The gloves are off, and on and off again. :)

December 9, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi all,

I’ve been looking for some gloves for the cold weather. I didn’t want to buy so-called “photographer’s gloves” as they are, in my opinion, ridiculously over-priced. I ‘ve been looking for some warm ones with just the tips of one’s thumbs and index fingers exposed and a good grippy surface on the palm. I found these cycling and running gloves on Amazon and they’re nice and comfy, warm and, above all cheap at £7.99 UK 🙂 Good for operating camera controls and/or touchscreen devices, I don’t know how long they will last but at this price I can afford to replace them as and when they need replacing. One size fits all so don’t know if they’re good for everyone but they fit my hands pretty well. These are very useful not only for operating one’s camera controls or mobile phone but even the simplest of things like zips on my jacket pockets or a compartment on my camera bag, fitting/removing a filter or lens, a battery or anything else where you need to operate something without having to constantly take them on and off which somewhat negates the purpose of wearing gloves.

You have to hand it to the Chinese manufacturers (no pun intended) 🙂 they often seem to include a small gift of some kind like a microfibre cleaning cloth or suchlike. In this case it was a keyring combined bottle opener and fingernail trimmer!, which I unexpectedly discovered inside one of the gloves when I tried to put it on. I don’t need this unless I’m out and about and have a hangnail and/or suddenly fancy a bottle of beer but it’s very good sales psychology on their part, they understand that everyone likes the feeling of getting something for free. I wish it’d catch on in Japan and the camera companies would give me a free couple of lenses when I buy a new camera. Maybe I’ll suggest it to them and see what they have to say. 🙂

KXF Winter Warm Fingerless Gloves For Men Women Windproof Thermal Gloves

Kind regards

Leigh

Good service from K&F Concept.

December 9, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi all,

As you might remember I recently started using K&F concept 1/8 and 1/4 strength black mist diffusion filters. I bought their least expensive series of filter and noticed a green halo effect on quite a few of my images, they’re still very useable filters and excellent value for money but one should watch out for this effect. I contacted their support and they kindly offered me a refund of £25 UK to spend on a purchase of their Nano X top of the range series which I’m very keen to try out. I’ve never had any issues with any of their filters and I own VND, CPL, VND/CPL combined filters which have all worked very well but I think that it’s probably better to stick with their Nano-X series filters. I am impressed with the efficiency and helpfulness of their customer support which is first class.

Kind regards

Leigh

My night time settings

December 7, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel and tagged camera, Photography | Leave a comment

Hiya,

Before I started out on my two recent night time photographic adventures I took a bit of time to program into the Olympus camera’s MYSET settings two additional sets of settings, one for handheld and one for tripod-mounted, the later of which, I didn’t end up using. I took one of my fastest lenses, my M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8. The only other thing that I took and used was my Kenko Black Mist 0.5 filter, Here’s my settings:

Handheld: (Walkabout street shooting etc.)

Auto ISO, I set the upper limit to ISO 6400 with a threshold of 1/60th second, probably could have been less at 1/30th or even 1/15th of a second thanks to IBIS and a moderate wide-angle lens but I decided to play safe. As it was I never exceeded about ISO 2000 even in the dimmest light.

All axis Image stabilisation set to on, a must unless you have very steady hands. 🙂 .

Aperture Priority.

I set low speed burst mode so as to take short burst to increase my hit-rate and this worked very well.

Single autofocus with manual focus adjust (SAF/MF), a quick way of tweaking focus if required. I prefer this to using the manual focus clutch on this lens or switching to and from SAF to MF with a programmed function button.

Focus-peeking and image magnification set to on.

Aperture set when switching to this MYSET to default to the widest lens aperture (f/1.8 with the 17mm) and I can adjust it from there as desired.

Tripod-mounted: (Longer exposure landscape shots, not just for night time shots)

ISO 200

Image Stabilisation (IBIS) set to off.

Aperture Priority.

Custom self timer set to wait 3 seconds and then take 3 shots at 0,5 second intervals. I prefer this method to keep on plugging in and unplugging a cable release.

Single autofocus with manual adjust (SAF/MF)

Focus-peeking and image magnification set to on.

Aperture set when switching to this MYSET to default to f/5.6 and I can adjust it from there as desired.

Kind regards

Leigh

PS. I might also set live view boost to the 1 setting if required in very low light, pity that one cannot map this to a program button.

