Zuiko and the E-30

Two days back, I picked my E-30 from the Olympus Service Centre. Again, I was not charged for the service. Thanks, Olympus Malaysia. The problem with my E-30 was the jumping shooting mode, particularly the A, P and Art Filter mode. The technician claimed that the mode dial contacts are dirty. After a whiff of cleaning, true to his word, the mode dial is working normally.



With all the hype of the E-5 running around the forums, I still find myself at awe with the E-30. Clearly designed for the advanced amateur, this little wonder surely deliver the great images. It is in most technical aspects far more superior than the E-3, in which I already sold to a charming gentleman.

After more than 21 months with it, I admittedly still not able to use it to its most capable potential. I remember when Olympus Malaysia explicitly wanted to tout its blazing fast continuous AF with 5fps, and its groundbreaking Art Filters. This was when the rest of the world already shooting with 7-8 fps and hi-def video. Call Olympus nuts, but the E-30 stood by itself. By a far margin it's not the best seller, but I bet it is still the finest designed 4/3 camera.

Why?

Because it does not have the aura of complication like the E-3/5, or the bias of rank-beginner like the E-620. This little gem is so refined that many of the things it can do are directly adopted to the E-5, without further development. To hear that Olympus is going to cease its succession really break my heart. Come on, this great camera, the finest in Olympus stable deserves a successor. Call it the E-35, and be done with it.

This jewel is not big nor small, is not heavy nor light; all powerful, it is just right!!!

And that's all it takes to make a great camera.

Zuiko and Beef Rendang

.

Today is Eid Adha, the celebration of sacrifice and performing hajj in Mecca. In this land of gastronomic paradise, feasting is very essential to complete the celebration. Traditionally, the rendang dish is synonym to the Eid festivities, be it Adha (sacrifice) or Fitri (rebirth).

For this year, I have decided to make beef rendang - after learning that my in-law is making chicken rendang. A quick rush after work Tuesday to get the essential ingredients ready, I worked on the cooking later in the evening.

For starters, rendang is one of the signature dish in the Malay cuisine. It's the festivities food. A must for big occasions. It is a very rich dish comprising mainly on the meat, coconuts (lots of them), seed spice, root spice and leaf spice. The preparation time is tedious as the amount of ingredients range from fresh to pre-processed sources. For the authentic rendang lover, all of the pre-processed ingredients are made fresh prior to cooking (which significantly extends the tediousness of preparing this magnificent dish).

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED50mm F2.0

Beef Rendang with Rice Ketupat

I decided that 800g of meat, cut into bite-sized cutlets should be enough for the feasting of 6-8 adults. The coconut was freshly grated at the nearby shop, and I pressed about 600ml of it with a cup of warm water. After a few straining to separate the spent coconut flesh, the thick coconut milk (santan pekat) was ready.

Next came the root spice preparation. I used about 20 shallots to 5 garlic pieces, 6 inches of ginger (halia) with 5 inches of galangal (lengkuas) and 6 stalks of lemon grass (serai). All of these aromatics were pureed with a dash of warm water to make a paste.

Then, the seed spice was prepared. About a tablespoon of coriander seed (ketumbar), 50g dry chili (to boil) and a tablespoon of curry mix. All these were pureed with warm water to make a paste.

Finally, the leaf spice. I used 4 large size tumeric leaves (daun kunyit) and 10 kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut). These were finely sliced into strips of roughly 2mm. The leaves were supposed to "dissolve" in the rendang.

Heat a half cup of oil in the wok, and sautee the root and seed spice. I continued stirring until the aroma started to permeate, and then I watched the heat so that the concoction wouldn't burn. I added 4 table spoons of brown sugar to sweeten the mix and let it caramelize. Then, I put in the coconut milk and beef, lowered the heat, and closed the wok. I let it simmer slowly for about an hour until the beef absorbed all the spicy goodness through the coconut milk.

Then, I put in a tablespoon of tamarind paste to counterbalance the sweetness. Finally, I added in the leaf spice and coconut paste (kerisik). Now, what makes a rendang a "true rendang" is the quality of the kerisik. What is so special about it? Well, it adds the extra dimension to the richness of the rendang. The kerisik is the soul of the rendang. It adds texture, taste and color to the rendang.

