Mason, Michigan (USA)
Photo Walks Around Town

 

My photo walk of 10 August 2011

 

10 August 2011 - Visit to Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Today my brother-in-law Jonathan drove my wife Anne and I to Grand Rapids, Michigan to visit the Mini Cooper car dealer, visit the fabulous Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park and have a nice dinner. Besides having a good time my focus was only giving my new Olympus 14-150 zoom lens (Olympus ED 14-150mm f/4.0-5.6 micro Four Thirds Lens) a workout. When I first got my Olympus PEN E-PL2 micro four thirds camera I was a bit disappointed. It's a pretty camera, compact and fun to use, but with its supplied 14-42 kit lens the performance was a bit disappointing. My enthusiasm grew, however, when I fitted the Nikon-m4/3 adapter and tried my old Nikon AI manual focus lenses. The camera provides the best feature for manual focusing I've seen on a digital camera. Though a bit slow in use, the high quality lenses resulted in excellent photos. Reviews caused me to expect similar performance (to the 14-42 kit lens) but much better range, perhps giving me an ideal walk-around lens for my Mason walks. This lens pretty much met my expectations. The zoom range seems close to ideal, only lacking a bit in the wide angle range (perhaps I see a 9-18 zoom in my future?). This is a great one-lens solution, though. I reduce the image size to 1/4 of the original 4032x3024 pixel image for these web pages and the resulting 1008x756 images appear quite sharp on my monitor. The 100% image, though, does not compare well with the Nikon lens images. Also, the in-body image stablization seems to fail me at the longer focal lengths (around the 150mm mark, or 300mm film camera equivalent). Using ISO 200 I was probably pushing it, though, since some of the shutter speeds were rather low for the longer focal lengths. I also suspect that I will improve my steadiness with more practice with this new camera. The lens is noticably heavier than the 14-42 kit lens which dictates a more secure holding technique.

The following photos represent my best photos, with the clearly out-of-focus shots deleted. Still, you'll notice some showing soft focus, in some cases due to camera movement. I used the B-Grip camera belt grip system to carry the camera (very comfortably) and had my VF-2 viewfinder attached to the Pen E-PL2 for all photos. Most of the photos were taken at ISO 200, but for the shots inside the gardens' conservatory this resulted in slow shutter speeds and I deleted a lot of these shots due to camera movement. Moving to ISO 400 resulted in a much improved keeper percentage. It was a nice sunny day so I switched back to ISO 200 outdoors. I also experimented with the Art Filters. I like some of the Dramatic Tone effects, but I didn't really take to the other filters. The photos below are labeled with photo information. Hopefully you'll find these photos of interest and possible use for deciding if this lens would be useful to you.

Click on any photo to see a larger version in a popup window with photo information.


14-150 at 14mm F7.1 1/250 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 17mm F7.1 1/500 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 14mm F7.1 1/400 sec ISO 200
I started with a record shot driving to Grand Rapids followed by some shots walking to the entrance of the Meijer Gardens.

14-150 at 16mm F7.1 1/800 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 16mm F9 1/320 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 15mm F7.1 1/160 sec ISO 200
I love the buildings at Meijer Gardens and took a lot of shots of them. Here is a comparison of a normal shot and one using the Dramatic Tone art filter. See below for another comparison.

14-150 at 25mm F7.1 1/400 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 25mm F10 1/400 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 17mm F6.3 1/60 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 67mm F6.3 1/500 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 25mm F10 1/320 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 25mm F6.3 1/320 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 25mm F6.3 1/500 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 18mm F6.3 1/200 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 34mm F6.3 1/250 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 25mm F6.3 1/160 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 34mm F6.3 1/160 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 25mm F6.3 1/160 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 20mm F6.3 1/80 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 20mm F6.3 1/640 sec ISO 200
Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 10, 2011 - 14-150 at 52mm F6.3 1/400 sec ISO 200
14-150 at 52mm F6.3 1/400 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 45mm F8 1/200 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 14mm F6.3 1/250 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 14mm F6.3 1/250 sec ISO 200
Here I encountered a nice mirror, so I took the opportunity for a self-portrait. Adjusting the VF-2 viewfinder up 90° I was able to compose and just glance up before taking the photo.

