North Island Holiday - Part Two

In my last post I introduced some images from a holiday my wife and I took recently to the North Island. Our destination for the first three days of our trip was Matarawa, just north of Greytown, in the Wairarapa. We had been invited to stay by my wife's Uncle Bill in the family homestead, where Uncle Bill (88yrs young) lives on land that has been in the family for generations. It's an idyllic, peaceful spot and a great place to unwind and relax.

Matarawa Sunrise. Panasonic Lumix S5 with S 20-60mm. F/8 @ 1/100th, ISO 800

The first morning of what felt like the 'real' start to our holiday started bright and early with a magnificent sunrise. My wife woke me around 6.00am and suggested we might like to get outside with our cameras - right now! It was a beautiful sunrise, and an amazing way to start the photography aspect of the holiday. 

What I love about using the Panasonic S5 is its incredible ibis (in-body-image-stabilisation) and its fantastic low-light capabilities. With the full frame 24MP sensor I will happily crank the ISO up to 6400 if I have to without incurring any noise issues. Hand-holding shots at sunrise gives perfectly sharp results. I'm also amazed at the IQ I get from the 20-60mm 'kit' lens. Some say that it isn't the sharpest lens around, and while this may be true, my copy is plenty sharp for me!

Matarawa Morning. Lumix S5 with S 20-60mm. f/8 @ 1/400th, ISO 800

This is my favorite shot of that first morning. The light is just gorgeous! It was a beautiful location, with beautiful light, so we were spoilt for choice. Great images presented themselves wherever we looked. It really was a perfect way to start the holiday, and I was a bit worried that we had peaked before we'd even begun! (Spoiler alert, we hadn't).

Before going away my wife and I created an itinerary, so we could make the most of our time away and get to the places that interested us the most. With only two weeks away, and at a different place almost every day, we needed to be a bit targeted so we weren't spending time sitting around making decisions.

With this in mind, for our first day with Uncle Bill he had suggested taking us to Castle Point to see the lighthouse there. I'm a sucker for a good lighthouse, so was very keen. And even better, Uncle Bill insisted that he chauffer us so we could just sit back and relax. Sounded good to me.

Castle Point Lighthouse. Lumix S5 with S 20-60mm. f/8 @ 1/1250th, ISO 400

To say that we had a perfect day at Castle Point would be an understatement. The weather was simply amazing - the clouds were incredible - and the lighthouse was stunning. It's a short (but somewhat steep) walk up to the lighthouse, and there are several caution signs along the way that warn of dangerous high winds. As exposed as the lighthouse is, I can imagine it could get pretty fierce up there. We, however, had nothing but the very gentlest of breezes. Amazing.

I loved pretty much all the photos I took at Castle Point, but the above photo captures the place perfectly. Standing at 52 meters above sea level, it is the North Island's tallest lighthouse, and one of only two in New Zealand that is still lit by the original rotating fresnel lens. It's a truly impressive sight, and is super easy to get to, and to photograph.

The Shop - Castlepoint Store. Lumix S5 with S 20-60mm. f/8 @ 1/1600th, ISO 400

After spending an amazing couple of hours exploring and photographing the lighthouse, we drove back into Castlepoint village to have lunch. I noticed this sign on the side of the Castlepoint dairy and couldn't resist taking a photo. It's such a typical image of 'kiwiana' it could have been taken 50 years ago in the 1970s.

I love taking 'retro' images of old stuff (cars, buildings etc), and this would become a reoccurring theme throughout our holiday. We had our itinerary sorted out, but had given ourselves plenty of time for random stops along the way for photographic opportunities. Something I was very keen to make the most of.

Old barn, Tinui. Panasonic Lumix S5 with S 20-60mm. f/8 @ 1/200th, ISO 200.

On the way back to Matarawa, we passed through the little town of Tinui. The name comes from the Maori words 'ti' (cabbage tree) and 'nui' (many). It also claims (apparently falsely) to be the first locality to have had an ANZAC ceremony.

What it did have, was this very old barn that I simply had to take a photo of. As I said, this is my kind of photo. I love the rustic feel of these photos - the colours, the history, the sense of time, and also something of the sadness of these buildings that speak of a bygone era. I also just think they look cool...

Over the last couple of years (maybe even longer) I've been struggling with my photography - or more precisely my photography motivation. I haven't really been that bothered to get out and make images, and I felt that maybe a large part of this was familiarity breeding contempt?

After only one day on holiday in the Wairarapa, I had been pulled out of this 'funk' and felt completely re-energised photographically. In the space of about 10 hours I'd taken maybe some of the best photos I think I've ever taken. Matarawa Morning in particular is right up there with my favorite photos of all time! And some of the Castlepoint Lighthouse aren't too far behind!

