Hi everyone,
Another of my shots taken yesterday in the park with my Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm lens. Hard to believe that it was taken in late October!.
Kind regards
Leigh
“Pretty in the park”
Author Archives: Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer"
“Pictures in the park”
Hi everyone,
I visited a local park this morning for a photo-walk and with the express purpose of trying out my new camera rain cover modification. Although the weather forecast mentioned a possibility of rain that wasn’t really what I was interested in so much as the effectiveness of the modification in keeping the cover firmly in situ whilst walking around and taking shots. As things turned out and such is the somewhat unpredictable nature of British weather it was a beautiful sunny Autumnal morning with blue sky and wispy white clouds about which I’m certainly not complaining. 🙂 . I took my EM-5 mk I camera and M.Zuiko 12-50mm lens. Purchased years ago with my original EM-5 I camera this lens has seen relatively little usage over the years. I quickly, possibly too quickly, moved on to other lenses in this zoom range like my faster M.Zuiko 12-40mm and 12-45mm PRO lenses and my trusty workhorse Lumix 12-60mm but it is well suited for occasions like this. It’s lightweight and the construction of the lens is such that it doesn’t change length when zooming unlike the “trombone” type zooms, ergo it doesn’t cause the cover to bunch up and jam when zooming and is thus ideally suited for use with a rain cover.
I think that this lens has attracted some unfair criticism and you can pick them up very cheaply used, It also features a customisable lens function button on the lens like many of their pro-series lenses which I’ve used to quickly switch between normal aperture priority mode and a pre-programmed HDR mode, variable-speed electromagnetic zoom mechanism and manual zoom, a minimum focus distance of 20cm and a useful pseudo-macro capability. I’m not a pixel-peeper, I’ll leave that to others with nothing better to do 🙂 . I’m very happy with the rain cover modification which performed exactly as intended . Although both the camera and lens were sold as weather-sealed I’m more than reluctant to totally trust the seals after so many years but it does potentially offer another layer of protection, below some shots with minimal editing, I set out to try and capture some of the beautiful Autumnal colours in the foliage and anything else that caught my eye. I broke my cardinal rule about always fitting a fresh battery and memory card before shooting in the rain which, as things turned out, didn’t matter. The last thing one needs is having to break off shooting and find a dry sheltered place do so which puts a bit of a dampener on things (pun intended). 🙂
All the best,
Leigh
My camera rain cover D.I.Y modification works brilliantly! :)
Hi everyone,
As here in the UK we’re in Autumn heading towards Winter my thoughts once again turned to camera rain protection. All the rain covers that I’ve tried seem to suffer from one common problem. In use they all seem to slip down the lens exposing it to the rain or snow and/or bunching up and getting jammed interfering with the zoom mechanism and requiring tedious frequent readjustment. They all seem to be designed for mounting a camera statically on a tripod and not carrying it around. I thought I’d try something different, I asked my wife to sew on four small hooks from a hook and eye set in an approximate north-south-east-west orientation to the end of one of my rain covers. These hook onto the end of the hood and, by also using the inbuilt elasticated draw string cinch cord, the cover stays put much better. Tightening the cinch cord pulls the hooks into the front of the hood making for a secure tight fit that can’t slip back towards the camera body. I’ve tried this with lenses with a square/rectangular lens hood as shown below and also tulip style hoods as fitted to most of my zoom lenses like the one shown here. I’ve yet to try it with circular hoods which I suspect will possibly be less effective as the cover could/would slip around the circumference of the hood?.
They say necessity is the mother of invention 🙂 ,sometimes a simple modification can make life a heck of a lot easier. 🙂 It’d probably look a bit better with black hooks but this was a quick proof of concept try out. Once fitted this baby isn’t going anywhere!. 🙂 It’s very quick to fit and remove, once the cover is fitted place the hooks over the end of the hood, tighten the drawstring and that’s it and vice-versa to remove. I’m going to leave it fitted and take it for a walk in a local park tomorrow where there might be some interesting Autumnal foliage and there’s also a distinct chance of rain to test it out in action. I have added one very low-tech modification a rubber band behind the lens hood just in case the cinch cord should work loose when carrying it around. 🙂
Update
I replaced the lens hood on my M.Zuiko 12-50mm lens with a 52-67mm step up ring and an oversize 67mm tulip-style hood that I had. This hood better shields the front lens element from rain, knocks and flare and makes it virtually impossible for the hooks on the cover to slip round as they fit neatly into the recesses in the hood and it doesn’t vignette. The hood takes a 62mm lens cap.
