Engine and Wing, Southwest Airlines

In a couple of days, I going to start, what may be, a trip of a lifetime. I’m going to travel internationally and in the US for the next two weeks. I’m very excited and a bit anxious. You see, it’s been a while since I did a real international trip and it’s the first time I’m going to a developing country (not including 4 hours in Mexico). For now, I’m not going to say where I’m going but I’m hoping to make a lot of great photographs. There should be a lot of architecture involved, along with street photography, photographic observations and possibly the occasional portrait. In other words, more of the same kind of things I typically shoot, except it will be different, because it will be from countries on the other side of the world. For me, it would certainly feel exotic. I’m not entirely sure how it’s going to turn out, which I guess is part of the fun.

In addition to the images, I’m also hoping that there will be interesting stories that I can blog about. I’ll also have a lot to say about the trip preparations that I’m doing. What cameras do I bring? How do I take a full range of gear without weighing myself down? Do I take the Canon 7D, the Olympus E-PL1s or the Sony NEX-5? Should I bring a tripod? I’ve thought a lot about this and I will see how my preparations turn out. There is almost an overwhelming amount of choices but a limited amount of practical space. Sure the photography will be fun, but I don’t want to be miserable touring around with a lot of gear. I also don’t want to stick out even more than the obvious tourist that I will be. So expect to see upcoming posts of how I decided what to bring and if my gear decisions worked out.

I’m not sure how good my internet access will be for part of the trip. I also don’t know how much free time I’ll have so I’m assuming I won’t be doing much blogging. If lucky, I may be able to post some images to mostlyfotos, my one image per day blog. I’ll preset mostlyfotos to post photographs from my library but I’ll also see if I can inject some images from my trip abroad. So check out mostlyfotos during my absence for some clues about my trip destinations. And see you in about 2 – 3 weeks for more updates to this blog.

Take care and keep shooting.

With the introduction of the Olympus OM-D the natural question is how does it compare with the competition. From the pricing of the cameras and positioning in the market the Sony NEX-7 comes to mind as a logical point of comparison. Also, while the Sony was introduced several months ago, due to the terrible floods in Thailand, the actual high volume availability of the Sony will only be a month or so before the Olympus. There are surprising similarities and some big differences. I decided to write this blog post to help sort out the two systems for myself. Of course, Fujifilm also just introduced their high-end mirror-less interchangeable lens camera, the X-Pro1. However, from a pricing standpoint, this system is clearly for a different demographic. So how does the Olympus OM-D E-M5 compare with the Sony NEX-7? Let the comparison begin.

When I started looking at the feature set, it seemed clear to me that Olympus went down the Sony checklist to try to match or beat its features. Both camera companies are clearly going after the premium EVIL (electronic viewfinder, Interchangeable lens) market. When you look at the standard kit lens pricing, the two cameras are only $50 apart. The Olympus comes with a 12mm – 50mm lens for $1299. The Sony and the 18mm – 55mm lens sells for $1349. When you compare the focus length in 35mm equivalents the Olympus has a longer 24mm to 100mm range while the Sony has a 27mm to 83mm range. The Olympus also sells a less expensive kit with a very similar range as the Sony for $1099. Both cameras feature a premium build using magnesium alloy. The Olympus ups the game by adding weather sealing to the body and to the 12-50mm lens. The NEX-7 follows the previous NEX aesthetic which is a throughly modern design without any cues from the past. The Olympus plays the nostalgia card by taking styling elements from is old film based OM SLR line. Both feature touch sensitive, tilt-able OLED displays. Both have high-resolution electronic view finders. The Olympus and Sony both take HD video and feature fast focusing systems. So with all the similarities, what sets these guys apart? You can go down the feature list and you may prefer an implementation of one vendor over another but it comes down to a few key differences.

