My Review of Olympus Zuiko 14mm - 54mm f/2.8-3.5 E-ED Digital Zoom Lens for the E Digital SLR System.

Originally submitted at Adorama

Olympus Zuiko 14mm - 54mm f/2.8-3.5 E-ED Digital Zoom Lens for the E Digital SLR System.

Olympus Zuiko 14mm - 54mm f/2.8-3.5 E-ED Digital Zoom Lens for the E Digital SLR System.

great, affordable upgrade from kit lens

By brandoneu from Melbourne, australia on 5/30/2008

 

5out of 5

Pros: Easy To Clean, Sharp Focus, Lightweight, Rugged, Consistent Output, Durable, Strong Construction

Best Uses: General Use, Portraits, Upgrade, Night Photography, Sports/Action

Describe Yourself: Hobbyist/Enthusiast

with its strong construction and attractive low aperture of f2.8-3.5, this is a great 'stay-on' lens on my E510. Hurry and Get it while the adorama rebates still last!

used with 77mm Nikon polariser

Tags: Made with Product

used with 77mm Nikon polariser

Tags: Made with Product

(legalese)

My Review of Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2.0 E-ED Digital Macro Lens for the E Digital SLR System.

Originally submitted at Adorama

Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2.0 E-ED Digital Macro Lens for the E Digital SLR System.

Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2.0 E-ED Digital Macro Lens for the E Digital SLR System.

a decent prime

By brandoneu from Melbourne, australia on 5/30/2008

 

4out of 5

Pros: Lightweight, Durable, Sharp Focus, Consistent Output, Strong Construction

Cons: Expensive

Best Uses: Portraits, General Use

Describe Yourself: Hobbyist/Enthusiast

use it generally for potraits and for low light photography.

very sharp focus, and good bokeh

more expensive than canon / nikon primes which have larger apertures

Tags: Made with Product

Tags: Using Product

(legalese)

farewell for chris lee, red wok, toorak rd

14mm, iso 100, f4.5, 1/10 sec, FL-50 TTL

filigree and branches

yellow mellow

50mm prime @ f2

sulking?

50mm prime at f2

guardians of the shrine

a werribee sunset

i'm falling for you

a moment of silence

ageing gracefully

e510 50mm f2.8 , iso800, 1/200 sec

which part of the world are you from?

slits

bean sprouts are good for your health

behind bars

i wanna live in a house where lavenders grow abundantly

i wanna go to a school where the sky's always so blue

simonds catholic college, west melbourne

pointing to the heavens

St Mary's Cathedral, West Melbourne
taken with my new Zuiko 14-54 lens and 77mm nikon circular polariser

St Patrick's Cathedral, East Melbourne

E-510, 50mm, f/11, iso 100, 10sec
edited in lightroom

standing tall

my tribute to chris lee, who will be leaving for Korea this thursday
ANZAC day '08

Medals of Honor

God made the Heavens and the Earth

E510, iso 100, 14mm. f/11, 1/125 sec

the lonely scooter

Pentax K10D, 77mm prime, f/2.4, iso 100, 1/250 sec

Homeless

[i feel a little lazy to post my exif data for this one :p]

Mister Sunshine

e510, 14mm, 1/4sec, iso 400, f4.5
@ Union Lane off Bourke St

Rutledge lane

E510
14mm, 2 sec, F/8, ISO 100, spot metering, -1 ev, with tripod, edited in lightroom 1.4

ABBC ( A better bounce card)

I stumbled upon this site as I was looking for diffusers for my new external flash.

Want Flash as good or better than the Lightsphere?

As good as or better than the Stofen OmniBounce?

As good as or better than the Flip-it?

At almost NO COST to you?

Learn how to make
A Better Bounce Card

A bounce card causes you to face your flash unit up - pointing it to the ceiling, but you also put a little 3x5 index card behind the light to send some of the "caught" light forward. The Stofen Omnibounce, Flip-it and the Lightsphere do this same thing too each in their own way, but then so did the old bounce card.

Cost of the old bounce card???
It cost you a sheet of 3x5 index paper!

Cost of A Better Bounce Card???
It cost you a sheet of Inkjet Printing paper!

Compare that with the price of your favorite diffuser . . .

