The PenFan's PhotoBlog

We went to California, USA for holiday in mid Nov 1992.  Looking back that was exactly 25 years ago. We spent the last few days of our trip at my wife's classmate home in Los Angeles. In their house  They had a huge beautiful pet, a green Parrot called Ziggy that lived in their study. If my memories serve well I think parrot Ziggy was easily over 3 feet tall. Portrait of parrot Ziggy.  The mostly green plumage resembles a military parade uniform and earn this species of parrot the name military macaw.  This photo was taken in 1992 using Olympus OM-3 with  Olympus OM-Zuiko 35-105mm F3.5-F4.5 zoom lens on Fuji Velvia 35 mm slidefilm.        Parrot Ziggy belonged to the military macaw ( Ara militaris)  species of large beautiful Parrot.   Initially Ziggy was not comfortable with our presence but after two days it got accustomed to these two visitors from afar. I took some photos of this handsome big bird with my Olympus OM-...

Our grand nephew insisted we join him and his family to the cinema one evening. Unfortunately the movie he wanted to watch was taken off for the day's screening. Feeling disappointed and dejected he was not in the best of mood so we decided to have dinner first before thinking how to fill our time for the rest of the evening. Kids being kids, after dinner he got over the disappointment  and was running all over the mall and posing for photograph. My wife was pleasantly surprised by his happy mood and quickly pulled out her XZ-1 and started snapping away.  He and his little sister were happily posing in front of the lighted fountain at the mall entrance but the tiny flash from the XZ-1 did not have sufficient power to cover the whole scene. On top of that the alternating fountain lighting from bright to dark accompanied by ever changing coloured illuminations fooled the camera metering. A 2 stops underexposed photo from the Olympus XZ-1 in Normal Program Pattern meterin...

Located at Nusajaya, Johor, Legoland Malaysia Resort is the first Legoland theme park in Asia and the sixth Legoland theme park in the world.  It started operation on September 15, 2012 and officially opened by Sultan Ibrahim Ismail, Sultan of Johor on September 22, 2012. The main entrance to the Legoland Malaysia where adventure begins for many families  -- Camera: Olympus XZ-1. Setting lens zoom at 28mm(35mm film) or 6.0mm(lens) and at f/5.0 1/100s, ISO 100. LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort consists of three parks namely LEGOLAND Park, LEGOLAND Water Park and LEGOLAND Hotel. This place is truly a family holiday destination with rides, slides, shows and attractions for everyone. Legoland park focus mostly on family fun, hands-on, interactive experience and building with Lego bricks. Legoland Park has several themed areas designed for all ages so the whole family can have a fun-filled day during their stay at the park. Obviously children and the young at hearts are the her...

Having experienced the joy of macro photography with the Olympus MCON-P01 macro converter, my wife is all set for the real thing and she is now a proud owner of the highly acclaimed Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 60mm F/2.8 macro lens. This lens is lightweight but well-built and about 80% longer in length than the M.Zuiko 45mm F/1.8 which is another Olympus prime lens with many positive users feed back. For us the 60mm F/2.8 macro is a more versatile and useful lens for the type of photography that Elaine engage in. We treat lenses and cameras like an artist's tool set that are acquired based on its ability in adding value to our creative pursuit. Close-up of a fully ripe mulberry fruit the separate minute fruits of this multiple fruit is clearly visible in this 1:1 macro shot.    --    Camera: Olympus Pen E-PL2, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 60 mm f/2.8 MSC Macro Lens, setting at F/9.0 1/40s and ISO 200 Build-in flas...

As Chinese New Year is getting closer we went to the Curve Mall to pick up some new year goodies. Last month we were quite happy with The Curve's 2012 Christmas decoration. Naturally we are eager to check out what they have for the 2013 Chinese New Year as well. The Curve Mall's 2013 Chinese New Year theme called the Celebration Of Spring look beautiful from one floor above. ---   Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 14-42 mm f/3.5-5.6 II standard zoom lens, setting lens at 28mm f/4.6 1/25s and ISO 800. This trip to The Curve Mall is mainly a shopping trip for Chinese New Year goodies. However we are also prepared for some photo shooting opportunity when something nice pops up. Thanks to Olympus for pioneering the Mirrorless Cameras System and reinventing the Digital Pen Micro Four Thirds Cameras. This small system camera with big features is so light and small we can carry it with us almost anytime. Any Olympus Pen camera together...

