ROBIN WONG

I find myself shooting more and more with the older Olympus DSLR cameras like the E-1 and E-620. Since I love 50mm equivalent lens for my street photography I thought it would be great to get a 25mm lens for my E-620, and the Olympus 25mm F2.8 pancake being the smallest Four Thirds DSLR lens matches it very well. I have had this lens before so I am familiar with what the lens can do. The lens has very simple optical construction, but the performance is a lot better than expected. The autofocus is fast and the image rendering is quite impressive - very decent sharpness and technical flaw control. I foresee myself shooting with the Olympus 25mm pancake lens more from now onward, and I also wish OM Digital Solutions and Panasonic would release more modern pancake lenses for the Micro Four Thirds system! We surely need MORE pancake lenses!

Olympus 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II is a wonderful budget-friendly super telephoto lens for Micro Four Thirds. However, its close up shooting performance isn't so great. There is one trick to counter that weakness, by attaching extension tubes. The extension tubes that I have used had electronic contacts that allow autofocus as well as aperture control from the camera, making the lens fully versatile when shooting in super close up situations. This effectively turns the 75-300mm II into a telephoto macro lens, something that can be useful in situations where the bugs you are shooting can be quite sensitive to movement, or they just do not like humans to move too close to them. I demonstrated how this works in my latest video here (click). 

OM Digital Solutions updated their standard zoom kit lens, the 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 III which was released together with the OM System PEN. I thought it would be fun to do some shutter therapy with the humble kit lens. OM Digital Solutions claimed that they have made 3 improvements with the latest kit lens - weather-sealing, closer minimum focusing distance and better coating. I have made a video to share my thoughts, the things that I like and dislike about the new 14-42mm III, you can check out the video here (click). The 14-42mm III is a great value lens that does a lot for what it is, and is a great addition to the Micro Four Thirds budget lens line-up. If you are new, or unsure about which lens to get (beginner to photography), starting with the 14-42mm III is not a bad idea!

I am happy to see that OM Digital Solutions included the Animal AI Subject Detection Autofocus in their latest camera OM System PEN. I thought this would be a great opportunity to visit a cat cafe - the Monster A Garden Cafe in Petaling Street area. Why not? There was good coffee and plenty of cute and friendly cats waiting for their adorable portraits to be taken, and of course, some tummy rubs too. It was not exactly a stress test, the cats were moving very slowly, you can get good shots without the AI Subject Detection AF, but it just made things a lot simpler and quicker. The AF subject detection worked well locking onto the cat's eyes and sticked on them, giving me very high hit rates. I made a video to show you behind the scenes, POV style, recording of the camera screen as I captured those cute cat images! The video is here (click). 

During my initial tests of the OM System PEN, I quickly found out that the AF performance has been dramatically improved, the first test I did to realize this was insect macro shooting. I revisited insect macro to recreate the same scenario which I found the AF to be so much quicker and confident, even more efficient than higher level OM System cameras like OM-1/OM-3, I am not joking. So I did a new video to test the AF performance of OM-1 vs PEN side by side using Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro shooting extremely close up. The result is obvious, the PEN wins hands down. In that same video (click), I also did a POV showing how I captured some fresh insect macro shots. 

Here is a surprise - 1 have a photograph exhibited in the Spring Shopping Mall, Kuching, under the WAK Festival X Canon Malaysia "Celebrating Malaysia and Wild About Nature". The exhibition is running from 1st to 30th October 2026. I only have one photo there, taken a few years ago at Lebuh Ampang, showing an environmental portrait of a man selling bananas. I used a Canon 5D original and a Canon 35mm F2 lens. I was asked by my friend Allen Ang to submit something, so to show support to my fellow friends and community in Kuching, I chose this lone image, and it got selected! If you happen to be at the Spring, do check out the exhibition! As always, proud to be a Sarawakian. 

I brought the OM System PEN out around the city area of Kuala Lumpur to shoot some night scenes for my initial review of the camera. I intentionally wanted to test the 5-Axis Image Stabilization of the camera. OM Digital Solutions claimed 5.5EV stops effectiveness at the center and 4.5EV stops at the corners, and they numbers are quite conservative. I could easily hand-hold the camera down to 4 seconds shutter speeds and get away with sharp results consistently, shooting at wide angle (9mm and 14mm). To be honest anything more than 1-2 seconds shutter speed I'd rather just use a tripod for long exposure works, but the powerful stabilization helps to boost confidence in nailing the shots taken at, say 1/30 second, or even down to 1/2 second shutter speeds. To me, I cannot live without the image stabilization these days, definitely a must have feature in a modern camera. 

