When I said that I wouldn’t do any more videos….. :)

Hi folks,

I thought I’d do another video after all if anyone ever watches them that is 🙂

Kind regards

Leigh

M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 vs TT Artisan 17mm f/1.4

July 11, 2021 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 2 Comments

Hi folks,

Just for fun I thought I’d do a quick image quality comparison between my £85 TT Artisan 17mm f/1.4 manual focus MFT lens and one of my all time favourite prime lenses the £450 M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 lens, list prices from the company’s official web stores not including any promotional discounts and shipping charges. In fairness there are reasons other than price why one may prefer the M.Zuiko lens over the TT Artisan lens such as auto focus with manual focus clutch, considerably smaller size (without lens hoods fitted), weight, build quality? etc. but it’s interesting to see how they stack up against each other. Both 100% crops taken in quick succession shot with manual focus, the camera mounted on a tripod, self timer, same lighting, same ISO and same aperture f/5.6. The two lenses have a very slightly different FOV. Identically processed with no sharpening or other corrections applied in post processing.

Neither lens comes supplied with a lens hood, I have added these.

First the M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8

Now the TT Artisans 17mm f/1.4

There is, I think, a slight difference, the M.Zuiko is perhaps a tad sharper overall but is it £355 sharper?, but with a little sharpening applied in post then that’s easily counteracted, the choice, as always is yours. 🙂

Kind regards

Leigh

Various musings photographic :)

July 10, 2021 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Landscape, Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 3 Comments

Hi everyone,

I thought that I’d put a few of my thoughts to paper so as to speak. Firstly, and in no particular order, are my thoughts on cameras and lenses. Like cars, maybe one’s choice of camera reflects to a certain degree one’s personality. I’m a self-confessed lover of retro designs, thus my passion for my Olympus PEN-F and my latest acquisition, an Olympus PEN E-P5. but not at the exclusion of the modern features that I find most convenient, if I’m anything, it’s that I’m certainly not a Luddite. For me it’s a matter of form and to a certain extent nostalgia but absolutely not form over function. Occasionally I get sick and tired of all the “this camera model/format is better than that/your camera model/format” arguments. I use the term arguments lightly as there’s often absolutely no logic associated with such comments. What there often is is a demonstration of total lack of understanding of even the most basic principles of photography from some people who haven’t even invested a few seconds in learning how their camera works let alone how to use it as a creative tool. That’s all cameras are, tools, and like any other tool, an easy target for a poor workman to blame. It’s a form of tribalism that isn’t unique to camera gear and exists in many other shapes and forms. To sum it up I firmly think that just about ANY modern camera, irregardless of make or model is more than capable of taking excellent photos, and the same goes for most lenses after all, the lens is, in my opinion, ultimately a lot more important than the camera body in achieving results. Taking interesting photos, is, however, a totally different matter.

So that leads me onto lenses. I have a nice collection of lenses for my chosen system that I’ve steadily acquired over the years. Unlike camera bodies where one does generally get more features with more costly models, whether one has a use for them or not is another matter, lenses aren’t so easy defined. I have a few “Pro” badged lenses, they are good lenses and they are weather-sealed which I sometimes find useful but I also have many budget-friendly lenses which are more than capable of producing excellent image quality that is very often impossible to distinguish from their “Pro” stable-mates in real world terms, and I’m not talking about all those laboratory testing type sites full of graphs and charts. Sure build quality is a big issue if one chucks them in and out of a bag all the time but I’ve never had a problem with any of my lenses, they’ve all served me very well as I look after them and they look after me. I simply don’t believe that the difference in optical quality between cheaper and more expensive lenses can, as some might have one believe, be justified in terms of price alone. I have achieved optically excellent results time and again from lenses which, if one chose to believe the reviews, were only fit for the dustbin.

Zooms versus primes, an argument as old as the hills. I used to be a dedicated user of prime lenses and I’m still very happy with mine but a big component of my thinking was based on the old zoom lenses that I was using many years ago which were inferior in just about every respect compared to prime lenses of the time, it’s a completely different story today. I find that I’ve been using zoom lenses a lot more than prime lenses over recent years. There are three principle reasons for this, firstly, I want to frame the image as I want it when composing the shot, I don’t want to habitually crop in post-processing, why have a high resolution sensor and then crop a large chuck of this and throw it away?. Secondly, it’s often difficult to impossible to change positions to frame as I wish and thirdly, by the time I’ve fumbled around changing lenses, assuming of course that I have the lens that I want in my bag, the moment has long since passed. There is also a fourth reason and that’s simply, in my chosen type of photography, one rarely seems to have the right prime lens on the camera at the right time 🙂 and lastly there’s also the question of weight, something that’s very important to me, it’s a simple equation, more glass = more combined weight = more fatigue.