Yes, I was 'lucky' with the light and the weather conditions, but it was also about being out with the camera, exploring new locations, and getting inspired by these fresh subjects. And this was just day one in the North Island...

North Island Holiday - Part One.

I don't get out much.

Seriously - it seems the older I get, the less I want to leave the comfort of home. Twenty years ago I would have been out most weekends, up at the crack of dawn, chasing the good light - and the good images. But not anymore.

And I certainly don't go away on many holidays. I could practically count them on one hand.

To some extent, this comes down to the fact that holidays are so damn expensive - and getting expensiverer (yes, I know that's not a word) every year. And I'm not even talking overseas. Travelling in your own country, paying for accommodation, and eating out, can be eye-wateringly costly.

But then again, what price do you put on experiences? Or relaxation (not that travelling is all that relaxing necessarily - but I digress). Yes, it costs too much. But I do know that when my wife and I have bitten the bullet and gone away together for any extended period, 'on holiday', we have thoroughly enjoyed it.

So maybe I should. You know. Get out more...

Mawheraiti Rail Shed, West Coast. Fujifilm X100. f/5.6 @ 1/750th, ISO 400

So I did. 

My wife and I finally took a trip we had been talking about for at least a couple of years. We'd never quite managed it for all sorts of reasons - and almost didn't go at the last minute this time either (but that's another story that I'm not going to tell). But in the end, the Ferry was booked, accommodation sorted, the dog was kenneled, and off we went - to explore the central North Island. First stop - a night in Blenheim (so we could catch the Bluebridge Ferry and cross to the North Island early the next morning).

I didn't get far - about 30 minutes into the trip - before I wanted to stop and take a photo of the above shed (see, it's working already). Shot on the Fujifilm X100, it's just the kind of image I love taking. Little did I know at this stage in the journey that there would be a lot more images like this over the next two weeks!

Lake Rotoiti - Nelson Lakes National Park. Fujifilm X100. f/5.6 @ 1/1250th, ISO 400 

The trip to Blenheim takes you past the Nelson Lakes area, and in particular Lake Rotoiti - which is just a five minute diversion off the main highway. It's a beautiful lake, with stunning scenery in all seasons and in all weather. Although if you are there on a beautiful hot day in summer the mosquitoes will eat you alive! I was outside for all of about two minutes before I headed for the relative safety of the car. They really know how to ruin a good day....

The above photo, taken on the X100, has been cropped to square - simply because I didn't stay out with the mosquitoes long enough to compose perfectly, and also because in the original 3:2 image there was nothing happening on the left hand side. So I cropped it later in post. Ironically, when I had a Bronica film camera that used the square format I found it a real struggle composing 1:1. But now I tend to 'see' images in this format quite a lot. Go figure.

Wairau Valley Garage. Fujifilm X100. f/5.6 @ 1/1250th, ISO 400

Eventually we drove through the Wairau Valley - wine growing country - only 30 minutes outside of Blenheim. Again, I had to stop and take a photo of this abandoned garage, even though the light was dreadful! This would be amazing with soft light, or early morning light streaming into the front of the building. 

But I didn't have that kind of light, did I. I had very bright, mid afternoon, harsh light and shadows that were a nightmare to get detail from. Despite this, the X100 has done extremely well. It also helps that I shot it in RAW so I could push and pull detail out later on.

No, it's not great (or even good) light, but it is a great subject. I certainly wasn't going to hang around for a few hours for the light to get good. And that's another thing about being on holiday. Sometimes it will be the only time you will ever be at a particular location in your life, so golden light be damned! Just get shooting. And when light gives you lemons.... (or something like that).

Etrich Taube (Dove) - Aviation Heritage Centre. Lumix S5 with 20-60mm. f/5.6 @ 1/30th, ISO 3200

Our ultimate destination on day one of the trip - apart from our accommodation in Blenheim - was to visit the Aviation Heritage Centre. It houses the personal collection of WWI and WWII memorabilia of Sir Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame), as well as several full-scale diorama's built by Weta Workshop (more on them later).

We had somewhat limited time, so decided to concentrate this visit on seeing the WWI exhibition. We will definitely go back at some stage and see the WWII exhibit as well.

Since this is a photography blog and not the history channel, I won't go into great detail about what planes are which, where the were made, what battles they were in etc. But I will say that the exhibitions are a lot of fun (and a challenge) to photograph. Although I had been using the Fujifilm X100 up to this point on the trip, for the exhibition I switched to my Lumix S5 with 20-60mm - for a couple of probably obvious reasons.

Siemens-Shuckert D.IV. Panasonic Lumix S5 with 20-60mm. f/5.6 @ 1/200th, ISO 3200

Firstly, I was going to be dealing with a lot of low-light. So I wanted two settings to help me get sharp images; a high yet clean ISO setting, and image stabilisation. This the S5 has. The X100 - not so much.

