To Filter or Not to Filter? ..... just dont get the Kenko

Lack of updates.
Probably my GAS has slowed down.
Or it's satisfied for now...

Well i just got back from Singapore and i brought back with me an Olympus 25mm 1.8 home. I bought the silver color. There's just something about Black camera and Silver lens combination. I also bought the JJC Square lens hood also in silver to go with it .... although there's already a lens hood comes with the Oly 25mm. But i just love the look of square lens hood. Ya, i know.. aesthetic over functionality. help me. i also got the extended grip. It is comfy! although it adds a bit of size.

taken with iphone4

And then came the question of "To Filter or Not To Filter?" ...
The salesman offered me if i wanted to buy a filter to protect the lens.
I always have a filter on my lens although its probably not a good idea.
Its like riding a bike, you either put on a visor or not. You'd see clearly and better without the visor but no protection from bugs and whatsoever hitting your face!
Thats why i ride with a visor on. i need to protect my eyes.
I guess thats my mindset too on my camera lenses. Its better without filter but i still put filters on my lenses to protect from dirts, scratches, bumps, ding and so on. and i also got lazy to take out the filter when shooting, so its on all the time.
Although there's a theory that lenses are not easily scratch. Even if it's scratched, its not gonna be visible through the viewfinder or the photos but i cant confirmed that and i dont wanna take my chances too!
But the bad move was this..... i have the habit of buying the cheapest filter available.
To put a piece of cheap glass infront of an expensive glass is ... you go figure... there's a reason for cheap and expensive quality value.
I already spent so much on the lens and to spend more on filter is just ridiculous. thats what i thought.
Came Kenko.
Its cheap. its there to protect the lens. and maybe just shoot just fine. i said maybe.
It was on my XM1 too and theres no affect on quality unless if i pixel peep too much or eyeballing the pics. i've never done comparison so i never know.
So i bought it.

I took it out for a spin.
And i see it.

Naked. No filter on. 

With Kenko Cheap filter. Do you see something?

Crazy amount of flare with filter on.

Thats when i stopped using Kenko.

Lack of updates... I'm off to S'pore again!

OMD EM10

I'm off to Singapore for a business trip, will be pretty busy, i just brought my OMD EM10 only instead of Fuji X100S. I'm also hoping to get my free gifts for my EM10 because i bought it during the promotion period. Not sure if i'll take lots of pictures but i might go crazy and just buy the new Olympus 25mm 1.8 lens. Just for my Camera porn pleasures!

Ciao

Rumor Patrol: Olympus working on Fuji X100S style camera

Via 43rumors:-
http://www.43rumors.com/ft3-olympus-digital-trip-d-camera-coming-soon/

GAS say buy it!
But seriously if Olympus ever came up with the digital TRIP series, that will be an awesome collection! lol...
Back when i was GASing for Film cameras, most of the film cameras on top of my list was the Olympus models, from 35RC, 35SP, TRIP, all fixed prime lens... i do prefer primes over zooms! But thinking of digital flexibility and film costs, i'd prefer digital cameras over films, but i just love the aesthetic of these film cameras! Maybe i'll just buy for collection. Just to stare it. Maybe flew the camera like an airplane with my hand. I am obsess with Camera Porn.
If this TRIP-D Camera exist and is affordable, i might just buy it! Period! but of course, the aesthetic has to be retro just like the original TRIP.

Lets Trippy!

Fuji X100S with Yongnuo YN560III + RF603CII

Fun.
Flash were never been affordable back in the days.
A Canon speedlites can cost you for about USD$500. Two flash and prepare a whopping 1G, one grand.
Poor wallet!
But now with cheap flash on the rise from the east, playing with flashes can now become affordable.
Strobing aka Strobist they say.
Yes these flashes are made in China, but these flashes are powerful.
I'm talking about Yongnuo's flashes.
Mine i just got my Yongnuo YN560III. This flash has built in wireless trigger which will work amazingly with their own trigger Yongnuo RF603CII.
I dont need to attach a trigger on the flash shoe. thats the cool feature. It wont add height to your flash.
They are so cheap you can get 3 Yongnuos for 1 Canon EX speedlite. i may be exaggerating but it is that cheap.
Cheap doesnt mean it sucks. Maybe for purist but for me, it works wonderfully.
It did give me a scare when i thought my flashes were DOA(dead on arrival) but you actually have to press the power button for about 3 seconds to switch it on. sheesh...
I also bought their own wireless trigger, as mentioned RF603CII, if you wondering, this trigger works with my Fuji X100S and Olympus OMD EM10.
On ebay, it still is confusing when they say Canon version, Nikon version but i bought the RF603Cii, supposedly for Canon but it works on Fuji and Olympus. I think Yongnuo updated this for the mirrorless cameras but i still dont get it when they sell it for Canon and Nikon version but whatever.. just get the RF603CII and it should work. You know how this chineses Ebay sellers copy and pasted each others ad... its so funny.

