Travel adapter.

Hi everyone,

As my trip to Canada is very much on the cards for later this year to visit my elderly father and my sister and her family as well as (of course) 🙂 an exciting photographic adventure I decided to beef up my travel plug adapter/USB charging capability a bit. I have my trusty Anker 4-port USB charging hub with a selection of interchangeable figure of eight mains leads to fit all countries which is always packed in my travel kit but thought I’d add this as well. To give it its full name: “Bigfish Universal Travel Adapter with USB C PD 35W Fast Charging(C3 Port), Worldwide Travel Plug Adapter with 5 USB(2A + 3C), Dual 10A Fuses International Travel Adapter – EU UK US AUS Plugs”

They do them in different wattages up to 65W but the 35W one will suit my needs and the additional/backup USB ports will no doubt come in handy. It’s quite a few years since I travelled across the pond and I really wanted an additional adapter to convert to the USA/Canada/Mexico type 2 flat pin mains sockets although it will also work converting to/from European and British plug types, important as most of my travel is in Europe. All my devices are dual voltage 100-250V so that’s not an issue. I like that it’s fused with a spare fuse included, looks solidly built as well. Two USB type A ports, two USB type C ports as well as an additional fast charge USB type C port on the side. You know how dedicated I am to multi-device USB charging at home or when travelling. 🙂 I also like to have a backup charging solution in case of a fault or accidental damage etc.. As the old saying goes “Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket”. 🙂

All the best,

Leigh

Another West Dean Gardens shot and U-GREEN SD Card reader/USB Hub.

March 23, 2026 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 6 Comments

Hi everyone,

Firstly another shot from my recent visit to West Dean Gardens. Olympus E-PL8 camera, M.Zuiko 14-150mm lens and Tifffen combined Black Pro Mist 1/4 and CPL filter.

A while back I purchased a small, inexpensive 4in1 U-Green USB 3 card reader hub which I’ve been using on the computer. The device has two USB 3 (blue) type A ports, slots for micro and full size SD cards and the hard wired cable terminates in a USB type A connector with an attached adapter to USB type C. I decided to buy another one to go in my travelling kit. I’m using an app. called USB Media Explorer on my Android phone and, with the hub attached along with an SD card and USB flash drive inserted it copies RAW files from the card to the drive very quickly. I have a dedicated device for this in my RAVPOWER file hub/travel router/USB power bank but this is a nice compact alternative/backup card backup solution. I like U-Green products, I have one of their Ethernet Switches attached to my network router which works very well.

Kind regards to all,

Leigh

It’s that time of the year again.

November 29, 2025 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

Image attribution: https://www.vecteezy.com/

Unfortunately my wife’s started to feel unwell so, as that’s my main priority, I’ve decided not to go out tonight to this event. Maybe I’ll get another opportunity soon to do some night shots.

Hi everyone,

Tonight there’s the Bognor Regis Christmas lights switch on. I went last year, although it certainly isn’t Oxford Street it was pretty good with a stage with a live band, street entertainers as well as street traders and a good chance to get some night shots. Last year I took my M.Zuiko 25mm f/1.8 lens and K&F 1/4 black mist filter. This combination was too tight and the filter was a bit too much so this time I’m taking my Olympus PEN E-PL8, Lumix 14mm f/2.5, one can always crop if required and K&F Concept shimmer diffusion filter which gives a subtler more localised halation effect. As it looks like it’ll be raining this evening I fitted on of my cheap plastic rain covers with a slight modification. I don’t like draw strings when one’s walking about as they always either slip forward on a smooth lens hood and block the lens or slip back and expose the lens to the elements so to prevent this from happening I cut a rubber ring from one of my rubber lens caps which fits pretty tightly and grips nicely. This combination of camera and lens makes for a nice inconspicuous, lightweight walkabout street setup. I’ve chosen the 14mm over my Lumix 20mm f/1.7 as the later, despite being an optically excellent lens, is prone to hunting a bit too much for my liking in low light, fast moving situations. For a bag I’m taking one of my small “rubberised” shoulder bags which doesn’t scream “camera bag”. If it does rain I might get some nice shots of reflection on wet pavements etc..

Kind regards

Leigh

JJC 2 x battery and 4 x Memory Card Case.

November 27, 2025 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

As I really like the design of the bigger capacity JJC case that I recently bought for storage and travelling I thought I’d get its smaller sibling for day-to-day use whilst they have them onAmazon Black Friday week. This one comes with a small wrist strap to which I’ve attached one on my Tile bluetooth trackers as well as fitting some foam that I cut out and attached with some narrow double-sided tape to make my Olympus BLN-1 type batteries a tighter fit.

Kind regards

Leigh

JJC battery and memory card case.

