HDR image

Today, due to the digital technology, there is much more things we can do which we had to give up during film era.

Strong back light such as evening sky was the typical example.

  – This is… not good at all….

Even today, if you shoot that kind of landscape, Camera tries to average the exposure and that makes the image look boring.

That was how, we all gave up that kind of image old days… but today, HDR can save it.

   – If you adjust the exposure at  sky… again, this is not good at all…

Today, lots of cameras come with HDR mode which capture multiple images with different exposure instantly, then you merge those images by using graphic software.

In this case, I used Adobe Photoshop.

1. Open Adobe Bridge
2. select images you would like to merge.
3. Go Tools – Photoshop – Merge to HDR Pro…

Then, do adjustment as you want.

Too see what happens, move one at the time and remember the number before you change.

Of course, you can do the final adjustment by using adjustment layers of Photoshop.

This is just amazing…. we were never be able to get this kind of image during the film era unless you use half ND filter or something…

For this image. I used Olympus E-M10+45mmF1.8.

E-M10 has mode to merge HDR in camera, but I found it works better this way by using photoshop.

When you use HDR mode, your camera will shoot multiple image very quick and you will be surprised if it was your first time.

It would be more stable to use tripods for it, but I did not use tripods on this image.

OLYMPUS M. ZUIKO 45mm F1.8

Using bigger filter with step-up ring to share lens cap with other lenses.

Another lens which I purchased while I was in Japan was OLYMPUS M. ZUIKO 45mm F1.8.

Now, I got 15mm, 25mm and 45mm. As I was using 28mm, 50mm and 100mm for film, those are the perfect combination.

Talk about 45mm, I noticed it works quite well when you shoot motor vehicles.

CITROEN 2CV

Old days, we used to use 85mm or 100mm for shooting cars or motorcycles. Although they had good perspective, the depth of the focal was the big problem.

To get the detail of the body surface, you should not shoot during day time. Always best time is… cloudy or evening….

Also, to take whole vehicle reasonably clear, we had to use smaller aperture and that always required slow shutter speed.

This meant, we always needed tripods to take reasonable photos.

But, thanks for Micro-Four-Thirds… you don’t have to worry about depth of the focal and also due to the OLYMPUS’s strong image stabilizer, it is so easy to shoot without tripods.

Royal Enfield… believe it or not… it is 1995 model!

Although this lens is reasonably priced, I would say the image quality is as good as Panasonic Leica 25mm F1.4.

Only problem was… the filter diameter was 37mm which is smaller than 25mm and 15mm.
This meant when I swap lenses, it was quite annoying that I could not share the lens cap.I always had to look for the lens cap only for this lens.

So, I used step-up ring to use 46mm filter and now, I can share the lens cap with other 2 lenses.

Well… it looks a bit ugly… but it is more practical…

 

 

Leica Summilux DG 25mmF1.4…Winter in Vancouver

Leica Summilux DG 25mmF1.4

Vancouver winter is wet and dark… at least it is not the best season for tourists.

So, it is a good time to see around more detail in this town.

Today, Vancouver looks more likely to be Hong Kong or something… but still keeping some old tradition.

This old town is still quite rough… but at the same time, you can see new fancy shops.

With Panasonic Leica DG 25mmF1.4, it is good idea to do BW as well.

The center of the old town “Gas Town”… still quite a few tourist there. During the summer, those trees will cover up everything and you can see more detail in this season.

Those are all taken by Leica Summilux DG 25mmF1.4.

This lens is equivalent to 50mm standard lens for full-size format.
Today, taking photos is so easy. Due to the digital, you can re-shoot and check… and that is the way, you can take better photos easier.

At the same time, I felt it was boring…

That was one of the reason I started using single lens like this.

Seems like it works quite well and I am enjoying.

None of photos above has good lighting condition… but thank you for F1.4… I did not need tripods at all.

This lens is for Panasonic… but in that case, you are not able to use image-stabilizer unless you have GX7 or GX8.

But if you use OLYMPUS, body mounted image-stabilizer works quite good and that is the way, this lens does better job.

Due to the Cheap Japanese Yen, it is a good chance to purchase it if you are Micro Four-Thirs owner.

 

Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 15mm F1.7

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10+ Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 15mm F1.7

   – Merged 8 photos by Adobe Photoshop

This was my first single lens since I started using digital camera.

When I choose this one, I really had a hard time to choose one from 25mm and 15mm.
Since I grew up with 50mm standard lens, I knew 25 was going to be easy to use… but at the same time, I thought 15 would be easier to use under more different situation.

They say this is about similar to iPhone camera…!

I knew I was going to buy 25mm sooner or later, but I choose this one for my 1st.

This is slightly longer than 28mm wide angle lens and slightly shorter than 35mm lens.

Recently, I take lots of panorama photos by using Adobe Photoshop. In that case, it is better not to be too wide due to the distortion.

Do you see the difference between the one from previous post?

Seems like this lens is a kind of perfect for it.

