What To Do With All This Video?

I have a 126 GB of video clips sitting on my desktop for YouTube. What do I do with it all? I’m not a filmmaker or overly interested in making well scripted and produced videos. I do like taking daily clips of life. I’m thinking that instead of holding onto this video and making it into a polished video, I’ll just organize it into interesting (hopefully) themes. What’s the point of taking all the video and doing nothing with it.

What’s The Best Camera For Street Photography?

This is a tough one to answer. This changes all the time. First it was a Leica, then a GR, then a Nikon. But now I’ve landed on this Olympus EM5 Mark iii. It’s a good mix of everything I need. I’m using my experience with the GRiii, Nikon Zf and EM5 Mark iii for a bit of comparison. So why this camera?

Size

This thing is tiny and light. The camera with lens is under 550 grams. I like to take a camera everywhere with me and shoot daily. So carrying a heavy and big camera gets annoying after a while. This became evident after using the Nikon Zf for a few months. Once I started using the Olympus again, it was clear the Nikon was too big for daily use. Now the GR is the undisputed champion with size and portability but I’ll discuss why I choose not to keep using it later.

The Olympus is much smaller and half the weight.

IQ

I can’t imagine a world where it would matter using a 20 megapixel mft sensor matters for my style of street photography. The more random snapshot and candid photography. With the lens I’m using, the 17mm 1.8 images to me have way more pop than photos taken with the Ricoh GR and I can barely tell the difference between the Olympus and Nikon ZF files. Here’s three photos, one from a GRiii, EM5 Mark iii and Nikon ZF. I matched the format to the mft sensor which is 4×3. What is what?

The first photo is from the Nikon ZF. Second the GRiii and third the Olympus. I’m not taking photos on the street that highlight the capabilities of a full frame sensor and that’s the point. I’m not doing super shallow depth of field shots up close to people. Most of my photos are using a large depth of field. So why does it matter if I use a full frame sensor? It really doesn’t to me.

The Lens – 17mm 1.8

I love this lens. It has a manual focus clutch with distance scales so I can easily switch from manual focus to auto focus. Very handy when I’m quickly taking shots of people I’m walking by. I usually put it at 1 meter and fire away. Since the mft sensor has a huge depth of field, it’s easy to get everything in focus. And the auto focus is very quick in single point and probably as fast as any of the high end cameras in single point. This to me really sold me on the system and is one of the reasons for my departure from the GR. I love snap focus on the GR. It’s probably a bit more functional than the manual clutch on the Olympus. But the GR has horrendous auto focus and I stopped using it for anything other than still shots. And the lens looks and feel great and takes better photos than the GR lens in my opinion. Plus it’s tiny and f1.8 so I can use it any any situation. I was using it in Las Vegas at night no problem.

Quick shot inside one of the casinos.

The Stabilization

I never thought I needed good stabilization and then I started shooting some short videos. The ZF has really good stabilization. A few of the videos on my YouTube channel were made with the ZF. I had to add stabilization in post to make the footage smooth though. The GR has meh digital stabilization and it’s probably not worth using it for video. But the Olympus is on another level. With sensor shift and digital stabilization on the Olympus, the video is smooth like on an iPhone. I have a 75mm lens I’ve been using for video and it’s super smooth. That’s a full frame equivalent 150mm lens I can easily use with video. It’s new to me but the results are pretty spectacular. Here’s a short clip with no stabilization added in post.

The Shutter

The shutter is very quiet. On par with an M10-P. A bit louder than the GR and marginally quieter than the Nikon ZF. But I don’t use it. I’m always using the electronic shutter. The sensor readout speed is fast enough that I never have rolling shutter. Shooting discretely on the street is very important to me. Less drama = more photos and more fun. I shoot while riding my bike and still no wobbly photos. Big perk for me.

Weather Sealing

Top of class weather sealing. I not often in bad weather so not a huge deal for me. But it is nice to have. I’ve noticed that I NEVER have dust spots on my photos. The Leica rangefinders were a nightmare for dust. Some photos had so many spots, it was annoying to fix in post. The GR is notorious for having spots as well. The Olympus… more photos no problems.

File Size

The raw files are all under 20 mb. This is a great size and a big plus. I love the compressed raws in the Nikon. All those files were around 11 mb. Why bother with huge files. Just makes everything sluggish. My Q2M files were a huge 85 mb each. What a pain to manage those.

Battery Life

It’s pretty good. I get around 400 shots per charge. Usually more than enough for a photo walk so I don’t have to swap batteries when I’m out. The Zf is amazing. I could get around 1000 shots on a charge. The GR is horrible. Lucky to get 200 shots. But who cares, just bring an extra battery.

What Could Be Better?

Charging and data transfer. After using the USB-C on the ZF, I realized how great it is to charge and transfer photos to my Mac. So easy and convenient. With the Olympus, I have to go old school and take out the memory card.