November 24, 2025 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I purchased a new battery and memory card case. Whilst I’m more than happy with my existing case which holds 2 spare camera batteries and several SD memory cards as I very rarely have the need to take more than this out with me except when travelling. This case will hold 6 memory cards as well as three camera batteries and the end compartments can be used instead to hold a total of eight AA batteries. I don’t really have anything that takes AA batteries as all my gear is USB-charged and, although I own a couple of battery-powered flash guns and LED lights they don’t get much use but it’s a nice touch, good to have the option, and one never knows, it might occasionally come in handy.

The memory cards are a snug fit,, the battery compartments are, as expected, a bit too big for my Olympus type BLN-1 camera batteries but not so much as to overly concern me as the case is nicely padded. One of the card slots has a cut out to take a small screwdriver, as supplied to fit/remove quick release plates etc. and the case also comes with a micro SD card removal tool. I don’t really have a use for either and I carry a small screwdriver like the one supplied on my keyring so I discarded them. I was also a bit concerned that they might work loose and, being metal, just possibly short out battery contacts which one certainly doesn’t want happening!.

When not in everyday use the case makes for a nice battery and card storage box. Overall it’s nicely designed and constructed and a bargain as Amazon have them on a Black Friday deal at the moment at a very good 40% off the usual sale price. It’s about a third longer than my other case but still just fits vertically inside my Billingham Hadley Digital camera bag and should be very useful when I’m travelling and need the extra battery capacity neatly transported in one case . One more nice feature are the sliders below each battery compartment marked low and full which can be set to indicate fully charged or discharged batteries, assuming of course one remembers to set them. 🙂 Over the years I’ve purchased quite a few JJC accessories like my USB camera battery chargers with inbuilt USB cable, their illuminated camera sensor loupe and numerous lens hoods and found them to be fit for purpose, well designed and fairly priced often with some useful innovative design features. As always, I have no affiliation with nor have I been in any way sponsored by the manufacturer.

Kind regards

Leigh

The Arcade

November 21, 2025 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

Another test shot from yesterday. I wasn’t interested in trying the CPL to reduce my reflection in the window as I thought it might add a bit of fun to the shot 🙂 . This time I didn’t apply any sharpening or unsharp mask only lens and converging vertical corrections as I wanted to get the full softening effect from the Tiffen filter. I also had to try and be a bit stealthy as they don’t like people taking shots of it thus my position to the side of the entrance. 🙂

Kind regards

Leigh

Minimalist :)

November 20, 2025 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

Over the course of the last year or so, with the occasional exception, I’ve been getting very minimalist with my gear, just a camera and one or other of my prime lenses plus the bare essential accessories. This started with and is partly due to necessity with my mobility issues but has grown because I’m very much enjoying the liberating fun feeling which this has promoted or maybe that should read “restored” as well as my increasing interest in night photography. You’ll note that I’ve added a very low-tech modification also known as an elastic band 🙂 to my battery and memory card case to prevent the contents falling out if I’m stupid enough to open it upside down despite the prominent “This way up” labelling that I’ve added to the hinged lid!. 🥴 In doing this have I missed a shot or two?, almost certainly yes, do I care?, no not in the least. 🙂 This has been more than balanced out by the shots I’ve been able to get through prolonging my stamina and mobility and, as I mentioned, it’s a lot of FUN!.

All the best

Leigh

Whilst I’m waiting

November 17, 2025 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Landscape, Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment | 6 Comments

Hi everyone,

Whilst I’m waiting for a Tiffen fusionPOL combined 1/4 black pro mist and CPL filter to arrive which seems to be stuck on a very slow moving boat from the U.S.A, so slow it would appear that it’s being propelled by oars, I decided to pop my Kenko 0.5 black mist diffusion filter onto my Marumi Super DHG CPL filter and headed off for the nearest foliage that I could. Unlike the weather of late it was a pretty cold but bright sunny morning with only a few whispy clouds in an otherwise clear blue sky. Dressed like a cross between Nanook Of The North and the Michelin Man I set forth for the local park. In the sunshine I was overdressed, out of it I most certainly wasn’t. Even though I own quite a few I’m not an habitual user of filters but thought I’d try out this combination. My camera choice of the day my Olympus PEN-F and TTArtisan 23mm f/1.4 lens. On my way home I spotted this great eccentric car. 🙂 . The park also has the highest concentration of crows that I’ve ever seen, in places it looks like a scene from Hitchcock’s The Birds. 🙂

Some shots:

Kind regards

Leigh

“Pictures in the park”

October 22, 2025 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Landscape, Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 2 Comments

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! :)

October 21, 2025 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, Photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

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

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 6.

Anthropics Technologies: Landscape Pro Studio 3 and Portrait Pro.

EyeQ: Perfectly Clear

ON1: Photo MAX RAW 2026

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.

Datacolor: SpyderExpress display calibration device and software.

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.