When I was using zoom lenses, I hardly ever used wide angle lenses some reason… but I am quite different when I use this lens.

Zoom lenses are easy to use… but at the same time, it can confuse you as well.

Single lenses can’t take anything, but it can take something you have been missing out…

Panasonic Leica Summilux 25mm F1.4

From Left hand, Panasonic 35-100mmF2.8, OLYMPUS E-M10+Leica 25mm F1.4, Leica 15mm F1.7, OLYMPUS 45mm F1.8 and Panasonic 12-35mm F2.8

It has been for a while since last update.

While I was in Japan, I totally update my camera system.
Last year, I purchased Panasonic 12-35mm and 35-100mm zoom lenses which are considered as top grade lenses.

In fact, they does great job… but at the same time, those are really “normal”.

OLYMPUS E-M10+Leica 25mm F1.4

When I looked back my old photos with Leica Digilux 3, I realized how good they are although they are not as sharp as modern lenses.

So, that is the reason that I started thinking about Panasonic-Leica lenses.

25mm is the standard lens which is equivalent to 50mm on full-size.

At first, I bought 15mm and 45mm which are equivalent to 30mm and 90mm. Although I thought those  were enough… but soon I started wanting 25mm due to my past experience.

OLYMPUS E-M10+ Leica 25mm F1.4

Old days, people first bought 50mm standard lens with SLR and took everything with it. I experienced it and then, I got 28mm and 100mm.

So, I found that my body still remember the old school…
Since I gave up film in 2005, I never had chance to use single lenses and I thought zoom lenses were good enough. But, now I found it is not as hard as I was thinking and I just enjoy those simple lenses.

OLYMPUS E-M10+Leica 25mm F1.4

Another reason that I can enjoy single lenses is because it is Micro Four-Thirds system.
Swapping lenses outside has been a quite risky thing for digital SLRs.
Today, most of cameras have anti-dust system with them… but not many are so good and still it is better not to swap lenses outside.

But Micro Four-Thirds system always have the best anti-dust system and that is why we can swap lenses so easily.
Also they produce lots of attractive lenses from OLYMPUS, Panasonic and other third-parties.

To enjoy single lenses, Micro Four-Thirds systems are strongly recommended.

If you think of buying Leica lens from Germany, they will costs you several thousands dollars each… but Panasonic-Leica 25mm is only $500!

Another good news is… due to the cheap Yen, those are not as expensive as how they used to be.

 

 

Panasonic LUMIX G X VARIO 12-35mm F2.8

I had been away from blog for 2 month because I was away to Japan.

Japan is the place for… shopping… so, I purchased expensive Panasonic LUMIX G X vario 12-35mmF2.8 which costs over $1,000 in Canada was $200 cheaper over there and also come with 5 year extended warranty!!

This lens is equivalent to 24-70mmF2.8 on 35mm format.

First of all, this lens is slightly heavier than my Panasonic GX1. It makes me a bit out of balance.

That is the reason, I started using external view finder to get better holding.

 

 

This is a panorama which I merged 7 images by Adobe Photoshop.

When you do this kind of merger especially in this kind of clear sky, it is easy to get bad finish by cheap lenses due to the poor image quality around edges of each image.

I think this one is done quite well due to the reasonable image quality around the edge.

Also the color balance is quite impressive. This one is merging 6 images.
When you use this kind of fast F speed luxurious lens, it is good idea to test in darker area.
So, I went to public market in Granville Island which is just near by.

Before, I was using Panasonic 14-42mmF3.5-5.6. In that case, I had to use ISO1600 at this place, but now, ISO400 is good enough at the same place!

This is even darker… but I still     could  handle with ISO400!

 

 

 

Photo from New York… just kidding… they were taking film in Vancouver and those New York Yellow Cabs are all movie set.

This is the twilight time in winter. But I still could handle with ISO400 without tripods.

 

If you want the same kind of lens for 35mm format, you will have to pay at least $2,000 and you have to deal with the weight which is like carring a rock.
When you think that way, this lens could be quite compact and reasonably priced.

It is much bigger and heavier than my old 14-42mm lens, but I don’t need tripod as much as before and it can reduce weight too.

I can say this is a quite reasonable high quality zoom lens which I can recommend to micro four-thirds users.

 

Another good news is… this is “Made in Japan” !!

Modern Style…

The way to communicate has been changed today and this is the new ways to talk to Santa today!

This is the end of the year and this is the view you see in shopping malls
now…

Trip to the USA 8… Bodie, California

Bodie California is is known as a ghost town which is 214km south of Reno, Nevada.

In late 19th century, the small town in the middle of nowhere boomed up with gold mining and suddenly the population grew up to 10,000.

But in early 20th century, there was no more gold and that was the time people started leaving the town.

After the big fire in 1932, more and more people left and in the middle of 20th century, it became a ghost town.

I took I395 to go down to south… but it was so windy. In that day, I was not sure if I was going to Bodie or I was also thinking of going to South Lake Tahoe which is only 80km from Reno.

