Gearhead: Reviews – Ming Thein

Review: The 2017 Canon EOS M6

October 2, 2017 by Robin Wong

With the release of the Canon EOS-M5/M6, perception towards Canon’s mirrorless system has changed. Both the M5 and M6 use the same APS-C 24 Megapixels image sensor and dual pixel AF system as Canon’s high-end APS-C DSLR, the 77D, Thanks to Canon Malaysia, I have had the new Canon EOS-M6 to shoot with for the past week. I understand that the M6 is not a new camera and has been on the market since April. Some of you may already have one. I am doing this review purely out of curiosity: to find out where the M6 fits in the almost never-ending choice of mirrorless cameras now. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Gearhead: Reviews, Robin Wong Tagged With: canon, canon m6, eos m6, gearhead, m6, mingthein.com, review, robin, Robin Wong, wong

Why GAS might actually turn out to be good for you

September 20, 2017 by Ming Thein

One is bad enough. Two is…well, probably a signal that some form of clinical treatment is required. Full disclosure: the second one was supplied as a spare for the Thaipusam video; we didn’t use it.

At the risk of severely contradicting myself, I’m going to offer an alternative point of view to several of my posts from earlier this year (namely, this one on diminishing returns; this one on finding the right camera and moving on; this one on ideal formats for a given creative output). Many of you have pointed out in the comments and subsequent emails etc. that things are not really quite so clear cut; I’ve given this some thought and spent some time rationalising my own equipment journey – especially since from an external standpoint, it might appear that I’m probably the worst offender of all. The conclusion, is of course one of very fine balance – like most things in photography; and like most things creative, a little tension is required to produce not-safe and not-boring results. Here are my thoughts on why…

Review: The Olympus Zuiko Digital ZD 12-100/4 Pro

September 8, 2017 by Robin Wong

For the last year, the question I’ve been asked most frequently is when will I review the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-100mm F4 lens? The reason this has been pushed back so long is because I knew I was exiting Olympus, and I wanted this review to be written after I had left the company. While Olympus never restricted me, during my time there, in saying anything I wanted to about their cameras or lenses, I just felt that being completely independent would make it easier to write freely. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Gearhead: Reviews, Robin Wong Tagged With: 12-100, 12-100 review, gearhead, micro four thirds, mingthein.com, olympus, review, robin, Robin Wong, wong

Street photography with the Olympus E-M10 Mark III

September 5, 2017 by Robin Wong

Traditionally, I always bring a new camera to the streets to shoot for review. For the recently launched Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III (full review here), I decided to shoot a different variety of sample shots which included sports, outdoor portrait and landscape. I am all game when it comes to doing something different to keep my reviews fresh. Still, since I had the E-M10 Mark III with me for a few more days, I had to satisfy the itch to have my shutter therapy on the streets. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Gearhead: Reviews, On Photography, Robin Wong Tagged With: e-m10 mark iii, e-m10.3, m4/3, micro four thirds, mingthein.com, olympus, photography, robin, Robin Wong, street, street photography, wong

Premiere and review: The 2017 Olympus E-M10 Mark III

August 31, 2017 by Robin Wong

Update (14 May 2018): Olympus has launched version 1.1 firmware update for E-M10 Mark III, enabling RC Mode (wireless flash TTL).

Olympus just launched a new camera in their OM-D series – the E-M10 Mark III. I personally own an E-M10 Mark II that was launched 2 years ago and have found it to be an extremely reliable and versatile camera to work with. The new and third iteration of the E-M10 comes with a few feature upgrades and improvements. In this article I shall review the OM-D E-M10 Mark III’s performance based on my own experience.

Field test: the Scarabaeus camera clip

August 5, 2017 by Ming Thein

The Scarabaeus is a German hand-made camera holster system that clips to the waist belt allowing quick access to the camera. Generally, special holster for quick access camera attachment systems can be useful for street shooters. Ming Thein and myself have had one each to try out for the past several weeks. . In this article, I shall share my experience using the Scarabaeus camera clip in street shooting scenario. MT will add his thoughts towards the end, having also road tested it.

