Daily Inspiration #360 by Peter Poete

October 7, 2012 Daily Inspiration 24

Hi Steve,

I´ve been visiting your blog on a regularly, often daily basis since I found it on the net two years ago. To be honest, I´m not that interested in camera an lens reviews, but I really like the Daily Inspirations and the other portfolio related inputs. It´s very interesting and inspiring to see what other people do.

Some words to myself: my passion for photography started about 30 years ago, when I was a boy of ten or eleven years. I ran through all the typical phases of photography, including self processing my pictures in my own lightroom. Till this year, I always used SLRs, since 2003 DSLRs, for my photography. And I still love my last DSLR, the Nikon D700, for its excellent quality and ergonomics. But I hated it for its weight and size. It was a pain to carry around, especially when you travel, and often it was hindering my style of photography because it looked really bulky and somewhat aggressive to people. In early 2011 I decided to try the Fuji X100 as a second camera beside the D700, especially for my documentary work. And I loved it from the first day. Three month ago I´ve completed the changing process, sold my D700 with all the FF stuff and bought a Olympus OM-D. Now I am completely happy with my two small but great cameras. All my gear, the X100 with the wide-angle conversion lens and the Olympus OM-D with the Panaleica 25mm and the Olympus 45mm, easily fit into my very small camera bag. I´ve no problem to carry it around all the day any more 🙂 And I don´t see any loss in quality or creative leeway, quite the contrary. I fell free and got back my passion for photography!

Enclosed you find some examples, taken with the OM-D during my last trip to London in August.

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Kind regards and greetings from Germany,

Peter

http://peterpoete.de/photography/

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24 Comments

  4. I also have an OMD, thanks in part to the reviews of Steve’s website, and couldn’t be happier.

    Those of you using Lightroom 4 to process should try VSCO film02 out: http://visualsupply.co/film/ I have no ties to the company, I have just been having great results using their Fuji Neopan 1600 filter for B&W shots so I thought I’d share. Here’s one example (Oly 17mm pancake lens, like Steve I too think this lens is capable of great shots):
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/87405554@N04/8003183893/in/photostream
    I typically take out the grain, but if you like that grainy look their filters look great.

    Thanks Steve for the awesome website. As soon as finances permit, Im planning on buying a Rokinon fisheye for the OMD through the amazon link on your site (awesome little manual lens for $300, take note OMD users). Anyone else who does the same should use a link through Steve’s site as well. SUPPORT. Keep up the great work Steve. Thanks.

    • Well Alex, don’t know whether you noticed, but the example you posted doesn’t look like Neopan by a country mile. It looks like overprocessed digital.

      • Who cares what it is…..Alex your photos on flickr are some of best i have seen from this system to date for B&W and punch in the colours. Also great photos, but IMO i think you are doing something right.

        Interesting that Michiel feels they are over processed digital. To him they are…..to you (and me) I think you’ve done a great job. As for the comment on not being Neopan 1600…i wouldn’t have a clue. Nor do I care.

      • Michiel you’re right, not the best example of a Neopan 1600 filter. Removing the grain and tweaking the shadows and highlights changes the overall look drastically and defeats the point. Typically, I use the filters as a starting point, and then proceed to overprocess from there.

        I added the following purely to show a better example of the VSCO filters, absolutely no adjustments to Jpeg other than apply Neopan 1600 filter:

        http://www.flickr.com/photos/87405554@N04/8070622852/in/photostream

        You can also check out VSCO on the web for some other filter examples, or look into Alien Skins that Steve uses.

    • Alex, thanks for the link. I didn’t know that plugin. But for the moment I don’t see a reason to use plugins like that. I tried Silver Efex Pro and still don’t know why to pay 200 $ for something Lightroom can do as well. And faster! OK, there are some film simulations, but I don’t need them… 😉
      But as Andrew said: who cares? If You like it and it’s good for your pictures, keep on using it 🙂

  5. Love the photos Peter. Great work. I went into a store today and tried the OM-D (I have an x100…love it) and did not realise just how great this camera would be to shoot with. I can completely understand your sentiments towards creativity with a system like this.

    I sold my DSLR gear (hadn’t taken a photo for over 18 months with it!) to go with the x100 and looking at finding a street option with no lag in the shutter. This is certainly an option.

    On the other hand my local Leica dealer is selling a secondhand M9 with 50 lux and I took some photos with it and brought back to my LR. The ‘pop’, contrast and ‘what ever it was’ in those files was incredible!! So is the price……….but I can’t stop thinking about what came out of that camera.

    • Andrew, I´ve never shot with a M9. And to be honest, I´m anything but a fan of Leica (although I am German ;-)) I was in analog times, but could not afford one. Nowadays I see much better and much cheaper solutions for my style of photography in the digital world than a Leica. But as I said, I´ve never… 😉

      • So Peter do you use anything particular for PP (LR, PS, Silverefex, etc)? And in addition to have a particular set in the OM-D which assists your outcomes?

        These photos are all about composition, light and contrast which are key. IMO more critical than DoF.

        • Normally I don’t use anything else than LR4. Love it… It’s fast and easy to use.
          And I always take my pictures in RAW. But these art filters of the OM-D are realy fun. The first picture e.g. has been taken with one of the filters… and you still have a copy of the picture as a RAW file.

  8. I did the same thing earlier this year. Left my D700 and heavy lenses behind for the OM-D. The more I shoot the OM-D, the less I miss my D700. With great lenses, the m4/3 is capable enough with my type of shooting. I have thought of a few other small formats, but not sure if anything else can match my needs better than the OM-D.

  13. Your so so good…you have that film look lots of us strive for, in digital ! But most of all just great compositions and gorgeous tones. I am in awe. Oh and Steve….just thanks for your passion !!

    • Mike, I´ve been shooting B&W film for several years and I´m missing the look sometimes… but I rarely miss the process, respectively I would not have the time to work in a real dark room any more. If I had the time and the space for it, I would do both for sure, digital and anlog… 😉

  15. First picture = epicness. Grain/noise in photos is SO under-rated these days. It enhances the already awesome mood created by the couple.

    Funny, I am planning on getting the OMD, try and sell my EP-3 to try and get that PanaLeica (I already have the 45mm)

    🙂

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