Sunset on an OM-D EM-5 MkII

In my last post I pondered the oft quoted 'best camera is the one you have with you' line of reasoning in relation to using my Samsung Galaxy S3 to take sunset photos. My argument (and I'm sticking to it), is that unfortunately the 'best' camera is often the one you don't have with you, and you have to settle for second (or third) best.

Blaketown Tiphead Sunset. Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ. F6.3 @ 1/320th. ISO 400

Why do we spend large amounts of money on camera bodies and lenses? Why do we (some of us at least) agonize over different systems, kit configurations and accessories? Even if we aren't hung up on image quality to the extent of 'pixel peeping', why is it that many of our photography decisions have to do with technical considerations like noise, sensor size or chromatic aberration?

From Cobden to Blaketown. OM-D E-M5 MkII with 12-50mm EZ. F6.3 @1/200th. ISO 400

Maybe it's because in this digital age, these are the things that are more easily quantifiable? Let's not talk about composition, or subject matter, or story telling - these are far too subjective and ephemeral topics. Much easier to compare low-light images, sensor formats or lens characteristics. With all the agonizing over IQ or individual sensor pixel density (is that a real thing?), it's a wonder we have any time for actual picture making at all!?

Cobden Breakwater Sunset. OM-D E-M5 MkII with 12-50mm EZ. F6.3 @1/400th. ISO 400.

Or maybe, just maybe, these things really are important? And by that I mean individually important. Subjectively important. Important to me. Let me explain what I mean...

Photography is a visual medium. We are visual artists. We like to be visually creative. And so, just like a painter who chooses their paints carefully, we  - as artists - like to choose our tools carefully too. I've heard people say that some photographers spend too much time worrying about the gear and that painters never get together and talk about the brushes they use. Really? I guess these people have never spent much time with painters? All the artists I know have their favorite brands of paint/brushes/paper/canvas that they swear by (and that they have sometimes taken years of trial and error to perfect). So much so that they will almost refuse to use anything else. Does it mean that they can't paint with something else? No, of course not. But does it also mean that they should just paint with anything because surely anything will do?

Grey River Sunset. Olympus OM-D EM-5 MkII with Zuiko 12-50mm. F6.3 @ 1/20th sec. ISO 400

As a photographer, I have my own set of criteria for how I want my 'tools' to perform. I know the level of noise that I am comfortable with at certain ISO's. I have a sensor size and megapixel number that I am happy with, and certain tolerances within which I want my lenses to perform. I've come to these quality decisions from years of trial and error with different systems and configurations, to the point where I now have a set of expectations of how I want my images to turn out with the tools I've chosen. When I use tools that I know will produce an image inferior to my set of (subjective) criteria, then I feel a slight disappointment at the final result. Even if only from a qualitative standpoint.

Freedom Campers, Cobden. OM-D E-M5 MkII with 12-50 EZ. F6.3 @ 1 sec.(hand held) ISO 800

Let me be very clear  - my criteria for acceptable IQ is NOT your criteria. You must find you own. The trouble comes with photographers who try to force their own set of criteria onto others, as if it was some kind of law. "You must have a full frame sensor or you're not a real photographer. You must have at least 40 megapixels or you're not a real photographer. Your images must all be noise free at ISO 640,000  or your camera's no good" - blah, blah, blah....

Kingsgate Hotel at Sunset. OM-D EM-5 MkII. F6.3 @ 1/6th sec. ISO 800

I'd like to end by saying that my image criteria isn't set in stone. It's a fluid, evolving and changing thing - and technology plays a large part in this. A few years ago I couldn't have conceived of hand-holding a sharp image at 1 second. But thanks to the OM-D EM-5 MkII , I can. I was also a full-frame snob for a very long time (yes, one of those). But not anymore. I am also finding that the older I get, the less things like noise and megapixels seem to matter.

And yet they do matter. And I know that they matter when I use my smartphone as a camera and am somewhat unhappy with the results. In a way that I am not unhappy with the results I get from my OM-D EM-5 MkII.

