The Photographer's Block

It’s the Bank Holiday weekend so of course the weather is going to be changeable.  I’d trade them for some blue (preferably with a few fluffy clouds), or a stormy sky any day, but sometimes the unrelenting grey does at least help by getting rid of harsh lighting and difficult shadows.  On yesterday’s dog-walk around Dulwich Village (in SE London) I took a Fuji X100 (the original – which can now be picked up for not much money secondhand – not the newer S or T versions) and decided to trust its JPEGs rather than spend an age processing on the computer afterwards. Both of the images above were made around the old college and almshouse buildings which were part of Dulwich College before it moved to its current location in the 1800s.  And keeping the educational theme, the flower shot below (the X100 is quite good at macro even though it has a fixed and relatively wide lens) is in the grounds of the Village Infants School:

I’ve also got the wide and tele convertors for the X100 and am seriously thinking of taking this as my only kit when travelling to some Baltic cities later this year – you have to work a bit harder but it’s so liberating not to be carrying heaps of stuff but still get excellent large sensor image quality.

In the meantime, I’ll be doing the opposite tomorrow.  If the weather forecast is correct, I’ll be getting the skies I asked for at the top of this post and I’m planning to go to Richmond Park first thing in the morning to see if I can find any deer.

Somehow the “Digital Mammal” doesn’t sound as interesting or retro as the “Digital Dinosaur” and perhaps, just a little bit, that pretty much sums up my initial feeling of the Olympus E-3 compared to the E-1.

The E-3 is so much more capable in almost every way and yet loses a  bit of individuality and appeal along the way.  Still, the outlay for a reasonably low mileage example in decent condition, including a grip and couple of original Olympus BLM1s (yay – can use them in the E-1!) was low – the market for Four Thirds dSLRs seems to have pretty much tanked so you can find them at a fraction of their original purchase cost.

Lots of shadow detail was rescued from this one – without a heavy price in noise

I’ve bought it in part because I’m going on a photo-tuition landscape trip to Scotland in November; the tutor would prefer us to have cameras with live view (and let’s face it, even without live view the pathetically small rear LCD of the E-1 is essentially useless for anything other than confirming overall framing) and I wanted a weather-sealed body that could allow me to continue to use my lovely Zuiko lenses (especially the 11-22) and get decent AF speeds.  So the E-3 was the obvious option which gave me everything I was looking for at a sensible price and also threw in benefits like a better viewfinder, image stabilisation and general speediness of operation compared to its antediluvian predecessor.

Nice to use the lowly 18-180 with image stabilisation at last!  This is the view of Dulwich College from Sydenham Hill Woods

The biggest immediate disappointment was the volume of the shutter!  After years of getting used to the E-1 (and Pentax K-5/7 owners will be in a similar position) it was startlingly loud at first – not a stealth-cam then (it doesn’t look like a stealth-cam either).  The control layout will take a bit of learning too – a few things like changing PASM mode and setting a custom white balance are just a bit more complicated than the E-1, but it still feels like a camera where almost no menu-diving will be required once it’s been properly set-up (thanks goodness).

The 18-180 is quite a handy lens for close-ups

All of these first images were made yesterday in Aperture priority mode with the Zuiko 18-180 – I’ve never had an image stabilised body to use it on before so that was quite a treat!  And they’re all JPEGs too – even though I normally only use raw; I’m rather impressed by the JPEGs and wonder whether I could do much better.  I turned the rear LCD in with no chimping allowed (bit like shooting with film or with the E-1 really – in the case of the latter the image on the screen is only an approximation of what you really took!) because I wanted to see what the camera would do and also test myself to see how close I would get to proper exposures without checking the screen.  I dialled in similar levels of exposure compensation to those I would expect with the E-1 and mostly got pretty much what I would have expected – so any problems there are probably going to be user error rather than anything to do with the camera 😦

Stall-holder at our local farmer’s market in Herne Hill (as is the image at the top of this post)

It’s too early to compare image quality with the E-1.  I’m not sure that the E-3 has quite the same distinctive signature but the colours are still great as one would expect from Olympus, and the noise performance is a generation ahead of the earlier camera – so all in all I think there’s going to be plenty to like here.  I need to try a few more portraits – something the E-1 excelled at – but so far I’m a very happy camper.

Decaying stuff = photographer’s paradise!

I slightly shook this one but I think the E-3 looks like it’ll be good for black and white

….and colour

I’m looking forward to using the E-3 more (I need to learn it inside out before I get to Scotland) and I’ll post some more images here I’m sure.  But I think I’ll admire and depend upon it in the way one does a well-made German car – the E-1, on the other hand, gets the heart racing like an Alfa (thank goodness it is less temperamental and better-made though!).

Cheers,

Jon

Sometimes trying out a new toy adds a bit of incentive to go out with the camera, and this weekend was rather exciting in that it marked the arrival of a “new-to-me” Zuiko 11-22 lens in absolutely unmarked mint condition.  After using it for a day I can already see why some people weld it to the front of their E-1s – hardly any distortion for a comparatively wide angle lens (and no software trickery to get that result either), excellent image quality (especially when stopped down a bit, as with most lenses) and lovely colours.  It just feels so nicely-made too.  So far it’s only been on a couple of dog walks so here are a few quick snaps from my local area – Dulwich and Herne Hill in SE London.  I’m looking forward to putting in some work to use it properly soon.