What is kerisik? Simply put, is toasted grated coconut pounded into paste. The finer the grate, the finer the texture and more even the toasting. The taste is richer, too. Once toasted, the coconut is pounded with a pestle and mortar until the texture is very fine and the oil starts to appear. The darker the toast, the more tart the kerisik will be. I am from the southern part of Malaysia, where prefer the kerisik to be a bit lighter. The northern part tends to have a more strong tasting kerisik; thus, darker rendang. To make kerisik from scratch takes about an hour from one coconut fruit.

Once I put the kerisik, the rendang was nearly ready. All it needed was the salt seasoning, and the final frying to make the gravy drier (the drier the rendang, the longer it will last without refrigeration). Then, I pair it with another traditional food; the ketupat (rice cake encased in coconut leaves). Personally, I prefer to have the ketupat with glutinous rice, which is much richer in taste as it is cooked and sauteed in coconut milk.

What can I say? This combination is full of good helpings of trans-fat and cholesterol. So, just watch the waist and blood pressure, and all should be fine. Just don't over-indulge, which is very difficult with such a succulent tasting dish!!!

Bon-a-petite....

Zuiko and Char Kuay Teow

.

Malaysia, the melting pot of cuisine.

For hundreds of years the region has seen many fusion of cooking from the many traders that landed port in Malacca, Penang and Singapore. The root and leafy fragrant spices of the Malays archipelago, the elegance of Chinese cuisine and the wholesome seed spices of India fuse together to bring out the best in taste and aroma!

The typical Malaysian food that range from Nasi Lemak, Char Kuay Teow, various types of Laksa, Satay and many more fusion foods have made this country a haven for gastronomic aficianados. For me, I am not that really affectionate about the best food , but I appreciate the comfort of having great delicious food when it matters. Be it alone or with friends & family, food is the common bond between the many races in this country.

50mm, f/8, 1/100s, ISO1250

One of my all-time favorite foods to cook is the Char Kuay Teow. I have learnt to cook this comforting delicacy from my mother, later refined by observing the many hawkers' techniques to get the best recipe to suit my taste.

50mm, f/8, 1/8s, ISO2000

I usually cook it on Sunday mornings, just after getting the freshest of ingredients from the weekly Pasar Tani (Farmer's Market in literal translation). The basic ingredients are three servings of kuay teow (I like to get the finer noodles about 1cm thick), one medium onions, four pieces of garlic, six pieces of dried chili, a dozen prawns, two eggs, a couple of fish cake sticks, a handful of chives and two dollops of kicap pekat (thick soy sauce). Traditionally, the cockle is used instead of fish cakes. Somehow, I don't have the liking of cockles; thus, the change in recipe.

*Interestingly, the word Ketchup has its roots from the kicap.

Clean and de-vein the prawns and save the shells to make the stock. Blend the onions, garlic and chili; however, the dried chili needs to be boiled first. Sauté the paste in the wok with high heat until the aromatics of the blend permeates, and crack in the eggs. Stir roughly until the eggs harden, and pour in the prawn stock. Let it simmer then put in the kicap and the kuay teow along with the slivers of fish cakes and chops of chives. The secret in cooking this delicacy is by maintaining the high heat throughout and keeping the wok clean always. The molasses property of the kicap will cover the base of the wok, and having a sturdy metal spatula is very important to scrape it clean. Keep stirring and folding the kuay teow until there's some charred burning on the prawn, fish cake and the kuay teow. Finally, put two pinchfuls of salt for seasoning.

50mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO2000

Whilst my adult Malay taste bud craves for a much spicier recipe, I have kids in mind. They wouldn't be ready to savor the typical Malay hot & spicy liking until they are much older. For now, I just put less chili and more kicap. My daughter definitely loves to eat this dish, sometimes she often reminds me to cook it. It's just a simple hawker's dish, which is definitely comforting.

Another tip, eat it immediately as it tastes the best piping hot!!

Zuiko and Taking it Easy

.

Beautiful photography is within painless reach with the E-30!!!

Sometimes pictures turn out better when I take things easy. This was the case just this late afternoon when I took the time to photograph my youngest kid. Instead of thinking too technical about it, such as depth-of-field and noise, I took the liberty to set my E-30 to P-mode. Yes, P-mode with the ISO stuck at 800. I could have chosen 100 or 200 for better image quality, but somehow I want it to stay at 800.