Charming Creek Walkway, Ngakawau Gorge

Over the Christmas/New Year break we had planned as a family to do a few local walks (weather permitting). So we jumped at the chance to join some friends who were going on the Charming Creek Walk, half an hour north of Westport, in the Ngakawau Gorge (pronounced 'Nock-a-war').

Fortunately we chose the right day to go as the day dawned beautiful and clear (we've had a lot of rain this summer). It was, in fact, too clear, with harsh light that followed us around all day.

Charming Creek Daisy: Celmisia Morganii. OM-D E-M5 MkII

The track is an easy walk, with only a very gradual incline following old rail lines to a stunning waterfall about an hour in. Along the way, and depending on the time of year that you visit (December/January is ideal) you will come across the Charming Creek Daisy (celmisia morganii) growing along the side of the track. This highly localised species of daisy is found only in the Ngakawau Gorge - and grows abundantly along the Charming Creek walkway.

The Olympus Zuiko 12-50mm EZ f3.5/6.3 has a 'macro' setting on the lens that I find myself using quite a lot. It's obviously not 'true' 1:1 macro, but it allows for decent close-focusing at the 50mm end of the range, where the f6.3 aperture allows for a decent depth of field. The lenses 'bokeh' (out of focus background) is quite smooth and natural, making for some very pleasant 'macro' flower shots. My son Josh doesn't have this functionality with his 14-42mm kits lens and he really missed this on the walk. He seems naturally drawn to macro-type photo opportunities, so a dedicated macro lens (the 60mm f2.8 or 30mm f3.5) is the top of his lens wish list.

Tunnel exit. Charming Creek, Ngakawau Gorge

The Charming Creek Railway was a privately owned line built in 1912 by brothers George and Bob Watson, sawmillers from Granity. The original line was wooden and was worked by horses. It ran as far as Watson's Mill in the Charming Creek Valley. In the 1920s the line was upgraded to steel and rail tractors were introduced. Bob Watson established the Charming Creek Westport Coal Company in 1926, and from 1929 up to six coal trains used the line daily. By 1942, at the height of its operation, the Coal Company employed 69 men and produced 43,385 tonnes of coal. The line closed in 1958, after which wood and coal was trucked by road to Seddonville.

This sense of early New Zealand pioneering history is evident all along the Charming Creek walk. Old rusting train parts and the ever-present steel tracks that cut through the forest and tunnels, remind you of the walks historical significance every step of the way. Yet, as impressive as the history is, the crowning jewel of the Ngakawau Gorge has to be the impressive Mangatini Falls.

Mangatini Falls, Charming Creek Walkway, Ngakawau Gorge. Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII with 9mm fisheye bodycap lens

On the other side of a suspension bridge, about an hour's walk in, Mangatini Falls can be heard long before it is seen. The rumble and roar of hundreds of tonnes of water makes for an impressive sound as you approach the falls - and the view does not disappoint. There are tracks that lead down for a more up-close-and-personal view of the falls, or you can take in the full vista from a lookout along the track.

Above is the view from the track, taken with the 9mm fisheye bodycap lens. Again, the conditions were quite harsh, with very bright highlights and deep shadows. I exposed for the highlights as much as possible, letting the shadows go black. Later, using ACDSee's Ultimate 9 software, I pulled out as much detail from the shadows as I could while still making it look natural.

I could have maximized the dynamic range by using the HDR function on the OM-D E-M5 MkII, or set up on a tripod and taken five exposures that covered a complete range of exposures. But to be honest, I didn't even think of using the in-built HDR function, and didn't have a tripod for bracketing exposures. Shooting in RAW, and knowing I could pull detail out of the shadows later on as long as the highlights were ok, was my best option. And it worked fine - although at ISO 800 the shadows are a little noisy.  

Fern frond. OM-D E-M5 MkII with Olympus 40-150mm f4/5.6.  F6.3 @ 1/60th sec, ISO 400

Because a lot of the day was spent shooting macro in the shade - hand-held - my ISO hovered around 800. I will take the E-M5 MkII up to 1600 without too much concern for noise, although it is definitely there at the higher ISO's. The great feature of the OM-D's is their incredible IBIS (In Body Image Stabilisation) that can give you two or even three stops to play with, so you can wait longer before having to increase the ISO.

