ROBIN WONG

Special thanks to Futuromic Malaysia (official distributor of Ricoh/Pentax in Malaysia), I got a loaner Ricoh GR IV to play with for about more than a week. I have been all around the city trying to grab enough sample shots for the past one week, and the poor weather conditions did not help with my productivity level. I managed to get just enough shots to support my video which I made on YouTube, sharing the things that I like and dislike about the Ricoh GR IV. Spoilers alert - there are way more things that I like about the GR IV, you can watch the video here (click). It truly is a marvel how Ricoh can make such a capable camera in a tiny package, and the improvements over the predecessors are also worth mentioning!

I had a chance to have a quick hands-on with the latest Fujifilm X-E5 camera, special thanks to the newly opened N4 Camera Store in MyTown Shopping Mall at downtown Kuala Lumpur. I personally think the camera checks all the right boxes - it is compact in size, beautifully stylish in design, has built in EVF, tilt LCD screen, built in 5-Axis image stabilization and it features flagship level internals like 40MP image sensor and latest processor from X-T5. I thought the camera was almost perfect, until I saw the selling pirce, retailing at USD1700/RM7000 body only, that was perhaps the only big complain that I have. A smaller complain would be the AF performance no being on par with my older Olympus PEN E-PL7, you can see the comparison I have done in my latest video where I share more about my thoughts on the X-E5 here (click). 

During my recent Fraser's Hill adventures I managed to do some birding with the loaned OM System OM-5 Mark II camera. I also managed to borrow the Olympus 100-400mm F5-6.3 Mark 1, and the 400mm longest end telephoto reach proved to be useful as the birds were not that near. Fraser's Hill is a popular spot for bird watching and bird photography, it was reported that 250 different species of birds can be found in this one singular location. Of course, I only had limited time divided between birding, shooting insect macro and filming my video for YouTube, so I did the best I can. I tagged along the Malaysian OM System Ambassador, Richard Chong as he guided me to locations where the birds were known to be spotted. I'd be completely useless myself hunting the birds on my own! So shout out to OM System Malaysia team and Richard for all the amazing work! Hey, it is not an everyday thing Robin Wong does birding!

Over the weekend, I had a 3 days 2 nights trip out of the city to Fraser's Hill in Pahang for the international Bird Race 2025 event happening up there. I tagged along the YL Camera team, thanks for having me along and the great hospitality, and of course, the OM System team was also there, and they loaned me the new OM-5 Mark II to play around with during my duration of stay in Fraser's Hill. I took this opportunity to do some nature photography, a little bit of insect macro as well as bird shooting. I will be sharing image samples from the OM-5 Mark II in my coming entries. Here, I just want to divert your attention to my latest video (click here), a hands on preview of the OM-5 Mark II camera, after I have shot with it for a few days. 

The local distributor of OM Digital Solutions contacted me and asked if I was interested in checking out the latest OM-3. I immediately said yes. Special thanks to the people in OM Systems Malaysia, I had the OM-3 and 25mm F1.8 II for about 2 weeks with no strings attached. They did not expect anything in return, and I was free to do anything, and say anything in my blog and YouTube channel. At this rate, a review is already too late, the Internet is already flooded with all kinds of reviews everywhere in the world, and I did not intend to add to that digital noise. Therefore, I thought of only one thing I really wanted to do with the camera - just bring it out and have fun with it! I brought the OM-3 and 25mm F1.8 II and did some shutter therapy in downtown, Kuala Lumpur. I talked about why the OM System OM-3 is an awesome camera for street photography (if you don't mind the glaring retail price at USD2000) in my latest video (click here). I am just dumping the images I have taken from that session!

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). 

There was the consumer touch and try event happening all over Malaysia for the newly launched OM System OM-3 camera, so I decided to pop by Artishutter X N4 Camera Store to get my hands on the OM-3. Special thanks to the awesome people at Artishutter X N4 for allowing me to do my first impressions video in their premises. There are many things that I do really like about the OM-3, but there are also a few potential deal breakers for me as I have used the camera for a just a short duration of time in the store.  I think OM-3 is going to be a hit for OM Digital Solutions, and honestly I cannot wait to see what else they will launch for the remaining of this year 2025. If you prefer to watch my first impressions in a video format, you can do so here (click). 

Happy New Year 2025 to all you awesome people out there! 