The On/Off button is on the left. I wish is one on the right side of the camera so I can operate it one handed.

I’d prefer a flip out screen instead of the fully articulating. It’s not a big deal to use, but would rather have a flip out to keep the camera smaller. I rarely point the camera at myself, but it is very handy for filming yourself.

Conclusion

Small camera, great fast lens with quick auto focus and a very nice and functional manual focus clutch with distance scales. Stealthy shooting with great stabilization. Great IQ that’s more than good enough for street photography. All I need.

Quicker and more robust than the GR. Lighter than the Nikon. More functional and utilitarian than both the GR and ZF in my opinion. I can take the Olympus everywhere with me from the streets to long hikes and I know I’m prepared for anything that comes my way.

Let’s see how long my mft phase lasts until more GAS kicks in. But for now, I’m loving everything about this setup.

Summer of 2022 On Portra 400

Two summers ago I shot around 30 rolls or Kodak Porta 400 on my Leica M3 and Nikon F100. It was my film phase and I didn’t shoot any digital photos for three months. I finally got around to editing my favorites down and posting my gallery on here. As much as I want to fight it, photos shot on film just look better to me. Still, I hate the workflow and cost so it’s not something I’m going to pursue anytime soon. You can check the gallery here.

In-N-Out Burger Is The Best

It took me a few years to truly understand how great this place is. My first time going was during Covid. I got the animal fries and since there was no dining at the restaurant, I ate them cold. I wasn’t impressed and didn’t try In-N-Out for another year. But then I had the Double-Double. It’s a pretty basic but delicious double cheeseburger. What makes it stand out is the toasted bun on the inside. It gives an extra crisp. And the prices. The photo here shows a Double-Double, two orders of fries, a fountain drink and a 3×3 from the not so secret menu. All of this was $22 with tax and after the outrageous fast food minimum wage increase to $20 for fast food workers. What a steal and I hope the prices remain the same. And then the people. Everyone is polite and happy. I’m guessing it’s because the company is good and treats their workers well. How about the speed. The busiest In-N-Out I’ve been to is in Vegas. No fewer than 100 people were inside and outside either eating, waiting for food or placing their order. And I’ll still get the food within 10 minutes. So great food, great prices, friendly people and fast service. It’s fast food done the best.

DTLA On Easter Sunday

Took a stroll on Easter through the dystopian city center of Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. It was supposed to be raining most of the day from yet another atmospheric river. Ended up being another beautiful LA day with the added bonus of interesting clouds with not one drop of rain. As I wandered the streets, I couldn’t help but think about how ashamed the politicians of this beautiful state should feel. On nearly every block was trash, grime, homeless and drug addicted people. It was especially glaring on this holiday as the city was less packed with people than usual. As a resident, I’d feel depressed having to see the chaos on a daily basis. For me as a street photographer, it’s a bit like paradise. Still I didn’t manage to make any stellar photos, but I did manage a few keepers.

My Unconventional Path To Street Photography

I’m not that in tune with the world of street photography. I don’t study the history of it or look for new inspiration. I’m not even sure why I’m attracted to this weird hobby. What I’ve discovered is how my upbringing and approach seems to be different from other street photographers. I’ve never gone to art school or been involved in the world of art. I don’t use fancy words to describe photos. I don’t wear trendy clothes. I’m not on IG so I don’t even know what the new trend is. I just use my past experiences as fuel for vision (whatever that is). My former life as one of the only white kids in school, to the backwoods of Indiana, the military, life as a slumlord, plumber, and communist organizer (ya that one was a blunder). Now I’m cruising around taking photos everyday. None of this was planned. I just stumbled upon a YouTube video a few years back and been hooked ever since. I used to be insecure about my ignorance on this hobby I’m so addicted to. I didn’t know anyone or anything about it. But now I view it as kind of a superpower because I’ve found less influence is good for me. Kind of weird that less knowledge about a particular subject is beneficial. But that’s how I feel. Just see something, point and shoot. Move on to the next one.

New Color Street Photography

Well I thought I’d never go back to shooting color, but here I am. I just got bored shooting black and white. I’m finding that I actually take more photos in color as I’m looking for me than just light and texture. My photos are fairly different in color than black and white. It’s more of a documentary style finding moments rather than abstract and artistic photos I tend to make in black and white. It’s cool how I can change my style just by shooting in a different way.

My goal is to stay as productive as possible and resist boredom and stagnation. So shooting in a way that keeps me motivated and interested is important. My biggest problem with shooting color in the past was in post. I wasn’t good at all in processing my photos. Especially the photos taken in harsh light. My photos looked dull and washed out unless shot in the best light. Now after the last 18 months of shooting 99% of my photos in black and white, I’ve honed in on where light comes from and so it’s helped me shooting and processing in color. I’ve also done a deep dive into Lightroom which has helped me in post. I created a more filmic preset and work from that.