Lastly, I watched a very interesting video the other day on the theme of originality in photography and how some folks like to copy the style of another photographer in the belief that this makes for better images. I think that the exact opposite is true. As you all know I love processing my images more so than taking them. This is where one can experiment to one’s heart’s delight. I really like to think that if I have any style it is that I don’t have a style that I stick to ad-nauseum. What’s the point of that?, where’s the fun in that?. If I did so then I’d be bored faster than you can say the word. One of the joys in photography for me is that it gives me a fabulous artistic freedom to do what I like and not what some erroneously believe is a guaranteed pathway to an award winning formula.

Well, that’s enough from me, I very much look forward to hearing your views on the subject.

Kind regards,

Leigh

“Memories are made of this”

July 5, 2021 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in HDR, Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi folks,

Test shot, PEN-F and TT Artisans 17mm f/1.4 lens. Bognor seafront. 5-frame handheld HDR, I really like this lens.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighkemp/51290625577/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/

Olympus PEN-F and TT Artisans 17mm f/1.4 lens.

All the best,

Leigh

TT Artisans 17mm f/1.4 lens MFT.

June 28, 2021 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I[‘ve Just taken delivery one month ahead of schedule! of my new TT Artisans 17mm f/1.4 lens. My friend Jimmy Cheng was right, this lens is very sharp. My only slight criticism and it’s not a big one and something that I’ve noticed with other Chinese MFT lenses is that it is a very tight fit but the quality, especially stopped down to about f/5.6 is outstanding and no hit of chromatic aberation!, I’m impressed and looking forward to being able to get out and properly put it through its paces. A quick test pic as I ‘m housebound today. and a 100% crop.

Kind rergards

Leigh

A nice cheap little bag.

June 27, 2021 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I picked up one of these bags https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XVSZ128/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It’s quite nice for the money, probably not the best made bag in the world and highly unlikely to last you a lifetime but it’ll last a fair while and it is lightweight (one of my main pre-requisites) and fairly versatile and roomy. I added a CADEN padded camera insert that I had lying around and also a patch and some carabiners to taste. Not show in the picture below, it also has a large zip-up inside pocket at the back. I very much doubt if it’s water-proof but my National Geographic NG A2560 rain cover fits it very well.

I’ve also ordered one of their tactical MOLLE Phone Pouch Bag Gear Waist Belt Packs (catchy title) 🙂 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Q2VJQGC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 to go one one end. This is detachable and will attach to a belt and serve as second pouch to hold extra stuff, a smallish lens, a mobile phone or maybe second camera like my TG-5 and spare batteries etc..

Small, shallow, vertical opening zip pocket on the left, I’ve put business cards in there. Double pocket, one with zip into which I’ve stored my rain cover and one larger pocket beneath it secured with buckle into which I’ve put my NEEWER 4 battery pouch. MOLLE loops and built in carabiner and a velcro loop patch.

Small side pocket with MOLLE loops.

Large back pocket probably best suited for flat items such travel paperwork, grey cards etc..

End with MOLLE loops to which I’m intending to attach the separate pouch that I ordered.

Inside with the CADEN camera insert fitted. The grey pouch on the end contains my small lightweight fold up rucksack.

NOTE the insert doesn’t come with the bag, I purchased this separately.

Kind regards

Leigh

Heath Robinson would be proud! :)

June 24, 2021 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

Heath Robinson would like this 🙂 , my latest pistol grip mod, added one of my SLIK ball heads with quick release and an optional detachable stand. Obviously this isn’t going to work with big heavy kit and needs an even surface. I’m looking for a similar base but a tad bigger but it works with my lightweight gear like my PEN-F and smaller lenses.

Best wishes,

Leigh

Extending my grip

June 20, 2021 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone, most of you already know that I like to experiment with my gear. As the pistol grip has a tripod thread on the bottom I attached it to two of my small tabletop tripods to try it out. The only thing that I dislike about the grip is the positioning of the lock button which is far too easily accidentally pressed and, as I don’t require it for my interests, I’m going to glue it in the off or unlocked position.

Kind regards

Leigh

PS. The lock button is no longer a problem since I super glued it 🙂

BUMPER BUNDLE

June 19, 2021 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in HDR, Landscape, Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 2 Comments

Hi everyone,

Firstly, two of my most recent shots both taken in Bognor Regis.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighkemp/51244379074/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighkemp/51249822739/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/

Now for a fun shot that I did recreating an Olympus magazine advert from the 70’s originally featuring Peter Sellers with an OM-1 camera which, incidentally, was my first 35mm film SLR. For this I mounted my Lumix 35-100mm to my PEN-F with a pistol grip.

