Visit to my childhood playground

Hey guys!

So recently, I took a trip down to my childhood playground, sort of. It's the place why my primary school is located at that's my childhood playground. I would go to a lot of places to play after school until its dark before I go home. Dark as in literally dark, regardless of the time, like later part of the year, around 7, it would be very dark whereas earlier on, its not as dark at 7.

The place has changed quite a bit since my last visit back when I was in Secondary 2? Before we had to study on teacher's day before we're released. There are some familiar sites as well as some which I don't recall.


My primary school, closed since it was s Saturday, and the traffic light which I used to "guard" since my CCA at that time was road crossing monitor.



The other side of the road, where Hillock is, I remember going there once for PE and a few times to play. Can't remember what I played though.



When I was younger, Bukit Purmei seemed bigger, in this picture, can see that it's pretty small. I don't recall that sign being there though.



Not sure if this taxi stand has always been there or not, I processed it to have a more film look, I find it looks ok, though I've been told it doesn't look convincing, but whatever.



From the top of the hill next to the school where all the rich people live, showing Bukit Purmei. I remember getting scared by the dogs who live there when I was younger while exploring with my friends.



Some seats that have been there for a long time, no idea if people actually sit there, especially since it was hot when I shot this that day.



The basketball court where I played basketball with my friends.



I had an overwhelming sense of nostalgic that day. So many things have changed yet they have not. The pond, hut and fitness corner were all gone. I remember watching the terrapins at the pond, jumping around in the hut like monkeys, and playing hopscotch at the fitness corner, running around like nobody's business.

I went to the dentist yesterday to have my teeth checked and cleaned. I need to remove my wisdom teeth on the top jaw. I'm not going to do it unless it starts to hurt without any provocation of any sort, at the moment, it hurts when I eat ice cold food or boiling hot food. I seldom eat ice cream so no biggie, not good for health anyway. And boiling hot food is normally too hot to eat so doesn't matter either.

The other day I sent my slide films for processing. Finally finished the ISO 100 Provia in the Nikon F5 and ISO 400 Provia in the Olympus OM2n. However... I shot 39 frames in the Nikon F5 which was weird, and I couldn't rewind, opened the camera in the shade to find out that the film completely out of the cartridge. I have a feeling some photos won't turn out. It cost me $19 to have it developed only! No mounting! From now on until I work full time, I'm going to shoot negatives and B&W films. Since from now till I go back to work full time, I'm saving up for the photography equipment and driver's license. As well as a little for studying.

That's all for now, will post more pictures after I get my film back from the lab and will do the Nikon F5 review then! Till then, have a good day everyone!

Thoughts on the Nikon D4

Hey guys!

Finally! Its been a week into the new year and well... Its really too early to say anything but the weather has been awesome! My Bates boots are awesome as well! They did not break, deteriorate or whatever! They just work well! Though I'm still not used to it and once in a while slip or kick something. I just polished it on Friday! Not to NS standards where can see ones reflection in it, but at least it looks healthier!


Nothing much went on through the week actually. I got a shoot through cum reflective umbrella on Friday too!




Well... Lets just say my room ain't big enough to test out the umbrella effectively but I sure do hope I can use it properly soon! OH! I also bought some stuff off Amazon... If I remember correctly, I bought a belt, a shirt, 2 space pens and err... Just checked... Socks! The measurements for the shirt is weird though, my neck is apparently 18.5" so I got 19" but sleeves are only available in the 30s range, while my arm is only like 28 from neck to wrist! I don't think we're gorillas... I also got 3 Manfrotto/Bogen 8' lightstands off ebay, they seem sturdy and are really cheap. Sturdier than my old lightstand. It'll be able to support the Elinchrom flashes without any issue!.

Also, I've seen and carried the "transformer" lightstand. It really feels solid and was told it'll be able to support studio flashes. I kinda regret not getting it to light overhead. But then again, its not impossible to shoot with straight stands. anyway. Plus, not like I'm going to always use a silk with the boom stands all the time. Oh well, when I work more as a photographer, I'll have money to change if need be, but I'm more likely to just get a boom arm from Manfrotto, its cheaper than a boom C stand, but works for me anyway. I don't need C stands though I guess a C stand is still better but yea, if it works, it works, no need the best!

