ROBIN WONG

I admit, I have been browsing Wotancraft's website for several years now, looking at their various beautiful camera bags, but I never hit the purchase buttons. I already have several well functioning bags that served their purposes very well, and I see no need to splurge on another bag. When Wotancraft reached out and asked if I wanted to try one of their bags, I immediately said yes! They sent me their Pilot 7L bag, which is a shoulder/messenger styled camera bag, and I thought this was just the perfect bag for my street photography adventures. I made a video to share my thoughts on why I love this Pilot 7L so much, you can find the video here (click). 

The biggest mistake Micro Four Thirds players did was trying to beat the full frame big boys by making larger, heavier, ridiculously overpriced cameras with bloated tech and features that 98% of the consumers do not even use or need. Everyone is fighting the latest and greatest tech war, better AI computational features, faster burst rate, faster sensor readout, global shutter, advanced pro video features like internal RAW recording, which honestly do not make much of a difference for an average hobbyist, besides having more bragging points when owing such "flagship level" products. When you fight against the larger players with deeper pockets and much spare resources to burn for R&D and affording a few failures in their trial-and-error process along the way, you lose. Instead of fighting head on making bigger, bloated cameras, why not go back to basics, rediscover what makes Micro Four Thirds so great and amazing in the first place, the philosophy and art of making really small yet powerful cameras. You don't need to be the best to beat the rest. You just need to play smart and listen to what the people want. 

I have had the Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1 and I enjoyed using that camera quite a bit for my street shooting sessions, so when I found a used E-PM2 at such a good price in good condition, I just could not resist. The PEN Mini camera was the smallest Micro Four Thirds camera made by Olympus, sits at the lowest entry level to the PEN series, with stripped down features and capabilities, made to be extremely compact, minimalist and easy to use for beginners. However, the E-PM2 features an updated 16MP image sensor, newer processor and better AF performance compared to the original E-PM1, and it is now effectively replacing my E-PM1. I did a video to share my thoughts on why OM Digital Solutions should bring back the PEN Mini series, you can find the video here (click). 

I have had tremendously busy weekends for the past month. I had 3 separate visitors from my hometown Kuching for every last weekend which I gladly hosted and brought around Kuala Lumpur for meals and catch up sessions. Between that and a few photography jobs, making new content for my YouTube channel and also making myself available to support a few friends having exhibitions, attending camera trade fairs, going to photography festivals and events happening around town all at the same time, I was left with not much time to breathe. This coming weekend will be the first weekend with no fixed agenda, no event to attend, and no visitor friends to entertain. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends, and I treasure every minute I spend with them, I enjoy participating in local photography events, supporting my friends, but a break is certainly much needed. Sometimes, when I see a stray cat coming along, I forget everything else and just play with the cat. Life is so much simpler and happier that way. 

One of the go-to places to bring my friends for a meal when they are visiting outside of Kuala Lumpur, is Kanbe Ramen. This Japanese Ramen restaurant was opened merely few years ago and has risen to fame, much loved by ramen lovers locally here to a point where many have claimed Kanbe to be the best Ramen place in Malaysia. I have tried many, many Ramen restaurants in KL and I got to say, Kanbe is a league of its own. So when my friends Allen and Tiffany came to KL for a visit, I just have to bring them there to try some porky goodness, and I believe they were not disappointed. We caught up over coffee and cakes after the hearty meal. 

TTArtisan sent me their 56mm F1.8 lens for Sony E-mount, and I tested it on my old Sony NEX-6 camera. Full disclaimer - I do get to keep this lens after review, but I made it clear to TTArtisan that I get to be 100% honest about my opinion written here (as well as in my YouTube video). For $129 that TTArtisan is a lot of bang for the buck, and a stellar performer. I shall share what I like and dislike about the lens here, after shooting many sample photographs, including an event coverage, multiple street photography sessions and a few portrait and food shots. 

Happy Malaysia Day to all my fellow Malaysians! To commemorate this special occasion, I am breaking my own strict monochromatic dress code just for one day. Instead of mostly black and white from top to bottom, today, I wear splashes of red and blue to match the mini Malaysian flag I am bearing on my chest. I am proud to be a Malaysian, saya anak Malaysia! This portrait shot of mine was shot by my good friend Van Ligutom (IG @vanligutom) at the historical Stadium Merdeka, where the first prime minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman declared the independence for Malaya. I honestly could not think of a better place to have the picture taken. 

It has almost become a ritual for me and the boys to meet up and have brunch at a new hipster cafe location every once in a while, and this time we went to the Grumpy Bagels, situated just a little bit off the new TRX Mall. It seems like bagel is all the rage now and there are several new places serving bagels with a variation of fillings. The cool thing about this particular bagel place - it was originally an abandoned house and the business owner, Claire turned it around, renovating the house and turned it into a cozy breakfast dining spot, right in the middle of the prime city locations near Bukit Bintang. My friends and I ordered a variety of items from the menu, and I have to say they did know what they were doing with the bagels. We had plenty of fun catching up over awesome bagels and coffee! What a better way to kick off the long weekend. 

