My Lens Line-up for m4/3 System

Since I bought E-P3, I have been buying about one lens per month.  By now I’ve almost completed the line-up which I mentioned that I wanted in my previous post (already 3 months ago).

Standard zoom 14-42mm and 17mm F2.8 pancake were bought together with E-P3 as twin lens kit.  Then I bought 40-150mm and 45mm F1.8 in September as already posted.  Since then, I bought 12mm F2.0 in October, LEICA DG SUMMILUX 25mm F1.4 in November, then finally LEICA DG MACRO-ELMARIT 45mm F2.8 today in December!

In these lenses, what I like the most is 45mm F1.8.  Sharp picture, beautiful out-focus bokeh, fast AF, and very reasonable price.  It’s excellent, unbelievable.  From its focus length, it is so suitable to take photos of my son.

The second favorite one is 25mm F1.4.  Its small F-number really helps to take photos in the house.  45mm is too long to shoot in indoor.  25mm is the most versatile focus length in most situations.  When compared with 45mm F1.8, this 25mm may seem to be so expensive, but the price is reasonable for its high quality picture (45mm is “unreasobablly” cheap despite of the picture quality).

12mm is also good, but less excitement than 45mm and 25mm.  Its unique snapshot focus system is interesting, but 12mm is a bit too wide for snap for me.

The only weak point of 45mm F1.8 is that minimum focusing distance (50cm).  I feel sometimes I want to be more closer to the object.  That is why I wanted 45mm F2.8 Macro even I already have the same focus length lens.  I have not shoot pictures with this macro lens yet, but people says it is excellent.  I’m looking forward to take many photos with this lens very soon.

E-P3 is really nice

E-P3 is about to become my main camera instead of 7D.  Of course, 7D is excellent camera.  In terms of the quality of the photos, 7D is superior to E-P3.  E-P3 does not do the same job as 7D does for moving objects.  But I cannot bring 7D all the time.  It’s too heavy and large especially when more than two lenses are needed.

E-P3 can acompany with me in most situations.  Zoom lens is versatile to be used in various scene.  Single focus lens is powerful when faster shutter speed is required, and can generate photos in very good quality.  17mm F2.8 is said not to be good in reputation but I think it does really a good job.

The only concern I have with E-P3 is the accuracy of AF.  Sometimes it misses the focus and I notice it when I view the photo in PC at 1:1 size.  But it is not significant when viewed in realistic size or in print.

These days many so-called mirror-less cameras are introduced in the market, such as Sony NEX-5N, Pentax Q, and expected more to come.  New NEX (5N & 7) seems to be very good in photo quality but I don’t like Sony’s tone.  From AF speed standpoint, no other cameras can compete with E-P3.  User interface of E-P3 is also easier to use than others.

In a month after buying E-P3, I brought it to domestic trip and oversea travel to Singapore.  You can see some pictures from Singapore trip in my Flickr.  During the trips, I took more pictures than ever with 7D or other cameras.  It is because of E-P3′s excellent features and portability.

Now I am expanding my m4/3 system instead of Canon system.  I bought M.ZUIKO Digital ED 40-150mm F4.0-5.6 R for tele photo, and M.ZUIKO Digital 45mm F1.8 for portrait etc.  This 45mm F1.8, which has been just introduced a couple of days ago, is really really excellent lens at very reasonable price.  I am interested in some more lenses.  Olympus’s 12mm F2.0 is said to be also excellent.  75-300mm will be useful to take super-tele photo without hastle of bringing very heavy lens.  Panasonic-Leica’s 25mm F1.4 and 45mm F2.8 Macro are also very attractive.  What I am really missing now in m4/3 system is the macro lens, so my next spending will be for 45mm F2.8 Macro, but I may wait a bit as Olympus may announce the launch of macro lens, otherwise I will go ahead with Panasonic’s.

New Cameras

I was about to almost forget about this English blog :-p

During my silence here, I have bought two new cameras.

The first one is Fujifilm FinePix X100.  It is not an SLR.  A kind of compact camera, but has APS-C size sensor and single focus (23mm) lens.  The most unique feature of this camera is its hybrid view finder.  It has both OVF and EVF and can be switched quickly.  I am satisfied with its reasonably small size body, high quality image, clear OVF, and classical appearance.  User interface and slow AF response makes me a bit frustrated, though.  It’s good for shooting simple snap or scenery with ease.

