Fuji EF-X20, not a review...

Just recently received my new Fuji "GAS" flash, the EF X-20, i bought used on Ebay, haven't really put it to use, just some light testing, just to test if its working properly. As you can see above it works marvellously, and wirelessly.... It's not really wireless, but it is not wired, its in slave mode, as long it detects a flash, it will fire simultaneously. really nice for off camera strobing, too bad this wont work on the X-pro1 as the pro didnt have a built in flash to fire the flash, this works great on x100s but i haven't really test it to its full potential. Of course my Yongnuos are better. Sorry for the heavy crop on the picture above, my desk is really messy and to i need to crop some 'unwanted classified for my eyes only' 'stuffs' on the desk. LOL.

All in all for being smaller in size, i think its a good travelling flash and pair it with the x100s, should be nice to have off camera flash to play with. But in theory in broad daylight it might be having difficulties to detect the master flash from the x100s, i haven't try it, i'll make an update on another post when i have the time to test it.

While the x100s built-in flash is nice but if you want more power, this is a great combo.

And i love the direct hard flash ala Terry Richardson outcome!

Fuji X100S with Yongnuos stuffs...

Last weekend i had a pre-wedding photoshoot.
The couple suggested that they wanted a photo of them on a motorcycle.
I brought along my Yongnuos flash the yn560iii and its latest trigger rf603ii. I have to say last time doing this off camera shots are bloody expensive. A Canon speedlites alone can buy me about 4 or more Yongnuo's flash. And then the pocket wizard too cost more money. Yongnuo is cheap and it works as advertised. As long as you dont need TTL but although there are TTL models for the Canons and the Nikons, (not yet for other mirrorless cameras) but i like to use manual. so i'm in control. More power, less power, just bump it up or down. I gotta say i love these chinese products. Cheap and working although reliability is a mystery. So far none of them breaks.

Mine is a YN560iii flash which has a built in wireless and its pretty handy. You dont need a receiving trigger to put on its hot shoe. So no height added, just place it on a stand and ready to go. My trigger is the latest ones from Yongnuo, the RF603Cii, so far it works with all my camera, the x-m1, x100s and the omd em10.

Since i'm on Fuji mode so i took my X100s for the session. and it did not disappoint. Though there are few mislock focus pics but the ones that it nails, are so good. There's so much information in the Fuji Jpgs files for editing. Just a lil sliding in the lighroom basic settings sliders are fine.

Here is one from the session.

I used two flashes here, one is behind the motorcycle, my left about 10 o clock, to light up the background grafitti, you can see the tripod foot on picture left. Thats an easy fix. Either you crop or use the spot healing brush. I forgot to take a picture of the setup so i purposely shown the tripod foot. The 2nd flash is infront of the motorcycle, to my right, about my 1 or 2 o clock, facing directly on the couple. These flashes did not have softboxes on them, just the flash diffuser thats fitted on them. i dont remember the settings as i set them on manual. set to taste.
And then my favorite move, VSCO to death! Lol. I think ISO is about a 1000 and im confident what fuji can achieved. Nice clean files. Theres grain but its an okay grain. Unlike ones on Olympus. Too digital for my taste. Sorry Oly. I still love you but just not tonight.

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!

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.

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....

Olympus OMD EM10 Camera Review that you've been waiting for!!!...

.....Not really....

taken with Fuji x100s

Having just own an Olympus OMD EM10, i just had to test the camera straight away. Take it straight out of the box, put in the battery, fire some test shots and here we go. i dont know how much battery power left so lets just snap away till it died.

This is my review. This aint scientific. Hell, i dont even know how much megapixels this camera is, i just know that it's the same as OMD EM5 and EM1's processor but i still dont know whats the science in that. Since those both OMDs won awards i guess its a fine camera. This is not a pro review because this is for the noobs, amateurs, and enthusiast, pointers and shooters just like me. This is a point of view coming from a Fuji X100S user. So i'll be comparing the two. i dont care if its apples and oranges, yea you trolls just gonna bashed me, say its a different cameras bla bla bla (insert trolls lines here) bla bla....
I'll be doing point and shoot, a lil bit of manual controls, just a travel camera user experience kinda review. i dont really pixel peep. just occasionally for low light pictures. i hate unbearable noise. i am not gonna do tech specs or describe you how the body is, there's dpreview for you. lets just cut to the chase and show pictures shall we?