2 Yongnuo YN560III, Camera left and right (with umbrella)
Black cloth.
Ikea laundry basket, Fyllen.
Fuji X100S set to external flash mode ON. (Its not in the menu, its at the flash settings button)
Triggered by Yongnuo RF603CII.

Note: I'm not paid by Yongnuo but their stuffs are awesome!

A reference if you want to print your OMD pictures..

Got this from http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/omd-em5/omd-em5A5.HTM
For your reference if you ever want to print your OMD photos.

This is for OMD EM-5 but since EM10 is using the same sensor as EM5 i guess it's valid. I dont usually print large but sometimes i get a free offer to print 12x18 if i print 40 or more 3Rs. I've printed some of my Fuji x100s pictures and boy am i glad with the free 12x18 picture. I'll show you that on future post.

Now i want to print my OMD pictures.
2014 resolution. print my pictures.

Note: After my previous post, now i want an X-T1. GAS alert. 

Comparing ISO noise between Fuji X100S and Olympus OMD EM10

Okay,
First off, this is gonna be an apple and oranges comparison.
Some will say these are 2 different cameras but they both take pictures.
Coming from a straight Jpg shooter only, no RAW involve.
I just want to compare how Fuji and Olympus tackle ISO noise.
This is not even a high ISO test.
I always had in mind that Fuji is better than Olympus.
First sign showed me, Yes, its true Fuji is better.
But i always read online that some claimed Olympus is on par with Fuji.
Or at least, its negligible.
That i find it hard to swallow.
Is my OMD settings wrong? someone please shed a light...please.
The noise on my OMD pictures are too obvious to ignore, at least compared to a Fuji.
You see, i owned the Fujis first and then OMD second, so my view is coming from a Fuji ISO perspective. My eyes probably got used to Fuji's quality.
But everywhere i read on the internet claims OMD is on par with Fuji... did i say that already?
You see my disbelief?
It could be the complicated menu of the OMD or wrong settings or thats normal OMD ISO...
Maybe i need to shoot RAW but then i just want to shoot JPGs.
Fuji JPGs is awesome.
Based on my ISO findings of these two camera, it only matter if you print large.
Do you ever print your photos?
Well i do though mainly just normal 3Rs, 4Rs.
It didnt matter. The OMD will do just fine.
But there's always a corner in my mind that knowing the noise on the OMD makes me frustrated.
i just cant brush it off.
Knowing its there, it just unease you.
Its like having a dead pixel on your camera. You cant see it. But you know its there. And over time you'd know the location of the dead pixel everytime you look at your pictures.
I cant keep sliding the luminance noise slider all the time...everytime i import new OMD pictures.
And if you slides too much, you lose details and the skin tones will get smooth and painting like effect.
Some claim Fuji has noise reduction in camera which you cant turn off but hey, the picture is still awesome.
Enough me whining let show you photos already.
Exposure is different but i just wanna show you ISOs

The first photo is from OMD. OOC. Large SuperFine.

OMD EM10

Noise reduction AUTO

Noise Filter LOW

ISO400 

Can you see how grainy the skin tones? 

Its not the grain that really bothers me, its that over sharpen kinda effect noise that really really bothers me.

This is Fuji X100S. OOC

ISO500

There maybe noise reduction in camera here but at ISO500, this is just clean.

Excuse the exposure settings. These are OOC. i could brighten the OMD pic but lets just leave it like that.

So let me ask you Olympus OMD users.... is this noise normal? or i had my settings wrong?

Is there any way to improve my OMD Jpg settings?

I did read Olympus OMD sharpening could exaggerate the noise. i haven't fool around with that kind of settings yet. Mostly default except for the noise settings above.

Note: i also like the fact that i can easily get the look that i wanted with manually setting exposure quickly on my Fuji.(if you get what i meant. i dont know how to explain it). i dont have to adjust the flash brightness. Just play around with the shutter speed and ISO. There! Or maybe i already know my Fuji well. i'm already one with my Fuji, He's the one. Blue pill or Red pill. Down the rabbit hole. Oh sorry my mind wanders to the Matrix.

If you shoot RAW with the Olympus OMD then read this...

i found a video http://robknightphotography.com/olympus-viewer-2-vs-lightroom-4/ where he claimed that the Olympus Viewer software is much better at processing RAW than lightroom.
i havent try it yet as i mainly shoots in JPG but am interested, i guess i have to install it on my mac and start shooting in RAW and see the difference myself.
i love my Olympus OMD but still noise peeping the ISOs of the Jpgs. Coming from Fuji made me this way. Peeping noise. i guess its just placebo on my end.

