Here in the Pacific Northwest, we seldom get snow. When we do, even if it’s really wet and slushy, people get all giddy about playing in it. However, many people get all kerfuffled — schools shut down, businesses close, and the world comes to a grinding halt. Luckily, I was able to take a snow day with the girls and had another chance to play with my new camera! All of the photos below were shot with the Olympus 12–40mm f/2.8 an the E-M1 Mark II. The action photos were shot using the continuous tracking autofocus option and the low burst mode. While it’s not a Canon 5D Mark IV or 7D Mark II in terms of AF tracking performance or focusing speed, it’s definitely very useable!
All in all, I’m very impressed with the quality of the images. Also, I have no regrets about selling my Sony gear. There’s no way I would have taken an A7R II or RX1R II out in those conditions. My camera was wet all over by the time we were done. Good thing it’s made for this type of weather!
I also shot a couple of videos today as well:
I train in Shotokan Karate. Our Sensei, Tony Bennest, gave us all an assignment today. Video our katas in the snow and post it to Facebook since he had to close the school for the day. I’m teaching Nadia — Heian Godan, and Anya — Taikyuku Shodan. I’m performing Jion in snow pants and jeans. Sound was recorded using a Rode VideoMicro with a dead kitten muffling the wind. There’s some diffraction with the lens due to having to stop down quite a bit. I really need to invest in an ND filter and use it. Also, I shot this in manual focus, so that could account for some of the softness as well. Still… not bad.
Snowmageddon is here in the Pacific Northwest. Audio was captured using a Rode VideoMicro with a dead kitten on the mic to cut down on wind noise. I used the continuous tracking autofocus mode for most of the video shots.
Now even though the camera is weather sealed, the microphone isn’t, and my guess is neither is the hotshoe. I think the dead kitten windscreen provided the mic with some protection and the shock mount took the place of the hotshoe cover. I left the mic plugged into the jack at all times because I didn’t want to risk plugging it in and out with drops of melted snow everywhere and thus possibly getting moisture into the camera. So far so good!
Thoughts / comments / suggestions? Please post below!