Thanks for still visiting this space, and I appreciate your patronage here. To kick start the new year, let's play with something not so new - the Pentax Q! It is almost impossible to find a Pentax Q in Malaysia, I am not even sure if it was ever sold here, and I was very lucky to nab one recently in the used market. I brought the Pentax Q out for a shutter therapy session, and I am sharing plenty of fresh images in this blog article. The Pentax Q is super compact, cute, beautiful in design and solidly built, but I must be 100% honest I did not enjoy using it. The experience was very similar to using any compact point and shoot digital cameras back then - poor image quality which was a consequence of using such tiny 1/2.3" image sensor. I personally think this was a missed opportunity for Pentax, if they have chosen a larger sensor for the Pentax Q, say joining the Micro Four Thirds alliance, the landscape of imaging industry would have been very different. Nevertheless, that is the past, and I share more opinion in my latest video here (click). 

I managed to get my hands on a demo unit of the newly launched Fujifilm X-M5 at a touch and try session happening inside the Artishutter X N4 camera store last Saturday. I am genuinely curious about this camera, an entry level camera with advanced features that is made into a truly compact and lightweight body in the year 2024, and selling for under USD1000 price tag, is it too good to be true? Since I only had the camera inside the store and did shoot with it extensively, obviously this is not going to be a review, but I am merely sharing my hands on experience with the X-M5, what I like and dislike about it. I also have made a new video about the same topic here (click). 

I was experimenting with an interesting technique to shoot birds with my smartphone, purely out of curiosity and fun recently. I attached the Olympus 75-300mm II super telephoto zoom lens onto my smartphone, Poco X6 Pro, well, technically the Olympus 75-300mm II lens was mounted on Olympus Air, a camera module that was then connected to the smartphone wirelessly. I thought this method was quite fun, and it worked really well. I went to Kuala Lumpur Bird Park to get some bird images; some I was quite happy with. I shared the video screenshot of the viewfinder of my smartphone while capturing these bird shots, you can find the full video here (click). 

I know I have been quite harsh in my previous post commenting on the Olympus E-M1X being a mistake, but I did review that camera, and it was a fairly capable Micro Four Thirds camera, perhaps the best performing during its launch. I was in an Olympus Visionary trip to South Africa, so I managed to use the E-M1X with long lenses to shoot some wildlife images, and I supplemented those with even more sample images taken all around Kuala Lumpur at various locations and different scenarios. Insect macro, cityscape, street shooting, night shooting and even a music live performance, I tested the E-M1X in every possible shooting scenario I could do. Sometimes, looking back at these images, I can get impressed by the intense amount of effort I put into my reviews, I am not sure if I am able or willing to do such extensive review again for any camera in the future. It was fun, I enjoyed shooting with the E-M1X, I still think it is too large and heavy for Micro Four Thirds and its existence brought more issues than necessary. Nevertheless, it is a camera, and it can shoot great images. 

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 found a Panasonic Lumix GF2 by crazy luck at the used market for about USD10/RM50 only. I tell you, this kind of fortune does not happen a lot, and boy oh boy was I excited to try the GF2. This earlier generation entry level Micro Four Thirds body can still hold its own today, delivering really good results. There are many things Panasonic did right with the Lumix GF2 which I wish they continued on with their newer modern cameras. Sadly, some of the changes they did were not necessarily for the better. I brought the GF2 out for some street shooting and I am actually impressed with the color output from a Panasonic camera, finally! I made a video to talk about this and more here (click). 

Panasonic has just recently launched the Lumix S9 camera in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I managed to sneak myself inside, as a plus one to my friend Jaya Jaya (thanks man) who was invited to the event. Obviously, again, I am not important enough to be invited directly. I am just a photographer being isolated on his own island. Having the opportunity to get my hands on the Lumix S9 and used it briefly, I decided to do a quick first impressions preview on location and shared some of my thoughts about the Lumix S9. Obviously, this is not a review, I did not have enough time with the camera to make a meaningful review. The Lumix S9 is indeed an interesting camera, and I have a lot of things to say about it. 

Sony took the imaging world by storm when they released their first 1-inch sensor compact camera, the RX100 in 2012. Being so bold to fit a larger sized image sensor into a super compact camera body reaped a lot of benefits - the image quality jumped a few notches in comparison to the peers and competitions using smaller sized image sensors. The RX100 was such a hit that even Panasonic and Canon came up with their own 1-inch sensor camera iterations. Sony continued to push the RX100 further and now we have RX100 Mark 209876254. I found one at the used market and I cannot help myself, so I bought the RX100 original out of curiosity. I shared my thoughts and experience using the RX100 in my latest video here (click). In summary, Sony did not prioritize photographers when they made the RX100 - it has poor handling, laggy LCD screen, sluggish camera operations and sub-par lens quality. Sony cleary designed the camera to please the number worshippers, and it worked. Nevertheless, being the first of its kind, the RX100 did change the landscape of compact cameras, and deserves some respect. 