For me there are two important considerations in a camera. The first is, of course, image quality. And sure, the user interface counts for a lot and the camera needs to feel good in hand. Both cameras have loads of user configurable buttons and dials. Which you like better will depend on your individual taste. You will have to play with both and decide for yourself which feels better. The second consideration is if the camera’s design point matches your style of photography. This needs a bit of explaining. The Fujifilm X100 is a fantastic camera. It is great for street photography, casual shooting and even environmental portraits. However, it does not work at all as an action and sport camera. You have a fixed focal length lens (at 35mm) and it’s just not fast enough for most sports. If You are a sports photographer, the Fujifilm X100 would make a lousy choice even though it is a very good camera, make sense? Likewise, if you had a top of the line Canon 1DM4 or Nikon D4 which excel at sports, they probably won’t be your first choice for street photography. There are different kinds of photography and you have to keep in mind what kind of photography a particular camera is designed for.

So lets start with image quality. Image quality is determined by many factors. It is not simply just the sensor. The image processing engine, the available lenses and image stabilization all factor into the equation. And before getting into the image quality discussion, I have to say the technical image quality has very little to do with how good a photograph is. This is a point for a different blog post however, I just wanted to mention this because, I know very well that image quality is not the most important measure of a photograph. So with that out-of-the-way, here are the important differences that may set the image quality apart.

The Sony NEX-7 has a APS-C size sensor at 24MP. It is a larger sensor at a higher resolution than the Olympus micro 4/3 sensor at 16MP. Generally, larger sensors have a better image quality with lower noise at higher ISOs. While we still do not know how good the Olympus’ sensor is, the high ISO noise characteristic may not be too different. Yes, the Sony has as larger sensor but it also stuffs more pixels into their sensor. A high-resolution sensor should have a definite advantage resolving detail especially if the camera can be set at low ISOs. So for portraits, product photography and landscapes, the Sony may be a better choice.

One of the major strengths of the Olympus and a weakness for the Sony is the selection of lenses. The micro 4/3 format has been out longer and with both Panasonic and Olympus making lenses, there is a very healthy selection of good quality lenses. While some other manufactures are on board to make NEX compatible lenses, Sony is currently the only supplier. There are only a handful of lenses and many of them are not of stellar quality. Sony did release the Zeiss 24mm f1.8 which should be a great lens but with a premium price of $1000. On the Olympus side, there is a slew of high quality prime lenses such as the 12mm f2, 20mm f1.7, 25mm f1.4 and 45mm f1.8. There are super wide-angle zooms like the 7-14mm from Panasonic and the 9-18mm from Olympus and both companies have a large choice of telephoto zooms. It will take Sony a long time to catch up, if ever, with the lens selection available for the micro 4/3 platform. Note: When comparing these focal lengths to the 35mm equivalent, multiply the size by 1.5 for the Sony and by 2x on micro 4/3 lenses.

Another very large advantage for the Olympus is the in-body image stabilization (IS). All of the Olympus micro 4/3 cameras have IS but the new E-M5 improves this significantly with a 5 axis stabilization. The Sony has IS built into the lens but not every lens has IS. With the Olympus, every single lens has IS, even 30 year old manual focus lenses. Now, if you primarily shoot your camera on tripod or in good light, IS is not as much of a factor. However, if you are into street photography especially in less that ideal light, IS is a godsend. Want to shoot indoors without a flash, it maybe possible with IS and a large aperture lens. In darker conditions that expensive Zeiss lens is not going to help as much even with a f1.8 aperture. You will have to crank up the ISO to compensate. With the Olympus, I can use the 20mm Panasonic lens at f1.7, keep the ISO lower and still get the shot by relying on image stabilization. However, here is were the subject and the type of photography is a factor. If you are shooting action, image stabilization is not going to help you. IS is for slow or non-moving objects. IS will not magically stop action. So depending on what you shoot, IS can be crucial or just a nice to have option.

Finally there are purely personal factors in image processing which may sway you to one camera of the other. I have come to realize that I like the Olympus color and exposure more than the Sony color and exposure (I also own a Sony NEX-5). This, of course, is my personal taste. You may like the Sony’s image rendering better. So I can not claim an advantage for either camera in this area. This will be your personal taste.

