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

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!

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!

I don't know what to write here hahahha

Hey guys!

Nothing much happened really... I met my secondary school friend Vivian for dinner on Friday night. So nice of her to treat me eat since my pay is pathetic =)

What else... So yea! I went out today and I got a USB 3.0 4-port PCI Express Card which is cheap in comparison to USA (those with 4 ports) when including shipping and such. So yea... But I have yet to install in my comp because its been on since Friday night or morning and hence too hot to install anything inside though my cooling system is pretty effective, its still an environment I wouldn't want to stick my hands into =S

The packaging


What's in the box


The main product


Although its not a well known brand and its a weird brand, Lapara, its built seems pretty solid and from what I understand, no complaints yet so fingers crossed! Today, I tried focus stacking! The subject is the USB 3.0 PCIE card!


Before (cropped)


After (cropped)


Final (with some sharpening)


So yea... Not bad for a first attempt huh? Anyway, I was bored and since I'm aiming to do a review on the Nikon F5, I took a short of the night scene of Lengkok Bahru. I also shot in digital just to test the scene before I shot on film. And out of boredom, I shot the sky as there were many stars. Many were faint, but if you look hard enough, you can see them. Reminds me of my recruit days, in the night or morning, the stars will be pretty visible.



I coloured it green for ease of viewing


The night scene



So yea.. Nothing special. Was looking around for studio lights in the event I shoot more portraits or require more power and less movement, I can always use studio lights. Or like what I have to do at prom night. I looked at Profoto, Elinchrom, Alien Bee and they were all too expensive, except Alien Bee which was affordable but isn't digital. Then apparently, in Singapore, a company sells digital touch screen strobes which are powerful enough for my usage and affordable with mounts to use Elinchrom light modifiers, which is awesome! I tried looking for review and only found the following 2 link written by the same guy


Menik strobe review part 1

Menik Strobe review part 2

The other day I was planning my new computer and well, it was filled with pretty good parts available today with many many hard disk. Apparently I'm a digital hoarder hahaha. But yea, its practical actually. And I'm pretty happy with the specs of my "new" computer if I were to build it now. But because of that, I'm so tempted to change my CPU heatsink to this. Its cool cause it looks like an engine! And the cooler should be pretty good. And my casing to probably this. But too bad... Not practical to change now. Anyway, that's all for now. Good night world!

I wonder why...

Hey guys!

So yea, the past few days have been pretty tiring, assembling a new PC, was at some course thing, innofest. Its nuts I tells ya! And I met my ITE classmate Naaz at Innofest! As well as some guys I know during my recruit days. It was interesting though innofest.

So yea... I got my stuff already! Its kinda screwed up when tracking, one moment its in Hong Kong, then its in Singapore, a few minutes later its in Hong Kong again! Seriously stupid! But no choice, to avoid paying tax, that's the thing I have to do, but at least they came early and on time.


The first package



Unboxing



So excited!



Nicely wrapped!



Nikon F5


Nikon F5 closeup


Yup! That's a Nikon F5 film camera! No kidding when they said its built like a tank. Its as solid as the D3 and the E-3! Its missing a body cap which I've just placed an order on Amazon. An original Nikon, kinda stupid but well, you'll never know if I'm selling it though I doubt so. The reason why I chose the F5 is because of the price and the number of accessories I can use with my D3, exception being the SB900 and SB700 though I can use the Metz on the F5 =)

In my previous shipment before the camera, I had ordered 8 Eneloop batteries for my flash which I've now used to power the F5 and will be getting another 8 for my flashes. The F5 works pretty well but it wasn't the cleanest nor mint condition. Its quite worn but in relatively good condition but requires cleaning and sticking of gaffer tape to prevent the rubber from coming off resulting below.




Not as well done as my E-1 but it will do, and the gaffer tape isn't really sticky, not trusting this brand again. Gonna trust and get the same brand as the one used on my E-1. I will send the F5 for a CLA early next year. I forced open the slit on one of my old Fujifilm Provia 100f which was previously put into a camera and rolled in accidentally. It looks like crap now but the film will expose properly. As said in reviews, the F5 feels more or less exactly like the D3 though they've failed to mentioned that the F5's vertical grip is kinda just 1 straight line down -.-" So I'll do my own review of the Nikon F5 which again won't be technical, once I'm done with the first roll.

