Super Bokeh Portraits - OM System + Brightin Star 50mm F0.95

Brightin Star sent me their latest 50mm F0.95 lens for Micro Four Thirds mount, and I had the opportunity to test it on the OM System OM-3 camera which was on loan from OM System Malaysia. I had the wonderful privilege to shoot the beautiful model Lily (IG @lilyayumiii) who was such a pleasure to work with. The Brightin Star 50mm F0.95 was so fun to shot with - it was so sharp wide open at F0.95 and can create razor thin shallow depth of field effect to maximize background blur, effectively isolating your subject from the background. If you are on a tight budget on lenses yet you want to produce super bokeh shots for your portraits, the Brightin Star 50mm F0.95 is a strong contender, but you do have to work a bit harder to get your shots using manual focus. Besides, there are no F0.95 lenses with AF for Micro Four Thirds yet. I have shared my mini review of the lens and my experience using it on the OM-3 in my latest video here (click). For this blog entry, I am sharing the first look of Lily during the portrait shooting sessions. More images to come in following blog entries soon. 

One Last Session With Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro III

I have had the Tamron 90mm F2.8 Di III Macro lens on loan from Futuromic Malaysia for quite some time now, and I must return it soon. However, I managed to squeeze one last insect macro session at the park nearby. Since I did not spend that much time in this session, I was not expecting to get many exotic shots, but there were some really cute and pretty jumping spiders that made my day. I mounted the Tamron 90mm Macro lens on my own Nikon Z5, then added my old Olympus FL-50R flash on top of it, diffused through AK diffuser (thanks to Emilie Talpin), and hunted some little creatures. I got to say, the results are not too bad at all!

About Creative Burnout

I have been asked many times if I get creative burnout, and if I do, how do I circumvent it and is there any good solutions I have tried? Well, the answer isn't very straightforward, depending on several factors like - who is asking, the burnout happening on which front, whether it is the photographer side of me shooting images, or the writing and content creating side? There is no one answer that fits all. I personally admit that I have not experienced any severe burnout yet, in my years of running this blog, or dabbling in the universe of photography, but I do have a lot to say in this topic. 

Image taken by Jojo (IG @jojoelisan), used with permission. 

Why Pay More? This 50mm Equivalent Is So Good!

This is a continuation from yesterday's blog entry on the TTArtisan 35mm F1.8 II lens. The lens gives an approximately 50mm focal length when mounted on Sony APS-C (E-Mount) Mirrorless camera body. In this case, I used the TTArtisan 35mm on my old Sony NEX-6. It is just so incredible to see how third-party lens makers can do so much with so little. Retailing new for just USD125, the lens can deliver really impressive results. I am pleased with the rendering of the lens - the sharpness is excellent, the bokeh is smooth and creamy, the flaws are well managed, overall, the images come out looking natural and realistic. Is the lens better than Sony's native 35mm F1.8 lens for APS-C? I would not know, as I do not have one to make a direct comparison, but for such a low price point, and seeing what the TTArtisan 35mm F1.8 II can do, I got to say, I don't wish it to be any better, it is as good as it gets! Cheap China-made lenses are getting so good these days, why pay more? Just grab one and start shooting already. No more excuses on lenses being expensive. 

Cheap Lenses Are Getting So Good - TTArtisan 35mm F1.8 II

What a time to be alive and enjoying photography today, we do not lack options when it comes to budget-friendly, yet high performing capable lenses. Case in point - TTArtisan's latest 35mm F1.8 II lens exceeded my expectations of what I can get from a USD125 lens. It is compact and light, the sharpness is very good wide open at F1.8, and the sharpness is consistent from edge to edge and corner to corner of the frame, the lens produces beautiful bokeh, manages lens flaws reasonably well, and honestly there isn't anything much to complain about the lens. The only issue I had was some purple fringing, which was not a deal-breaker, considering the budget price tag. I attached the lens on my old Sony NEX-6 and went about doing some shutter therapy sessions. I am sharing these fresh images from streets of Kuala Lumpur in this blog entry. If you want my opinion on the TTArtisan 35mm F1.8 II in video format, you can check it out here (click). 