I wrote in a blog post called Why I’m not buying the Sony NEX-7 – Revisited a couple of months ago where I talk about the factors that make me less interested in a Sony NEX-7. Don’t get me wrong, the NEX-7 appears to be a fantastic camera, especially if it fits your requirements. Getting back to what I said in the beginning, you really need to look at the camera fitting the type of photography you do. With the high-resolution sensor, the Sony NEX-7 will be a very nice camera, especially if you can shoot it at lower ISOs. The 24MP should give you fantastic resolution. Keep in mind though, that the Sony system does not have many lenses that can take advantage of this great sensor. A high-resolution sensor is no good without sharp, high quality glass. But for people who have, say a Leica lens, you can use an adapter to attach it to a NEX-7. You can get an extremely high quality camera that works with high quality Leica glass. The Sony also has a wonderful manual focusing aid called focus peaking. This allows manual lenses to be quickly and accurately focused by looking at the highlighted areas on the viewfinder. Some people claim they like to focus via focus peaking even more than the range finder focusing used on the Leicas. Michael Reichmann loves his Sony NEX-7 and compares it with a Leica M9. So there certainly people who have high praise for the Sony. However, for me, I like to shoot in lower light conditions. Having image stabilization and a selection of high quality primes is important. I don’t have a Leica lens to use and I don’t have much interest in manual focusing lenses. I’m also frugal and I didn’t think the Sony NEX-7 had the price performance that matches my Olympus setup. But how about the Olympus OM-D E-M5 (I still think this is a silly name, let call it a OM-D5 for short), it is basically the same price as the premium Sony?

For me the OM-D5 is certainly enticing but I’m unsure if I’m going to get it. I will have to see how much better the sensor is. The expensive features such as the electronic view finder and the magnesium alloy body with weather seals are features that I can live without. I’m secretly hoping that the next Olympus Pen (E-P4?) will have the same sensor but at a much lower price. I’ll keep an open mind and see how the OM-D5 stacks up when the results come in. The good news is that we have a choice. The mirror-less EVIL market is very competitive and new products are battling it out for our money. I hope I gave you a fairly unbiased view of how these two cameras stack up. And while it’s true that I’m not interested in the NEX-7, I’m not necessarily a fan of all things Olympus. Yes, I like the lower cost of the Olympus Pens for their price performance, especially the E-PL1 which I use as a basis for my two camera setup. While I’m satisfied with my cameras right now, it is always fun to think about what’s new. I will continue to see what Sony, Olympus and Panasonic comes out with next. I’m certainly eyeing the new high quality Fujifilm cameras. I’m holding out hope that Nikon will come out with large aperture primes for their V1 and J1. Heck, I still have some hope that even Canon will come out with their EVIL offering, though their Powershot G1X seems interesting. But ultimately, all this dreaming and thinking of equipment is not going to make me a better photographer so I will need to get out there and keep shooting. See you out there on a photowalk.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 (courtesy of dpreview)

This week, we saw the introduction of two major cameras. On Tuesday, Nikon announced their long-awaited 36 megapixel, full frame D800. The next day, Olympus took the wraps off the well leaked OM-D E-M5 (kind of a cryptic product name, why couldn’t they call it something shorter like the OM-D5), the most sophisticated micro 4/3 camera to date. While I have no doubt that the Nikon will be a fantastic camera, I’m really not going to talk about it much. Since I shoot with Canon, Olympus and Sony I’m not wed to any particular brand. Rather, I find a camera like D800 catering to a high-end clientele or high-end wannabes. Sure, for some people 36MP will be a necessity and will give them a competitive advantage but for the serious amateur is this over kill? I think so. Of course, if you’ve followed this blog, you know my bias. It’s not a brand bias, I have nothing against Nikon. Rather, I’m scaling down my interest to smaller, more practical cameras. In fact, I’m more interested in the Nikon 1 series than their high-end SLRs. Given this background, you might have guessed that I’m more excited by the Olympus OM-D announcement.

