This is the rose garden within the grounds. The vines here are just starting to grow again anew.
PhotoBlog of Random Images
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09/25/13  Olympus OM-D - Olympus 12-50 f3.5-6.31224
E-M5 Focal Length: 43 mm Aperture: f/22.0 Exposure Time: 1/125 sec ISO: 200 • Olympus • OM-D • 12-50 f3.5-6.3
09/24/13  Olympus OM-D - Olympus 12 50 f3.5-6,3Just thought I'd post an image showing how green and lovely this golf course is. It's a very nice park for a walk. One thing I must admit, Olympus has the best blue in the industry. Just look at that sky. 1234
E-M5 Focal Length: 12 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/320 sec ISO: 200 • Olympus • OM-D • 12-50 f3.5-6.3
09/23/13  Olympus OM-D - Olympus 12-50 f3.5-6.3Following on from the location from yesterday's post, I took alto the OM-D with the 12-50 f3.5-6.3 kit lens along. I wanted to see if I could get to like the lens a little more than at present. Well, my final verdict is it's an ok lens, slow at the long end, nearly as slow as the Leica X Vario but it has IS on the Olympus where the Leica has no IS system at all. One thing is very good on the 12-50 and that is the macro feature. Fixed at 43mm it is really great if you don't want to take a dedicated macro lens with you. A very nice feature. In the image above you can see a part of the 5 star hotel in the very green and lush grounds. 1135
E-M5 Focal Length: 47 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/1000 sec ISO: 200 • Olympus • OM-D • 12-50 f3.5-6.3
09/22/13  Panasonic G5 - Panasonic 35-100 f2.8This is quite an interesting place to photograph. It's a very high class hotel sighted in the middle of a once private estate. On the grounds at one end you have the stables which aren't cheap at all but then this isn't a cheap area. It's claimed that the area surrounding this hotel has the most millionaires in Germany per head of population. That's a lot of millionaires! There is also a golf course that surrounds the hotel and is a full 18 hole course. Very nice. To get to the riding paths you have to cross the fairways and this is where the problems start. When the riders start their way they really take their time and of course the golfers have to wait until they have pased. The biggest problems start at the weekends when a lot of riders visit the stables. I'm surprised the golfers get a round in :-) The image above shows one of these moments, and I'm sure I can hear the women saying "Just get a move on, we've a game to finish". 1153
DMC-G5 Focal Length: 100 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/125 sec ISO: 160 • Panasonic • G5 • 35-100 f2.8
09/21/13  Panasonic G5 - Panasonic 35-100 f2.8Took this image with the aperture set to f8. I should have been at f2.8 because I wanted to isolate the golf cart from the background. We all make mistakes. Focusing wasn't a problem here as the golf cart is pretty big and the focusing area was set to the smallest size possible. Looking around I couldn't see the owner, even as I left the scene noone returned to claim it. Strange. 1183
DMC-G5 Focal Length: 100 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/200 sec ISO: 160 • Panasonic • G5 • 35-100 f2.8
09/20/13  Focusing with the m4/3 systemsI decided to test a few things with the Panasonic G5 focusing system to see how reliable it really is. I used the G Vario 35-100 f2.8 lens for this because of the shallow DOF you can get with it. Well it does have it's problems, especially when used with scenes like in the above image. I was NOT able to get the system to focus on the flag using the AF system on the G5. I had to manually focus on the flag. The reason being of course the background had more contrast in it and the camera ust ignored the flag pole. This to me does stress the problem with these current systems. However, with more manufacturers introducing sensors with integrated PDAF and CDAF, the problem could easily be fixed. The Nikon V1 has this already integrated and it shows in how accurate the Nikon V1 is at focusing. It just never missed and is a real bonus to users of that system. On sensor PDAF with CDAF is the future and I think all future systems will have it incorporated into their systems. 1168
DMC-G5 Focal Length: 100 mm Aperture: f/2.8 Exposure Time: 1/1600 sec ISO: 160 • Panasonic • G5 • 35-100 f2.8
