Hey guys!
I know thanksgiving is over and we don't really celebrate it here (not that I know of anyway) but well, there are a number of things I'm really thankful for this year.
None of them are more important than the other and in no order. I'm thankful for my brother who is always full of nonsense, my friends in ITE for the months we had this year, in particular Rizal who has been a great friend all these while.
Also to my family for all the rubbish we had this year. The friends I made while in NS. I'm also thankful to my mentor Clifford for all the encouragements this year.
I'm thankful for the company I was working at during my attachment. Having great colleagues like my noona Azi, and boss for giving me so many opportunities.
I'm also thankful to God for all the great things that happened this year, my posting into SCDF, my current unit. The great deals I have in transaction this year and the photographic jobs I had this year.
My resolution for the new year is pretty simple. First of all, survive the year and being closer to my ORD date. Get my driver's license and get through at least half of my bike lessons.
Get a Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII lens and hopefully Elinchrom D-Lite it 4 to go kit. Also to have my website up and running and have a Flickr pro account. Do up my portfolio in studio for portraits. And probably save up a little more money for my studies. Many things but I'm determined to do it! Have a good day everyone!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Some updates
Hey guys!
So yea... Currently in the office right now, some update. Nothing much has been going on lately though. Recently Queensway turned 50! A happy belated birthday to my secondary school! And I was there for the 50th anniversary gala dinner at the Pines Club! Its pretty cool seeing so many people there. Many whom I know, and many more whom I do not know =S
Its quite sad that many people who I sort of grew up with didn't go =( But well... I guess that's life. And for the first time! I got a ticket! YAY! But I didn't win anything... T_T
So yea, that's the design of the ticket, pretty neat. And other stuff, there was a goodie bag!
What was inside was some magazine, some oil thing for aromatherapy thingy, a 50th anniversary coin and some vouchers which my mother took, hence it isn't in the picture =.=
The coin in its case
The Queensway badge
The Queensway alumni logo
The day after the anniversary, I rented an instant printer for the first time! Its a Fujifilm ASK 2000. It was one kind of heavy! Seriously! So anyway, I also rented the Elinchrom D-Lite-it 4 to go kit to use in my setup. It's pretty good and portable. 2 softboxes, 2 monoblocs, 2 stands, all in 2 bags. I'm considering buying it though the bad thing is the modelling lights cannot be fine tuned. Its just 3 modes, dim, full or off. Not a huge deal breaker since I don't recall a time I actually fine tune the modelling lights. Just turn it on, adjust, shoot. I've also come to realized that my 15ft USB cable is long but may not be long enough. Shooting tethered, some students tripped over the cable despite it being white against a dark floor! So I'm getting the USB repeater making it a total of approximately 60 feet if I'm not wrong. Whatever excess I'm not using, I'll just tie it with cable tie and shoot!
On Tuesday, I returned both the lights and the printers and went to collect a Western Digital 7200RPM Scopio black hard drive. I got a good deal hence I bought it, due to expensive price, I quickly went for it!
After cloning the hard drive and before installing it into my laptop.
So yea... So far so good, its been less than a day and the Scropio sped up my ASUS laptop a little bit faster! Can't beat and SSD or even the Velociraptor at the least, but it will do. Now waiting for prices to drop before I get a Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB for my desktop =/
The year is coming to an end and well, my shopping also has gotta stop. Decided to add the D lite from Elinchrom to my gear list, but not sure when I'll get it. I asked Cathay Photo just now (they're the official distributor locally) and well, its 1200 for the kit and an extra head will cost probably like 600? Rounded off. The problem is the 2 softboxes in the set are exactly the same, else could probably get 2 sets instead of 1. But the Manfrotto stand can support 10kg and well... The d lite heads are pretty light so I though why not get slightly different light modifiers? Also... Gotta do my D.I.Y skylight as well... Hmmm.... Being a photography ain't cheap nor easy... Anyway, that's all for now! Good day everyone!
So yea... Currently in the office right now, some update. Nothing much has been going on lately though. Recently Queensway turned 50! A happy belated birthday to my secondary school! And I was there for the 50th anniversary gala dinner at the Pines Club! Its pretty cool seeing so many people there. Many whom I know, and many more whom I do not know =S
Its quite sad that many people who I sort of grew up with didn't go =( But well... I guess that's life. And for the first time! I got a ticket! YAY! But I didn't win anything... T_T
So yea, that's the design of the ticket, pretty neat. And other stuff, there was a goodie bag!