The telephone box above is outside Dulwich Picture Gallery (there is a reason why) and here is the phone inside – not so different from the one we had at home when I grew up in the ’70s (my parents didn’t like the new “trimphones”.

And here is the back of Dulwich Picture Gallery – the oldest public art gallery in the country, with a lovely collection.  The building that is sticking out is a mausoleum that the gallery architect Sir John Soane designed for the original owners of the collection.  Look closely at the roof of the mausoleum, and imagine it without the urns:

In the 1920’s the Royal Fine Art Commission launched a competition to design the British telephone box, and this was won by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who happened to be Sir John Soane’s nephew, was a trustee of his museum, and was influenced by the roof of the mausoleum at the gallery (also replicated at Sir John Soane’s tomb, which can be visited at St Pancras Church in London) – so next time you see the iconic British telephone box, you know where part of the design originated from.  The museum is opposite the rather grand victorian Dulwich Park – here’s an image from the walk through there; unfortunately the park is full of additional fencing protecting various bits of new turf at the moment – not great with a very wide angle lens!

And a couple more grabbed shots from my walk home – it was such a lovely day yesterday.  If you’re out in the middle of the day in harsh light perhaps sometimes it’s best to try and make the most of the shadows?

The E-1 really does colour:

It’s been years since I used the 18-180 but that one came out to play this weekend too – here’s what we saw in the little park at the bottom of our road – not exactly an obvious lens to use with the non image-stabilised E-1 but not too shabby:

Here’s hoping for some more spring weather – I could get used to this….

Jon

It’s a cliche but after months of England’s grey season, the flowers and blossoms beg to be noticed and it’s been fabulous to get some warm weather and blue skies over the past few days too.  These blossoms are from trees on our road in SE London, and generally only last a few days until the next load of wind and rain – forecast for tomorrow, which makes sense because it’ll be the weekend!  Another occasion when I can’t decide whether things look better in colour or monochrome: the E-1 is renowned for its colour, but you can get some great black and white images from it too, and I rather like the high key version below.  I think it has a slightly oriental look, which feels quite appropriate for a cherry blossom:

Cheers,

Jon

On my way home after a visit to my parents, and I’ve just been processing raws to JPEGs in camera, and then using the image app supplied with the D Lux to load on to my iPad – and here’s the proof…so far removed from waiting for film to be developed and returned in my youth….

I enjoyed some nice weather in the North West yesterday, and the trees are still almost skeletal up there – leaves are yet to come – which I think makes them more interesting.  I’m also enjoying the 1:1 aspect ratio – the antithesis of the modern widescreen and panoramic view.

It was nice to see some blossom – everything here is a couple of weeks behind London where I live – when I get home later I expect most of our blossom will be well past its best:

All photos D Lux 109.

Cheers,

Jon

PS – having now seen these on my screen at home I don’t think I’d make a habit of processing from raw to JPEG in camera – they’ve turned out more vibrant and contrasty than I expected, which hasn’t done the gentle scenes I saw in reality any favours.  Lesson learned…..

All thrilled to be on the way to work on the Bakerloo Line this morning!

A quick snap using my PanaLeica LX100/D Lux which goes with me most places unless I want to take an interchangeable lens camera.  My version is the D Lux which I figured was worth an extra £25 over the Panasonic. It’s as close as I’m ever going to get to owning a Leica and I think it’s only right to post some monochrome images from it.  It’s a shame I was squashed by the window on the tube – if I’d been on the other half of my seat the framing of this image would have been better (no hand pole) but it was still a fun short distraction on the way to work.

I planned a couple of hours out to go to Borough Market near London Bridge today and then found my daughter was able to join me too.  An opportunity not to be missed, but the photography took a back seat not least because she finds it embarrassing (well at least unless it’s her taking snaps with her ‘phone).  Still, I managed to sneak a few in when I think she wasn’t looking, mostly between Borough Market and Blackfriars.  Once again, I reached for the E-1 today (aka digital dinosaur) – the weather was decidedly changeable which made it an obvious choice, but it also just seems to fit with me at the moment – I think I may be feeling old as I head towards a “significant” birthday later this year……

I wish I could go with a shopping list to Borough Market…. but it would bankrupt most of us!  Going to have to stick with Sainsbury’s although I did come back with rather more cheese than I’d planned.

It’s been a while since I set foot in the Tate Modern, and once again the space and scale of the building ended up being more interesting to me than some of the art that was on display.  This huge piece by Frank Tuttle was eye-catching and astonishing because of its sheer size.  The warm colours of the Indian fabric were lovely too.  It certainly filled this end of the turbine hall.  But I’m not sure I have an awful lot more to say about it…

And actually the size of the turbine hall is almost more impressive when it’s nearly empty.  I must admit I think the E-1 with its ancient sensor did a pretty good job here – the dynamic range is quite impressive and the noise isn’t too bad as long as you stick to base ISO:

These guys are South Bank fixtures and often found around Blackfriars/Waterloo.  I rather like the fact that this really doesn’t look anything like Central London, and somehow they seemed to be enjoying themselves a little more from their new temporary busking ground.

Cheers,

Jon