Jun 30, 2015

Fun On The Street with E-M5 Mark II Titanium

If you are still unaware, there is a newly released Limited Edition of Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II that comes in superbly sexy Titanium finish. Paying homage to the legendary OM-3 Titanium in 1994, this Titanium tinted variation of E-M5 Mark II looks much better and more alluring in real life, than in photographs! 

I took some quick snapshot of the camera (I am completely noob when it comes to product shooting) while I was in office and I actually brought it out for my weekend adventures. Shaun (visiting from Brisnane) and Bjorn joined me on the streets, and to add more drama, I loaned (again) Shaun's voluptuous Panasonic 42.5mm F1.2 Nocticon! What more can I ask? 


Strangely, the previous blog entry that I have posted few days ago have photographs taken on the street with no close up street portraits, which is quite an unusual thing for me. Not that I have deliberately intended to do something different, as I was shooting for that previous session, I wanted to distanced myself from my subjects to allow myself to think about the content I wanted to write (hence the 5 truths I have learned). 

However for this particular session, since I was joined by great company and we had so much fun, I have reverted to my usual self of going up really close to my street victims and attacked them at point blank. And boy I had such fun doing that! The Panasonic 42.5mm F1.2 Nocticron did a superb job in rendering amazing portraits: beautiful bokeh for effective subject isolation (F1.2 !!!), excellent sharpness (some claims this lens is as sharp as the Olympus 75mm F1.8) and the material used to construct the lens is made of a metal called unobtanium. To ALL camera manufacturers out there (and yes I mean ALL) please give us more super bright aperture prime lenses. 

A Young Boy 
42.5mm F1.2 Nocticron



The Same Young Boy
42.5mm F1.2 Nocticron

Fruits
42.5mm F1.2 Nocticron

Hiding
42.5mm F1.2 Nocticron

Behind the Fence
42.5mm F1.2 Nocticron

Morning Paper
42.5mm F1.2 Nocticron

Portrait of a Stranger
42.5mm F1.2 Nocticron

100% Crop from Previous Image

Writing
42.5mm F1.2 Nocticron

Storage
42.5mm F1.2 Nocticron

Shaun from Brisbane! 

Bjorn has an E-M5 Mark II too!
Blog here: http://bmupix.com

Light Bulbs
Olympus 75mm F1.8

Sunset
Olympus 7-14mm F2.8 PRO lens

Olympus 25mm F1.8 with 40MP High Res Shot on E-M5 Mark II

Can you guess which was taken with 40MP High Res Shot?

I was so full from lunch this was all I had for dinner. They had discount since it was close to closing! Delicious Mille Crepe from 8 Oz Coffee at KLCC

There the E-M5 Mark II Titanium Limited Edition with 75mm F1.8 lens, moments before I took the photograph of the light bulbs. 


A few random notes from this shutter therapy session:

1) 40MP High Res Shot was done almost hand-held. 
I said almost, because I pressed the 25mm F1.8 lens (mounted on E-M5 Mark II) on the showcase glass, using it to brace my hand-held shooting and I managed to get a completely sharp image. I have learned from my engineering days that solutions are within reach, we just have to find them hard enough. The benefit of the 40MP High Res Shot was evident

2) Lighting is crucial. Never neglect lighting
I always observed how the light shaped the portraits that I shoot. In fact, it should be in the higher priority of consideration than choice of gear or composition. I favoured interesting lighting conditions: mostly directional, from the side with a hint of backlight. 

3) Balance of Colour
After I have processed the batch of photographs for this blog have I realized that they were all in colour. I suddenly had this feeling that I may have subconciously compensated for the mostly black and white photographs I have been showing for the previous few blog entries. Colour is good. 

4) We had the complete E-M5 Mark II family
We have all three colour variations of the E-M5 Mark II: Shaun had silver, Bjorn had Black and I was using the Titanium edition. I took a photograph of all three together on a coffee shop table but the shot came out ugly (my own fault) hence I decided not to show it. But that was probably the FIRST thing this happened in the world, come to think of it. The best part: it happened without being planned. 

Special thanks to Shaun for loaning me his 42.5mm F1.2, I almost felt gulty for swapping my Olympus 45mm F1.8 with him. It was great catching up with both Shaun and Bjorn and I am hoping to see more of them soon. 

Please support my blog by "Liking" my Facebook Page. 


15 comments:

  1. Great photos, they speak for themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Robin,
      Stellar pics... like all.
      For your opinion, is 42.5, f1.2 a perfect lens?
      Bokeh looks similar to the 75, f1.8, even better.
      Thanks Boris

      Delete
    2. I would not say there is any perfect lens, but it is one I will be very happy to have (my favourite focal length to work with).
      Bokeh wise is similar with 75mm indeed. But 75m renders shallower depth of field (longer focal length). Nonetheless it is not a good comparison since both have different focal lengths. And they are used in different shooting conditions too.

      Delete
  3. Unobtanium - yes, a very precious metal

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Super precious! When are you coming to KL again?

      Delete
  4. Hi Robin, do you prefer em5 mark ll or em1?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Marcus,
      I like both. If I were to shoot more photographs I would go for E-M1. E-M5 Mark II has superior video recording capabilities

      Delete
    2. Hi Robin,

      Thanks Robin for this great post.
      What are the reasons why, for photography only, you would consider the E-M1 over the E-M5 II?
      Thanks.

      Delete
    3. My reasons are: better handling/ergonomics on the E-M1, better continuous AF with tracking (if I do use, though I rarely do) and better AF speed with Four Thirds DSLR lenses (which I do have a few).

      Delete
    4. Thanks for these precisions, Robin.

      Delete
  5. Shaun and Bjorn have such huge heads! Oh, wait, it's the small camera. ;)

    ReplyDelete