ROBIN WONG

This coming Sunday, 23 February 2025 at 10pm Malaysian time, I will be a guest on Rob Trek's YouTube Live Stream, together with a group of amazing Micro Four Thirds photographers and content creators! Special thanks to Rob Trek for hosting this, you are the MVP for coordinating and getting everyone together for the live stream. I look forward to joining Emily Lowrey (Micro Four Nerds), Peter Forsgard and Lee Hoy to talk about Micro Four Thirds and photography topics! If you are free, please do come in and chat with us, I do have some interesting things to share during this session! Live Stream link 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). 

Last Saturday evening, I was invited by my dear friend Jaya to watch the Fish Lantern Parade happening at Little Ghost Lane (or locally known as Kwai Chai Hong). My friend Kieon Long visiting from Kuching also joined us. I was not planning to shoot the parade in the first place, I was out and about and was doing other things. Since I have never seen a Fish Lantern Parade before, and it did look quite interesting, I decided to put the camera to work. I had the Nikon Z5 with me and I was in the midst of testing another lens, but I brought the versatile Nikon 40mm F2 lens with me, so used the 40mm F2 for the entire shoot. I did wish that the parade started a little later when the sky got a little darker. In some shots, the bright sky was fighting with the glow from the lanterns, and I think the lanterns would have shined brighter as the sun set further. 

Last Sunday afternoon, I attended a private launch event for yet another exhibition by dear friend Azul Adnan in Kuala Lumpur. This time the location was at a cafe in Cheras, Erni & Tina. This exhibition showcased some of Azul's past work, all compiled in one place, while the patrons can enjoy coffee, tea and treats while viewing the images exhibited on the cafe walls. Since I was away for 2 weeks for Chinese New Year holidays, and just got back to KL in time for this event, my fingers were unbearably itchy and I worked my Nikon Z5, capturing some shots from the event. I am sharing these images here, taken with various lenses - Viltrox 20mm F2.8, Nikon 40mm F2 and TTArtisan 75mm F2. Azul's exhibition at Erni & Tina will continue to run until end of March 2025!

I was away from Kuala Lumpur, and was back in my hometown Kuching, Borneo for more than 2 weeks recently. I went home for the Chinese New Year celebrations with my family. Every time I went home to Kuching, I would embark on my Kolo Mee journey. Those who follow me on my personal Facebook account would know that I post photographs of Kolo Mee every single day I was home without fail. Of course I took some images of them with my camera and I shared them here. 

The last tine I tried the Panasonic 20mm F1.7 was more than 10 years ago, and it did not leave a good impression on me. From my memory with limited experience shooting with the lens, the AF was the slowest among all Micro Four Thirds lenses and there was something unnatural and not pleasing about the image rendering from the lens. Therefore I never bothered to look at the lens at all. I must admit the Panasonic 20mm F1.7 is a favorite lens among the Micro Four Thirds community, especially the street shooters and I thought it would be a great time to revisit the lens. I found one in the used market recently and I did some shutter therapy with my beloved Panasonic GM1. You can see my video I have made on the same topic here (click). 

I purchased the Fuji XF10 in 2020 because I found one at a very good price, and I was curious about a "Ricoh GR III alternative". I did shoot with the camera for a year or two and gave it to a friend, because I no longer used it as often as other cameras that I have. Fast forward to 2025, I thought it would be a great time to revisit this camera, so I borrowed it (took it back for a while) from that said friend, and did some shutter therapy with it recently. I think Fujifilm should definitely bring the XF10 back! There is clearly a huge demand for compact, advanced cameras with larger sensor and designed for street photography - an updated XF10 with much improved AF, weather-sealing, built in image stabilization and tiltable-LCD screen would have been a huge hit! I talked about this in my latest video here (click).