I also saw a multiple reflector trigrip, 3rd party of course. Feels pretty good, not sure how the lastolite one performs though. But the only thing I'm thinking now about the trigrip is the part where the hand holds the reflector itself. Its too thin for my liking so am thinking of wrapping it probably in sponge to make it thicker and more comfortable to hold, but they're still in planning stage so no worries, one at a time!

Ok... Now on to the title of my post!

My thoughts on the Nikon D4!

Nikon D4


Canon EOS 1Dx



Seems like the Nikon D4 is the direct competitor of the Canon EOS 1Dx, and I realize calling them by their actual names, Nikon cameras are easier =| So anyway... First impression when I saw the Nikon D4... It looked weird, but the more I looked at it, the more it looks like a refined, streamlined D3. I'm loving its looks more and more each time I see it, but don't get me wrong! I still love my D3 and am sure to use my D3 in years to come!

From the specs I've read, seems that though it still features dual bay memory card, it only takes 1 Compact Flash (CF) card and a new type of card known as XQD. Apparently released not long ago. And according to Wikipedia, Sony is the first to produced (which explains why all the XQD cards picture I've seen so far are all Sony branded) and the Nikon D4 is the first to utilize it. Seems very promising but it is still young. But I can expect it to become THE standard for professional level cameras.

The resolution has increased by like 4 megapixels and ISO has, in expanded range, an equivalent of ISO 50 to ISO 204,800. I am seriously impressed but I wonder when will I actually use that in real life, even in low light situations. The only applications I can image are military ones, but that's just me.


Lets see... I think it has a new metering sensor? It also has the new Expeed 3 image processor, interesting. Focus sensor I think has changed as well. According to Wikipedia, it has a start up of 0.12s and 0.042 shutter release delay. Translation? It feels instantaneous and it'll probably be too fast to notice any "lag".

What else... Image sensor cleaning (AKA anti dust), 10 fps FX mode, improved by 1 fps over the D3, 11 fps without AF and AE, guess apparently sports photographers pre focus and set fixed exposure before shooting, worth noting for me or anyone when shooting sports.

One thing I find mind blowing is the buffer, "100 RAW or 200 jpegs"! I won't be shooting up to 100 RAWs for sure, but it sure is nice to have but practically, I don't foresee myself using that, and I've never heard of anyone actually doing that though... Probably why they're confident with a 100 RAW image buffer is also partly due to the new XQD memory card which has I think, PCI-E technology which gives incredibly fast read and write capabilities? In fact, I find my hard drives enclosures are limited by their own mechanical hard drive. But solid state is still too expensive, back to mechanical hard drives! Fast card, 24 frames buffer, probably good enough for me, 36 max I guess. But I've never actually tested such situations so it's hard for me to comment, probably when I shoot this year's sports day?

I see it has built-in HDR and time lapse mode, interesting no doubt. Think it means it process in the camera itself? Since the D3 has interval timer built in just that one has to create the time lapse in post.

Here's one thing I'm a little interested in. it has full HD "1080p, 24fps, 25 or 30 depending on religion, 720p 25/50 or 30/60 fps". It also has a few in and outputs on its side. On my first compact camera, all it has was a USB and video output. On my D3, it has a wireless transmitter plug in, HDMI out, stereo mic in, earphones, ethernet port and I think it could have a DC input somewhere. I'm not entirely sure of its video capabilities, but I expect a lot of manual capabilities seeing its the flagship camera.

Apparently, the shutter is made of a kevlar/carbon fibre composite rated to 400,000 actuations. Really interesting. Live view apparently has been improved offering still, phase detect as well as improved contrast detect. Also, virtual horizon seems to be available in live view and video capture, don't think any members the the D3 family had it. Active D-lighting now has 6 settings and bracketing. Its still weather sealed. I don't know by how much but I won't worry about light rain, thunder storms call for poncho to hide under. The buttons are illuminated as well!

The camera now has more button and switches. Not sure how it'll handle ergonomically but I'm sure it'll be pretty good considering its the flagship. I think this will have a huge success just as the D3 had.

