Photo of The Day: Happy Chinese New Year!:

I went out today to shoot more with the Olympus OM-D before I have to return it, and decided to check out Chinatown, since today is Chinese New Year. I saw some of the lion dances going on, and took quite a few photos, most of which I’m saving for my X-E1 vs. OM-D post later.  This was only the beginning; next weekend, the lion dances are going to occur all day…I think it’s going to be Saturday if I’m correct.

This photo was taken with the OM-D, and the Panasonic 25 Summilux F1.4 ASPH.  What an awesome lens…I actually ran into this “lion” by accident, and when I saw him, i just started snapping away.  I was extremely close to him so a lot of the photos had the lion cut off a lot.  I checked out what I got, and I found this photo with the guy inside staring straight at me completely tack sharp.  I was quite honestly amazed because there was so much movement!  This is where the autofocus on the OM-D really comes into play.  It was so fast, and precise.  Plus, the image stabilization probably had a hand in this shot as well.

Anyway, I might be going to next week’s Chinese New Year celebration but I’m not sure yet.  If I do, I’ll probably be shooting with the X-E1.  The Oly was fun to use but I miss my Fuji.  Take care everyone!

Snowstorm Nemo comes to New York City:

New York has finally received its first real snow storm of the year, Snowstorm Nemo.  It’s a great feeling waking up to a snowy white morning.  It reminds me of the days I use to go skiing when I was in college.  It even felt good doing a little shoveling believe it or not :).  I didn’t get to take as many photos today as I wanted to because I’ve been feeling a little under the weather.  I really wanted to go out to Manhattan, and see if there was anything out there to shoot.  But I did take a walk around my neighborhood here in Bayridge Brooklyn.  If you want to see a huge snowstorm we had a couple of years back where cars, and buses were abandoned in the middle of the street check out my Leica M9 post.  It was the biggest snowstorm I experienced here in New York City. [continue reading…]

Photo of The Day: Walking Around Brighton Beach With The OM-D:

Hey everyone!  I’ve been quite busy these past few days but I have been setting some time apart to use both the OM-D, and my X-E1 for my comparison post coming up in the near future.  It will probably be a three part series.  After using both essentially sided by side for these past few days, both definitely have unique strengths as well as their own unique weaknesses.  I took both out last night but ended up using the OM-D mostly for some night shooting in Brighton Beach, which is near Coney Island.  I took a few photos but the snow, and cold got worse so I ended up calling it a night.

Here is one of the photos I shot with the OM-D, and the Panasonic 25 Summilux F1.4 ASPH.  I must say, this is a killer lens, and a perfect match for the OM-D.  I can’t wait to compare this lens with the Fuji XF 35mm.  You all know how much I love the XF 35mm but the 25 lux definitely has its unique look.  This shot was taken right on the boardwalk, which I always like to walk, especially in the summers.  There’s a lot of life there, and look how massive it looks.  As you can see in this photo though, it was rather deserted except for the couple and their dog, which I thought would be great as a black and white photo.  I use Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2 to convert my file to black and white.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photo.  Stay tuned for more stuff coming up.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Multi-Part Comparison Between Fuji X-E1 And Olympus OM-D in The Works:

Check out what I was able to get my hands on today…an Olympus OM-D with the Panasonic 25 Summilux F1.4, and the kit zoom!  I just so happen to own the Fuji X-E1 with the XF 35mm, and its kit zoom…hmm…this spells like the beginnings of a really cool comparison!  I will have the Olympus for quite some time so I’m thinking of making a multi-part comparison between the cameras, the cameras with both of these wonderful 50mm equivalents, and of course, the cameras with their kit zooms.  I’m not going to lie to you; it’s going to be hard for me to be completely unbiased since I love my X-E1 so much.  But for the sake of this comparison, I promise I’ll be as fair as I possible.  Plus, the OM-D is one killer camera in its own right.

What else?  Well, I’ll be pretty busy with that but I have a few other posts coming up as well.  Btw, for those who own an X-E1, and are wondering if the new firmware is worth getting, I used it all day with the XF 35mm, and it works fine.  I did not experience any noise issues, and my camera did state that it has the current firmware.  Just make sure that if you install the new firmware, you also install the newest firmware for the XF 35mm.  I honestly didn’t feel like it was that much of an improvement…maybe it was slightly more accurate in darker settings but that could just be wishful thinking.  I never really felt like I had a problem focusing with the XF 35mm before.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a great weekend!