Finally, I bought a JJC HR series pistol grip, circa £20 which I think will come in handy with longer lenses and maybe video if and when I do any to which I’ve added a two piece quick release plate, a strap eyelet to the bottom of the handle and one of my removable wrist straps. The grip requires a cable, sold separately, to fit one’s make/model of camera, I already had one as it was the same type that fitted my JJC wireless remote.

Kind regards

Leigh

An ultra-small lightweight day out camera setup.

April 17, 2021 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

For my last two local trips out I decided to take my relatively little used Olympus E-PL5 camera and Lumix 12-32mm as I had other things that I needed to do and carry and I didn’t want to carry around some of my other somewhat more bulky camera gear. I dug out my tiny Samsonite Trekking camera bag and managed to squeeze in a fair bit of gear.

Firstly, to get a sense of scale, here’s the bag sitting on top of an A4 sheet of paper.

In the main compartment my E-PL5 with lens attached and my EV-4 electronic viewfinder ready to attach and in the top mesh pocket, a 58mm ND filter.

In the the front compartment, my Holux GPS data-logger, two spare camera batteries and, in the front zip-up mesh pocket, my Nikon Coolpix A-100 camera with my Manfrotto mini tripod attached in a red waterproof pouch so I even managed to fit in a backup camera!!. 🙂

Lastly I attached a very small tabletop tripod through the two belt loops and used one of my handy Thinktank red-whips to secure it tightly. Behind this is another zip-up pocket into which I put a few lens wipes sachets and a lens cleaning cloth.

Amazing what one can get into such a tiny bag. 🙂 . As for the weight, I don’t know, it was so light that it didn’t even register on my electronic bathroom scales!.

Kind regards,

Leigh

As I sit here looking at my modern digital cameras I’m reminded of my first camera and, in particular, the first photograph that I ever took. Nowadays we take cameras and camera technology pretty much for granted but when I was a child I can’t remember many photographs. The only time our camera saw the light of day, and it had to be the light of day, as there wasn’t a flash, was on a few family occasions, the usual thing, school sports days, birthdays, etc.. My interest in photography didn’t start until my grandfather “loaned” me his camera to take with me on a week-long school trip, sleeping under canvas, in Snowdonia, North Wales. It was a somewhat battered old twin-lens reflex camera in which one looked downwards in to the viewfinder when taking a photograph.

I remember being very excited at being entrusted with the family camera, film wasn’t cheap and I had very little to no idea how to use it. The experience must have made some kind of impression on me as, after all these years, I still remember taking my first photograph. The coach stopped en-route at Blenheim Palace, the ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill and it became the subject of my first photograph. Although, sadly, like my other photographs from the trip, it has long since disappeared, however, I really don’t need the photograph to remind me as the experience is indelibly etched on my mind. I wonder if this is perhaps where my interest in landscape photography stems from but that’s probably too much of an assumption. As far as I remember I was the only kid on the trip to have a camera, that’s how different things were, nowadays, just about everyone has a camera of some sort built in to their mobile phones. It also taught me to be disciplined to the point of being frugal when taking photographs as the trip was for one week and I only had a 12 exposure black and white film in the camera.

Some years later I really got the photography bug and bought my first camera, an Olympus OM-1 35 mm film camera and I went on to own their OM-2 and OM-4ti cameras and a range of lenses. Film was still pretty expensive considering I earned about £20 a week in my first job so I got in to developing and printing my own black and white and, later, colour films to help keep the costs down and make things more affordable. Not only did this experience teach me an awful lot about image-making start to finish, many of the techniques and skills that I learned in my makeshift darkroom, a small room adorned with genuine World War 2 blackout curtains fitted to keep out the light, another hand-me-down from my grandfather, these skills would re-surface and be invaluable some years later when I started working on processing my digital images.

I put myself through University as a mature student and I badly needed the money so I had to very reluctantly part with all my photographic equipment, but needs must. After I graduated I bought my first digital camera, a small fixed lens Kodak compact camera, reduced in a sale. It had, by today’s standards, a laughably small maximum image resolution of 640×480 pixels or, to put it another way, a stunning 0.4 Megapixels!. For all of this and further equipped with screw on wide angle and telephoto lens attachments, it proved to be a fabulous little camera which I took all over the place with me. Put simply, digital photography was a revelation, to me, no requirement for film, no real running costs and a lot of image capacity on a small memory card which I found absolutely liberating.

A few years before that I had discovered some free graphics editing software on the cover disk of a computer magazine and that started off my real passion for working with graphics and, ultimately, photo processing. So I then had all the tools I required to develop, pun intended and further, my interest in digital photography. Processing is where the magic starts for me, I am totally absorbed in and fascinated by the range of options that digital processing affords me. It encourages me, if, that is, I ever need encouragement, to constantly experiment with new styles, new techniques and is such an important part of my enjoyment and interest in photography.

