Brightin Star 35mm F0.95 Mini Review

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,

Panasonic Lumix LZ8 - Revisiting An Old Compact

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

Sigma 30mm F1.4 - Street Portraits Around KL

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

More Insect Macro Adventures With 7Artisans 60mm F2.8 Macro II

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

Lens Throwback - Olympus Zuiko Digital 40-150mm F3.5-4.5

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