Anyway, i was in Singapore, i just hop off the MRT to Chinatown from Vivo City where i got my EM10. its night time. and i love low light. its also good way to test the Em10 low light capabilities. i set the auto ISO to 3200. i think based on my internet research everybody is not recommending the iso6400, thats why i still love my fuji. Damn those fujis are good at low light. These pictures will be OOC (out of camera for you noobies like me out there). i'm gonna try some night time street shooting. although i suck at street shooting.


THE CAMERA

taken with Fuji x100s

At this time i haven't figured how to set the camera focus at the center, so the camera automatically chooses which to focus. it sucks but the camera focus quickly, by the second focus it already focus where i want it to. Autofocus is handy but i still want to be in control. Need to RTFM. but the manual is in the CD and i dont bring a laptop. so i have to live with it. Lets just autofocus through the night.

The OMD EM10 is bundled with the new pancake auto zoom kit lens. that lens is awesome, its so small making the em10 compact easy to carry around. I think personally based on the compactness and the slight lighter weight of the OMD and dont me get started with the zoom, okay okay, it got zoom where as the Fuji X100S is just one focal length camera, if zoom is your sort of thing i think the OMD is a much better camera to bring around anywhere, covers all the angle, wide to zoom, its 14-42mm multiply by crop factor two so its 28mm-84mm. but with Fuji x100s u can easily get bokeh. you can get bokeh with EM10 kit lens if you zoom in.

and i also think the OMD in your hand handles better because of the slight grip than the x100s. Put the OMD around my neck and its not heavy, x100s too is not heavy. i once travel with SLR and i made a promise will never bring SLR for travel. too heavy and bulky. its a nuisance. but the OMDs and the Fujis, no problems at all. it doesnt fit your jeans pockets but its small enough to put in a backpack or pouch. i dont think i mind if i use a wrist strap all the way.

EVF is great. i dont really mind using both camera's EVF although i used a lot of OVF with Fuji X100S. During Sunny Day is a great time to use EVF's.

What else is there to say? hmm... lets just go straight to pictures.

Disclaimer: i'm not sure if blogger enhanced the pictures i uploaded but i upload this straight from my hard drvie. and if you wanna use my picture please ask permission and do credit me. lol...and i just realised that the pictures that i upload here are not the full blown out jpgs. its been resized by blogger.

HIGH ISOs

iso 2000 f3.5 14mm 1/60

To be honset, honest...damn you typo... honestly, i think i prefer how the Fuji handles noise and their grain structure, whatever that means, the omd noise and grain is errrr... i dunno... to smudgy i think? but maybe there is a way of doing noise reduction, i mean like settings, or lightroom process. please point me to the direction. all i can do is play around with luminance noise in lightroom, setting it up to 30 seems to lower the noise better. not bad not bad at all... you just have to control the noise, limit the iso to 3200. More high isos pictures below.

All pictures above are ISO3200

a lil bit of manual shooting... blur pedestrians

FOCUSING

The OMD wins hands down. You just have to point your camera, half press the shutter and beep, its in focus, shoot. thats ninja style. Fuji X100S likes to hunt sometimes. especially at low light scene. If you like a really fast auto focus then the OMD is the camera for you. i think the x100s mindset is like a leica, but in auto. a really fast manual focus but its actually auto. u get it? no? its ok. i rant sometimes.

With the OMD, i just need to pick up my camera and point at the subject and focus and shoot, sometimes i do it while i walked, the stabilisation helps though some pictures wont be really sharp if you pixel peep but its okay for web or 3R 4R prints.

i was looking for hawker centre when i saw this oldie sleep, like i said, point, focus, shoot, walk.

you cant do that on a x100s. maybe you can 50% of the time but the other 50% it likes to hunt. 

not with the omd.

THE REST

Before i put thoughts on keyboard i have a lot to say but now i think im out of words. let me just post pictures and you pixel peep all you want. and let me just rant whatever comes to mind. All JPGs size are average less than 10Mb. Same with X100S.

Nice to have wide angle lens. iso3200.

You do get a bit of bokeh with this kit lens. this is also iso3200.

Sometimes the 3 axis didnt really work wonders, i was trying to be a ninja but i think i shake a lil bit. i think i shake a lot. this was walking and then noticed there's an alley to my right, point, focus, shoot while walking. so there's a lot of shaking going on.

blogger enhanced this photo. anyway, i have to credit Zack Arias for this. his tips were really helpful. You pretend that you shooting for the menu board (looking up) via EVF and then point to the strangers looking at the back lcd pretending you're checking the photo you just took but actually taking their photos. 

too bad this guy at the right taking up too much space. need to crop this later.

the reason i went to little india. Red Mutton Soup.

iso2500. The noise during day time is better than night time. obviously. just mentioning.

 i want to do this in black and white but i promised you OOC.

