The Personal Pick - Part Three - Which To Choose...

Which to choose...Oh to be in such an enviable position...

This pleasant reverie is brought to you by the Olympus shelves down at Murray Street - for a good reason - right now the shop can offer you the choice of a cutting edge new camera in the Micro 4/3 format or a range of refurbished Olympus mirror-less equipment at remarkably low prices.

This is not an apples vs oranges question - a keen enthusiast will find that this brand and this format is one of the very best choices for close-range and macro photography. Also for touring and for family shots. Sound like you could use something like that...?

First alternative. The Olympus Pen F. In the view you'll see it has a silver-coloured 12mm lens attached. I should say the photographer intends this to be used for architecture or a landscape. Perhaps a big wedding party in a large building. If the lighting is a little lower the result will still be superb - that is an f:2 lens.

It will also be a sharp shot - Olympus have designed their new cameras with more image stabilisation modes than most of the other makers. As a result you get a chance to work under dimmer light and at longer shutter speeds than ever before. In the course of some experiments with the newest of the OM-D cameras I saw for myself results down at 1/2 and 1 full second that defied belief - but I had taken them myself.

The experimenter is also well catered-for with this camera. It has a full suite of custom programs and art effects that can be called into play with adjustment dials. Some of the art this produces may be a little inadvertent, but that doesn't lessen the charm - it just presents it at surprising intervals. I should proceed cautiously at first with a finger ready on the reset button lest you get so far out in the swamp that you cannot get back...

So...what is the second alternative. Well, it is actually alternatives. There's are more than one temptation in the cabinet next door to the Olympus Pen F. Camera Electronic have secured a solid supply of refurbished Olympus mirror-less camera and lenses for sale at much-reduced prices.

Refurb is not a term to be sneezed at, nor is it a risk. These cameras and lenses carry warranties and you are protected against failure.

You'll see only a small portion of the choices in the picture, though you'll see that three main bodies are featured; the Olympus OM-D  E-M1, E-M5 Mark II, E-M10 and E-M10 Mark II. I note that there are some 12-50mm and 12-40mm f:2.8 PRO lenses on offer. Different horses for different courses, but look at the sign work behind the cameras for the price reductions!

My own choice in these would likely be the OM-D E-M1 with the 12-50mm lens...because I have seen how phenomenally well it copes with macro and close-up subjects. I used the combo for shots of my model petrol station and I don't think they could be bettered with anything at twice this price.

One Of The Dishes On The Buffet - Tokina

When we get a big-name camera we sometimes get a big name complex...and we cannot see beyond that name.

Members of camera clubs throughout the state are familiar with this as discussions of Nikon versus Canon versus Sony versus Flapoflex start up during the coffee breaks. The opinions expressed range from youthful enthusiasm to senile folly but fortunately there are few fist fights over the subject. Fair amount of snarling, but...

It can be the same with the lenses for the cameras. The big-name enthusiasts argue with each other and in the process sometimes fail to remember that there are other players in the game - and some of them are stars. Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina come to mind...and we're going to consider the latter brand.

I can make a personal judgment of this brand of lenses - I own one. It was purchased when I ran Nikon cameras and I was so taken with what it does that I retained it when I switched systems. It is the constant workhorse of the Little Studio and for good reason; it has a focal length and focus range that is unavailable in other brands , and it is very well made. For interest - you are looking at the illustrations on this column through it - the Tokina 35mm f:2.8 Macro.

But back to the lens in the heading image. Tokina AT-X 70-200mm f:4 PRO FX VCM-S. That's the usual advertising alphabet soup to tell you that it has a big enough image circle to work on all Nikon cameras, an image stabilising mechanism inside, and no aperture ring. You'll see that readily from the upright image, but what will not be evident until you handle the lens will be the weight of it and the solidity of the barrel. The secret lies in the fact that Tokina use metal barrels for their lenses.

The operation of the focus and zoom ring are as smooth as you could ever want. The focusing is internal so there is no pumping of the front element.

In every respect this is a first-class medium zoom lens that deserves your consideration along with the others in the class. The price is likely to be very attractive. I know the 35mm Macro was certainly so.

One other note: Made in Japan.

