Olympus Zuiko OM 21mm f/3.5, Allure of the Widescreen

Cameras and Lenses: Images with a vintage legacy Olympus Zuiko OM 21mm f/3.5, praised for its tiny, pocketable size and robust all-metal build, a 'sweet spot' 42mm full-frame equivalent cropped to the cinematic 16:9 image aspect ratio.

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I have always had an affinity for the widescreen 16:9 format, the most common aspect ratio for television and computer monitors. The format was introduced to replace the original full-screen 4:3 aspect ratio. It is now the international standard format of digital television.

Being able to shoot in both image aspect ratios, the 4:3 and 16:9 (and a host of others) on the Pen E-P5 makes it very convenient for me to switch from one to another, and with the Zuiko OM 21mm f/3.5 fitted with an adapter, I might have found the right lens (nothing technical here) for the right vista of a widescreen image, or maybe not.

Olympus PEN E-P5, Olympus Zuiko OM 21mm f/3.5

Thoughts aside, could this be a change in my general aptitude from doing just still photography to something along the creative line? The Pen E-P5 does come with a time-lapse shooting feature, for a maximum of 99 frames, which could be good enough to start you off with a 10-second video with the frames shot at 5-second intervals. Hmmm!

HMD Nokia 3.1, Comparing Images

Mobile Photography: Image making with an HMD Nokia 3.1, comparing images shot with the Olympus Pen E-P5 posted earlier.

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Another batch of images of the same desolate play area of the children's play area in the local playground, just across the road from where I am now staying. Images were captured on the HMD Nokia 3.1. As shown from the images, we are still amid the COVID-19 pandemic confinement...

Olympus Zuiko OM 21mm f/3.5, Desolate

Cameras and Lenses: An early morning shoot with a vintage legacy Olympus Zuiko OM 21mm f/3.5, praised for its exceptional edge-to-edge sharpness at f/8 and tiny, pocketable size, a 'sweet spot' 42mm full-frame equivalent on the PEN E-P5.

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The lingering effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic confinement: a bleak and forlorn look at the children's play area at our local park, still wet from an overnight drizzle, where the ground has been left idle, unkempt, unattended, secured only by a hastily strung perimeter security tape.

Though left desolate and strangely quiet, being there still gives you the eerie feeling that you can still hear the echoes of the screams and laughter of the children as they tramp around while enjoying themselves. All that you can see, if at all, are the leaves that have fallen into the area being picked up and swirled around by the breeze in the hot sun later in the day.

Olympus PEN E-P5, Olympus Zuiko OM 21mm f/3.5

HMD Nokia 3.1, Learning A New Trick

Mobile Photography: Images with an HMD Nokia 3.1, on a learning curve with close-ups and neo-macro photography, a good potential with smartphines.

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Just the baby steps here, and a quick look at a bit of a niche within the larger smartphone photography world, which I have completely overlooked, and was not even truly aware of its true potential until I chanced upon a couple of articles on it, close-ups, and macro photography.

In its simplest terms, close-ups and smartphone macro photography, image captures of objects at close-up focal distance and imaging of super small items with only the smartphone instead of using a DSLR or mirrorless ILC (Interchangeable Lens Camera), are already wildly popular and are a regular in the photography industry. The most important aspect of this genre is that you do not need any other equipment or hardware aside from your smartphone.

Nokia 3.1

Unless you are going into vlogging as well, even the gimbal stabilizer, as shown in the image, is not an optional accessory that you may need to have.