To make things much simpler, I used the only prime lens I own; the Zuiko Digital ED50mm F2.0 Macro. This lens is known for its slow focus notoriety; mainly due to the lack of a focus limiter. What this means is that if I miss focus, the lens will scan through its range from 24cm to infinity. This will take ages in Auto Focus world, and most of the time will be such a pain shooting fast moving objects. Somehow, I did not bother about this fact. Though my kid was moving fast around the porch, I paced myself to track his movements wisely so that the lens won't feel useless, and won't take away the fun of shooting him.

What do you see, daddy?

The day was quite cloudy, with the shadows muted as if it's not there. He was running about the terracotta tiled porch playing at the gate and on the rattan chairs. My goal was to catch him at his many varied facial expressions and movements. With this lens, I was able to be around 5 to 10 feet away. Both of us were comfortable.

As for composition technique, I automatically set the subject off center; somehow the rule-of-thirds was ingrained in stone every time I scan a subject in the frame. Next came leading lines, both visible and imaginary. Then it was the contrasting lights between the subject and background. Lastly came the negative and positive space relationship, that somehow loosely based on the Golden Mean.

What popped?

These were the things that came to me automatically, after years of learning and practice. Yes, it sounds laborious, but somehow it worked for me on many occasions. Some people say breaking the rule is the way, but somehow after so many images, I still yet to find one rule that I broke. It's tough learn it, and much tougher to break it.

That being laid out, the cat and mouse game began.

Come on, daddy. Give it your best shot!!

The first few shots I used plain P-mode on the E-30.

One of my many teachers told me to focus on the eyes,

and so I did

Later, I shifted to Art Filter mode that totally liberated me from the gear and made me focus more on photography.

Soft Focus had always been one of my favorites, as it highlighted the eyes and softened the background.

Woopsss... A bit too soft? I am sorry, but I like!

Grainy Film added the grittiness of the moment, and focused more on the inner dimension of the subject.

Do you see my profile, daddy?

Pinhole provided the added focus on the subject without being too constraining to the viewer.

Surprised? I was too! With the details and sharpness.

Pop Art just oozed the primary colors to bring more color to the already awesome subject.

Am I too fast for you, daddy?

What I liked most with the Art Filter function was that it didn't tie me down. I let the E-30 handle the magic, and I focused on the story. Both combine to produce telling results that left me gobbsmacked when I saw the results on my PC screen. Even more satisfying was the fact that I just hit the upload button in Flickr.com without the slightest concern of postprocessing. What I saw at the time of the shoot was all it needed.

Balance!

Somehow I felt like I was shooting film, too.

Zuiko and a Football Legend

.

This picture was taken quite a while back, around June.

Santokh Singh aka Iron Man was one of Malaysian football stalwart in the late 70s early 80s that qualified for 2 Olympic games, Munich 1972 and Moscow 1980 (in which Malaysia boycotted due to the Afghanistan invasion). Malaysia at the time was easily considered among the elite in Asian football (twice 3rd place), and the players at the time included Dato' Soh Chin Aun (Towkay), Jamal Nasir, James Wong, the late R. Arumugam (Spiderman) and the late Mokhtar Dahari (Super Mokh).

I remembered watching them on the small black & white TV screen chasing the white speck of a ball. Yes, resolution was non-existent compared to the 720p resolution we have on Astro TV nowadays! I was merely 7 or 8 years old at the time, and was very proud of them. Those were the time when it was proud to play football. (Eventually I changed sports code to Union Rugby in my teenage years after experiencing the football grassroots politics at school level that may be one of the actual cause of the pitfall of Malaysian football now).

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED35-100mm F2.0

100mm, f/2.8, 1/200s, ISO800, -0.7ev

The talk was short and entertaining. See, this was done in June, when the FIFA World Cup Finals mania was at its peak. And, the spirit of Malaysia Olympic Team 1980 was rejuvenated to rekindle the football glories past. Santokh was a simple chap, and his witty quips made the crowd laugh. When asked to comment on the current football situation, he passed.