The second camera I have just bought is to fill the gap between X100, 7D, and LX5.  It is newly launched Olympus PEN E-P3.  When I first touch the camera, I was surprized at its fast AF.  If I use it with 17mm pancake lens, it will work almost the same as X100 with faster AF response than X100.  If I use it with 14-42mm standard zoom, it will work almost the same as 7D + 15-85mm with much smaller/lighter system.  The sensor size is m4/3, smaller than APS-C of 7D/X100.  But the magazine article’s review says the quality of the image is excellent enough – I have not taken any photos with E-P3 yet and I need to confirm it by myself.  Thus, E-P3 has a potential to address all the concerns I have for my 7D system and X100/LX5 compact cameras.

To get E-P3, I needed to sell some of my old stuffs, which are my first DSLR EOS Kiss X2 (and its W-zoom lenses) and Tamron’s 18-270mm.  Thanks to those camera/lenses I could establish photography as my primary hobby.  From now E-P3 will make my photography life to the next stage.

Flickr

I had been using “photohito” as photo sharing service provided in Japanese.  It is really a good service and community, however, I have switched to Flickr, the most popular photo sharing service in the world.

The reason is the Lightroom 3, photo managing/developing application I am using, has a good collaboration with Flickr.  I can upload my photos to Flickr directly from LR3 without converting RAW into Jpeg.  It makes my process really simple.

I had a free account of Flickr but rarely used it.  After I decided to start using it, I upgraded to Pro account.  To purchase Pro account I needed to pay in USD, and thanks to recent strong JPY against USD, I could buy it in much cheaper price than before.

I have been putting Flickr widget in the sidebar of this blog.  Now you can see my most updated photos.

During World Cup Enthusiasm

In 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, our Japan team did much better job than expected.  I only hoped we get first-ever win in WC held outside the country, and thought the most possible opponent in the group was Cameroon.  We did it!  Furthermore, we were very close to the draw with Netherlands, and we got another win agains Denmark to advance to the Round of 16.  Game against Paraguay was very tough, as I expected, because both are very similar teams.  The reason we lost the game I think was not because Komano missed PK in PSO but nobody successfully made goal in 120 minutes.  In second half of extra time, coach Okada sent Tamada to the pitch but I doubt it was a right choice, as his performance in the group league was not good at all.  Anyway, most of the players did great job and I’m proud of them.

My enthusiasum to football made me write longer sentences than I planned.

Since last month, I’ve got new upgrade to many of my softwares.  I upgraded my WordPress (in my primary blog) to 3.0; Adobe Flash Pro to CS5 (it was a cross-platform upgrade); Flash Builder to 4; Lightroom to 3; and newly bought Photoshop CS5.  I still need to upgrade the OS of my iPhone 3GS to iOS4.  These works and World Cup (live on-air is midnight in Japan) has been reducing my sleeping hours…

iPhone & iMac

Last month, I changed my mobile phone to iPhone.  It totally changed my life style.

I had been interested in so called smart phone.  Actually I was waiting for Android being more popular in Japan.  NTT docomo announced introducing Xperia in early April, followed by Softbank Mobile’s HTC Desire in late April.  But I changed my mind to switch to iPhone.  This was because iPhone is virtually the only smart phone which allows me to use MMS/SMS.  For me, it is still essential function I want to have in my mobile phone.

The other reason to choose iPhone was availability and quality of applications.  Android market is not yet as big as iTunes app store.  There are pros and cons on Apple’s strict control of app store, but thanks to it, all apps seem to have quality above certain level.

After started using iPhone, I feel I am always connected with internet.  It is easier to access any information on internet anytime, anywhere.  Previous mobile phone did have an access to internet, but it was not as easy to use as iPhone, and was not cost-friendly at all.

Then, I also bought iMac.  I switched from Windows Vista.  I was thinking about having new PC which has enough power to handle RAW image files without any stress and is capable of watching/recording TV.  Windows PC available currently did not meet all of my criteria.  iMac has better compatibility with my iPhone, and has enough machine power by choosing Core i7 as CPU.  iMac will allow me to develop iPhone applications by myself in future.  With third-party equipment, I can watch TV, even BS.  So I decided to switch to iMac.  I have installed Parallels and Windows 7 to handle files and websites which I still need Windows-only programs (mostly for work-related matters).

Now I am very much satisfied with my iPhone and iMac.  They have made my photo life better as well.  iPhone enables me to post photos to twitter easier.  iMac has better color management and expressions, so I can view and edit my photos in real and clear colors.

EOS 7D

Canon EOS 7D is my main camera now, as I wrote on the other day.

