Lens Back Focus Test

Lens back focus has been a known issue for a long time.  With the arrival of 24mega pixels entry DSLRs, this issue become more prominent.

You can follow a simple test on your lens and camera to check for any auto focusing issue, below is simple video by a Malaysian young chap, but it is very to the point.


However, there is more to it.  From my own experience, I would like to add some points.

1. The focus chart that you use.  If you just download it from the internet, and print it out on normal print paper using your office laser printer, the print and paper qualities are not that high in the first place.  It is more difficult to tell which point is sharp, which point is not.

Sample Auto Focus Test Shot 1

The sample test shot above is an example.  Can you tell whether the word 'sharp' is sharp, or the numbers 2 & 4 below it are sharp?  Or the number 2 above it is sharp?

2. If you are doing this test with a zoom lens, you need to do it at the extreme ends of the zoom range, as well as the mid point.  You expect the performance to be consistent over the zoom range, but the actual fact is not.  You may have good auto focus at the mid point, but your auto focus may be off at the extreme ends.  You have to decide what is considered to be good for you.

That's all for today.  Happy shooting photos!

The Purpose of Photography

It has been a question in my mind for many many years:  What is purpose of photography?  To make money?  To make yourself an artist?  To make yourself look like a professional?  I have always been searching for the elusive answer.

Today, after I have reached the age Confucius said is the age of no doubts, I can confidently answer that question of 'What is the purpose of photography?'.

Photography is nothing but a pulse stretcher, described in a digital designer's terminology.  What does a pulse stretcher do?  If you a small pulse which will last from sub nano seconds, to a couple of nano seconds, a pulse stretcher will elongate that small pulse to make it last maybe tens of nano seconds or even micro seconds, which is almost like permanent in digital world.

You see a beautiful girl in the train, you don't know her at all, you may not see her again after today.  You secretly snap a photo of her in your phone.  Her beautiful image will then remain in your phone for days, months or even years.  But her photo will not be forever.  When your phone dies, or when you want to change your old phone to a new one, probably her photo will be gone with your phone too.

Your brief encounter is that small pulse, her photo lingering in your phone is that pulse stretcher, but then eventually the pulse will still go down and nothing is left behind.  It is just a way humans fooling themselves to think that they have made something transient into eternity.  

Microstock: A Caste System

The Caste system in India is well known around the world, and the system is now being 'introduced' into the modern Microstock industry.

In the past, contributors can join almost as many sites as they wish, without any obvious disadvantage, only advantage as you can sell your images to much more people, with a much bigger client base.  That has changed in the past one or two years.  If you are not exclusive with them, your images may not even have a chance for the buyers to see.

In the past, once I had some new uploads, the new images will get their fair share of views from the buyers, although they might not buy eventually, but at least I had a chance.  Now, if you are not exclusive, your new images immediately go to a second class 'category'.  They will not show up on top of the search results.  I was scratching my head why my new images don't even have a single view, and that's the answer.

This is in particular with one of the most influential microstock agencies.  Luckily, there are still other agencies for you, but then they are also introducing new measures, such as putting you on different levels based on your past performance.

Microstock is getting tougher and tougher.  Anyway, it is my way of sharing my photos at least then they don't just sit in my harddisk drive doing nothing.   

Olympus E-PM1 Review IV: Daylight Performance (Conintued)

Previously I already wrote about the E-PM1's daylight performance, the performance was not too good.  To give it a second chance, I did this again.

This time I chose the busy Orchard Road as my subject under much better daylight.  YMCA and the nearby church came out vibrantly in the picture, plus the striking red SBS bus.

Looking at the 100% crop of the area being well lit.  The result is not too bad.

But looking at the area where the lighting condition is more challenging, again we see the patches of pixels.  I took this photo using iAuto mode, I did notice the 'Sharpness' setting has been automatically set to 'hard'.

Instead of shooting subjects far away, this time I chose to shoot something nearer.  The bus stop in front of me appeared to be pretty well in the picture.

Looking at the area where lighting condition is more challenging.  Both well lit area and poorly lit area are well captured.  No patches of pixels here, at least it is not obvious.

Lastly, let's look at our typical Singapore HDB.  The blue sky, the red and yellow HDB wall, they all appeared vibrantly in the picture.

The photo still looks very decent at 100% crop.

In conclusion, Olympus E-PM1 can perform reasonably well under well lit conditions, but the performance will deteriorate very fast once the lighting conditions become a bit more challenging, especially so for far away subjects.  It is probably also has something to do with the lens.  For far away subjects, the user will tend to zoom in more, using the kit lens' far end, which usually does not perform as well as the 'sweet point' of the lens.