I went on to own several DSLRs but, as I got older I began to find that they were simply too heavy and bulky. I switched over back in 2013 to Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses. My choice of MFT system was heavily influenced by my experiences with my Olympus film cameras, maybe it was, in truth, part based on nostalgia that I decided on their OM-D system. As a landscape/travel photographer I have to carry my gear around all day and the weight and bulk saving is highly significant. I’ve been very impressed with the image quality of my Micro Four Thirds equipment, it has traveled with me extensively, never let me down and I have never had cause to question my decision to go over to that format.

So my 50-plus year photographic adventure has led me from twin-lens reflex and single-lens reflex film cameras to digital cameras, from stumbling around in a dimly-lit darkroom to working with my images on my computer. I’ve heard it said on occasions, including a comment I read some while back by a very famous photographer, that cameras being so much an every-day item now and available in mobile phones etc. devalues photography. I feel quite the opposite, I firmly believe that it empowers everyone with affordable technology to take photographs and enjoy photography and that, in my opinion, is fantastic. Although I’ve very much enjoyed my personal photographic journey I do confess to feeling a slight tinge of regret that the technology wasn’t available when I started out but one can’t put the clock back and I intend to keep on embracing all these great technological advancements, experimenting and enjoying my work.

Cameras:

Olympus: OM-D E-M5 Mk II (titanium) & HLD-8G grip, OM-D E-M1 Mk I (black) & HDL-7 grip, OM-D EM-5 Mk I (silver) & HDL-6 grip, PEN EPL-5, PEN EP-5 (silver) +VF-4, PEN E-PL8 (Silver) +VF4, Tough TG-5 (red), PEN-F (silver), Canon Powershot G10, Nikon Coolpix A100

Lenses:

Olympus: M.Zuiko: 12 mm f/2, 17 mm f/1.8, 25 mm f/1.8, 45 mm f/1.8, 30 mm f/3.5 macro, 9 mm f/8 body cap fisheye, 15 mm f/8 body cap, 9-18 mm, 12-50 mm, 12-40 mm f/2.8 PRO, 14-150 mm II, 40-150 mm II, 12-45mm f/4 PRO, MCON-P02.

Sigma: ART 60 mm f/2.8.

Samyang: Manual focus 7.5 mm f/3.5 fisheye.

TT Artisan: Manual focus 17mm f/1.4, 23mm f/1.4, 35mm f/1.4.

Panasonic Lumix: 14 mm f/2.5, 20 mm f/1.7, 12-32 mm x2 (black and silver), 12-60 mm, 14-42 mm II, 35-100 mm, 45-150mm.

PEN E-P5, 9-18mm,12-32mm, 40-150mm II. A lightweight kit with virtually continuous coverage from 18mm wide angle to 300mm telephoto.

OM-D E-M1 I, 14-150mm II, 12-40mm PRO. . Heavier than my other kits but with complete weather-sealing. Coverage from 24mm wide angle to 300mm telephoto with some overlap for backup.

OM-D E-M5 II, 17mm, 35mm, 12-60mm. A balance of two fun manual focus lenses with a weather-sealed body and zoom lens.

PEN E-PL5, 9mm, 15mm, 25mm, 60mm, 12-50mm. Another lightweight fun kit with a zoom option.

TG-5, OM-D E-M5 mk1, 7.5mm, 12mm, 17mm, 45mm, 30mm macro. M-CON.

PEN-F, 14mm, 20mm, 12-32mm, 35-100mm. Probably my favourite lightweight day-to-day kit. Two fast primes and two zoom with almost continuous coverage from 24mm wide angle through to 200mm telephoto.

Software:

Corel: Paintshop Pro Elite 2020 & Video Studio 2019.

Skylum Software: Aurora HDR 2019, Luminar 4, Luminar AI and Luminar Neo.

DXO Labs: PhotoLab 5 Elite, Viewpoint 3, NIK Collection 9, Film Pack 8 and PureRAW 6.

Anthropics Technologies: Landscape Pro Studio 3 and Portrait Pro.

EyeQ: Perfectly Clear

Topaz Labs: Studio 2, Sharpen AI, A.I Gigapixel, AI Clear, AI Adjust, DeNoise AI and Various legacy plugins.

Adobe: Lightroom.

GreenScreenWizard Studio Pro.

Serif: Affinity Photo

Microsoft: Image Composite Editor (Free).

Darktable (Free).

Olympus: Olympus Capture, Olympus Workspace and Olympus Webcam (Free to Olympus owners).

Sony: Movie Studio Platinum.

Lighting Gear:

Godox TT350o flash, Godox X1T radio flash trigger, Godox Lux Junior flash, LED ring flash, GVM RGB LED light, Olympus MAL-1 Macro Arm Light. Two Godox LED36 lights, Godox Litemons LED6R light. Three Bowen studio flash heads, barndoors, honeycombes, umbrellas and flash meter.