If you have followed the April Fool's crossover between myself and my friend Matti, you would have come across the Nikon Z5, which I claimed to have purchased myself. That was not part of the April Fool's joke, it was true, I bought a Nikon Z5. I found one unit in the used market in excellent condition at a very good price, in fact it costs about 20% of the full retail price of the new OM System OM-1 II, and I figured I had nothing to lose getting the Z5. After all, if I, for whatever reasons do not like the Z5, I can always re-sell it in the used marketplace. So far, I have not that many issues with the Z5, and have been very impressed with its overall performance, and what you can get out of so little money spent! For my full thoughts, I have shared my opinion on the Z5 on Matti' channel here (click). 

I self invited myself to a studio portrait shooting session organized by photographer and friend, Jojo. He was collaborating with Canon Malaysia, with the R5 and 70-200mm F4 on loan, and he arranged a model photoshoot with make-up artists and all, and I just shamelessly tagged along and planned to have a little fun. I brought along the old, budget Olympus PEN E-PL7, which is more than 10 years old now, together with the cheapest AF Micro Four Thirds kit lenses you can find, the Lumix 12-32mm and Olympus 40-150mm R. While these are super budget setup, I thought they performed incredibly well in this studio shoot and delivered amazingly sharp and detailed results. This is a reminder to myself that I don't need the latest and greatest gear to produce excellent results, there are many other factors that can determine the outcome of the photography results - lighting, talent, make-up, the photographer's vision, just to name a few. And of course, in my latest video showcasing the E-PL7 in action, I also shared some tips on optimizing E-PL7 for this shooting situation. You can find the video here (click). 

As for this blog entry, I shall share the selected images taken from that shooting session. 

Credits

Organizer & Lead Photographer: Julius Elisan (IG @jojoelisan)

Model: Ivani Leang (IG @ivani_leang)

Make Up Artist: Jojie (IG @iamjojiemakeupartist)

I managed to have a quick hands on with the newly launched Fujifilm X100VI at Artishutter X N4 Camera store, where they had a demo unit available for touch and try. I was happy to find out that finally Fuji included 5-Axis Image Stabilization into their latest iteration of X100 series. The lack of any form of image stabilization in the previous X100 incarnations was one of the few complains I had with the camera, which held it back from being a truly great street shooting machine. If you have truly experienced the reliability of powerful image stabilization and how much it can improve your photography, you won't use a camera without one. I took this opportunity to test the 5-Axis IS in the X100VI out during my brief session with the camera, and I made a video to share my findings, as well as my initial thoughts on the camera here (click). 

Less than a week ago, OM Digital Solution released their latest flagship camera - the OM System OM-1 Mark II, which effectively superseded the original OM-1 which was launched just about 2 years ago. I am not here to comment much about the product, a lot has been said already online everywhere, whether positive or negative reaction, I believe most of them are valid, it depends on which camp you belong to, and your reasons for supporting or going against the OM-1 Mark II's product strategy. I am less interested to explore this divisive topic, but I do want to share an interesting observation about the launch of the OM-1 Mark II itself with the lack of online coverage, both from the usual mainstream photography media and independent content creators. This I believe, points to a larger issue that the company, OM Digital Solutions is facing, and not working with the media and independent photographers was a huge, huge mistake. 

Recently I got super curious about using older compact cameras for street photography, so I scoured the used market place and found this Fujifilm XF1 at such a good condition with a price tag that I just cannot say no to. I brought the XF1 to Ipoh for some shutter therapy actions with my friends. The camera worked well and I got some beautiful shots but it stopped working on day 2. There was the "lens control error" which was a common issue that happened to all XF1 cameras after some time of use, some as soon as a few months after newly purchased. I thought the camera looked beautiful, I love the minimalist design yet having functional buttons and control dials layout, truly slim and pocketable size and the camera is capable of delivering good results. However, the deal breaker for me was the effort required to turn on the camera - you have to twist the lens, push it out, then rotate it again to fully turn the camera on. I think that was too many steps and I risk losing shots if I need to react reflexively on the streets, which usually is the case. If the XF1 has the traditional on-off button or switch and no lens twisting is required, I think it is one of the best compacts available for street shooting! I made a video about the XF1 too, you can find it here (click).