08/18/13  G.A.S.There's been some talk about this in many forums and blogs lately. I thought I'd post some of my thoughts on the subject just to get it out of the way. By that I mean I need to analyse my own thoughts on my own GAS. As I see it, this problem really exists where people think that buying the latest and greatest will improve their photography, making up excuses and needs that really don't exist to justify their purchases. This problem (I won't call it an illness because it isn't) will exist until people realise that it's not the equipment that matters. You've probably heard that argument a hundred times either in magazines, on blogs or books or just by word of mouth. It won't make a difference for a lot of people because they just don't want to hear it. All that matters to them is that next lens or the newest camera. The only solution is to think differently not only about your photography but also about how you live your life. Until that changes then there will be no solution to G.A.S. Olivier Duong (www.f-stopeight.com) posted some interesting articles about his own GAS and how he solved it for himself. Part 1 can be found here. Just read that one and keep going. It really is a great read and will certainly get you thinking. At the bottom of the first article are links to part 2 and 3. Do yourself a favour and please do read the article. I certainly have a lot of gear, many cameras and a hoard of lenses. But, I know that more equipment will not improve my own photography, I just love collecting. There's only one thing that will improve your photography and that is to train your eye. Practice, practice and more practice. You hear a lot about taking more photographs, which could be interpreted as meaning holding your finger on the shutter release button. That would be foolish of course because all you get is a lot of images of the same thing. Try looking at it this way; work the subject. Look at it from different angles and work the subject. Go high, go low, get closer to the subject or put a telephoto lens on your camera and see what you get. All the equipment in the world isn't going to help you improve your eye, I should know. 1191
unknown Focal Length: unknown Aperture: unknown Exposure Time: unknown ISO: unknown 07/21/13  Sony Nex-7 - LEA2 - Sony DT 55-200 f4-5.6I suppose I'd better get this done and over with. Adobe Photoshop CC. Right now I'm using CS3 and I was going to upgrade pretty soon. Now, there's no way I'm going to increase my monthly basic costs; on the contrary I'm trying to reduce it and reduce it I will. That means I'm going to have to make some decisions that I'm not going to like making. Do I stay with the present version or am I going to look elsewhere for something a little more basic. I have to admit, I don't use 90% of the functions available in Photoshop but it does what I do. I've used it for so long (albeit an older version) I know what I'm doing and it takes me a few minutes to finish off an image for web or print or for a stock site. I've got all my actions, plug-ins and whatnots in there and I know what they are. I'm not looking forward to re-learning another program and I'm sure that my plug-ins won't be compatible with the other programs. Why? Because Photoshop is the standard program out there and every image has been "Photoshoped", even if Photoshop hasn't been used for post processing. Lightroom: Yes I have Lightroom and I've just updated to the latest version and I do a lot in Lightroom nowadays but I like finishing my images off in Photoshop. I guess I just hate change. That's bad because if you don't change, you lose. A lot of functions have crept into Lightroom in the last few upgrades that it nearly, but only nearly, gives me all the functions that I require. There are still a few things I still do in Photoshop. As Google released the full Nik suite for something like €150 I jumped on it. That is now incorporated into Lightroom and I've just purchased a couple of other donation ware software that I hope it will help me get weaned off Photophop. I'll let you know how I get along. Other photo editing software: I've been looking around the Internet for a substitute to Photoshop and I'm not really impressed with any on them really. It's like learning another language and I'm tired of doing that too. Let's have a little list of possible candidates: I looked at this many years ago and I just didn't like it. Had too much of the Linux look for my taste but I've just downloaded the latest version and installed it. One major point it's got going for it is that it's free. Now that's what I call a good deal. Seems to have improved a lot since I last installed it so Gimp will be looked at a little further. Installed the test version and it doesn't look too bad. Going to have to play with this some more too. I haven't bought any OnOneSoftware packages, and I just didn't like the look of this suite. Going to get binned and I'm not going to consider it. It might be a very well thought out program and works wonderfully, but not for me. I don't think so. Doesn't offer enough to even consider it. I even bought the earlier version of this software and started using it in earnest. However, it was soooooooo slow I gave up in the end. I don't think I'm going back to this suite. I suppose it's a "Once bitten, twice shy" situation. The Lightroom plug-ins I bought were from this site: Photographers Toolbox. I donated some money to keep the site going and they might supplement my Lightroom workflow. Now