Disclaimer: the Scarabaeus was sent to us by photoscarab.de; we agreed to try it out to provide feedback because it seemed like an interesting idea and solution to the problem for those who don’t like neckstraps, but still sometimes need their hands free.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Gearhead: Reviews Tagged With: gearhead, mingthein.com, review, robin, scarabaeus, wong

NEW: The Mirrorless Bag, and the Travel Duffel

July 17, 2017 by Ming Thein

L-R, for relative size: Mirrorless Bag, a very well used Ultimate Daybag Mark I prototype, Travel duffel (folded)

Today is my birthday, and in the tradition of this site – I’ve got an announcement to make. We’ve teamed up with bespoke UK bag makers Frankie Falcon for a second round: firstly, by popular demand, there’s the Mirrorless Bag, which is an improved and smaller version of the Ultimate Daybag Mark I. Next, a little surprise: the folding Travel Duffel. We have both bags in stock, and they will be ongoing stock items for the time being. Future additions will go up here, on the Bag Store. We have also resolved prior shipping issues – back to good old Royal Mail. Click on after the jump for more details on each bag.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Gearhead: Reviews, On Photography Tagged With: bag, ming, ming thein, mingthein.com, mirrorless bag, mtxff, thein, travel duffel

The un-camera camera

June 25, 2017 by Ming Thein

Levels of commitment

What on earth is an ‘un-camera’? I think I’d better start by explaining the title of this post a bit better. I often find myself in a bit of a conundrum: I’m sure you are undoubtedly all aware of my role with Hasselblad and longstanding affinity for their hardware. I’m sure many of you are aware that I continually push the envelope for what’s possible with medium format and achieve some pretty unique results in the process. On top of that, I have the added benefit of having access to pretty much anything I need from the product catalog. I also still have a full Nikon system kicking around. So: what possible justification could I have for yet another camera?

Review: Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 8-18mm f2.8-4.0 ASPH

June 13, 2017 by Robin Wong

I had the opportunity to shoot with the newly launched Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 8-18mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH, thanks to a loan unit from Panasonic Malaysia. In this review article, I shall share plenty of sample images shot with the Panasonic 8-18mm lens, exploring the characteristics and strengths of the lens, as well as adding my own personal experience during the limited time using the lens.

Some important notes first, before we dive into the lens review. This write up is done independently, and I am currently not tied to any company. The Panasonic 8-18mm F2.8-4 lens was only a loan unit, and has been returned to Panasonic Malaysia after use for review purposes. My photography review style is less technical and analytical, but heavily based on user experience approach, thus my opinion is subjective. All the images taken in this article were shot with my own Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, shot raw and converted via Olympus Viewer. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Gearhead: Reviews, On Photography Tagged With: 8-18, gearhead, micro four thirds, mingthein.com, panasonic, review, robin, Robin Wong, wong

Book review: ‘The Scent of a Dream: Travels in the World of Coffee’, by Sebastiao Salgado

April 5, 2017 by Ming Thein

100D_MG_3568 copy
‘The Scent of a Dream: Travels in the World of Coffee’, by Sebastian Salgado, first edition, Abrams, late- 2015

It’s been a little while since I last reviewed a book, and a surprisingly a much longer while since today’s subject put out what was supposedly his last work – ‘Genesis’ (2013). Genesis’ challenge was that its scope was massive (a decade-plus of work, covering umpteen continents and locations) and it had been played up to the point that expectations were extremely high. Accompanied by a massive travelling exhibition with a huge number of large prints – you really got the sense that the images were meant to be viewed in that format over the book, and perhaps that we were missing something from his previous work by viewing it smaller. Unfortunately, this proved to be mostly not the case: whilst the impact of the prints was definitely wonderful, anything remotely approaching an intimate examination revealed serious shortcomings in printing and huge inconsistencies in post processing. There were also so many images that the whole thing felt like it could have used a bit more curation; understandably the output from a lifetime magnum opus would be huge, but even with the audience giving you the benefit of the doubt – there’s only so many images you can fully appreciate before hitting saturation. At least the lighting was nice.