Finally! My Tripod Head Is Here!

Hey guys!


So it's been a week since my last update and well... Last week was pretty tiring with quite a bit of stuff to do. I now have some weird dry skin at the base of my neck from carrying my shoulder bag for like 3 days straight. It was interesting covering a dinner similar to a wedding dinner except its more to event than dinner and dance kind of event. I also did part of my first corporate shoot which was quite nerve wrecking but it went pretty well.


I've gotta find some time to go back to my secondary school to talk about prom night and dance photography. And chase some people with regards to the portrait shoot. Many things going on this year, but somehow I feel I'm not shooting much (personal shoots and personal work, not related to what I'm doing now). Quite sad about it but regardless! I pray and ask for more this year!


Before I go on with my usual unboxing, I hope DHL somewhat sees this. Please get what you want to say correctly... Seriously, I called in the morning to arrange for delivery on Sunday evening and they said they can only do on Monday. When just last week, they said ok, then when I called again, they said there were problems at the warehouse, yet they still can deliver my stuff at night. Yesterday was unable to, and yet deliver at night. Not being an ungrateful bastard, but seriously, if I wasn't at home, or anyone for that matter, I'd still have to wait for the next day. Before anyone goes "but you still got it that day", fact is, its just like trying to do something stupid, someone tries to stop you but you didn't listen and did it anyway. And when you fail, you blamed the person who tried to stop you for not stopping you.


There... Now that it's out of my system, back to my unboxing.


3 Packages came

From Adorama, came my 77" by 77" translucent fabric which I'll have to measure for the frame, and my other umbrella head. All I'm missing is the PVC frame for my DIY Light Panel

The thing I've been waiting for! My tripod head! Box looked like crap, but the head was in a condition that seemed new. All for USD 135! I just saw the price on B&H and it was USD 160+, I think should be the same price as Adorama

Impressive 10 year warranty

Contents of the tripod head box

A Western Digital 2TB and a Samsung 1TB hard drive

Basically, I got myself another 4.5TB worth of hard drive over the week. I feel quite sad having spend so much money, but at least I earned some in the first place and I'm upgrading for the future. And now everything runs fine on my desktop. I'm quite cash strap now, but I've got to trust that I'm blessed. In fact, I'm already am and I'm thankful for it and I'm honestly looking forward to doing more jobs.


Since now my tripod head is here, I can do the reviews of the tripod head and the lens as well as update my Nikon F5 review when I develop more pictures. I've also learnt a little bit of Adobe InDesign and have started to rewrite my story. Quite excited to see how this would go. I just realize I had an idea for it some time back, but I forgot to write it down and now have forgotten what that idea is... Sad... Anyway, Hopefully I can shoot the book cover and then show the book cover as well as write the story over the remaining of the year. Till the next entry, have a great remainder of the day everyone!

Hey guys!

So yea... Nothing much over the week actually, since my last update. I went for follow up checkup for my high blood pressure. The good news? With medication, it has dropped, now bordering the line between prehypertension and hypertension stage 1 high blood pressure. The bad news, I have to go for blood test in about 3 weeks from today... I'm terrified of needles as those who know me personally can testify, now the whole cyber world knows. Don't really care since everyone has their own fears...


So anyway! The doctor said I'm ok to exercise and I should lose weight and so, I started eating fruits, I did try veggie yesterday but it was kinda disgusting. No idea if its the veggie itself or th way my mother cooked it but regardless, I shall try again, if it's really unbearable, I'm gonna live like Tarzan, partially anyway, the fruit parts, not the insects part. Also, I started exercising last week! It's isn't really a lot if you think about it.


10 incline push ups
10 sit ups
10 crunches
1 round around the blocks at my place (jogging)
1 round around the blocks at my place (walking)
Walked down 10 stories, walked up 3 stories,


Those are what I remembered. And I had extreme muscle soreness in my left thigh. Lesson people, don't injure yourself. This is a result of hiatus from exercising from 8 years due to injury to the knees, one after the other. My arm muscles and right leg are ok though, stomach muscles hurt a little indicating that not much strain was put on it. This morning I'm almost at 100% and I'll be working out this Saturday and slowly build up.


And my stuff arrived in Singapore yesterday morning. But oddly, DHL was saying there was some problem and can only ship on Monday, so I accepted, for some reason, they delivered last night. I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, I opened up to a minor disappointment. I've shipped the wrong thing over!


2 Packages, the bigger box weight 3kg, the hell is wrong with the picture?

The wrong thing shipped from US, my super clamp instead of my tripod head. And look at the packing! Its great, but expensive when shipping from US, no idea why my tripod head is 1kg while this is 3, I expected the other way hence I shipped the 3kg first =/

Finally! The long awaited Logitech Ultimate Ears 200 in ear earphones!

Done with the pictures, and the earphones are kinda weird to me, not used to wearing these having formally wore 1 type years ago but broke pretty quickly. I must say, despite the price locally, it can only compare with my cheapo Sony earphones, but for the price I got when buying from USA, it ain't half bad. Came with a nice case too. If its good and last me for quite some time, I'd consider getting a higher end earphone from them.


Unfortunately, don't think these will work great when working out in the future. So might be getting an arm band for my mp3 and phone and a pair of workout earphones if I workout more often in the future. That's all for now! Will update when I get my tripod head and do a review for it and the 70-200. Have a good day everyone!

