I am offshore again! Also, my camera did not sell so I am still exploring photography. This time I have been shipped to a vessel named the Western Neptune. It's pretty awesome and everyone on board have been great. Below are some photos from the first couple of days exploring the vessel. I did end up selling most of my lenses and all the photos in this post were taken with the 12-50mm kit lens. I find this lens is actually highly capable and I am glad that I am being forced to use it =) Enjoy!

17mm

Earlier this week my partner and I visited a small zoo in the heart of Miami named Jungle Island. We both love wildlife and our day-date also presented the opportunity to test out my newly acquired Olympus MZD 17mm f/1.8. I also took the MZD 45mm f/1.8, MZD 40-150mm zoom and Samyang's 7.5mm fisheye lens. I ended up not using the fisheye, but all this and a few accessories easily fit into the small messenger bag I brought with me. The photos below are labeled according to the lens I used for comparison and some of my favorite came from the 17mm.

17mm

This lens provides the relatively wide field of view that I enjoy when using the 15mm body cap lens. However, it is razor sharp even when shot wide open and produces some beautiful bokeh. It is also small, auto-focus is blazing fast when coupled to the EM5, and the cherry on top is being able to easily switch to manual mode using the lens itself. Manual focus became important when photographing birds through their cages as the lens usually auto-focused on the enclosure. After auto-focusing I would enter magnification mode on the EM5 and manually focus on what I wanted to... usually the birds' eye =)  

17mm

When there was no cage to obstruct the subject, I was surprised at the EM5 and 17mm's ability to lock focus on my subject's eyes, even when it was moving. The 17mm has been around for a while and there are plenty of articles out there detailing its pros and cons (see here, here, here, and here). I think the 17mm, 45mm and zoom were a perfect trio for the zoo and I highly recommend Olympus' fast wide angle prime! With that, I will leave you with some of the images from Jungle Island =)

Sam D. 

17mm

17mm

45mm

45mm

45mm

17mm

17mm

17mm

17mm

45mm

45mm

17mm

17mm

17mm

45mm

45mm

40-150mm

17mm

17mm

17mm

17mm

45mm

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45mm

45mm

40-150 mm

45mm

17mm

40-150mm

45mm

40-150mm

17mm

17mm

17mm

I have finally finished processing most of the photos from my partner and I's visit to Chicago. This city has an awesome urban landscape, vibrant nightlife, and a great deal of beauty to be captured. Coming from Miami, I also enjoyed the cool weather and it was great being able to carry my kit -EM5, kit flash, 45mm f/1.8, and 15mm body cap lens- in my jacket pockets. Most of these were taken while walking about for meals or getting pageant related things taken care of. Next time I visit, I plan to dedicate some time solely to photograph more of the city. I hope this set gives this amazing city some justice!!!

Sam D.

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For more on Chicago, be sure to check out the monochrome series from this trip here =)