Uusually Wide Range Of Photographs

Merely a quarter into 2025, I have found myself collecting a wider range of images than usual. For my personal photography, I do mostly street shooting, as I have often called them shutter therapy sessions. However, the year 2025 proved to be interesting, it is moving me out of my comfort zone, and I have been taking more images that I would not have taken, unless they were required for specific content on my YouTube channel. I have been accepting more lenses from third-party manufacturers for reviews: anything from ultra wide-angle lens to cheap standard primes and add some accessories like close up lens and ND filter into the mix, my gallery of images expanded considerably over the past months. It is nice to see a growing variety of photographs generated on this blog (or YouTube, well they are all from me). Here is a quick compilation of some of my favorite recent images from the first few months of 2025. 

Viltrox 35mm F1.7

Will You Dare To Do This To Your Camera And Lens?

OM Digital Solutions may have made some questionable decisions in their product strategy and marketing activities lately, but one thing for sure that never went wrong since the days of Olympus - the weather-sealing capabilities of their cameras and lenses. I have to say, the reliability of the camera's sealing against harsh environment - splash, dust and freeze, is second to none. Almost all cameras that I have reviewed from Olympus and more recently OM System, I have run them through vigorous running water test. The OM System OM-3 was no exception, and as expected, no surprise here really, the camera survived and had no issues after the water splash. I even made a video to show the water running onto the camera and lens, OM System 25mm F1.8 II, which was also weather-resistant. You can watch the shorts here (click). The confidence of having such robustly built camera is something that I do appreciate a lot. 

To Get Good Photographs, You Have To Put In The Time

The biggest factor that holds many photographers back from achieving greatness is time. In order to climb to the next level, time is the most important thing that you can spend that can bear significant results. You can't just expect to spend an hour or two doing photography in your spare time in the weekend and expect your skills to improve dramatically. To get to the standards of National Geographic photographers, someone once said (I forgot who) you need to eat, breathe and sleep thinking about photography. Your passion must burn so bright that you will want to shoot more and more to get that next best shot. Without spending enough time, you can only get so far. This is the case with my own macro photography, I admit it isn't my priority, and I did not spend enough time out there, looking for interesting bugs and dramatic shots to be captured. It is very simple really, the more time I spend out there shooting and looking for bugs, the more chances I am giving myself to discover greater shots. With the limited time that I have with the Tamron 90mm F2.8 DI III Macro lens (special thanks to Futuromic Malaysia), and even less time that I allocated to actually do macro photography in local parks, these are the few decent that's I managed to capture. Nothing award-winning worthy, but hey, it is work in progress. And I must remind myself to spend more time if I want to get better. 

Shooting Insect Macro With Tamron 90mm F2.8 III Macro on Nikon Z5

I have always done my insect macro photography on my Micro Four Thirds setup, and this was perhaps the first time I did any serious insect macro on full frame. Futuromic Malaysia (official distributor for Tamron and Nikon in Malaysia) approached me and asked if I was interested to test the new Tamron 90mm F2.8 III Macro lens. They were being really generous; they offered for me to just take the lens and do anything I wanted with no strings attached. If I have some good shots, I was asked to share with them to be used on their socials, which was perfectly fine. I have the Tamron 90mm F2.8 III Macro with me for a several weeks, I am still in the midst of shooting with the lens, but I thought I'd share some images I have taken with it here, and some initial thoughts. 

Are You Doing YouTube Full Time?

I do have to admit, in the last decade or so, I have gone through so many changes. From quitting my engineering job to working for Olympus Malaysia, then quitting Olympus and become a full-time photographer, then I started the YouTube channel, I guess the only constant in my life is obviously change. However, I am currently still a photographer, earning the bulk of my income doing paid shoots and assignments for clients. Therefore, it was incredibly amusing when more and more people have come up to me and asked how "life being a full time YouTuber" was like. I then told them YouTube is just a side hustle, and you can see the shock in their facial expressions. How, and why would people think I have become a full time YouTuber? On the contrary, should I take the dive and be an actual, full time YouTuber? There is a lot to unpack here. 

