Focusing moving subjects..... at night!

To be honest i'm not really an experience photographer when it comes to tracking moving subjects although i have the "theories" embedded somewhere in my brain. One theory is to use Not-so-fast shutter speed or otherwise the subject looked static, not moving at all.

Last weekend, i had the pre wedding photoshoot session with the motorcycle and just for fun, i'm gonna take a picture of them riding the motorcycle. It was 10pm, low light, the roads are all lit with ambered/orange colored road lights which gonna look suck in the photos and i just have to rely on my cameras to do the work for me. Pre-focus, and continuos high speed shooting. Its gonna be an experiment. For this work, i kinda trust my Olympus for its high speed AF although i did give my X100S a fair chance, the Fuji did nailed it but as it was in different lighting situation, the rider's faces were a bit too much shadow, i prefered my Oly pics for this..... if i dont pixel peep. Most of the Olympus pictures were in the right lighting condition or at the right moments. And even Oly did not accurately nailed focus everytime. and of course these pictures look great if you're not zooming pixel peep style. 4x3 or even 8x10 should be fine without showing not so sharp faces.

Here's one from EM10. i used the olympus 25mm.

i adjusted the white balance and thanks to the filter fitted in front of the lens, i get the blue flare. (clapped hands....NOT)

Here's from X100S.

Forget the colors. Forget the white balance. Pictures like these i'd prefer to convert it into black and white. as you can see the girl's face has too much shadow. 

But the point is, 

the x100s is able to get in focus with moving subjects.....in low light too.

But for the above 2 pictures, i'd prefer Oly for its moments and composition.

X-Pro1

OOooohh...
Looking at the X-pro1 alone is giving me the chills. So sexy, so beautiful, and i'm pretty much on GAS mode. I just have to have it!

Just buy it already! Gaah!

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.

I'm confused...

One minute i'm rooting for my Olympus, next minute i'm on Fuji mode. Even as much as i love the fast and accurate AF of the OMD but i still find my way back to using Fuji. Somehow with Fuji, i wanna take photos. Maybe aesthetically, the Fuji X100S makes me want to take photos with it. I am accepting it as for what it is, slow and unreliable accuracy of focusing, it did get me frustrated from times to times when my photos are blurred but not due to camera shake but more about the unreliable focus accuracy. But the thing with my x100s, when it nails it, it kills it. The IQ is awesome and i love the tonal range i can get with its JPGs. I only shoot JPGs. I wanna try RAW but i more often prefer to use JPGs. Save space, lazy editing are one of the few reasons i did not shoot RAW.

As of now, i am on Fuji mode. I still love my OMD but my next toy, my next investment is probably gonna be a Fuji. I'm eyeing on the X-T1 but somehow i am still going back to the X-pro1. The deal at the moment is so good its crazy to pass on it. That sexy rangefinder look is what intrigues me. i wanna hold it, i wanna own it. Its so cool looking, i just wanna take pictures with it. I look cool with it sling on my neck. Slow, unreliable auto focus.... naaahh ... i can live with it. I just had to sacrifice speed for image quality. Everytime i look at the Fuji JPGs files, i'm just impressed with its color and tonal range. i do little editing on fuji jpgs files than what i do on Oly Jpgs files. With Oly i'm just too busy sliding the luminance noise slider looking for the best settings for reducing noise and not getting that painting effect at the same time.

So i guess i'm getting the X-pro1 pretty soon.

A Malay Engagement Day

Let me run you through it.
In a Malay culture when a couple wants to get married, they got engaged first, i mean thats normal everywhere in the world but most of the time, the guy didnt go down to his knees, unromantic right? thats what she said, but that just it, we went straight to the point, its like asking or even telling "Lets go dinner" but instead "let's get married." It is like a planned vacation. "This summer we go to Italy" but instead "This summer we get married"and no.... most of the time the guy didnt get down to his knees. If there is then he probably watched too many Hollywood movies. I think wedding is overrated or at least over budget. Usually when a couple wants to get married they made sure they have enough money first. Duh! Aint we all?? But really, a malay wedding can go up to $20K. True story. But that's the first stumbling block. A wedding can be cheap but with the way malay wedding culture goes, it tends to go over budget. Not "tends", but always.

