I purchased an Olympus OM 21mm f/2.0 lens for my OM-4 a few months back and have loved it on the film camera. This lens is special (in my opinion) as its a) tiny b) great quality and c) the fastest super wide you can get this side of a $5k Leica.
Last night was the first time I mounted it on a Canon (5D Mark II) and thought I’d test a Zuiko lens characteristic of close focusing…
Attack of the sea monster.

And now for something a little different. I tried some splash photography over the weekend to build up relevant samples for the Zeiss 100mm f2 Macro (for Canon mounts) I’m trying out. This type of work is not a forte for me but I knew enough to take a decent crack at it. This is all manual so it takes a lot of patience (and an appalling hit rate) to get right. If I recall, ISO was up in the ISO 2000ish range with shutter speeds at 1/1000 and f/10 …

A few weeks ago I tried a technique called Painting with Light. It kinda worked for me but not liked I hoped so last night I made another attempt, armed with a little hindsight and a bit more planning. The process is quite time consuming as exposures take somewhere between 15 and 30s. Here’s three shots I’d like to share. These were all taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and Zeiss 100mm f2 macro.

I feel like I should share this… each year (well for the past two), we’ve been sharing our yearly best images over at Lost in Focus. This year, I have to say though, I’m blown away with the quality. When I see the images on the site coming through every day, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how good some of it is. It’s only when you step back and see the very best images as a collection that it puts it in perspective. Anyway, here’s the link – each …

I have a copy of the above lens for review… It’s Zeiss’ new and highly regarded macro lens for the Canon mount. I don’t have the Canon macro on hand to compare it to so will be writing a standalone review of it in the next two weeks (as used with my 5D Mark II). Let me know if any special requests, things you want me to cover, otherwise it’ll be the usual real world review with plenty of high quality image samples, etc.

I wrote recently about the importance of selecting your best images from 2009 to give yourself a true reflection of your photography year. After much deliberation, here’s my top five images. Overall, I’m happy with where I ended up with these five. I think some are reasonably memorable and as is the case with my photography, consist of a range of topics –  from the familiar (Akuri and our dogs) to the somewhat bizarre. The year 2009 was supposed to be a time for me to return to “shooting for …

The name Zeiss needs no introduction in the field of lenses & optics, having been a cornerstone of the industry for countless decades. Recently however, Zeiss have stepped up its efforts for the DSLR market and last year announced a couple of fast (f/1.4) lenses for the popular 50mm and 85mm / normal telephoto range. I was given the Zeiss 85mm f1.4 for a couple of weeks to try on my Canon 5D Mark II and here are my findings.
Intro
I’ve used a lot of Zeiss glass in the past, both …

I recently wrote about an adapter I bought for my 5D which allowed me to mount my old Olympus OM Zuiko lenses on it. In that post, I provided a couple of samples with a normal range 55mm f/1.2. Here’s a quick update with a longer lens – the Olympus OM Zuiko 135mm f/2.8, with a particular emphasis with how it performs with a Canon 5D Mark II.
I’m a big fan of the old Olympus Zuiko lenses which have a few interesting characteristics:

They are very compact
They can be cheap …

As I’ve started to shoot more and more film recently, a question I often get asked is what the resolution of 35mm film is like and how it stacks up against the latest DSLR technology.
Here’s a quick answer – very well.
This isn’t an in depth comparison – as I don’t have a side by side right now to show, but here’s a recent scan of a 35mm negative. Quick specs of the gear used to produce this shot are:
Camera: Olympus OM-4
Lens: Olympus OM Zuiko 55mm f/1.2 shot at approx f/5.6
Film: …

This weekend I experimented with a new technique called “Painting with Light”. It involves shooting subjects in total darkness with very long shutter speeds, and then taking an artificial light source (e.g. a lamp) and “painting” the subject with the light. When done properly, the effect is very interesting – more interesting in some respects that what can easily be achieved with regular studio equipment due to the degree of selective lighting.
This is my first serious attempt so bear with me. You’ll see more of this in coming weeks …