I was thinking of deciding depends on the condition… but the wind was getting harder and harder. Then, speed came down to 70km/h… I felt danger and had to stop at the road side.

Then, a police officer came by and told me that it was going to be dangerous to ride sport bike in this area. He also said they always get that kind of wind there and it was safer to take Old I395.

It was so windy and it was not easy just to stand straight. It was as bad as Typhoon…

But Harley Davidson are just going without any problem! That was the time I noticed that the weight of Harley is a part of performance to run in the USA…

On old I395, it was much easier although it was still quite windy and I decided to go all the way to Bodie.

By the time I got to Carson City, Nevada, there was no more wind.

After that, all I did was ran beside the dynamic Sierra Nevada Range… Further I go, less and less traffic we got. By the time, there was no divider in the middle.

Nearest Town Bridge Port is still 30km away…

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Last 16km was windy mountain road. There were few cars and I just could not believe there was something over the mountains…

Last 3 miles were rough road… I really wanted to give up when I first saw it. Fully loaded sport bike on rough road… it was a kind of the worst situation…

The rough road is going all the way over the mountains… it would be hard to imagine going that windy mountain road on bike.

Finally, I could see Bodie California…

Over 100 years ago, people came all the way to this place…. What made people do that?

Gold…and desire… Desire made people come to this place and made them to build a town.

Then. when they had no more gold, they just left.

You will see the energy of desire when you visit this place…

 

Trip to the USA 7… Reno, Nevada

Reno, Nevada is the first City after you cross the border of California and Nevada.

It is known as a Casino city like Las Vegas… but today, more and more place has casinos and that is how Reno is not as popular as it used to be…

I first passed by Reno when I was on Amtrak in 2005. All after the Sierra Nevada, desert and small cowboy towns, Reno was looking totally different… but at the same time, my honest impression was… “Ran down amusement park”.

View of Reno From Amtrak in 2005… you can’t see this view from trains anymore…

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It was my first time to stop by here and first thing I did was look for the train track. But, I did not find them anywhere.. so, I looked for Amtrak station and found out the train tracks which were running in the middle of city was now underground.

People think Amtrak is not doing anything… but at least they are trying to improve. At the same time, there is no view of Downtown Reno from trains anymore…

It is a funny city… all they have in town is Casino, Casino and Casino…other things are a bit away from central city.

Even Supermarket near downtown had slot machines in its building!

I would say Reno is “Las Vegas for working Class.”.

In Las Vegas, everything is fancy and so many milliners are around… at least I don’t feel comfortable there… but here, I felt it was welcome to everyone.

To me, I am not interested in gambling at all and did not play anything.

When I was there, they had motorcycle event “Street Vibrations 2014” in the middle of city.

No wonder there was so many motorcycle riders on the way here. In downtown, there were Harley Davidson everywhere. In North America, when they say Motorcycle event, it means Harley event.

Although there are so many Harley, I did not see any classic Harley… why was it?

I guess that is because or the change of freeway max-speed. It used to be 55 to 60 mph on freeway and that was the perfect speed for those vintages… but 70 mph is a bit too fast for them to enjoy the “sweet spot” of its engine.

That is how, I don’t see any classic Harley in the USA and actually there are more in Tokyo.

Also Reno is the Middle of Nowhere. It is surrounded by Sierra Nevada Range and Desert…at least it is better to be newer more reliable bikes.

This is the middle of Reno…everything looks cheap, everything is fake… that is how it looks to me… Symbol of American Dream or illusion…

Trip to the USA Truckee – Donner Lake

In Truckee California, which is 32 miles from Reno, there is a lake called “Donner Lake” which wad named after old pioneer “Donner Party”.

Donner Lake… formerly called Truckee lake

View of Donner Lake… there is nothing to remind the tragedy….

In May 1846, Donner party left the frontier town Independence Mi. It was the last group of the year.

They merged with some other families and the party ended up with 87 people and the half was children.

But they took harder “California Trail” instead of easier but longer “Oregon Trail” and also taking “Hastings Cut-Off” was the suicidal decision…

Due to the unknown Hastings Cut-Off, They had to struggle in great salt desert.

It killed so many horses and cows and it dramatically made them slow down.

By the time they arrived to Sierra Nevada Range, it was already in rate October. There was great desert behind and mountains in front… then, they decided to go forward to mountain.

But soon they had snow and was trapped by the Donner lake to pass the winter.
They did not have much experience on this kind of survival and soon the food ran out.

It ended up with cannibalism and only 48 people survived from the camp.

Today, there is a town called Truckee near by, but there was nothing at that time.

When I passed by AMTRAK in 2005, there was an announce about this story.

View of mail street of Truckee.

$5 for Pizza and Beer… not bad at all…

Amtrak California Zephyr… it is going to San Francisco

This one is going to Chicago.
Truckee California is a small town with railway.

Main street of Truckee… They are preserving old buildings quite well and it even look way better than 10 years ago.

View of Sierra Nevada on the way back to Reno. It was quite smoky due to the fire in California.