Lippy Lady - Lindsey - Full Sutton airfield

Coming to the end of the 12 month Lippy Lady project.

This morning it was a most enjoyable shoot with Lindsey at Full Sutton Airfield. Lindsey is a commercial pilot, who used to instruct at Full Sutton.

I used the Canon 5D2 with the usual 16-35mm f2.8 L, 24 - 70mm f2.8 L and 70 - 200mm f2.8 IS L lenses as well a finishing off the shoot with a few on the Olympus OM-D M5 with M.Zuiko 12 - 40mm f2.8 Pro lens.

I used some fill-in flash triggered with the Yongnuo YN622C wireless triggers which worked faultlessly.

Expensive shoot

While I was on the beach at Aberffraw shooting St Cywfan I managed to loose the eye cup from the EVF on my Olympus OM-D.

It all still worked as before but its was not quite so comfy as the edges of the EVF are quite sharp.

So I went online to order another. There are no third-part ones available, not that I could find anyway, so had to buy OEM, £16.99 fuck me Olympus! That is outrageous for a small piece of rubbery plastic.

In the extremely unlikely event that someone finds the one I lost, and happens upon my blog, please contact me so I can have it back.

Mysterious image St Michaels cemetary Llanrug, north Wales.

I was in North Wales recently and on our way back to our hotel I thought I'd try to find the final resting place of General Sir Hugh Rowlands who was the first Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross.


His family plot is in St Michaels cemetary in Llanrug not that far from the family home is Plas Tirion, Llanrug.


Rowlands' plot is quite easy to locate, its not far off the main path from the entrance gate.

The VC is clearly displayed on the monument. Sir Hugh, enjoyed a distinguished military career and lived on to the grand old age of 81, unlike a lot of VC recipients who get the award posthumously.


After locating the plot I took a walk around looking for some images, the grass was long and the purple/grey of the headstones with the mountains as a backdrop looked likely to provide the images I was after.


I started shooting and on one particular shot noticed that the Face Recognition on the OM-D kept overriding my selected focus point, I've not had the OM-D long and the Face Recognition was one of the features that really impressed me, it was so quick and accurate, as well as being able to tell which eye was nearest to the camera, so I though it odd that this was happening. I turned and composed another image, and the camera focussed on my chosen area. I tried the first shot again; as before the Face Recognition took over again and focussed on the same spot. I took the image as I was using a small aperture and thought everything would be in acceptable focus anyway.


When I got the files back home and looked at them on my 27"Apple TB monitor I detected something in the image.

What I saw is to the right of the ivy covered tomb.


Its probably difficult to see in web resolution so below is 100% crop.

Now i'm REALLY impressed with the OM-D face recognition!

Olympus OM-D-E-M5, M.Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 PRO - National Slate Museum Llanberis

On the final morning of our short break I attempted to get some images of Dolbadarn castle, I took the OM-D and a tripod up to the castle but the light was flat and it was crawling with tourists so didn't yield any decent images.

We fancied a cuppa, so went to the nearby National Slate Museum, in the old Dinorwic Quarry works. entrance is free and its well worth a look.

I took the OM-D in with me and I'm pleased that these images reflect the industrial heritage of a bygone age quite well.

Processed in Lr CC.

Canon 5D2, HDR, 10 Stopper, every cliche in the book! St Cwyfan, Aberffraw, Anglesey.

Back home from our short trip and now I have the correct USB lead I could look at the Canon images on the big screen.

As a first attempt at using a 10 stopper I was reasonably pleased. I was limited to the 30sec max shutter of the 5D2, as I forgot my cable release so was unable to use Bulb. I think longer exposure is really required.

St Cwyfan's church, St Michael's Llanrug, Llunau Mymbyr with Olympus OM-D E-M5, M.Zuiko 12-40 f2.8 PRO

Weather better today, clouds in the sky and no rain.


First stop was St Cwyfan in Aberffraw on Anglesey more popularly known amongst photographers as "eglwys bach y mor" or "Church in the Sea".


I'd checked the tide times and high tide was at 11:00 so I arrived just before and set up my Canon 5D2 with a 10 stopper on the 16-35mm f2.8 L II. (I've not processed these images yet so all images on this post are from my OM-D M-5.)


After making the images I set off for Ogwen Valley and Pont Benglog. Unfortunately there was not very much water in the falls under the bridge so the images are not that spectacular.


Stopped off quickly at Llynnau Mymbyr and took a couple of images with the OM-D.


I moved on to Llanrug and St Michaels cemetary. This is a very atmospheric graveyard with some old headstones.


Final destination was another go at the old garage in Llanrug, I've photographed it so many times but never been really pleased with the results, I only used the OM-D this time. Light was flat so not particularly pleased with the results this time either.

Eglwys Sant Baglan, Llanfaglan, Caernarfon, North Wales, Olympus OM-D E-M5- M.Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 PRO

Over in north Wales for a short break and a bit of landscape photography.

Got in late this afternoon, and after checking into the hotel thought I'd go out and find Eglwys Sant Baglan.

Unfortunately as I got nearer St Baglan what light there was deserted me and I was left with low white-out cloud and drizzle. 
Still, as I'd come all this way I thought I'd grab a few shots anyway and hopefully be able to salvage something in Lr CC later.