Kind regards
Leigh
Rediscovered.
Hi everyone,
Amongst my many photos that I’ve rediscovered on an old hard disk drive dating back to 2000 like this one of Notre-Dame well before the fire. This was taken in 2003 when I was in Paris for a week long private commission. The subject of the shoot was very sombre, the roundup and transport of Parisian Jews during WW2 but I did have some time to wander around and take some shots for myself like this one when travelling between locations. Taken on a relatively low resolution by todays standards Canon DSLR.
And edited for converging verticals, sharpness and a little colour saturation.
Kind regards
Leigh
A dull day on the seafront.
Hi everyone,
To further re-acquaint myself with the capabilities of my M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 (24mm equivalent) lens I took it for a short stroll along the seafront in my hometown of Bognor Regis. I’ve never really favoured this focal length and I’m trying to push myself to use it more and not leave it sitting on the shelf at home, rather than use my more familiar 17-20mm (35-40mm) comfort zone focal lengths,
Best wishes,
Leigh
Chichester Cathedral 950th anniversary test shots.
Hi everyone,
Yesterday morning I re-visited one of my favourite local locations Chichester Cathedral again to take some test shots in readiness for the 950th anniversary son et lumier light show event later this month for which I have tickets. I wanted to test out my 12mm M.Zuiko f/2 lens, a lens that I don’t use as much as perhaps I should. Below a couple of my shots. In order to adapt it for use with my 58mm filters I fitted a 46-58mm step up ring and a 58mm tulip style lens hood with locking ring to lock the orientation which I had which doesn’t cause any vignetting and provides effective shading for the lens. Especially important as wide angle lenses are more prone to flare and I’ll be shooting in bright multi-directional lighting. It might look a bit odd, not that that bothers me, but it does the job nicely and is more effective than both the dedicated square metal lens hood and a much shallower circular metal wide-angle hood. 🙂 I also fitted one of my black mist filters but I’ll most likely use a lower power diffusion filter or maybe my shimmer diffuser filter for a less pronounced effect.
All the best,
Leigh
More of my Crete shots.
Hi everyone,
I’m gradually working through my shots taken in Crete, here’s a few more.
Kind regards
Leigh
Inside the Restaurant
Hi everyone,
Spotted inside a restaurant in Crete
Kind regards
Leigh
Another of my works of Crete
Hi everyone,
Lighthouse, Rethymno, Crete.
Best wishes,
Leigh
JJC Reusable Desiccant Silica Gel Canister, Portable Moisture Absorber Dehumidifier with Type-C Port for Easy Reactivation
Hi everyone,
These look like a neat idea for one’s camera bag, tech bag, backpack etc.. I always pop some silica gel packets in but these seem good with a USB C socket to dry them out and reactivate them. Obviously they need to be in a confined space to work as intended like a bag or case, box, cabinet etc.. I ordered a couple to try out in my camera bag and tech bag. Sure, small silica gel sachets are smaller and lighter but how to you know when they’re saturated? and they’re not reactivated. The USB C socket fits in well with my 100% USB charging philosophy which always works brilliantly when travelling. The only downside to these that I’m aware of is that they can take 10 hours plugged in to completely reactivate but I suppose that this can be done in more than one session if more convenient. Probably better to do it like this as it keeps the heat to a reasonable level. From a safety point of view I never leave anything plugged in and charging overnight or unattended with no exceptions. Compliments my Nitecore Blowerbaby BB2 air blower. Blow the water off, wipe down the camera and lens thoroughly with an absorbent microfibre cloth and let the dehumidifier inside the camera bag absorb any residual dampness. Thanks to my mate Jimmy Cheng for the heads-up. 🙂 . Looking forward to getting more shots in the rain when the opportunity presents itself. Also enjoying my night time photography, maybe get some nice night time rainy shots sometime.
Kind regards
Leigh
PS. It fits nicely inside my Billingham Hadley Digital camera bag with the addition of a surplus to requirements narrow padded velcro divider from one of my tech cases to hold it in place without totally covering the holes in the case grill. I put the other one in my tech bag which I take with me when travelling.
📷 Digital Art Photography 🎨 : "Paintography" ✈ 👍 