After all the hype and noise surrounding the new OM System PEN camera, it is time for a detox, and I thought what better way to do that by shooting with an old compact camera from the early digicam days. I brought the Olympus C-740 which I found in the used market at such a good condition for some shutter therapy. It only has 3.2MP CCD image sensor with a generous 10x zoom lens. Many of us (me included) get caught up with obsessing over the latest gear, but sometimes it isn't about the number of megapixels, or high ISO, or dynamic range and AF performance. Photography should be much simpler than that, we can choose to enjoy the process of making images by going back to basics. Sometimes, all you need is an old digital point and shoot camera!

This is a continuation from the previous blog entry about shooting low light stage photography using the Olympus E-M1 Original from 2013. I did share some tips on managing low light environment using Micro Four Thirds in my latest video (click). I use mainly prime lenses, Olympus 25mm F1.8, 45mm F1.8 and 75mm F1.8 to maximize the amount of light gathered, hence enabling faster shutter speeds without increasing ISO numbers unnecessarily. I shot mostly ISO1600 and below in this session, which was perfectly fine for the E-M1 original to handle, and some dimmer shots I used ISO3200. I also relied on the powerful 5-Axis Image Stabilization for scenes with little or no movement, slowing down the shutter speeds to 1/30 or 1/15, still getting tack sharp images while getting away with much lower ISO numbers. In fast action sequences, I would not hesitate to ramp up my ISO numbers to achieve fast enough shutter speeds to freeze action, and I emphasized the importance of capturing the moments over anything else. Moments matter more than technical perfection. High ISO noise is not the end of the world! Also, I talked about how moving around as much as you can will get you better, more dynamic framing and composition opportunities than being lazy staying still at one spot. Stage photography is fun, sometimes a bit more difficult than usual due to low light but still super exciting to shoot!

Last Friday, I was invited by OM System Malayia to speak at YL Photo Fair, sharing my experience using their latest OM System PEN camera. I chose to talk about street photography with the PEN, since that was a topic I was most comfortable with. It was a Friday, a working day, in the afternoon 2pm close to Muslim prayer time, so I did not expect a crowd. However, the turnout was bigger than anticipated, the room was filled and there were people even standing all the way at the back! I saw many familiar faces, friends who came all the way to show support, for that I am truly grateful. I feel blessed with the love and support shown. This was my first time speaking for OM System ever, and I hope for more future collaborations and opportunities with OM System Malaysia. It was fun to be on stage again, both nerve-racking, but at the same time it was also very fulfilling, feeding off the energy of the lively crowd! All images taken by Andrew (IG @andrew_hsien), used with permission

I shot a recent show at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center (KLPAC), and a friend who happens to be a full frame shooter commented on how daring I was for using Micro Four Thirds to shoot in such a challenging environment. In fact, I have been shooting many times in similarly difficult conditions for KLPAC over the years, and my Micro Four Thirds gear delivered each and every time without fail. I intentionally chose to use the Olympus E-M1 Original from 2013 to prove my point further, if such a dinosaur camera can shoot good enough images, I am sure newer and more capable Micro Four Thirds cameras that came after can do a better job. I brought along my prime lenses Olympus 25mm F1.8, 45mm F1.8 and 75mm F1.8 for this session, most images were taken with either 45mm or 25mm F1.8. I also made a video to share some tips on shooting low light stage photography here (click). 

During the 5 short days I had with the OM System PEN camera loan from OM System Malaysia, coincidentally SUKMA (Malaysian Sports Games) was happening, and I had some opportunity to put the camera to some serious torture. I borrowed the Olympus 300mm F4 PRO lens to be used on the OM System PEN. Initially, I had some very grand plans - I wanted to shoot Muay Thai and Gymnastics, but there was only so much I could do in a few days, and I managed to shoot tennis and weightlifting, both locations not too far from where I stay. I was happy to put the human AI subject detection AF to test, and it did splendidly in following the fast-running tennis players chasing the ball all around the court. Mind you, it was indoor court, because it was raining and the game went on, so I had to ramp up the ISO numbers. Sure. the OM System PEN is not a professional grade camera and should not be recommended for use in such straining environment, but hey, I thought if it can handle some serious sports shooting, it should handle day to day situations without any issues. 

While I welcome third party manufacturers making AF lenses for Micro Four Thirds, which is a rarity these days, we already have so many 25mm lens options that another 25mm F1.8 lens from SG Image does not exactly scream excitement. Well, I did get curious due to the extra low price tag of USD99 only for a new lens, and at that price, I thought what could possibly go wrong? I guess I had to find them out the hard way. I bought one and tested the SG Image 25mm F1.8 AF on my Olympus PEN E-PL7. I have also made a YouTube review, in case you prefer video version, you can check it out here (click). 