The Wind's Under Your Wings With Olympus

A sunny morning, Jandakot Aerodrome, and the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mk II camera. And the 300mm f:4 IS PRO lens buckled on...it's my own local air show for free.

All I have to do is brave the traffic on Karel Avenue ( and I get the easy part of it - the poor people who have to join the roundabouts from the side can be waiting for ages... ) and the grassy space in front of the Aviator's Cafe is open to all.

Light planes are an amazing variety of shapes, but unfortunately they can have a sameness about their colour schemes - white is used for most of them with a little trim. You can see them against the sky to some extent, but I find myself wanting a different hue. Fortunately this last Saturday saw several aerobatic aircraft working the runways.

The Olympus camera features stabilisation in a variety of planes ( not a pun ) to a degree that other manufacturers do not match. You can roll, tilt, yaw, and displace the camera and lens to a remarkable degree while the IS systems  - in the camera and in the lenses  - iron it out. The Olympus Pro lenses talk electronically to the computer in the camera to figure out which system does which correction.

Experiment one was to set the camera to give a continuous autofocus and to shoot with it doing a low rate of shots. I took a couple of passes at the taxi strip but found that it was just wasting frames with no real movement between the aircraft. So I took it off the continuous and selected single AF shooting.

This proved just as good, as the Olympus responds extremely quickly to the first pressure on the shutter button. When you hit it, the IS starts up instantly and the bounce or jitter of the viewfinder smooths out like a calm sea. It is much easier to find and follow the subject with the IS on. There was no perceptible lag as I pressed the button for the final exposure - I was able to freeze the selected airplane as it passed through the belts of colour in the backdrop.

Shutter speed was left at 1/1000 or 1/2000 for most in-air shots. The stopping power is awesome, though viewers will note the heat shimmer on the tarmac spoiling some shots - it was the same on the car race day out at Barbagallo Raceway. For the close liftoffs or passes the detail in the shot is phenomenal.

Two tricks with this lens: Select the 4 metre to infinity limiter on the side of the lens barrel - saves the lens hunting and losing time. Any aircraft closer than 4 metres will be engaging your attention in ways other than focus. Also unlock and rotate the tripod foot up over the top of the lens as you hand-hold it. It is a weighty combination - you do not want that metal bracket digging into your palm for hours as you stand waiting for the takeoff.

Press The Button, Max!

 

I used to be a dentist and a rifle shooter. You needed a steady hand for both sports, particularly if you wished to do them on the same subject at the same time. You could go for the trifecta and attempt to thread a needle as well, but few people went in for that sort of thing...

On the photo side of things, we have long been enjoined to use some form of steadier to fire off our cameras. If we are trying to get the ultimate sharpness that the sensor is capable of, we need to shoot without moving the camera.

We use tripods, and in the Little Studio, I use a studio stand, to hold the apparatus firm. I turn off the VR or OS or VC mechanism. And up until now I have been connecting a mechanical cable release or electric switch to the Fujifilm cameras and shooting that way after I presumed that all vibrations had died away.

Today I conducted an experiment with one of the quieter Fujifilm cameras - the X-100 - to see just how much improvement is to be had. I used a bare finger on the release button, a soft release pad on the shutter button, and a mechanical cable release. The conclusion is that the cable release is no better than the soft release.

If you have a solid tripod or stand, the action of a finger shot is no worse than the complexity of the cable release. There is always the option of engaging the self-timer in the menu at 2 or 10 seconds and letting vibration damp down in that interval. I do like the soft releases in hand-held shooting, and also find them to be valuable in the studio.

Where an electric switch release is a blessing is when you need to be over near a studio flash holding a flag or a gel to modify the light at the time you release the shutter. You can shoot the electric switch with one hand...or stomp on it on the floor...while the other hand(s) are engaged. Just don't expect to be able to do the exact same thing two times in a row.

Note, your camera needs to have a threaded release button, like a Leica or a Fujifilm to be able to take the spigot of the soft release. Flat finger pads can have something glued on the top to spread the load but this is do-it-yourselfery.

PS: I still shoot the occasional tooth out of someone's head but this is only to amuse the children at Christmas lunch.

Note the UD photo-tip - the plug for the electric release is a tight fit in the camera and it's hard to grasp it for removal. The tape wrapped around the end means it pulls out easily and safely.

