ROBIN WONG

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). 

Continuing from yesterday's blog entry about using the Sigma 56mm F1.4 for portraits, here are more shots from the same session. All images were taken on OM System OM-1 camera. Initially the plan was to meet up and shoot in a local park. I arrived an hour and a half earlier than the others to film my talking head footage and B-Rolls for my POV video. However, as it approached the meeting time, the sky turned pitch black and it poured cats and dogs. We decided to change location to an indoor venue, obviously so we did not get wet. I have shot in this particular place several times before, and it has been a reliable, versatile location for portrait shooting. Zarah (IG @zarahjuana_06) our beautiful model was a great sport and I think I got some nice shots of her using the Sigma 56mm F1.4! I don't think I will do a full review for the Sigma 56mm, after all it is an old lens and there are already many reviews available out there. I just want to have fun shooting with the lens! 

Sigma 56mm F1.4 is a highly regarded portrait lens for Micro Four Thirds, and finally I got my hands on one. I have used this lens briefly previously, but never had an extensive shoot with it. I mounted it on my OM System OM-1 and did some portraits shooting, with POV video recorded! You can watch the POV video here (click) to see my camera's LCD screen before I press the shutter button. From this limited experience, I found the Sigma 56mm F1.4 to produce very good results - resolving admirable sharpness with plenty of fine details captured, excellent contrast and beautiful bokeh. This was just a portrait shooting session so I did not shoot the lens with a full review in mind. The lens rendering however lacks overall depth, they look rather flat and could use better 3D pop, which I see more from my usual portrait lenses like Olympus 45mm F1.8 and 75mm F1.8. Nevertheless, it is a decently budget lens, priced way lower than the Olympus 75mm F1.8, so I don't expect the output to be equal. For the money I have paid, indeed the Sigma 56mm F1.4 is a great value lens that delivers beautiful portraits! Special thanks to our model of the day, the beautiful Zarah (IG @zarahjuana_06)

Recently I have been shooting more and more with the Olympus E-620, which I bought just to relive the nostalgia of my early day photography adventures with my first DSLR Olympus E-520. The handling the camera, the turn of the dials, the button presses, the click of the shutter button, the sound of the mirror-slapping and shutter clacking, all brought back sweet memories of me fumbling around my way learning the basics of photography so many years ago. Yet the Olympus E-620 is still a capable shooting machine, while being outdate now in terms of tech and imaging capabilities, it still can deliver great results. There is just something satisfying looking through an optical viewfinder (though I would rather have the safety and assurance of electronic viewfinder for serious work these days), and loud shutter sounds reaffirming that the shots have been taken. These portraits were taken on the same day as the previous blog entry, all on Olympus 50mm F2 Macro lens. These older cameras and lenses sure have some charm to them!

I recently brought the old Olympus E-620 out to do some portraits shooting. Many of you who have followed me from the beginning would know that I started exploring photography more seriously with my first DSLR, the Olympus E-520. Obviously the E-520 has died many years ago after enduring my abuse, well, that only shows I really did use the camera extensively. A few years ago I found the E-620 and I just could not resist the low price in the used marketplace, so I bought it just to relive the nostalgia of my early days of photography journey. The E-620 is still going strong, I paired it with the Olympus 50mm F2 Macro and shot some portraits of my beautiful friend Ivani (IG @ivani_leang). I also made a video to talk about why I prefer to shoot with an older camera like the dinosaur DSLR Olympus E-620 over any modern smartphones, you can check out the video here (click). 

It is always so fun shooting my dear friend Lily (IG @lilyayumiii), even if I am using just a humble old Nikon D50! This session was the same shoot as the previous blog entry, she changed to her second outfit for the day and we roamed the streets of Petaling Street and Masjid Jamek area in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Lily is always such a sport, full of energy and enthusiastic, hence it was easy getting great shots of her portraits. The beautiful morning light helped in getting that warm skin glow! Of course, the 6MP CCD sensor may be looked down by many today, I still think it produces excellent results! Who needs 100MP? 6MP for the win!

I have had the Nikon D50 and 50mm F1.8 D for a while now, which I bought for about USD50. The camera is old, we are talking 20 dinosaur years old, only has 6MP and 5 focusing points. Many would not even want to touch the obsolete camera today, opting for more advanced, latest and greatest gear. I believe if you cannot shoot good images with older gear, your images won't improve a single bit by upgrading to the latest gear. The pixel count, dynamic range and AF speed won't make your lighting control, composition, and creative execution better. I believe it is more important to upgrade our skills as photographers first, before we upgrade our gear. The Nikon D50 is a great reminder for me to put that in practice. I made a POV video to share how I got these portraits of beautiful Lily (IG @lilyayumiii). 