I think many of the 1980 Golden Generation wouldn't want to make statements that actually most Malaysians already know. It's a continuous debate among all walks of life on how to cure the Malaysian football disease, and it has been 30 years since! Until now, there's none. I bet cancer and HIV have a better chance of getting a cure than our national football team. For one, there's no way in my lifetime to see Malaysia play a minute of football in the FIFA World Cup Finals. I can guarantee that.

Aaaah.. such a sad state in our football is in.

At least, I learned one thing from Santokh though. One person did ask if he had any advise to the young players to at least bring back some pride or fresh air to the state of our football. Santokh's answer was simple, "Just have the 3D's! Determination, Discipline, Dedication!".

Though, I still remember when Malaysia lost to England 2-4 in June, 1991. That was entertaining football and the Malaysian players actually were at awe with Gary Lineker. Eventually, he scored all goals for England. Hmmmm.... I thought Malaysian football was getting better.... Ohhh Boy, was I wrong. The icing on the cake was the big bribery bust of 1994/95 which hurtled Malaysian football to the Stone Age!

Zuiko and the Balancing Act

In my class, I cram my students with many photography nonsense. Especially with the mantra, "When outdoors in the hot sun, shoot with your flash on and 100% direct." Most of the time, my students will show blank stares disbelieving what I just said.

There are many other mantras, and one of them is, "If you don't like a person in a group picture, please use a wide angle lens." Well, this may be a good topic for another blog. For now, let me stick to the hot-sun-flashing-shooter thing.

Ah, well... I give them the assignment, and these are the results.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD + FL-50R Flash

33mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO100, -2ev, flash +1ev

My approach is simple. Most of the time, the camera using Matrix metering is quite smart enough to detect the background exposure. Thus, by dialing down the overall exposure compensation to -2ev, the background is darkened. The flash, then is set at higher compensation, say +1ev, to illuminate the darkened scene. In total, the image has a composite of -1ev exposure, which is just the right balance for portrait with landscape picture.

The above image uses slow x-sync flash that limits the shutter to 1/250s; thus, entails for small aperture exposure. In this case, it is f/11.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD + FL-50R Flash

14mm, f/3.2, 1/4000s, ISO100, -2ev, flash +1ev

Say that you are a sucker for shallow depth-of-field, or bokeh-anywhere type of shooter. Then, you can dial up the aperture to f/2 for example, and the shutter speed will still jam at 1/250s. In this case, the Matrix metering is dumb! The picture will be overexposed. The only way to jump the shutter up is to use high-speed sync, in Olympus language it's FP Flash. Be careful though when using this method, as the bulb tend to be abused with low power but long bursts of light. I killed my FL-36 during a wedding once due to FP abuse, and it was not nice!!

Notice the blur effect due to the larger aperture even at wide angle 14mm? I should have used f/2.0 to get more blur. Doh!!

Using the same exposure principles of the first picture, the second image is recreated with the same exposure balance.

Zuiko and Fruit Fest

.

14mm, f/3.2, 1/800s, ISO200

The majestic durians in abundance

Recently, my company hosted a Fruit Fest for all staff and family members. Local fruits were abundant, ranging from durians, mangosteens rambutans, langsats, longans, bananas, local fruit ice creams, and topped with fresh coconut drinks.

The durians were of the D24 variants, with luscious thick yellow meat and sweet tart taste. The smell, oh yeah, the most deplored smell in the aviation and hospitality industries was fully savored. What is a durian without the trademark pungent smell?

Kids enjoying the fruits.

And, when there's durians, the mangosteens were there too. Such a royal couple! It is the perfect fruit to counter the repulsive nature of the durians. Sweet and refreshing, rich with antioxidants, the mangosteens we had were not really sweet, rather bland sourish. I bet it was plucked semi-ripe, as the skin was not dark purple and not watery when it was broken open. At least there were no purple stains on the shirts.

Well, the other fruits were just sidelines to the King and Queens of fruits! I won't dwell much to write about them...

Then again, it was a mystery why there were no mangoes, jackfruits and chikus. Ah well...

Local fruit ice-cream, the kids got the durian and chempedak flavors.

My family really enjoyed the nature's bounty, and a great occasion to spend quality family time.

Zuiko and Bicycles

.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED 35-100mm F2.0

35mm, f/3.2, 1/400s, ISO100, -0.3ev

I have rekindled an old past time - cycling. The last time I rode a bike was when I was a teenager, which was a 17"-frame road bike. This time around, I got myself a 17"-frame hybrid bike.