Will I buy this to replace my D3 or as a backup camera? No, simply because as I've said, my D3 serves me well and I'm sure will continue to do so. I do not need a D4 basically. What I'll get is probably a 2nd hand D700 or if the price is right for the specs of the D800, I'd get the D800 instead. Rumor has it that the D800 will have a 36megapixel sensor. If that's the case, and in low light the image quality is as good as the D3 or better, I'd get that as a backup camera. I hope Nikon actually does something like reduced resolution at higher ISO ratings. So I'll have the option to say... Shoot 12 megapixels at ISO 6400 for events and ISO 50 or 100 in studio or on location with flashes as full resolution (if the resolution is as rumored).

Here's a video to watch for more details, they are probably some differences, so for the best info, go to Nikon's official site for full specs here.



I quite like the Nikon D4 images but they look pretty much the same as the D3, but then again, I didn't place them side by side so its hard to say, but I'm sure there are improvements. I'll look at the D4 very closely in video and photo capabilities to anticipate the Nikon D800. Will drop by Nikon Service Center to get the brochure of the D4 (though I've downloaded it) and if possible, try to play with it on the spot =D


So yea... Can't wait to finally get my own Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII lens. I'm considering getting a Nikkor 35mm AFD f2 lens for my Nikon F5 which by the way, the film is almost at its end, so expect the review soon! I'm excited for the D800 to be out.

Also, I've more or less decided what my setup would be like when I go back to full time work. Laptop with i7 (I hope) in a 15" case, with as much RAM I can squeeze in with probably a 160GB SSD or more depending on price and an external SATA USB 3.0 case. Among other stuff to be fixed in the office. The external SATA drive should be portable so I can bring about for shoots and classes.

Can't wait to get studio flashes this year so I need not go to studio often or anymore. Nothing much left to say except have a good day everyone!

My new boots are awesome!

Hey guys!

Happy new year! Its the first post for 2012 and well... As said locally! "Like that lor", nothing special really... Just another year. Lets see... I don't really remember, and nothing much really happened. I went back to the office and saw more or less everyone. It was great seeing everyone though I didn't get to drink soy bean drink.

So my Bates Delta-6 GORE-TEX side zip boots arrived this morning. I wore them and well... They fit more or less perfectly! How size 13 wide should be! And they're extremely comfortable! Not as easy to put on as my sports shoe, but easier than my combat boots, in terms of sliding in! The composite toe isn't as hard as steel toe but its tough on its own! So! Pictures!


It came in a pretty flat box. Its smaller than my combat boots which actually made me wonder (before I signed for it) if this was the correct package, but I checked and its right!



Excited! Just rip the tape apart rather than taking a pen knife and doing it gracefully



My first impression? The box shape was weird, but it had a nice and simple design!



Neatly wrapped! I was so excited to see I almost couldn't be bothered to take pictures!



ICS Technology... Some sort of comfort thing? The default one set when it came was good enough, though I never tried the rest, but I don't really bother hahahha



The awesomeness of the awesome boots! I think I watch too much Kung Fu Panda: Legends Of Awesomeness =/



The sole looks kinda weird, doesn't look boot like, and looks similar to sports shoes


Vibram


I have absolutely no idea what is Vibram, even after reading it on Wikipedia =/. I'm currently wearing my NS shorts and somehow, I feel weird, like I've grown shorter... But that's impossible! Anyway! I'm clearing part of my closet with my mother tomorrow so I can store my NS stuff there and get rid of clothing I cannot wear anymore. Make way for my new shirts that I'm getting soon!

I also did a file to store the "receipts" of my purchase so as to "document" the size of the stuff I wear, for example my future waterproof pants, the brand, size, place of purchase, price etc

Oh! I recently used the Thinktank Speedchanger and R U Thirsty! It's both convenient and inconvenient! It's probably inconvenient due to the fact I'm not using the right belt. But it is convenient for my daily use though again inconvenient when sitting down on public transport. But then again, during my daily shopping, I usually stand so doesn't really matter. And its meant to be use for shooting so again, not designed with walking around and sitting down in mind...

Hope the belt comes soon then it's not troublesome so sit down or adjust my pants! That's all for now! New stuff will be coming this month! After that, probably not much, but more of saving up for my Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII lens and Elinchrome D-Lite 4 It To Go kit!

That's all for now! Good night world and Happy New Year! Its 12 midnight exactly at this moment I'm typing this sentence. Cool!

