Something a little bit fishy

February 14, 2020 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in HDR, Landscape, Leigh Kemp, Monochrome, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi folks,

I took a new lens out for a stroll around my hometown of Kingston Upon Thames this morning. I already have a perfectly good fisheye lens which I very rarely use but I bought the tiny Olympus 9 mm fixed f/8 body cap lens and it is a LOT of fun to use. The images have a sort of film-like quality to them. It’s acceptably sharp in the middle, not so sharp in the corners, it’s manual focus, has chromatic aberration aplenty, it’s cheap , made out of plastic, the pixel-peepers out there would absolutely hate it and I LOVE IT!. The lens is marketed as a fun (not toy) lens and they got this absolutely right. When fitted to one of my OM-D bodies it’s possible to put the camera in a jacket pocket. Being so small and light it’s the sort of lens that you can have with you all the time and, therefore, use. Well done Olympus, like most things, if photography isn’t fun then you’re not going to get the most enjoyment from it and this lens has fun written all over it.

body cap lens

Something a lilttle bit fishy 1s Something a little bit fishy #2s All Saints Church s

Kind regards

Leigh

These are a few of my favourite things!

February 11, 2020 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

Hi folks,

Don’t worry I’m not about to break into a medley of songs from the Sound Of Music 🙂 . These are a few of the things that I find the most useful (read essential) in my photography in no particular order.

Olympus’ amazing 5-axis image stabilisation which enables me to habitually and confidently take worry-free handheld HDR shots.
Viveza, part of the NIK Collection, now owned by DXO. Of all of the software that I own, and I own a lot, this software, one of my first purchases, singularly contributes the most to my work. The control point technology is a fantastic, incredibly powerful tool enabling selective image adjustments. Think of it like dodging and burning on steroids! and a lot more.
Olympus’ Highlight/Shadow display function. A fabulous tool in assessing exposure especially useful for HDR shots used alongside the camera’s histogram display.
Skylum Software’s Aurora HDR 2019. The best HDR software that I’ve ever used bar none.
DXO Viewpoint. A very useful and powerful tool for correcting converging verticals. I hate converging verticals, if the Mark 1 human eyeball saw things that way then that’d be a different matter 🙂 .

Tip, if you have a camera with a keystone compensation feature like my Olympus OM-D E-M1, and time to do it, then I occasionally use it to take a reference JPEG image before turning it off and shooting in RAW. That way it greatly helps to take the guesswork out of estimating if you’ve allowed enough room to correct verticals whilst keeping the desired framing or you can ensure that you allow enough room in the frame to correct later using Viewpoint.

I could just about live without everything else but these are essential tools of the trade for me.

I’ve used them all in this shot.

49520971043_52f84c5ecf_c

https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighkemp/49520971043/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/

Best wishes,

Leigh

Camera, what camera?

February 9, 2020 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 2 Comments

Hi folks,

There are times when I really don’t want to carry my normal gear such as days out to the seaside with the grandchildren but I also don’t want to sacrifice quality and limit my shooting options or carry any form of camera bag so here’s a super lightweight and relatively inexpensive setup. Another benefit is that nobody gives you a second look which suits me just fine. 🙂

My Olympus E-PL5 and VF-4 (I prefer a viewfinder) + Panasonic Lumix G 12-32 mm, 35-100 mm and 14 mm lenses. So light and pocketable you don’t know that you’ve got them with you! 🙂

For my next shoot I’m going to take this kit with me and I’ll post some images so that you can judge for yourself.

Kind regards

Leigh

Size matters (my smallest, lightest Micro Four Thirds lenses.

February 6, 2020 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 2 Comments

Hi folks,

Four of my favourite light and small Micro Four Thirds lenses. All of these plus one of my Olympus OM-D camera bodies and accessories fit comfortably in to my thinkTank Turnstyle 10 bag making for a very compact and lightweight pack to carry around giving me full focal length coverage from, in full frame equivalent terms, 18 mm to 200 mm. Apologies for the slightly blurry images they were taken with an old phone camera but it gives a good indication of the compact size of these lenses.

Panasonic Lumix G 14 mm f/2.5 (weight: 55 g without the lens hood)

lens 1

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 (weight 155 g: without the lens hood)

lens 2

46881251181_5d33932d6f_c

Panasonic Lumix G 12-60 mm f/3.5-5.6 (weight: 210 g: without the lens hood)

lens 4

49461134496_deb9ec2a98_c

Panasonic Lumix G 35-100 mm f/3.5-5.6 (weight 135 g: without the lens hood)

lens 3

48447352646_8970868b6c_c

Best wishes

Leigh

I’m watching my weight and I’ve lost my grip!

January 31, 2020 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi folks,

No, I’ve not enrolled in a weigh watchers class although I most probably could afford to shed a few inches from my waistline, nor have I lost my tenuous grip on reality in this bizarre and frequently surreal world in which we live.