Second, I wanted a bit more 'reach' at both ends - wide and telephoto. The fixed 35mm of the X100 was going to be too limiting in confined spaces. The Lumix S 20-60mm was perfect. The above images at ISO 3200 are fantastic - sharp and with very little noise. An excellent result.

Not a lot of people know this, but my 'other' hobby is building military scale models and putting them in dioramas. So getting to see these full-size dioramas from Weta Workshop up close was truly amazing. If you are in New Zealand, and find yourself anywhere near Blenheim, I highly recommend spending a day at the Aviation Heritage Centre.

Aviation Heritage Centre, Blenheim. Lumix S5 with 20-60mm. f/5.6 @ 1/800th, ISO 100. 65:24 ratio

For our first day on holiday, I'd say it was a great success, and an excellent way to start the trip. It wasn't a 'photography' holiday as such, but my wife is well aware of who she married - and we had scheduled our time to include creative stops along the way. As a matter of fact, she just happens to be a very good photographer herself, with an excellent eye for an image. And although she used her iphone the whole time, at least half of her photos are practically identical to mine! I would often get to a scene and start to get ready, only to find that my wife would already be standing in the exact spot I wanted to stand in! And now she's even talking about getting a 'real' camera! I approve....😊

So that's day one. We were away for 12 days. More posts will follow....

Back from the Wilderness.

Kia ora (hello) everyone. 

Shock - horror, I'm back with a new post! It's been 6 months (almost exactly) since I've written on the blog, and I'd like to say I've been too busy with photography to post. But that would be a lie.

I've been busy alright. But not with photography.

Family life has been very busy, and somewhat stressful, but it looks like I may be climbing out of some darkness and into the light. I won't go into great detail, but I will say that part of the reason (a very large part) for my lack of posting and photography has been my work situation. I started a new job at the beginning of this year, but it hasn't gone so well. That's the bad news.

The good news is that I have found a new job, and a change of career! And this is, in a very large way, the reason for this post (on photography - yes, I AM getting there 😄)

Hagley Park, Christchurch. Panasonic Lumix S5 with 20-60mm f3.5/5.6. f8 @ 1/30th, ISO 400

I finish my old job this week (as I write this), and start the new one two weeks later. So that gives me a two week break in-between jobs. My wife and I have decided to take the opportunity to go away on holiday - which means lots of photography! Yay!!!!

This is a big deal for us, since we don't tend to go on many dedicated holidays. It has, in fact, been about 25 years since we went away on holiday together - just us alone - and that was our honeymoon! But even then, we stayed with friends in Australia, so it wasn't really 'on our own'. So yes, it's been a while.

I'm also suffering from a bit of 'local landscape lethargy' if I'm honest - which even the purchase of a brand new camera couldn't overcome. I've written about this in the past here and here. What I really need to give my photography juices a boost, is a good holiday! A change of scene. A different view that will inspire me to use the camera. And that's exactly what this trip will offer. And I can't wait!

Spidey Boy! Panasonic Lumix S5 with Lumix S 20-60mm. f/5.6 @ 1/4000th, ISO 400

We are going to take a trip down the eastern side of the South Island, through Ashburton, to end up at Mosgiel. From there we will explore the city of Dunedin and maybe travel one day to Invercargill. We plan to go to The Moeraki Boulders, Larnach Castle and the Dunedin Chinese Gardens, as well as The Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo and check out the steampunk themed town of Oamaru. These are areas of New Zealand that my wife and I have never really explored. To say I'm excited is an understatement!

So yes, there is photography - lots of photography - coming to this blog in the very near future.

No guesses on what gear I'll be taking. Unlike other times when I may have had a few systems or configurations to choose from, I now have just the one - awesome - system. And I will probably stick to just the one camera/lens combination. The S5 with the Lumix S 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 will be a fantastic travel kit that I'm sure I will use 99% of the holiday. But I will take the 50mm f1.8, just in case....

Finally new content going forwards. And a chance to really get to know my Panasonic Lumix S5.  Happy days.

Golden Bay Holiday - Wainui Falls

Greetings fellow photographers, and welcome to 2020!

Over the next few blog posts I'm going to be chronicling my recent holiday to the Golden Bay region at the top of the South Island.

My wife and I spent 9 nights (10 days) in mid January, with friends (Tim and Nicki) staying at a batch at Puponga - the northern most settlement in the South Island. Nestled at the base of Farewell Spit, Puponga is an idyllic spot to stay over the summer, and we were blessed with amazing weather (hot and sunny with no wind) for the whole 10 days!

Golden Bay is a beautiful region that incorporates Nelson's Kahurangi National Park, The Abel Tasman National Park, and some iconic landscape locations such as Cape Farewell and Wharariki Beach (more on them in future posts).

