What’s in my Camera Bag – Micro Four Thirds Travel Lite Greece Edition

June 29, 2018July 2, 2018 / microfourthirdssite / Leave a comment

Over the years, I’ve worked my way up from point-and-shoot cameras and have never owned a big SLR/DSLR camera. I value the convenience and portability of a camera very highly and have for a long time viewed a camera such as the Panasonic GX85/GX80 as too big and heavy for overseas travel. But at about 500g or 18 oz, those who are more used to professional cameras wouldn’t consider it heavy.

As for its size, as I didn’t want to carry a camera bag, the camera with my choice of lenses would have to all fit into my fanny pack / waist pouch. The one I use is the Pacsafe Venture Safe 100 GII which has a wire mesh to prevent slashing and the zip handles can be secured so it is not that easy for pickpockets to open.

Panasonic GX85/GX80 ~US$490 / C$740 / £520
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Pacsafe Venture Safe 100 GII ~US$39 / C$49 / £30
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Why the Panasonic GX85 over smaller cameras – 5-axis Sensor Stabilization

I have the Panasonic GF9 and GM1 camera bodies which are significantly smaller and lighter than the GX85. Even after I bought the GX85, I still took either of these 2 cameras for my overseas trips as they’re just so convenient.

What made me decide to bring the GX85 for my trip to Greece was the 5-axis in-body stabilization. For my previous trips, I lost just too many photos due to camera shake especially when taking photos in low light conditions (and lower shutter speeds). While I had no problem carrying the GX85 on my day trips in my own country, I took a leap of faith to test how I would take carrying the GX85 for most of the time in one hand over a period of 10 days. I’m glad to report that I never felt tired carrying it.

Main Challenge of Shooting in Greece – High Dynamic Range

In the summer months at least, the contrast between the bright sun and the dark shadows proved to be the biggest challenge, especially when you’re shooting portraits of people against the backdrop of the white buildings of Greece where if you expose for the scene, the people would be in dark shadow. Here’s an example of a shot I took at Olympia where I was careful not to overexpose, but got really dark shadows.

Option A: Just letting the Camera do its thing – shadows too dark

I tried letting the camera decide on the exposure. I found that it underexposes 1 or even 2 stops. Post-processing would help, but would often result in a very HDR-looking (low contrast) photos. If there were people in the photos, brightening up the shadows would result in very unnatural-looking skin tones.

Option B: Use Fill Flash – flash sync speeds too slow

Especially when taking portraits of people where the people are within range of the flash, one method is to activate the flash so that the people are not too dark when taking the photo.

This doesn’t work for the high dynamic range scenes in Greece as the maximum flash sync speed would limit the shutter speed to 1/160 seconds. This is way slower than the 1/1000 seconds or faster required for a correct exposure and so the result would be an over-exposed image.

Option C: Exposure Compensation – too slow to take the picture

There’s a method called ETTR (Expose To The Right) where we try to get an exposure that it brighter than what the camera would automatically give us, but at the same time not over-exposing. This is done with the knowledge that we can reduce the highlights in post-processing but yet the shadows are as bright as they can be.

This is probably the “correct” way of getting a properly-exposed picture. But for my trip, I needed to just point-and-shoot. Adjusting the exposure compensation while watching the histogram was just too slow for me.

Option D: Exposure Bracketing – quick with good results

So I set up my camera for exposure bracketing. One press of the button and it does a burst of 7 images from -3 EV to +3 EV (i.e. -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 and +3). Yes, I have to hold the camera still for about a second till all 7 shots are taken, but this is the fastest method that I use.

When I post-process my images, I choose the image which is the brightest but not over-exposed (see “ETTR” in Option B above) and I delete the other 6 images. I then post-process the image and get the end-result I desire.

Lens #1: the Ultra Wide – Laowa 7.5mm

The Laowa 7.5mm gives a full-frame equivalent focal length of 15mm. For my trip to Greece, I certainly needed such an ultra wide lens. About 25% of my keepers from my Greece trip were shot using the Laowa 7.5mm. There’re just too many vast coastlines and narrow streets which as 12mm cannot absorb.

I’ve seen many people comment that ultra-wides are not necessary as you can stitch photos together. Well, I found that I need to stitch photos together even when using an ultra-wide lens. Certainly much more convenient getting the desired end-result by using an ultra-wide lens. Here’s a panorama I took using my Laowa 7.5mm.

Focusing Required!

The Laowa 7.5mm is a manual focus lens. I’ve seen many write-ups and videos saying that you just need to set it to slightly before infinity and you can basically treat it as a auto focus lens as most things would be in focus – NOT!

The lens only has distance marks for 0.12m (0.4′), 0.2m (0,66′), 0.5m (1.64′) and infinity. The focus marker does actually go beyond infinity.

If you have an important subject at 0.5m or less, then follow the markings accordingly. Note that at these settings, the depth-of-field is very small i.e. only objects around that distance setting will be in focus.

If you’re taking a selfie with arm stretched out holding the camera, then set the focus marker in the center between the 0.5m and infinity settings. Do note that while the people would be in focus, if the scene is far away (say 200m / 60′ or more), then the scene would be slightly soft.

If your scene is mainly up to 200m or 60′, then set the focus marker a quarter way between the infinity mark and the 0.5m/1.64′ mark.

If your scene is mainly more than 200m or 60′, then set the focus marker at the infinity mark. I found no need to set the focus beyond the infinity mark.

Vignetting

Yes, the lens does vignette (i.e. produce photos which have dark corners). Not a really big problem for me because I post-process my photos where it’s not difficult to remove vignetting. Also, sometimes the vignetting produces an acceptable and even desirable end-result.