What I Love Vs What Others Love

During my recent sharing on Rob Trek's YouTube channel, I had to do some homework, to dig up old photographs taken with Micro Four Thirds that I am proud of. You see, here is the issue - the images that I am personally happy with are not my best photography work. Allow me to explain - how do we describe great photography? Often times, these images include amazing moments, drama, excellent composition, beautiful lighting, creative play of artistic elements, you name it, there are many ways to create wonderful, impactful photographs that will "wow" people. When I look back at my own catalogue of works, yes I do have those over the top, dramatic, bombastic kind of crowd-pleasing images, but they are not my favorites. What ended up in my own "images that I am proud of" list were usually mundane, simplistic images that may not make any other people look twice. But these are my images, I like them for whatever reasons that may not be relevant to you, and I guess what I am trying to say is, sometimes we do what we do because we love doing it, not to please others. Of course, none of these images made it to the sharing session on Rob Trek's YouTube gathering Live Stream event. I am sharing just one of these images here, just one, to illustrate my point. You will be the happiest you can be if you just be 100% you. 

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Panasonic GM1 vs Olympus E-PM2

If you have been following this blog, you'd know that I love small cameras. That's the reason I am a huge fan of Micro Four Thirds system; they make truly compact cameras that can deliver great results. I happened to have both the smallest cameras from Panasonic and Olympus, the GM1 and E-PM2 respectively, and I thought it would be a great idea to pitch the side by side and discuss their similarities as well as differences. At the end of the day, both are fantastic cameras, I intend to keep both, since these models are effectively discontinued, but if I had to pick just one, which would it be? I made a video to discuss this too, you can check it out here (click). 

Seeing Street In Monochrome

This is a continuation from the same series from the previous blog entry, about shooting in black and white more for my own personal street photography. I used to fit in as many as 40-50 (yes, 50!) images in a single blog post, and I am starting to do things differently now. The reason I fit so many images was mostly for my review articles. When I started reviewing cameras, I actually did break down my reviews to multiple parts, but there was a consequence - people did not bother to read all parts, after they have read one blog entry or just a few without completing the whole series, they drew conclusions. For example, part 1 of my Olympus 17mm F1.8 review was about the technical image quality and handling, and part 2 was about the things I disliked about the lens, including the flat and uninteresting rendering. Many did not read Part 2 and assumed I have backtracked on what I said about the review in recent times, but the truth was, if they have read both parts, they would have known that my opinion has been consistent over the years and nothing changed. After that incident (and a few similar others) I decided to just lump everything into a singular review post, which sometimes can exceed 50 sample images. Well, since I don't do much long form reviews anymore, and most of my blog articles are just photo-sharing and random thoughts thrown in between the images, why not break them up into smaller, more digestible parts?

Black & White Adventure Continues

One of the things I want to do more this year is black and white street photography. Since I probably won't use black and white images for my review content on YouTube, or paid shoot, I will have to intentionally shoot black and white for my own personal excursions. I do think black and white is a powerful medium in photography, a different yet effective way to convey strong messages, emotions and ideas. This round, I had my Olympus E-M1 (the OG 2013 first version) and my beloved Olympus 25mm F1.8 to get that equivalent 50mm perspective. I went to Pudu Wet Market in Kuala Lumpur on a cloudy Sunday morning which was less busy than usual, probably due to Ramadan but it was still an enjoyable walk nonetheless, and I think I got some interesting shots! 

Hello OM-3!

Special thanks to OM System Malaysia for the loan of the new OM System OM-3! I shall be spending the next couple of days shooting non-stop with the OM-3, and I really can't wait to get the shutter clicking. I probably won't be making a full review of the camera, considering the internet is already flooded with so many reviews left right front and center. What I can do is to use the camera like a camera, take some meaningful photographs, and based on my experience using the OM-3 I shall share the things that I like and dislike about it. The OM-3 is just so good looking, it begs to be held, and it wants you to go out with it and get some shutter action. More to come, and I can't wait to share fresh images from the OM-3 and my experience with it. Stay tuned. 

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It Is Not Easy Building Credibility

Credibility is very important to me. After all, I do share a lot of reviews, opinion and thoughts on imaging products and photography in general over the years. Why would people come and read my blog, or watch my YouTube video if I don't have any credibility at all? That's why when my credibility was attacked recently, I had no choice but to defend myself - after all, without credibility, there really is no reason for me to be here. This was one of the rare cases where I did need to make a stand and throw some punches. 

