Been far too long

Hey guys!


So yea... Its been quite some time, mainly because I haven't had much of a social life recently. Didn't get anything, didn't do anything, didn't shoot anything (for personal enjoyment) so I've been quiet lately. Also been planning my finances to get stuff and for the future and well, a month and a half more and I'll have my Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII lens! So excited! Then very soon, I'll have my final theory test and then start my driving lessons, hopefully I'll be able to get my driver's license at the end of the year, that would be the best Christmas present to myself! And I might travel overseas, but that remains to be decided though.


So anyway! Yesterday some of my packages came, I ordered quite a bit of stuff mainly because I need them. I'll update as they come but yea, on to this group of stuff!


My packages



What's inside



So yea... First things first! I got a replacement Seal Lead Acid Battery (SLAB) for my Quantum Turbo Battery pack since the cell inside is pretty old and needs to be replaced. That's what I was told anyway. I've replaced it and now it works! In fact, as I'm typing this entry, its charging at home!


Basically unscrewed the thing, shake it a little and out it came, I opened it 3 times when changing the battery and a small plastic piece came out each time, I still have no idea what that plastic piece is for or which part it came from, but it didn't affect the usage of my battery pack so I don't really bother. As long as it works without any issues

The internals from the front



The internals from the top, look at that battery! IT'S HUGE!



The wire connecting to the battery, not really easy to slide onto the new battery, and a little hard to pull on one of the connectors on the old battery



Top view of the new and old batteries side by side



Front View of the new and old batteries side by side, looks exactly the same! Other than the sticker of course




So... Next thing... The Crucial Adrenaline Cache SSD. I backed up my desktop the moment I got home, I didn't even take photos and etc, I just backed up first as I've read some stuff that the cache SSD can cause corruption. So anyway... I backed up, then at the same time I changed the battery pack and took photos of everything in this entry, and well, I was reading the box and the contents as well, very interesting and awesome!



Top of the box



Back of the box, idea of cache SSDs, pair an SSD with a hard drive and use aoftware like Dataplex and some other stuff is printed on the back



One side of the box, I find it interesting cause I thought it was going to be like, a lid or open from the side, but nope. Its pretty much like Apple, so you slide it out then open it, I quite like it cause it makes packing neater, but unnecessary but really nice of Crucial to do that



Bottom of the box, I blacked out some stuff as I've no idea if its important but I just did it in case it was



Smaller boxes slid out, nice eh?



Crucial Adrenaline Cache SSD box, inside its anti static bag, in one of the box



SATA Cable, bracket and screws, located in the other box, one thing about the bracket, I remember Linus on NCIX Tech Tips on Youtube saying that some are flimsy, so I tried this, it isn't, it's solid!



Out of the anti static bag, nice looking SSD I must say, though I think I like Corsair's Accelerator design a little more, but for the same price, the Crucial called out louder with SATA III standard (a little more future proof for me, coupled with good reps for SSD though Corsair ain't bad either)



Closeup of the SSD, interestingly, its a product of Singapore, so if that were the case, it made a round trip



In its bracket ready for installation using the 2.5" bracket that came with my computer case




After backing up, I had to shut down, opened my computer and navigate through a mess of wires (not exaggerating) and plug in the power and data. I had to sacrifice my optical disc drive temporarily until my PCIe card comes. My new computer is planned such that it will be bigger and use a higher end mainboard to support the technology at that point int time. After everything was plugged in, I turn on, initialize the SSD, install the Dataplex and restart. I know that it supposedly starts caching the moment it restarts after installing the Dataplex software, so I timed it using my watch and put into a tablet below.

