Shooting the Olympus PEN E-PL1

Mon 19 & Tues 20 July 2010

*All images shown are unedited and taken by the Olympus PEN E-PL1

After being poisoned by my photo colleagues, I graduated from a compact to buy the Canon 450D. Excellent decision but sad to say, I'm still using the programme mode as I have problems understanding the technicalities of camera speak. No idea how to work the camera in manual mode.

While I absolutely love my 450D (it's so easy to take 'professional-looking' pics! Esp at night), I have a few issues - size & bulk - it's rather cumbersome to lug about, especially when I'm getting active & dirty, & imagine bringing it on a night out to the club! People think I'm a pro coz of the size and god help everytime I ask a stranger to take a pic for me. Seeing that DSLRs are everywhere these days, you would think at least half wud know how to work it.

I’ve resigned to the fact that I can’t get the best of both worlds so each time I travel, I take both — my waterproof Olympus compact (which sucks by the way but the tech guys there are working on it as they've encountered some glitches so we'll see how the performance is when I get it back) and my 450D.

Then Toh said Olympus is organising a Media trip to test their new PEN series, the Olympus PEN E-PL1, a hybrid of sorts between the DSLR & the compact. It falls under a new system introduced last year (Olympus first in June 2009, Panasonic a few weeks later. Sony introduced it this year i think) called the mirrorless cameras.

What they did is take out the mirror used in DSLRs so the camera can be built small but retained the sensor size which is similar to the DSLR so the images taken are somewhat similar. Basically they are saying hey, here's a cam that can take DSLR quality images in a compact size.

The star of the trip - the Olympus PEN E-PL1

Olympus took us to several places over a period of two days to experience first-hand, what their cameras are capable off. I was given the Olympus E-PL1 with the M.14-42mm f/3.5 -5.6 kit lens while others from camera magazines were given the higher spec E-P1 and E-P2 models. L stands for Light apparently.

The new cameras also allow users the option of changing lenses. Olympus has the M.14-150mm f/4.0- 5.6 as well as the M.9-18mm f/4.0-5.6, and two more lenses will be introduced within the year. You can also use lenses from Panasonic.

Professional photographer David Chua was also at hand to share with us his experience with the camera.

Singaporean (but currently residing in Malaysia) David Chua

I found the camera very easy to use because of its iAuto mode, which decides all the settings for you. The Live Guide feature allows you to change the effects of your picture in live time, so it’s really easy for the novice to understand how the camera works.

Instead of fiddling around with the aperture to create depth-of-field, for example, there’s a slider that asks you if you want the background to be blur or sharp. You can adjust exposure by using the slider to make the picture brighter or darker. If you don’t understand confusing shutter speeds, the slider shows you how to "stop motion" or "blur motion". You can try it for yourself at http://www.evolvewitholympus.com.my/.

My enthusiasm increased when David passed me the telephoto M.14-150mm f/4.0- 5.6. The zoom is simply amazing! Really like this photo I took from quite the far away.

Taken with the telephoto M.14-150mm f/4.0- 5.6 lens

Another thing I absolutely love about the camera are its in-built art filters, which allows you achieve creative effects without having to spend time tinkering with the images in the computer.

The Pop Art mode gives bright colours, creating striking and colourful images; Soft Focus gives images a dreamy quality; Grainy Film produces grainy, high-contrast monochrome pictures; Pin Hole (my favourite) gives images a playful touch, as if taken by a toy camera. Diorama changes the scene you snap to that of a miniature model; Gentle Sepia creates deep dark shadows and soft contrasts for a classy atmosphere. All my art filter images turned out like professional shots every time.

Pin Hole effect


Diorama effect

Diorama effect

Pop Art effect

Grainy Film - B&W effect

Gentle Sepia effect

It's not that great in low light but passable la. Still love my 450D for night shots. Here's the best I could get in the cave without flash.

Taken under low light without flash

Normal mode

Oh, and my bestest bestest favouritest shot of all :

Taken with Pop Art filter using the telephoto lens

I don't need to waste 3K++ but soooo gatal wanna get the zoom lens one. Sigh... damn these marketing & PR people! :P Anyone wanna buy me one?? Or you can donate towards the 'Buy Joleen an Olympus' fund....

Olympus is organising a series of intensive four-hour workshops throughout the country for the public to try out for themselves, the functions of the PEN series. Olympus PEN owners are charged RM30 while non-owners are charged RM70. Check their website http://www.olympus.com.my/ for schedule.

E-PL1with M.14-42mm f/3.5 -5.6 lens @ RM2,499
E-PL1 with M.14-150mm f/4.0- 5.6 lens @RM 3,899
M.9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 lens @ RM2,499

Rainforest Festival rawks again

Thursday 8 - Monday 12 July 2010

Can't believe this is my 5th Rainforest Festival in a row! Fell in love when I went for the 10th year anniversary in 2006. That's still the best year in my opinion coz of the Huun Huun Tu Mongolians, Malaysian DHOL Federation and Scottish Peatbog Fairies (the bestest bestest of all)!!!!