Here’s a photo with the vignetting from the Laowa 7.5mm:

Here’s the same photo with vignetting removed:

Zoom Required

Yes, as I said earlier, about 25% of my keepers were taken on this 7.5mm lens. But not every shot I want to take at the time would be at 7.5mm. I may suddenly want to take a photo of the crowd, or zoom in on an interesting architecture. So while this was a great lens to have during my trip to Greece, I would have preferred to have an ultra-wide zoom lens.

While the Panasonic Leice 8-18mm would probably give the best image quality and not give up much on how wide the lens can be, I think it is too big and heavy. I would probably go for the Olympus 9-18mm, an old lens with good but probably not excellent image quality. We’ll see!
So here’re some of the shots I took with the Laowa 7.5mm:

Laowa 7.5mm f/2 ~US$600 / C$770 / £490

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Lens #2: the Compact – Panasonic 12-32mm

The Panasonic 12-32mm is the kit lens that came with all 3 of my Panasonic cameras – the GM1, the GF9, and the GX85.

Yes, I aim to keep my camera bag as small the light as possible and this lens certainly fits the bill. But the 2 main reasons I brought this lens to Greece were:
a. For situations where I needed to use the built-in flash, this lens wouldn’t block the flash and hence cast a shadow.
b. For situations where I wanted to take a long exposure photo, I only brought a mini tripod. Only a small lens like this Panasonic 12-32mm could balance with my GX85 on the mini tripod.

On hindsight, I really didn’t use this lens much in Greece. There were too few opportunities for long exposures and even for those that did, my ultra-wide 7.5mm was more appropriate. The following is a long-exposure I took using the Panasonic 12-32mm. You may be able to tell that I would have done better with my ultra wide lens instead, so that more of the water on the left and the buildings on the right would be in the frame.

The following is another shot I got with this lens of the Santorini sunset:

Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ~US$170 / C$210 / £150
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Lens #3: the Travel Zoom – Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0

My main travel lens used to be the ultra zoom Panasonic 14-140mm. Since acquiring the Panasonic Leica 12-60mm, I decided to use this in Greece instead of the 14-140mm.

Image Quality

I suppose the main reason why I took the 12-60mm instead was that it generally produced better image quality than the 14-140mm. If I’m being honest, I can certainly see that the images are viewed at 100% (pixel-by-pixel). But there’s really little in it even if viewing the resultant images full-screen on my 24″ monitor.

Size & Weight

The Panasonic Leica 12-60mm is a bit bigger and heavier than the Panasonic 14-140mm, but not to a significant degree.

Focal Range

At least for the type of run-and-gun kind of shooting I do, the 2mm difference on the wide end of these lenses do not make much of a difference to me. So I didn’t see the 12mm of the Panasonic Leica to be much of an advantage over the Panasonic’s 14mm.

But I did miss the 140mm telephoto reach of the Panasonic when compared to the 60mm of the Panasonic Leica. Whether it is trying to zoom in on the Acropolis, or a windmill at the top of a hill in Santorini, I had to cruelly crop my images and lose what precious megapixels I had on my 16MP GX85.

Verdict

I think for my next overseas trip, I’ll be reverting to my Panasonic 14-140mm.

Image quality wise, if I can’t tell the difference when the image is displayed full screen on a 24″ monitor, then the difference is insignificant.

While I don’t mind the slightly heavier and bigger Panasonic Leica 12-60mm, I think I still want the telephoto range of 140mm of the Panasonic.
Ok, so here’re the rest of the images I took in Greece with the Panasonic Leica 12-60mm:

Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 ~US$660 / C$840 / £682
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What’s in my Camera Bag – Micro Four Thirds Travel Lite Vietnam Edition

December 26, 2017December 26, 2017 / microfourthirdssite / Leave a comment

At this point of time, I have 3 micro four-thirds cameras – the GM1, the GF9 (aka GX850/GX800) and the GX85 (aka GX80).

The GX85 is no doubt the better tool to take better photos among the 3, with its 5-axis in-body stabilization which can work together with the in-lens stabilization for Panasonic’s Dual I.S. The GF9 should also take sharper photos than the GM1 because it doesn’t have the anti-aliasing filter.

But for my trip to Vietnam (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh), I decided to travel light, while still taking a few lenses with me so that I can shoot in different situations – so I went for the GM1.

The GM1 (the one in orange) is actually about the same weight as the GF9, but is the most compact of micro four thirds cameras to date. As I use a waist pouch (fanny pack) to carry my gear for easy access, I chose the more compact GM1.

I use the Pacsafe Venture Safe 100 GII which has wire mesh inside to prevent slashing as well as clasps to prevent pickpockets from unzipping your pouch. No problems fitting the GM1 and the lenses described below.

Panasonic GM1 ~US$450 / C$560 / £370
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Panasonic GX850/GX800/GF9 ~US$420 / C$540 / £365
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Pacsafe Venture Safe 100 GII ~US$39 / C$49 / £30
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1. The Ultra Zoom – Panasonic 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6

My #1 travel lens is the Panasonic 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6. As an ultra-zoom, it gives me the convenience of not having to switch lenses that often. In fact, for my trip to Vietnam, it was on my camera 95% of the time.

Yes, it’s the biggest lens I’m taking with me, but this combined with the GM1 weighs less than half a kg (20 oz) and I have no problem holding this combination in my hand all day, ever ready to snap the next photo.

So here’re the majority of the photos I took during my Vietnam trip with this lens:

If I’m being honest, you can see several low-light shots and that’s where I miss the in-body stabilization of the GX85 and also a faster lens (say f/2.8). So for shots I really wanted, I would take 2 or 3 shots. The throwaways weren’t that many, and I’m sufficiently satisfied with the photos I got.

