ROBIN WONG

It is not secret that the main reason I bought the Zuiko Digital 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 was to be used on my still alive Olympus DSLR E-1. I am falling more and more in love with this dinosaur from 20 years ago, the first Four Thirds system DSLR. While the camera is far from perfect, and has some limitations, I did not think they affected me much for my street shooting. The 5MP CCD sensor may not have enough megapixels for most

I recently got my hands on a used Olympus Zuiko Digital 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 lens to be used on my Olympus DSLR E-1. This lens was also the first ever Four Thirds DSLR lens, and is about 20 years old now. The lens adopts telecentric optical design, which was then reused by Canon and Nikon much later when they launched their mirrorless full frame system. I thought it would be fun to test the Zuiko Digital 14-54mm on my OM System OM-1,

When I was sent the Brightin Star 35mm F0.95 for testing, my expectations on the lens was quite low, considering the budget price tag (the last I checked it was at USD179). However, I was pleasantly surprised after spending enough time with the lens, the performance exceeded my expectations. In short, the Brightin Sar 35mm was already quite sharp at wide open F0.95, and it does render beautiful bokeh. This could be the sharpest F0.95 manual focusing lens I have encountered,

I bought the Panasonic Lumix LZ8 in 2009 (or was it 2010? Can't be 100% sure now) for construction site documentation use back in the days when I was still working as an engineer. Compared to the crappy cheap point and shoot compacts the company I worked for provided, the LZ8 had a few advantages to offer which were important to me - more zoom reach (5x zoom), full manual control (to accurately set the exposure) and improved image quality, with

I managed to get my hands on a loaned Sigma 30mm F1.4, and I thought it would be fun to attack the streets of Kuala Lumpur and grab some portraits of strangers. It is close to my favourite focal length 50mm equivalent to shoot on the streets, and the F1.4 bright aperture can create adequate shallow depth of field separation for my portraits. I mounted the Sigma 30mm F1.4 on my OM System OM-1 camera and did a POV street shooting

I decided to scratch my insect macro itch, so I went to the nearby park to grab some quick shots of whatever I can find there. Nothing out of the ordinary, just your usual garden bugs, if I wanted something more exotic I got to travel a lot further and deeper into the forest, which I did not intend to as I did not want to meet a mountain lion and get swallowed alive. Anyways, I brought the 7Artisans 60mm F2.8

The second lens that I purchased from Olympus was the Zuiko Digital 40-150mm F3.5-4.5 to accompany my kit lens for DSLR E-520. It was a versatile, budget telephoto zoom lens that I have used for many years, creating some wonderful shots. The lens has brighter than usual aperture of 3.5-4.5 versus the typical F4-5.6 options from other manufacturers when it comes to budget telephoto lenses, and I appreciate the ability to gather a little more light, negating the need to raise

I brought the 7Artisans 18mm F6.3 II body cap lens which I have purchased recently out for another spin during my shutter therapy session. I thought the almost 35mm equivalent focal length was quite a nice coverage for general street shooting. I have shared my early impressions on this lens before, so I am not going to repeat myself. I did dive in a little deeper in my latest video here (click). In short, I personally think 7Artisans outdid Olympus in their

I saw the Nikon ZF at the YL Photo Fair 2023, largest photo trade event in Malaysia and I asked the people from Futuromic (official distributor of Nikon, Malaysia) if I could have the ZF for a while on my own. They said yes! So I brought the Nikon ZF and Z 40mm F2 out for a quick test, and I managed to make a video to share some quick impressions on the camera (you can find the video here). I

Last Tuesday (10 October 2023) I had the privilege to attend the YouTube Creator Day 2023 event at Google Office inside the Axiata Tower at KL Sentral. I thought it was not an everyday opportunity to get invited into the Google office and definitely a rare opportunity to connect to the key people at YouTube in person. It was a half day event, packed with dense information sharing about growing a channel, reading and better understaning the Analytics for strategy optimization

Last weekend has been extremely eventful for me. I was invited by my friend Bihzhu to join her friends to a fishing trip at Kuala Rompin in Pahang. The location was about 4 hours or more drive away from Kuala Lumpur. I encountered my first ever Sailfish, and it was quite a magnificent experience! Also, we had a chance to meet the King (Agong) of the country in that same weekend too! What a crazy adventure it was, and a much