Why doesn't someone make something simple like a bounce card, but make it so the photographers can make it themselves and make it better than the simple old bounce card ever was?

There is something like this - it's called "A Better Bounce Card". And it is something every photographer can make themselves - without buying expensive devices - and make as many as they need!

Plus it's DIRECTIONAL, Cheap, bump someone and it won't fall off or worst yet bust off your hot shoe mount! And it's light, actually, light as a piece of paper!!

It looks like this (on my olympus e510):

okay.. its maybe not a very good picture to start off with, but here's the one from the website:

And so.. here are my experiments with A Better Bounce Card:

Khai 'advertising' my garyfong 'puffer'

the doctor with his trusty "work horse".

It will take me some time to make my flash look this great...

outdoor fill in flash

indoor bounce flash

..but until then, i'll keep practising.

Cheers

photographers are crazy people

olympus vs. canon

I found these pictures from fototeacher.com. Its a pretty neat blog in the malay language.

He's got some tips for portrait photography.

1. Ekspresi wajah dan pose yang natural.
   Ini bukan perkara mudah untuk dicapai. Perlu banyak latihan. Dalam gambar di atas, saya telah ‘membiasakan’ diri saya dengan subjek sejak beliau mula mekap. Ini untuk memastikan subjek tidak malu dan kekok dengan kita. Gambar di atas dipilih dari ratusan gambar potret yang dirakam untuk subjek ini sahaja. Untuk pose ini sahaja, di tempat yang sama, saya merakam lebih dari 30 keping gambar. Ini adalah gambar yang terbaik yang dipilih.
2. Pencahayaan yang baik
   Untuk dapatkan pencahayaan lembut dan sekata seperti gambar di atas, saya menggunakan satu unit flash yang dipantulkan ke syiling dan satu reflector yang diletakkan di hadapan subjek untuk mengurangkan lagi bayang yang ada.
3. Latarbelakang yang baik
   Saya suka gunakan latar belakang yang plain dan tidak berserabut dalam merakam gambar potret. Latar belakang yang sebegini boleh menyerlahkan lagi subjek yang dirakam. Saya menggunakan lensa telephoto dengan penggunaan aperture yang besar untuk dapatkan kesan shallow depth of field. Ini untuk menjadikan hanya subjek sahaja yang tajam dalam gambar, manakala latar belakang menjadi kabur.

Hasnuddin

spiderman

pentax k10D, f1.8, 77mm, 1/90sec, iso400

the lonely scooter

pentax k10d, 77mm, f2.4, 1/250 sec, iso 100
taken along bourke st

i'm half the man i used to be

Pentax K10D, 77mm f/1.8, 1/90, iso 400

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG Macro HSM II

I've been reviewing this lens for a while on the net. It seems to be quite value for money for its wide f2.8 aperture.

Photodo has pretty good opinions about it:

"This is possibly the most desired additional lens type for any SLR owner, reaching out from the top end of the ‘standard’ range to medium telephoto and one that is almost universally offered by all the manufacturers. At a wide-open aperture of f/2.8, this offering from Sigma is competing with the big boys!"

Some people like Ken Rockwell have other opinions, because they will stick to Nikon lenses until they go to their graves:

"If on a budget, I always prefer used Nikon or Canon lenses to anything from Tamron or Sigma. Off-brands look good on paper, but the real measure of a lens are the subtle details inside that you can't see online or at a store. I've not found discount-brand lenses to be bargains, although the better Tokina lenses seem very well made."

Sample photos from Flickr can be very tempting too, I'm just hoping that the lens performs as well as the photo is depicted.

a very cute duck

the lens is labeled macro for a good reason

it seems good for portraits. (by the way, good portrait photographers tell you to not cut off / crop peoples' chins, otherwise this picture is very good)

Note: all these photos are from Flickr and not my own

My humble conclusions: Is this the most desired additional lens type for any SLR owner? I have to borrow and try one for myself. Unfortunately, its most probably not going to happen, because I do not know anyone using this lens for olympus SLRs at the moment. Most are for Canon / Nikon.

My other choice would be a Zuiko 50-200mm SWD...


but that will be for another time...

Until then... Peace!