Slow Shutter Fun - Physical ND Filters vs Digital Gimmick

Since I have got some nice magnetic filters to play with for a bit, I thought it would be fun to do some long exposure, slowing down the shutter speed, capturing some motion of the flowing water. I was at KL Birk Park (yes, again) to test another product which will be mentioned on another blog entry, but it was just the perfect place to shoot the fake, man-made waterfall. Many people would be quick to point out that the OM System OM-1 that I was shooting with has built in Live ND filter, a computational trick to simulate the effects of neutral density filters, but the limit is at ND64, or 6 stops exposure. It was barely enough to achieve the silky smooth water effect, which required ND1000 (10 stops) or more, so I snapped on the 10 Stops ND on the Jetmag Pro magnetic filter kit, used it on my Olympus 12-40mm PRO, and took some 2 seconds hand-held images. 

Jetmag Pro Magnetic Filter Kit by NiSi

NiSi sent me their latest magnetic filter kit, the Jetmag Pro and I made a video to talk about its features and share my experience using them. You can check out the video here (click).  I must say I am very impressed with Jetmag Pro Magnetic filter kit, it is simply the best option available on the market right now, with such versatility, smart locking mechanism, stickability and excellent image quality. I personally think the filter system is very well thought out, and NiSi did a wonderful job in putting their feet in the shoes of a practicing photographer - solving the common issues and figuring out their needs. 

Food Photography Is Fun

I am aware that I am mostly known for my street photography, and those who follow me will know that I do a lot of portraits, event coverage, stage shooting and a little bit of wedding photography for my paid side of photography. For personal projects, I dabble in portraits of strangers which is an on-going project, and of course, some insect macro photography on the side. Oh yes, I shoot a lot of cats too on the streets though those would probably not quality as street photography, but who cares really? I shoot what I like, at the end of the day I only have to answer to myself if it was not a paid shoot. Not many people know that I also love shooting food, almost as much as consuming them. I used to shoot a lot of food images, mostly in the weekends while hanging with friends in hipster cafes. The food thing has slowed down in recent years, partially because my newer friends are not photographers, and they won't understand the need of me spending 15 minutes alone with a burger. I think I should reignite the passion for food - or shooting them! These were old images, taken for the review of Olympus PEN E-PL10. 

An Old Favorite Photograph That Sticks With You

I have taken so many images over the past more than 10 years of me dabbling in the world of street photography, and I got to say, out of the countless snapshots I have accumulated, there were not many that actually stood out, or have become personal favorites. I guess I am just being extra critical when judging my own work, as would any other photographers, but this is something that is so obvious - if you do love one particular photograph, it will stick with you for a long, long period of time. I don't have many photographs that can do that from my collection. A handful few, yes, the ones I am proud to show again and again, or even print large to be displayed in a exhibition setting. One of them was this shot taken at Hua Lamphong Train Station in Bangkok in 2019 (gosh, that was before the Covid-19). It was a blink and miss it moment, which made the shot even more meaningful, as it was not that easy to catch the right moment. I guess, some would dismiss the photograph's value as a random man walking by stereotypical street shots that run rampant everywhere in the street universe, but for me, this was special. It established the location very prominently with the iconic train in the background, it captured the ambience and messiness of the platform, and to some degree, the discomfort of high humidity and hot tropical weather in Southeast Asia. I don't know, maybe I am just imagining things, but definitely, one of my favorite shots that have been burned in my mind. Image taken with Olympus E-PL9 and 25mm F1.8. 

More Melanie Portraits

I used to squeeze in 30, gosh, sometimes 50 images into one blog entry, and when I look back at those posts I wonder what I was thinking - the endless scrolling of so many images. A better solution, is to split them up to more than one entry, so the individual images may get more attention. Melanie (IG @melcput), the talent was so awesome to work with, I just have to post one more time about here here. All images were shot with Panasonic GX7 and Olympus 75mm F1.8 lens. 

Olympus 75mm F1.8 Shooting Melanie

About more than a month ago, during my Chinese New Year holidays in Kuching, Borneo, I managed to sneak a bit of time to play with the camera. Special thanks to Nunong (IG @nunongtindin) and Kieron (IG @kieronlong72) for organizing a model portrait shooting session, I tagged along, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to work the Olympus 75mm F1.8 lens. We were a little worried about this session as it was an outdoor shoot, and the weather has been unkind, pouring continuously non-stop for weeks in Kuching, but thankfully the rain stopped just in time for this to happen. This was also my first time shooting with the Panasonic Lumix GX7, which I will talk about in another time. Credit goes to the beautiful Melanie (IG @melcput) for being such an awesome model for the day.