Tag Archives: four thirds

*The Mirrorless Diet, how to lose weight instantly! Part 2

by in Photography gear, Photography tutorials, Postprocessing techniques, The Mirrorless Diet, Travel and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

PanhandleGapDaleBLOG

PART 2: Shooting your trip

You’ve already suffered through my long winded gear explanation in the previous post about gear weight in part 1. Here are some of the images and techniques I use with the gear being utilized for each shot, laid out. The above panorama shot was a handheld series of 5 frames, shot in portrait orientation using the Canon EOS-M and 22mm f/2 lens. The third and final part in this series will focus on the actual processing of the shots and won’t really have much to do with backpacking per se, nor the weight saved, but hopefully can show that with these small cameras, image quality is not compromised.

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*The Mirrorless Diet, how to lose weight instantly! Part 1

by in Photography gear, Photography tutorials, Postprocessing techniques, The Mirrorless Diet, Travel, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

mirrorless diet

PART 1: Preparing for a trip

Have you ever had to pack for a trip, a hike, climb, vacation or another adventure where you’d be carrying everything on your back or slung over your shoulder?  Gear laid out on the floor the night before leaving for the trip after having unpacked and repacked to see if you could fit everything in less space getting rid of everything you can to save weight.  For those that saw their toothbrushes in half to shave off a few grams, or anyone that could stand to lose a little weight in the camera bag, this series of articles may be useful.  Now, the question is, can we do this, and still carry quality photographic gear with us?

This will be the first part in a three part article focused on capturing images while backpacking and wanting to keep weight down while not compromising image quality.  It is also potentially useful for any travel situation where gear weight may become cumbersome.

I’d like to thank Yukon Trading Company, Marmot, JetBoil, LEKI Trekking Poles, 43rumors.com, Expert Shield screen protectors, and B&H Photo for the continued support, and particularly for much of the stuff provided for me during this trip.  Losing weight isn’t always fast and cheap, but they’ve helped make it sexy.  Throughout these articles, I’ll be mentioning and linking to various products that I use(d) and highly suggest looking into.  Fortunately for me, we got hooked up with companies that put quality at the top of their list.  It doesn’t hurt that they also engineer some of the best, lightest and highest performing gear on the market, so, thanks guys!

Never has weight been more a factor for me than when trying to stuff all my gear into a pack with the realization that I’m going to have to carry all this stuff on my back for days on end, all while climbing, hiking and sliding around in the snow. I will start by disclosing that I am far closer to resembling a photographer than a back country, mountaineering aficionado. I’ve certainly been adventurous throughout my life, spending many nights in the elements, climbing and hiking my way to the next spot so that I may eat dried fruit, ramen and nuts for dinner, or do my best to create aches in areas I was previously unaware my body had by forgoing any type of sleeping pad or pillow. Most of the time, when I travel, or set out on any type of adventure, photography is a very large part of it, and I’ve tended to sacrifice other comforts to enable the room for my camera gear. Since adopting a mirrorless setup, I’ve not had to sacrifice at all…

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*Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm, waste of time, or amazing value?

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Lumix G Vario 100-300mm f/4-5.6

One huge benefit to a smaller sensor is the effective focal length multiplier.  Sure you can crop into an image captured at a wider angle, or on a larger sensor but as we have seen in the focal length vs sensor size post, when utilizing a smaller (relative to full frame) sensor, you can actually decrease your depth of field with the same focal length if shot from a fixed location, all while generically increasing your focal length by way of the effective multiplier in that smaller sensors crop into the larger image circle.  Aperture is aperture as far as exposure is concerned, so even by this standard, f/5.6 is relatively quick when you consider the focal length and price.  This said, is the Lumix G Vario 100-300mm f/4-5.6 (<UPDATE! click the link to see it at B&H, and if you click on “Savings Available” the price is down to $499 if you purchase one of the three things that qualify, like the $10.99 software…) worth the price of admission when you consider you get a 600mm lens able to shoot at f/5.6?  Let’s see…

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*Olympus 75mm f/1.8, all it’s cracked up to be?