What was inside was some magazine, some oil thing for aromatherapy thingy, a 50th anniversary coin and some vouchers which my mother took, hence it isn't in the picture =.=
The coin in its case
The Queensway badge
The Queensway alumni logo
The day after the anniversary, I rented an instant printer for the first time! Its a Fujifilm ASK 2000. It was one kind of heavy! Seriously! So anyway, I also rented the Elinchrom D-Lite-it 4 to go kit to use in my setup. It's pretty good and portable. 2 softboxes, 2 monoblocs, 2 stands, all in 2 bags. I'm considering buying it though the bad thing is the modelling lights cannot be fine tuned. Its just 3 modes, dim, full or off. Not a huge deal breaker since I don't recall a time I actually fine tune the modelling lights. Just turn it on, adjust, shoot. I've also come to realized that my 15ft USB cable is long but may not be long enough. Shooting tethered, some students tripped over the cable despite it being white against a dark floor! So I'm getting the USB repeater making it a total of approximately 60 feet if I'm not wrong. Whatever excess I'm not using, I'll just tie it with cable tie and shoot!
On Tuesday, I returned both the lights and the printers and went to collect a Western Digital 7200RPM Scopio black hard drive. I got a good deal hence I bought it, due to expensive price, I quickly went for it!
After cloning the hard drive and before installing it into my laptop.
So yea... So far so good, its been less than a day and the Scropio sped up my ASUS laptop a little bit faster! Can't beat and SSD or even the Velociraptor at the least, but it will do. Now waiting for prices to drop before I get a Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB for my desktop =/
The year is coming to an end and well, my shopping also has gotta stop. Decided to add the D lite from Elinchrom to my gear list, but not sure when I'll get it. I asked Cathay Photo just now (they're the official distributor locally) and well, its 1200 for the kit and an extra head will cost probably like 600? Rounded off. The problem is the 2 softboxes in the set are exactly the same, else could probably get 2 sets instead of 1. But the Manfrotto stand can support 10kg and well... The d lite heads are pretty light so I though why not get slightly different light modifiers? Also... Gotta do my D.I.Y skylight as well... Hmmm.... Being a photography ain't cheap nor easy... Anyway, that's all for now! Good day everyone!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Muscles aching...
Hey guys!!!
So yea... My muscles are aching... And well! The week has been pretty busy. But I don't really have much to talk to this week. I've assembled 2 computers this week and I also got my 2 2TB Seagate Cosntellation drive, dual bay RAID drive and a USB 3.0 portable hard disk drive enclosure. Oh! My USB 3.0 Desktop adapter for my Seagate external hard drive as well! All works pretty well! So yea... Pictures!
The goods
Dual 2TB hard drives
Closeup
The dual bay RAID enclosure
How it is inside
Hard drives loaded up!
The picture on the box looks big, but in actual fact, not a lot bigger than the original case
Transferring the hard drive of my trusty old Seagate 120GB portable drive
Loaded into the new enclosure!
What can I say? I spent a lot of moolah! I feel so sad... But at least these stuff will last me for quite a while! USB 3.0 is super fast! Except for some reason, when I use on mine, during the last 5 secs, it will load for awhile before ending, unlike USB 2.0. Which is weird but acceptable since overall process is still faster than USB 2.0.
I've thought long and hard and decided, its not time to buy SSDs yet. For the amount of storage and price, I personally find that SSDs are just not economical despite the performance it gives, patience is a virtue. I'll wait for SSDs to have bigger storage at a lower cost. Hybrid drives are not stable at the moment, a lot of complaints about the Seagate Momentus XT so I'm sticking to the good ole sturdy magnetic hard disk drives! So yea! Hoping the price will drop soon!
Next year in January, will be the final time I'm buying stuff from USA, things that I want, unless its absolutely necessary like shirt, pants, whatever. The last thing I'm buying will be a pair of boots by Bates. Why? I'm saving money for my driver's license, Nikkor 70-200mm and to take up courses in 2013 as well as for my private diploma in IT at Kaplan. I can't wait to finish serving my national service! Oh! I'm buying lightstands as well since my fellow NSf is going to the states next year =D
That's all for now, good night world!
P.S: I'm going to invest in a Flickr pro account next year for 2 years, anyone wanna get that for my christmas present? I'll be extremely happy! =D
So yea... My muscles are aching... And well! The week has been pretty busy. But I don't really have much to talk to this week. I've assembled 2 computers this week and I also got my 2 2TB Seagate Cosntellation drive, dual bay RAID drive and a USB 3.0 portable hard disk drive enclosure. Oh! My USB 3.0 Desktop adapter for my Seagate external hard drive as well! All works pretty well! So yea... Pictures!