Hey guys!

Crazy weather we've been having eh? For locals anyway, not sure how my fellow men from other countries are feeling. I got something in the mail a few days ago and it came faster than I expected, 2 weeks from the USA instead of the usual 3 weeks, it was in an envelop.


The envelop

So yea... That's what is inside, a piece of cable, 6" I think? Mean for keys, its a cable key ring!

This was how I kept my keys before, using some paper key ring, which is prone to opening after awhile

After using the cable ring, so much better!

Also, recently I finally saved enough money to get a Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR II! Unfortunately... I was unable to find a set in a stress free manner as it was hard finding one. Some guys did offer me, but its over my budget. Then this guy offered me 1 that is better than what I was looking for at a slightly higher price. What he's offering is worth the slight increase in budget. So yea, I a set!


Look at the size of the box! With my phone as comparison, so take your phone and imagine how big the box is!

After removing the bag from the box, this is how it looks like.

Behold! The lens in all it glory! Without the plastic of course!

Mounted on the D3

I did take some senseless test shots and compared it with the 80-200mm in the office. Huge difference! I think according to Thom Hogan, the 80-200mm on the Nikon D3 isn't sharp and using the 70-200mm, a whole world of difference! Turns out my past images online from work isn't my fault but gear fault! What a relief! I shot a test shot to test the VR on the lens and I think I'm using it wrong. ISO 800 1/8 sec without VR, braced, it was sharp, with VR, it wasn't. So I took my arm off the brace I was leaning on, much better! Without VR, a little blur, with VR, sharp!

But good to know I can shoot at 1/8s without VR braced at 200mm. Feels so balanced on the Nikon D3! I can't wait to get some shots with the lens! Waiting for my tripod head to come though. Will write my reviews for both once I have shots. In the meantime, I shall look for an L plate should I ever need it! Till then, have a good day everyone!

New month, new layout, new plans

Hey guys,

So finally, it's May. Its been a while since I last updated my blog as I've been busy shooting at work due to the fact that suddenly, everyone is explaining their plans for the new year. And it seems that blogger has a new interface for the user. Not used to it, but I quite like its simple design though.

So... Lets start off with what I've gotten recently, actually, last month.

So 3 packages came.


My stuff

One thing were the slippers I were waiting for to bring to the office when my boots are soaked or when I want to take a shower and well... Length wise they did fit nicely, but it isn't easy sliding in, no idea why they made it so short for size 13 which is what I'd usually wear, so I've made a note that if I'm to buy the same slippers again, I'd have to get size 14.


My slippers with my feet

I also got my book which is written by students of Dean Collins which show cases images and explanation about it by Dean Collins and students. After watching some videos by him, I'm intrigued by his teaching. Sadly, he passed away a few years ago, before I even heard of him... But his work will live on.


Photographic Global Notes

Also. my forth light stand is here. Interestingly, despite being the same model, the errmmm... Locking pin or something, is different, the stud is also different.


My current light stands

My new light stand

Regardless, it works fine and just the same since I'll be using either an umbrella head or justin clamp on it. So yea... I've recently changed my laptop battery and am now testing it, its not a lot better, but at least I've got mobility to move from one spot to another though I don't have mobile computing capability anymore. Not what my ASUS G73 was designed for anyway.


Yesterday, I made scrambled eggs for the first time. It wasn't fantastic but it ain't bad either, I quite liked it, provided I had more black pepper though...


First time making scrambled eggs

Next week, I'm going to catch The Avengers with my ITE classmates, so excited to see them again and watch Avengers. We're going to be a little bit slow though but no matter. What else... Oh! Just the other day, I dropped my D3 on the floor when it was resting on my bag. Stupid mistake but well, the extra money spent on the D3 over the D700 was well spent, nothing happened to the D3 and its working just fine! In about a week, I'll finally have enough to get my Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII lens! Like finally! I can't wait! Also, seems like more photography jobs are coming in which is fantastic! I can't wait to share my work here. I'm also thinking of shooting dancers from my secondary school. I got to speak to the respective teachers of the different dance group though...


I also finally found a place to get PVC pipes and pretty much in the final stages of doing my modular light panel. This year would certainly be another interesting year. Also, as of today, I officially have 1 year, 3 months and 1 day till ORD. Can't wait for freedom!


A few weeks ago, I installed a new hardware in my comptuer and my computer crashed again... So I restored everything, and a few days ago, I took time to dismantle my computer and completely cleaned it. Removing dust from fans, components and heatsink. It was a tiring job. I also reapplied thermal compound on my CPU. My CPU temperatures were about 50 over degrees and it has now dropped back to 45 degrees. And now my PC is quiet too! Unfortunately, I dropped my graphics card. Fortunately, it works fine! I also rewired my entire PC especially the power cable and now, it looks so much neater when you look inside it through the side view window. I've updated the caching software for the Crucial Adrenaline and for about a week plus, its been running smoothly withou any issues. I'm very pleased with the way my computer is running now.


Recently, Google released Google Drive which is similar to Dropbox, which I find is pretty interesting and good, they give 5gb starter for free, and its quite affordable for more storage. What else... I guess that's all actually... Will update more when I have more and seriously hoping I can pull off what I want to do (photographically). Have a good day everyone!