So the second package was pretty thin in comparison to most of my other shipments.

The packaging


The contents


Yup! That's my shiny new black Sony MP3! Sadly MP3 players seem to be dying off and it would seem that I will have to depend on my phone more and more, as well as my trusty portable battery pack! And finally! My photo book is here and its correct! It isn't bad, pretty good really though some of the photos when printed on that paper, I'm not too pleased, but its generally pretty good if done right.

What else... Oh ya! I just bought some stuff on Amazon (again), I think 2 or 3 rolls of film, one 25 feet cat 6 ethernet cable and 1 15 feet USB male type A to type b male. Its meant to aid me in tether shooting. I recently did a shoot that sort of required tethered shooting. Thinking about it, when I go back to work, will be shooting tether more and more often. However, Queensway Secondary School called me to ask for help for prom night and I've agreed to do the "door gift" shoot. Basically I will be setting up somewhere with an rented instant printer and rented strobes, my D3 hooked up to my laptop (tethered shooting) which is also hooked to the printer for printing. I just hope that the strobes are powerful enough... Then again, its 4 by 6 prints, I can shoot at ISO 6400 for the fun of it! But I'm more concerned over the coverage...


I've also finished doing a 3D design of my own 2 meter by 1 meter diffuser though its pretty much the same as the one done by lastolite. Simply because if I designed it according to what I had in mind originally, I'm most probably the only person who can assemble it by looking at it. So yea... Gonna use clamps and stands to have it up above the air or standing straight up, in addition to using a boom arm as well. Gotta look for materials for it, toughest part will be the diffuser part which should be ripstop nylon and cutting it to size and attaching velcro to it.


So yea! Will be buying a repeated USB cable to extend the range when I shoot, total the USB cable and repeated should give me about 15 meters of tethered goodness! Should be sufficient. It will help a lot when I'm rebuilding my portrait portfolio for my site. What else... I'm storing so much video on my stuff I have to most likely change my setup to suit it. I'm currently looking at this Mediasonic PRORAID 4 Bay Enclosure with USB 3.0 & eSATA with some Seagate enterprise hard drives to run concurrently with my desktop. Also looking at the Mediasonic Smart Drive SuperSpeed 2.5" SATA HDD External Enclosure - USB 3.0 to replace my Seagate external hard drive's case which gives me quite a bit of problem sometimes with loose connection as well as having to take 2 USB ports! I'm also getting a Transcend USB 3.0 Adapter PCIE for Desktop PC to expand my computer to have 2 more USB ports which are USB 3.0.

Recently I see some people who are seemingly suffering from depression, or mild ones rather. And some, the reasons are really stupid, and some, are quite legit, similar to mine, however, the person, who is a girl in this case, isn't bad looking is young. I'm sure she has many suitors but apparently she just can't let go, kinda irritating to see her wish for this or that, I can't even wish for anything. Probably stupid of me but well, I'm happy now and I wish for better friends who are loyal =D

Also, a final shout-out to those taking O's and A's, good luck for them! Speaking of which, my secondary school junior, who also happens to by my primary school junior, who is 6 years my junior, asked me what I wanted the other day. Saying she wants to get something for people when she started working. A really sweet gesture but as much as the materialistic things I want, there's nothing I want from a friend, materialistically speaking.

Sadly... I seem to spend more in NS than less but I do save now! And I am mighty proud of that! =D That's all for now, will post up my Nikon F5 review when I'm done with the roll of film and scanning them in. Which reminds me, I've gotta finish the roll in my Olympus OM2n =/ Good night world!

Feet hurting...

Hey guys!

I got my specs! Check it out!



Ok... Nothing special actually but doesn't matter. It doesn't really work 100% as advertise, sure its more water resistant then my previous lens, but the rest, it works, but not quite what I had in mind, except the smudge resistance, which means smudges are still there, but not noticeable when wearing my specs, only when you look at them or against the light can you see, but normal usage in front of my eyes, I can't.