EM10 with 25mm 1.8. Mad sharp!

X100S

Anyway, lets get into the engagement event.

Usually the guy's family will come to the girl's family home, by family i mean the guy's parents, uncles, aunts minus the groom-to-be, they'll come to the girl's house to meet with her parents as some sort of proposal. Usually, they also bring gifts for the bride-to-be and the engagement ring. Yes, the family is making the proposal and when you're at this stage basically the girl/parents already agreed to this proposal. This is just like a standard malay culture procedure, like a family meet up....

Fuji X-M1 OOC JPGs.

"These are the gifts and the ring"

Most of the time, the guy's family will come up with some kind of a poem,

roses are red,
violets are blue,
bla bla bla bla bla

and the bride's family will respond to that poem.

Fuji X100S

Fuji X100S

Of course this is all in malay. I dont remember what the poem was, but basically what they are trying to say is that their son (groom's name announced) is "interested" with the daughter (bride's name announced). And this is usually also the time to set up the wedding date and other things.

So assuming everything went well, this is when the bride-to-be comes out of her room, meet with the groom's mother, where the mother will put on the engagement ring into the bride-to-be fingers. I said fingers because usually there are 2 rings. I'm not really an expert in malay culture, so i cant explain why 2 rings, why this and why that but thats usually the flow of the event.

Taken with Fuji x100s

Fuji X-M1

After that, food is served. 

The groom-to-be comes for a photo session with family and friends and then after finish with the hi-tea the guy's family gone back home. So thats about it. The rest of the day is just photo session of the just-got-engaged couple. Look at the flower. Look into the sunset. Happily ever after.

Taken with X100S

Taken with OMD EM10 

Last weekend when Olympus won me over...

I did a lil rant on my previous post, when i read it back, sometimes it didn't make any sense. I guess i couldn't make my point across. Whatever.

Anyway, last week i had a pre-wedding session and all i can say is that the Olympus produces great images. Sharper than Fuji, crazy sharp. When outdoors the Olympus is really great. Now i understand when one said about Olympus's colors. It also locks focus quickly, great bokeh, and sharp. Did i say sharp already?

During the shoot i had all 3 cameras around my neck and shoulders and i tend to pickup the Olympus everytime. i fitted a 25mm 1.8, great sharp fast bokeh lens, really nice for close up shooting. Only when i needed a wider length that i turn to Fuji. i really enjoy using the EVF on the Oly and the tilt screen is really handy. That same last week, a few days earlier, that i decided to sell my Oly. But after the session it changed my mind. i am starting to trust my Olympus EM10.

Here is one of my fav from the session.

really nice lens is the 25mm. Nice blurred foreground and background while keeping the bride-to-be sharp.

I guess this is when i need to start using RAW. To be honest i hate that blown highlights in the sky. But i'm no photo-manipulator, if i am a perfectionist, i'd changed the sky using photoshop. I believe with RAW i might be able to pull the highlights down a bit. or i could use the multiple exposure bracketing so i could blend the pictures. Maybe i'd do that in the future.

I'm giving Olympus a chance....

Heck i might get a used OMD EM5 as a second body and just shoot Olympus.

Between Fuji and Olympus..... Part II

Note: caution. just a rant. might not make any sense

This is my on going debate on which system is better or better suited to my style. One system has their own pros and cons between them. Sacrifice is inevitable. One had to go.

Ironic.

Last week i had some sort of final say, Fuji wins it for me. I had to sacrifice the small size of Oly for a bigger size Fuji, to be exact, long size Fuji. Not really that much of a difference but with Oly new pancake electronic zoom kit lens, it made the Fuji lens way long! Thats X-M1 by the way, with the X100S it is much similar size but Oly is versatiler or more versatile since it can zoom though im not really a fan of zoom. i like prime lens. One focal length is enough. Sometimes i zoom to 17mm with the Oly just to get that 35mm ala x100s FOV. I just kinda used to that field of view. I love my trusty x100s. Image quality is stunning although it has it quirks but i seem to get around that quirkiness.

Or so i thought...

I was about to sell my Oly and just shoot Fuji exclusively.

But thats about to change.