This is a continuation from the previous post about me using an old Olympus Zuiko Digital 50mm F2 Macro lens to shoot some portraits of Lily. Previous I'd stuff as many images as I can in a single blog entry, but that made each post so over bloated, that it almost became an endless scroll to get to all the photographs. These days, I am playing smart, why not split them into multiple entries? Here I am featuring Lily in a different dress, on the same shoot/same day, and oh I forgot to mention the location was downtown Kuala Lumpur in Bukit Bintang area. Lily was so nice to work with, and man that Olympus 50mm F2 lens still produces such amazing results!

I have had the old Olympus Zuiko Digital 50mm F2 Macro lens since the Four Thirds DSLR days, but I never used it on my newer Micro Four Thirds cameras, until recently. I attached the Olympus 50mm F2 lens on my OM System OM-1 (via a 3rd party adapter) and brought this combination out to shoot some lovely portraits of my friend, Lily (click). I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the lens despite its age, it played well with the OM-1, with more than sufficiently functional autofocus, and the image rendering as expected from this legendary Olympus lens was beautiful - super sharp like a PRO grade lens with creamy smooth bokeh. Special thanks to Lily fo being such an amazing model!

This blog entry showcases the last of the series of portraits taken during the test of Brightin Star 50mm F0.95 on OM System OM-3. The model was the ever-amazing Lily (IG @lilyayumiii). For the final look, she changed to a more casual looking outfit, and we contrast that faded, pale overall colors against bold, bombastic rainbow themed stairs! Of all the locations we were shooting Lily, this was the most fun to me personally, I enjoy the loud, bright and vivid backgrounds. Lily did such an incredible job posing and exuding the youthful energy, being cheerful and playful at the same time. 

Continuing directly from the previous blog entry, this is the second series of portraits taken during the test of Brightin Star 50mm F0.95 on the OM System OM-3 camera. The awesome model Lily (IG @lilyayumiii) was on her second outfit of the day. All images were shot with available, natural light, and it was a cloudy day with the sun light diffused heavily through the clouds, creating soft overall look which was working on our favor for this portrait session. I love the rendering of the Brightin Star 50mm F0.95, not only it can render pleasing bokeh, smooth creamy out of focus area, but there is a realistic, natural look to the human shots taken with this lens. The lens is sharp, but not being clinically sharp and the characters, or shall I say the flaws of the lens added much required depth and organic look to the images. If you have not done so, you can check out the video I have done on the Brightin Star 50mm F0.95 lens.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Meike sent me their 85mm F1.4 full frame lens for Nikon Z mirrorless system and I brought the lens out for some testing sessions, shooting with my Nikon Z5 camera. I have done a mini review video; you can check it out here (click). Basically, I am quite impressed with the optical performance of the Meike 85mm F1.4 lens, it renders very sharp images with good contrast and beautiful bokeh, and it manages the lens flaws quite well. There is nothing much to complain about the lens, with the budget price tag, it easily becomes a highly recommended lens for those who seek to stretch their budget on Nikon Z mirrorless system. In one of the testing sessions, I was shooting this beautiful model Lily (IG @lilyayumiii), so I shall share the series of portraits taken of Lily in this blog entry. I shall share more images from other sessions in my coming blog entries. 

During my recent trip to Kuching I joined an outdoor portrait shooting session organized by Nunong, and it was the beautiful talent Gillian at Brooke Dockyard area. I have shared in my recent blog entry some images taken with the Nikon Z5 and Meike 85mm F1.4, the lens which was sent for me to review, and it is still in the progress of testing. However, in that same session, I also brought along another mystery camera and an equivalent 40mm lens, and I took some shots with that setup as well. Here are the images from that unrevealed old, cheap camera, which I shall talk about in near future. 

While I was home in Kuching, Borneo recently for mum's birthday celebration, there was an arranged model outdoor portrait shooting session and my friend Kieron invited me to come along for the shoot. I thought it would be a great opportunity to do something a bit out of usual, as I normally shoot portraits of strangers on the streets instead of an arranged portrait session. Nevertheless, keeping an open mind is important and I am earning a living shooting portraits too, so a bit of fun shooting a model at Brooke Dockyard (not really at the dockyard exactly, but the surrounding areas) was something I needed. In this blog entry, I am sharing images shot with the Nikon Z5 and Meike 85mm F1.4 lens. Meike sent me the 85mm F1.4 lens for review and I am in the midst of gathering sufficient sample images. So far, I am loving that lens! I will talk more about my experience using that lens in my coming review, so stay tuned!