Olympus E-PM1 Review - Part III: Battery Life

I only have one battery for my E-PM1, which is the original battery that came with the camera.  I fully charged the battery on Friday night, knowing that I would be going out for heavy shooting over the weekend.

This afternoon, after shooting ~186 shots over the last two days, the battery indicator started to flash warning.  Only 2 bars left out of a total of 3 bars.  This sounds a bit on the low side of my expectation.  If you bring this camera out for a day shoot, for me I will shoot around 100 photos in a normal day, so it is probably ok for a normal day shoot, under normal temperature of 27C.  If you take the camera out in a chilly day in winter, what will happen?  In this case, a back-up battery seems absolutely necessary.  I highly suspect it is the display that is draining off the juice from the battery fast, but this camera has no way to shut it off while shooting.

However, for 186 photos per charge, it is still comparable with other cameras in the same league I think, so it is not all that bad.  

Olympus E-PM1 Review - Part II: Day Light Performance

After checking out E-PM1's low light performance, I continued to test its day light performance.  I again went to our famous Marina Bay area to photograph Singapore's financial center.

At low magnification, the photo looks quite reasonable, and any photographer should be pretty happy about the results.  How about at 100% crop?

At 100% crop, it is always problematic.  At the Tung Center there, you can see patches of pixels.  I don't know whether it is due to the sensor or it is related to the lens.  When I use my trusted 28-138mm lens on my dSLR, at the 135mm end, I would have such a problem too.

Let's look at another photo under a slightly more harsh lighting condition.

This photo was taken at around noon time.  The sun was still there, although it was a bit cloudy.  The trees appeared to be very dark in the photo.  I used both 'landscape' mode and iAuto mode to take the picture, but in both cases, the subjects appeared to be very under exposed.  I suspect the sensor's metering had been fooled by the strong background lighting.  For me, I did expect a better metering performance with E-PM1.

So far nothing from E-PM1 has impressed me in my test, other than its nice body design.  How about we look at something small.

I used the macro mode for some flower shots.  The result was not too bad actually.

Even at 100% crop, the edges are sharp, the color is vivid.  There is no patches of pixels as we saw earlier.

Olympus E-PM1 Review - Part I: Low Light Performance

I will do a different type of camera review.  This review will be divided into different parts, with illustrations with actual photos, by me, and for all photographers :)

This first part of the review will focus on low light performance of the E-PM1.  For a camera with a smaller sensor, and with a minimum ISO setting at ISO200, it is a real challenge to have good low light performance.

Here is a shot using the camera's night scene mode.

At this resolution, I think the photo looks very decent and I have nothing much to complain about.  How about at 100% crop then?

At 100% crop, then you can see that the edges of the face appear to be patches of pixels.  What a disappointment.

Exif Data:

ExposureTime - 1/13 seconds
FNumber - 4.00
ExposureProgram - Creative program
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
ExifVersion - 0221
DateTimeOriginal - 2012:09:02 20:29:48
DateTimeDigitized - 2012:09:02 20:29:48
ComponentsConfiguration - YCbCr
ExposureBiasValue - -0.30
MaxApertureValue - F 3.50
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode
FocalLength - 15 mm

How about I use the aperture priority mode?

I set the ISO to ISO200, aperture priority at F10.  Exposure time is 6 seconds.  Again, it looks pretty decent at this resolution.  How about at 100% crop?

Noise is very visible.  To reduce the effect of noise, I run the photo through noiseware.  Here is the 100% crop after noiseware treatment.

We can still see some noise artifacts.  I must say the low light performance of the camera is very much left to be desired.  It is a far cry from my old old Canon EOS20D at ISO200.

In addition, probably the camera is still new to me.  I am not very good with the focusing yet.  Quite a number of photos are out of focus, although the face detection feature was in use.  To give it a more fair comment, I will need to get myself familiar with the focusing under harsh conditions.

Olympus E-PM1

It has been many long years since my last purchase of any camera-related stuff, until recently, I again get interested in photography, to experience the great advancement in this field of technology.  In a few short years, our cameras have transformed from bulky dSLRs to the compact, yet still high quality micro-4/3 systems.  There are also many mirrorless dSLRs available in the market.

Today, I finally made the decision to purchase the Olympus PEN series E-PM1.  What made me finally decide to do that?  I was playing with the camera at COMEX this afternoon.  The feel of it in my hand is so comfortable!  It is light, a stark contrast to my Canon EOS20D, plus my two bulking lenses.  One weights like a piece of brick, while the other feels like a feature.

