A couple of months ago I was selected to use a few lenses by Olympus Malaysia. It was part of their campaign to promote their gear to local photographers. I was fortunate to get the two lenses that I have been wanting to try our for a while. The two I got to try out were the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 7-14mm F2.8 PRO and the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm F2.8 PRO (I had my hands on this briefly before for half a day). The ultra wide zoom and the super long zoom by Olympus. YAY!

I had intended to use both lenses a lot more than I ended up doing, mostly due to life getting in the way of things. But that being said, I did score a family trip away to the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. We spent a long weekend away at the Tanjung Jara Resort. And I made it a point to test out these fine lenses during the stay.

The ultra wide, which I’m showcasing shots from in this blog post, took me a while to get used to. It sucks in a lot of stuff, and watching my corners for unintended artifacts was my main trick to learn first. After getting used to that, it was all about framing the shots wanted to take. It is a fun lens to use but not one i would use for my regular street stuff. Even at the “longer” 14mm end, it is still something i rarely shoot at. The balance of this lens paired with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 is great though, no issue with handling and general portability.

As for the Tanjung Jara Resort itself, it is a magical place on the east coast. The whole ambiance of the place and the surrounding areas within the compound are truly relaxing. In fact all you can do is relax. It sucks everything in, much like the wide lens, and wont let you leave :) We didn’t venture out from the resort much, just a few short drives up and down the coast in between eating and sleeping, and most of the rest of the time spent on the beach. I woke up to catch the first light every morning I was there, not too many shots of that in this post, but there’ll be more in the next post when I used the longer lens. The resort is so well maintained and manicured that it was a breeze to shoot. So many lovely landscapes to be taken, and for me it ended up being a lot of beach-scapes. I’ll definitely be coming back in the future. If you haven’t been, you should, just make sure its not during the wet season, and you’ll be fine.

Also, it has been a few good months since I last published anything on this blog. It’s been a few busy months, work, life, family etc. they all played a part, not in a negative way, just in keeping me away from my photography. I do hope to be able to publish at least one blog post a month moving forward. Fingers crossed. But we’ll see how that pans out in the end.

For now though, enjoy the shots below!

Thank you Olympus Malaysia! and if you’re reading this here, lets do something together again!

Cheers!

All photos taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 7-14mm F2.8 PRO

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