Life Observed

This is the first of a short series of texture pictures. This old, hard worked farm chain hides in a pile in the corner of the barn . Chains are only used on farms when baling twine or wire doesn't work:  True, chains are strong, but they are also heavy and no-one wants to drag a chain across the yard to save a situation* when a load of string might work instead. This image comes courtesy of soft available light and my excellent old Olympus E-1 camera and it's Zuiko 14-54 lens. *You would be surprised how many situations can develop on a working farm...

Your genial host Snaarman has gone all old school.  I just bought a five megapixel pro grade camera, the Olympus E-1. This would have set you back £1200 when new but the megapixel race has left it far behind and you can buy them for well under £200 these days. The E-1 is built like a tank, comes fully weather sealed with full aluminium construction and a lovely whisper quiet shutter. However, is it any good? Surely 5 Mpixels is almost useless in the current day and age. I do have some excellent Zuiko lenses to ensure all of those pixels are well used. So, here are some early examples from this venerable war horse. As always, click on any picture to see the 800 x 600 uploaded version.

One of the benefits of the Olympus camera range is the splendid Zuiko lenses. In this case I think their lenses are better than their DSLR camera bodies, but that's fine. I would rather have a sharp lens on a slow body than poor glass any time. Here's a shot from their excellent 50mm f2 macro lens. So this works out looking like a 100mm short telephoto on old fashioned 35mm film. Does this shot seem reasonably sharp? Well here's the truth. That is an unprocessed 100% crop from one corner of the original 10Mpixel shot below. That changes things. I tell you, this is one sharp lens, even Dpreview spoke of it as "close to perfect as you can get". So, lenses are always a bit soft in the corners?? Hmm. Try a good Zuiko :-) PS, this shot has been posted before , but I thought I would revisit the subjact with a full size crop as well..

I recently praised my Zuiko 11 to 22mm wide zoom, one of my small selection of favourite lenses. It is a pro grade lens and quite expensive to buy new.  Today let me recommend the much cheaper Zuiko 70-300mm long zoom. On an old film camera this would be the equivalent of a 140-600mm zoom. It isn't a pro grade lens, and there is some suspicion its actually a Sigma design for Olympus, but it is surprisingly sharp. This opening shot is a local horse with fly guards last summer. I took this at 70mm wide open. OK, now check out this crop from the centre of the image: For a kit level lens I say that is a most worthy performance. Aha, I hear you say. This is a fiddle. A crop from the centre of the image eh?  Very well, lets look at this longer shot. This was taken with the same lens at 140mm and f8, hand held of course. Its an old coffee house on the high street in Newbury taken as the sun dipped below the buildings opposite. And here's a crop ...

Turn it up to Eleven, its January. Three years ago this month I bought my 11-22mm wide zoom from a member of the UK e-group forum . What a great lens it has been, wonderfully wide and free from corner vignetting faults. Here is an early skyscape I took using it at the 11mm end. This is dawn, January 2008 and the first week I had the lens. This is a year later. Here is a moody shot from January 2009, on the way to work and taken straight into the sun through the mist. I am well pleased with the lack of lens flare in this. It was taken at the 11mm end of the zoom range. Another year. Here's a floodlit Saxon church. I took this one foggy evening after work in January 2010. This also uses the 11mm end of the zoom. Finally, from just last night, a pleasing tree and dusk shot, once again using this lens at its widest end, 11mm.  Do you see where this leads us? Yes, I am an incurable wide boy and if I always use this zoom lens at 11mm, why bother...