AMIR SHARIFF: Photography

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#031: Going Long in Tanjung Jara

This is part two of this two part series on the lenses that I tried from Olympus Malaysia. This time I’m featuring the photos taken with the long zoom, the uber fun, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm F2.8 PRO.

As mentioned in the previous blog, I used this one mostly with the aim of shooting the horizons at first light and the golden and blue hours of the day. This lens is not fun to hold when paired with the Olympus OM-D E-M1. It is very front heavy, even without its tripod mount lens collar. But once I got past the effort needed to lift this lens up with the camera, the super long side of the lens allowed me to get some nice shots of the fishermen along the horizon, and some nicely back-lit shots at sunrise. I tried with the wide lens, but the subjects were tiny in the shots. Mind you, this heaviness is just in comparison to the ultra wide lens and the other small compact prime lenses i have for the Olympus system. It is still miles lighter when compared to a full frame camera with the equivalent lens attached to it. Based on what I remember from using some full frame cameras in the past.

For most of the time that I had this lens on, I focused on capturing the lights in the sky at sunrise, the many colours, hues, and the random cloud formations that emerged as the time went by. Occasionally, there were some fun photos of people at the beach area too. Most of the shots were taken at the long end, at 150mm or close to it, and only about two shots in this post were taken at the “wider” end, around the 40mm mark.

Overall, if i was given the choice of only having one of these lenses, I think I might stick with the wide angle lens. Shooting wider forces me to be aware of everything that is around me. It also makes me be present in the photographing moment, rather than sitting back and capturing something from a far. I have yet to venture into sports of wildlife photography, a few past adventures here and there only, so this opinion may change based on that in the future.

Cheers and thank you Olympus Malaysia once again :)

All photos taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm F2.8 PRO

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