ROBIN WONG

Not many of you were here when this blog started, because if you were, you'd remember the camera that started my whole photography journey, it was a Kodak digital point and shoot camera, CX7430. I found a similar camera in the used market today, the Kodak CX7525, with the only difference being a higher megapixel CCD image sensor of 5mp vs 4MP in the older CX7430. Of course I must get it, and it was so much fun reliving the nostalgia of earlier digital photography days - low resolution images with poor dynamic range (blown out highlights, totally black shadows) with grainy images and oversaturated punchy colors. Well, these days it is all about the "vintage vibes", right? The Kodak CX7525 not only delivers the classic look, it also reminds me of how simpler photography was for me back then - throwing all technical obsession aisde and just truly enjoy photography. I made a POV street shooting video using the Kodak CX7525 here (click). 

The Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 is not only versatile kit lens, but it also features a dedicated macro mode that can produce really good close up shooting results. The issue is - some people do not activate this macro mode properly and they could not get to the maximum potential of the lens' macro mode. In my latest video, I explained and demonstrated how to turn on the macro mode of the Olympus 12-50mm kit lens and also used the lens on my Olympus E-PL7 to do some insect macro shooting. You can check out the video here (click). I am sharing the images from this latest session here. 

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.