EP-1 pinhole art filter

[Greg McCary]

I tried a couple of shots with the EP-1 pinhole art filter this afternoon. A couple of drawbacks I noticed was how long it took to write the image to the card and once home I lost the effect if I uploaded them in Lightroom. Also you have to be very careful to get the horizon, crop just like you want it because it will unbalance the vignetting if you have to adjust it in PPing.

[daq7]

I am wondering what the point is. Isn't this trivial to do in photoshop itself?

[Greg McCary]

I agree but there are many out there that just can't master PS or Lightroom. Or even can afford it. The art filters serve there purpose.

[MB1]

The only art filter that does much for me is the "Grainy B&W".

[daq7]

Oh right, good point. PS is pretty expensive.

[Greg McCary]

I haven't tried that one yet MB. Yes dag I used a hand me down copy of PS7 for years and honestly use it still. I have CS4 but I just can't get a handle on the newer controls.

[daq7]

I haven't sprung for CS4 yet or painter 11 for that matter. I may eventually get CS4, because I guess they added even more stuff into the layer adjustment menu, and I really like that. I think that I agree that in general the more stuff you can do in the shoot itself the better off you are in terms of your overall flow.

[Liz]

Nice shots, Greg. I especially like the first one. Great composition.

I'm not a filter person, except for ND and/or polarizer at times. I did use red and yellow filters when doing b&w film.

However, images like these entice me to try them out. And since the E-PL1 also includes filters, I may just do that at some point.

Liz

[Photo-John]

I am wondering what the point is. Isn't this trivial to do in photoshop itself?

I wrote a bit on that very subject in my Olympus E-30 first impressions article. The truth is, these filters aren't trivial things to do in Photoshop. And Olympus has some very powerful processing happening at the RAW level that ensures (at least they say it does) that the quality of the images is better than it could ever be if you applied the effects in Photoshop.I have to say that I have been impressed with the quality of the effects. My favorite is the Pinhole filter - especially if you switch to the square format.

The best thing about the Olympus Art Filters is that you don't have to do anything in Photoshop - they're easy. If I decide a subject might be complimented by an Art Filter, I just shoot it and see. That's a lot easier than waiting until I download, remembering that I want to create an effect and then messing around with PS filters trying to come up with something that works. I admit I was skeptical, too. But after using the Art Filters a bit, I am a believer. And that's coming from someone who does a lot of post-processing. Photoshop is an integral part of my workflow.

These photos were taken with the E-P1:

[Photo-John]

Another thing that's cool about the Art Filters is you can shoot RAW and get an untouched copy and the filtered image. So if you later decide you don't like the filtered, JPEG image, you still have a RAW file to do with as you please. I think this was a really thoughtful touch on the part of the Olympus designers.

[SmartWombat]

Do you mean shoot RAW+JPG then John?
Or does it save a JPG if you use an art filter in RAW mode.
I suppose I could just try it - but then forum lurkers wouldn't come round my house to find out

[Photo-John]

Do you mean shoot RAW+JPG then John?
Or does it save a JPG if you use an art filter in RAW mode.
I suppose I could just try it - but then forum lurkers wouldn't come round my house to find out

Ummm - good question, Paul. Definitely when you use RAW+JPG. And a definite maybe when you just shoot RAW