Category: Photography

October 18, 2020

My life in cameras: Part 4b Olympus PEN E-P1 and M.Zuiko 17mm F2.8 (Yes the lens is incredibly tiny)

I wrote in my first post about the Olympus Pen E-P1 that I wanted something smaller and lighter for everyday walks. The E-P1 I bought was in a kit with the collapsible zoom I talked about and a small 17mm pancake lens. Additionally they added a glass viewfinder. You can look at the size in this review here (no I…

Categories Photography

October 11, 2020

Danger High Voltage (Panasonic GM1)

I took this picture right next to where I shot the lonely swivel chair. Now I remember that the buildings where in fact part of an old electrical substation (or transformer station). The signs here (in German) warn about “danger high voltage” and enumerate the rules of how to switch off the electricity before beginning any kind of work. I…

Categories Photography/Urbanism

October 2, 2020

My life in cameras: Part 4a Olympus PEN E-P1 and M.Zuiko 14-42mm F3.5 – F.5.6 (How I fell in love with mirrorless)

It has been seven years now with my trusted Canon EOS 20D and my little stable of lenses. At this point in 2011 I was working all day and did not really have the time to go on proper photo tours. I would rather just grab my camera whenever I left the house. You can guess that a few kilograms…

Categories Photography

September 30, 2020

Chock full of action and respect

Do you remember my post about the Canon EOS 20D and my first telezoom lens? I had a picture of what is called a brake shoe or chock. It was just there without much context. This is how a chock is actually used to secure train cars from moving down an incline. Sure the cars have brakes but those might…

Categories Photography/Society

September 28, 2020

My life in cameras 3d: Canon EOS 20D and Canon EF 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS USM

It was 2009 and I was earning real money. Time for a new lens. I was still very much into buying new stuff and heard about a thing called “image stabilization” which sounded like a great idea for someone like me who does not like carrying tripods. So I bought the Canon EF 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS USM lens which was…

Categories Photography

September 24, 2020

My life in cameras 3c: Canon EOS 20D and Canon EF 50mm F1.8

I was really happy with my Canon EOS 20D and reviewing my images I saw that I was drawn to what is called available light photography. In short it means using only the light sources that are already in the scene and this mostly under difficult or low light. Prime examples are candids, concerts indoors (like old churches) or evening…

Categories Photography

September 22, 2020

Empty Playgrounds and Gentrification

Would you let your child play here? Would your child want to play here? I am sure both questions have to be answered with a no. This is a playground in East Berlin. There used to be some playground equipment from before Reunification but under the new West German regulations it was deemed unsafe. On the other hand the city…

Categories Economics/Photography/Urbanism

September 16, 2020

My life in cameras 3b: Canon EOS 20D and Sigma AF 70-300/4-5,6 DL

Remember that I just bought a camera way over my budget and so could not afford any lenses beside the cheap kit lens that came with the camera? At that time I really thought I needed a telephoto lens so I went to the store (yes a physical store) and bought a cheap Sigma telephoto lens (this is a similar…

Categories Photography

September 13, 2020

Random Picture #5 “Swivel Chair”

I have to say I really like this series of random pictures. I am using a randomizer to pick a photo from my collection and then I just let my thoughts and memories flow. These are the little places on can find in Berlin if you go off the beaten track. Although this is very close to some tourist destinations….

Categories Photography/Urbanism

September 8, 2020

My life in cameras: Part 3a Canon EOS 20D and EF-S 18-55mm 3.5-5.6

I am going to split these posts up into camera and lens because each combination is quite unique and I can show more pictures. I already told you how I started with a simple point and shoot camera but soon bought a “real” camera. But the picture quality left something to be desired. The dynamic range was not great and…

Categories Photography