Author: Peter Forsgard

New lens and Firmware – 150-400mm f4.5 Pro is here!

Olympus has launched the much-awaited telephoto zoom lens, the 150-400mm f4.5 Pro. The lens was first announced in January 2019. The same time when E-M1X was launched. Then of course it was a product development announcement. Now the lens reality and first real-life test have been done. The lens is available in January 2021.
Jari Peltomäki tells us about the lens
I have not had a chance to test it yet. It has been mainly tested by bird photographers here in the Nordic. I did have a chance to talk to a Finnish award-winning bird and nature photographer Olympus Visionary Jari Peltomäki. He has been testing the lens a few days. In the video, he also tells us what he had to with the production of the lens.
New Firmware
Four Olympus OM-D bodies got a new firmware. The new firmware includes Bird recognition to E-M1X and ProResRAW-video for E-M1X and E-M1 MKIII.

Both of these new features are very interesting and make both bodies even better than they are now.
Subject recognition in E-M1X
Olympus E-M1X has subject recognition AF. It “knows” what motorsports, trains, and airplanes look like. Now the Ai-driven algorithm has been improved to include also birds. This one I had the chance to test. In the video below I give a sneak peek of the feature. A full video about it coming up next Friday.
ProResRAW gives better video quality
ProResRAW is compared to H.264 that Olympus camera records internally the same as the difference between shooting raw vs. jpg. That is the simple and quick answer to what raw video is. ProResRAW is compatible with Atomos Ninja V only. An external recorder is needed if you want to shoot raw-video.

I have a blog post about ProResRAW. There is some more info about that. There will also be a dedicated video about ProresRAW on my channel.

November 17, 2020
Mitakon 17mm 0.95 Review – [FAST prime with GREAT value for money!]

I had a chance to test the Mitakon 17mm f0,95 lens. It is an MFT lens from ZY Optics. I was interested to test the lens because of its fast aperture. 0,95 lenses are not that common and usually quite expensive. Mitakon 17mm f0,95 lens can be found under 400€/$. That is a good price.

The lens is a very good value for the money. If you are interested in Mitakon Speedmaster 17mm f0,95. you can get it from Amazon.
Get the lens from Amazon US:
Get the lens from Amazon UK:
What I liked about and what was not that good?
What I liked about is the look and feel, image quality when stopped down to f2. The downsides of the lens is the focusing ring. It is a “long” way to go from 1m to infinity. No clicks on the aperture ring. I do not like it when photographing, but for video, it is quite good. The at f0,95 lacks contrast, but that can be fixed in post.

Video about the lens on my YouTube channel.
Disclaimer: Some of the links might be Affiliate Links. If you use those links and buy something I will get a small commission. You do not pay any extra.

November 7, 2020
Luminar AI – My FIRST look! (Beta-version)

I had a chance to test the new Luminar AI. It is still in beta. Luminar AI a new software from Skylum Software. The whole philosophy of Luminar AI is that it will help to start the editing. Like Skylum said in one of their webinars many photographers have a very hard time knowing where to start. Luminar AI and its templates are the answer.
Luminar Ai will analyze the images and give suggestions on where to start. It will give a few template options to start. The good thing is that every template is editable. So that you as the photographer can adjust the settings that were used in a particular template.
My previous blog post Is AI the future of Image Editing? was about AI in general what it comes to image editing.
If you are interested in Luminar AI. There more info on Skylum Website.
I have made a video where I show a few of the things that Luminar AI can do. I think it is quite an interesting software. I am very interested to see where it is going.
Disclaimer: Some of the links might be Affiliate Links. If you use those links and buy something I will get a small commission. You do not pay any extra.

October 31, 2020