Somebody say Pen?

The original Olympus Pen camera, revolutionary, sharp, simple, ingenious. By using the half frame format (rather than 35mm film), Olympus was able to reduce the size of cameras while still maintaining great image quality. These Pen series cameras sold over 17 million units before eventually giving way to the Olympus Pen F cameras which were capable of interchangeable lenses.

In mid 2009, amidst masses of leaked information and rumours, the camera gods stepped beyond the golden arches and sent the son of the Pen down to earth.

I present ... The Olympus Pen E-P1, a new breed of compact digital cameas that utilises the "micro four-thirds" system (used also by the Panasonic Lumix G1/GH1). Camera enthusiasts will appreciate the retro look despite almost 30years since the last Pen camera was made.

Key Features/Specs

- 12.3 mp Live MOS sensor

- TruePic V Image processor

- Micro four-thirds mount

- Sensor shift stabilization

- HD (720p) movies with stereo sound

- HDMI output

- SD card! (thank god, those flimsy XD cards were the downfall of Olympus)

- Interchangeable lenses

- Hot shoe

- Built in pop art filters (much like the Olympus E-30, E-620 DSLR)

- 3in Hypercrystal LCD

- In camera RAW processing

In other words, this is an SLR without the mirrors in the camera body, allowing it to be much smaller while still retaining SLR quality to an extent. Regardless of how the camera performs, it will almost certainly outperform most compacts released to date. If not for the Panasonic G1 and GH1, this new generation Pen would be in a class of its own (it could still be).

If you are as intrigued as I am about this camera, you can read more at the Olympus website here. No doubt this camera will be a hit and you can order this camera at most camera houses.

Why is it so good?

- It's small

- It's EASY to use

- Timeless design with good build quality

- Interchangeable lenses

- It was made to be perfect for EVERYBODY (in EVERYDAY situations)

- SD and SDHC cards :)

This camera actually makes me want the original Pen camera to have in my camera cabinet. if anyone is selling, let me know :)

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A different light

How often do we see works of art, buildings, even fashion where its merely an appropriation of a previous successful model. When you look closely, there is often only one major change, along with several subtle alterations that give the impression of something fresh and unique.

The first example will show how correct cropping, levels adjustment and presentation will give the impression of a photo that's better than it actually is.

Shot taken with my ancient EOS 400D (Rebel XTi), Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. It is also a 3 shot HDR, merged together with Photomatix Pro, then cropped and bordered in Photoshop CS3.

The second example shows how careful colours adjustment, levels, and masking can produce a very eye catching thumbnail. I said thumbnail because in sites such as flickr, the thumbnail in albums and group pools are tiny, so it needs to make people curious enough to click on it.

This photo was taken with the same gear as above. It's a 4 photo panorama, stitched together in Photoshop CS3, then minor colour, contrast, sharpening combined with a bit of masking. It almost gives the effect of an IR photo, which not many people do. I'd love to experiment with IR, but I'm just not game enough to mess with my 400D sensor (even though it's my 2nd body).

If anyone knows how to convert their sensors to IR, let me know and I might consider having a go at it haha.

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NRL Round 12 - Parramatta Eels (13) vs Cronulla Sharks (10)

I was sitting at home last nite, thinking about what photo I'd put up here today. Saturday, no work, no real plans ... normally means no photo. So I bought tickets to the footy for me and my mate.

For those of you who don't follow the NRL ... Parra is one of those frustrating, inconsistent teams with a lot of promise and a reasonable amount of talent. The Sharks are coming last on the ladder, have no clear future, a lot of negative publicity and well ... we don't even know if there's going to be a sharks team next year.

Long story short, horrible game, depressing weather, freezing cold, and only about 7500 people in attendance. I still wonder why I bothered to go ... wait that's right, Parra was supposed win this game no worries ...

So before I forget that this is a photo blog, and start analysing the game ... I'm just glad I atleast got some good shots :) You can read the match recap here

Location: Parramatta Stadium

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: EF 70-200 f2.8 IS USM

Shot Settings: 1/320, f/2.8, ISO 1600, no flash

There isn't a whole lot to say about this photo, but the original photo is ridiculously hazy (due to the heavy rain). So I saved what I could ... and we have the result. I still cringe over the game every time I see this photo haha

This next photo is a little more uplifting, only because it features a Parramatta player whooo

Shot Settings are exactly the same as above, since I used manual for these situations.

And finally, we have a shot of the Parramatta captain, Nathan Cayless ... one of the tireless workhorses in the game today.

Only thing I can say, love the face.

Yea I know the last couple of posts have been a bit dry, especially compared to the american indian post i did a couple of days ago. But hey, atleast the photos turned out alright.

By the way, for anyone who doesn't know this, you can enlarge the photos just by clicking on them.

Anyways, I shall head back to completing my phys chem reports.

Until next time, cheers

As always check out my flickr, there's always new photos on there.

Or if you don't like flickr, hit up the links on the side for facebook and twitter :)

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your average friday at uni

Couple of photos today, couple of interesting things happened ... but at the end of the day it was still your average uni friday. Chose to bring a different lens today, and these photos might show the versatility of this lens ... haven't regretted buying it yet :)

So we start off here ...

Location: UTS Design & Architecture Building

Gear: Canon 50D & EF 24-105 F4L IS USM

Settings: 24mm, f4, 1/250, ISO 1600

So this was physical chemistry 1 tutorial, more or less to do with thermodynamics .. but we got into so much depth that it became quite abstract and we might as well have been discussing the meaning of life. If the equations on the board don't phase you, you're a better person than i am haha.

And from the discussion of why stuff happens the way it does, we journey to another world ... a world of 12ft unicycles

Location: Darling Harbour

Same gear as the last photo

Settings: 24mm, f4, 1/800, ISO 250

It was a lot higher than the photo let on, and we were impressed enough to actually cough up some change for the guy.

We've gone from the meaning of life to a dreamworld where men in unicycles con little children of their money. Now I present the final destination of the very long day ... a meet up between UTS Exposure and USYD Photosoc

Location: Hermann's Bar @ USYD ... props to them for a nice bar

Same gear as the photo before and the photo before that

Settings: 24mm, f10, 0.3sec, ISO 1600, flash fired

Before you judge, there's actually a reason behind the madness of the settings used in this photo. ISO 1600 was used so the photo didn't look like it was taken in a cave.

Shutter Speed of 0.3sec was used to keep the colours in the background in the photo. If 1/60 was used, the background would actually be white ... as the flash would overcome the lights lighting up the wall.

And the abnormal f/10 aperture was used to control exposure ... straight forward aye?

The meet up was definitely a success, and at the very least everyone enjoyed themselves in their own weird way. The camera definitely got put to the test today, starting off with an indoor photo, then to bright sunlight in the middles of the day, to a very dimly lit bar. My conclusion ... pretty versatile. A lot of other things to consider, but I won't get into that today haha

The lens, being L-series, I never worried about. 24mm was wide enough for everything I needed today, and didn't hunt much (if any), even in the bar :)

Oh and I just realised, you can click on all the photos to see them bigger, you should really check out the whiteboard :P

Again, check out my photos on flickr www.flickr.com/chrisw230889

or if you don't like flickr then most photos are on facebook too

Cheers

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