Panasonic 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 ~US$480 / C$585 / £400
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2. The Ultra Wide – Laowa 7.5mm f/2.0

I brought along an ultra-wide in case the 14mm of the Panasonic 14-140mm wasn’t wide enough. This came in the form of the Laowa 7.5mm rectilinear lens.

This lens came into good use in the limestone grottoes of Ha Long Bay. The grottoes are vast and you really need an ultra-wide to take it all in.

This lens isn’t stabilized. Together with the GM1 which also doesn’t have in-body stabilization, and the low light conditions of the grottoes, taking sharp photos requires really steady hands. The ultra-wide angle helps somewhat.

Laowa 7.5mm f/2 ~US$600 / C$770 / £490

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3. The Fish-Eye – Panasonic 8mm f/3.5

I used to use the Panasonic 8mm fish-eye as my ultra-wide lens. But since I got the rectilinear Laowa 7.5mm, I now use the Laowa as my ultra-wide lens as it doesn’t have the fish-eye effect.

As shared in one of my earlier posts, a fish-eye lens lens has a field-of-view which is wider than a rectilinear lens of the same focal length. So I brought this lens for cases where ultra-wide wasn’t wide enough.

Well, it turned out useful when we climbed up the statue of Jesus in Ho Chi Minh. Only the fish-eye could take in the whole scene from the top of the statue.

Panasonic 8mm f/3.5 ~US$600 / C$730 / £570
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That’s it. Hope you guys found the above useful.

What’s in my Camera Bag – Micro Four Thirds Anime Festival Asia (Cosplay) Edition

November 26, 2017December 5, 2019 / microfourthirdssite / Leave a comment

November 2017, I was at a Cosplay (or COStume PLAY) event called the Anime Festival Asia in Singapore. It wasn’t pre-planned. I just had my walk-about combo of my Panasonic GF9 (GX850/GX800) and the Panasonic 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6.

If I’m being honest, this would not be my combo of choice had I known that this would what I would spend the day shooting – Cosplayers posing at an indoor location.

For the camera, I would have chosen my Panasonic GX85 (GX80) mainly because of its in-body sensor stabilization. Most of the location was indoors with less-than-ideal lighting conditions. The sensor stabilization would have avoided camera shake for the shots which required longer shutter opening times.

For the lens, I would have chosen the Panasonic Leica 12-60 f/2.8-4.0. Just simply because it’s a sharper lens than the 14-140mm.

And that brings me to the second reason for choosing the GX85 – the ability to put on an external flash. For the bigger lenses, a shadow would be cast when using the in-built flash, unless you’re really at the telephoto end. You can see some of this in the photos below.

I find the Panasonic 14-140mm sharp anywhere from f/8.0 and bigger (i.e. down to f/3.5). I set my camera to Aperture priority and a setting of f/4.0. At the tele end, the camera would automatically go up to f/5.6 as that would be the widest aperture for this variable maximum aperture lens.

Ok, so I may have lost a few shots due to camera shake, and the in-built flash did cast a shadow. But the results show that the combination of the GF9 (GX850/GX800) and the non-professional 14-140mm can produce some really sharp results. Hope you agree (^v^)

Panasonic GX850/GX800/GF9 ~US$420 / C$540 / £365

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Pacsafe Venture Safe 100 GII ~US$39 / C$49 / £30

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Panasonic 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 ~US$480 / C$585 / £400

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November-December 2018

All right. So it’s a year later, and this time it was a planned visit to the Anime Festival Asia, so I brought along the combination which I said in the writeup above from last year.

Panasonic GX85 camera body with the Panassonic Leica 12-60mm, and a Godox TT350o flashgun.

Firstly, something about the flashgun:

With a big lens in front of the GX85, you cannot use the in-built flash, as it will cast a shadow on your subject. Secondly, the in-built flash isn’t nearly strong enough for the reach you’ll need.

The “o” at the end of the model number TT350o signifies that it is compatible with Olympus cameras, but that also means it’s compatible with Panasonic cameras as both are micro four thirds. Note that there’s a TT350P, but that’s for Pentax cameras and not Panasonic cameras.

Although I have the more compact Panasonic DMW-FL200L, I bought the Godox mainly because it has high-speed sync, where you need the flash to fire when you’re using higher shutter speeds. More relevant for bright outdoors and not for today’s indoor event.

When you get familiar with using an external flash, you’ll find out that it’s best to use flash in manual mode. This is because you will want to set both the Aperture as well as the Shutter speed. In general:

– The Aperture will determine the brightness of your subject in the foreground. The larger the aperture (smaller f-stop number), the brighter your subject.

– The Shutter Speed will determine the brightness of your background. The slower the shutter speed, the brighter your background.

For this event, as I was photographing cosplayers, the background didn’t matter and I wanted to blur it as much as possible. So I used the largest aperture of my Panasonic Leica 12-60mm, which varies from f/2.8 to f/4.0 depending on the focal length.

To get a visible background so that the environment can be seen and felt, I found that I needed to use a shutter speed of 1/30s and even 1/20s.

That brings me to the camera. For this year, I brought the Panasonic GX85 which has in-body image stabilization. At shutter speeds of 1/30s and slower, I really needed this, which was lacking in the GF9 (GX850/GX800) which I used last year.

And finally, the Panasonic Leica 12-60mm gave me a variable aperture of f/2.8 to f/4.0, which is just a tad better than the Panasonic 14-140mm which gave me f/3.5 to f/5.6.