What I like the most is its auto-focus performance.  Together with continuous shooting speed, when set to AI Servo focus, it keeps focusing on my son even he is running around, and most of the photos are in focus.  It is so amazing.

My objects of shooting are rather static (i.e. flowers, landscape, and street snaps), not dynamic (i.e. trains, airplanes, sports), except for my son.  People say 5D2 is more suitable for static objects, while 7D is more suitable for dynamic objects.  But I feel 7D can work for statics as well.  Its excellent AF/continuous shooting helps a lot when I shoot flowers blown by winds, macro photos (in which slight moving of the body loses focus), and shoot with auto-bracket exposure.

It would have been further better if there was upper limit setting for ISO-auto (like the newest 1D4 or 550D), metering mode change was easier, and the weight was a bit more lighter.

Price is getting lower after half a year from the launch.  Much lower than the price I bought it…  If the budget allows, and the weight is acceptable, I would recommend 7D even for beginners rather than 550D, especially if you want to take better photos of your kids.

My DSLR

Long interval again, though shorter than last time.  As promised, I will briefly write about my camera.

I have been using compact digital cameras for several years to record photos of travels, events, and my family.  I had been sharing one camera with my wife, but I bought my own one after getting a child to take his photo more frequently.  Then, I gradually became to think that I wanted to take better photos of my son, as well as more artistic photos.  So I decided to have single-lens reflex.

Another motivation for DSLR was to have alternative hobby replacing classical guitar.  To play classical guitar I have to maintain certain length of my right finger nails, but long nails are not good for taking care of a baby.  After my son started walking, I cannot leave my instrument so that he does not touch.  Obviously I don’t have enough time to practice because of I need to/want to spend more time with my son.  Now guitar is no more a hobby I can enjoy (I may re-start when he grows up enough, though – can I do both guitar and photo?).

Getting back to write about my camera.  The first DSLR I bought was Canon’s Kiss X2 (the trade name in Japan – it is called Rebel XSi in US or 450D in other regions).  I compared with other entry models from Nikon, Pentax, and Sony.  Canon’s was functionally better than Nikon D40 or D60, and much cheaper than D90.  Sony’s kit lens was not so good.  Pentax K-m was competing with Canon’s till the last moment, as I preferred its taste of the photo taken, but decided to buy Canon, because of view finder quality and the price – there was a large discount at the shop at that time and X2 was sold almost at the same price as K-m.

I really liked my Kiss X2 and enjoyed to take lots of photo since I bought it in Feb 2009.  I bought several lenses to fit various situations and objects.  The more I enjoyed Kiss X2, the more I desired to have a higher class camera for better photo quality at high ISO and better AF (especially to take photos of my moving-around son).  When Pentax K-7 was released, I was fascinated with it but inventory of many (already) Canon lenses stopped me to switch the camera mount.  But in October 2009, Canon 7D was released!  It seemed all of my concerns on current camera will be dissolved.  I was almost confident about it by touching the real camera at Canon’s show room.  No one could stop me this time and finally I bought 7D in November.

I am really satisfied with 7D.  The quality of the photos is very good even at high ISO rate.  The high functionality of 7D allows me to take better photos than before.  Less cases to miss the chance to shoot.  I still own X2 and it is good when I want to reduce the total weight of my luggage (especially for travel), but recently I don’t use X2 at all as I know 7D does much better job even it is much heavier.

Updates

Long time no updates.  Virtually this is just the second article on this blog, actually.  It is so reluctant (more than expected) to write multiple blogs in multiple languages.  I need to use English for my work everyday, so I may want to be a bit away from English in my private life, to tell the truth.

When I started this blog, I was thinking I could share some tips on programming here in English.  But my interest has changed since then.  My current biggest interest is photography.  I feel no words are needed to share my outcomes (= photos), so let me just paste the link to my main photo storage service (photohito).  The interface is in Japanese but I believe you can enjoy even you don’t understand Japanese.  If you want to leave me a comment, use this blog.  I’m thinking of using famous photo sharing service flickr in future but not yet decided.

In my next posts (don’t expect too soon), let me write down about my cameras and lenses.

Get Started!

I’ve just started this English blog.  This is NOT my primary blog.  The primary blog (afainu.action) is in my native tongue: Japanse.  The main purpose of this secondary blog is to re-publish some contents in the primary blog in English.  So I may not update this blog very frequently (hope I can post once in a month).

I may post an original English article besides the translation of Japanese blog.  But not sure.  You can imagine that writing in the native language is by far easier than in the second language, even I have been using English almost every day for my work.

I would like to publish as many English posts as I can.  Please wait for the next post.