The Olympus 7-14mm f2.8 lens challenge

Last week I met up with a friend whom I helped influence his camera buying decisions years ago. To that end, he decided to buy the same Olympus camera body that I had; the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mark II. He bought the silver one, while I got the black one. Over the years he bought several Pro lenses, one of which was the Olympus 7-14mm f2.8 Pro lens, which I got the chance to borrow for my upcoming New York trip.

So I tried the lens and boy the ultra wide lens was a challenge to shoot with. I don’t really have much of an experience shooting wide angle shots, especially when its so wide with distortions appearing on the edges when shot at particular angles. With so much of the scene being taken in into the shot as the camera snaps a picture of it, the focus of the image and the differentiation between the background and foreground is lost in the picture. It seems that composing your image and deciding your foreground and background is absolutely essential while shooting at wide angles, all the while taking care not to introduce distortions into your picture.

That was a challenge I faced throughout my session shooting using that lens while I as at the Prudential Marina Bay Carnival yesterday. I spent about an hour in the late afternoon, trying out the new lens and while I did managed to get some decent shots, it was not truly spectacular or something that I would be proud of it. Maybe shooting pictures in carnivals is itself a challenge, especially when so many things are going on at once in the background. I need lots of practice, judging from the pictures I took. However, with that being said, I think the lens would still be useful for a place like New York, with its sprawling skyscrapers, its straight streets, narrow alleyways and grand interior architectural features in iconic building that would make this lens particularly useful.

We shall see. While I foresee me not using the lens often, I think there will be occasions where it will be extremely useful. I am not going to regret bringing this lens along, and who knows, maybe I will decide to get one for myself, another professional lens to add to my collection. This extra lens, I don’t mind bringing it around with me during my photoshoot, as it isn’t heavy and doesn’t take a lot of space in my camera bag.

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