The fern frond above was taken at 1/60th of a second with the 40-150mm lens zoomed all the way out to 150mm. This makes it the equivalent of a 300mm focal length on a full-frame system. Conventional wisdom would claim that the shutter speed should be at least equal to the focal length if you want a sharp image - which would have meant shooting at 1/500th sec on a film camera.  Shooting at 1/60th instead has given me three extra stops (1/125th, 1/250th, 1/500th) to play with, allowing me to lower the ISO to 400. The resulting shot therefore has less noise, and is plenty sharp enough.

A family of Photographers. Charming Creek Walkway

Despite the overall harsh lighting conditions, we had a fantastic time, and took some great photos along the Charming Creek Walkway. It's one of the most spectacular (and easy) walks on the West Coast, and well worth doing if you are ever lucky enough to be in this part of New Zealand.

I'm certainly going to do the walk again soon - hopefully on a slightly more overcast day. I've got an 8-stop ND filter which I think would be perfect to play with in places along the track, and at the waterfall itself. Nicky, a friend and fellow photographer who came with us on the walk, used her 10-stop ND for some water images and got some beautiful results. Can't wait to give it a go myself.   

A Tale of Two Cameras

I'm a very happy Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII owner - it's simply an amazing piece of kit, and I find it very hard not to sound like a massive Olympus fanboy (which I suppose I am).

But I also have this Jekyl and Hyde aspect to my photography. Having grown up (literally) with SLR cameras, I find the lure of the DSLR sometimes overwhelming. Muscle-memory (and actual memories) kicks-in whenever I pick up a traditional SLR styled camera, and despite myself, I have that feeling of 'coming back home' (even though I am now happily living in the 21st century). Fortunately, I usually have a couple of DSLR's floating around home that I can use to get my 'fix'.

Earlier this week I was hit by one of these 'must use a DLSR' moments, so I headed out with a Nikon D70 to a local walk that ends in a beautiful waterfall. I traveled light, with just the D70 and 18-55 'kit' lens, plus a spare battery. I also had my phone with me (don't we all), and decided to do a comparison between the two. The D70 is 6MP, while my Samsung galaxy has an 8MP sensor (and is a lot newer technology). Should be a good contest?

Samsung S3 8MP phone on left, Nikon D70 6MP DLSR on right

First up it looks pretty close. They are both resolving about the same detail, although there is more dynamic range coming from the D70. I was also able to manually set the White Balance to 'shade' on the D70 to give a truer colour representation. The file from the Samsung S3 is a little too blue/magenta, especially in the foreground.

Samsung S3 Smartphone

Things get a bit more complicated when the dynamic range of the scene exceeds the limits of the small chip on the Samsung. It's done an 'ok' job, but the highlights of the water are totally blown out and unrecoverable. The phone only shoots jpegs, and I had the exposure compensation value dialed as low as it could go to try and get some detail in the water - but to no avail. To be fair,it was a very contrasty scene, and not the ideal time of the day to be shooting - but sometimes we don't get to choose these things - especially if we're traveling. I also tried a HDR shot with an app on the camera, but it was HORRIBLE, so I deleted it :-(

Nikon D70 shooting RAW

In comparison, shooting in RAW with the D70 has allowed much more detail to be retained and extracted out of the file in post-processing (no surprises there). Again, I would reiterate that it was very harsh lighting, and not ideal conditions for a great shot of the waterfall - but the result is far more usable than what came out of my smartphone.

Coal Creek Falls. Nikon D70

Don't ask me why (no, really - don't), but I've decided to get 'real' and shoot in full manual for a while. Usually my default shooting mode is A (Aperture priority) so I can control depth of field - and let the camera worry about the rest. But I enjoyed shooting in manual on the D70 (with a few caveats) and having complete control over all the settings. It really does make you fully aware of the relationship of all the factors in the exposure triangle (Aperture, Shutter and ISO).