This year, I was also a bit more heavy-handed with the post-processing, cos I felt that these anime (cartoon) characters lent themselves well to “unnatural-looking” editing.

So here’re some of the shots I took this year:

November 2019

I was back at the event in 2019, but as I took quite a lot of photos and am running out of space at this blog site, I’ve included this update at my new blog site. Do check it out!

Panasonic GX85/GX80 ~US$490 / C$740 / £520

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Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 ~US$660 / C$840 / £682

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Godox TT350o ~US$79 / C$108 / £69

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What’s in my Camera Bag – Micro Four Thirds Singapore GP Edition

September 18, 2017September 22, 2019 / microfourthirdssite / Leave a comment

Singapore GP 2017

Along with the F1 race, the Singapore GP also includes races with Porches and Ferraris.

Lens of Choice: Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8

During my first race, I decided to go with the Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8.

a. It’s a night race, so I thought that a lens with a fast aperture is ideal. The Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8’s maximum aperture of f/2.8 will be put to good use.

b. To get a good view of the cars with a comfortable seat, a grandstand seat is ideal. Seats are assigned. Although you can move to a seat that is not occupied, you won’t know if the focal length of a prime lens will work. A zoom lens would be ideal.

c. The grandstands don’t allow monopods or tripods, so I won’t be zooming in to capture the faces of the drivers as they zoom past, nor will I be doing any panning. Consequently, I don’t need a telephoto lens. The 12-35mm will do.

Camera Settings

Aperture: Set to widest at f2.8 or f3.2. This is so that shutter speed can be set to fastest allowable for these fast-moving cars.

Shutter speed: As fast as possible to reduce the motion blur of the cars. For the night race, I could only set a shutter speed of 1/600 seconds, which actually isn’t enough to avoid motion blur.

Focus: Manual on the desired area. Aperture is set to widest, so focus needs to be spot on. Manual focus also means that the camera will respond faster when you press your shutter.

Shutter mode: High burst. As the cars are moving fast, burst mode will give you a better chance of getting the cars where you want them.

Here’re some shots I took during the practice sessions:

Panasonic GX850/GX800/GF9 ~US$420 / C$540 / £365
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Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 ~US$730 / C$900 / £560
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Singapore GP 2018

Ok, so I suppose the shots I took during my first outing weren’t all that inspiring.

I attribute that to the fact that I was using as fast a shutter speed that I could so that everything would be frozen and result in a sharp image. But a frozen race car is an oxymoron. Race cars are meant to be moving fast. To get that effect I had to do some panning.

Panning is where you follow the car with your camera, so that the car would be sharp, but the background would be blur. This would give a sense of movement of the car.

So let me talk about the challenges I faced in doing panning shots at the Singapore GP.

a. The Fence

Sure, it’s for the safety of the spectators, but there’s a fence all around the track. So it’s something you’ll have to deal with. There are spots which have gaps in the fencing, but then may not be ideal for panning shots either.

b. Manual Focus

If you’re shooting through the fence, then your auto-focus would more likely than not, focus on the fence rather than on the cars. So pre-focus on where you’d like your focus to be, and don’t move your focus ring.

c. Posts

The fence isn’t all thin wiring. There are thick posts every few meters. So what could have been an epic shot could be ruined by having a thick post in the middle. Like so:

d. Camera / Lens Stabilization

I believe that the camera/lens stabilization uses the fence as a reference for stabilization, which is not what you want for panning shots where you want to move with the car. So for my panning shots, I turned all stabilization off.

e. Shutter Speed

The key setting for panning shots is the shutter speed. The faster the shutter speed, the less the desired motion blur of the background. The slow the shutter speed, the less likely you will get a sharp image of your subject as your shutter is open longer as you pan your camera.

So I start out trying 1/400 seconds. The hit rate was quite good, but I really wasn’t getting as much motion blur of the background as I would like. I just didn’t find the shots dynamic enough:

So I tried 1/250 seconds for a short period of time:

Yes, the shots at 1/250s were much more dynamic. But for the night practice with F1 cars, I decided to go even slower to 1/160s:

Yes, I’ll say I really loved the effect of the shots I got at 1/160s, but I must also say that the hit rate was very very low. I think that for my next outing, I’ll stick to 1/250s.

f. Panning Technique

a. Use the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF). I actually just find it more stable (pressing against my face) than only holding my camera in my two hands and looking at the LCD screen.

b. Start position of camera would be beyond where I want to get the shot. This is so that I can start moving the camera at the speed of the car before I fire off the first shot in burst mode.

c. Cars move relative fast when they’re right in front of you than if they’re a distance away. So the panning movement is not at a constant speed. It starts slow (car still some distance away), then gets faster (car right in front of you).

g. The Gear

I used my Panasonic GX85 for these panning shots. Yes, it has in-body stabilization, but as mentioned above, I turned all stabilization off as panning shots means I want to move the camera while taking shots, and the stabilization may use the stationary fence to stabilize, which would oppose my attempt to track the car.

For most of my shots, I used the Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0. I sat at the first few rows of the grand stand, and 60mm is as far as I need to get the cars to fill the frame.

Okie! So enough about the cars. Here’re some shots in and around the Singapore GP:

I also watched the Jay Chou (famous Taiwanese pop singer) concert at the end of the practice sessions:

Hope you found the above useful!