I have found that for the past twenty years, a lot of technological development had advanced this mechanical wonder. I remembered the cumbersome gearing system, the heavy iron frame, and the non-friendly tooling for wheels, brakes and fitting setups. Now, with the wonder of materials engineering the frame is much lighter, and the inclusion of easy clip-ons for easy fittings and tooling. The gearing system is very friendly, too.

What makes this past time worthwhile now is that I have a cycling partner - my lovely wife. She loves mountain bikes, but I came from road bikes. The easy way out was for me to get a hybrid bike so that we can go on trail and park rides on many occasions. So far, after one week getting the bike, I am getting the feel of riding again. Well, not counting my motorcycling days with the Aprilia RS125, the exuberance and excitement of pedaling this lovely machine really hit the right spot. I am feeling the freedom, the speed, the youth; and, using just plain clean energy while riding is just great!!

Except for the sore buttocks for the first couple of days, the light aluminum 6061 frame and wonderful Shimano equipment have helped eliminate the potential pains to my arms, back and legs. Lovely!!

Daughter coming straight at me, Continuous AF to track her approach

100mm, f/3.2, 1/640s, ISO100, -0.3ev

Well, it seems that the whole family also on the bike thing. My two kids are also enjoying this leisure. It's a good way to spend quality time with my family.

Son diligently putting on the helmet, hard at work trying to lock-in the straps

100mm, f/3.2, 1/160s, ISO100, -0.3ev

As for photography on wheels, I have decided to go back to 135 camera system, especially the OMs due to its lightweight design and small size. I seem to have about 30 rolls of Fujifilm Reala 100s in the fridge. It's about time to unleash Full Frame.

Till then....

Zuiko and Green Apples

.
I had some spare time after sending my daughter to Enopi Math class. The 30-minute gap was used to do some quick flash shoot.

35mm, f/4.0, 1/60s, ISO100

This was processed in High-key to accentuate the full breadth of flash coverage

Green apples.. that looked simple but cool!

How did I do a 2-minute setup?

Get the E-30 with a moderate telephoto lens, in this case the Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD.

Get the FL-50R flash, and set to Remote mode. Quickly activate the Remote Commander menu on the E-30, and fiddle with the TTL setting.

Place the two apples on a dark glass table. Shut the room lights, and use ISO100 to blacken as much as possible the disturbing backgrounds.

Position the flash in various angles and height to see the different effects.

And don't forget the Do's and Don'ts of simple composition techniques. Rule-of-Thirds, Depth-of-Field separation, contrast isolation, parallax error, etc, etc.

Shoot in RAW only, and later process it using the Olympus Studio software. The E-30 Art Filters are available in Studio v2.2.

Voila!

By changing the angle and light intensity, a different effect was created.

This was processed in Low Key to accentuate the dark contrast zones.

Zuiko and Flash Techniques

.
Event shooting is all about getting the right shots and meeting the client's needs. You only have one chance and there's no repeat! Hustle, hustle!!

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD + FL-50R

23mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s, ISO400, -0.3ev + Direct FP Flash + Spot Metering

Those were the mantras I kept repeating in my recent Event Shooting class. And boy, did the participants got a whole load of flash techniques.

You name it; the basic flash techniques for quick event shooting were covered. It started with simple direct flash and output balance calculation. Then we proceeded with the bounce & white card, and estimating ceiling height factors. Next, it was dragging the shutter in dark lit room, playing with 2nd/rear curtains. We went outdoors, and played with FP high sync flash to negate "the skull effect". High speed coverage with rapid flash and rapid movement followed, which was finally topped off with the indoor/outdoor flash balance technique.

Of course, the basic EV measurements along with GN calculations and DoF controls were thrown in the whole sha-bang! At least I managed to confuse most of the class before they got their hands dirty the next day and saw what I was talking about the whole day before!

Though I was tired, it was satisfying. To see the participants learning a lot within a short span of time was very rewarding.

On to the next class....

Zuiko and Curtains

.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD

35mm, f/2.8, 1/100s, ISO800, -0.3ev

I was lying down under the window, when I noticed the pleats of the curtains providing beautiful abstraction of light rays pounding on soft fabric. I quickly took the shot with my camera. The surrealism of the curves of light on the fabric gave an eerie effect that I thought was mesmerizing, at least.