If I wanted to shoot at a specific aperture, then I had to decide what the shutter and ISO were going to be to assure that the shot was well exposed. Shooting in the forest, this usually meant trying to keep the shutter speed high enough to hand-hold the camera and still get sharp shots - so the ISO was the control that got changed the most. Of course the higher you go with ISO the more noise you introduce, especially in the shadows, and this is certainly true of 6MP sensor on the D70. Even at ISO 200, when the shadows are lightened in post-processing some noise is evident. But then again, I'd rather have noise than a blurry image :-)

Life lines. Nikon D70

This is one of the things I missed by not using the OM-D E-M5 MkII - better high ISO performance combined with amazing image stabilisation. On several occasions I tried to shoot at 1/30th second with the D70 (at 55mm) and got blurry shots. Wouldn't have been an issue with the OM-D EM5 MkII (or any of the other Oly mirrorless cameras).

Were there other things I missed? Absolutely. How about the electronic viewfinder for one! I can't say it often enough - using an evf like the ones on the O-MD's is a life-changing experience as a photographer! I'm not joking. I used to be an evf snob - spurning this t.v style viewpoint for the more 'pure' optical viewfinder experience. Trouble was, I'd never actually used an electronic viewfinder. Certainly not one as good as the one on the OM-D E-M5 MkII. Once you have, I swear to you, there won't be any going back!

Annoyingly, the D70 doesn't show the ISO in the viewfinder or top lcd display - you only get to see what you've set when you hit the ISO button to change/modify it :-( Bummer. With the OM-D's you get all of that, and more (as much, or as little, info as you want) right in the viewfinder before you take the shot. And if you are shooting in manual and change a setting, then the exposure changes as you watch it  - real time, along with the histogram reading and any other info you have overlaid in the evf. Brilliant. Seriously, seriously brilliant.

Backlit Ferns, Nikon D70 with Nikkor 18-55mm

Did I enjoy shooting with the Nikon D70? Well, yes I did; and no, I didn't (there's that Jekyl and Hyde thing again). I really do enjoy the feel of a DLSR in my hands, and the Nikon D70 with 18-55mm kit lens isn't a heavy camera to carry around. Many people make a big thing about the weight savings when changing to mirrorless, but in terms of size and weight, the D70 with kit lens is about the same as my OM-D E-M5 MkII with battery grip attached. Things change of course if you start lugging around four or five additional lenses with a DLSR and battery grip attached - but with just a body and plastic kit lens, weight doesn't really come into the equation.

Ergonomics aside, that's about where the positives end (for me) :-)  The lack of evf, no IS (on my lens), fixed lcd screen and constant need to take my eye away from the optical viewfinder to 'chimp' the exposure or change ISO, meant that the user experience was less than smooth. I suppose the positive is that it only confirms my enjoyment of using the Olympus OM-D system.

As far as replicating the ergonomics of a DLSR on mirrorless goes, perhaps I should look at getting a Panasonic G series as a second body? It's tempting, but so is an Olympus Pen for an even smaller, carry-around-all-day style camera. It's great to have these kinds of options in the micro four thirds  ecosystem. Kudos to Olympus and Panasonic for building such a great system in such a short time.

2016 Greymouth Street Races

I love the Greymouth Street Racing event held here every year at Labour weekend. I look forward to it every year - and this year was no exception. It looked good in terms of the weather (slightly overcast but no hint of rain), and my previous experience using the E-M5 MkII had me excited for more.

Go-Kart action. Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII with Zuiko 40-150mm f4/5.6

It turned out to be a strange sort of a year this year though, and I came away feeling a little frustrated. First there was an horrific accident in the very first race of the day, that sadly resulted in the death of one of the riders. It is the first fatal crash the event has had in its 27 year history, and almost ended the day before it had begun. Racing did resume, however, at 2.00pm in the afternoon (a delay of about four hours).

F1 Rider No.121. Greymouth Street Races. Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII with Zuiko 40-150mm f4/5.6

This meant that a whole days racing was now cut down to only a few hours. Understandable given the circumstances, but disappointing none-the-less. Maybe this sudden urgency made me loose my focus, or maybe it just wasn't a good year, but whatever the reason, I found myself constantly at the wrong places at the wrong times - not getting the shots I wanted.

