Woah! Its been a long while!

Hey guys!

Sorry its been a long while, didn't have much to blog about and been busy as well.

So anyway, I got some new stuff recently. A DVD, couple of books, earphone case (which took a long time to arrive) and a new pair of boots!


My new hard case for my earphones, works great, big though, so now its hanging on my pants when I go out.

My new Magnum side zip boots and my Dean Collins DVD

They look a little weird for boots but I quite like how they fit everything in.

So yea, I've been wearing the boots for like 2 weeks and using my hard case for like a month now. I've watched finished the DVD and it was really educational, I've learnt some new stuff but I need some time to digest the info. The boots are really comfortable and zip up pretty easily. Fits perfectly too! Anti slip works great, pretty quiet too. Thick sole, pretty much sums it up. Have yet to put up my Amazon review though =/.

Also, I went out to shoot with the guys and I was more concentrated on shooting video with the Panasonic G5 which I wrote a review on at Clubsnap (under the review's sub forum) hence I didn't shoot much photos. I shot a pano sun rise in none HDR, the light was amazing, but mine is kinda fake cause the sky then, I don't remember being that color, but its still beautiful hahaha. Since its pano, the thumbnail is normally small on Blogger, unfortunately.

That's all for now, will update when I have more to say, have a good day everyone!

Been awhile again

Hey guys!


So its been awhile again. My apologies as nothing much has been happening. And things that are happening, I can't say anything about it sadly. So I lost my earphone case, quite sad as I'm fond of it but I've bought a replacement from ebay but have yet to receive it. Getting impatient especially since its labeled as being located in Singapore.


I also just bought a 3TB Buffalo hard drive to backup the remaining 2 hard drives that has no external hard drives to backup my data.

Buffalo Disk Station

Quite nicely designed

And just today, I've finished backing up my data. Works pretty well, and next time I buy hard drives, I'll be sure to get something like Mediasonic 8 bay case or something, so I can save my USB ports. I now only have 1 free USB 3.0 port but I still have a few USB 2.0 ports.


On the same day, I went around shooting some night photos and I have 2 to share, also under my tripod head review post.


Lasalle School Of The Arts in HDR

Central Fire Station in HDR

Today, I gave a good cleaning to my Nikon F5. I also been recently looking for some good deals and I found an amazing deal for a Elinchrom BX 500 Ri (if I remembered correctly) which was like 142 USD when I wanted to bid. It was tested to power on and the settings can changed. And being Swiss made, I expect it to be working, so I bid, but it went up to like 300USD and I lost the auction cause I didn't want to pay for more. So I decided to look at SU800 for Nikon cameras which I then decided not to get since my SB900 and future SB910 won't work on the F5, I decided to get the SB 800 to work as full time commander for my D3 and future D600 and as a flash for the F5. And should I need to utilize all my flash, I can use the SB800 as a manual strobe.


And since I have no space for studio, neither do I have a studio and since I hardly shoot photos that require studio flash, I've decided not to get them (after searching high and low for good deals and suitable ones as well but I still prefer Elinchrom) unless I shoot a lot of photos that will require monolights like corporate photos and such. In my office, I will get the boss to buy studio flashes if we shoot more in the studio rather than depend on hotshoe flashes. But for my own personal work, I'll stick with hotshoe flashes.


Although fact that my complete setup which consists of:
SB 900 x 3 = About 500 per unit
SB 910 x 1 = Not sure, keep at 600?
SB 800 x 1 = Hopefully can get around 350

The total costs more than a studio lighting kit. In fact, I could get 2 sets of D-lite 4s and probably a BX 500 Ri kit. But fact remains that its more mobile and auto which will help me a lot in most of the shots I do. So if I ever do more flash that requires the power and recycling speed of monolights, I'll stick with my portable units. Since if I do work as a full time photographer, I can use the office monolights so I don't need to buy my own anytime soon (probably in my older age if I do go into my own photography business or full time freelance).

Though thinking about it, I should get studio lights now instead but the fact remains that they'll require an outlet (I know battery units exists) but studio lights are hard to resell and like I said, I need to be mobile.

As Joe McNally has proven many times over, TTL flash with hotshoe units can get the job done but a little bit more hassle as compared to studio flash units. So did David Hobby and the other great photographers who shoot with hotshoe units! I'm sold! To each his own and to each job its own!

That's all for now, have a good weekend everyone!

