With fast, sharp, prime lenses that are this small and compact, not to mention lightweight (you can carry one in your shirt pocket) there’s no need for zooms. Olympus makes the best zoom lenses on the planet, and for the last three years I have been using these zooms. This is uncharacteristic of me since I have always believed that prime lenses offered the best image quality. My use of zooms is mostly tied to bird photography. BUT! If I were not a bird photographer I’d switch to all of Olympus’ prime glass. There’s just something very freeing about knowing you have a lens in your shirt pocket that can produce world-class, super sharp, beautiful bokeh-filled, images, for just a little money.
Category Archive: Gear
The Olympus wireless flash system is made up of three components.
The Olympus FC-WR Wireless Radiowave Commander
The Olympus FR-WR Wireless Radiowave Flash Receiver
A compatible Olympus flash. In this case, I use the following:
The Olympus FL-900R Electronic Flash
If I were a portrait photographer on a budget, (or a concert photographer or indoor sports photographer) and wanted a super, duper, sharp lens that was very fast (f/1.8) and at the same time relatively small, compact and light weight, my first choice, every time, would be the M. ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75MM F1.8!
I bought this lens in 2013. I bought it before I was an Olympus Visionary. I bought it because I rented it for a tutorial I was writing and fell in love with it. Back then I was still a Canon shooter for birds/wildlife because Olympus hadn’t yet come out with the OM-D E-M1 MK II and the 300 f/4 IS Pro Lens.
The Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III with M.Zuiko 12-45 mm f/4 Pro Lens is very video capable.
The pair are being sold as a kit in either black or silver. I prefer black since it minimizes the possibility of stray reflections off the silver camera body.
The Olympus wireless flash system is made up of three components.
The Olympus FC-WR Wireless Radiowave Commander
The Olympus FR-WR Wireless Radiowave Flash Receiver
A compatible Olympus flash. In this case, I use the following:
The Olympus FL-900R Electronic Flash
While I have done a lot of bird photography, I only seriously started photographing hummingbirds in 2012. I think my expertise with other avian species gave me a leg-up when it comes to making great hummingbird shots but it’s still incredibly hard. Photographing hummingbirds is a task that will try your patience but if you can hang in there, the rewards are pretty amazing.
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I looked into tripods and heads from all the big names like Miller, O’Connor, Sachtler and Acebill. Talk about sticker shock… there are dozens of models to choose from in the $5000 to $19000 price range! That’s more than I want to spend. So I looked at the next tier. Manfrotto and Benro are big players in the under $5000 video tripod segment. They make nice stuff.
But since video is not my main thing, that’s still more than I wanted to spend. Then I found out about the Magnus REX VT-6000 2-Stage Video Tripod with Fluid Head.
To get the discounts on Topaz Labs products, you must go to this link (bit.ly/TopazPlugins) and when you order, use the code METHODS to save 15% off whatever the current pricing is.
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