A tripod in a pencil case (Honey I shrunk the tripod) :)

December 4, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I’ve been posting a fair bit about mini tripods lately because I’ve been trying to find the best mini tripod and ball head combination suitable for my requirements that’s light, it weighs less that 1lb, compact, it’s about 8 inches long with legs retracted and the ball head adjusted to the portrait orientation and it’s strong enough to support a 2.7lb load, else experience well and truly tells me that it’ll only just end up staying at home. I’m trying out a hybrid concoction the base from a SLIK Mini Pro DQ mini tripod that I’ve had for many years and I put my Ulanzi H-28 mini ball head and Ulanzi Claw release plate on it. Very light and fits snugly into a neoprene pencil case! for protection and keeping moisture and dirt out etc.. Whole thing fits comfortably in my jacket pocket 🙂 👍 . I’ve also previously tried this tripod base with the ball head supplied with it and, when suitably adjusted, it makes for a very nice chest pod. As far as I recall this is the only mini tripod that I’ve seen that actually markets this as a feature although I only found this out after I had already tried it as such.

Off to Worthing next week to get some nice night time landscape/seascape shots and taking this with me along with my new Kenko Black Mist 0.5 filter to try out.

Kind regards

Leigh

Ulanzi U-100 Claw ball head.

November 26, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | 2 Comments

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently taken delivery of the Ulanzi U-100 ball head. It has the Claw quick release system with the newer type 2 camera release plate which has the addition of an ARCA Swiss compatible fitting on the camera plate for the best of both worlds. It comes with a tripod thread adaptor bush, handy small tool for attaching and detaching the plate, now residing on my keyring for when I haven’t got a coin handy. The plate has both Allen Key (not supplied but I have loads) and “coin” slot, as well as coming with a smaller Allen Key to adjust and lock the rotating cold shoe mount position. The head has both pan and ball head lock knobs and is very well made. I’ve attached it to my Manfrotto lightweight carbon fibre compact monopod. Some pics below the last two showing the ARCA Swiss addition to the type 2 camera plate and attached to my small solidly-built NEEWER M225+CK30 tripod and ball head with ARCA Swiss fitting which I’ve had for some years and I believe is now discontinued. I’ve also got one of their smaller H-28 ball heads on order which I intend to attach to one of my Pixi or Pixi EVO 2 Manfrotto table top tripods along with the Claw release system that I bought recently which will make everything fully interchangeable.

As an experiment I replaced the Neewer CK30 ball head with the Ulanzi U-100 ball head, as it’s more compact. lighter and has the Claw fitting and fitted it to the Neewer M225 tripod base and it makes for a really nice versatile, sturdy, little tripod with a maximum height with the legs and center column fully extended of approx. 18 1/2 inches or thereabouts. I think that this combination makes for an excellent small tripod which when collapsed is only approx. 8 1/2 inches long, less if you adjust the position of head to its portrait position and will even fit in the top compartment of my favourite Manfrotto camera bag!. The tripod is made of metal and plastic, the centre column unscrews in the middle making it reversible for low level shots and the legs can be adjusted to virtually lay flat for increased stability. Not that it’s anything other than cosmetic but the Ulanzi ball head’s red and black colours match very well with the Neewer tripod base and don’t look out of place.

All the best,

Leigh

Small filter pouch to fit up to 58mm sized filters.

November 26, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment, Travel | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I’ve been looking for something like this for a while as I don’t use filters larger than 58mm very often. I found this small filter pouch on ebay going for £6.60 UK inc. postage from China (of course) 🙂 . This is much more convenient for me as it’s considerably smaller, manufacturer’s spec: Size: 90 x 80 mm / 3.5 x 3.1 inch (L*W) and less bulky than my other ones which are somewhat larger and designed to hold larger filter sizes and it can usefully hold up to four filters. The colour is closer to the first picture below, I didn’t colour match, it’s orange and not yellow which is nice as, with the possible exception of a sandy beach, it’s easy to spot if one should drop it and it’s extremely light which is always good for me. The only thing that one has to be careful of is to make sure to open it the right way up so as to avoid one’s filters falling out!.

Kind regards

Leigh

Hats off to Manfrotto!