I’ve been giving even more thought to the gear that I carry and I decided to assess things in terms of “is this bit of kit photographically mission-critical or not?”. I’ve applied this brutal logic to each and every item in my camera bag, large and small alike. Is my camera rain cover essential or not?, how many times have I used it when I have weather-sealed camera body and main lens?, does it justify space and particularly weight in my bag?. So I’ve removed my add-on camera grip, it doesn’t improve my photographs and it saves a bit of weight, both in my bag and around my neck and I can just as easily operate the camera without it.

What was the last time that I used those filters?, do I really need to carry three spare batteries for a day out shooting?. How often do I have the need to use that lens?. My memory card case is waterproof and could probably survive being run over by a tank and/or dropped into the river, what are the chances of that happening? and does it need to be when it lives inside a waterproof, padded camera bag 99.99% of the time?, etc..

It pleasantly surprised me just how much weight saving there is to be had by applying this simple logic to one’s gear. And, perhaps the biggest question of all, how many times have I returned after a shoot thinking, “I’m so pleased that I took this or that bit of kit with me”? as opposed to “well, it can stay in my bag as it’ll come in handy one day” by which time I’ve carried it around on foot over a period of time for hundreds of miles like a camera accessory manufactures’ pack mule.

There’s an old English saying “Look after the pennies and the pounds’ll look after themselves”. I have my own version of this “Look after the ounces and the pounds (weight) will look after themselves”. 🙂

Best wishes,

Leigh

My camera gear and new camera bag, travelling ultra light – approx. 1.5 Kg (3 lbs) total weight!.

January 28, 2020 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in digital art, Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I’ve manged to get the total weight of my camera gear down to about 1 Kg. Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk II + Fotodiox grip, battery and memory card fitted (550 g) M.Zuiko 9-18 mm (approx 155 g), M.Zuiko 25 mm 1.8 (approx 136g) and Panasonic Lumix 12-60 mm (approx 210 g) and including my new thinkTANK Turnstyle 10 v2 sling bag (400 g) and few essential, such as spare batteries, memory cards, lens wipes and my thinkTANK Emergency camera rain cover, approx 1.5 Kg!.

I own or have seen faster and debatably sharper lenses but I’ve not seen sharper, faster and lighter lenses and certainly not a price point that I can afford or justify. The 12-60 mm is also weather-sealed to compliment my camera’s weather sealing. I chose the Fotodiox grip in preference to Olympus’ own grip as it doesn’t need to be detached and re-attached every time to change the camera’s battery.

My kit, chosen for it’s weight, size and focal length coverage to suit my photographic interests, which as I guess most of you already know are travel/landscapes.

summer 2020 gear new small
The bag seems like it’ll be perfect for my day-to-day requirements. Heaven knows I’ve tried all types of bag, shoulder bags, backpacks etc. and they all hurt. Could this be the one?!. The strap is nicely shaped and well padded.

TURNSTYLE 10_1

Main compartment, easy access to my gear. I’ve added a HeroClip to the top loop to easily hang it up or suspend it from a tripod hook. I really like the idea of swinging the bag round and my gear is right there where I want it.

TURNSTYLE 10_2

Rear compartment will hold an 8 inch tablet but is ideal for stashing my thinkTANK emergency camera rain cover which could also hang from the HeroClip to dry out when required.

TURNSTYLE 10_3

Main compartment for my camera and my choice of lenses. There’s also a horizontal stacking divider provided but I’m not currently using it.

TURNSTYLE 10_4

Another inside compartment, maybe for some paperwork, travel documents or suchlike.

TURNSTYLE 10_5

Front compartment comprising of three pockets for my filters, lens wipes, memory cards etc. and a larger front section in which you can just see my NEEWER battery case which is holds four Olympus BLN-1 batteries perfectly and securely.

TURNSTYLE 10_6

End compartment housing the bag’s rain cover, shown with the waist strap ends tucked in. I think that the addition of the waist strap to the V2 is a very useful feature to stop the bag swinging around on the move.

TURNSTYLE 10_7

Ultimately I don’t know how this bag will work out but I hope that my shoulders, back and neck will thank me for it. :).

Kind regards

Leigh

PS. A while back I started using Cordweaver camera straps. like the red one shown in this post.

Simply Red

January 22, 2020 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

For the days when I just want to travel ultra light. My Olympus Tough TG-5 and Neewer 20 inches/50 centimeters Portable Compact Desktop Macro Mini Tripod with 360 Degree Ball Head very, err, “red”. 🙂

Simply Red 1 Simply Red 2

Kind regards

Leigh

The best of both worlds : Swapping between Cokin filters and circular filters using Manfrotto XUME adapters.

January 21, 2020 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 1 Comment

Hi everyone,

Some while back I invested in, and invested is definitely the right term as they’re not cheap, in some XUME adapters for my round, screw-on filters. I’ve gotten so used to simply and quickly changing filters without all the screwing/unscrewing and risk of a cross threading etc.. The XUME system uses a magnetic adapter ring that screws into the front of the lens, while the filter itself screws into a metal filter holder.

