Learning to drive my Olympus OM-D - Horses, Birds and a Bishop

I have bought an Olympus OM-D E-M1 as a replacement for my ageing Lumix G1, which for the uninitiated is a much smaller camera than that which I habitually use and is also much much lighter which makes it a good choice as a travel camera, For the slightly initiated, this is a Micro Four Thirds camera which means that lenses and the dedicated flash gun which I have for  the Lumix are compatible; at the moment I have the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 lens an have also been trying out my Panasonic 45 - 200 mm lens from the Lumix.

On the first morning after I got this, I got up early and went to Warren Hill in Newmarket, only to find that they were using the gallops furthest from my vantage point! They were just too far away, even with to Panasonic lens which is equivalent to  full frame 90 - 400.  Walking across the training grounds early in the morning is severely frowned upon! However I got a few shots of them walking back, steaming after their exertions.

Next I tried out the wild flowers and the bird feeders in our garden; on the bird-feeders I used the Olympus app on my phone which allows me to fire the camera remotely whilst watching what the camera can see on the iPhone screen. I liked this way of working - good for lazy photographer, but bad for camera and phone battery life!

Then yesterday afternoon, the wonderful ex-Bishop of St Albans, John Taylor, was conducting a confirmation service in Little Wilbraham and I was along to take some record shots for the parish.  These were taken at ISO 4000 without flash which lead to some noise in the raw file, but nothing which was beyond the wit of Lightroom

Finally, it was time to prepare some pictures of the new camera's predecessor in order to advertise it on eBay.  I was pleased with some nice crisp shots under studio-like conditions.  Anyone for a Lumix?!!

A walk around the Greenwich Peninsula

A group from Cambridge Camera Club, bristling with lenses and ambition went to Canary Wharf (briefly) and then to the Cutty Sark and thence around the Greenwich Peninsula via to Royal Navel College where we took in the Painted Hall and the Chapel and the Trafalgar pub where we took in beer & sandwiches; we went as far as the Milennium Dome where we caught the Emirates cable car ride back to the North bank for a welcome meal and back to out cars and home.  Many thanks to Alan and Pat Clarke who had clearly done their homework and provided plausible answers to all of the  idiotic questions we posed!

I took an infra-red camera (all the monochrome shots) and a (more) normal DSLR

First a few from around Canary Wharf - the reflections were working well in high sunlight just prior to midday

After a brief ride on the DLR we arrived at the Cutty Sark

and thence to the Royal Naval College Chapel:

 Everywhere there is evidence of the redevelopment of the Greenwich Peninsula

And occasional reminders of its past...

It looks as though the Cambridge crew were so far behind in the Boat Race that there coach has told them to find their own way home

What a lot of Bankers!

Penrose tiling to be seen on Ravensbourne College next to the Dome

Reflections of the Royal Victoria Dock in The Crystal building

And now for some IR

2 days in North Norfolk - birds & a beach

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday based in Blakeney with Mike Harris and Barry and Sue Badcock. we spent our days walking through the marshes looking for shots of birds for which I'd have been better equipped if I hadn't left my 300mm lens at home, so anything I managed was with my 70-200 with a 1.4x converter. Here are a selection of little egrets, redshank, Brent geese and a black-headed gull. We also made an early morning foray onto Sheringham beach where I hoped to get some interesting shots using my 10 stop neutral density filter - you won't find any of those shots below so you may judge my success!  Luckily I also had my infra red camera with me and you will find a couple of shots from that here - I was particularly surprised by the infra red shot of the seaweed on the groyne with (I'm told) a turnstone watching me.