Scout Images

I was lucky enough to be lent an Olympus Evolt E-30 through work recently, and I have to admit that I have been very impressed. This loan camera came with a few lenses including the 12-60mm f/2.8-4 (24-120mm equiv), 9-18mm (18-36mm equiv) and a 70-300mm (140-600mm equiv). All of these lenses are from Olympus’s mid range selection and from my brief use, proved to be very good.

The E-30 has a few nifty features that it shares with all Olympus DSLRs (FourThirds mount, LiveView, in body Image Stabilisation) and a few new tricks, an articulated screen and a nice set of Art Filters. More importantly the E-30 appears to have many of the colour issues that I noticed in the E-510 under control, producing much nicer and richer colours in most conditions.

Below is a comparison of the Art filter

Comparison Sequence (Normal, PopArt, Soft Focus, Pale Light and Colour, Light Tone, Grainy Film and Pinhole)

I only used the camera for a day so I will not be writing an indepth set of thoughts on it BUT I will say that I would consider buying this camera as it feels good in the hand and has proven to be capable of taking good quality pictures with minimal fuss. I would have no problems recommending this camera to anyone I know provided that this is a camera that suits their needs.

More pictures from the day can be found by clicking on the photos below.

I have to apologise for the lack of activity lately, I have had little time to shoot, and even less time to post photos up. But here are a few sets, two from the last few days and a set that has been sitting waiting for upload for awhile.

Today USYD PhotoSoc went on their first shooting Mini-meet, down to the Rocks (Sydney, Aust). Although the Rocks is so photographed there seems to be little to left to capture, if you look hard enough there is always something.

Last night I finally went out night shooting again, this time in the company of a Canon wielding friend. We lugged the Manfrotto’s (Bogen for the American’s) up to Observatory Hill and were rewarded with a slightly different take on the Coathanger (Sydney Harbour Bridge). I didnt get much from the night but it was good to catch up with a friend.

This last set is from our trip down to Jervis Bay at the beginning of the month. We headed down via Bald Hill Lookout and caught the hang gliders. We went snorkelling where my Fuji F100fd + WP-FXF100 got another workout. We finished the trip with a dolphin cruise.

Like many before me I have been bitten by the urge for something wide and whacky…enter the fisheye.

Ever since being loaned an Olympus E-510 and a whole bunch of quality Olympus lenses I have been attracted to fisheyes. As a photographer who likes landscape a wide lens is a no brainer, but a fisheye is not just a wide angle, it is a wide angle that has large amounts of uncorrected barrel distortion and a huge viewing angle.

The 8mm Olympus fisheye on the E-510

The problem with this unique type of lens is that they do not transcend the DX/FX (crop/full frame) barrier as nicely as even a normal wide angle lens does. You buy a fisheye for the ‘fishy’ effect. But when you have a mixed film/digital kit like myself you quickly find yourself in a bit of strife when shopping for a fisheye.

My workhorse D300 and S5 Pro have the DX sensor which means the conventional fisheyes (Nikkor 16mm, Zenitar 16mm) will not be ‘fishy’ as they would be on my F80 and FM2n (and any FX camera). So there is a desire to go out and purchase a DX fisheye like the Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8 DX or the Tokina 10-17mm but then these lenses are useless for film and FX bodies.

This is even before the ever important justification for such a lens. I want one, I cant justify one though. I would use it, but what happens when the novelty wears off? If I get a FX fisheye then it would be useless on my DX bodies and vice versa (I will not be taking a hack saw to an expensive lens). Nor can I afford a fisheye at the present.

The fact the my trusty Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 is still away makes me yearn even harder for a fisheye (to help plug the temporary gap in the wide end of my kit). But I must fight the temptation.

Donations anyone?