I aint no pixel peeper!

Phew!
Just read a long post regarding Fujifilm X-Trans Sensor, in this case the Fuji X-T1's sensor which is same as X-E2, ... Anyway, that post is super pixel peep. Now i know what pixel peep meant. He goes on micro details regarding color artifacts, err what else? something about sharpen, fine detail...color...hmm i dont know, i dont have a clue... its just not my thing. But if you as he said "It may be of interest to those who depend on good per-pixel quality for largish prints".  

Then read on here http://doeringphoto.com/projects/writing/fujixt1.php

so i aint no pixel peeper,
i guess i'm just noise peeper!

How to change the size of the focus point box of Fujifilm X100S

Ok,
i just learnt something new today. Actually i learnt two new things today but thats for another post.
Apparently you can change the size of the focus point of the X100S. DUH! n00b!
I admit, the box was a little too big by default but i've been shooting with it ever since i bought it and got used to it over time.
This might also be the reason why i always focus at the background instead of the main subject. But i blame that on Fuji's quirky auto focus hunting game.
i always wonder if i could reduce the box but never do anything about it. i dont know if its even in the manual. i thought i read the whole thing or maybe i just glanced through.
Oh well this happen to me before, its about that 'silent mode' thing i posted way back before. i guess i didnt explore the camera too much. which then lead me to realise that i am actually a pixel peeper! Gosh.
i guess i just need a camera that shoots nice picture, not so much on features and then zoom 100% to see all the noise, grain, speckles. and here i always thought that im no pixel peep. (T_T)

Anyway back to the subject, here's how to....
And i believe this only works on EVF/LCD, using OVF the box is back to the default size.

Press the AF button on the scroll wheel and it will display the 49 focus points of the camera. 

Then just turn left or right of the command dial to change sizes.

This is a command dial.

Sorry i dont have Photoshop yet so i cant point a red arrow to the command dial.

Thats about it.

Happy Shooting.

Stop photo Auto Enhancement by Google/Blogger.

I just had to find a way why blogger keeps enhancing my already beautiful photos :P because it makes it look ugly! and it annoys me like someone tickled you non stop up to a point where you wanna beat the shit out of him/her.

Here's an article i found by searching on Google. Thanks Google (isnt it ironic? - Alanis Morissette)

How to turn off photo auto-enhance if you use Google+

If your blog - and the account you use to post to the blog - is linked to your Google+ profile, then you can stop your photos from being changed by:

• Opening the Google Plus settings tab.
• In the "Photos" section, un-ticking "Automatically enhance new photos"

This stops the auto-enhance and auto-awesome tools being applied to any new photos that you upload from now onwards using Google+ Photos, Picasa-web-albums or any Blogger feature that lets you load a picture (the post-editor, the header widget settings, the picture gadget settings).

Alternatively, you can turn off the auto-enhance and auto-awesome changes that are made to specific pictures by by finding them in Google+ photos and un-ticking "Auto-enhance" in the "More" menu.

taken from http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2013/10/stop-auto-enhance-being-applied-to-pictures-in-blogger.html

OMD EM10 Live Composite Mode.... Fun Fun Fun!

I haven't pushed the capabilities of my OMD EM10, this guy needs a stress test but i just fooled around with the live composite mode and boy, such a fun experiment. Light painting made easy. Here's a test shot 1 second exposure OOC Jpg lighted with an iphone. Such a cool feature this Live Composite although some claimed it increased noise. Oh well Olympus noise sucks anyway. But the picture is razor sharp.

Finally none enhancement photo by Blogger. 

it was getting annoying i just had to google on how to fix it.

Yongnuo RF603CII Wireless Trigger on Olympus OMD EM10... OMG it works!!

I've been reading that Olympus OMD EM5 only works with Yongnuo RF602 but not 603 although there is a hack to it but i wont go into that. i dont want to hack my stuffs. i want to buy it and pray that it works. pay and pray. thats how i roll. thats just the way it is. i dont want to open up my trigger and solder this solder that. no. just too much hassle.

EM10 being almost similar to EM5, i worry the same issue with RF603 would resurface. I just purchased a set of RF603 before i bought the OMD although the ones i bought are the latest from Yongnuo, the RF603CII, i guess its a version 2 or Mark 2 they say. Anyway, its still model 603 but good news it works!! so if you want a cheap wireless triggers for your OMD, get the new RF603CII.

