Exploring Pudu Again, After Lockdown

One of my favourite locations to do shutter therapy is Pudu in Kuala Lumpur. There is an open air wet market which is constantly full of people, bustling with activities in the morning and photography opportunities are just endless. It was my playground, until the pandemic came, and I decided not to shoot there. My reason was simple and logical, since I was not selling anything or buying anything from the market, I did not want to unnecessarily add to the crowd count considering social distancing in a market place is already quite impossible to begin with. Now that things are getting better, vaccination rate improved and daily cases are manageable, I thought going in was quite safe, and I explored the market again after 2 years or more last Sunday, with a small group of friends. 

Image by Azul Adnan, used with permission

Since I have not been to the market for so long, I honestly did not know what to expect, and I did not have any expectations for this round's shooting. I brought along the Canon 5D full frame and the al-cheapo 50mm lens. Some will roll their eyes at me for choosing a bulky DSLR over compact Micro Four Thirds setup. You know what? I am a photographer. As a photographer, I love ALL cameras. And I mean, ALL cameras, any brands, any shape, why the hate, really? Yes I dominantly use the Olympus gear, for all my professional shoots that I do during the week long, and making YouTube video content on top of that, day in day out, all Olympus. When the weekend comes, sometimes, I want to use something else, no particular reason, I just want to use another camera! Much like eating ice-cream, I love my chocolate, don't get me wrong, I can eat it everyday, but once in a while, Vanilla or Strawberry sounds really good. That does not mean I am giving up on chocolate! People and their quick judgment and assumptions, I should learn to just not listen to all these voices and do what I want to do and be happy with it. 

I do admit my arm got a bit sore after few hours using the Canon 5D, even mounted with the light 50mm lens. That has not happened in a long while, not since my Olympus E-5 days. Or maybe I have been lifting a bit more lately, not too sure, but the soreness continues on for days. I did however enjoy myself using the full frame. It is not about image quality, or anything else that I wanted. It was a dinosaur camera, even the Olympus E-M5 had better dynamic range and resolution. The AF was somewhat dangerously hit and miss in some situations, but who cares really. It was a Sunday, I was out with my friends, and I was having fun. I don't care if I miss my shots, or have blown out skies, or the images don't come out as sharp as I'd like. Photography is not about technical perfection, and quite frankly I am enjoying using older gear these days. Knowing that the older cameras and lenses are flawed and I won't get the best of the best today, was somewhat liberating. I just shoot and be happy with whatever I can get with the older gear, and strangely, I was still perfectly happy with the whole process and outcome. 

Old cameras are great cameras. I might just add another Canon lens into the bag soon. 

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