approach if you ask me, but hey, what do I know, I am just a random photographer from Malaysia. I share my thoughts in my latest video here (click). 

This is a continuation from the previous blog entry, sharing more images I have taken on Day 3 of Davis Cup hosted by Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was quite an interesting experience, shooting from the audience seats, surrounded by fellow Malaysian fans and supporters, and the aunty that sat besides me literally screamed many times on top of her lungs chanting "MALAYSIA BOLEH!". It was one thing shooting the game, but knowing that it was my country against another, I could not help but feel something was at stake, and the last few points were nerve-wrecking. I joined in many gasps with the crowd, and also cheers, and had my fair share of Malaysia Boleh chants too. It was a good game, though I hope Malaysia would have better luck next time! All images were shot with Olympus PEN E-PL7 and Olympus 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II. 

Malaysia's Naufal Siddiq Kamaruzzaman falls to Vietnam’s Dai Khanh Nguyen in the first singles match, 6-3, 0-6, 2-6. 

I was at the recent Davis Cup hosted by Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, watching Malaysia vs Vietnam on Day 3. It was a match between Naufal Siddiq Kamaruzzaman (Malaysia) vs Dai Khanh Nguyen (Vietnam), and Nguyen won 3-6, 6-0, 6-2. I brought along a simpler, entry level setup to shoot this name, the Olympus PEN E-PL7 and Olympus 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II. I wanted to prove a point - you do not need super expensive and most advanced gear to get great results shooting sports photography. I also share some tips on how to maximize your potential using entry level, budget Micro Four Thirds setup for shooting sports in my latest video here (click). 

During recent trip to Bangkok, of course I did some shutter therapy and I did my best to approach some local Thai for their portraits. It was always thrilling getting to meet new people, and being able to photograph them was a bonus. This man was sitting out on the streets, reading the morning paper. I believe he worked at a nearby gas tank distribution center. I was hesitant to approach him for a photograph because he was shirtless, but he had such a warm smile that I was drawn to him. We had a short chat, I understood maybe 30% of what he said, but he agreed to have some shots taken. I used my Panasonic GM1 and Olympus 25mm F1.8 and took some quick shots. I cannot help but smile when I saw the portrait of this man!