Hard Drive	1st Boot	2nd Boot	3rd Boot	4th Boot
Without Cache SSD	8 mins 30 secs	Not tested	Not tested	Not tested
With Crucial Adrenaline Cache SSD	Approx 3 mins 35 secs	Approx 1 mins 02 secs	Approx 1 mins 03 secs	Approx 1 mins 34 secs
Laptop's Corsair Force 3	Approx 40-45	Not tested	Not tested	Not tested

Its timed from the time I see the boot logo (Gigabyte and ASUS) until MSN Messenger, Firefox, iTunes and Outlook were loaded up which is what I normally do when I start my computer up. I didn't use the Corsair in my desktop simply because it was in my laptop, I don't have a test work bench and I'm not required to do reviews to that extent. But I digress so back to the matter at hand! 1 boot after everything has been installed for my ASUS G73jh, it took approx 40-45 secs to bootup, type my password, login and start up. One factor could be that my laptop might be using SATA 3 but I'm unsure. For my desktop just based on hard disk alone, with a Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 64mb cache, it took about 8mins 30 secs to be able to scroll in a useable manner, and it isn't even smooth. With the Crucial Adrenaline, it was cut down to approx 3mins 35 secs, 2nd and 3rd boot slightly over a min. Not sure why 4th boot is slower but I did leave it on over night for about 7 hours? Shut down and plug in my cables and drives because my mother spilled some water last night and hence I cannot plug in the cables after installing the Crucial Adrenaline in. I rebooted by shutting down, waiting a few seconds and turning it on again. Regardless, its still extremely fast! One thing though, they say about power outage will cause issues. I did that unintentionally because I accidentally turned off the main power, but its still working fine! One thing I really have to say, good job on providing the Dataplex key on a separate card, apparently, OCZ prints the key on the drive itself, if I copied wrongly, I'll have to remove, check and reinsert in that case, but Cruicial provided an external one so yay!


Anyway, moving on! I also got a Manfrotto Super clamp for my DIY light panel as well as Joe McNally and David Hobby's Flash Bus Tour DVD which I couldn't attend because they only toured within the U.S.


Manfrotto Super Clamp, looks cheap in its original packaging



Apparently the real deal according to the design of the sticker, beats the Justin Clamp, it came in a box and doesn't have anything else, looked like someone just took theirs, threw it in a box and mailed it, no matter!




The Flash Bus DVD



So yea, that's all the stuff for now, I'm still waiting for some stuff to arrive at the forwarding service and will have them shipped over ASAP. Also, I recently did this in the office, a 3D rendering of the light panel I'm planning on building, still sourcing the materials though...





It's suppose to be somewhat modular, by using different joins and lengths of PVC pipes, can make 1m by 1m, 1m by 2m or 2m by 2m. I've seen some DIYs but theirs are mainly one fixed size or meant to be very fast to setup, I've got time so I'm more concern with expandability. Since I'm most likely the only person using, it doesn't really have to be simple, in fact, anyone with common sense will be able to assemble the one I'm planning on assembling. Only the 1m by 1m and 1m by 2m will have a cross bar to be used in conjunction with a boom arm and I noticed the 2m by 2m is so big, no one uses 2 boom arm to support it. If you have space to set a 2 by, most likely will have space to just just straight up light stands so no point getting boom arms for it. I'm still deciding how many boom arms to get though. Decided to get C stands if I ever use monolights, else, the boom arms will work fine with my current light stands and Speedlights though I do need sand bags... So that's all for now! Will try to update more often but due to the lack of a proper social life, might be a little difficult, have a good day everyone!

Got some new stuff!

Hey guys!

So its been a while and well... I've been rather busy recently. Nevertheless! Here's an update on what have I gotten and or been up too, Depends on what I remember. So recently I got my SSD from Amazon and well... A picture is worth a thousand words?


Package from DHL



Whats inside



The contents



So yea, its a Corsair Force 3 180GB SSD. The guy who sold it on Amazon didn't format it and I could see his files, I don't know what to say about that but I just let it be. Sadly... A piece of the drive broke up, it still can be used, just that I have to be more careful when I insert it.


Broken piece



Also, I've decided to upgrade my laptop and I got myself an ASUS G73JH! So I removed the Western Digital Caviar Black from my ASUS F8Sn and used it as a secondary drive for my G73. I used the Corsair SSD as my main hard drive.

Installing the hard drive



Installing the OS



So my laptop's battery is completely dead and I read that to revive the battery, put it in the freezer, so its been in there for a couple of days, will take it out next week and hopefully it works! I love the G73, its been pretty good. Pretty fast with huge screen! I got a new bag to go with the laptop since my Lowepro Compurover is falling apart and apparently it doesn't hold the G73 very well.