P.S: This is the link to my Leica V-Lux 3 Review

Merry Christmas eveyone!

Hey readers!

Firstly, Merry Christmas everyone! The year is almost ending, and I earnestly hope next year will be as good or better than 2011!

So recently, my colleague from my work got a white Olympus E-PM1. In case you don't know how it looks like because you honestly don't know, or you're the type that says "they keep coming out so fast, I've lost track", here's a picture.



And well... She says we can share lenses! Which is fine with me, since she lives quite close to me hahaha. Anyway, we exchanged lens, my 17mm for her 14-42mm IIR. I have to say, I love the new R lens, super fast even on my older E-P1 and quiet with pretty good quality! I don't mind getting one but I'm still likely to wait for my fast zoom rather than really get the 14-42 unless I have to, but at least I have something to look forward to! Besides... I'm still building up my Nikon system so I can wait. Here's a picture of the new zoom lens with my E-P1!




Honestly, it ain't half bad in looks either! Also... I just found a 17mm lens for her so she need not change lens with me anymore, though I have a feeling that she will change with other lenses should I every get others which I most probably will. Though our shooting pattern differ by a lot!

Recently, my packages from USA came! I got my Manfrotto Justin Clamp and books!

Huge box


175F-1, Spring clamp with hot shoe


Open up, I personally think the box is a tad big for the product


First trial with the clamp, FL-36R with radio trigger on manual, hanging upside down!


My subject for the spring clamp is also something else I got second hand!

Thinktank Speed Changer and R U Thirsty!


Out of their bags


My books in the picture below, especially the "Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It" by Scott Kelby, the cover is a little torn, but no biggie! It's just aesthetics.



That's pretty much all for now. Will link my review of the Leica V-Lux 3 in my next post and probably have some other things to share!

Good night world!

Been a while...

Hey guys!

So yea... Its been a while and I apologize! I've been busy at work doing this or that, not having enough time for myself in fact! I still have to finish a video soon. Its paid and I've accepted the money so I've gotta finish it by hook or by crook.

Recently I've played the new Batman game! Batman Arkham City is awesome! Its so much better than Arkham Asylum which was pretty good on its own. But Arkham city was somewhat harder the first time I played it. But after having played it on normal, the easy mode is really easy!

I recently got a Western Digital 1TB 64mb cache 3.5" hard drive for $180, it's quite expensive by today's standard though from what I've purchased, its pretty acceptable.



I've cloned my hard drive and replaced it in my computer. So what I have in my computer now is:
1. Western Digital 1TB - Main hard drive
2. Samsung 500GB - 1st Storage hard drive storing my computer programs, music and a lot of videos, its almost full
3. Hitachi 500G - It took over the Maxtor 250GB and now is about half full, containing mainly videos
4. Hitachi 250GB - Its my games hard disk where all my fame files are currently on.
5. Seagate Constellation 1TB - Its my RAW files hard drive where all my photos are store, its gonna take a while to fill up at the rate I'm using =S

So yea! A brief summary! I recently attended talks at Fotofest Asia!




So yea,there were 4 speakers and well, I quite like one of the speakers named Hanson Fong. Awesome teacher, awesome photographer, funny too! What else... Oh! My brother started his own business! Good for him. My to do list for 2011 is almost done, but I've added more to 2012's list. Gonna be a busy year with many goals to accomplished. I'm quite excited to update my portfolio too!

Recently, quite a number of stuff came, I don't really remember all and I didn't have time to shoot them. I do remember getting a pen for my brother, it uses a real bullet case, available from Vat19. And also a bracelet for another good friend of mine! Some stuff from Photojojo for the interns in my office. I also got my PTC 15m USB repeater! Now my cable for tether shooting is super long! And it works! Approx 25m I guess. I also got my velcro cable ties which is a huge life saver!

I also found an old friend of mine! But seems that she's not really active on Facebook, and since she's currently living in America, due to time difference, even if she has MSN, it'd be quite difficult to talk to her... Sadly...

Anyway! I'm currently doing a camera review which I'll post up soon. And my Nikon F5 review! Still not done shooting with it! I'll get it up as soon as I've finished that last few frames! That's all for now!

Good day everyone!

My own belated thanksgiving and resolutions for the new year

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!

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!