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Oly 75mm f/1.8 Lens

After my recent disappointment with the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro (read here), and my ongoing ups and downs with the Olympus OMD EM5, I have been looking to be convinced by Olympus.  I hear so much about Oly’s stellar reputation, but I’d not personally felt those plaudits justified through my experiences with the few Olympus products I’ve owned (hopefully the fanboys will be kind to me here).  In comes the M. Zuiko 75mm f/1.8 lens.  A solid, sharp, 150mm EFOV lens with quite a reputation of its own has come onto the scene.  After returning the 60mm macro, I wanted to make sure that the investment in the 75mm lens would be worth it to me…

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*Against the grain on the new Olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro lens

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oly 60mm f/2.8 macro on the omd em5

I’ve been debating a dedicated macro lens for either my full frame setup or my micro 4/3 setup for a little while now.  I wanted to try out the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 dedicated macro lens as I felt the micro 4/3 system really played to its benefits with a macro setup.  It really had to work to supplant the idea of acquiring the PanaLeica 45mm f/2.8 OIS Macro lens in the micro 4/3 realm, or some more illustrious full frame macro lenses for my larger system as well.  Now, I may be the odd man out as every review seems to really like this lens, but I was not impressed.  Read on to hear about why…

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*Panaleica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH, I couldn’t help myself.

by in General ramblings, Photography gear and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 58 Comments

It’s a hard thing to admit to myself really.  Being that I’ve been in love with the Lumix 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens for so long, I never really thought about acquiring a lens for the Micro 4/3 format that provided such a similar angle of view.  Now that I have, I must make a decision, which do I keep…

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*Olympus OM-D E-M5 Firmware Update, please.

by in General ramblings, Photography gear and tagged , , , , , , | 84 Comments

As much as I do love this camera, I find myself absolutely frustrated with it in certain situations.  While the squeaky wheel is normally the most annoying, it is also the one that gets the grease.  Let us become a loud enough wheel so that Olympus may take notice and deliver some updates to make this camera all it can be.

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*How do aperture and focal length affect the DOF or exposure on different sized sensors?

by in General ramblings, Photography tutorials and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Okay, much like the “effective focal length” discussions, there seem to be many “effective aperture” discussions going around as many of these mirrorless interchangeable lens compact system cameras begin to really round out their lens offerings.  Well, I guess the micro 4/3 system has while the Samsung NX is getting there and Sony NEX system users still have a small handful of options, but not really here nor there.  The fact that so many lenses can be adapted across various formats can complicate the discussion.  Along with those who shoot with APS-C DSLR cameras, all references for focal length and depth of field seem to fall back to a full frame/35mm sized sensor as the benchmark.  There are some misconceptions as to how the aperture, or focal length affects the exposure or depth of field in these varying formats.

C’mon in, we’ll straighten this all out.

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*Lensbaby Composer Pro for MILC Cameras, a system within a system.

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April 2nd, 2012 – Lensbaby has announced it’s second MILC dedicated product which now gives the MILC (Mirror-less Interchangeable Lens Compact) systems, micro 4/3, NEX, and NX users access to every optic and add on in the Lensbaby system.  Where the Tilt Transformer  for Micro 4/3 and NEX cameras allowed for the Composer Front to be used, it was limited to the Lensbaby optics that were compatible.  Now, the Sweet 35, Fisheye, Edge 80, Macro Converters and all standard optic swap inserts are entirely compatible!  It’s like immediately gaining access to a bunch of new lenses for these young systems clamoring for more affordable and diverse options.  More after the jump…

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*G-cubed in Chi-town

by in General ramblings, Travel and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

High above it all - G3 + FD55 f/1.2

Where else in the world would one want to be than Chicago in the depth of winter I ask you?  I know it may sound somewhat sadistic, but I’ve really come to enjoy walking around the windy city when the river is frozen over, the streets are coated with a salted crust and the wind makes your face feel like someone repeatedly smacked you with a frozen fish.  I’ve also come to realize the genius of having the largest sail show in the midwest at the same time every year.  It may hurt to go outside, but when you get into the boat show, your thoughts immediately transport you to warmer times, and you feel any potential financial inhibitions start to ease with the promise of a midsummer breeze on the lake, the water lapping against your bow and the only ice you encounter is inside your cooler.  On the business side of things, orders in January mean that you can actually get everything built before sailing season starts.

 

Read on for more shots and mumblings…

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