My new laptop bag



Targus Citygear Backpack



Will write my review for both the SSD and the bag on Amazon soon. Also, recently my previous office got 4 foam boards, kinda sad since on all 4 of them, both sides are white. But I guess I hardly ever really need to flag light so it'll do for now, else I'd probably just paste black paper or something on it.

V-flats (poorly taped, I know, but it works!)



My colleague as my test model



As can be seen, it works pretty darn good. Most likely will be sticking to it for full body shots since we used hot shoe flashes and I've decided not to get studio lights for now since I have to study and I hardly use it, will use more hot shoe flashes first.


So recently I've been shooting with the Nikkor 80-200mm AFD with the D3 and wondered why it was out of focus quite often. I did a test last night and determined that there is focus misalignment when the lens is paired with my D3 but since I'm getting a 70-200mm f2.8 VRII in May (for sure!), it doesn't matter whether the 80-200 works well in the futre.


So Corsair recently just released the Accelerator series and I'm waiting for June to arrive so I can get it provided there are good reviews for it. I just saw that the software also had some updates which claim to solve problems that the OCZ Synpase had but since I don't have any, I can't verify. I can only base on the experience of others and review sites before I decide if I should get the Corsair Accelerator SSD. I can't wait as my desktop is seriously slow in starting up as compared to my laptop now though my laptop has the best technologies in my home at the moment. I seriously hope all will go well and I can boost the speed of my desktop! =D


That's all for now, will post another entry when I have more stuff to talk about as I don't remember what else has gone on so far. Have a good day everyone!

Been awhile

Hey guys!

So yea... What can I say? Nothing much has been going on recently. I bought a Targus bag recently to replace my Lowepro bag which shows sign of wear and tear and I fear for the life of my stuff inside, so it's going to be used strictly to carry camera gear when I have to, otherwise my laptop and daily life will fall on the new Targus bag. Still waiting for my Corsair SSD to reach my U.S address so I can ship both together.

I'm still waiting for Corsair to release the Accelerator series so that I can give a speed boost to my desktop. Damn them! Why can't they release any earlier? They say in Feb will be out and it nearly the end of Feburary. Any way, Very soon, I'll be able to afford a Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII! I'm so excited for it! Looking forward to getting the D800 probably next year or in 2014 so I can shoot stuff that would require a higher megapixel count as well as videos (if needed). Not so keen on the video part.

So recently, my brother got a puppy, a black Labrador to be specific. She's so adorable! But very chompy? She likes to bite, and I recently got a scratch looking mark on my left hand because of her hahaha. She's grown up since I last saw her a couple of weeks ago. This is her



Adorable and very energetic. I can't imagine how would she be like when she's full grown though =/

So yea, recently been feeling unmotivated, and well... I guess I've gotta find motivation in what I do, probably get started on those personal shoots I've been aiming for. I was at the library yesterday and I saw a book on shooting with available light and I realize that I've completely forgotten about shooting available light, since I've been shooting so much with flash, flash has become my available light. So I've decided to find a day to go out after getting my 70-200 with my F5 and D3 to shoot available light only, as little post processing as I can.

Last Saturday I also went for this event, invited by my old classmate Dylis, its called Boot To Aid. Its an event where people go for exercise and like, I guess one can call it pay? But its more of donate and all the proceeds go to SPCA. I went there to shoot since I can't really exercise and well... Its tough shooting without a telephoto lens, but I made do with my 24-70. Will see if I can upload some pictures here as well as my website after I'm done processing them.

I also aim to do a little more photo projects this year, or series rather following a book I borrowed from the library. Along with my portfolio shoot. Would be interesting to see what will I have this year. I hope that the number of photos shot a year would increase from last year. I've been given a project in my NS office and I'm quite excited to see where I can go and what I can do since some of the places are well... Not really accessible to most folks. Will link if I can!