Cair Paravel - The batch at Puponga

Neither my wife Joanna or I had ever been to the Golden Bay region before, so we were very excited to be visiting for 10 days, and to have Tim and Nicki as our guides. They have holidayed at Golden Bay several times, and knew exactly how to get to all the beautiful locations. All my wife and I had to do was sit back and relax - and find out from Tim every morning what we would be doing and where we would be going for that day!

As well as posting these blogs, I am also putting together some 'vlogs' on my Youtube Channel. The first of these here: https://youtu.be/kcZ4POkUAFk is a 'What's in my Bag' video that shows all the photography gear I took on holiday. If you have read any of my previous blog posts (and of course you have 😉), then you will know that I changed all my photography gear over to Fuji towards the end of 2019.

What's cooking? Fuji X-E2 with 16-50mm XC lens

My Fuji cameras - the X-E1 and X-E2 - are ideal travel cameras. Small, mirrorless, lightweight, range-finder style bodies with superb image quality from the 16MP X-Trans sensor. I used the X-E2 as my 'main' camera, paired with the 16-50mm and 50-230mm XC 'kit' lenses, and the X-E1 with the 27mm f2.8 pancake lens for an even smaller and lighter combo. This worked very well, and I never felt that I lacked for anything on the holiday - even on the days when I was just carrying the 27mm pancake.

I  also took 6 (yes, six!) camera batteries with me so that I wouldn't run out of battery power during the day. Turns out that six is a bit overkill, even if you're shooting all day. With some pretty heavy use as we traveled around, I only ever needed two batteries to make it through a full day of shooting. And of course, staying at the batch meant that I could charge batteries every evening. So really, three or four batteries would have still been more than enough. Better safe than sorry with these mirrorless cameras though, I guess.

The first day of the holiday was a travel day. With stop-offs along the way (and plenty of them), it took us about 8 hours to get from Greymouth to the batch at Puponga. We did go out on the first night to recce a spot for sunrise the following day, but the light was fading and so no good photos were had on day one. Unfortunately, sunrise on day two didn't really happen either. See the vlog on my Youtube channel about that here: https://youtu.be/9wjQTTuDXWk

It wasn't until the afternoon of day two that the photography began in earnest, with a trip to Wainui Falls.

Wainui Falls is a waterfall (surprise, surprise) about 20km east of Takaka. It's quite a tourist destination and even has a cafe and family play area at the start of the track. You know a waterfall is a popular destination when it has its own cafe!

It's just a short walk through native bush to the waterfall - about half an hour there - and is a very well maintained and easy walk. Mostly flat and only rising gradually to the waterfall itself. I guess its easy accessibility is what makes it so popular. It was a lovely walk, although we were there at the hottest and brightest time of the day - not ideal for great waterfall images. And I also wouldn't call it the most impressive or photogenic waterfall I've ever seen? In my humble opinion, the Coal Creek Falls at Runanga on the West Coast is a much more impressive waterfall, just as easy to walk to - but would only get a fraction of the visitors. Just saying...

Wainui Falls, Abel Tasman National Park, Takaka. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm. f/5.6 @ 1/500th, ISO 200

On a hot summer day, it's inevitable that you will also get people who want to go for a swim at the falls. This adds yet another possible obstacle for us landscape photographers looking for a good image of the falls. In this instance, however, I actually like the inclusion of the two figures in the bottom right of the image. They add some interest, indicate that it was a hot day, and give a clue to the scale of the falls themselves (which aren't massive). Given that most of the elements for a good image were conspiring against me on this occasion, I'm very happy with the photo I managed to capture. Shooting in RAW allowed me to pull extra detail out of the blown highlights and deep shadows you get mid afternoon in summer, and even though there were probably another 20 or so tourists milling about trying to take their own photos (mostly selfies), I was able to isolate just these two swimmers in one frame.

Wainui Falls Swingbridge Selfie.

And speaking of the dreaded selfie... yeah, ok. It had to be done. We were on holiday after all! This was taken on the swingbridge leading up to the falls. It's only about another five minutes from the bridge to the falls themselves, and is a natural place to stop and grab a quick selfie. I took this on my wife's iPhone 5s, since I was using my iPhone to vlog the falls for my Youtube Channel. The video isn't 'live' yet, but soon will be. Just follow the other links above to my channel and make sure you check out Vlog #15 when it becomes available...

I've been vlogging on Youtube for almost a year now, and I'm still not sure what I think about it? It's a lot - and I mean a LOT - more work to create coherent video as well as stills, and there were many time on this holiday where I just couldn't be bothered carrying around all the extra gear.

I've been a 'stills' photographer for over 30 years, and old habits die hard. I still don't really 'think' in terms of video, so it takes a lot of extra time, thought, and effort to shoot video for the channel. But, the flip side of this is that when I do take the time and effort, the resulting video can be a much stronger visual experience. Especially if I've taken the time to shoot a lot of B-roll (I don't always remember). Now that we are back from holiday, and I'm working through the photos and putting together the videos that I could be bothered to shoot, I find myself wishing that I'd actually shot more video than I did. Might have to reflect on that for the future?

