Olympus Stylus 1050 SW Reviews

I had my hands on the Olympus 1050SW as one of Christmas Presents.
Only used this camera twice, once during my friend's wedding and once when I was at Sentosa.

I like the feel of the camera. I like the black matt finishing and the stainless steel side give me a very well built solid impression of the camera. It is little heavier than most digital camera and it sinks. ( since it is made to be used in water it should have come with a floating strap so it doesn't sink)

As for the lens, it 6.7mm to 20.1mm f3.5 to F5.0, equivalent to 38mm to 114mm on a 35mm camera. That explains the slowness of taking a shot. Also I feel there is noise is quite pronounced at high ISO and that the flash is a little too harsh.

I will post pictures soon taken on different location and underwear.

Meanwhile this is the detailed review by Dpreview

Olympus 1050 SW Review

Shy@n

A Easy Project

Been wanting to try this out, so since I got time might as well just give it a try.

Multiple Exposure in one Frame with Photoshop

1) Set up Camera with Tripod
2) Take multiple shots and be sure that you positions does not cover the one before.
3) Combine them in Photoshop in Layers
4) Layer Mask one by one to expose your desire subject
5) Combine the layer and process the picture as you deem fit!



Composition and exposure of this shot is rather crap, but well its a 5min job =)

Shy@N

DIY Bokeh

I kinda got off track and tried a mini activity.

DIY BOKEH - The Link is Here

It is kinda of interesting but seems only for Lens which are about F1.8-F1.4 not sure about F4 but I would think that the bokeh would not be as pronounce as compared to large aperture.

How it works, I assume that light the is reflected from the main subject will be almost perpendicular to the sensor while the lights from back ground and all around will be entering the sensor like how a pin hole might.

Anyway here are my Pictures







Shy@n

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! =)

Well the portrait project got to wait.
Need to post and process Christmas Pictures first =)

Shy@n

New Project

I am going to try portrait shots.
Black and White with shadows.

Will try some techniques and see how it works. Watch for it =)

Shy@n

Boys at Play

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Bokeh of 24-105mm F4 L

I thought the bokeh of this Lens is actually not too bad.
Pretty sharp as well.



Shy@n

New Video by Dan Chung using Canon EOS 5D MKII

One Night in Beijing

Video Here

Amazing stuff.......


Shy@n

Strobbing

Tried my hand at strobing.
Just used long shutters with different settings in the flash.
Effect were not exactly great, time to do some homework in this area. =)

Ghostly images...viewers beware..





Shy@n

Night Shots

I had a chance to try night shots last night.
Encountered a few problems.
1) If I use flash and quick shutter, the foreground is bright and lighting is harsh, but the background becomes underexposed
2) If I use long shutter no flash, everything turns out nice, but the subject have to stay stationary for a few secs until the shutter closed
3) Using 1st Curtain or 2nd Curtain flash. I can drag the shutter slightly such that I get nice exposure from the background, and the subjects do not need to be stationary for too long.

I am still on research which is the best way of doing it. I will try again with samples to share =)

Shy@n

Happy Birthday

It was my good "sis" birthday. So I brought my 450D along with my new L lens, the 24-105mm.
Used Tv priority for this shot without flash. There was some lighting but I just managed to hand hold at 1/40.

Really happy with the composition of this shot. Did just a little post processing. Enjoy!
I would love it more if I had the candles more in focus!


Shy@n

TIme to Test My Flash and My New Lens

Finally got more time these days.
Got a few projects lined up next week.
So watch this space =)

Shy@n

First L Lens Owner - Canon 24-105mm F4 L

Had a meeting with a seller, Lionel from Club Snap.
Tried the lens and I so love it. The quality, the focus and the feel of the lens was fantastic. I can't wait to start taking pictures on it.

Reason why I selected the 24-105mm F4 was the fact it had a longer reach and IS function.Reviews for this lens has been fantastic so I am sure I would not regret.
Indoor wouldn't be a big problem because I have a external flash for that extra lighting.

It is a one month old lens and everything was as good as new. Bought it about 300 off retail. This would be the last purchase for the year. Time to tighten my purse string.

RC Shots

Did some shooting a while back.
Main subject was my bro-in-law's rock crawler. Not much panning, but slight long shutter still good for depicting motion.






While we were there, there was this kitten in the drain. Somehow, it turn out to be rather engaging portrait of the kitten.



Shy@n

The Strobist...

Now arm my a new flash, it time to try some lighting effects and strobing.

A good website with some lighting techniques can be found at this blog.

The Strobist

I am tempted to try my stroboscopic flash which my Canon 580EXII is capable of. =)

Canon Website on Flash

Will post once I got them. From what I know, it basically long shutter speeds with flashes of light.

Shy@n

Hasselblad

Went for a Photo Shoot at Shirco House.
The distributor of Hasselblad is located there.
Basically in a nut shell, the Hasselblad is the F1 of cameras/DSLR
Medium Format Camera with a 80mm lens from Carl Weiss at 30K SGD (basic Model)

It a rather well made camera, but mainly to be used in the studio I feel.
The camera is huge and the lenses are huge too. But the pictures are crisp and sharp.
But it has to be at 30K entry level.

Check out the website here!