The goods
Dual 2TB hard drives
Closeup
The dual bay RAID enclosure
How it is inside
Hard drives loaded up!
The picture on the box looks big, but in actual fact, not a lot bigger than the original case
Transferring the hard drive of my trusty old Seagate 120GB portable drive
Loaded into the new enclosure!
What can I say? I spent a lot of moolah! I feel so sad... But at least these stuff will last me for quite a while! USB 3.0 is super fast! Except for some reason, when I use on mine, during the last 5 secs, it will load for awhile before ending, unlike USB 2.0. Which is weird but acceptable since overall process is still faster than USB 2.0.
I've thought long and hard and decided, its not time to buy SSDs yet. For the amount of storage and price, I personally find that SSDs are just not economical despite the performance it gives, patience is a virtue. I'll wait for SSDs to have bigger storage at a lower cost. Hybrid drives are not stable at the moment, a lot of complaints about the Seagate Momentus XT so I'm sticking to the good ole sturdy magnetic hard disk drives! So yea! Hoping the price will drop soon!
Next year in January, will be the final time I'm buying stuff from USA, things that I want, unless its absolutely necessary like shirt, pants, whatever. The last thing I'm buying will be a pair of boots by Bates. Why? I'm saving money for my driver's license, Nikkor 70-200mm and to take up courses in 2013 as well as for my private diploma in IT at Kaplan. I can't wait to finish serving my national service! Oh! I'm buying lightstands as well since my fellow NSf is going to the states next year =D
That's all for now, good night world!
P.S: I'm going to invest in a Flickr pro account next year for 2 years, anyone wanna get that for my christmas present? I'll be extremely happy! =D
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
1 Gbps! Sort of
Hey guys!!!
So like FINALLY! My stuff are here from US! They tried to deliver in the morning but apparently no one was home and I had to arrange for a delivery in the evening. And they came not long after I came home, talk about good timing! So without ado, pictures!
3 packages, stupid thing is the biggest box, contains very small stuff
My 15ft USB cable, 25ft ethernet cat6 cable, 2 rolls of film and Nikon body cap
So yea! The USB cable works! I can now move around and shoot with my camera tethered to the laptop! Only now is to get the active repeater so I can go further! The ethernet cable is currently plugged into my desktop. Downloading now don't see much difference, but loading does seem a little bit faster. Speedtest.net test time!
Wireless
Wired
If assuming the test is accurate, the ping and upload time is about the same but the download speed is faster! However, the test is based on Singapore server, so really hard to say. But I expect better internet performance when I change to 50mbps fiber optic next year!
Bates is kinda pissing me off without really answering my questions directly. I asked about shipping to Singapore and return policy and what's the protective toe thing. They answer no to shipping to Singapore, protective toe explanation and give me the closest dealer, which is located in Hong Kong. So I had to reply asking about return policy, and they replied that different countries have different policies and to ask the closest country's dealer. So I had to ask about USA's return and exchange policy if I buy from USA. Its seriously making my blood boil =.=
So anyway, I shipped my 2 2TB Seagate constellation to Singapore, kinda sad that I have to pay tax in the states and when it arrives here, I think I'll have to pay GST again. Sucks. But I've decided to buy the Western Digital Scorpio black adn Caviar black (when the Caviar price drops) in Singapore for the warranty. But I'm still buying the Corsair Force GT from USA. Hopefully there won't be issues though... Like failures etc
Anyway, that's all for now. Off to bed! Good night world!
So like FINALLY! My stuff are here from US! They tried to deliver in the morning but apparently no one was home and I had to arrange for a delivery in the evening. And they came not long after I came home, talk about good timing! So without ado, pictures!
3 packages, stupid thing is the biggest box, contains very small stuff
My 15ft USB cable, 25ft ethernet cat6 cable, 2 rolls of film and Nikon body cap
So yea! The USB cable works! I can now move around and shoot with my camera tethered to the laptop! Only now is to get the active repeater so I can go further! The ethernet cable is currently plugged into my desktop. Downloading now don't see much difference, but loading does seem a little bit faster. Speedtest.net test time!
Wireless
Wired
If assuming the test is accurate, the ping and upload time is about the same but the download speed is faster! However, the test is based on Singapore server, so really hard to say. But I expect better internet performance when I change to 50mbps fiber optic next year!