A bit of light balancing post-process techniques that included Contrast Masking with Layer Blending mixing providing the tones and hues that I wanted.

The abstraction looks a bit frightening at a quick glance, though.

Zuiko and Birthday Wishes

.
Wow... I didn't touch my DSLR for quite a while. Having the S90 in the back pocket did not help the situation at all. But, for this occassion, I had to shoot the DSLR. I knew the S90 won't cut it! My son's birthday was 12 days ago, and I confessed that setting up the DSLR gears took quite a while for me to do!

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD
31mm, f/2.8, 1/160s, ISO800, -0.3ev

Making a child happy is the greatest thing any person could do. It's the most wonderful feeling. The moment, the innocence, the cheeriness - everything is shown through their eyes. Seeing and feeling it with him is wonderful, and to capture the right moment is magical.

Birthdays are easily one of the things that make a child happy. Having his friends around him celebrating in joy, the presents, and the fun of it all. To see them mesmerized with the event and immersed with the love is just bliss!

And, make sure the flash batteries are all charged up, coz I forgot mine! Maybe due to the monthlong isolation from serious photography has made me a forgetful photographer. And, somehow without motor drive mode, I managed to get the shot! Talk about luck!

Zuiko and a Self-Portrait

A simple self portrait I did with the E-30 camera and the Zuiko Digital ED7-14mm F4.0 lens.

I used a two-light source, main at high point, fill at low point; with self portrait composed using real-time Live View screen and triggered with a wireless remote.

I tried to do a macho look, so-called a self-portrait of the ultimate maleness in myself. Hmmm... I think I didn't do quite a good job.

The thing is, when I was doing this, I solely relied on two features in self-portrait shooting. 1. The remote trigger, in this case the usage of the RM-1 remote trigger. 2. The flippable LCD, in this case I used the LCD screen flipped facing me so that I can compose myself into the frame (this was done in full Live View mode).

Oh yeah, I used full TTL shooting with the Olympus wireless flash system; with the main using FL-50R and fill using FL-36R. The E-30 was mounted on the Manfrotto 709b table tripod for a very low angle shot.

Well, these feature made shooting self-portrait much easier. But, it still did not solve the problem that I was not a very good model.

Ah well....

Zuiko and a Talent Contest

I was asked to cover a talent contest, and it would be in a very dark and small auditorium.

Immediately I assessed the situation:

1. Fast lens with high ISO and high shutter speed setting was a must
2. Working in compressed and limited area was inevitable
3. Lighting and white balance would be very difficult

Wow, this was going to be tough! And since I was using the Olympus E-system - a system that anyone would say won't cut it for such an event. I took this as a challenge, it's good to see how it would fare in those situations.

Show some 'ttitude, bro!

35mm, f2.5, 1/80s, ISO1000, -0.3ev

And at the same time, I had the E-P2 on loan from Olympus Malaysia for me to test out and write a short field review. Thus, I knew that I had to limit my E-system setup so that I would not bog up my gears. The E-30 was chosen for its better high ISO performance than the E-3, and I paired it with the Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD and ED35-100mm F2.0 PRO lenses. I also had the FL-50R flash for any flash situations.

Being a corporate event, it wouldn't start until the CEO arrived. Not much protocol, just a handshake between the organizer and him sufficed.

14mm, f2.0, 1/60s, ISO640

The house was immediately set rocking with the Heavy Metal performance of Linkin' Park's New Divide. Throughout the contest, there were variations of musical genres that encompassed Rock & Roll, Bollywood, Local, Latin, and even Hip Hop!

E-P2 with the 14-42mm 3.5-5.6 did a great job here capturing the energy of the event.

I got the main spot at the front stage, just a few feet away from the performers. And just mere 3 feet back was the auditorium's seating area. It was very cramped! The vantage point was mostly shooting upwards, and during in-between performances, I quickly snapped candid shots of the VIPs attending the show.

No doubt shooting was tough. Fast action performance with audience provided the same level of energy, it was electric. Fast pace, low compromise shooting was a definite challenge!