Wainui Falls Cafe. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XC.

Anyway, enough with the video talk - this is a photography blog after all. Having photographed the Falls, we headed back for a coffee (I actually had an ice cream) at the Cafe.

Since the video was only going to be about our trip to the Falls, I felt that I could now relax and get back to what I do best - take photos. The Cafe and family play area was the perfect place to relax, enjoy an ice cream, and people-watch for a while. We spent a very enjoyable afternoon sitting in the shade, watching the ever-present,  very tame Weka's (flightless native birds who always hunt out free food) pick through leftovers and drink coffee from tables! They are very used to people (obviously) and will come right up to you expecting to be fed whatever it is you're eating. Probably not recommended food for native birds, but the Weka's won't take no for an answer!

Help yourself! Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 50-230mm XC. f/6.4 @ 1/60th, ISO 200

Your move. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XC

Tim and his son Tim Jnr. ended the day with a game of Garden Chess. I'm not going to say who came away victorious - except to say that the wiser (or should that be older?) head prevailed 😂

We picked up Tim Jnr. in Nelson and he joined us for the first few days of the holiday. It was great to catch up with him, since we've known him as a young lad, but haven't seen him since he moved to Nelson a few years ago.

The trip to Wainui Falls was a great way to start our Golden Bay adventure. I wouldn't say that the Falls themselves were anything spectacular, and the photos aren't anything above travel snaps, but in terms of relaxing, enjoying ourselves, and settling into 'holiday mode', it couldn't have started any better. There was going to be many more opportunities to take some 'serious' landscape photography on the trip. And trust me, the best was yet to come...

Quick landscapes with the Fuji X-E1

Chances to venture out and get some hands-on time with my Fuji X-E1 have been slim since I got it a few weeks back - but I had a chance to take a few quick grab shots with it on a recent trip to Westport.

Coastal Spray. Fujifilm X-E1 with Fujinon 16-50mm. f/11 @ 1/480th. ISO 800

I did the same trip recently with the Nikon D300, and took almost exactly the same image as the one above - from exactly the same spot (see here). I actually like the above shot more, although that has less to do with the cameras and more to do with the lighting on the day.

I'm very pleased, and impressed, with the Fujifilm's X-Trans sensor and its ability to capture a large dynamic range within the one image. In the photo above I exposed to retain detail in the bright clouds, but it meant that the rocks in the foreground were very dark. Once I got the RAW file into Lightroom and started to increase the shadow slider, I was amazed at the amount of detail and colour that the file exhibited. At ISO 800 it's pretty clean too. Noise is well handled for such an underexposed area. All-in-all a great result and I'm impressed. It looks like the APS-C sensor is definitely giving me the IQ boost I was hoping for over and above the Pen E-P3's micro four thirds sensor.

Westport Tiphead Beach. Fujifilm X-E1 with Fujinon 16-50mm. f/11 @ 1/1250th. ISO 400

Here is another 'grab' shot that has a fairly large dynamic range (I was shooting in the middle of the day). Once again, the X-Trans sensor's RAW data has delivered, with detail retained in the highlights and plenty of recoverable shadow information. Sharpening is about right with the X-Trans sensor as well, since it doesn't use an anti-aliasing filter. So far I'm finding that I don't need to apply any sharpening in post to the Fuji files.

Carter's Beach, Westport. Fujifilm X-E1 with Fujinon 16-50mm. f/11 @ 1/1200th. ISO 400

The clouds were spectacular on this trip, and the X-E1 has managed to capture them in all their puffy glory! These literally are just grab shots, but I'm very happy with all of them. I have done a little work in post - some clarity, dehaze and shadow/highlight tweaking - but it's all fairly minimal work that I would expect to have to do with any RAW image.

Carter's Beach Driftwood. Fujifilm X-E1 with Fujinon 16-50mm. f/11 @ 1/420th, ISO 400 (B&W conversion in LR)

So overall, I'm very happy with the quality of images I'm getting from the little X-E1. It's a lot of fun to use and IQ from even the cheap 16-50mm kit lens is very good. It does have a couple of 'quirks' that I'm learning to live with, but these are minor gripes.

For one, the histogram in the evf goes away once the shutter button is pressed halfway and the exposure is 'locked' on. I guess Fuji figure that you've spent time getting the exposure correct, so you don't need to see the histogram once the shutter button is half-pressed? I'd still like to see it in the viewfinder all the time - even the locked value.

