Flight From Callahan County

I love using modern software to stylize digital images, and you don't have to travel to Switzerland to get interesting nature photos for that work. Here are some of my latests shot with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 iii and the M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f1.8 prime lens. A view of a pocket park in a Round Rock, Texas neighborhood. 200 iso f9 1/400 sec, ON1 Photo RAW 2025 MAX Here is a Rock Rose, cropped for close-up. 200 ISO f3.5 1/250 sec, ON1 Photo RAW 2025 MAX: Color Film - CF10 Fujifilm Velvia 50 Sometimes adding a texture gets a distinctive look. Cropped for close-up. 200 ISO f1.8 1/4000 sec, ON1 Photo RAW 2025 MAX: Inked texture In the park I spotted what's left of a personal-size flag tangled in the limbs of a dead shrub. Cropped for close-up. ISO 200 f1.8 1/250 sec, ON1 Photo RAW 2025 MAX: masked, filter - High Key B&W Warm. Adjacent to our building are several crape myrtle shrubs in bloom. Here's a close-up with faux-film stylization of one of my favorite black and white fil...

The Olympus (now OM Digital Solutions) announcement last year of its new M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 IS lens immediately grabbed my attention.  As an enthusiast micro four thirds amateur, I have a variety of prime and zoom lenses but none to cover the longest telephone range.  My lens lineup includes an Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II, but I have found it just a bit short on some occasions. In additional to the 400mm reach of the new lens, it can focus very close throughout its zoom range, making it valuable for shooting macro/closeup images of flowers and insects at a distance. Another benefit is compatibility with the standard Olympus MFT teleconverters, the 1.4x MC-14 and the 2x MC-20. However, the large size and its hefty price tag of $1,500 USD have made me rethink the the value this lens would be for me. I used to do a lot of photography on mountain hikes but never pursued birds or wildlife. But as I have gotten older my hikes have become less strenuous w...

 Here's a black and white image of the legacy Olympus OM-System 50mm f2 Auto-Macro on a modern micro four thirds camera -- the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III. Because this prime lens was designed for SLR cameras, it's big and heavy, although the Olympus OM-System was smaller than other SLRs. The grip and the size of the E-M1 III make it work well on this camera. I would not want to use it on my smaller PEN-F without a grip attached. This copy of the lens, which I acquired used on eBay, is in good shape, and looks great on the camera. The wide rubberized focus ring operates smoothly with its wide throw. For manual focus work, I prefer this approach to the focus-range switches used on later model macro and telephoto lenses. The aperture ring with click stops is located at the front of the lens. A focus-distance scale is found at the back of the lens behind the focus ring. A Fotodiox Pro OM-MFT adapter attaches the lens to the micro four thirds camera. This lens and virtually all of t...