14-150 at 31mm F6.3 1/40 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 31mm F6.3 1/40 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 29mm F6.3 1/60 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 47mm F8 1/20 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 34mm F6.3 1/15 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 150mm F5.6 1/30 sec ISO 200
The last photo of the leaf is one of the few longer focal length shots that survived my deletions. It looks pretty good for a 1/30 second shot. There are a few more below.

14-150 at 29mm F5.6 1/8 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 25mm F5.6 1/20 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 75mm F5.6 1/320 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 90mm F5.6 1/50 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 60mm F5.6 1/50 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 150mm F5.6 1/40 sec ISO 400
The bird photo above and the two below were taken at 150mm. All three are a bit soft but are still useful photos. I haven't tried using a tripod to really test this lens yet.

14-150 at 150mm F5.6 1/80 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 75mm F5.6 1/800 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 150mm F5.6 1/125 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 52mm F5.6 1/500 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 45mm F5.6 1/250 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 90mm F5.6 1/20 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 49mm F5.6 1/100 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 45mm F5.6 1/40 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 100mm F5.6 1/500 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 49mm F5.6 1/320 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 90mm F5.5 1/40 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 70mm F5.4 1/100 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 58mm F5.4 1/50 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 54mm F5.4 1/1000 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 29mm F5.0 1/100 sec ISO 400

14-150 at 22mm F5.0 1/800 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 22mm F9 1/320 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 22mm F10 1/400 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 47mm F5.4 1/640 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 47mm F11 1/500 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 29mm F5 1/800 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 18mm F5 1/1000 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 15mm F5 1/640 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 22mm F6.3 1/160 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 22mm F5 1/400 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 22mm F5 1/200 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 47mm F11 1/320 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 47mm F10 1/400 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 16mm F11 1/125 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 34mm F11 1/20 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 47mm F11 1/200 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 25mm F6.3 1/400 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 22mm F6.3 1/60 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 36mm F6.3 1/320 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 100mm F6.3 1/320 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 45mm F6.3 1/640 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 120mm F6.3 1/400 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 47mm F6.3 1/320 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 14mm F9 1/320 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 39mm F11 1/500 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 39mm F11 1/500 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 39mm F11 1/500 sec ISO 200
Pin Hole art filter

14-150 at 39mm F11 1/500 sec ISO 200
Diorama art filter

14-150 at 14mm F6.3 1/50 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 25mm F6.3 1/160 sec ISO 200
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14-150 at 45mm F7.1 1/200 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 49mm F6.3 1/200 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 14mm F8 1/320 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter
The middle photo above shows the very interesting "kinetic" art piece that is in constant motion. I experimented with the video capability of the Olympus PEN E-PL2. The file is too big for me to upload to my server, but I'll try to add it later via one of the video sites.

14-150 at 18mm F6.3 1/160 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 18mm F6.3 1/125 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 18mm F6.3 1/30 sec ISO 200
Here is my wife Anne and her brother Jonathan. The second photo shows me sitting next to my wife. The third photo was a whimsical photo of me peering through one of the art displays.

14-150 at 45mm F6.3 1/640 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 42mm F6.3 1/200 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 39mm F10 1/320 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 22mm F6.3 1/25 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 100mm F6.3 1/1000 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 29mm F6.3 1/640 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 60mm F6.3 1/1000 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 25mm F6.3 1/640 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 14mm F6.3 1/1000 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 15mm F6.3 1/50 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 29mm F6.3 1/640 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 22mm F11 1/400 sec ISO 200
Dramatic Tone art filter

14-150 at 18mm F6.3 1/320 sec ISO 200

14-150 at 15mm F6.3 1/60 sec ISO 200
Flash (note lens shadow)

14-150 at 15mm F6.3 1/13 sec ISO 200
Our trip finished at the fantastic Persian restaurant the Shiraz Grille We ate there on our last trip and couldn't resist returning for a second meal. The second photo shows the Appetizer Sampler, a fun collection of food. This photo was taken with the built-in flash and shows the resulting lens shadow due to the length of the 14-150 lens. The last photo was taken without flash. I intended to show our main meal, but when it arrived I was far too focused on eating to think of taking a photo!
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