I was recently listening to Switchfoot's "Where I Belong" and the following lyrics made me think:

Until I die I'll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Where the weak are finally strong
Where the righteous right the wrongs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

I thought about those lyrics, and I find that it holds true for me, and I want to see the world change for the better. Too much crap going on and if we're to survive, we have to change what we think, let go of anger and hatred, hold on to respect for each other and kindness will follow. Some food for thought





Till the next time, have a good day everyone!

Some Updates

Hey guys!

So yea... Nothing much to say since nothing much happened recently. I've decided to get a SSD for my laptop as the final upgrade for my aging ASUS F8 which should last me until 2014 when I get my new laptop. Also, I just got a new bag from Targus as my Lowepro looks like it cannot handle my daily usage soon, so I'll just use my Lowepro when I need to carry photographic gear with laptop. The SSD I got is a Corsair Force 3 180GB SSD. I also looked into SSD caching technology which apparently, only OCZ has it and Seagate with its momentus. And I learnt that Corsair is coming up with its own SSD caching set to come out in February. Its February now and still nothing, hope it comes out soon so I can get everything one shot and upgrade my desktop as well! In about a month plus, I'll be able to get my Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII. Will post my thoughts on it after I get it. And recently, my stuff came.


All my stuff



My Outdoor Research Crocodile gaiters



My new poncho, have yet to open to use yet



So interesting, Equinox printed a drawing of a terrapin



My new belt, tough like my SCDF belt, but softer in that it can bend



Those stuff were opened but my mother, then a few days later, I got my paper trimmer.


In the box


Opened



The paper trimmer not really easy to use, not sure why can't I get straight lines, but I'm sure I'll get it sooner or later. That's all for now, will update more once I have more stuff to talk about. Good day everyone!

My thoughts on the Olympus OM-D E-M5

Hey guys!

This post is about my thoughts on the new Olympus OM-D E-M5. Phew! That's a mouthful to say. Its supposedly the pro PEN despite its name being from the Olympus OM film SLRs.


What can I say... It bears a resemblance to the Olympus E-5 as well as its ancestry in the OM series. The front looks ok but I personally hate the back. Too much screen and too little buttons. I have operated the OM cameras before, while they're light and great to use, I can't see myself using them for long periods of time due to their small size which makes operation a little bit tough.



Credits to Imaging Resource


The camera has and OLED tilt screen which isn't too bad, its touch screen as well from what I've seen. It has an EVF, no built in flash (bummer, as I like to use it for wireless flash). It's not much bigger than the OM cameras and with the grip, it looks like I can hold it quite nicely. However, I feel that it won't give the same feeling as using a bigger DSLR and shoot. This camera is weather sealed and probably will be the ultimate upgrade for a hobbyist if I were shooting my family. But as an aspiring professional, there's nothing wrong with it, its just not my cup of tea.


I don't foresee myself getting this anytime soon since my old E-P1 still works just fine, though when the E-P1 is beyond repair and if this camera is going cheap, I may just get it to replace the E-P1, but just as a for fun camera when I hang out with friends, it'll never be able to replace my workhorse at the moment, but whether it will in the future, remains to be seen. I don't have much to say except that this camera is pretty similar to the flagships from Olympus DSLR line except in a smaller package. Whether I'll get it again depends on what goes on in the future. But at the moment, I'll concentrate more on photography rather than camera equipment. Good day everyone!

Thoughts on the Nikon D800

Hey guys,

So this post will just be solely my thoughts on the Nikon D800. What can I say that can't be found all over the internet? Like how the D700 is a smaller D3, the D800 is like a smaller D4, except with a different sensor. But that's just the surface, I expect there's more under the hood then I know or would actually need to know.

Having watched the short video titled "Joyride" below.



Its pretty good. The D800 seems like a good performer. Other than the video, the specs state that natively the camera can shoot from ISO 100 if I'm not wrong, up to ISO 6400, expanded ISO 50 to ISO 25,600. Very impressive. So I thought to myself "hey, 36 megapixels, won't there be a lot of noise? The D3x was rate ISO 100-1600 in native mode and expanded from ISO 50-6400, what gives?