Our memory is still fresh with the photo session of Majestic Dragon of the Pavilion Mall.  But time flies and that a year has past.  Soon we will be in the Lunar Year of the Snake and bid farewell to the Dragon Year. The 2013 snake year celebration at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur has this cartoon-like Snake leading the 12 Chinese Zodiac Circle of Reunion at the Mall's Bukit Bintang entrance. -- Camera: Olympus Pen E-P1, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/2.8 Pancake lens, setting lens at f/5.6 1/200s and ISO 200. We were on our way to the Pavilion Mall and expecting to see a big anaconda just like the Majestic Dragon at the Mall for the Year of the Snake.  When we arrived we were disappointed because the Pavilion Mall had a miserable green earthworm disguised as a snake at the entrance. Luckily the Green earth worm looked cute and funny and if not for its forked tongue it definitely is merely a big fat earthworm. The 2013 Chinese New Year theme for Pavilion Kuala ...

In the month of December Ikea is running some one-day special Christmas offer of 2 items per day everyday till December 24. We were attracted or rather distracted by one of the items on offer that day but felt it more of a want than a need. Whimsie Forest with a sprinkle of fairy dust is the Curve Mall 2012 Christmas theme decoration.    --     camera: Olympus Pen E-PL2, Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 14-42 mm f/3.5-5.6 II standard zoom, setting lens at 28mm, f/9.0, 1/15s and ISO 1000. Physically checking  out the item might help but Ikea is quite a distance from our place. If the item turned out to be something not what we really want,  it would be a wasted day out.  Then I remembered the Christmas decoration at The Curve so I said to my wife at least we can shoot some photos to make it worth the while. We arrived at Ikea around lunch time and had lunch at the Oriental Court area at The Curve Mall. After that we mov...

I have some photos of Nikko Tosho-gu Shrine  a UNESCO world heritage site located in Nikko, Japan. This is the shrine with the three Mizaru, Kikazaru, Iwazaru -- the orignal Sanzaru wood carving on the top of the stable building. That is the wood carving of the  "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" monkeys -- the famous Three Wise Monkeys. There are around eight panels with wood carving of monkeys in various pose around the stable building but these three monkeys are the most talked about and everybody knows them. The photo of the three wise monkeys or sanzaru was taken almost 20 years ago during a one day tour to Nikko on a Saturday. The weather was really bad on that day. All traffic and tour buses going to the Nikko Toshogu Shrine were stopped by the traffic police for almost 2 hours due to heavy fogs and low visibility. When we arrived at the Nikko Toshogu shrine our tour leader was in...

The new generation of mirrorless system cameras such as the Olympus Micro Four Thirds Pen Lite E-PL2 is compact and light weight. The image quality from these Micro Four Thirds cameras is good enough for most applications. The Micro Four Thirds system also has a comprehensive range of compact interchangeable lenses and accessories which add versatility to how images can be captured. All these advantages have made the Micro Four Thirds and mirrorless system cameras one of the fastest growing segment in the digital cameras market. The Olympus digital Pen series are a very popular mirrorless system cameras. The charms of the Pen series are many, the main one being the total size of the system. The camera body is small yet not too small for the average human hand. The system lenses are in matching sizes and balance well on the Pen camera body. The Pen series of cameras each has a different appeal and character in their design which make them stand out f...

Camera manufacturers tend to release new cameras around the third quarter of each year to catch the yearend and Christmas shopping seasons. This is the best time of the year to get good bargain of cameras that are about to be superseded by the newly launched models. If all you want is a camera to take good photographs most current models in the market will suffice. The newest model might get you faster frame rate, focus faster, better performance in low light and better features in the HD video area. If you need those features or faster performance then wait for those newly released models. For us we love a good bargain buying brand new camera from reputable shops. That is certainly better than buying used or shopping for second hand goods. We saw an ad on the local newspaper where a large local retailer was having stock clearance of cameras from Canon, Olympus, Sony and others. The E-PL2 sing...