Youngnuo sent me their budget standard zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds mount, the YN 12-35mm F2.8-4 and I brought the lens to Penang for a wedding reception shoot, as well as some casual snapshots. While I fully tested the lens on an actual job, shooting a wedding, I cannot share the images from the private client, but I can of course share my own personal shots. I thought the Yongnuo 12-35mm is a solid budget option, offering brighter aperture, weather-sealing

I don't get the chance to share a lot of job images, mainly because some of my clients are quite private, and some jobs I was doing for government agencies and they won't appreciate the images of the ministers being plastered on some random YouTube video, or appear on blogs here. I was fortunate to be shooting a show at KLPAC (Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center) recently with my Olympus E-M1 Mark II which I am allowed to share here! It

Previously I mentioned that I have sold off the Fuji X100F because of two reasons - slow AF which was not usable for my street shooting, and mediocre lens that is soft wide open and poor close up performance. I have replaced my 35mm street shooting needs with Canon 35mm F2 EF lens on my Canon 5D original. The Canon 35mm EF was an old, classic lens released in the year 1990, and was not even designed for use in digital

When I started photography many of my seniors and "gurus" advised me strongly against using Auto mode when shooting with my camera. They claimed that by going full manual and jumping into the deep end immediately will benefit me greatly as a learning photographer. I think that was completely bogus and we should not dismiss the Auto mode too quickly. I think it is the perfect tool for beginners to start learning about how the camera works, without feeling completely drowned

I made a short trip to my hometown, Kuching in Borneo recently with a group of friends. Our main agenda was to eat as much good food as we can, see some interesting places and have a fun, relaxing holiday away from the busy-ness of city life in Kuala Lumpur. We all needed that short break. Photography was not part of the plan, but I wanted to bring along a camera anyway just in case I saw something I wanted to

I recently purchased a Yongnno 40mm F2.8 for Nikon F-Mount. For a budget lens, which only costs about RM350 (bought locally from Shopee, Malaysia), I thought the lens performed decently. I did not expect Pro grade image quality, but the sharpness at the center of the frame was very good wide open, and the sharpness improved as the lens was stopped down, all the way to the corners. The AF was fine, the lens flaws such as flare, chromatic aberration and

I have been shooting with wide angle more and more for my street photography recently and I found myself loving the Panasonic 15mm F1.7. I made a video to talk about the reasons why I love the Panasonic 15mm (you can find the video here). I have had the lens for a while, I used the Panasonic 15mm mainly for video making, one of the main lenses to create content for my YouTube channel, as I use it alongside the Olympus

My friend Azul Adnan, whom has just published his book JALAN, had just given a talk representing Riwayat (bookstore) at Merdeka Boleh event, happening inside KLOE Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. The talk was earlier this afternoon, and I was present to give my support. I brought along an unconventional setup to grab some quick images - the Panasonic GM1 and a few small-ish Micro Four Thirds lenses. The GM1 was not built for such a shoot, but I did not want to

My friend Azul Adnan has just launched a new photobook titled JALAN. I had the privilege to do a video interview with him for my YouTube channel, and you can find that video here (click). Azul is one of the regulars that I hang out with to do street shooting around Kuala Lumpur area, and has been featured on my POV street shooting videos many times. He is quite an accomplished photographer himself, having had a solo exhibition with National Arts

I have just realized that I have not posted the images of food adventures that I have had when I was home in Kuching, Borneo in April. I returned to my hometown for "Ching Ming" and of course, I went around and ate too much good food. Once upon a time this blog was also a place for food images dump, so I thought why not indulge you people with some of these lovely dishes from my beloved birth place! All

I am a huge fan of minimal setup and using smaller cameras for street photography. However that also means the smaller cameras come with some compromises, typically worse handling with smaller gripping area, no EVF, less direct controls and functions and shorter battery life. My favourite small camera setup is Panasonic GM1 and Olympus 17mm F1.8, and I did a POV street video recently with this combo. In the same video, I also shared some tips on how to overcome and

In a recent trip back home to Kuching, Borneo, I did manage to squeeze a bit of time for street shooting. I brought along the dinosaur Nikon D600 and 50mm F1.8, and had some shutter therapy at the old town area of Kuching. I got some images that I am quite satisfied with, and I thought I have been talking a lot about cameras and lenses lately. So to make things a bit different, why not set aside the gear talk