Olympus is notorious for their user interface.  The last time I used an Olympus, I was really put off by all the hidden, scenario sensitive menus.  It was like a hide and seek game.  Now Olympus still has many hidden menus, and it did take me quite a number of hours to get a hand of it, but then, hey, it is still quite manageable.  Once you know how it works, actually it is quite alright.

New technology does provide a lot more convenience than my old dSLR.  It is not that my old dSLR can't do something, just that new technology makes it easier, more efficient, & saves time.

I am looking forward to a more exciting & enjoyable journey with my new camera.  Once I can confirm that the image quality from this camera lens pair is as good as my bulky camera lens set, then I most probably will just sell off my old ones.

This is the age of digital technology advancement.

Milan Duomo: Then and Now

It is my honour to have the opportunity to see the different phases of the restoration/renovation of Milan's Duomo, one of the world's most famous Gothic cathedrals. 

Let's first look at this old old painting of Milan Duomo.  Then follow by another photo of it undergoing a restoration of its facade back in 2005.

The richly decorated facade was covered up for cleaning, to remove the marks left by the industrial revolution of Europe. 

In 2007, things got better.  Duomo lowered the veil and revealed a bit more of its beauty. 

The boards illustrated the different phases of the restoration work.  A long process spanning 7 years from 2003 to 2009.  So let's see how it looks like after the restoration work in 2010.

Unfortunately, when yours truly visited this magnificent cathedral in May this year, the weather was bad, always raining, non-stop raining.  So I can only present to you a less magnificent view from the square of this 4th largest church in the world.

Bulguksa Temple Korea: Then and Now

You know you are old when you can have both THEN & NOW photos from your own album.  Here is the 'THEN' photo of the Bulguksa Temple bell tower taken back in 2001 in Gyeongju, South Korea. 

And here is the 'NOW' photo taken in 2009.  I am not actually sure which one is better. 

And here is the 'THEN' photo of the main hall of the temple itself, which is a world heritage site.

And here comes the 'NOW' photo of the same hall, but from a different angle. 

10 years might not make much difference to a structure which had been standing for hundreds of years, but it is a large percentage of a normal human being's life.  10 years, did I improve?  Did I not? 

Osaka Castle: Then and Now

Two photos showing the then and now of the world famous Osaka Castle.  There is almost no change in terms of physical structures, but just more trees in the 'now' photo.  It seems Japanese have done a pretty good job in preserving their history and their past.  In contrast, Chinese are too money-minded, they squeeze almost every cent out from their rich past, and they do it almost always destructively.  It pains me to have to go overseas to see our own cultural treasures, our intangible culture of ancient Chinese.  The virtues of ancient Chinese, the Zheng-Qi, are little left in the nothing but money modern China.  Sad!

The Peak Hong Kong: Then and Now

The peak is one of the most popular tourist spot in Hong Kong.  It represents the prosperity of the former British colony.  Now let's take a look how it was like in the past.

Looking down from the Peak, we see low-rise colonial buildings everywhere.  At a quick glance, you might mistake this Pearl of the Orient as somewhere in Europe. 

Looking down from the Peak now, skyscrapers are crowded all around the beautiful Victoria Harbour.  The buildings are modern, chic and elegant.  Nobody could imagine it was no more than a small little fishing port in the southern tip of mainland China.  The colonial style old buildings are gone together with their British masters.

The mist covering the city is unmissable, signifying this modern city is another victim of uncontrolled urban development, at the expenses of permanent damage to mother nature.  Hong Kongers like to blame mainland Chinese for the pollution, accusing mainland Chinese of not punishing those pollutant producing industries.  However, the fact is many such industries are from Hong Kong!  Well, whatever it is, let's all love our mother Earth.

Guangzhou: Then and Now

Here is a photo of Dr Sun Yat-sen's Memorial Hall in Guangzhou (Canton), China.  During my days in Guangzhou, this memorial hall was a 'sacred' or sensitive place, as it was in memory of the founding father of Republic of China, which fled to Taiwan after the Nationalist government lost the civil war. 

This was then:

And it is now:

The structure didn't change much, but do you notice the absence of Dr Sun's statue in the 'then' photo?  Another less obvious point is the quality of air.  In the 'then' photo, although in black & white, the sky appeared to be clear, while in the 'now' photo, the hall is covered in a light mist, a result of the poor air quality in Guangzhou.  Blue sky is something hard to come by these days in Guangzhou. 

And then I found another photo/painting of the same scene.  Judging by the Japanese characters written on this photo/painting, it seems like the painting was done during Japanese occupation period (Oct 21st, 1938 - Sept, 1945).  Dr Sun's statue was not there either.  It will be interesting to know when they put up the statue. 