Motorcross Rider 450, Greymouth Street Races. OM-D E-M5 MkII with Zuiko 40-150mm 

Because I had some time on my hands before racing got underway in the afternoon, I decided to walk around the whole track and see if there were some vantage points I could use to give me different photos than previous years. It turns out that there isn't, but unfortunately racing had gotten underway again and I was stuck in a section of the track that had no decent photo opportunities! There are several crossing areas spaced around the track for people to change sides every now and again, but because they were trying to get through the races quickly, I was stuck there for almost an hour before I was allowed to cross over to an area I actually wanted to shoot from! And this turned out to be the story of my day.

Catch me if you can.... Greymouth Street Races 2016. OM-D E-M5 MkII with Zuiko 40-150mm f4/5.6

There are two or three areas on the track where the riders come around a bend at a low angle and pick up speed, and these are the areas I try to concentrate on. I focus on the bend, switch the camera to manual focus, and take a burst of images as the bikes reach the area of focus. I use a fast shutter speed to stop the action, and although this can reduce the sense of motion and speed in the image, I think it's made up for somewhat by the exaggerated angles that the riders achieve. There is still a lot of drama in the composition, and that's what I'm after.

Ahead of the pack. Greymouth Street Races, OM-D E-M5 MkII with Zuiko 40-150mm f4/5.6

I try to get as 'clean' and as uncluttered a composition as I can, which isn't easy given the number of people at the event. Sometimes feet, legs or bodies in the background can't be avoided - but I do try to whenever possible. And a little cloning later on never hurt anyone :-)

This year, I also decided that the images actually worked better in black and white. I've never converted my street racing images to black and white before, so this was a new twist this year. I converted them in Photoshop, using the high contrast red filter setting, and dialed it back just a touch if needed. This gave me punchy, high contrast images that I like - finished off with what I hope is a subtle vignette to frame the action in the center of the image.

Total concentration. Greymouth Street Race, 2016. OM-D E-M5 MkII with Zuiko 40-150mm f4/5.6

Next year I'm hoping to have the use of a Zuiko 75-300mm f4.8/6.7 - either by getting one earlier, or renting one for the weekend. I'd like the 600mm reach for sports and wildlife anyway, so it would be the perfect lens for the street races. Josh has also expressed an interest in this lens - so maybe we could go halves and get it together?  That would be pretty cool....

Get a Grip! Review of the Olympus HLD-8

I’m a battery grip kinda guy. I love using them, and they are almost the first accessory I get when I have a camera (apart from the obligatory spare battery). Yes they add weight, and yes they add bulk – and that’s one of the reasons I like them. Up until switching to a mirrorless micro four thirds system I was of the ‘bigger and heavier is better” persuasion. It’s something I still sort of believe – to a point.

There are other reasons why I always opt for the grip. I like the portrait-orientation shutter button, the extra purchase it gives your hand, and the ability to add a second battery for extended shooting times. All things that, as a wedding photographer, I found very useful.

But I’m not a wedding photographer anymore. And I have ‘lightened’ my load by moving to the Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mk2. So why add a battery grip to the EM-5?

The HLD-8 comes in two sections. Genius!

For me, the addition of the HLD-8 grip for the EM-5 Mk2 makes sense for all the reasons mentioned above. It adds a portrait orientation shutter button. It adds an extra battery slot. It gives my hand more to grip onto when holding the camera, and it also adds a headphone jack for listening to audio when capturing video. The really clever design of the HLD-8 also means that you can have you cake and eat it too! Only want the extra grip portion for 90% of your shooting? Fine – just add the grip attachment (HLD-8G) section. Need more battery power (and an audio in for filming), then attach the additional battery section. Or leave the grip at home and just shoot with the camera. Lots of options. Ok, that last one you had anyway without paying for the grip – but you get what I mean.

Yet as much as I love battery grips, and always get one for whatever camera I own, it’s been almost a year with my EM-5 Mk2 and I’ve only just got the grip for it now. Why the long wait?