that LR5 incorporates the straightening tool (Upright), Radial Gradient tool and the Advanced Healing Brush that eliminates a lot from Photoshop. It just gets better with every release. That's all I'm going to consider. Any more and I would lose interest in it all. It's not something I like doing (testing software) although I have been ion the industry for some time, which might just be the reason I don't like doing it. There's a good article on TOP (The Online Photographer) that reflects my thoughts exactly. Photoshop is too complicated for what I do and Lightroom just doesn't do enough at present. I want the same software product that he does, something not too complicated, easy to learn, does just enough to eliminate Photoshop altogether and doesn't cost too much. Wishful thinking on my part. Why did I bring all this up in this post? Well, it's partly because of the image above. Cycling through Frankfurt a few weeks ago I came across a building site and the outer perimeter was covered in graffiti. It was excellent stuff and the image above is just one photograph I took of the entire wall. I was wishing I was that talented but I have to revert to other methods to get my creativity going, hence Photoshop and my dilemma. If anyone has any other ideas or programs they use, I would appreciate some feedback or recommendations. 1540
NEX-7 Focal Length: 55 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/100 sec ISO: 200 • Sony • Nex-7 • LEA2 • 55-200 f4-5.6 • software
07/02/13  Fujifilm X-E1 - Fujinon 18-55 f2.8-4 Kit LensI took this system out together with the Panasonic G5 and the 45-150 f4-5.6 when I tested that system. That's why the images may look familiar to you. I took the same images with both cameras just to get a feel how both performed under the same lightling conditions. The Fujifilm files are much easier to work with and results are very good. I would say they beat the G5 images hands down.
I have always been fighting with my Panasonic raw files with every camera that came out after the DMC-L1. I think that is the only camera that I was exceptionally pleased with from Panasonic. The sharpest files I've ever got seem to be from the Panasonic DMC-L10 because of the very weak AA filter.
I find that whenever I put the Panasonic raw files through LR 4.4 (or any other converter for that matter) they always have a magenta colour cast to them. I don't see it when developing the files but I do when I open the TIFFs in Photoshop afterwards. This causes me a lot more work to correct but I can't seem to fix it in LR. I might just install Silkypix that came with the camera. Maybe I can get some better TIFFs from that.
Anybody else see this colour cast? I'd be very grateful for any insight as to a fix. 1165
X-E1 Focal Length: 55 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/400 sec ISO: 200 • Fujifilm • X-E1 • 18-55 f2.8-4
07/01/13  Fujifilm X-E1 - Fujinon 18-55 f2.8-4 Kit LensIt's about time I posted a couple more from the Fujifilm X-E1 and the 18-55 f2.8-4 kit lens again. The dynamic range of this camera is astounding. The sun was to my right as can be seen in the sky at upper right of the image above. I know my m4/3 cameras (apart from the OM-D maybe) would have blown this area with no hope of getting any detail back in raw processing.
I have seen a couple of reviews on the Internet about this lens and I agree with them wholeheartedly that it is a special lens. It's what's stopping me purchasing the remaining primes for the system. There is the 14mm of course but at €1000 it's just too expensive for my taste. I wouldn't use it that much anyway. I'm now waiting for the 55-200 zoom that is due out about now then I've got a nice system that will give me 18mm to 200mm focal length range. The question then is how the planned 10-24 zoom will perform. If that is up to the 18-55 standard then I'll purchase that instead of the primes.
Fantastic system. 1406
X-E1 Focal Length: 18 mm Aperture: f/8.0 Exposure Time: 1/250 sec ISO: 200 • Fujifilm • X-E1 • 18-55 f2.8-4
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COMMENTS
[ posted by Azim Abdulla, 10/15/13 14:09 ]
Thnks for info. What do you mean by ¨primes ¨? Is the 55-200 zoom out now ? And then is the 10-24 zoom another option.
Appreciate getting clarification from you. I have bought the X-E1 some months ago here in Switzerland but was told that there are no other zoom lenses available.
[ posted by Dil, 10/15/13 14:29 ]
Azim,
A "prime" lens is a lens that has only one focal length. I.e. It doesn't zoom. Fuji has a number of them like the new 23mm or the excellent 35 f1.4. The 55-200 is out and is an excellent lens although it is a little front heavy on the X-E1. I'll be posting some images from that lens shortly. I'm surprised that the lens ia so cheap. The 10-24 zoom isn't out yet but I have seen some images of it. It's rather big and I don't think I'll be purchasing it. Hope that helps.
Dil