I nearly messed up this job! Half way through, my batteries both in the HLD-4 extension pack were dying out, and very fast!!!! I told the client, and she panicked!! I assured her, there's enough juice, but may not be enough to cover the prize giving ceremony. To reduce power consumption, I flipped the LCD screen inwards and I used the top panel to check my camera settings. (I couldn't believe I shot without chimping for most of the time!!)

Latin number with classical guitar accompaniment was just immaculate!

100mm, f2.0, 1/60s, ISO2000

In between shots, I sometimes swap the 14-35mm with the 35-100mm lens for those long range shots. But most of the time, the 14-35mm f2.0 lens was the workhorse. The E-30 managed to tame the 14-35mm erratic AF, and I did get a high hit ratio.

Overall, I believed I did a good job. I did a bit of post-processing, mostly on the tone curves correction and USM sharpening. The final image was resized to 3200 x 2400 for the client. The images turned out alright, and the client was pleased.

Shallow depth-of-field with low shutter speed, a challenge to get sharp shots

f2.0. 1/80s, ISO1250, -0.3ev

Her husky voice and pro-like performance lived up to her snazzy jazz number!

Throw white balance down the drain when everyone's turned green!!

I messed up this shot with low shutter speed, luckily I realized it!

14mm, f/2.2, 1/13s, ISO200

Rock and Roll was alive in this beautiful rendition.

Thank you for the music! This was a great show!

Zuiko and DSLR 101 Class

My first batch of students...

And they hinted for more stuff....

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm f2.0 SWD + FL-50R

14mm, f/4.0, 1/60s, ISO800

More to be told after I conclude the next session.....

Zuiko and the Generation Gap

The grandma and her grandson. The latest addition, for now.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm f2.0 SWD + FL-50R

35mm, f/3.5, 1/60s, ISO400, -0.3ev

This is a shot straight out of the camera, with the JPEG setting at Large Fine, or JPEG/4. The only thing I did was to resize so that I would not clog the upload bandwidth.

Olympus JPEG is just perfect to my eyes; the Auto White Balance of the E-30, to me is equal to E-3, makes shooting a joy. Why? Because I can get perfect shot, everytime!!!

Zuiko and a Colorful Habit

Awesome colors, indeed.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD

21mm, f/6.3, 1/40s, ISO200, -0.3ev, Pop Art

Alas, not so awesome when the rubbish is also prominent in the shot. Really, it is a sad tale of beautiful Malaysia. Amidst the beautiful flora and fauna, the colors rich and vibrant, rubbish has to show its ugly head.

I find it is a challenge to shoot a rubbish-free picture, when it comes to public parks and other public areas. The people's attitude got to change, and I don't see it happening in the near future.

I have been keeping this picture for quite a while, and thought now is the time to show the other side of Malaysia.

Well, at least the colors are vibrant!

Zuiko and a Birthday at Carcosa Seri Negara

Carcosa Seri Negara.

A beautiful lodge right at the heart of Kuala Lumpur, and be amazed of the lush greeneries surrounding the compound!

The interiors were captivating.

14mm, f/2.5, 1/13s, ISO800, Auto Gradation

Last night was a special night. For both of us, and definitely for my lovely wife to celebrate her birthday. In actual fact, it was supposed to be last week; alas, little Imran was admitted to the hospital.

E-30 with Zuiko Digital ED14-35mm F2.0 SWD

14mm, f2.5, 1/13s, ISO800, Auto Gradation

A romantic dinner? Nothing comes close to candlelit fine French cuisine.

Carcosa Seri Negara is a little hotel located on a hill surrounded by huge Angsanas. It's hard to phantom, but this hamlet is just a stone's throw away from my ultra-urban office!!

14mm, f/4, 1/5s, ISO800, Auto Gradation

Based on the colonial residents back in the days of Sir Frank Swettenham, Carcosa is adorned with plush interiors with the nostalgic rustic charm. The dark but cosy ambiance ensures a private yet warm feeling while dining, with the waiters ever so ready for immediate attendance. Very exclusive indeed.

14mm, f/2.8, 1/20s, ISO800, Auto Gradation

The architecture hides nothing of its past. The open columns and tall ceilings that are the hallmarks of colonial design are very apparent.

Such a nice atmosphere. Amazing. The food was just perfect for the occasion.

This is the place for special occasions. If you want to celebrate it with your loved ones, this is one place at the top of the charts.