Just a brief introduction about this landmark.  The memorial hall is in memory of, of course, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who helped over-turned the Qing Dynasty and established the first republic on Chinese soil, the Republic of China in 1912, and became the very first President of the republic.  The hall has an octagonal shaped dome with no supporting pillars, very much like the octagonal dome of Florence duomo.

The construction of the hall stared in 1929, and completed in 1931. 

Kinkakuji: Then and Now

Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion) is one of Japan's most famous Buddhist temples, not for its Buddhist teachings but for its magnificent architecture of the Golden Pavilion.  The Golden Pavilion, sitting right next to a calm pond, glittering under the bright sun, has charmed hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. 

Let's see an old photo of the golden pavilion.  It looked really run down.  The golden surface didn't glitter, probably because there was no sun.

And here is how it looks in modern days.  The pond is clean, the gold is glittering.  Mmh, now is better :)

Then and Now Series

My accidental discovery of old Gyeongbokgung photos has arisen my interests in comparing places of their past and present.  I have been to quite a lot of places, and I have photos of those places too.  Don't you think it is interesting to see how those places looked like say decades ago, or even more than a century ago?  It is also a record of history, which we are constantly making everyday. 

Please join me for this interesting journey of traveling down the memory lane.  Let's see how the world has changed over time, for better or worse.

You can see all my "Then and Now Series" here.

Seoul: Then and Now

As I was browsing the internet today, I found some very interesting old photos of Seoul in the late 19th century and early 20th century.  There are some familiar scenes and it is interesting to see how different Seoul was then and now. 

This is how Gyeonghoeru (慶會樓) looked like then.  This is the place where the King of Korea hosted his banquets for foreign dignitaries and his ministers and nobles. 

And this is how it looks like today.

Did you spot any difference, other than one photo is in color, whilst the other is in black & white?

This is the pond and pavilion and the bridge in the royal garden.

And how it looks like today.  We know the modern version is just a replica. 

Do you notice the bridge?  They look sooo different.  And further away in the background, there was the pagoda-like structure in the old photo either. 

Sometimes it is interesting to visit our past, although more often than not, some old agony will be dug out as well.  I wonder anyone has the photo showing the Japanese Governor of Korea's House standing right in front of Gyeongbokgung. 

Zuji Photo Share

Travel portal Zuji.com is running a travel photo share contest at its facebook page.

Basically it is a kind of photo contest.  You upload your travel photo to the facebook fan photo page.  If Zuji likes it, you get some credits.  If other visitors to the Zuji facebook page also like your photo, you get more credits.  When the contest period ends in March, the top 10 photos will get a $100 travel voucher from Zuji, isn't it great?

But, a very large but, the catch is, if you want to get the $100 voucher, you have to give up all your rights to your winning photo.  Zuji then can use your photo at their website, promotional materials, and whatever form and channel they deem fit.  You just kiss good bye to your photo.  It is not yours anymore. 

It is a very cheap way of buying photos from the public, exploiting to be more exact.  Such practice should not be encouraged, and the public shall not support such demeaning gimmicks!

BP511A: Original vs 3rd Party

I got myself a third party BP511 camera battery from Cathay Photos. This is the first time I realised how big the difference in price is between the original Canon battery and the 3rd party battery.

A 3rd party BP511 is S$28, an original Canon BP511A is is S$138!!! With the price of 1 original battery, you can get almost 10 3rd party batteries!!! OMG! In terms of quality, 3rd party batteries are about the same as the original. In the past, I bought a 3rd party battery, and it works just fine, the cost was only S$30. The new 3rd party battery has a capacity of 2800mAh, while the old one has a capacity of 1800mAh.

My Photo Portfolio

Here is a collection of my works, presented as a portfolio of mine for people who may want to engage my photography service :) And yes, I am interested to work with people (models/talents) who want to do TFCD :) If you are interested, you can just leave your contact (email or msn or phone number) as a comment to this blog, I will get back to you asap. Both guys and girls are welcome, and couples are super welcome.

This is one recent TFCD that I did with a nice young chap. He actually did the post-processing for this photo and I like it. :)

SimCam - A Camera Emulator

If you don't yet have a full manual camera but you wanna understand more about photography controls, such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc, now you can do it easily, online.

I just found this website which has a SimCam, basically a camera emulator. You can change the basic settings of a 'camera', such as shutter speed, 'take' a shot, and then you can see the results. In some cases, you can even compare the results of different settings, such as ISO.

I find it very useful, especially for people who are interested in photography, but without a DSLR yet.

The links is: http://www.photonhead.com/simcam/

Happy 'snapping' :)