Features, speed and EVF this is where Olympus smokes the Fuji X100S. I wont go into detail but basic pointers are Wifi remote for Olympus, which is none on X100S but not a deal breaker, just handy. AF speed, Olympus is the speed demon, Olympus is the rabbit and Fuji is the tortoise but u know the ending of that story which has got nothing to do with this.  EVF is crap on X100S. its usable but you have to be slow to compensate the EVF. EVF lags in X100S. Sometimes its like a broken TV. Sometimes its better to use the OVF only and pray if it nails the focus. Most of the time yes, but in some tricky lighting, bye bye focus!

So i decided to sell my Oly for a Fuji X-T1. It was reported that this newest X camera has got most of the features which i mentioned above betterised, if that is an english word. But you just have got to be curious, Fuji claimed the x100s to be the fastest focusing camera but in fact Olympus smokes it. So after few days researching, i found out that the Fuji X-T1 still lags behind Olympus in AF speed, thats what most reviewers said so or claimed so. and that make me wonder should i get the X-T1?

So i've come to realised that i've been talking about speed, speed, speed..... there is a reason for that.

Last weekend i had a pre-wed and also engagement day photo shoot which i think is the best time to put the cameras through its paces. I brought all my 3 cameras, my X-M1. X100S and my Oly EM10. I looked like a christmas tree with all 3 cameras sling over my shoulders and neck. But raise your glass to mirrorless for being small and lightweight, i didnt have a problem lugging it around, strapping it to my shoulders and neck, maybe i just need a better strap system. i was thinking of that double strap solution by Black Rapids but i might just get the rip off double rapid strap from China which serves the same purpose.

Anyway, during the event, i found out that using the Olympus was much easier. With face detection ON, it was quick and easy to lock focus and shoot. Man, Oly is just so good and quick doing AF, where as the Fujis, i need to wait for that extra few milliseconds to get it into focus, ya know, the hunting, it takes a while. For this kind of event, i need to be fast. Because i just want to capture that quick candid moments. The more i shoot, the more i reached for the Olympus. I also used a lot of my x100s, while it was fast, its nowhere fast as the EM10. Shooting "posed portraiture" is fine with the Fuji but capturing moments this is where the Oly has the edge. There are times when you wanna shoot that kiss moments or just some candid moments, most of the times with the Fujis you just gonna miss the shots. or maybe i am just slow. But i bet if you give Billy the Kid a Fuji and the other cowboys using Oly, good ol Bill just gonna start crying. muahaha.

After the event i went to check all the photos i took and some of my x100s shots when zoomed in have got a bit of motion blur to it. Shucks! its not the camera's fault, maybe i shook too much, my poor handling and setting the wrong minimum shutter speed also did not help. i used 1/60 min shutter speed and everything else in program mode so the camera decides to use my min shutter speed most of the time and combined with my poor handling caused the motion blur, it was just frustrating. Not the camera's fault but it's me being a noob although im also dissapointed that the Fuji decided to used the min shutter speed even though it has yet to clip over the ISO limit set. But again, human error rather than camera's error. But the AF did get me frustrated....and the EVF.... and the low battery life....

After looking at all the photos i took, i was surprised that the Olympus pictures are much nicer than the other ones. I also seem to like the sharpness of Olympus photos. its mad sharp. I am ashamed that i bash this little camera for its IQ. I think i have found my way around the noise of micro four thirds. Or i am ready to accept it for what it is. The IQ between both cameras are not far off. If doing too much pixel peep maybe there is a difference but really it was not that much. During the photoshoot i begin to reach more for the Olympus than the Fuji. i knew with the Oly i will get sharp focus photos whereas with the Fuji sometimes it just misfocus. I dont wanna miss shots. This is when i start to trust my Olympus.

This is where i get to the discussion, should i get the X-T1 or get the OMD EM5?
.....as a second body....

almost bought myself an EM5 on ebay yesterday but lose in the last last minutes.

So conclusion to this,
Fuji is fine where you dont need speed. eg. modelling, fashion, portraitures, still life, landscapes.
Olympus is the sh*t if you want speed. eg. street, candid, moments, fashion, portraitures, still life, landscapes.

I didnt know i want to be fast.