The church is now in the hands of the Friends of Friendless Churches charity and I found it was not locked, so though I'd try the OM-D at a bit of HDR.

I then attempted a couple of images outside but it the light had completely gone. 

One for another day.

Catherine - Lippy Lady - Higger Tor

Another Lippy Lady shoot today.

Into deepest Derbyshire to Higger Tor to meet with Catherine.
Weather was, let's say "challenging" windy, and occasionally wet.

Thankfully I had an assistant again today to hold the flash with the soft box otherwise it would have ended up in Castleton! 

I shot on the Canon 5D2 bodies with the 16-35mm f2.8 L, 24-70mm f2.8 L and 70-200mm f2.8 L lenses. 

Today flash was triggered not by the Canon ST2 but by Yongnuo YN622C and YN622C-TX radio flash triggers, these give all the TTL/Manual control that the Canon wireless kit provides but work with my Canon 430EXII Speedlites, which Canon's kit does not. And they cost £100 for two triggers and the controller. These units are not crappy reverse-engineered copies of the Canon kit, but well made innovative units in their own right and work beautifully, far more reliably outdoors than the optical triggered ST2.

I used the Olympus OM-D E-M5 with the the 12-40mm f2.8 PRO for a few images towards the end of the session, triggering the flash in manual mode with the Ebay wireless triggers, which work really well if you don't need TTL. 

Again, really impressed with the OM-DM5/12-40mm F2.8 PRO combination, it is so easy and fast to shoot with.

Images processed in Lr CC as usual.

Lippy Ladies - Lisa and Linda

Out early this morning for a shoot with Lisa and Linda in York City Centre.

Weather was much better than when we originally tried to get together, lovely and clear, the type of light that shows York at its best.

As there was hardly anyone around and no traffic were were able to position the bikes pretty much wherever we liked.

I shot predominantly on my Canon 5D2 with the 16-35mm f2.8 L, 24-70mm f2.8 L and the 70-200mm f2.8 L IS. I also did some with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 and the M.Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 Pro. Can you tell which one of these was taken with that camera?

As the sun was still low I used fill-in flash for all these images, the Canon 430 EXII Speedlite was in a Neewer softbox ably held by Hannah,  my assistant for the day, fired remotely by a Canon ST2.
When I used the OM-D I fired the same Canon Speedlite set manually remotely using an Ebay 2.4Ghz trigger, it worked perfectly.


Really enjoyable shoot and Lisa and Linda were a joy to photograph, very relaxed in front of the camera.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Kilpeck church Herefordshire

Some more images taken on the Olympus OM-D E-M5 with the 14-42mm kit lens off my old PEN E-PL1.

I've moved the 14-42mm back the Oly PEn now that the 12-40mm f2.8 Pro has arrived for the OM-D E-M5. The Pen will now replace the Canon G10 Powershot that died as my keep in the bag/car/coat camera.
Processed in Lr CC

Olympus OM-D E-M5 with the 14-42mm

Olympus OM-D E-M5 with the 14-42mm

Olympus OM-D E-M5 with the 14-42mm

Olympus M.Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 and hdew Cameras

Full disclosure: I have nothing whatsoever to do with hdew Cameras, and paid for the lens with my own money.

A quick big up to hdew Cameras who have just supplied me with an Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 Pro lens.

I was looking at this lens for my OMD-EM5 and the best I could find was used in MPB Photographic (who I use a lot) at £499 + delivery. Then Google turned up the same lens new (but white box separated from a kit apparently) in hdew cameras.

I'd never heard of hdew Cameras so was wary and of course you hear all kinds of horrors around "grey" goods. However at £503 inc VAT it was too good an offer to at least not check out.

I contacted hdew Cameras by email asking if they were "grey" goods, they replied that technically they were but had their own 3 yr warranty with a manufacturer approved facility and that the goods were in the UK and not imported from elsewhere on demand.

I pressed the button and 5 working days later my lens arrived.

On opening the box I was pleasantly surprised to find not a white box but an official unopened Olympus box.

I logged onto MyOlympus and on entering the serial number the lens was detected and the 3yr warranty from Olympus applied together with a 6 month extension, so it was all good. The lens has the latest Firmware so its not been sat on a dealers shelf for months either.

I was kept up to date via email of my order status and any questions were answered very quickly. I was sent a VAT receipt by email as I had requested.

All in all a very pleasurable and easy buying experience. I would not hesitate to recommend them and they will be first on my list when needing any new kit.

And the lens? it looks and feels every bit Pro and fits on the OMD-EM5 beautifully and focusses super fast. Unfortunately is pouring down here this evening so I can't get out to try it, I'm not willing to test the weatherproofing just yet!

Images taken with iPhone 7 and Lr Mobile. Processed in Lr Mobile

Olympus OM-D E-M5 with M.Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 Pro

M.Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 Pro

Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire

Visiting my Mum, this weekend and fixed her abysmally slow broadband, so able post.

We went out to Kilpeck church, weather was fine when we left Hereford, but turned overcast white-out sky and rain when we arrived. Still, I wanted to give the OM-D another test do went and took a few images anyway, it is weather sealed after all.

My M.Zuiko 12-40 f2.8 Pro lens has not arrived yet so still using the kit 14-42 from my old Olympus PEN EL-P1.

Processed in Luminar, for a change.