I would also like to see 'blinkies' in the evf as well, prior to taking the image. The histogram helps, but it doesn't have very clear sides to the graph, which makes it difficult to judge clipping. The X-E1 does show blinkies, but only after the fact, during image preview. Blinkies visible in the evf in real-time would be super helpful.

But these really are minor gripes. For a small, lightweight, take anywhere camera system with excellent IQ, the Fujifilm X-E1 is darn near perfect! Add some great film simulations and it's even perfecter! From what I've seen out of the images thus far, I'd be more than happy to take the Fujifilm X-E1 on a serious travel holiday as my only camera. OMG! Have I finally, after all these years, found my 'ideal' travel camera!?  

Brighton Rocks! (with apologies to Queen) - Olympus Pen EP3 at New Brighton

In a very recent post here, I described how my wife and I have been traveling over to Christchurch a lot recently. The trips continue, although it may be slowing up soon? I'm enjoying the long weekends, and I'm also enjoying the chance to use a different camera kit each time I go. Last trip, I decided to travel light and bring my Olympus Pen EP3 along for the ride.

Beach Walk. Pen EP3 with Zuiko 14-42mm II. f4 @1/500th - ISO 200

On the Monday morning, after my wife's appointment, we decided to head out to New Brighton. Neither of us had been there for many years, and while it was a bit chilly, we thought we'd go for a walk along the New Brighton Pier. When we arrived, I parked the car in a carpark along the beach and the shot above was the first thing I saw when I got out of the car. On some of the images, there was a man walking his dog up the path. But in the end I preferred the shot where I waited for him to crest the hill and move out of the frame. I think this works more on a visual level as the path now invites the viewer to walk along it, rather than already have a figure occupying the space?

New Brighton Pier. Olympus Pen EP3 with Zuiko 14-42mm. f5.6 @ 1/250th - ISO 200

The light wasn't anything special - it didn't even look this good (it's amazing what the Clarity and Dehaze sliders in Lightroom can do for a flat image). I really only took some 'record' shots as we wandered around mid-morning. But then again, that's what the little micro four thirds Pen EP3 excels at. It's a very compact, very lightweight, yet very capable travel camera - perfect to record those day trips wandering around a city being a tourist.

New Brighton Beach from the Pier. Pen EP3 with 14-42mm. f5.6 @ 1/250th - ISO 200

As we wandered along the pier there was some reasonably nice light looking out across the beach. I envisaged this photo in black & white as I was taking it. The scene was already very monochromatic, so converting to black and white (later in Photoshop) was always the intended result. Once again, I've made use of the clarity and dehaze sliders, as well as some slight burning and dodging to boost the contrast in the image. I don't think I've taken it too far - black and white images seem to be able to handle a little more vigorous processing - but it is easy to push things a bit too much. Especially with the smaller 12MP micro four thirds sensor. I prefer my b&w images to be slightly more contrasty than normal colour images. I was taught a long time ago, in my film days, to create a print with "black blacks and white whites", and that's what I always try to do with my monochrome images. Who said that paper-white and absolute black was a bad thing?

Brown speckled Seagull. Pen EP3 with Zuiko 40-150mm f4/5.6. f5 @ 1/400th - ISO 200

Not surprisingly, where there is a beach, and where there is a pier, and where there are people fishing, there will always be seagulls! And these were some of the biggest, noisiest and bolshiest seagulls I've ever come across. I think the seagull above is a juvenile - but it was the biggest damn seagull I've ever seen! The photo doesn't really do it justice since there's no comparison for scale, but it was 'big'. If it is a juvenile, then I hate to think what size it will get to as an adult!

The shot was taken with the small, lightweight, but exceptionally sharp 40-150mm f4/5.6 telezoom kit lens. It weighs practically nothing, but has an 80 to 300mm reach (in 35mm full frame terms). This is another reason why the small micro four thirds EP3 is an ideal travel companion.

New Brighton Grafitti. Pen EP3 with Zuiko 14-42mm. f5.6 @ 1/100th - ISO 200

It was getting a bit chilly on the pier (and we were both recovering from the flu), so we decided to head into the township and check out the New Brighton CBD. Unfortunately, it's not a pretty picture. New Brighton has struggled to attract visitors to its shopping area for a long time, despite having the beach and the pier right on their doorstep. I can remember going there over 20 years ago and thinking it was struggling to attract people. Twenty years, and several earthquakes later, and the prognosis is a lot worse. Lots of empty, dilapidated shop fronts and buildings are the norm, with only a sprinkling of outlets open for business. Very sad. There was, however, some very cool graffiti to photograph - so that's what I concentrated on.

The Best Things in Life... Olympus Pen EP3 with 14-42mm. f4.9 @ 1/60th - ISO 200

In terms of a micro four thirds camera, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the EP3. I love its styling and retro looks, its compactness and light weight, and it's a fairly responsive wee camera. It's quick focusing (much better than the previous EP models), has 'enough' megapixels, and supports the vast range of super primes that both Olympus and Panasonic produce.