Mostly it was because I had convinced myself I shouldn’t get a grip for the EM-5 Mk2. With some camera decisions I make – especially if it’s a fairly costly one – I can occasionally suffer from analysis paralysis. The internet is a wonderful tool for learning and making ‘informed’ decisions about all sorts of gear – I contribute to this knowledge base myself with my blogs. But it can also subject us to information overload.

I read countless reviews on mirrorless systems, and on the Olympus EM-5 specifically, before deciding to buy one myself. And most of those reviews centred on going as light as possible and using just the body with two or three prime lenses. So that’s the way I was tempted go. Only a month or so after buying the body with 12-50mm EZ lens, I travelled to my nearest city to purchase the grip, but just couldn’t do it. I bought a 45mm f1.8 prime instead, and thought I’d done the right thing. Just me, my EM-5 Mk2, and some prime lenses against the world. Who cares about a big old grip – that’s just for DSLR users!

Trouble is, I’ve come to realise that I’m not a prime lens kinda guy. I’m a zoom lens guy. I LOVE the 12-50mm EZ lens, even if it is f6.3 at the long end. I LOVE the 40-150mm f4/5.6 as well – it’s so sharp and light (and cheap). Of course it would be great if they were faster. I would love to replace them one day with the PRO versions at a constant f2.8. But the 45mm f1.8 prime lens… not so much. I bought it, I used it once and I sold it. Same with the 17mm f2.8. I had grand delusions of being a hipster street shooter with a small camera and 17mm prime, but it’s just not me. Don’t get me wrong, they are amazing lenses. I’m just not a prime lens kinda guy. The next lens I have my eye on is the Olympus ultra-wide 9-18mm f4/5.6 lens, followed by the 75-300mm f4.8/6.7. There are rumours of a 30mm f2.8 macro coming soon – which is a prime lens that would interest me. But I’d be happy if my kit consisted entirely of zooms (with the exception of the 9mm fisheye bodycap lens).

Once I’d had this epiphany (it only took me 30 years), it freed me up to accept that the handling of my EM-5 Mk2 would be greatly improved, for me, if I added the extra grip. What tipped me over the edge was using the Olympus EM-1 recently (see my earlier post). The handling of that camera, with its large grip, was superb. With the extra grip attached, the EM-5 Mk2 looked like it would feel and handle similarly to the EM-1. So from that moment on I was sold.

So now that I have one, am I happy with it? Has it made a difference? You bet your sweet Nelly it has! My camera might be bigger and heavier now, but I don’t care. In fact, I like it better that way. It’s still nowhere near the size and weight of a 1D Mk3, or even a Canon 50D with battery grip and equivalent 24-100mm zoom lens attached. Not even close. But it has made a significant difference to the ergonomics and the handling of the EM-5 Mk2. It’s now much more comfortable (and secure) walking around carrying it one-handed (as is my want to do). The shutter button is now in a much more comfortable location – not to mention the second button for vertical shooting – and the added heft gives the camera a more stable and solid feeling when held up to the eye. Overall I’m a happy camper.

Also, with the grip attached, the cameras strap eyelet now has more room around it so my hand doesn’t rest up against it as much. This makes it far more comfortable for my hand than without the grip. Nice.

It’s not all roses though. With the grip attached, I now find accessing the function buttons on top of the camera to be a bit more awkward. Because the grip naturally moves your hand placement forward of the camera, accessing the function buttons means letting go of the grip altogether to reach them. So now it’s become very much a two-handed operation, whereas without the grip attached your shutter finger is within easy reach of these programmable buttons. A shame – but not a deal breaker. Maybe it’s something I need to get more used to?

Also, the grip completely covers the battery door at the bottom of the camera. So to change batteries in the camera you need to completely remove the grip. This isn’t hard to do of course, but just takes a little more time. To counteract this, Olympus have included an option in the menu (section K under battery options) that lets you choose which battery to use first – the one in the camera or the one in the grip. If you choose to use the one in the grip first, then once that is exhausted and it switches to the in-camera battery, just pop a fresh battery in the grip and it will start using that again. Simple.