I just saw the noise samples for the D3x at ISO 6400 on DPReview in comparison with the D3. I honestly shoot at ISO 6400 once, most of the time high ISO, I shoot at 1600 and max 3200. The D3x isn't good compared to the D3 at ISO 6400, but its acceptable to me, and the ISO 6400 for the sample D800 image looks better than the ISO 3200 sample image from the D800 but its in different lighting condition so I can't really judge, but from the pictures I saw, and how I use (ISO from 100-3200), the D800 should be good enough for me. D3 used for weddings, events, sports while the D800 used in studio (for whatever cases it is). I don't shoot landscapes though I'd probably will after I learn to drive and have money to travel.

The file size? Huge! I'm was talking to an old friend of mine who studied business and she knows nothing about cameras, so I simplified for her. She told me that I should get the D800 for the video mode since these days, as I explained to her, photographers are expected to do double duty as a videographer though I'm unsure if I'll ever go into videography professionally, but I guess she's right, save up a bit more and get the video, in addition, higher resolution which will be useful when I go back to work at my old job full time.



Credits to Ken Rockwell.com

I think the D800 looks pretty good both on paper and in its performance so far. I'll look forward to getting mine though it'll take probably a year or 2 to get mine since I got to build up my system and lighting setup first. The D800 paired with the D3 suits what I shoot nicely. Your mileage may vary.

Before I forgot, apparently there's a D800E, I haven't seen pictures from it so I can't really comment too much, but I don't want to have to deal with the images taken with a camera without a Optical Low Pass Filter (OLPF) though the images supposedly are sharper. But that's just me, I don't know much about fixing images with false colours and moire.





Like I said, I'll personally get it in a couple of years time. It suits me even if new models come out, like how the D4 is better than the D3 but the D3 suits me just nice. Sure the files will be big, but now we have 3TB hard drives, won't be soon before long that we see even bigger ones. I think this is a great camera. And the video would be a great bonus, and I know how to shoot videos, so the video part isn't a hard learning experience for me. Have a good day everyone!

Some updates

Hey guys!


So recently it has been quiet as I haven't got much things going on. Anyway! Recently some stuff came as well as yesterday. So it'll be a short entry with just some updates on what I got


My stuff from USA a few weeks back



My Under Armour Heatgear socks! Those who are thinking of buying this to wear with combat boots, please don't, it is comfortable and thick, but its extremely long for XL, its like soccer socks,so do think twice! I'd probably buy other socks that are shorter



My pens and belt, still in their packaging


The belt is 54" and its kinda long even for me, so I'd probably get a 50" next time. The pens are great despite being ballpoint!



Canon Platinum Pro a3+ photo paper. Big and heavy, can't print without my trimmer, will print when I have a good picture




My package from Hong Kong which took 3 weeeks! Nuts!



The cheap 3rd party Nikon strap, it feels good except where the webbing is. Its thin, and hard to tie it, I'll never buy 3rd party straps again, I'll just pay more for the original (I don't use the ones given in the box because it has the name of the camera)



Magic Milk straws from Vat19! Splitting them with my sister's friend! So excited to try it!




Stickr Frames, really interesting and cool especially when opened



I didn't expect it to be like a book with the stickers on the page, I thought it'll be like, hanging inside or something.



That's pretty much for my stuff. I just got a letter from MOE that I'm eligible to apply for bursary! Weird thing is, its been almost a year since I graduated and they've only sent me now. But whatever, its good cause of the congratulatory "cert" inside, saying that I'm in the top 25% of my course/stream, I showed good academic performance and conduct. I'm really proud of this cause I felt I earned it!

Nikon D800 is out and I guess after deliberating and talking with an old friend of mine who studied business, I'm getting the D800. Despite the huge file size and the need for more hard disks. The video may be needed in the future. I guess I'll shoot less spams and more quality images with it then. Besides, hard drives are now at 3TB, won't be soon before long that they have even bigger ones! I shall post my thoughts on the D800 this weekend after I look around at the specs, sample images and watch the videos. D800 for studio and landscape (whatever landscape I do, when I go overseas especially) and D3 for events, weddings and others. Both can do good in low light, but D3 for the smaller size unless I absolutely need the resolution.

That's all for now! I can't wait to get my Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII! Its coming next month! Will do my own update when I get it!