Bates is kinda pissing me off without really answering my questions directly. I asked about shipping to Singapore and return policy and what's the protective toe thing. They answer no to shipping to Singapore, protective toe explanation and give me the closest dealer, which is located in Hong Kong. So I had to reply asking about return policy, and they replied that different countries have different policies and to ask the closest country's dealer. So I had to ask about USA's return and exchange policy if I buy from USA. Its seriously making my blood boil =.=
So anyway, I shipped my 2 2TB Seagate constellation to Singapore, kinda sad that I have to pay tax in the states and when it arrives here, I think I'll have to pay GST again. Sucks. But I've decided to buy the Western Digital Scorpio black adn Caviar black (when the Caviar price drops) in Singapore for the warranty. But I'm still buying the Corsair Force GT from USA. Hopefully there won't be issues though... Like failures etc
Anyway, that's all for now. Off to bed! Good night world!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Some updates
Hey guys!!!
So yea... Been slightly over a week and basically didn't do much other than working in NS. Just assembled another computer yesterday with a cloned hard disk based off my laptop. First time cloning and good to know it works despite it taking like what? 5 hours? To clone a 500GB hard drive.
What else... I just read the 1 star review off Amazon regarding the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB and sadly, it seems that it hangs and even slows down after a while, far from what Seagate vision of the Solid State Hybrid Drive (SSHD). Reading all those problems has cause my loyalty to Seagate to falter. But thinking back... Despite many of the things people say that has problems, when I use, most of the things like... 99% hardly have the problem they describe. So I guess I may be just extremely lucky.
Eitherway, I'm gonna wait for the 2nd generation of SSHD from Seagate or any other company and have decided to get a Western Digital Scropio for my laptop and using the built in 500GB which I changed last year or this year to an external hard drive with USB 3.0 as well as a Western Digital 500GB Caviar Black to replace the current 250GB Seagate hard drive in my desktop. Which will move to the NAS and have RAID 1 stripping applied to it. Giving my NAS a total of 750GB space to store videos that I'm sure I'll just watch but can't afford to lose. With my luck, I'd probably never have to replace it anyway.
Which brings me to my D3, thinking of what will happen if it breaks down and I've not turned pro and earned enough to actually buy a D3 replacement, but again, with my luck, it'd probably be still working despite years of usage. Look at my E-1! Its second hand and under my care, despite being what? 8 year model? Its still going strong!
Speaking of my E-1, here are 2 images from today! Considering we had extremely beautiful weather today!
Late afternoon sunlight shining through the window
The sun sets, setting the sky on fire, somewhat
Really thankful to God for the awesome weather today. Reminds me how beautiful life really is. Today, I sort of just browsed through Youtube and found Elizabeth Gilles, who plays Jade West on Victorious on Nickelodeon! And these are some songs she covered. Just sharing, cause I feel they're worth listening to. If they're only slightly processed to give a cleaner sound for recording, its amazing!
Fast Car
You & I
Wild Horses
Jealous Guy
And also, I recently chanced upon this song by Jon Foreman titled "Just Rob Me" which has a country tune to it. And its a pretty fun and amusing song. Enjoy it!
My films,USB cable and ethernet cable have been in Singapore since Sunday, but they can only deliver on Tuesday. And I paid for express shipping which will arrive within 2-4 days. How stupid is it? Seriously... I seem to be purchasing a lot of hard drives but well! At least they'll last me for a while.
Recently, I saw something which I can't say and it reminded me how comfortable my combat boots were except that it wasn't easy to put them on. So I went on Amazon to search for zip up boots and apparently, a brand named Bates which provides boots to the US military and police came sort of highly recommended. I've written to them about exchange or returns and whether the tip of the boots are hard to protect the toes like my combat boots. In fact, this particular pair, Bates Delta 6 Gore TEX side zip boots caught my attention. It looks solid, is all weather, slip proof sole, and if I understand what it means by composite toes, it should mean it protects the toes like steel tip. Its a zip up and doesn't really look like combat boots. But I'd probably get a higher one as well. Hope they're comfortable!
So yea... I also can't wait to get my photography site up and shoot portraits for my portfolio! The one day spent in a studio won't be exactly fun but it will be fun because I'm shooting! Which reminds me... I gotta find more models, find PVC pipes and rip stop nylon for my DIY skylight. It will be an interesting experience to shoot the Queensway Prom Night as it will be the first time I'm doing a shoot with instant print and I've never been to prom night before. Owing to the fact not many people during my year was interested =/
That's roughly how its going to be. Shooting tethered to my laptop, with an external screen for accurate colours (calibrated of course, my laptop screen has issues). With the instant printer hooked up to the laptop. Action in photoshop. Elinchrome strobes. Interestingly, this is the first time in my life as a photographer where I will be pushing a trolly owing to the amount of equipment that is cannot be carried by hand alongside the number of equipment I have to carry.