Panasonic GX85/GX80 ~US$490 / C$740 / £520
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Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 ~US$660 / C$840 / £682
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Singapore GP 2019

In 2019, I was determined to improve the panning shots I took at the Singapore GP.

a. The Gear

I had recently bought the Panasonic GX9. Compared to the GX85/GX80 I used last year, the main advantage is the 20MP sensor vs. the 16MP sensor. The increased resolution allowed me to crop in more when needed. There’s also a marginal improvement in continuous shooting speeds of 9fps vs. 8fps.

b. The Fence

I did try to find a location where my shots wouldn’t be blocked by a fence, but didn’t manage to do so. I did shoot from a different location this year, though.

c. Camera/Lens Stabilization

I tried all 3 options of stabilization: (1) Full stabilization, (2) Only up-down stabilization (left-to-right movement is not stabilized) and (3) No stabilization.

Panning is where a lot of shots will have motion blur, because we’re intentionally moving the camera when the shot is taken. From my tests, I felt that option 2 (only up-down stabilization) gave a better hit rate.

d. Shutter Speed

This year, I started with 1/250s and largely stayed there throughout. This is because I wasn’t too happy with the hit rate and so hesitated to slow down the shutter speed. I suppose I did do so for the Ferrari & Porsche races, but certainly moved it back up for the F1 cars.

As experienced last year, 1/250s doesn’t produce all that much motion blur. Only on the occasion where an F1 car was going at full speed would I get the amount of motion blur I would like. I suppose for next year I’ll be more adventurous and start with 1/200s.

e. Aperture

With a shutter speed of 1/250s, I had to set my aperture to f8 or even f11 during the day in order not to overexpose the picture. F8 is good as I can get much of the track which I pan across in focus, although I normally don’t like to go above that as the photos get a bit soft at higher apertures.

During the night, the opposite occurs. I have to go down to f4 in order to let in sufficient light. I regretted setting my maximum auto ISO to 3200 as there was too much noise for my liking. I’ve now set my camera to a max ISO of 1600.

f. Panning Technique

I felt that the lag of the Electronic View Finder (EVF) did not allow me to track the actual position of the cars as I panned the camera. I found that taking my eye off the EVF and panning by just pointing the camera at the cars did slightly better than using the EVF.

If I’m being honest, I still felt that my hit rate was rather low. Of course, ideally the EVF could be much faster like that on the Panasonic G9, but I’m still trying to see how I can get better results with my GX9. Maybe for next year, I’ll use the EVF but keep in mind to pan faster than what I see through the EVF.

Shots taken during the day:

Some shots of the events and people in the circuit:

And the shots during the night:

Panasonic GX9 ~US$680 / C$760 / £600
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Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 ~US$660 / C$840 / £682
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What’s in my Camera Bag – Micro Four Thirds Motor Show Edition

August 2, 2017February 5, 2020 / microfourthirdssite / Leave a comment

Every year in Singapore, there is a major motor show. Not only are there car models on show, there will be quite a few human models as well.

The show is held indoors, so the lighting is usually not excellent. As the models (cars and humans) will be there for you to take your best shot, you will want to get as sharp an image as you possibly can.

For 2017, I used my Panasonic GX850 (aka GF9) with two “professional” Panasonic f/2.8 lenses. Most of the time, I would be using the 12-35mm as I should be able to get up close. But should I want to take a headshot, then I’ll use the 35-100mm.

These lenses certainly produce sharper images than the kit lenses. Their fast f/2.8 maximum aperture is also necessary for the less-than-ideal indoor lighting.

Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8:

Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8:

Versus the Primes

There are prime lenses which are faster (have bigger apertures and hence allow more light in) and produce sharper images than the f/2.8 lenses above. Examples are the portrait lenses like the 42.5mm f/1.7 and even the 42.5mm f/1.2. But for the setup of the motor show, it is usually difficult to use prime lenses.

There will be many photographers on site, and they will form an arc around major subjects of interest. As a courtesy, you cannot step in front of them and block their shot. You can only compose your shot from the arc. That’s why a zoom lens is necessary.

Here’re some of the shots I took during the 2017 motor show:

Panasonic GX850/GX800/GF9 ~US$420 / C$540 / £365

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Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 ~US$730 / C$900 / £560

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Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 ~US$700 / C$930 / £700

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The 2018 Singapore Motorshow

For the 2018 show, I had acquired the Panasonic GX85 (aka GX80). The main advantage of this camera body is the 5-axis in-body stabilization. This can work together with the Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) in the lenses for even more effective stabilization.

I also acquired the Panasonic DMW-FL200L flash. This is because I found that the venue was not bright enough even for the f/2.8 lenses I used last year. I also didn’t want to use the in-body flash as they were not that powerful, gave an undesirable blueish tint, and was uneven if light delivery.

I also got myself a new lens. The Panasonic Leica 12-60 f/2.8-4.0. The main advantage of this lens is that it allows me to take wide shots (including car and human model), and zoom in for the close-ups without needing to change lenses. The Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 was just too short for that purpose.

The Panasonic GX85 (GX80)

Yes, the 5-axis dual image stabilization (combining camera body and lens stabilization) is very much of an advantage over my previous GX850 (GF9) which did not have in-body stabilization and hence solely depended on the 2-axis stabilization of the lenses. I had much fewer throwaways due to camera shake.

Panasonic GX85/GX80 ~US$490 / C$740 / £520

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The Panasonic DMW-FL200L

I chose this flash because it was the smallest and most compact, but it should meet my requirements. I was not disappointed. I did not have to use any compensation to bring up the power of the flash. It was more than adequate.

I did have the need to use the wide panel not because my lens was wide, but because it makes the flash more even. This is the white plastic piece that you put in front of the flash. During the show, I simply used this flash in TTL (auto) mode.

Panasonic DMW-FL200L ~US$228 / C$369 / £220

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The Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0

It is clear to me that the images I got from the Panasonic Leica f/2.8-4.0 are sharper than my Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8, but I would still say that my Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 is my sharpest lens, but just by a very slim margin.

