Back on our feet
After weeks of salvaging and porting this blog from our old wordpress platform we are now back. This kind of give us renewed energy to revive this blog that we have neglected for far too long. During the period that we were away from the blog our love for photography remain intact. However a number of things have diverted our interest and attention from blogging.
First is the maintenance of the wordpress site with this blog being constantly bombarded with persistent undesirable visitors from eastern Europe. I got turned off looking at the web stats and visitor logs and slowly got tired of logging in every time to block them or ban them but they kept coming back with different IP. Installing security plugins from Wordpress is only a false security you only realized these plugins are not working in a painful way that is after you got hacked. Sometime last year the site was hacked by script injection and hijacked to spam other website. I hope our blogs' new home at blogger will provide the type of security that is expected from Google which has a good record of it and lets hope it stays that way
The other disturbing element to this blog is our user experience with Olympus Micro-Four Thirds camera. Our past experience with Olympus film camera over the last 30+ years with the OM and the Mju series of cameras was totally positive. Unfortunately that is not the case with the Olympus Digital Pen series of cameras. There are many users I know who had little to no problem with their Micro Four Thirds camera so I can only assume that maybe my luck with Olympus had run dry after being a loyal Olympus user for too long.
My E-P1 had numerous problems from the spot metering circles disappearing from the screen after a firmware update, the camera main control wheel dial worked like a Russian roulette; a game of chance in setting the camera control. The IS (Image Stabilization) symbol kept showing red warning alert on the display, the LCD screen's peripheral went dark and the battery became bloated up and stuck to the battery bay and hard to remove from the camera. All these happened just over a year of using it. My wife's E-PL2 didn't fair any better. The kit lens kept showing a lens locked notification on the camera screen - this lens just died after warranty expired; the hand grip rubber covering dropped off but luckily we found it and managed to glue it back. The main control wheel dial also malfunction like my E-P1 but in a much lesser degree.
Checking with online forums and blogs found other Oly users also suffering from some sort of problems as well. Some had the same problems like us but non can beat mine in numbers and diversities. Luckily with Micro Four Thirds System we can keep our lenses and still have an alternative camera manufacturer to fall back on. I decided to check out the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5 camera and looking back I am glad I did. The DMC-G5 turns out to be a no nonsense back to basic camera. It does not have all the bell and whistle of its peers. It feels rather plasticky to touch and hold but it is surprisingly reliable and a dependable workhorse - a user experience that echos with other DMC-G5 users. The switch makes me a believer of the Panasonic Lumix system camera and lenses.
For my wife her E-PL2 still works OK other than the unlucky kit lens but not an issue as we got other lenses, including a Lumix kit lens too.
However I notice some of her macro photos have some kind of camera shake or 'shutter shock' problem. Possibly the Olympus 5 axis Image Stabilisation can take care of the camera shake and the 0 second shutter delay may cure the shutter shock problem. We decided to try Olympus one more time for the 5 axis stabilisation and after weeks of checking on forums and photographer blogs the answer is the Pen E-P5. This Pen E-P5 looks like the Olympus camera that has the least complaint. The common issue I notice is the shutter shock problem which was solved after Olympus issued a 0 second anti-shock setting in firmware update.
Elaine upgraded to a E-P5 kit with a 17mm F/1.8 lens and a new 14-42 kit zoom that came free in the promotional package. The E-P5 solved the blurry macro photo problem and she got a new kit lens as well.
We are very pleased with these two cameras and have some catching up to do as we have photos from these two cameras waiting to showcase on this blog. Let's hope all will be smooth sailing from now on and happy blogging.
First is the maintenance of the wordpress site with this blog being constantly bombarded with persistent undesirable visitors from eastern Europe. I got turned off looking at the web stats and visitor logs and slowly got tired of logging in every time to block them or ban them but they kept coming back with different IP. Installing security plugins from Wordpress is only a false security you only realized these plugins are not working in a painful way that is after you got hacked. Sometime last year the site was hacked by script injection and hijacked to spam other website. I hope our blogs' new home at blogger will provide the type of security that is expected from Google which has a good record of it and lets hope it stays that way
The other disturbing element to this blog is our user experience with Olympus Micro-Four Thirds camera. Our past experience with Olympus film camera over the last 30+ years with the OM and the Mju series of cameras was totally positive. Unfortunately that is not the case with the Olympus Digital Pen series of cameras. There are many users I know who had little to no problem with their Micro Four Thirds camera so I can only assume that maybe my luck with Olympus had run dry after being a loyal Olympus user for too long.
My E-P1 had numerous problems from the spot metering circles disappearing from the screen after a firmware update, the camera main control wheel dial worked like a Russian roulette; a game of chance in setting the camera control. The IS (Image Stabilization) symbol kept showing red warning alert on the display, the LCD screen's peripheral went dark and the battery became bloated up and stuck to the battery bay and hard to remove from the camera. All these happened just over a year of using it. My wife's E-PL2 didn't fair any better. The kit lens kept showing a lens locked notification on the camera screen - this lens just died after warranty expired; the hand grip rubber covering dropped off but luckily we found it and managed to glue it back. The main control wheel dial also malfunction like my E-P1 but in a much lesser degree.
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| Reindeer decoration at Mall taken with Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5 and the 14-42mm Kit lens -- Camera: Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5, Lens: Panasonic's LUMIX G VARIO F/3.5-5.6 14 - 42mm ASPH aperture set at F/5.6 shutter speed 1/60s and ISO at 1600. |
Checking with online forums and blogs found other Oly users also suffering from some sort of problems as well. Some had the same problems like us but non can beat mine in numbers and diversities. Luckily with Micro Four Thirds System we can keep our lenses and still have an alternative camera manufacturer to fall back on. I decided to check out the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5 camera and looking back I am glad I did. The DMC-G5 turns out to be a no nonsense back to basic camera. It does not have all the bell and whistle of its peers. It feels rather plasticky to touch and hold but it is surprisingly reliable and a dependable workhorse - a user experience that echos with other DMC-G5 users. The switch makes me a believer of the Panasonic Lumix system camera and lenses.
For my wife her E-PL2 still works OK other than the unlucky kit lens but not an issue as we got other lenses, including a Lumix kit lens too.
However I notice some of her macro photos have some kind of camera shake or 'shutter shock' problem. Possibly the Olympus 5 axis Image Stabilisation can take care of the camera shake and the 0 second shutter delay may cure the shutter shock problem. We decided to try Olympus one more time for the 5 axis stabilisation and after weeks of checking on forums and photographer blogs the answer is the Pen E-P5. This Pen E-P5 looks like the Olympus camera that has the least complaint. The common issue I notice is the shutter shock problem which was solved after Olympus issued a 0 second anti-shock setting in firmware update.
 |
| Q-Dees preschoolers eagerly waiting for their show to start photo taken with Pen E-P5 with M.Zuiko 60mm Macro lens - Camera: Olympus Pen E-P5, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 60 mm f/2.8 MSC Macro Lens, setting at F/3.2 1/80s and ISO 1600. |
Elaine upgraded to a E-P5 kit with a 17mm F/1.8 lens and a new 14-42 kit zoom that came free in the promotional package. The E-P5 solved the blurry macro photo problem and she got a new kit lens as well.
We are very pleased with these two cameras and have some catching up to do as we have photos from these two cameras waiting to showcase on this blog. Let's hope all will be smooth sailing from now on and happy blogging.
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