Prime-only shooters will probably pass on the HLD-8 because of the extra weight it adds to the EM-5 Mk2. I totally get that. Maybe some should consider getting the HLD-8’G’ – just the grip portion of the unit (sans battery section)? But even that might be an unnecessary addition. If however, like me, you are more of a zoom shooter and feel that the handling of the EM-5 Mk2 could be improved if it were just a tad bigger, then the HLD-8 isn’t really an option, it’s a necessity. A beautifully made, cleverly designed and highly customisable necessity. 

Finally – just a word on what for me was the ‘elephant in the room’ so to speak – the price. At just a tad over $400NZ it certainly isn’t a cheap accessory. You can buy a 45mm f1.8 prime for that kind of money (and I did). Of course I wish it was half the price.  But after finally sucking it up and actually getting one, I’m very, very, very happy that I did.

And on that note – just a quick shout out to Hayden Himberg at Southern Cameras in Dunedin, here in New Zealand. Hayden stocks a great range of Olympus (and other) products and always seems to be able to get me what I want quickly and competitively priced. If you are looking for any kind of camera gear and live in New Zealand, give Hayden a call and see what he can do for you. Tell him I sent you :-)

A month shooting Jpegs

I'm going to try a little experiment.

Early this week, I gave a talk on portraiture at my local camera club. It went very well, and there was lots of discussion during and after the presentation on various aspects of taking portraits. But one of the members, at the very end of the night, asked me a question which was slightly 'off topic', but that strangely I had been thinking about myself just recently.  The tired(?) old subject of Raw vs Jpeg.

Jessie. Olympus 17mm f2.8. 1/60th @ f3.5 ISO 400

When I first started shooting digital images, the mantra was "Shoot Raw, Shoot Raw, Shoot Raw". Raw is 'lossless,' Jpeg is 'lossy'. Raw is the digital negative, Jpeg is just a poor copy. Raw is unedited data, Jpeg is baked-in and fixed. Only 'real' photographers shoot Raw - amateurs and newbies shoot jpeg.

All of the above is true - except maybe for that last one. But even if not completely true, it's certainly the predominant view amongst photographers. Real men shoot Raw.

But in the discussion I had with a fellow photographer the other night, we both agreed that the camera manufacturer's Jpeg engines in their cameras are now so good, that the jpeg straight out of the camera is certainly 'good enough' for most use cases. In fact, they're not just 'good enough'. In most instances, they are amazing!

Are you shooting predominantly for your blog, the web, or for a camera club to be viewed on a monitor? A few posts ago I made the comment - "who prints anymore"? I certainly don't. Most of the images I take are intended for the web, to illustrate this blog. If I do end up printing them, then I can make beautiful 8x10" prints from well exposed jpegs. What do I need the Raw file for?

To make matters worse for Raw, I can't even read the .ORF (Olympus Raw Files) files I take on my E-M5 Mk2. My version of Photoshop and Lightroom don't support them. Yes, I could use Olympus Viewer... but no thank you, I think I'll pass. My work-around to convert to .DNG has been going well, but it adds a lot more time to the workflow. And is it really time well spent?

Lake Brunner Boats. Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk2 Jpeg

So yes, I'm going to do a little experiment. I'm going to spend a month shooting only in-camera jpegs. If it goes well, I may even give up on shooting in Raw as my 'default' position?

I want to see if I can truly minimise the time spent post-processing images - to practically zero, by getting exactly what I want from the jpeg engine processed in the camera. To this end, I'm starting off with the camera in the 'Vivid' setting (since I almost always increase saturation in Lightroom), and I've increased sharpening to +1 - again since I almost always do some sort of overall sharpening later on. I may find this is too aggressive and I have to dial it back to 0? But ultimately, I would like to get the images to where I an happy using them straight out of the camera, with no Lightroom or Photoshop processing necessary.