It is sharp anywhere f/4.0 and below, and I’m happy to leave it in auto mode when shooting.

Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 ~US$660 / C$840 / £621

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OK, so here’re the shots I took from the Singapore Motorshow 2018:

The 2019 Singapore Motorshow

The Panasonic Leica 12-60mm worked well for me the last time around, so I sticked with it on my GX85. I decided to use a new flashgun that I got, the Godox TT350o. I got this new flashgun more because of its high-speed sync feature, which doesn’t really come in useful in the dim lighting of the motorshow.

With this setup of the GX85, the 12-60mm, and the Godox flashgun, the whole setup is a bit heavy to carry in my hand for half a day, so I got the Panasonic DMW-HGR2 hand grip which really made it easy to carry in one hand:

So here’re the shots I took during the 2019 Singapore Motorshow:

As I’ve run out of space in this website, do go over to my new blog site for my subsequent visits to the Singapore Motorshow.

Panasonic GX85/GX80 ~US$490 / C$740 / £520

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Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 ~US$660 / C$840 / £621

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Godox TT350o ~US$79 / C$108 / £69

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Panasonic DMW-HGR2 ~US$73 / C$98 / £67

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What’s in my Camera Bag – Micro Four Thirds Wildlife Lite Edition

July 31, 2017November 20, 2019 / microfourthirdssite / Leave a comment

So once again, I’m not a professional photographer. My idea of wildlife photography is where I take shots of wildlife during my jogs.

Since I’m jogging, I’m not about to bring a big bag with me. So once again, I’m bringing along my trusty fanny pack with just one camera and lens:

This is the Panasonic 100-300mm on my GF9 camera. Yes, the combination is not really that small, but I still manage to jog with this in my waist pouch. The combination weighs just under 800g or about 1.75lbs. I’ll admit it’s a bit heavy, but I think it’s worthwhile for the shots it lets me take.

The Panasonic 100-300mm isn’t a particularly sharp lens, especially when you zoom all the way in. Here’re my tips on using this lens.

a. Manual mode

Yes, I usually stay away from manual mode when I’m traveling, but I need to be on manual mode to get sharp wildlife images with this lens.

b. Aperture of f/7.1

When fully zoomed in, the larger apertures give quite a soft image with this lens. Setting an aperture of f/7.1 works best for me.

c. Shutter speed of 1/1300 or faster

When fully zoomed in, any small movement of the camera will result in motion blur. Add to that the fact that I don’t carry a tripod. I set a minimum shutter speed of 1/1300 seconds or faster if the light allows. I avoid hand-holding and try to rest the camera/lens against a fence or tree if possible.

d. Pinpoint focus

When fully zoomed in, the depth of focus is actually quite small (not much of the image is in focus). So I use the pinpoint focus mode, put the cross-hair on the subject to lock focus.

e. Spot Metering

When photographing wildlife like birds, their white bodies are usually very bright when compared to the surroundings. I choose spot metering so that white birds are not over-exposed because the camera chooses to adjust for the darker background.

f. Burst mode

Wildlife move, and the image you get can be different every split second. I use burst mode so that I can choose the best captured moment.

1. Versus the Panasonic 45-200mm

I initially had the Panasonic 45-200mm instead of the 100-300mm as the latter was considerably more expensive. Although the 100-300mm is not a particularly sharp lens, I’d say the 45-200mm is even softer.

2. Versus the Panasonic 45-175mm

Of my telephoto lenses, I think only my 45-175mm is acceptably sharp. It’s also smaller and lighter (210g / 0.5 lb) than the 45-200mm (380g / 0.8 lb) and the 100-300mm (520g / 1.1 lb). It also doesn’t extend when zooming in.

Unfortunately, 175mm doesn’t give me the reach I need to get a good shot of the shy birds in my area.

Here’re some shots of the Panasonic 45-175mm, 45-200mm and the 100-300mm:

Hope the above helps. So here’re some photos I’ve taken with the Panasonic 100-300mm. Yes, professional photographers will get better photos, but I’m jogging with my camera and shooting at 600mm full-frame equivalent without a tripod.

Panasonic GX850/GX800/GF9 ~US$420 / C$540 / £365

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Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 ~US$432 / C$562 / £332

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Panasonic 45-200mm f/4-5.6 ~US$290 / C$370 / £330

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Panasonic 45-175mm f/3.5-5.6 ~US$300 / C$420 / £300

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Panasonic has since come up with Version 2 of the 100-300mm. Although I had already gotten the more premium Panasonic Leica 100-400mm which has a longer reach, I was still using my 100-300mm quite regularly as it was significantly smaller and lighter than the Panasonic Leica. So I got myself the 100-300mm Mk II.

It’s hard to tell the difference between the 2 versions of this lens. I suppose the most significant difference (both visually and optical performance wise), is that the new lens has the newer Power Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) versus the older Mega OIS.

Image Quality

Optically, I couldn’t tell any difference between the two. Both perform almost identically in terms of image sharpness as well as other softer aspects of the image quality. So, in using this newer lens, I still kept to my preferred aperture of f/7.1 where I find that the image is at its sharpest. So image quality wasn’t the selling point of the Mk II.

Focus Speed

Yes, I found that the focus speed is noticeably faster with the Mk II. As shared above, I use point focus especially when at 300mm as being slightly off at this focal range would mean that I would miss the focus. I certainly noticed that the “hunting” for focus was much quicker with the Mk II.

Image Stabilization

One of the main challenges of shooting telephoto is that your images would be more prone to motion blur caused by any slight movements of the camera/lens. This is exacerbated by the fact that I use the Panasonic GX850 (GX800) camera body (because I want to limit the size and weight that I carry) which doesn’t have in-body image stabilization.

