Traveling with Micro Four Thirds

Sardinia

Bollingthirst — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:26:28 +0000

Probably our last trip of the year was to Sardinia for a weekend with a group of friends based around Olbia. We hired cars and explored the north east region. I would love to return next year as the island has an amazing landscape which is quite unique. I didn’t have the time to do it justice.

Portugal revisited

Bollingthirst — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 01:48:06 +0000

After having a great weekend in the Algarve in the spring we got the opportunity to return to the same spot near Lagos. This time we spent a night in Lisbon and Setubal where I visited my cousin Allan. Allan has been using a G1 for a few years so is well ahead of me in the micro four thirds game. He introduced us to some lovely freinds and some amazing scenery.

my cousin Allan who lives in Setubal

some of Allans friends from Setubal

Lisbon nightlife with the Sumilux 35

The Algarve with the Olympus 9-18mm m43 lens

and another with the 9-18mm a really great little lens

some of the bored dogs of Lagos

Vintage at Goodwood

Bollingthirst — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:05:38 +0000

Went to the Vintage Festival at Goodwood just down the road. It was a great experience and we’ll definitely be going again next year. Most shots taken with the EP2 and 35mm Summilux.

Summer in England

Bollingthirst — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:31:08 +0000

It’s been a great summer so far here in England and we’ve been making the most of it with local fetes, horse racing at Goodwood, trips to a beer festival in the Cotswolds and a naked bicycle ride in Brighton!! This shot below was taken with the Olympus Pen EP2 in near darkness at ISO 800 with the 35mm Sumilux wide open at f1.4, with noise reduction courtesy of the superb new Lightroom 3

Below: Woodland near Lodsworth shot with the Olympus 9-18mm on a Lumix GF1

Below: Goodwood races with the Leica 75mm Summicron

Below: Lodsworth Village Fete with the 45-200mm

Below: Someone took this of us using my EP2 and Leica 35mm at around f2, ISO 400

Below: Charlbury Beer Festival in the Cotswolds

Below: Naked cycling in Brighton

Fuerteventura

Bollingthirst — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:08:58 +0000

In the middle of May we went to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. Most of this week was about rest and relaxation but as ever, due to the modest proportions of MFT equipment I took it along everywhere. The beaches down on the Jandia peninsula were covered with these amazingly tame little critters which I believe to be chipmunks. This one below was shot with the increasingly useful 45-200mm on an EP2. The busker was shot with the excellent 45mm 2.8 macro lens on the same body and lastly, the girl who appeared to be deep in contemplation was shot with the 45-200mm

The Algarve, Portugal

Bollingthirst — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 01:39:07 +0000

For Easter weekend I had a few nights in the Algarve in Portugal. I took all the MFT gear but it was the macro lens that proved most useful. The rocky costline of Praia de Luz offered spectacular details that only a macro lens could capture. Other scenes were equally as striking close up, like this ravaged, giant Agave plant below which I came across on the short walk to the beach:

Sofia in Bulgaria

Bollingthirst — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:53:57 +0000

Last weekend I visited Sofia in Bulgaria. I had just bought a used copy of a Leica Summilux 75mm lens and have been dying to try it out properly. I found that its use was compulsive. This lens is a complete joy to handle, it’s quite compact but has a nice weight which seems to be perfectly matched for the Olympus EP2 body. The focusing movement is beautifully smooth but there’s no getting around it, manual focusing after years of auto-focus requires a lot of practice! Even with the focus assist (7x magnification facility) the EP2 provides, the depth of field on an effective 150mm f2 lens is so narrow, the slightest movement of the focus ring or the subject and you’ve lost it! The EP2 has an unfortunate requirement to have its OK button pressed before it returns your view from 7x zoom to ‘full view’. This means you have to take the weight of the camera by the lens barrel as you sort this out with your right hand, which can result in mis-focusing. The Panasonic GF1 simply needs a half pressure on the shutter release to return you to this view. Stopping down the lens could make up the difference but you don’t buy a lens like this to stop it down if you can help it so I’ll just have to keep practicing! Here are some shots which made it through, all shot wide open on the Olympus EP2

Rome in Italy

Bollingthirst — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:57:09 +0000

At the beginning of February we had 4 nights in Rome. We had variable weather but just enough sunny days to test out my newly acquired Lumix 45-200mm lens. Needless to say I am very happy with it, ok, its not as sharp as a Canon 400mm 5.6L but its a lot easier to carry!

Normandy in France

Bollingthirst — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 11:46:57 +0000

For New Year I spent a week in Normandy France, renting a chateau near Deauville. The weather was variable but we had good friends to pass the time with. The highlight visually was the coastal town of Honfluer, shot here with the GF1 and 20mm 1.7.

Harris in Scotland

Bollingthirst — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:00:30 +0000

Over Christmas I went to the Hebridean island of Lewis. On Christmas eve at around 10am I set off on what would normally be a one hour drive to the south of Harris, the neighbouring island. This was my first chance to try out the GF1 with the 14-45mm in a truly wild place.

The snow had been falling for days but today it was icy cold with a brilliant blue sky. About 20 minutes down this road I reached some amazing hills with frozen lakes. I used a circular polariser as usual and although I had the tripod I knew there would be more to shoot over the next hill so I cut corners to save time and shot wider open than the book would say was prudent. I’d do the same again as the vistas just kept getting better and better.

All shot with the GF1 and 14-45 lens