Spec-wise, there is a lot to love about the new E-M5, part of the new Olympus OM-D line. A lot of sites have published the E-M5 specifications so I won’t repeat them here. Keep in mind that all we have right now is marketing copy, written in the most enthusiastic and exciting way. That is what marketers do, right? We will have to wait for the actual test results. So I’ll take statements like the “fastest auto-focus” with a grain of salt. However, it is evident that this model has improved over the previous Pen line in some significant ways. With the magnesium, water-resistant build, the focus speed, the new sensor and the advanced image stabilization, this is the most serious and high-end micro 4/3 camera to date. Besting even the well regarded Panasonic G line.

Here are the 2 most exciting features for me.

New 16MP sensor The previous 12MP sensor is probably the weakest part the current Olympus PEN system. I love the quality of my Olympus but only up to ISO 800. I will be happy if Olympus could squeeze another stop of performance out of this new sensor. Basically getting the same quality at ISO 1600 that I get at ISO 800. The Panasonic G3 and GX1 uses a 16MP sensor with better high ISO performance, and some speculate that Olympus maybe using a modified version of this sensor. And, I want true sensor performance, not just better JPEG processing. I will be looking at this very closely.

5 Axis Image Stabilizer One of the key strengths of Olympus is the in-body image stabilization. This allows any lens, even old manual ones, to have the advantages of a stabilized image. This allows me to take photographs at a higher quality (lower ISO) because I can shoot with a slower shutter speed. The OM-D claims to have a super sophisticated stabilization that can be used for stills as well as video.

There are other great features but they are less important to me. This includes the weather resistant, magnesium body, the built-in high-resolution electronic viewfinder and finally the fast focusing speed. If I didn’t already have my Canon 7D, these features would probably excite me more. But for people who want one do-it-all camera these features would weigh more heavily.

Initially, the $999, body only price was a big, pleasant surprise. I expected, with all these features, Olympus would price the camera higher. Indeed, if you add the inexpensive 14-42 kit lens, the total package comes to $1,099. That is only $200 more than the E-P3 kit with the same lens. For a $200 price difference, it would be a no brainer to get the superior OM-D. The external viewfinder alone for the Pen series runs $200. Add to this you get a better sensor, better build, water resistance and a host of other features and benefits. The pricing does not make sense to me. If anything, I’m wondering if Olympus will drop the price of the E-P3.

Then, I really started thinking seriously about the pricing. Yes, while the price difference between the E-M5 and the E-P3 makes the new camera, relatively speaking, a bargain. $1000 is still a lot of money. Keep in mind that the current Olympus PEN line consists of 3 cameras. the E-P3 at $899, the E-PL3 at $699 and the E-PM1 at $499. All 3 cameras have the same sensor and image quality. Sure the more expensive camera has a better build and more manual controls but this is a wide price range. When I consider that my current two camera setup, where the camera and basic kit lens runs for a true bargain price of $230, all the other cameras seem pricey by comparison. Also consider that my older model E-PL1 has the same image quality as the current Pen line. Yes, there are certainly difference in focus speed, among other things, however, if you know what your requirements are, you might be able to get a true deal on your camera.

Ultimately, for me to be interested, at $1000 and beyond the new OM-D needs to take noticeably better quality pictures. Sure, I love the feature set and styling. I’m excited to try it out and I will reserve judgement until I see some reviews and hold the new camera in my hands. But remember, don’t be seduced by the camera, know instead what you need out of the camera. It’s important to keep this in mind whether you get a $230 bargain, a $1100 top of the line micro 4/3 camera and especially a $3000 full frame Nikon D800. Easily said when I’m calm and rational at home. I’ll see how I react when I have the new camera in my hands at the camera store.

Birthday Cupcake, mostlyfotos 1st Anniversary – Austin, Texas

Today, February 8th is the 1st anniversary of mostlyfotos, my one photo per day blog. Readers of this blog may not know that I actually have two photo related blogs. Kind of crazy since one blog by itself takes up enough time. I started this one first, back in the summer of 2010. Of course, I had no idea what I was doing back then and maybe after a year and a half of blogging, I ‘m starting to get an idea of where I’m going to take this thing. Like may of my photography friends in Austin, who have their own blogs, I wanted to occasionally post a photo and talk about it. And that is the way I started out. Then as I continued, I started to add more photos per post, my prose increased in length and my blog started to evolve.

