Petaling Street in Chinatown Kuala Lumpur may be a visual treat but the traders can be a little aggressive. They do not like a camera in their face. Which is quite reasonable, considering almost every product sold there is a counterfeit. And don’t forget that nervous worker is probably a foreigner with a counterfeit work permit.
So when the Nepalese guy stuck his pinkie into his nose, I breathe a sigh of relief. It was their secret code of approval for the diminutive Olympus E-P3 camera. The illegal network of walkie-talkies crackled through the labyrinth of tarps but no one pulled out a machete. Phew! Of course, little did they know that the tiny, harmless, touristy-looking camera can produce a video with quality better than any of the fake Blue-ray discs sold there
I set out during twilight and it soon became night. The myriad range of lighting conditions gave the E-P3′s auto white balance and exposure metering a good workout. I chose to arm myself with only one lens. The new Olympus m4/3 12mm f2.0 street videographer’s lens. The low light capability of this combo is quite amazing, as you will see.
Those unfamiliar with this KL landmark, may find the following trivia interesting:
The messy peanut pancake (kuih apam balik) hawker is sort of an icon there. He is quite friendly to photographers who shoot and don’t buy.
The corner winter-melon-dried-longan drink remains the most popular stall there. See that woman with two cups.
I wanted to capture the sounds of the Chinese conversations between traders. With so many tourists from Middle East countries there, I ended up with a fascinating ambient sound track full of Arabic chatter instead
If you have a media player and a big screen HD TV, you can also download this Full HD clip from vimeo.com/tvsmith and watch it large and loud.
All pictures & videos photographed with the Olympus Pen E-P3 by & © TV Smith
And a counterfeit monk @ 02.52 of the video
nice video..yeah im jealous too…mahal ke E-P3 tu..?
Fantastic ad for KL (although shame about the nosepicker). I’m super jealous of your E-P3! Such amazing quality and so cute at the same time.