ROBIN WONG

While testing the OM System 20mm F1.4 PRO for my review, I went to the part and did a casual lifestyle portrait shoot. The beautiful talent was Melanie, whom was such a joy to work with and the whole session was arranged by dear friend and Leica Ambassador, Kieron Long. I took this opportunity to do a POV video as well to show a bit of what happened behind the scenes, what's in front and around my camera and bits and pieces of my small interactions with the model during the shoot. You can find the POV video here (click). As for the rest of this blog entry, I shall just spam the portrait images I have shot with the OM System 20mm F1.4 PRO on my own OM-D E-M1 Mark III camera. 

I always say that I prefer 50mm equivalent focal length for street photography or anything longer for portraits, but whenever I am not doing street or anything too serious, as a casual shooting lens I'd like something wider. Hence the hunt for a wider lens/camera combo began some time ago, starting with Fuji XF10 (28mm equiv lens), then there was Fuji X100F (35mm equiv) and a few other experimentations along the way. I recently found myself loving the Canon EF 35mm F2 on the dinosaur Canon 5D. Nothing to write home about this combo, but it just works. The images came out looking beautiful, the full frame produces just enough shallow depth of field to isolate my subjects yet maintaining a rather wide angle composition, and the prime lens kept the camera setup still relatively small and manageable. 

I went to Kuantan over a weekend which I have vlogged here (Part 1 and Part 2). For this blog entry, I am sharing some casual, random snapshots I took from the Canon 35mm lens! Nothing beats no-stress, spontaneous shutter clicking action from time tot time. 

It has been 3 years since I last saw Nadir performing live, no thanks to the pandemic and now finally I had a chance to see them again. I went to Riuh! Nao Malacca to catch them live and I shot them with my Olympus OM-D gear. I have captured a live music performance and published the video here (click). I also have shared my shooting experience using the M.Zuiko 75mm F1.8 and I talked about why I love that lens so much, that it was one of the reasons that kept me from jumping ship to full frame! Yeap, there was no other lens like the Olympus 75mm F1.8, truly unique, having super sharp optics, with 150mm equivalent reach, super bright at F1.8 yet being so small and light!

All images were taken with Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III and lenses M.Zuiko 75mm F1.8 or 12mm F2. 

I have just published my full review (video here) for the OM System 20mm F1.4 PRO lens yesterday on YouTube. This time I shall skip writing a blog article review, because I have been overwhelmed with work and travel recently. I have been travelling two weekends back to back, from previously in Kuantan for 3 days to just last weekend in Malacca for 4 days. In between I have shoots, meetings and still actively creating content for my YouTube, well, because YouTube videos pay my bills and that takes priority over this blog. I know some of you have mentioned you prefer reading reviews in article format than watching in video, but this time I have to just go with the video. 

I did bring the OM System 20mm F1.4 PRO out for street shooting, after all the 40mm equivalent focal length is popular for street photographers. I am sharing my photographs taken from the street outing, which I have also made a POV video (here) to show you how I got my shots. I am sharing some of my shots in this entry! All images shot on the E-M1 Mark III. 

I always believe in minimalism when it comes to my shutter therapy sessions. When I shoot on the street, I want to keep things as simple and as straightforward as possible, and I find a lot of new photographers struggle with this. I am sharing a few tips on how to shoot more effectively on the street and I think minimalism is the way to go. I have also done a POV street video showing you what's happening around and in front of me before I click the shutter button. This time I went to Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur with my friends Jon Low and Andrew Chow and I was shooting with the Fujifilm X100F. POV video here (click). 

I got the OMSystem 20mm F1.4 PRO lens on loan OMD World (local distributor for Olympus/OMSystem) and I tagged along my friend Kieron Long (Leica Ambassador) to shoot at a fishermen village, Kampung Telaga Air in Borneo. I was visiting my mum in Kuching, so at the same time I took the opportunity to put the lens through some torture test. Special thanks to Suffian Sabeli who hosted us and became our tour guide, bringing us on boat around to shoot the fisherman doing his thing out in the ocean. This was definitely something very new and refreshing for me, out of the usual urban vibes, and I enjoyed myself shooting the fisherman and exploring the nearby village after that. I am still testing the 20mm PRO lens and collecting sample images, a review will be coming for sure. Of course, I also vlogged this session in POV style video, you can see it here (click). 

Images were all shot with Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III and OMSystem 20mm F1.4 PRO lens. 

Normally I'd write an accompanying review article here in this blog together with a YouTube review video, but I am making an exception this time. I was travelling to my hometown Kuching for 2 weeks, and I was busy spending time with mummy dearest, celebrating her birthday, and catching up with relatives and friends. I had very little time for myself while I was in my hometown. The review video was made before that trip, and I made sure I mentioned everything I wanted to say about the lens review there. I shall not repeat them in this article format, I have just returned to Kuala Lumpur and I needed rest and time to recover before I am back fully functional and going full swing again. You can find my review video for the OMSystem 40-150mm F4 PRO lens here (click). 

Instead, I shall share my favourite shots taken with the lens during my test shoots. All images were shot with Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III and OMSystem 40-150mm F4 PRO. Lens on loan from OMD World Imaging (local distributor for Olympus/OMSystem products).