That's all for now! Will update when I get my package tomorrow! Hope the cable works without any issue, will have to try tether with my D3 with the cable, and I got to set a note to take out my monitor next week. Good night world!
So yea... Been slightly over a week and basically didn't do much other than working in NS. Just assembled another computer yesterday with a cloned hard disk based off my laptop. First time cloning and good to know it works despite it taking like what? 5 hours? To clone a 500GB hard drive.
What else... I just read the 1 star review off Amazon regarding the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB and sadly, it seems that it hangs and even slows down after a while, far from what Seagate vision of the Solid State Hybrid Drive (SSHD). Reading all those problems has cause my loyalty to Seagate to falter. But thinking back... Despite many of the things people say that has problems, when I use, most of the things like... 99% hardly have the problem they describe. So I guess I may be just extremely lucky.
Eitherway, I'm gonna wait for the 2nd generation of SSHD from Seagate or any other company and have decided to get a Western Digital Scropio for my laptop and using the built in 500GB which I changed last year or this year to an external hard drive with USB 3.0 as well as a Western Digital 500GB Caviar Black to replace the current 250GB Seagate hard drive in my desktop. Which will move to the NAS and have RAID 1 stripping applied to it. Giving my NAS a total of 750GB space to store videos that I'm sure I'll just watch but can't afford to lose. With my luck, I'd probably never have to replace it anyway.
Which brings me to my D3, thinking of what will happen if it breaks down and I've not turned pro and earned enough to actually buy a D3 replacement, but again, with my luck, it'd probably be still working despite years of usage. Look at my E-1! Its second hand and under my care, despite being what? 8 year model? Its still going strong!
Speaking of my E-1, here are 2 images from today! Considering we had extremely beautiful weather today!
Late afternoon sunlight shining through the window
The sun sets, setting the sky on fire, somewhat
Really thankful to God for the awesome weather today. Reminds me how beautiful life really is. Today, I sort of just browsed through Youtube and found Elizabeth Gilles, who plays Jade West on Victorious on Nickelodeon! And these are some songs she covered. Just sharing, cause I feel they're worth listening to. If they're only slightly processed to give a cleaner sound for recording, its amazing!
Fast Car
You & I
Wild Horses
Jealous Guy
And also, I recently chanced upon this song by Jon Foreman titled "Just Rob Me" which has a country tune to it. And its a pretty fun and amusing song. Enjoy it!
My films,USB cable and ethernet cable have been in Singapore since Sunday, but they can only deliver on Tuesday. And I paid for express shipping which will arrive within 2-4 days. How stupid is it? Seriously... I seem to be purchasing a lot of hard drives but well! At least they'll last me for a while.
Recently, I saw something which I can't say and it reminded me how comfortable my combat boots were except that it wasn't easy to put them on. So I went on Amazon to search for zip up boots and apparently, a brand named Bates which provides boots to the US military and police came sort of highly recommended. I've written to them about exchange or returns and whether the tip of the boots are hard to protect the toes like my combat boots. In fact, this particular pair, Bates Delta 6 Gore TEX side zip boots caught my attention. It looks solid, is all weather, slip proof sole, and if I understand what it means by composite toes, it should mean it protects the toes like steel tip. Its a zip up and doesn't really look like combat boots. But I'd probably get a higher one as well. Hope they're comfortable!
So yea... I also can't wait to get my photography site up and shoot portraits for my portfolio! The one day spent in a studio won't be exactly fun but it will be fun because I'm shooting! Which reminds me... I gotta find more models, find PVC pipes and rip stop nylon for my DIY skylight. It will be an interesting experience to shoot the Queensway Prom Night as it will be the first time I'm doing a shoot with instant print and I've never been to prom night before. Owing to the fact not many people during my year was interested =/
That's roughly how its going to be. Shooting tethered to my laptop, with an external screen for accurate colours (calibrated of course, my laptop screen has issues). With the instant printer hooked up to the laptop. Action in photoshop. Elinchrome strobes. Interestingly, this is the first time in my life as a photographer where I will be pushing a trolly owing to the amount of equipment that is cannot be carried by hand alongside the number of equipment I have to carry.
That's all for now! Will update when I get my package tomorrow! Hope the cable works without any issue, will have to try tether with my D3 with the cable, and I got to set a note to take out my monitor next week. Good night world!
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