Taken today:
Pedro, June 2014
Butterfly rescue mission (Frau Johr und der Schmetterling)
Playing with a tablet PC
Thanks for viewing.
One of the very few…
Man oh man, time surely flies. And it’s one week since my last blog post, and to be honest, I also didn’t take many photos during the last week. Why? See my last article – we’re all enjoying a new set of speakers I bought (and thanks again for the suggestion, bro!), and since then I was reading tests, forae, and emails about buying a new receiver or amplifier as well. And in the evenings I sometimes just sat and listened – to music, and later to TV as well.
Here’s one of the very few photos I took during the week. I had put in a Santana CD for Mitchie, and after having a shower, Zuleikha joined us and was reading the lyrics of the song which was just playing. Changed it to black & white, and also cropped it square:
Zuleikha, listening to a CD after her shower
Now we have pretty much decided on what to get, and on Saturday we’ll see if we can find the device somewhere so we can listen to it a bit.
Thanks for reading.
May. One image a day.
Well, the weather still is nothing much to write home about, except that it’s single digit Celsius while I write this. And so most of the activities are indoors. I also didn’t take too many photos since the beginning of May, but here is one from each of its first three days:
Zuleikha on her Mama’s computer, May 2014
Ducks at a koi pond
A small and old surround receiver
The first one is just one of the many portraits I take of Zuleikha growing up. She was sitting on her chair at the dining table, and using Mitchie’s notebook. E-PL5 camera with the 45mm lens almost fully open at f/2.2.
I took the second one yesterday during my lunch break, shooting “from the hip” with tapping on the upwards angled display of the camera. Same camera, lens, and even aperture as in the first one I think, except that this is ISO 200, and the first one indoors was ISO 800. Cropped this one to a 16:9 format.
The third one from today shows our small and old surround receiver, which I reactivated today. We don’t use it for surround since we’ve moved into this flat, and I’m planning to get a pair of better speakers for stereo at least. In fact I prefer stereo to surround because the latter takes away the room you live in, while the stereo mode actually makes use of it. Let’s see how that turns out, and if that smallish receiver has enough power for better speakers. The sound quality can only win.
Ok, now I’m off to listen to a recorded TV series from yesterday over the old speakers on that receiver. In case you’re wondering what I’ll watch: it’s “Luther“, with Idris Elba, whom I liked a lot in “The Wire“.
Thanks for reading.
A 135mm equivalent angle of view
Today I was in the mood for something a bit longer than usual. When I started with analog film photography, I had lenses with 28, 50, and 135mm, and I wanted to see and to get a feeling for the latter again.
On Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds cameras, you have sensors with roughly a quarter of the area of film, which means they have a so-called “crop factor” of two. So as a substitute for my 135mm film-aera lens, I had to use something around 67.5mm to get an almost similar angle of view (beside the differences in formats; (Micro) Four Thirds has a 4:3 format, while 24x36mm film was of course 3:2).
The only lens I have in that focal range is my Zuiko Digital 40-150mm zoom lens, so I decided to use that one today, first on the Olympus E-520 DSLR, and later with a cheap Viltrox autofocus adapter on my E-PL5 “Pen”-type camera. So here are some photos I took with that lens today:
Toys on Arno’s monitor. E-520 with the lens at 64mm.
Through the roof of Arno’s car. E-520 with the lens at 64mm.
Soup. E-520 with the lens at 67mm.
Corpse. E-PL5 with the lens at 70mm.
Zuleikha. E-PL5 with the lens at 67mm.
Differences? Well yes. First, the lens was made for the phase detection autofocus of the DSLR. Which means it’s lots faster on it, but not as precise as on the Pen which uses a contrast-based autofocus technique. Second, it’s sharper on the “Pen”, not only because that one has more megapixels (16 instead of 10), but also because it has a much thinner or almost non-existent anti-aliasing filter in front of its sensor. And another part of the reason for the higher sharpness is the contrast-based autofocus – I said already that it’s more precise than fast.
As part of my DSLR double zoom kit, this lens was and still is an absolute bargain, and as such an easy recommendation. If you have – or plan to get – a Micro Four Thirds camera, there’s also an M.Zuiko version of it today, and some dealers offer these as a rip-off from double zoom kits from around 150€ or so, which is still a very nice proposition.
If – like me – you have a Micro Four Thirds camera and like faster lenses or even fixed focal length lenses, you have several other options in that focal range:
– the Panasonic 35-100mm/2.8 zoom is one of them. Costly, but very very good. And Olympus is planning to release something similar, even with a tripod collar if I remember correctly
– the cheapest fixed focal “prime” lens option with autofocus would be the Sigma 60mm/2.8 “Art” lens, of which I keep reading only the best comments. Very nice portrait lens or general short tele for not too much money (around 200€ or so)
– then there is the probably most versatile one: the Olympus 60mm/2.8 Macro. Maybe three times the price of that Sigma, but if you want or need a macro lens, it’s worth every penny of it. Comparable with my Zuiko 50mm/2 macro, which says a lot.
– and last not least one of the kings or poster childs of Micro Four Thirds: the awesome Olympus M.Zuiko 75mm/1.8 – probably the best lens of the whole system so far. Costs about as much as the Panasonic (or Olympus) zoom, but if you really want to “melt” away the background of portraits with Micro Four Thirds, you don’t really have any better option. For even shallower depth of field, you would need one of the old, heavy, and super expensive Zuiko Pro Grade lenses with aperture 2, which are still available bust cost north of 2000€. Or you’d need a real 135mm/2 on a “full frame” camera. The cheapest of these would be a Canon 135mm/2 which is offered starting slightly under 1000€ (like the 75/1.8 from Olympus). See this or this photo from Elena – or more from her impressive collection – to get the idea.
Thanks for reading.
Easter Sunday and Monday
Easter was quiet & easy this year, at least for us. We had thought about visiting my dad, but he didn’t feel too well and asked us to rather come another time. So yesterday we were invited for a barbecue in the garden of some friends, where I took these two:
Easter eggs
Tic tac toe
And today we’ve followed a tip of one of our neighbours and went to Gernsheim, which is some 20km south of Gross-Gerau in the direction of Mannheim. Here are three photos from this short trip:
River Rhine at Gernsheim
Not the bridge of Avignon – we can do the same…
Ferry over the Rhine, in Gernsheim
The two photos from yesterday were taken with the Olympus 45mm/1.8 lens, the three from today with the PanaLeica 25mm/1.4 and a polarizer.
Thanks for viewing.
Reading
Caught a quick snap of Zuleikha after dinner:
Zuleikha, April 2014
Thanks for viewing.
Presents
This was for my aunt who turned 74 last Sunday:
And this is what Zuleikha got in return from her:
Thanks for viewing.
A Sunday walk, and what grandma made
Took a few photos during a walk we did today:
Fallen tree
Zuleikha’s hiking stick
And this morning I took a photo of what my grandma – the mother of my mother – made for the whole family. This morning’s photo wasn’t good enough, so I took the same one again this evening:
Egg warmer, made by my grandma
Pretty genious idea, isn’t it? And no – they’re not for sale, even if I could make these myself.
Thanks for viewing.