If I use my Panasonic GX85 (GX80) with this lens, the in-body stabilization would combine with the Power OIS of the lens to give Dual IS which basically means better stabilization.

Common wisdom is that if you’re shooting at a 35mm equivalent focal length of 600mm (2 x the micro four thirds focal length), then your shutter speed should be around 1/600 seconds to avoid motion blur. But for the following pictures I took of a heron, these were taken at about 1/80 seconds but the results are as sharp as the lens can give. BTW, these shots are at the full 300mm and heavily cropped – the height of the heron was originally only about a quarter of the picture frame.

I didn’t use such a slow shutter speed to show off. I basically had to use such a slow shutter speed because the light was low and I wanted to use an aperture of f/7.1 for the maximum sharpness this lens would give. Fortunately, the heron didn’t move around much.

So I’m happy with the new Mk II 100-300mm. It allows me to acquire focus of my fleeting subjects much faster, and I don’t have to worry so much about motion blur due to a slow shutter speed.

So here’re some more shots I took using the Panasonic 100-300mm II:

More recently, my usual jogging path was undergoing some renovations so I took a longer path which pleasantly surprised me with a variety of herons:

Yet more updates… there’s evidently resident monitor lizards at the pond I now frequent…

I had an occasion where I had an activity near the pond I frequent, so I brought along my Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens to compare the shots with that I’ve been taking using my Panasonic 100-300mm.

I think the biggest difference in IQ is the contrast and “Leica look” with the Panasonic Leica lens. Sure, it’s quite a bit sharper too, but it’s not a lens I’d carry during my jogs.

Panasonic 100-300mm II f/4-5.6 ~US$460 / C$425 / £495

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Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4.0-6.3 ~US$1,089 / C$1,440 / £1,000
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M43 Travel Lens #3 – Panasonic 8mm f/3.5 – the Ultra Wide

July 31, 2017August 12, 2017 / microfourthirdssite / 6 Comments

The Panasonic 8mm is my choice for ultra wide use. There are several reasons why I bring along this ultra wide lens on my travels:
a. Selfies
b. Cramped indoor spaces
c. Wide landscapes
d. Interesting perspective of fish-eye lens

1. Versus the Rokinon 7.5mm

The Rokinon 7.5mm used to be my choice for ultra wide use. The biggest difference between this and the Panasonic 8mm is that the Rokinon is a fully manual lens while the Panasonic is automatic. Oh, and it’s like less than half the price of the Panasonic.

It’s just cumbersome to change settings on a manual lens.

The Rokinon is sharpest at an aperture setting of f/4.0 to f/5.6. Not a problem for landscape shots, but when taking a selfie, either the people or the background will be in focus. To have both in focus, you need an f/8.0 setting and focus set further away from the infinity mark.

For the Panasonic, I just need to switch the camera’s mode to Aperture priority and snap away, cos my usual setting is at f/8.0. Selfie done.

An automatic lens also allows the camera to detect that there are people in the frame and will automatically increase the exposure so that the people in the frame are properly lit, even if the background is a little over-exposed. With a manual lens, you would have to set the exposure compensation yourself.

2. Versus the Laowa 7.5mm f/2.0

While I was still on the Rokinon 7.5mm, I didn’t mind the fish-eye perspective as I found that it made very interesting photos. But my wife obviously didn’t like it, often asking me to crop in so as to reduce the fish-eye effect.

So I got the Laowa 7.5mm which is a rectilinear lens (no fish-eye effect). I thought it would meet all my needs of an ultra wide lens, but was disappointed for the following reasons:

a. A rectilinear ultra wide still distorts at the edges

You actually don’t have to go so wide to find that wide angle lenses in general distort subjects at the edges of the frame. The 7.5mm ultra wide just accentuates that. This is a problem because I want an ultra wide to do selfies, and for selfies during travel, the people will be on one side of the frame so that the beautiful background can be seen on the other.

The distortion is exacerbated if the subject is close to the camera, which is the case for selfies. In the following 2 photos, you can see that the subject’s face is elongated when positioned at the edge of the frame.

b. A rectilinear lens is not as wide as a fish-eye lens of the same focal length.

Compared with the Rokinon 7.5mm, the Panasonic 8mm is slightly less wide, which makes sense because of the 0.5mm difference. But the Laowa 7.5mm is even less wide than the Panasonic 8mm. Here’re some sample shots I took with these 3 lenses:

Rokinon 7.5mm:

Panasonic 8mm:

Laowa 7.5mm:

Rokinon 7.5mm:

Panasonic 8mm:

Laowa 7.5mm:

The less wide it is, the less of the beautiful background I can include in my selfies. Add to that my previous point that the Laowa 7.5mm distorts subjects at the edges of the frame and I find the lens unusable for selfies.

3. Versus the ultra wide zoom lenses – Panasonic and Olympus 7-14mm and Panasonic 8-18mm

Then of course there are the ultra wide zoom lenses. But,
a. They’re big lenses which are inconvenient to lug around during my travels.
b. They cast big shadows should I need to use the camera’s built-in flash.

Panasonic GX850/GX800/GF9 ~US$420 / C$540 / £365
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Panasonic 8mm f/3.5 ~US$600 / C$730 / £570
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Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 ~US$250 / C$320 / £150

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Laowa 7.5mm f/2 ~US$600 / C$770 / £490

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M43 Travel Lens #2 – Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 – the indoor lens

July 30, 2017August 11, 2017 / microfourthirdssite / Leave a comment

The Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 is my travel lens for indoor shooting. The main reason is that this small lens does not cast a shadow when I use the in-built flash in my Panasonic GM1 or GF9.

