Saturday, April 6, 2013

Stealthy OM-D For Street Photography

During our recent visits of Sydney and Brisbane, my friend was wondering how I kill time when Le General was busy shopping! Would you believe I decided to try out my Olympus OM-D EM-5 as a stealthy street photography camera?

I did! But was the camera small enough to avoid suspicion? Was it fast enough to auto focus?  Take a look at the pictures below and decide yourself ;)

Most of the shots you see below was shot WITHOUT raising the OM-D to my eye, I depend on the raised rear LCD  screen for aiming and I shoot "continuous-low" at 3 frames per second.

The OM-D with the raised rear LCD was usually hung from my neck or sitting on my lap, there was time it is just sitting on a table for all the candid shots.



Both of these were shot at Sydney Chinatown, both were "grab" very quickly with my Panasonic Lumix 7-14 zoom.

The first shot of the "I am here" girl was actually a tight crop from an ultra wide grab. When you see the "moment", react fast; I managed to get TWO frames :)

As for "Peter Jackson Wanna Be", I managed to score four frames...

I had my OM-D over my neck as I approach the shoot, I squeezed the shutter release; it must be less than a second; I did not even have to look at the camera, the ultra-wide 7-14 did the rest ;)

Three pictures taken at The Rocks shopping area in Sydney. All with the very compact Panasonic 45-175 zoom.

Shoppers at the Queen Street Mall, Brisbane. All taken with my OM-D and Lumix 7-14 sitting on my lap. me? Looking nonchalant ;) Hee hee...

A not very impressed onlooker looking right into my ultra-wide ;)  I don't think he realised his face was within my lens coverage! Ha ha ha...

I stop for a drink in one of the Queen Street Mall complex while General continue he roam... the table in front of me made me quickly swab my lens, to the 45-175... the OM-D was sitting on the table, I aimed with the rear screen :)


Was the OM-D sweet enough for stealthy street photography? 

YOU BET!!

4 comments:

heather said...

You never arrived back with a black eye so let`s say your incognito roving cameraman experiment was a resounding success!

Nigel said...

CY, If you take the photo secretively does this mean you fear the subject won't like their photo being taken? Or is it just that you want to capture more natural "moments"?

cy.leow said...


Street photography is a non-formalised genre of photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, political conventions and other associated settings.

It typically uses the techniques of straight photography to show a pure vision of a situation, as if holding up a mirror to society. Images can often be ironic or emotionally detached from the subject matter, focussing instead on a particular context or detail. Framing and timing are key aspects of the craft, with the aim of creating images at a decisive or poignant moment. - Wikipedia

ilenticularis said...

Dear CY,

I was the man you spotted shooting with a Leica M8 in the Queen Street Mall. I met you after Le General (LOL) spoke to me a few mins later as she walked passed, mentioning you had spotted my Leica. I don't think you were very impressed it wasn't film or an M9!
I really enjoyed meeting you both in such an impromptu way and enjoyed talking about photography. I am on Google+, Flickr, photo.net and FredMiranda ( email to follow).
Those water melon shots were great, and such a pretty girl!
Cheers,
DMc