Some test shots below...

shot with OMD EM10 with RF603CII to trigger the flash. Flash is Yongnuo 560III

i just bought a pair of Yongnuo's flashes, the YN560III, as it has a built in wireless so you dont need to buy a receiver for it. Just get the RF603CII and set it to the same channel and viola, you got some strobing/strobist project to do!! This flash is cheap too.. i got it for USD$136 for 2 flash.

i set both flash to the same channel and triggered wirelessly by OMD EM10 using the new RF603CII

All i can say is its...

AWESOME!

Look whats in the mail today.... Yippie Ki Yay!

Actually the postmen never sent me a card telling me my stuffs arrived. no. poor service. boo hoo. i had to called the post office and asked them to track my stuffs. luckily there's a tracking number to be tracked or else i'm doom. its almost a month now and my stuffs has yet to arrived. But actually it already is in the post office, i dunno why they didnt call me to get it. again, poor poor service.

The stuffs that i've been waiting for are my Yongnuo's 560 III and the latest wireless triggers by Yongnuo as well the RF603CII..... Yay!

On a side note i hate Olympus OMD's noise... thats iso1600....

Gotta try this Yongnuo's on the OMD EM10......

thats after this break....

Street Shooting in Singapore with Fuji X100S ..... Black and White style!

Okay, i admit. i suck at street photography.
I aint got no balls to shoot strangers in the street, up close? nop.... far? .. yea maybe i can do that...
i shoot a lot of people's back, thats how suck i am in street photography... i hate my life... not! haha...
Oh hell maybe i just make a series of people's back street photography. Instead of face, i see heads, back of heads. i always try to be a ninja, sometimes i do it, sometimes i dont. i just worried too much. And being socially retarded, i cant just ask a stranger and shoot their portrait, just not my thing. i cant talk to strangers, mama dont let me but seriously i just cant. words got stuck at my throat, literally it felt that way. But i like street photography, actually it was fun. its like a challenge and being a ninja and all, i just find it to be fun. i get to use a lot of my camera ya know. As Before.... like i mentioned, i only wait for the right buildings or the right place to take photos. now with street photography, i dont. and looking back at all the pictures i took, i felt satisfied. even though they are strangers and no pictures of me, i felt happy, and its a pleasure this street photography is.  Anyway, yadaa yadaa yadaa....where are the photos? so here goes...

i didnt do much post processing here, just a VSCO preset and pasted to every photos that i'd post. copy and pasted, thats how i roll... just like my exam papers.... sshhhh!

Picture bomb! (Lots of photos)

 Just reached hotel at about 10pm i think, and yup i shoot ppl's back...

 i loved shooting sign boards

 Nice to have a coffee place near my hotel

 MRT in Singapore is awesome. Most famous places have MRT, so its easy to explore Singapore

Here i am trying to be a ninja... saw few people smoke, i think its not that pin sharp because of the motion blur, i was too worried to be caught snapping them.

 i just had to shoot his back.

 Hello my chinese friends please translate this to me...

 i took my time to take this shot, i see her busy looking at the map, i think she wont noticed me taking her pic.

 Yes dude, i'm waiting for you to enter my frame and then i shoot. thanks

i love how the light falls here, okay okay, i shoot their backs.

i used to be crazy with guitars, at one time i had 10 guitars. now that is awesome terrible GAS!

i see Doraemon guitar, how that play? 

Honestly blogger made this look washed out, i just dont know how to fix this.

My favorite place to dine at Funan mall. i ate 2 meals here. please dont judge me. its so good!

 i dont wanna bore you with my GAS, but i am GASing for this, just today... 

 At first look i didnt realised it was handphones..

 A series of shots of people's back.

i dont know what happen here. blogger just make this look like sepia toned.

i love shooting at crossing road

 Again, blogger just doesnt seems to like dark pictures. 

This guy dont seem to mind i took his picture, i meant the map, or was it his? or the map?

 Whats down there?

 You know the rest of this story....

i went home with it, the OMD.

Cleaning services for free

 Universal Studios just across the water

 Big ball of flowers

 The cable cars.

This was supposed to be a dramatic picture, end up as washed out by blogger

My OMD died on me so i took out my x100s to continue my night street shooting 

 Wow, blogger made this super sepia toned. Motion blur due to being a ninja. this is where the stabilisation of OMD wins. 

 oh no blogger what have you done! too washed out!

This is one of my fav strangers photo. that madam is looking at me. ruuuunnn!!

i was pretending shooting the sign board above and chimping to take this shot.

 pre wed photos?? or Singaporean drama?

 You want satay? You got satay!

 Again with the Sepia tone. i think this is one of my ninja successful photo.

 Time to head home

 Look ma, i'm in the middle of the road!!!

i'll see you next time Singapore!