I also got a new pair of hush puppy shoes and well... It hurts like hell to wear them considering they're size 11 which apparently is the biggest available and I normally wear size 13 or 14, and USA has size 14 wide shoes! Looks like from now on, all my shirts, pants and shoes are coming from the States =/

Also, my friend from the office said I should work on my photography website, which I probably should. And now coming up with my own portable light diffuser that should measure 2m X 1m and its made mainly with PVC pipes hahahah. Looks so cheap but it should get the job done!

Also looking for USB cable and USB cable extender to do tether shooting when I go back to work. Still looking for good reputable ones or at least have loads of good reviews. What else... Oh ya, apparently an uncle called me Terence today. I always thought I looked like a Matthew, but to him, I apparently look like a Terence. I have no idea how to react to that.

Anyway, once I'm done with a rough 3D design, I'll probably post it here for people to search and have an idea of how to build one for themselves to use. That's all for now, good night world!

Some updates

Hey guys!

So again... Its been awhile as I was trying to get accustomed to my new office and new life. And well, my work has been pretty good so far, many things I can't say but its been great exposure to my life as a photographer and a person.

I've printed the photos and put them inside the album and it looked great! What else... Oh! I've gotten my tablet!



Its been a great companion and useful and at the same time, the novelty of having a tablet is dying but at least I'm still able to use it =D


So yea, I ordered a lot of stuff and well, its like a lot of boxes stacked on each other.



And the goods!



Sadly... My photo book is not around as it was printed and shipped to the wrong person and I got someone elses. I absolutely love my new pencil case! The colour isn't really nice but its still awesome in its performance! The torchlight and keychain light are great! They're really bright. The torch is really bright and solid and so is the keychain light. The books are in good conditions which I'm happy with. The 32GB micro SD card really gave my tablet more stuff to have! =D I got my Switchfoot CD and its great! So is Kat Parson's CD! I hope she comes back, really another great singer.

I am so loving Vice Verses more and more. Its seriously the best album to date! Also, recently I bidded for a Nikon F5 since it can use all the Nikon G lenses which I will be getting for my Nikon D3. I don't get TTL flash with my flashes on the F5 though, unless I get a SB800 though, which I may but its undecided so far.

Also, my Creative mp3 player died on me recently! I seriously wished they were made a little bit more durable so anyway, my mum paid for a new Sony one I got off Amazon! I'm so excited. The photobook has arrived at the US address and I'm currently waiting for the Sony mp3 and my F5. Can't wait for them to arrive! Also now waiting for new books to be released on Amazon so I can order more books to read! The books are really interesting and I sure hope they'll be useful!

I can't wait to do my portfolio probably early next year or later this year. I'm currently looking for dancers to shoot. I realized that I really quite like shooting dance =/

Next shipment after the F5, photobook and mp3 will probably be more books, more AA rechargeable batteries and my friend's food colouring.

Iron man armored adventures continued without me realizing! Also, Transformers Prime season 1 has ended. I just watched probably one of the lamest Ben 10 Ultimate Alien episodes though it was interesting to see a fat Swampfire and fat Big Chill and a Humungosaur that is sort of nerdy.

Best of all! I've started saving in another account! Though I really have to start saving my pocket money again =/ Also, I've install Linux Ubuntu onto my ASUS laptop and well, its was a pain to set up but I've learnt more and its been a great experience! Can't wait to learn more about Linux OS! So much to learn, so little time...

Today, I also made my new spectacles! Sadly the rounded specs don't seem to be "in" anymore though I was never into things because it was "in" but because its practical but luckily, the specs are quite big for my new specs and I'm using Crizal lens which is supposedly scratch, water, dust and smudge resistant in addition to reduced reflections. I sure hope it lives up to what it claims. My current specs will become my reserve.

Oh! I also got a letter about installation of fiber optic termination point. LIKE FINALLY! Gotta plan where to have it placed. So excited for my cable broadband to expire then switch to fiber optic! Which reminds me... I gotta start understanding IPv6 =/

That's all for now, will try to update a little more frequent. Will post pictures after shooting with the F5 and pictures of my stuff and update what I'm getting in the coming months.