Shy@n

Proud Owner of Canon 580EX II Flash Unit

Purchased an external Flash Unit yesterday from one of the members in Clubsnap.
Price was pretty reasonable for a 1 month old set. It was about 100 off the retail for the new one.
The condition was good and almost mint.

Time to try some flash effects!



Reviews for the Canon 580EXII can be found here

Next up, 24-105mm f4 L lens.

Shy@n

Update Soon =)

Nothing going on.
Just been busy with work.

But a dilemma with regards to lenses came about
24-105mm f4 IS vs 24-70mm f2.8.

I guess I decided more on the 24-105mm against the 24-70mm.
1) Longer Reach
2) Indoor can be coupled with flash so a extra stop from 24-70mm doesn't matter
3) 24-105mm has IS giving me extra 2 stops
4) 24-105mm is lighter and smaller

So it seems its the 24-105mm f/4 IS L lens =p

Shy@n

Photo Fun

Photofunia

Shy@n

LOMO Lubitel 166+ Camera

Details can be found here

Lubitel 166+

Cool Retro camera.

Quoting from the site

'Shooting with the Lubitel+ is different than anything you have shot before. The combination of its glass lenses, the flexible 120 or 35mm format, fully manual everything, fully automatic nothing, peering into a waist-level finder, slowing things down with focusing and dialing in the correct exposure settings, and a myriad of other analog factors make it a full-bodied experience that activates all of your senses and brings you into a special and very intimate place."



At about 350USD, not a bad price. A good alternative to the hassleband =p

Shy@n

New Setup with Time.....

I am thinking about getting a new set-up soon.
Not so soon of course but in the new future.

1) 12-24mm Sigma
2) 24-105mm f4.0Canon
3) 70-200mm f2.8 Canon

=p
But then again, maybe new lenses be out again then..

Shy@n

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

2nd Wedding Project

Completed my second wedding project.
All pictures are mostly taken with the Canon 50mm F1.4 sometimes with flash but mostly without.

I really love the 50mm f1.4. Main focus was mainly people. Pretty happy with most pictures and I consciencely check to make sure that the depth of view was good as much as possible. Most are pretty good.

Slight editing and some changes to the temperature, didn't really like too much yellow, so opt for a more balance tone for the pictures.

All pictures are posted on fickr...couldn't resist leaving my camera hanging there..hahaha



Shy@n

Panasonic DMC-LX3

DMC LX3 Compact SLR.

A not so new Panasonic camera that got my attention.
The function of a SLR but a miniture size.
Tempted to get it because of portability and can be used in situation when carry a SLR can be a pain =)

Pretty good specs and has a fast lens since it is using Leica Len with max aperture of F2.0 to min aperture of f2.8.

Should work pretty well indoor conditions.

So it can give the old Canon G9 a run for its money. As for the up and coming G10 with Digi4 processor, I still think in terms of size, function and cost LX3 wins hands down....

Tempting but with the downturn of the economy, I better tighten my purse string....=p





Shy@n

Can't Help it =p

Shot with 100-400mm
Huge Lens but I am beginning to like it a lot.
=)




Few lenses that I am tempted to get it.
1) 24-105mm
2) 17-55mm
3) 70-200mm
4) 10-22mm

and of course many others.


Shy@n

Updating will be suspended temporarily

I will be busy for the next 1.5months, so I guess I wouldn't have time to update the site.
But found out something interesting about 1st curtain and 2nd curtain. It DSLR way of doing double exposure. It's worth a try to get rather interesting effect.


Basically, using long exposure. 1st curtain if you want to capture the initial subject and then subsequently the motion. 2nd curtain if you want to capture the motion and then subsequently the subject.

This is a better explaination.

Front Curtain Sync
Generally, the flash sync fires at the instant the front curtain has fully opened. This is called front curtain sync, and it is used where it is desired that the flash freeze motion at the beginning of the exposure. Front curtain sync is adequate for most flash-photography. When making long exposures while also firing a flash, front curtain sync creates an effect where any motion blur - from ambient light - appears ahead of the subject, i.e. it appears to leave the subject behind. In the case of a moving motor vehicle in a night scene, for example, this can create an unrealistic effect since its headlamp and tail-lamp trails will extend out in front of it


Rear Curtain Sync
Some cameras offer the ability to fire the flash at just before the second curtain closes. This is called rear (or second) curtain sync, and it is used to freeze motion at the end of the exposure. When making long exposures while firing a flash, rear curtain sync creates the effect of motion blur trailing the main subject.





=)

Shy@n

Wedding Pictures

Completed editing of my first Wedding Project.
I guess the style is a more coffee table book type of editing.
Composition was still the biggest challenge, but I guess those come with experience =)

Enjoy















Comment if any, are welcome =)

Shy@n

Tooth Relic Temple

One of my projects which I had edited a while back.
All of them were taken using 3 shots EV brackets and combined with photmatix and fine tuned with photoshop.

As I was doing this project. I encountered this problem with Photomatix.
Maybe I do not understand the software well, or the 3 shots exposure pictures were not correct. Because, when I combined them together. I got an area of dark exposure compared to the rest. So to solve ths problem, I had to edit those areas in photoshop using levels in order to lighten the troubled areas. That is something that I got to find out soon.

Anyway here are some hightlights.







Shy@n