It's only because of the E-M5 Mk2 - and more specifically its EVF, that I am seriously considering switching to shooting jpegs instead of Raw. As much as Raw is touted as the 'best' file you can get from your camera, I also think it is used by many as a security blanket (I know I do). If you blew all your exposures by two stops - either over or under - she'll be right, you shot Raw didn't you? We'll fix it all in Photoshop/Lightroom later. The stress of shooting weddings is alleviated to a great degree with the comfort of knowing that all but the most horrendous mistakes in exposure and white balance can be sorted out in post processing if you've shot in Raw.

Reach for the Sky. Te Kinga, Moana.

In many ways, the Raw vs Jpeg debate is very similar to the Negative vs Slide film debate - except maybe in reverse. What do I mean by that?
Well, in so far as Raw is called a 'digital negative', you have the flexibility to 'process' it in almost any way you want after the fact. Need to 'push' or 'pull' it to get a better exposure - no problem. Raw has that latitude that negative film has. As such, negative film was looked down on by many photographers as 'amateur' film. It didn't matter if the newbie got it wrong, the lab could fix it later.

Slide film, however, was for the 'serious' photographer. You couldn't get slide film wrong. You had to nail the exposure, so you had to know what you were doing. If you got it wrong - it was horrible! 36 unusable frames. But - if you got it right... wow! Amazingly crisp, clear, vibrant images that you didn't have to do anything with. Kinda like Jpegs. Except, of course, nowadays Raw is seen as pro and jpeg is seen as amateur. Go figure...

Getting back to the E-M5 Mk2 and its EVF - it's the 'nailing' of the exposure before taking the photo that's got me so jazzed about the possibility of seriously shooting jpegs. I've already said (in other posts) that my shooting style now is to have the camera's lcd turned around and shut against the back of the body so it looks and acts more like a film camera. I use the EVF with the live histogram to confirm that the exposure is exactly what I want before I take the photo, so there really are no surprises - and no need for 'chimping'.

So that's what I'm going to do for a month - maybe longer. Shoot Slides (Jpegs) rather than Negatives (Raw). Olympus (and Fuji) are well known for their amazing jpegs straight out of the camera. For the next month, I'm going to put that to the test. It could be very illuminating.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII and E-M10 MkII

It's been a few weeks now and my OM-D E-M5 MkII kit is progressing nicely.

Olympus Zuiko 12-50mm f 3.5/6.3 EZ, Zuiko 40-150mm f4/5.6 R and OM-D E-M5 MkII with Zuiko 45mm f1.8

With the 12-50mm kit lens and the 40-150mm telephoto I've got everything from 24mm to 300mm covered (in traditional 35mm terms). This assumes I'll be taking photos in reasonably good light, since they are both fairly 'slow' lenses - which is where the 45mm f1.8 comes in to play. It does mean that I've got three lenses that covers the 45mm focal length, but they are not all created equal. I plan on putting this to the test soon, with a 45mm shoot-out, to show the differences between them all in terms of sharpness and bokeh.

This will be my kit for a while, with only the HLD-8G to add as a grip in the next few weeks.

The big news from Olympus recently was the inclusion of the OM-D E-M10 MkII to their camera line-up.

It's an incremental update to the original E-M10 rather than a complete upgrade, since the E-M10 hasn't really been around for that long.

Having said that though, the tweaks they have made mean that I see the camera as a much more viable second body to my E-M5 MkII now, since they have mimicked more of that cameras ergonomics. It will be much more seamless to move between both cameras if you have the E-M10 MkII as a backup to the E-M5 MkII - in the same way that the first E-M10 makes more sense as a backup to the original E-M5.

The new OM-D E-M10 MkII also adds 5 axis image stabilisation, uses the same 16MP sensor, and updates the evf to a 2.36 million OLED screen with 100% view. It's now a 'baby' E-M5 MkII without the 40MP feature and weather sealing. Its new party trick is touch AF tracking from the rear lcd screen, which is something that Panasonic has had for a while now, and something I would like to see released in the E-M5 MkII with a firmware update.

So while it might be a relatively minor update, I'm actually quite excited about the OM-D E-M10 MkII. I think it's the perfect back-up body for me, and with it being released at an even cheaper price than the original E-M10, is incredible value! I may have just found the next addition to my kit?