Here's bokeh for you bokeh lovers. Zoom at 42mm equivalent to 84mm at f/5.6 iso3200

its handy to have a zoom. did i say that already?

Anyways, both cameras are great and i'm not ditching Fuji. i love both companies. But to be honest i still prefer Fuji, the way they handle/render images, i dont know what that means. honestly i think Fuji has better image quality although im not saying that the OMD sucks. OMD also creates good image quality with controlled noise. with OMD i had to adjust luminance noise in lightroom, not with Fuji. but maybe i need to use the OMD with a different lens, a faster lens, maybe the new 25mm 1.8. Please OLYMPUS lend me the lens, i want to try it before i buy it. i also have the old Zuiko lens of the OM10, i need to get an adapter, fast!.

So my conclusions would be:-

Fuji is better at low light conditions. Olympus is faster at focusing. The EM10 is also compact, smaller and lighter than the x100s. The X100S looks cool if aesthetic/rangefinder is your thing. EM10 kit lens covers all the angles u need for travel photography. The Fuji can easily get bokeh. Let me put in bullet points.

Fuji X100S:-

1. better at low light

2. cool looking rangefinder-ish (this is personal)

3. easy bokeh

4. faster lens

OMD EM10

1. Faster focus

2. Smaller and lighter

3. Kit lens wide and zoom.

4. tilt-able lcd

5. Wifi, cool for selfies. and spy. and the list goes on.

Both have built in flash but i dare say Fuji X100S has better built in flash. The EM10 is too direct? splat on your face flash kinda. but the EM10 has wifi. You can take selfie with EM10 via your iphone. now thats pretty cool. you can zoom in and out via wifi. focus via wifi. thats some cool stuffs. i know the Fuji Xt1 have those features too but for one grand cheaper, the Em10 is value for money.

UPDATES: i just realised OMD is making noise when focusing. like a white noise/tv channel ends. google it up and its the axis stabilisation making noise. some kind of magnetic field. only in quiet room you can hear it but not annoyingly loud.

And i just remember when you record video with your OMD, you can take pictures at the same time too! aint that cool? Fuji dont have that. in fact everybody said Fuji videos sucks. i guess its a pure photography camera like a Nikon DF, except that a DF dont have video capabilities but Fuji does, just an added bonus of Fuji. i dont really mind with videos to be honest. im all pure photography haha.

i know back in my mind i have a lot to say but im just lost for words.

iso1000 1/30 f5.3 32mm

i loved tight crop and that is razor sharp. thats OOC.

So my GAS have won me over and make me buy an EM10. if i have to blame someone for my recent purchase of the omd em10, i guess its robin wong and damian mcgilycuddy. creating such nice pictures with the OMDs. Robin should get a raise cos he work for Olympus.

Next up Xpro1.

Instax 210

taken with Fujifilm X100S

I love this camera. Instant film. Polaroid-like or polaroid killer. My first instant film camera. Dont you just love how the image appears right before your eyes. i told you before in my previous post that id love printed picture, not to store pictures in your iphones or hard drive. This is the sh*t. This is how i become a Fuji Fanboy. Starting with the instax. and then the X series came along. Fujifilm makes things right for me. and everyone else i must say. because there's a growing fan base or a cult following. When i got this baby, nobody is selling these in my country. Nowadays you can find it in almost every camera shop in town. Told you, a cult is growing. my worries are gone. More films to be made. When i bought it i was worried Fuji will abandon a sinking ship. but this ship is not gonna sink. Instax are putting themselves big on the map.

Then they came up with the Instax Share printer.

Even Bigger!

Genius!

Shopping Spree!!

Been on a shopping spree on fleabay, man, look how my credit spikes....

i've been eyeing all these lighting stuffs from yongnuos, and to make things more expensive is that i need at least 2 of each..

so i bought myself

:- a wireless trigger , Yongnuo's latest RF603 II,
:- a LED lighting from Yongnuo too! the YN160S
:- a wireless flash YN560 III

and then some stuffs like an umbrella tripod holder and a lens cap for my Olympus OM10.

Lets see how i like my stuffs later... or cry later...