I visited my friends Azul and Grace's exhibition at Stadium Merdeka again and this time I brought more friends to go see it. I thought I'd make myself useful and started shooting behind the scenes images while both Azul and Grace did their short presentation sharing their shooting process for the exhibition images. I do make a bulk of my income from shooting event coverage, many behind the scenes images for my clients, and I want to share some tips on shooting effective event images. 

Initially, I intended to film a new video for my main photography channel yesterday. I was being a little ambitious, I also wanted to do a second video for my vlog channel, showing behind the scenes of how I set up my shoot and capture the whole process from start to finish, making a video. I thought some would find that fascinating and beneficial. However, the weather did not agree with my plans, as my shoot depended on the sky conditions outdoor, it rained heavily, and I had to postpone the original video shoot. Instead of just calling it quits, I decided to continue vlogging, documenting what I did for the entire day - my morning gym session, adventures playing with a cat, and sitting down in a cafe getting some work done. You can find the vlog here (click). 

About two weeks ago, I attended a mini concert at KLPAC, and it was their 5th installment of Yesterday Once More, indulging in music from yesteryears. I was an audience this time, and was not hired to shoot, so I attended the actual show instead of the dress rehearsal, and seated at the crowd section. I still intended to grab some shots for myself, so I brought along the most convenient setup I can think of - the E-M1 Original and Panasonic 14-140mm lens. This was quite a challenging shoot as I was fixed at one location, not being able to move around limited my composition options. The lighting on stage was quite dim, and using a superzoom that stops down to F5.8 at the longest end 140mm does require the use of much higher ISO numbers that I don't normally touch when I usually shot with my prime lenses. Nevertheless, the primary goal was to have fun, enjoy the show and I did love the live music show tremendously. Photography in this case was secondary, and here are some mediocre shots from the show. Not my best work, but I love them anyway!

Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm F1.8 has been my favourite Micro Four Thirds lens since its launch back in 2011. This tiny gem weighs only 116g, yet it delivers excellent results, rendering sharp images with plenty of fine details, good contrast and beautiful bokeh. I have done countless photography jobs with this lens shooting portraits, weddings, events, stage coverage and product photography over the years. In my latest adventure with the Olympus 45mm F1.8. I was shooting the beautiful Ivani Leang (IG @ivani_leang) with my friends Van Ligutom (@vanligutom) and Jojo (IG @jojoelisan) at Tamarind Square in Cyberjaya. I also recorded behind the scenes of this shoot in POV style to show you the view through my camera's viewfinder, you can find the video here (click). I am sharing some of my favourite images from the session here in this blog entry! All images were taken with OM System OM-1 and Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm F1.8 lens. 

My friends Azul Adnan (IG @azuladnan) and Grace Ho (IG @grace_.ho) have an on-going exhibition happening at the newly refurbished and reopened historic Stadium Merdeka. Both photographers are extremely talented and they were shooting for the project "Under the Shadow of Merdeka" which will be made into a photobook. The current exhibition has been extended to 16 September 2024, so if you are in KL please do swing by Stadium Merdeka and check out both the exhibition and the stadium itself, which was an important piece in Malaysian history. In conjunction with the exhibition, there was a photowalk happening on the Merdeka Day (31 August) which I have attended, and I shall share several photographs from that photowalk, and also some taken during the unofficial talk by Azul and Grace at the exhibition venue after the photowalk. 

Congratulations to both Azul and Grace on the exhibition! Really amazing work there, I highly recommend any photographers in KL to go see it!

Ricoh GR III series cameras have gained a cult following status, but each of them would cost above USD1000, which is not on the affordable range for low income earners. I always say that we don't have to break the bank to enjoy photography, thus I am looking at a budget alternative setup for the GR IIIX. I found an old Sony NEX-6 camera for about USD120, and I paired it with TTArtisans 27mm F2.8 AF also from the used market at about USD80. The combo costs less than USD200, yet it delivers great results, and can do a few things better than the GR IIIX itself - the combo has built in EVF, tilt screen, longer battery life, can change lens and more comfortable handling. I won't deny that the GR IIIX is truly pocketable, and the newer image sensor and modern tech brought in some advantages in image output and overall camera performance, but it is also asking for a lot more. I explored the merits of the budget GR IIIX alternative combo in my latest video, you can check it out here. 

In this blog entry, I am sharing images from the streets of Kuala Lumpur, all taken with the Sony NEX-6 and TTArtisans 27mm F2.8 AF lens. More images to be shared in subsequent blog entries soon.