November 21, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

Hi,

One of the zips went on my Manfrotto Compact 1 Advanced Shoulder Bag for CSC camera bag which I purchased earlier this year which is most unusual as I have several of their bags and have never had any problem with them. I returned the bag for inspection and they sent me a no-quibble warranty replacement by overnight post. Unfortunately the model I had, which I reviewed, is now discontinued but the later model Advanced Shoulder Bag III Medium is virtually identical in size and pretty much the same in terms of features. It lacks the older bag’s small back compartment but I do like the detachable padded shoulder strap’s swivelling style fixtures as the fixed stitched type strap attachments really do cause the strap to get tediously twisted up all the time. I also much prefer the more discrete black Monfrotto branding and the two more heavily padded internal dividers. I like that the two internal pockets have a slit opening rather than a flap with velcro fixing as the velcro always looses its strength after a while. In common with one of my other Manfrotto bags it also has a fitting for attaching a small lightweight tripod eg. a Gorillapod but, as a matter of personal preference, I choose to put my Manfrotto Pixi EVO 2 tripod plus Ulanzi Claw quick release in the top compartment where it fits nicely and still leaves enough room for a few small items. As I’m not attaching a tripod I chose to use the front compartment to store a small lens brush, some lens wipes and a microfibre lens cloth for quick access. I like to give credit where’s it’s due, quality gear, quality service!. This type and size of bag is perfect for my requirements, it’s compact, lightweight, well-padded, fits nicely under an aircraft seat or on a train tray table etc., is made of rain resistant material and it comes with a rain cover for use when the weather gets really inclement..

Camera Rain Cover Modification

November 21, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I did a recent post on my camera rain cover which started me thinking. I added a suitably threaded (62mm) Cokin adapter ring to the front of the B+W clear glass filter which in turn screws onto the front of my lens hood. The Think Tank “red whip”, tightened behind the lens hood, stops the cover slipping back towards the camera body and the Cokin ring absolutely prevents any likelihood of it slipping off of the front of the smooth metal lens hood, works like a charm 🙂 🙂 . As they used to say in the A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together” 🙂 . The front filter, although not a must have, not only serves to significantly increase protection against rain, especially driving rain getting in it’s a lot easier and quicker to wipe dry when rain drops get on it compared with the front of the lens recessed as it is with the hood fitted. If for any reason I decide not to fit the filter I can still screw the Cokin ring directly onto the lens hood to serve its purpose.

Kind regards

Leigh

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain :)

November 19, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment and tagged Photography, rain | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

Probably the best fifteen pounds worth I ever spent on camera accessories, my camera rain cover. Used it again the other day when it was raining heavily and everything stayed bone dry. Very simple design, just a waterproof fabric funnel-shaped cover with an elasticated end at one end and a drawstring at the other. I added one of my Think Tank “Red Whips” to give it extra cinch at the lens end and prevent it slipping off of the hood. Because it’s pretty big, suited for a longer lens and my cameras are on the small side, there’s plenty of room to get one’s hand in and operate the controls and it’s also completely covers the camera when its hanging around one’s neck, I just pull it back a little and I can put my eye to the viewfinder. I also carry a clear protection filter which screws into the end of the lens hood which is quick and easy to clean and prevents rain getting in that way. Seen here with my M.Zuiko 25mm f/1.8 lens or what you can see of it. 🙂 The thing that I’m most interested in protecting are my prime lenses which don’t have any weather-sealing, not that I completely trust weather-sealing in heavy rain. I prefer the peace of mind of a rain cover any day.

A tip: two things I do when caught out in the rain or if I know that I’m going to be shooting in the rain is, if it is at all possible, find a dry place to fit a fully charged replacement battery and a new memory card as you can almost guarantee that one, the other, or both will run out of capacity whilst out in the rain just when one doesn’t want it to. You really don’t want to be changing either or both in the rain or have to break off shooting and find somewhere dry to do this. Unlike some rain covers I’ve used which have to be completely removed to gain access to the camera’s battery and memory card compartments, this one just rolls back and can stay on the camera throughout. Sometimes the simplest of solutions are the best and it’s so quick and easy to fit and remove and takes up next to no room in my camera bag.

Shown without the front filter fitted .

Kind regard

Leigh

K&F Concepts black mist diffusion filters.

November 17, 2024 by Leigh Kemp - UK-based "Paintographer" in Leigh Kemp, photography, Photography equipment | Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

Although mainly purchased for my landscape work I did want to try out my 1/8 and 1/4 strength K&F Concept black mist diffusion filters at the wedding. On balance I think that I prefer the 1/4 strength as the effect is that bit more pronounced. I was there as a guest and not in any official capacity, I don’t do weddings and, relatively rarely, people shots except of family. This one taken with the 1/4 strength filter. I Really like the lighting effects. Olympus OM-D E-M1 mk 1 and M.Zuiko 25mm f/1.8. One thing that I do like about their filters is the grippy knurled pattern around the edges which makes screwing them on and off than much easier. They also have a thin “nano” form factor which doesn’t cause them to vignette on my wide angle lenses. Another thing, at least in these filters, is that they don’t have any discernible colour cast. To date these are working well for me as I generally prefer a degree of warmth and softness/diffusion in my images. I’ve been doing this for years in post processing but sometimes it’s artistically interesting to see the effects whilst composing the shot. I can always take a shot with and without the filter and see which I like best later.

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.