But I hate (and I mean hate-with-a-passion in the strongest sense of the word) the fact that it has no evf (electronic view finder) built into the camera. Yes, I get it - adding an evf would have made it more bulky, and ruined the slimline form factor they've got going on. Don't care. I would have lived with a little extra weight - and form factor be damned - I want functionality! And yes, I know you can get add-on evf's for it - and if I end up keeping the EP3 long-term then I think that's exactly what I'll do. I really do hate the 'hold-the-camera-out-at-arms-length-and-use-the-rear-lcd-screen" method of composing - and taking - an image. It's just so wrong on so many levels. I'm prepared to live with it on a cellphone, because it just is what it is. But this is a camera for crying out loud. Please don't make us buy an accessory just to get an evf! Ooops - too late...

"I yam wot I yam". Olympus EP3 with 9mm fisheye lenscap. f8 @ 1/125th - ISO 200

Ok, despite my pet peeve, it's still a fun camera to travel around with. I just think it would be even 'funner' with an evf! 😁

Plonk the 9mm Olympus fisheye bodycap on the front and you have a truly pocketable camera (albiet with a fixed f8 fisheye lens). I love the fisheye look - used sparingly. With a subject like the graffiti wall above it works perfectly. And it's pretty sharp too - especially centrally.

The camera with three lenses (from 9mm fisheye up to 300mm telephoto), spare battery and spare SD card, fits into a camera bag not much larger than most women's make-up cases. Carrying it around all day is truly a breeze. Why wouldn't you?

New Brighton Graffiti 2. Olympus EP3 with Zuiko 14-42mm. f5.6 @ 1/100th - ISO 200

Being a slightly older generation 12MP micro four thirds camera (it was released in 2011) means that the sensor does have its limits - as we'll see in my next post (oh you tease!). It gets noisy fast at higher ISO's and in lower light, it's 'only' 12MP on a smaller than APS-C sensor, and it doesn't have the high dynamic range capabilities of later micro four thirds or DSLR cameras with larger sensors.

Yet as can also be seen in all the images in this post, if you use it in half-way decent light, at the lower ISO's, then the results are sharp, punchy, colourful and impressive. Would I continue to carry this in preference to my iPhone for travel pictures? Yes, I would. Why - you ask? And it's a very good question.

Pier Side. Olympus EP3 with Zuiko 14-42mm lens. f5.6 @ 1/125th - ISO 200

Why? Because it's a far more versatile system for taking photos with. As already mentioned, I can go from fisheye to 300mm with the change of a lens. It also gives me more control over the final image and how I want it to look - especially with apertures. The micro four thirds sensor might be small, but it's still bigger than an iPhone's, and background blur is more achievable (look at the seagull image). IQ (image quality) is probably quite similar, although I'd still give the edge to the larger micro four thirds sensor in the EP3. And of course, until I get an evf accessory for the Olympus, both still force you to use the 'compose-with-the-lcd-screen' method.

So I would say that, on average, the dedicated camera system is still the way to go - for me at least. Still, two or three years ago I wouldn't have even considered the comparison. It would have been a 'no contest' win to the EP3. But times they are a changing. I am using my cellphone to take more travel images. And I can carry around a few tiny additional lenses to increase the capabilities of the iPhone's native lens. Maybe an EP3 vs iPhone 6 image quality comparison is in order? I feel a new blogpost coming on...

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks - Tourist for a day with the OM-D E-M1

Autumn has started here in New Zealand, and the weather has been glorious! This weekend just passed (as I write this), my darling wife and I decided to make the most of it, and go for a drive. We initially considered heading South to Hokitika, but then remembered that the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival was on. Far too many people heading that way!

So we decided to head North instead, to Punakaiki, and check out the Pancake Rocks Blowholes. The tides were favourable (high tide), the sun was shining, and there was really no wind to speak of. We arrived at around 2.00pm - not quite the middle of the day, but not too far from it. Not really the ideal conditions for award-winning photography!?  But that wasn't what this trip was about. It was just about us getting outside in the sunshine - playing 'tourist' for the afternoon, and seeing what sort of images we could get. What if this was the only opportunity we were ever going to have to take photos at the Blowholes (fortunately it's not)? What kind of images can you get in the middle of the afternoon if, as a tourist, this was your only chance? Let's see shall we....

Nikau Palm, Punakaiki. Olympus OM-D E-M1 with 12-40mm f2.8 Pro. 1/100th @ f5.6, ISO 100 (Low). Polarising filter

We were travelling 'light' - me with my E-M1 in a Lowpro Slingshot 100 (that can easily carry the 12-40mm f2.8 Pro, 40-150mm f4/5.6 and 8mm bodycap) and Joanna with the Pen E-P3 and 14-42mm kit lens. I kept the 12-40mm f2.8 lens on most of the time, with a polariser attached - but as you'll see later on, I did 'experiment' with the 8mm at the blowholes. This is exactly the sort of kit I would travel with - light, portable, but extremely high quality (yes, even the 8mm bodycap).