Recently I decided to buy a Cokin P-Series filter set containing filter holder, four of their adapter rings (52 mm, 55 mm, 58 mm and 62 mm) and three ND filters. Great on their own but here’s the problem I encountered and my solution.

First the problem, as I wanted to quickly change between using a screw on circular B+W clear glass protection filter plus the proprietary lens hood and the Cokin system this is what I was having to do as it was impossible to easily swap because the outer diameter of the Cokin ring prevented the hood simply being reversed and fitted/re-fitted without screwing in/unscrewing the Cokin adapter ring every time.

So to fit the Cokin holder I’d first have to reverse or remove the lens hood then remove the circular filter complete with both halves of the XUME system and then screw in the Cokin ring and snap on the Cokin filter holder and the same in reverse when changing back the other way. Slow and fiddly and always the chance of a mishap along the way especially on a cold winter’s morning with cold hands!.

My solution is very simple, I fitted one of my XUME filter adapters to the Cokin ring. So to change over simply reverse or remove the lens hood, pull off the circular filter with XUME filter adapter attached and attach the Cokin holder complete with its adapter ring and XUME lens adapter fitted. There’s very little weight in the Cokin system so practically no chance it’ll become easily detached providing one exercises due care and attention .

Cokin and XUME 1

Cokin and XUME 2

Reverse hood, pull off circular filter, push on Cokin filter holder and vice-versa, very quick!, tested with my Olympus 12-40 PRO lens (62 mm filter thread) @ 12 mm with no vignetting. 🙂

62 mm XUME lens adapter fitted directly to lens.
2 x 62 mm XUME filter adapters, one fitted to circular filter and one fitted to Cokin 62 mm adapter ring.

Best wishes,

Leigh

Focus bracketing and HDR landscapes.

January 12, 2020 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Focus Bracketing, HDR, Landscape, Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 1 Comment

Hi everyone,

Lately I’ve been experimenting with focus bracketing and combining with HDR. For quite a while now I’ve been using Skylum Software’s Aurora HDR 2019 with very good results. I set off recently to one of my favourite locations, Bushy Park, to deliberately shoot focus bracketed shots as well as HDR of the same scene.

I typically shot 3-4 focus bracketed shots and another three frame HDR at +/- 2EV. I processed the HDR in Aurora to my tastes as usual and used Affinity Photo’s focus merge feature to merge the focus bracket shots as well as the HDR from Aurora. I then edited further in some of my other software including Skylum’s Luminar 4. Here’s few results from my experiments. Tack sharp front to back and HDR.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

49368267641_438f55115b_z

49369058701_3530b2c0fa_z

49373014997_06c88ea0bd_z

I know that this will surprise regular visitors to my blog who know how much I hate them but I actually took a tripod, specifically for these experiments. Unfortunately it was, as usual too heavy and cumbersome and I returned home, on foot as usual, with quite severe aches and pains in my back and shoulders after carrying it around for about five or six hours so I’m not taking it again but I might have found an interesting alternative, the MeFoto Backpacker Air tripod which weighs only 2 lbs and is ideal for my Micro Four Thirds gear. Quick to setup and at only 10.4 inches in length when collapsed it should also fit neatly in my Vanguard VEO GO34M camera bag.

BPAIRBLU_main

Image: https://www.mefoto.com

I bought one of these ingenious Hero Clips so that I could easily hang my camera bag or another weight from the tripod’s weight hook for extra stability. I guess that you could hang just about anything from it. Note it is not safe for rock climbing etc..

Image: https://myheroclip.com/

Kind regards

Leigh

ThinkTANK Emergency Rain Cover revisited.

October 11, 2019 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in digital art, Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 3 Comments

Hi everyone,

I guess there’s no perfect solution when it comes to rain covers. I’ve had this rain cover for a while now. It’s the best solution that I’ve found in terms of size, manufacturing quality and portability. It comes with its own storage pouch with a loop and I’ve attached a carabiner so that it can hang from a d-ring on my camera bag if required. When the cover is wet it is nice to have a self-contained pouch to stuff it back in to and keep it separate from other gear.

IMG_0553 -1.jpg

Fitting is pretty straightforward, slip the camera in and attach to the camera’s hot shoe and then tighten the cinch strap around the lens hood. Even though I bought their small sized rain cover to suit my micro four thirds gear I find that the strap is still a bit big for most lens hoods but it does the job. Fitted here to my Olympus OM-D E-M5 mk2 with Lumix 12-60 mm lens.

IMG_0542 -1

There’s good room inside to get both hands in to operate the camera controls/tripod adjustments and the large transparent top/back panel affords a good view of the LCD screen etc.. There’s also a draw cord at the base of the cover.

IMG_0545 -1

All-in-all it has proved useful on a number of occasions, it weighs next to nothing and is a worthwhile addition to my camera bag.

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 6, Film Pack 5 and PureRAW.

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.