Uncle Dick

Kit Without Being Kitsch - the Fujifilm 18-55 lens

Sometimes you look out over the vast heaving sea of camera lenses and all you can see to the horizon is...kit lenses. Whether they are attached to Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, or Fujifilm digital cameras*, they are there in serried ranks - ready to head out to take the initial shots.

People sometimes think of them as stop-gap measures...lenses that you use until you can purchase something bigger and longer and faster and more expensive...training-wheel lenses, if you will. Well, as a camera shop we would never discourage you from buying more lenses, but we can let you into a litle secret at the outset...kit lenses are very good.

It's percentages really - you can say that, for an average shooter, the camera set at factory defaults and on an automatic setting will deliver the picture they want about 85% of the time. It's the same for the kit lens - Average Joe or Average Jane will get what they need 85% of the time with the kit lens - particualrly if it is an 18-55mm focal range for an APS-C camera.

Of course as they advance in knowledge and skill, they become Excellent Joe and Excellent Jane and find they need wider, faster, longer, closer, etc in their lenses. And they can expect to pay more money and we can expect to take it. Isn't nature wonderful? But there is still a solid foundation of goodness in that kit lens.

The 18-55mm f:2.8-4 R LM OIS lens from Fujifilm can be clapped onto a new X-T2, X-Pro2, X-E2s, X-T10...or any of their older cousins...and for the most part stay clapped on there. It would be a very hard choice to beat for family pictures, casual portraits, landscape trips, holidays, car shots, pet shots, and product shots.

I could do a great wedding with one - I use flash for weddings - and the people who use the higher ISO settings on the newer cameras could do pretty much as well. The facility of not having to change lenses between shots would be priceless. For the techno-geeks out there who point out the inherently higher distortion percentages of any zoom lens vs any prime lens my answer would be: " When was the last time you saw a bride who was made up of right angles? ".

The OIS is the key to most of what this baby can do on the run. Lots of camera systems now have some form of stability aid - some are in the lenses and some in the bodies. This one goes with the Fujifilm idea of having it in the lens - whatever type, the effect is to allow you to use two shutter speeds slower than you could normally hold without paying a picture penalty. It won't take the place of a tripods for some work but it'll get you closer to that decision line than before.

As a trip lens it would be perfect if you were going to do urban and semi-rural pictures. I'd not hesitate to use it as the ONLY lens for a European or North American tour if I was not out in the bear-and-mountain-goat belt. Everything else would be well within the reward zone. Note: for wildlife you need longer lenses and for little life you need the Fujifilm 60mm macro lens. But you knew that already.

The one clincher for a kit lens is the price - they are often significantly less expensive than the exotic lenses in any manufacturer's range. Combine that with their utility and you've got a combo that you can't really beat! They're easy to pickup...( groan...)

*No, Virginia, you can't attach the same lens to all the cameras. At least not without a hammer and bad language...

Waiter, Bring Me A Pentax K-1...

And a side order of D-FA lenses too, please...

The New Pentax K1 was here for us to see at last night's Pentax Launch at the shop. As you can see from the pictures, interest in it was widespread.

Well, that has always been the case - as far back as the days of the dear old Asahi Pentax SV and Sla, Pentax fans have been loyal and since the cameras were always good value for money, there have been a lot of fans. When the Spotmatic hit the market like a bombshell in the 60's people discovered that there could be style and grace in a camera design as well as technical ability. Such would appear to be the case right now.

The K1 is the first of the Pentax full-frame DSLR cameras - that's 24mm x 36mm on the sensor - and they have aimed it carefully at people who want to work to the maximum sharpness with their photography. Here's how:

a. The sensor itself is larger than hitherto. Twice the area.

b. The sensor has no anti-alias filter to smudge the resolution. For those who worry about the appearance of moiré patterns in this case, Pentax have incorporated a small pixel-shake mechanism as an optional setting that can eliminate this.

c. For the people who are prepared to use the Pentax K-1 on a tripod and trigger it with a cable release or the self timer, there is the facility to take 4 pictures of the same scene while the sensor shifts ever so slightly. These four pictures are then combined in-camera to yield far higher resolution - up to 36.4 effective megapixels.