1. Versus the Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8

Yes, the Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 produces sharper images and is better in low-light scenarios with its f/2.8 maximum aperture. But this cannot compensate if flash needs to be used. When mounted on a small camera body like the Panasonic GM1 or GF9, this big lens would cast a substantial shadow in the frame.

The Panasonic 12-32mm /f3.5-5.6 versus the Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8:

The Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8:

2. Versus a prime lens like the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7

Primes are typically sharper than the 12-32mm kit lens. But they do not have the flexibility of zoom to quickly frame the shot. The Panasonic 20mm is usually not wide enough for indoor shots and also does not have image stabilization.

Panasonic GX850/GX800/GF9 ~US$420 / C$540 / £365
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Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ~US$170 / C$210 / £150
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Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 ~US$730 / C$900 / £560
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Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 ~US$270 / C$320 / £250

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M43 Travel Lens #1 – Panasonic 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 – the Ultra Zoom

July 30, 2017October 22, 2017 / microfourthirdssite / Leave a comment

If I can only bring one lens on my travels, it would be the Panasonic 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6. As an ultra zoom, it allows me to take both wide and telephoto shots.

1. Versus the Vario X Lenses: the Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 and 35-100mm f/2.8

Yes. The Vario X lenses produce sharper images and have larger apertures (better in low-light). But:

a. The Panasonic 14-140mm covers the focal range of both lenses and there’s no need to switch lenses
b. The Panasonic 14-140mm is lighter than either of these lenses at 265g (9.35oz) versus the 12-35mm at 305g (10.76oz) and the 35-100mm at 360g (12.7oz).

The Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8:

The Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8:

2. Versus the Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 and the 35-100mm f/4-5.6

Yes, the combination of these 2 lenses is actually lighter than the Panasonic 14-140mm. But you can’t beat the convenience of the ultra zoom in not having to switch lenses for the entire focal range.

These lenses do have an advantage in that they do not cast a shadow when the in-built flash is used. That’s why I include the 12-32mm on my travels for indoor shots which very often would do better with the flash on.

The Panasonic 12-32mm f3.5-5.6:

The Panasonic 35-100 f4-5.6:

3. Versus Telephoto lenses like the Panasonic 45-175mm, 45-200mm, 100-300mm

Then there are telephone lenses with longer reach than the 14-140mm, but they are typically larger and heavier, and are not as convenient as the ultra zoom which can go wide when you need it.

The Panasonic 45-175mm, 45-200mm and 100-300mm:

Panasonic GX850/GX800/GF9 ~US$420 / C$540 / £365
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Pacsafe Venture Safe 100 GII ~US$39 / C$49 / £30
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Panasonic 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 ~US$480 / C$585 / £400
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Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 ~US$730 / C$900 / £560
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Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 ~US$700 / C$930 / £700
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Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ~US$170 / C$210 / £150
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Panasonic 35-100mm f/4.0-5.6 ~US$160 / C$210 / £240
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Panasonic 45-175mm f/3.5-5.6 ~US$300 / C$420 / £300
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Panasonic 45-200mm f/4-5.6 ~US$290 / C$370 / £330
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Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 ~US$420 / C$580 / £410
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What’s in my Camera Bag – Micro Four Thirds Travel Lite Spain-Portugal Edition

July 30, 2017September 11, 2017 / microfourthirdssite / 2 Comments

As in one of my previous posts, I think if you need a full-blown bag for your camera gear, you’re carrying too much gear. I use a waist pouch instead (a.k.a. fanny pack). Once again, I don’t think it looks that bad if you put it on your side rather than front or back. A waist pouch gives you more than enough space for a micro four thirds cameras and even has extra space for some additional lenses.

I use the Pacsafe Venture Safe 100 GII which has wire mesh inside to prevent slashing as well as clasps to prevent pickpockets from unzipping your pouch.

Here’s a quick run-through on why I choose the following as my travel lenses. I hope to have future posts where I go into each of these in more detail, as well as compare them with the other options.

1. The Ultra Zoom – Panasonic 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6

This is the ultra zoom. You can go wide as well as zoom in 10x when needed without any loss of resolution. This is the biggest lens in my travel setup, but the combination of camera body and lens is just over half a kg or less than 20 oz. I have no problem holding on to this all day long.

I shared in my first post about my tour guide sharing that people who can spot the frog on the front of a building in Salamanca Spain will have good luck. With my ultra zoom, I was able to catch a good shot of it (on the first skull on the left).

2. The Indoor Lens – Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6

This is my indoor lens. Yes, this focal range is more or less covered by the 14-140mm ultra zoom. There is also a brighter lens in the Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8. But these lenses are big and will cast a shadow when the in-built flash is used. I find that I often need to use the flash indoors and a f/2.8 lens will not sufficiently compensate for this.

3. The Ultra Wide – Panasonic 8mm f/3.5

This is a new lens for me. I used to have other lenses for my ultra wide needs and so don’t have that many sample shots on this lens yet.

a. It’s great for selfies

The Panasonic GF9 has a flip-up screen which allows you to take selfies. But the 12mm of the Panasonic 12-32mm isn’t wide enough to include most backgrounds. The Panasonic 8mm allows you to include yourself and a partner, as well as whatever beautiful background behind.

b. It’s great for tight indoor spaces or wide facades.

I visited a cave house in Spain which was rather cramped inside. Ultra wide lenses are able to take in much of the things in the cramped rooms with no problem. The following shots were taken with a Rokinon 7.5mm which is similar to the Panasonic 8mm except that it is a manual lens.