A continuation of my Streets of Kathmandu series – this time in color, and shot with a Fuji X100. Sadly, the camera with the firmware at the time was too slow for tracking street work – I resorted to either trap focusing or hyper focal. Superb colors, though. Enjoy! MT
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Ming Thein | Photographer 
I love your images in this essay with the X100 and have a Fuji X100 on order. I am aware of its “quirks” but I am looking forward to the fun.
Thanks, and enjoy your new camera!
Some nice shots there, although they seem oversharpened (but perhaps it’s just the compression for web upload).
You prefer the OM-D over the X100, eh? I haven’t used the OM-D though I have to say that the X100 is far and away my favorite digital camera, ever.
It’s flickr (the host) doing odd things with the intermediate resize after they changed some code.. I’ve altered my web sharpening algorithm, but it doesn’t do anything for older images, obviously. The OM-D is a lot faster – it’s responsiveness that makes the difference for me.
Such vivid colors and brilliant composition, amazing!!!! I own Fuji X100 and Olympus OM-D and so would like to know about your experience with both (in comparison). Thanks for the great (like always) pictures
Thanks! The OMD is much, much more responsive than the X100, and interchangeable lenses make it more flexible too. I’d much rather use the OM-D than the X100; I don’t think the comparison is even close. I’d give the image quality edge to the OM-D, too.
I would love to know the settings, you used for the essay, ISO etc, You seem to get more out of the camera then I do, just yet
but I am just learning how to use it, only a month into it. Are these photos on FlickeFlu, where I could see the tech info for them.
They’re on flickr, with the full EXIF intact if you click on the link on the right side of the page.
Great work Ming, amazing tones. I wonder of you have any specific advice for working with X100 raw files?
Also, I see you’re not a big fan of the X100 but suggest you try out the new WCL-X100 converter that gives a 28mm equiv focal length. Like you I yearned for something wider than 35mm and am really loving the 28mm length with the WCL.
Thanks! Nope, I don’t have to do anything different to my normal raw workflow, which is to get the color balance right using the eyedropper tool, then adjust exposure in ACR before making final contrast adjustments via curves in photoshop.
The X100 + WCL is pretty bulky, and it won’t move OVF frame lines, right?
It is bulky, but somehow I prefer it on (even though I can’t use my old case with it). It makes the camera feel more balanced. Will see if I feel the same after prolonged use.
The OVF frame lines are expanded when you tell the camera the WCL is on. You can try it without; just change the setting.
Oh, that’s not bad then – I’d imagine it would probably reduce the eye relief by quite a bit if you can still see the whole frame, though.
Beautiful shots. Can you share anything you do with metering and/or post processing to achieve such dynamic and color richness?
Thanks Tom. It’s pretty simple – don’t overexpose anything, get the color accurate (WB is very important) and then process each shot individual through Adobe Camera Raw. There’s no one size fits all for an image because not all images are the same, so we have to treat them as such…
Great work – just perfect for me to remember, yet again, that it is not the camera but the photographer 🙂
Thanks Mikko!
I love the harmony of colours and styles that are evident in your photographs here — so unlike the clashing cacophony we see too much of in to much of the “West.”
Thanks Robert! It’s chaotic too, but in a very traditionally-toned way, if that makes sense.
Incredible! You do such amazing work!
Thanks Pascal!
Some good shots as always but I can kind of tell from the series you were not completely happy with the camera. Luckily the updates were a leap forward for the camera and it is now very much usable for street work. For me the colours and especially the skin tones make it worthwhile to persevere with the camera!
I’m hoping to visit Kathmandu later this year, so good to get some ideas/inspiration before I visit 😉
I think it’s because there’s a little something not quite 100% with most of them – I call it the ‘near miss’ feeling.
You’ll have fun in Kathmandu, great place to shoot. There’s one more photoessay coming up, and there were a few earlier on (in case you haven’t seen them).
I think ‘near miss’ feeling is a good adjective of the way I viewed them. I guess you have some ‘off’ days 😉
I remember you saying you prefer to shoot wider and longer than the native 35 field of view equiv on the X100 – maybe that was a contributing factor?
24/28 is more of my thing – 35 I feel is a little constrictive, or not quite constrictive enough to narrow down the focus of the image.
Ming, you shoot a lot of people. Why don’t you cover the legal aspects of shooting other people in one of your articles?
Not a bad idea. However, what applies in Asia doesn’t apply overseas – in fact, it’s more of a socio-ethical issue than a legal one…
Yes, you’re right. Would however be interesting to read about your approach.
I’ll add it to the editorial plan 🙂