d. For the people who are taking pictures where they cannot use a tripod, there is a 5-axis anti-shake mechanism to damp down the effect of movement. Up to 5 shutter speed levels can be improved. Even the difficult movement of roll can be compensated for.

e. The smudginess that comes from diffraction on lenses when they are stopped down past about f:10 is a problem for tabletop and landscape shooters - Pentax has incorporated diffraction correction algorithms for a number of their lenses. Sharp edges, finer detail.

f. Ditto for the image distortions that are inevitable with some designs of lens - again some Pentax lenses can have this ironed out automatically in the camera's electronics. Result? Straight lines where straight lines are needed.

Now it may be some time before this columnist can get his mitts on one of the cameras and a suitable Pentax D-FA lens to do some field or studio testing, but he will do so AS SOON AS HE IS PERMITTED* and will publish the results. If sharpness is your game, keep reading.

* In the meantime talk to Bob Lichfield who has the ear of the Pentax people. He has it in a small box in his desk.

The Last Big Thing Is The New Good Idea

If you are allergic to cynicism, switch off now. The next couple of paragraphs are going to make you itch. If you can stand it, read on.

Any sales network makes money for itself by selling you things - which you know perfectly well. In many trades this can be a seasonal or annual effort - look at what the clothing fashion people do to you four times a year - and think what the automobile makers try to do with yearly model changes and annual sales. If you've lots of money and the psychological need for novelty then all is well - you suit the trades and they suit you.

On the other hand, if you want to, or have to, be careful with your money you are not quite the market that the manufacturers seek...first off. The wise factories will realise that you are in the majority, and produce goods that match your buying power - the unwise will produce top-price items but then wonder why the boxes need so much dusting on the warehouse and shop shelves.

In any run of cameras there will be three types of goods; The Next Big Thing, The Current Big Thing, and The Last Big Thing. The technical abbreviations for this are NBT, CBT, and LBT. { NBN is different and no-one yet quite knows what it stands for... )

Any rate, the NBT is always coming. You can count on there being a NBT with more certainty than you can count on sunrise. That's where the big-money will be looking, ( oddly enough it is also where the no-money looks...) and no specification will be overlooked, as long as the number is better than the CBT. As no money is needed to speculate or pontificate, everyone can spend up hypothetically and be an expert.

The CBT is actually here. It works, at least well enough to get in the shop door, and with a bit of luck well enough to get out the shop door as well. Some people will purchase it to use, some to brag, and some to merely possess it. No matter - it is the current state of the art at the current going price.

The really interesting area is the LBT. It might be superseded by only months, but the mind of the public in many cases has set up a prejudice against it that blinds them to the true worth. The camera, lens, or other accessory may produce brilliant results but as they are older results...

This is a shame. People neglect perfectly good equipment on the basis of fashion or novelty - and they forget that they are getting equipment to make images with. Which brings us up to the camera and lens in question - the Olympus OM-D E-M5. Micro 4/3 mirror-less system camera with a Zuiko 12-50mm f:3.5-6.3 macro lens. I suggest that this would be a very desirable acquisition for the sensible photographer - in particular because Camera Electronic have quite a number of them and the prices have been reduced to an attractive level.

Why? There is an Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII currently sold that is quite wonderful. At a higher price...

This camera and lens are perfect for close-up workers who wish to carry lighter loads - no bellows, no extension rings, no giant bodies. Results that enlarge to A3+ superbly. Convenient touch-screen controls as well as full manual dial wheels. The ability to shoot full HD 1080 video with an electronic-zoom lens for steadiness. A myriad of interesting image-modifier programs built into the camera for different scenes. And a fantastic image stabilising system. In short - fun to use and excellent results.

And for the people who have other Olympus lenses or other micro 4/3 bodies...an instantly-useful spare body.

Here are some results taken around the newly-opened British-American gas station in Wet Dog, Alberta. Note the precise focusing and the increased depth of field. Micro 4/3 may be one of the best compromise formats for macro work that there is. Note that these are hand held.

As usual - we say come in and see, or ring up our sales staff to discuss these cameras. The bodies are also available with other Olympus Zuiko lenses and kit combinations.