In my latest YouTube video here (click) I discuss about the multiple reasons that led to the downfall of Nikon 1 (CX format) system. However, I did find myself enjoying this camera a lot for street shooting. I love the minimalist look and setup, I like the ability to just point and shoot and still get reliable and consistent results, I like the fast AF, the bright, smooth screen, the rather sufficient image quality from the 1-inch type image sensor when

Pergear sent me their upgraded macro lens, the 60mm F2.8 2x Extreme Macro lens (2023 version), and I brought the lens out together with my OM System OM-1 to shoot some insect macro. I did not intend to make a full review for this lens, as I only wanted to test the lens with its intended purpose - shooting extreme macro, and I thought what better way to do that than hunting local little critters, insects and spiders? Of course I'd

After all the AF drama with OM-1 spanning multiple  videos and thousands of comments, many have asked if I have found a resolution to that issue. My answer is Olympus E-M1 Mark II, I am using this old camera of mine as my main workhorse now. E-M1 Mark II has superior S-AF which I need for low light, low contrast scenarios where the OM-1 failed miserably, and the image output is almost identical to the OM-1, even if there is any

A few months ago I did an outdoor portrait shooting session for an old friend, Jerry whom I have known from my secondary school days in Kuching, Borneo. I was so happy to see Jerry with beautiful Abby, and it was a privilege for me to shoot a few quick portraits for them. I attended their actual day wedding just yesterday, and I have vlogged about their church wedding ceremony and reception dinner, you can check out my video here (click). In

I did not get the chance to explore the Nikon 1 system back then, because I was in no financial shape to own multiple camera systems, and I was perfectly happy with Four Thirds (and subsequently Micro Four Thirds) System that I was using. However, these tiny cute compacts with interchangeable lens capability from Nikon always got my curiosity and now after so many years since they were discontinued, the price went down so much in the used market, I just

I have been using the old Nikon D50 more and more recently for my street shooting, and I must admit I am loving this dinosaur. The 6MP image sensor may be outdated and has limited dynamic range and high ISO performance for today's standards, but the camera always delivers beautiful images that I am thoroughly satisfied with. The autofocus is reliable, I can nail some moving shots with ease, I love the handling of the camera, the simplicity of operations and

About a month ago I decided to take the plunge and did my first ever live-stream on YouTube. It was nerve-wrecking, I was moving so far out of my comfort zone. The first stream went quite well, until the end after 2 hours mark, my video and audio feed both got disconnected while the stream went on and people can still continue to leave comments on the live stream. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out what went wrong and

I found a crazy cheap used old compact point and shoot Sony camera, the Cybershot T70 for less than RM50 (USD10?), and I thought it would be fun to bring it out for some shutter therapy. The camera works fine 70% of the time, behaving as it should, but the other 30% it just shakes like it drank too much coffee, the image stabilization motor was faulty and causes severe vibration on the entire camera. The resulting images came out surpringly

I just could not help myself when I stumbled upon the 7Artisans 18mm F6.3 II body cap lens on Shopee (online shopping platform in Malaysia) and decided to get it. I had zero expectations as the lens does seem like it was made to be just for fun and not for anything serious, and for the low price I'd not expect any miracles either. I paired the 7Artisans body cap lens with my Olympus PEN Mini and had a short photowalk,

I spent the past weekend in Ipoh, a city about 3 hours' drive north from Kuala Lumpur. My friend Spencer was attending a colleague's wedding, so I took this opportunity to join him along the ride out of city, for a short weekend escape. We had too much food, and it was indeed nice to just eat and not worry about work or making content for a while. I brought along the Canon 5D and 50mm F1.8 lens and took some

One day, out of total randomness I decided to sign up for a Nikon Photowalk happening here in Kuala Lumpur. It was an official event, organized by Futuromic (caretaker and distributor of Nikon in Malaysia) and I did have some friends there which I met and caught up with. I brought along my Nikon D600 and 50mm F1.8 D and had some fun joining the group for a walk along the streets. The theme for the day was black and white,

I have just dropped a new video, and it was fully presented in my own national language, Bahasa Malaysia. I have been actively making YouTube videos for more than 3 years now, all the videos have been fully spoken in English. I decided to try something different and experiment with Malay because I feel that it can be a way to connect better with the local audience. Of course, this is just a trial, my English speaking content will continue to