This year's a bit sad though as my entire gang didn't go. They were boycotting Sarawak Tourism's escalating prices. Left Byron & I but luckily we found our Trevor & gang was going along too so he hung with them.

Stopped in Telang Usan Hotel for our usual Sarawak Laksa.. yum! and for the gang to stock up on tuak. Me, I brought vintage from 2009 and 2008. Plus a bottle of Smirnoff.

Our mini bar, nothing compared to the Thirsty Blogger's mini bar

Stayed at Melanau Tallhouse in the village itself again coz it's cheap and damn convenient. Manage to catch two rainbows one evening.

Sarawak colours

Couldn't get enough of Sarawak Laksa so ate it for breakfast too washed down with Teh Tarik. Milk and curry in the morning. Not for the weak-stomached. Even Byron was balking.

Workshop scenes

Best part of the festival are the workshops where the artists give a sample of their music so we know what to expect and make sure we catch the bands we like. Women's Voices of the world was one of my fav while the percussions rule everytime. The Indian & Rajashtan bands were really good.

Watussi - Australian Columbian band

Love their performance! They Rawk! Very rockish Columbian sounds but these guys are all from Australia with most members having roots in Columbia. Byron..CD please!! Tx!

Another good band - Farafina from Burkino Faso

The crowd this year was not that big as I had ample of space to move from back to front each time. Dunno why the papers lied to say ticket sales increased. There were years when if you parked yourself in front, you can't ever move cause the crowd's just too great. The rain and mud didn't help much either.

Sexy muddy girls


Oh there was mud everywhere. The Matsys were having a ball.

I managed to stay relatively clean with the rest of the Media crew

All in all, great music as always. Still loving the festival but they gotta do something about the rising cost. Most likely it'll be my last year for now.

An eye-opening experience

July 10 weekend

It never cease to amaze me how people from co-called 'similar' backgrounds in terms of background, social status & education, can be so very different when it comes to thinking. Our politicians are great examples. You wonder if they even have a brain when they come out with ridiculous statements.

Siok Hui forwarded me an email about a permaculture workshop on sustainable living, natural medicine & self defence. It's a 5 day course but for those who can't make the stretch, there's an option to take it over 5 weekends. I opted for a weekend as it would go well with my permaculture farm in Lenggong I'm writing about.

The ultimate objective of the worskshop is to build an Islamic sustainable eco-village. The organiser assured me that non-muslims are welcome but I must dress appropriately as it was held at Yayasan RASMA in Dengkil, some Islamic institution or community or something. No jeans (it's tight??!!). Fair enough. I wore a baju kurung.

We were to meet at the Bukit Damansara mosque to carpool and I was given the contact of a very well spoken guy. Meeting this guy was the start of an impression that left a bad taste in my mouth.

This guy was smartly dressed in slacks and shirt. Carries himself very well, distinguish-like even. He carries an American & NZ passport. As I was on assignment, I naturally extended my hand for the customary handshake which I regretted immediately. He politely rejected my hand and left me hanging with my outstretched arm in the air and a puzzled (and offended or indignant) expression on my face. I understood immediately. My mind understood but my pride and self worth did not. I won't lie. I WAS offended. I only experienced this once at a friend's wedding where the guy salam all the men and ignored the women.

Women were to go in one car, men another. Not wanting to cause a scene, I nodded my head to the rest of the men (Hell, I learnt my lesson) and hop in the women's car.

Most of the participants were foreigners, white men and such. The speaker Shaykh Hassan Henning Pedersen is Danish but lives in Jakarta. Some had jubahs, complete with skull cap & beards that you normally see middle easterns spotting. One Malaysian women was completely veiled, with only her eyes exposed. I didn't dare shake anyone's hand and I was wondering if the speaker thought me rude or approved of it. I was to interview him after all.

Danish speaker Shaykh Hassan Henning Pedersen

The workshop content was quite interesting and I did learn a thing or two. Shaykh told us to grow our own wheatgrass which I intend to do. You can get the seeds from Pure Life in Plaza Damas. Its website even has instructions on how to grow it. You can harvest your wheatgrass in 7-8 days. Is that cool or what?

Except for the occasional reference to religion which made me slightly uncomfortable as I can sense they are very passionate about the subject, the workshop itself was not too bad and the people were nice. They are all very engaging, highly intelligent and well educated. Although I did enjoy the content, I doubt I would be going for another as the environment is just not sustaible for me.

Those interested in the workshop happening from 26-30 July at RM700 per person can contact Latifah at 0176631562 or lattame@gmail.com.

Participants at the workshop