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Olympus Pen, macro and horses

jonoslack

Active member
Hi There
We had some sunshine yesterday, and I had a chance to really put the Pen through it's paces (I'm tired of typing E-P1, it doesn't trip off the fingers exactly, so I shall copy Tim and call it the Pen.

I went for a walk with the dog through the fen in the morning, and a ride with Emma in the afternoon - In the morning I used the 12-60 SWD, which looks odd on the pen, but focuses reasonably quickly and accurately. It's always been one of my very favorite zoom lenses, and I haven't changed my opinion.

Link to Saturday with an Olympus Pen

Trying to shoot bugs and butterflies amongst the thistles and reeds the camera is an absolute joy - whatever the pros and cons of the low res LCD, the viewing angle is great, and most of these were shot in direct sunlight (no problems). I have the camera set on AF with MF assist, and single spot focus - letting the autofocus get there and then doing a touch with the MF works really well. It's much easier to handle than an articulating LCD, you can poke the camera between leaves or hold it up in the air or sideways to get a better angle. All these were hand held, the keeper rate was a little down because of the wind, but still pretty acceptable.

All of the pictures were handheld - for me getting the angle to get the shot is more important than the technical gain to be had using a tripod, besides which most of these would simply have been impossible (in the middle of a bush with the camera held over my head or near the ground).

Here are a couple that I liked (both taken with the Zuiko 12-60):





After many years, Emma has finally got me on a horse - we've been riding the lanes and bridleways for a few months now, and I'm just about getting confident enough to start taking some pictures. I've got a small bag which clips to the saddle - it fits an M8, or the pen with the 14-42 zoom extended; this works really well, it's easy to get at and the LCD is better than sticking the camera up to my eye. Here is a typical high summer scene in East Anglia:



The pictures were all processed from RAW using Capture One.

There are more on the yellow link above if you're interested.
 

Terry

New member
Hi Jono,
Glad you are having fun with it. I'm enjoying the Pen but do find the G1 to be very useful particularly on my Iceland trip where the evf and swivel screen have helped. Afraid to hit the yellow link since I have no wifi (for the next couple of days) and have to pay for data. But, I need my daily Internet fix!
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
Jono, there are some really nice shots there - I especially like the ones with dark backgrounds. I find that the Pen, though programmed not to clip to black too easily in JPEG, can do lovely things with exposure on that sort of subject... this one is at ISO 800 and even at 100% on screen looks really nice: I had to double check that it wasn't shot at 200.

BTW am using your Capture One hack for RAW and it's really useful. Thank You!

Best

Tim

 

jonoslack

Active member
Hi Jono,
Glad you are having fun with it. I'm enjoying the Pen but do find the G1 to be very useful particularly on my Iceland trip where the evf and swivel screen have helped. Afraid to hit the yellow link since I have no wifi (for the next couple of days) and have to pay for data. But, I need my daily Internet fix!
HI Terry
Thank you for that - don't hit that yellow link . . . it's not worth it!
I hope you're having a fab time, it certainly looks like it.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Jono, there are some really nice shots there - I especially like the ones with dark backgrounds. I find that the Pen, though programmed not to clip to black too easily in JPEG, can do lovely things with exposure on that sort of subject... this one is at ISO 800 and even at 100% on screen looks really nice: I had to double check that it wasn't shot at 200.

BTW am using your Capture One hack for RAW and it's really useful. Thank You!

Best

Tim

That's lovely Tim.
I'm a sucker for those black backgrounds, but in these shots that simply what they were (I might have cloned out a stray leaf or so, but basically that was it).

I'm right with you on the high ISO as well, it's so much better than I would have expected.
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
That's lovely Tim.
I'm a sucker for those black backgrounds, but in these shots that simply what they were (I might have cloned out a stray leaf or so, but basically that was it).

I'm right with you on the high ISO as well, it's so much better than I would have expected.
I'm sat watching telly in a dimly lit room and trying to focus a noctilux at F1 on an adaptor on the Pen without using zoom focus and, amazingly, you can do it quite well - especially if there's some moiré on the subject, which then shimmers like one of those old microprism patches. I can't wait to try it when I've had a few glasses of wine and so have my victims! With the Nocti and IS you can use ISO 400 and 800 and get really nice results.

I am in love!
 

jonoslack

Active member
I'm sat watching telly in a dimly lit room and trying to focus a noctilux at F1 on an adaptor on the Pen without using zoom focus and, amazingly, you can do it quite well - especially if there's some moiré on the subject, which then shimmers like one of those old microprism patches. I can't wait to try it when I've had a few glasses of wine and so have my victims! With the Nocti and IS you can use ISO 400 and 800 and get really nice results.

I am in love!
Now you've spoiled my evening . . . I sold my nocti last year :cry::cry::cry: I didn't even get a very good price for it :cry:

Actually, to be honest, I sold it because I thought it was endangered in the places I like to use it. I do have the occasional pang - rather like that tri-elmar :)
 
P

panzerneo

Guest
Beautiful pictures Tim and Jono!

Also, beyond their beauty, Jono's macro pictures of bees and other flying insects (taken hand-held!) put the final nail on that coffin that says the Pen can't be used as a rangefinder camera.

I've seen other pictures, in a different thread, that showed kids taken mi-air while they were running on the beach.

Again, that demonstrates the Pen can capture the decisive moment, regardless of what nay-sayers think.
 
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