The Pothole, Punakaiki. Olympus OM-D E-M1 with M.Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 Pro. 1/250th @ f6.3, ISO 100. Polarising filter

Because the day was so bright, I decided to leave the polarising filter on all day, and began by shooting with the E-M1's 'Low' ISO setting (ISO 100). The E-M1 shoots at ISO 200 at its lowest native setting, unless you unlock the 'low' option in the menu. This effectively gives you an ISO 100 image. Tests on-line and reviews I've seen indicate that ISO 100 does give a very 'clean' image, but you need to be careful not to blow out the highlights. Good advice at any and all ISO settings I would have thought. Considering the above images, ISO 100 (Low) looks pretty good to me!

Punakaiki Blowholes. Olympus OM-D E-M1 with 12-40mm f2.8 Pro. 1/400th @ f7.1, ISO 200. Grainy B&W Art filter

Because I was 'playing' tourist, I decided to 'play' with the Art filters in the camera as well. Grainy B&W has always been my favourite art filter (mode II with an orange filter - border added), although in such bright conditions it can be a bit tricky to get the exposure right. The filter is very high contrast and blows the highlights and shadows together very quickly. In the above image the sea spray has a few areas of blown out highlight detail - but this is very much the 'look' of this filter. Highlights and shadows can be controlled to a certain extent with the highlight/shadow curve adjustment controls built into the camera - but in such bright overhead light, you're fighting a loosing battle.

Punakaiki Blowholes 2. OM-D E-M1 with 12-40mm f2.8 Pro. 1/400th @ f7.1, ISO 200. Silver Effex Pro2.

Fortunately, since I shoot RAW, when you use the Art filters it creates two images - the Grainy Art filter as a jpeg, and the original RAW colour image. I used the RAW image of the same shot and processed it in Nik software's Silver Effex Pro2 - to get a similar black and white result. I actually like this image better, but of course you have to go through the whole processing of the image yourself - whereas with the Art filters, the camera does it all for you...

Thar She Blows! Olympus OM-D E-M1 with 8mm fisheye bodycap. 1/250th @f8, ISO 400.

The fun didn't stop with the Art filters either! Because of the high tide, the blowholes were putting on a decent display. But at the front of the railing, with the 12-40mm lens at 12mm (24mm equivalent in full frame), I wasn't getting enough of the scene in. Fortunately, I'd decided to throw my 8mm fisheye bodycap lens in the bag before leaving (it weighs practically nothing), and I'm so glad I did! I'm thrilled with the new perspective I was able to get of the blowholes, and I love the fisheye effect on the horizon. Hands-down my favourite image I've taken of the blowholes at Punakaiki.

E-M1 with 12-40mm f2.8 lens. 1/800th @f6.3 

We had a fantastic day wandering around the Pancake Rocks, being tourists for the day, and enjoying the beautiful weather and amazing scenery. The light was harsh - full on mid afternoon autumn sun - but we still managed to get some 'keeper' images that I would be happy to show off to friends and family - and one shot that I'd even consider printing and framing!

It just goes to show that good photos can be made at any time of the day, even if you find yourself at a once-in-a-lifetime location with less than ideal lighting conditions.

If your camera has art filters, and you've never used them, why not have a 'play'. You might stumble on a filter that you actually quite like. And remember, if you shoot in RAW mode, the camera will create two files; the original RAW file and a jpeg processed with the filter effect. So you can get the best of both worlds.

The Olympus OM-D E-M1 (and micro four thirds in general) is a perfect travel camera. Small and lightweight - even with the all metal 12-40mm f2.8 Pro lens and battery grip attached - with excellent image quality, and packed full of advanced features. Even the Pen EP-3 was up to the task, and Joanna took some beautiful images on a super small and lightweight system.

Yours truly with the E-M1. Photo by Joanna Lorimer

Much has been said (and written) recently about the future of micro four thirds now that full-frame mirrorless cameras are all the rage. Some (so called) 'experts' have claimed that micro four thirds is already dead - but with the release of Olympus's E-M1x and their roadmap for future lens releases, I believe that nothing could be further from the truth.

Photographers have a real thing about size. Most truly believe that 'bigger is better'. I used to be one of them. But since moving to the OM-D E-M1, I don't believe I've 'compromised' on image quality one bit. I couldn't be happier, and intend to immerse myself even further into the system. I'd love an E-M1x, and hope to get one someday. But until then, I'll quite happily use my E-M1 (and maybe a MkII). For me, and I suspect for many other photographers, it still happens to be the ideal system.