This is a continuation from previous post about outdoor shooting session using the OM System PEN camera. An important note - all images were shot in JPEG instead of RAW, because at the time of testing the camera there was no RAW compatibility with post-processing softwares yet. It instantly reminded me of how amazing the JPEG engine of Olympus/OM System cameras are, the images come out very optimized straight out of camera. I simply love the color rendering, they look so natural and true to life, and the skin tones look very pleasing too. I did some minor post-processing, mostly adding contrast and correcting some exposure imbalance (my own fault really, I am not a perfect photographer, I make mistakes). Here are the remainder shots of the outdoor session with Lily, taken with OM System PEN and Olympus 45mm F1.2 lens. 

I was very happy when I found out that OM Digital Solutions managed to include the human AF Subject Detection AF in their latest OM System PEN, though the camera uses older internals. I was curious to see how that human subject detection AI AF works, so I brought the camera with the Olympus 45mm F1.2 PRO mounted to shoot my beautiful friend, Lily in an outdoor setting. The AI AF worked so well, it was super-efficient and sticked to Lilys face throughout the entire shoot, and I got to say the reliability of the AF surpassed what I managed to get from even the OM System flagship cameras like OM-1 and OM-3. I was so impressed, go job OM Digital Solutions! I did a POV video to show how effective the AF works; you can check it out here (click). 

OM Digital Solutions has just launched their latest camera - OM System PEN. I was really excited about this camera for a few reasons - 1) This is officially the first PEN camera from OM Digital Solutions, some sort of a soft reboot of the PEN camera line-up from Olympus previously and 2) It has been a while since I last did a full camera review! Spoilers alert, I actually really do like the camera, it has almost everything that I have wished for in a Micro Four Thirds camera, and I am buying one. I have made a video review on YouTube as well; you can watch it here (click). 

I am very happy to announce my next photography workshop that will happen next year! This time, it will be in Helsinki, Finland, from 2 to 6 August 2027 and I am doing this together with my friends Peter Forsgard and Matti Sulanto. Following the success of our Kuala Lumpur Photography Workshop 2026, we will do another one next year, and this time we shall make some changes in the workshop format with more exciting photo projects and assignment. This workshop is open to any photographers at any skill levels, from any genre and using any camera, it does not matter as long as you want to do street photography, and you are looking to upgrade your photography game to the next level. Since this workshop will be at Matti and Peter's backyard literally, I am joining and exploring Helsinki for the first time - I shall do my best to provide guides, support and feedback to help you elevate your photography skills. We have an early bird promotion that runs until 15 October 2026, please do sign up early and I hope to see some of you there next year! I made a video to talk about this here (click). You can check out the official workshop website and sign up here (click)

After 7 long years, finally my YouTube channel has hit 100,000 subscribers! It felt like a lifetime getting here, and I only have all you beautiful people to thank for. I always say this, without you guys, there is no Robin Wong. So, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, thanks for the views, the shares, the likes, comments and all the coffees and generous contributions you have sent, the support and love were real! I appreciate you being here, and I can only promise this, I am still here, I am not going anywhere, shutter therapy must go on, and I will continue to blog and create new videos, week after week. I have more exciting news and updates coming very, very soon and I can't wait to share with you guys! Until then, I shall go out and treat myself to a fancy slice of cake. 

I have been to Pudu, Kuala Lumpur so many times, yet it remains as one of my top favorite spots for street shooting. The people there are always friendly, there is so much character in the location and so many different variety of scenes to be photographed. There is a large wet market in Pudu, perhaps one of the largest open-air market in Malaysia, and the place is just so full of photography opportunities. I brought my Olympus PEN E-PL7 and 25mm F1.8 and grabbed some interesting scenes, as well as some portraits of strangers. I am not sure why you don't see many street photographers here, it is so underrated!

I have owned the Olympus M.Zuiko 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II for quite some time now, but I never brought it out to shoot some birds. At the same time, whenever I was doing insect macro photography at the usual local hiking trail, I always spotted some beautiful birds chirping away, and I wished I had my long lens with me. The reason I left the long lens behind was to fully focus on shooting macro and I needed the focus to get good shots. I told to myself I must return some day with the long lens and shoot the birds, and finally this time I did. Bear in mind, I am not a birder, I never done any birding except in the zoo-like environment of KL Bird Park, so this was all new to me. As a beginner, I found the Olympus 75-300mm II to be just the right lens - small, light, easy to handle and the optical performance is quite good. I paired it with OM System OM-1 and I think I got some good shots - being a noob! I also did a video to share my thoughts here (click).