But I wasn’t completely satisfied with the way the blog and the accompanying photographs came together. I wanted larger photographs but I didn’t know how to modify this template to make it work for me. Besides, I like this format for longer posts. I add medium size images along with text, and I think it’s nicely structured to tell a story. It would be hard to add another entirely different kind of format, one with large pictures, into this blog. For that reason, I decided to create a second, photo focused blog. I wanted one large photograph per post with a small amount of text underneath. That is how mostlyfotos was born.

Now with the flexibility or pain of having two different kind of blogs, I can focus each one for a specific purpose. The posts on this blog have increased in length. I get to tell stories, share my photographic experience and review the stuff I use. On mostlyfotos, I get to showcase different photographs from around town and my occasional trips away from home. So why do I do all this work? Good question. Sometimes I question myself for spending this much time on blogging. I know that by forcing myself to post an image on mostlyfotos, I forces me, in a good way, to get out there and shoot more often. I need a deep buffer of photographs to be able to put one up every day. And while I don’t necessarily think each image is equally good, I don’t just post any kind of image to satisfy my one per day “requirement”. I believe that each image has some kind of merit, a different look, an interesting scene or a viewpoint that is uniquely mine.

So if you happen to stumble over to this blog and read about my photographic point of view or about the equipment I use, please take a look at the photographs I shoot on mostlyfotos. Good or bad, they are a reflection of who I am. More importantly, if I may be so presumptuous, you may find an image that inspires you. You’ll become interested in photography or in blogging and share your work with others. It is fun to talk about photography, the theories and the tools but I think ultimately, it is all about the images. By shooting constantly, I like to practice what I preach and not just become an equipment review blog. So I would greatly appreciate you taking, what little time you have out of your busy schedule, to take a look at my photographs once in a while. And if a photograph floats your boat, please feel free to share it on Facebook, Tweet it or G+ it by hitting the icons at the bottom of the image on mostlyfotos. After all, there is no better honor for a photographer than to have a large audience.

Fanning the Flames, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration – Austin, Texas

I decided to try something new. An experiment in photographic processing. I had some extra images from the recent Chinese New Year celebration that I blogged about last week. These photos were taken at the closest point to the action. I used my smallish Olympus E-PL1 and stuck it out there almost in between the legs of the dancers to see what I can capture. What resulted was a smokey mess but the images had some potential. Unlike the very colorful photographs from my first Chinese New Year post, I decided to go in an entirely different direction. To recover the most details out of the haze, I decided to lose the color. In found with black and white, I can push the detail recovery a bit more than in color. So as an exercise, I decided to experiment with my Topaz B&W Effects plug-in. The software is designed to create black and white conversions that mimic the old style black and white films. While the software has a large number of presets, I decided to do a custom effect. As I played with the software, I ended up creating images that, in my mind, reminded me of vintage travel photographs from the Far East.

What resulted is something I find interesting. Something certainly different from my norm. If you don’t look closely and you ignore the camera bags and the bits of modernity, I find myself transported back a 100 years to some village in China. To me, these images seem timeless and exotic. So I deem my experiment a success, if only to show an alternate reality of a scene from Austin, Texas in 2012. The photograph at the top of the post is my favorite. I posted the original RAW at the bottom for comparison.

Vintage Lion Dance #1, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration

Vintage Lion Dance #2, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration

Vintage Lion Dance #3, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration

Lion Dancers Unmasked, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration

The photographs were taken with my Olympus E-PL1. Please make sure to click on a photograph to see a larger image and hover over the photo to see the exposure details.

Here is a sample of my work. I’ve posted them on my one-photo-per-day photo blog, mostlyfotos. There are a lot of images so click the << Previous Photo link to see more. You can also hover over the photos to see the exposure information.

Fanning the Flames, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration (Unprocessed)