Author: Richard

Posted on

The current cost of entry level cameras

Young mum and child walking past Jews Court on Steep Hill in Lincoln

Olympus have released the OM Pen. As the Pen F it was a flagship product but did not sell well. Now it’s more an entry level camera, but with the kit lens its still close to a thousand pounds.

Canon have just released the refreshed R8ii at £1759 which is also an entry level camera.

With the entry level now £500 – £1200 for small mirrorless to £1000 – £2000 for 35mm full frame, and the professional spec bodies around £5000 getting into photography is proving to be expensive.

High end compacts like the Ricoh GR range going for £1300, and the Fuji X100 if you can get one for £1800.

Secondhand is looking increasingly tempting. Especially when you can get something like a mid range Nikon Z6 for under £700, Canon EOS 7Dii for £400, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 for under £600 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 for £250. Thats a good selection of DSLR, full frame mirrorless and MicroFourThirds.

Posted on

An Olympus Photo Walk

A while ago now I had the chance to take a photowalk around Lincoln with the local Olympus rep and a few other photographers. I thought it was time to show some of the shots off again.

Steep hill. The old victorian hand rail in close up.

I have been looking through my images I took at shows and on this photowalk, to see if I bought a MicroFourThirds camera, what lens would I pick.

Door knocker.
Young woman holding a large SLR, looking at the back. She is stood with Lincoln Cathedral behind her out of shot.
Young mum and child walking past Jews Court on Steep Hill in Lincoln
Couple of women having a drink and food sat on an old wall.
Bicycle hung on a wall, Small Union Flags are on the rear wheel
Young woman on phone
Couple of young women walking up Steep Hill
Entrance of Cathedral.
Two woman sat on wall in front of Cathedral.
Woman cleaning her glasses
Pulley and Lincoln Cathedral
Posted on

A visit to the wolds

Horncastle Police Station, an old traditional small town police station.

There was a fabric roadshow in Horncastle town, in the Lincolnshire wolds, so a visit had to be made to restock Caroline’s fabric stash.

While she indulged in some retail therapy I took Ted for a walk round the town, snaping a few shots with the Leica M10 and the 35mm lens.

Posted on

The Olympus Pen is Back

Advertising shot of the original Olympus F

I got my hands on the original Pen F and loved it, the first Pen with a viewfinder.

Now the Pen is back, instead of a very expensive highend model we have a cheaper model but improved in a number of ways including weather sealing and a improved EVF.

Advertising image of the latest OM System Pen
Posted on

Zooms or Primes

Young model in a green dress stood by an apple tree, holding an apple.
Leica M10

I see the argument over zooms or primes has re-emerged on social media. Also a few videos on youtube. It does seem people are making better arguments for each now.

Cariad sat on a stone step by a door. She is wearing a pretty pink dress and wrap. Her hands are cross and she is looking directly into camera.

In the top image a prime was used in the next a standard zoom. The biggest difference between them is the depth of field.

The shooting experience was a little different for each. The prime was small and light but manual focus. The zoom was big and heavy but auto focus. The fixed angle of view from the prime made me think a little more about the composition and the ability to adapt and work fast with the zoom also brought something to the party.

My views have differed over the years, I started primes only, switched to the convenience of a zooms, for Weddings I would take a body with a 24-70mm f/2.8 and another body with 70-200mm f.2.8, and a fast prime for low light evening events.

Studio I have generally stuck with primes.

I generally stick with primes now but occasionally pull a out of the bag when I feel its needed.

Posted on

Another week and a couple of days spent in Lincoln

Absinthe dripper, on the bar of my favourite coffee shop

I often have to visit a client or one of their local data centres at least once a week. There based in Lincoln, England, and Lincoln is also home to one of the (as voted by a national newspaper) top ten independent coffee shops. The coffee menu has freshly roasted coffee from all round the major coffee regions and if its in season they likely have it.

Old coffee shop in Lincoln. There are a couple of tables out front with people enjoying a beverage.

They also have their signature blend espresso which if you like old school, thick tiny intense expresso’s you have to try.

They are also often open to late at night and can have, music from local bands, coffee tasting sessions and a selection of spirits, cocktails and a few bottled beers.

upper floor of a local coffee shop.

I try and get in at least once a week to sample their delights. The shop is the focal point for many people meeting up and being lgbtqia+ friendly is a safe and wonderful place to hang out.

Slightly blurred photo of a barista making coffee.

If your local town as independent shops support them or lose them.

There is also a vinyl record store next door that also sells second hand CD’s so is another excuse to head to Lincoln.

Black and white photo of a young blonde model stood in front of some book shelves in a local coffee shop.
Posted on

Time for an outdoor photoshoot

Blond model in white shirt and tan jacket, posing with arms crossed outside the Usher art gallery in Lincoln, UK.

The high of summer has passed and the contrast levels outdoors are dropping, so I am thinking about having a wonder around Lincoln with a model. Its been a few years since I have done one so it will be a good challenge.

Camera choice, not sure, last time it was Z7 and Nikkor S 50mm f/1.2, do I keep to the same format or push things a little?

Posted on

Linux computing – Intro

For many years I have worked in IT for my day job and photography has been part time for weddings, corporate portraits, and personal fun projects like most of my studio work.

For many years I was a Netware administrator, starting with Netware 2 up to Netware 6, we generally used DOS and then Windows on the desktop, with the exception of a few Sun workstations running CDE on Unix.

For home use I had the same as most users, and worked my way from DOS, Windows, 3.11, Windows 95 and then Windows 2000. I dabbled with Unix, mainly Redhat as we had a few Redhat servers at work, but it was the launch of Fedora, that made me jump from Windows at home to Linux running Fedora.

I happily ran Fedora as my main machine for many years. It was in 2005 I started to drift to the dark side. It was in 2005 I bought a lovely little 12″ PowerMac for my wife.

It was around this time that Adobe started an open pilot of a new product called Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. This was for Windows and Mac OS’s only. It was also around this time I discovered how easy colour management and colour calibration was in the Mac. So my Fedora desktop was my main desktop machine, and the Mac was used for running Adobe.

It was not long before I was using the Mac more then my wife, so I then bought my own Mac and my slip to the dark side was complete.

So I use Mac for photography but use Linux day to day. Arch and Debian are my current main distro’s.

Posted on

How was your Bank Holiday – Replacing the shed roof

Picture of a wooden she, the roof can be seen and a window, The sky is bright blue with white clouds

Did you do anything exciting on your bank holiday if your here in the UK.

We visited a family members house and reroofed and re-felted there old shed. Parts were rotten and water was getting in.

Not a quick job and one we had been putting off due the high heat in the UK recently, but this weekend was forecast to be cooler.

So tow bar on our electric estate car, trailer hooked up and a trip to the local builders merchant. Wood purchased and off to the shed. The rotten wood all pulled off, and replaced, a fresh sheet of wood on the roof and a re-felt.