Been awhile

Hey guys!


So yea... Its been a while and well... Its close to the end of June. 1 year 1 month and 12 days more to ORD! Seems like only yesterday that I enlisted, but living through it has been tiring.


Recently my 22" Samsung monitor got too dim to use for photo editing so I've purchased a new 24" from Dell!


The box



Opening it, so excited!



Out of the box



Comparison to my old 22"



All set up



After awhile, I realize that there was a strange orange banding that I have never seen before.





So I requested for a change since I didn't see it when using VGA cable (after talking to tech support) and I've got a new one! Its not as noticeable, but its somewhat still there. I suspect is from the way I'm using the monitor. I use it somewhat parallel to how I sit when using, it'd be lower and facing up, but it doesn't bother me now anyway as long as my colours are good.

I like the new monitor, its bright and tall! And very easy to use to calibrate my colours, first time I got everything right when calibrating. I also got my PVC pipes and built my 77" x 77" light panel! Its a little flimsy but it should work fine in a studio enviroment. So I've decided to get the original frame from Photoflex in the future if I use it more often.


Other than that... Nothing much really happened actually... So I shall stop here for now, until I have something else to say, but that'll probably be in my next post already. Till then, have a great day everyone!

Manfrotto 054 Magnesium Ball Head with Q2 Quick Release: My thoughts

Hey guys!

So this post will be a review of the Manfrotto 054 Magnesium Ball Head with Q2 Quick Release based on my own user experience. I haven't used it for any shoot as of today (4th June 2012) and I haven't had it for long, like a week? But the experience has been great when messing with it at home. Guess I shall start with why I got this particular ball head and not the others in the series.


Why this ball head?
Why did I choose this ball head? I choose it for the balance of strength and weight. The 055 series could carry up to 12kg and the 057 series could carry up to 15kg while mine could only carry up to 10kg which honestly, was good enough for me since I don't use huge lenses like 500mm lenses and such. The heaviest I see myself carrying, either by renting or purchasing, should be the Nikkor 200-400mm f4 lens which is only 3.275 kg, with my D3, it doesn't hit the 10kg mark yet. And the heaviest combination I use most often would be the D3 paired with the Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII. My tripod is the discontinued 055 PRO which is pretty heavy, and though I can carry it without much issues, I don't want too much additional weight pulling me down. And its pretty much get according to need.

Why I choose the Q2 quick release head is because I'm familiar with it and I love it. The basic round disc looked like you have to spin the camera on it, but watching the video on the Manfrotto website here, click on videos, it seems that you can actually turn the disc itself. But its not very convenient when I want to remove the camera. The RC4 and Q5 heads have a removable plate like the Q2, but the need something flat like a coin to screw it, which is very troublesome for me especially since many times, I can be quite a klutz, hence my choice in the tripod head.


My experience so far
My experience with the head so far... Initially, it was very shaking because it was brand new and a little different from my previous 3 way head in the quick release mechanism. When I turned, and pushed down on the safety release, it didn't budge, so after a while I decided to use more strength and finally! It popped open and released the plate, after that, its been smooth as butter. The knobs all felt good except the pan head which was a little hard to turn, probably because its new, but I'm unsure, might be a good thing especially if I were to record videos. But for normal stills (not including panoramic), I'd probably be using the ball release instead of the pan head. Its very solid and smooth. Holds my D3 with the 70-200 at an angle without any movement.


Photos of the tripod head

Out of the box



The base of the head



Top of the head, showing the quick release



The vertical selection



Ball lock



Mounted on my trusty tripod



When using the head and the tripod socket closest to my camera on the 70-200, the D3 will hit the lock



Fortunately, the 70-200 has 2 sockets and using the one further from the camera, the D3 has a short distance away from the lock, making orientation easy and hassle free.



Closeup of the tripod collar foot



Conclusion
Sorry users from other brands, I can't say much for them but as a Nikon user, if you have the 70-200mm vrII, its not an issue, but if you don't use the tripod foot, or you're using a lens like the 80-200, it will be an issue to switch orientation. Depends from lens and body as well. I saw a review of someone using 70-200mm f4 with Canon EOS 40D and battery grip, his camera couldn't clear the lock, but without a grip, there shouldn't be an issue. But if you have to use a battery grip, then probably look at other heads or live without the grip when using the tripod head. Looking at the lens collar (unsure which one) for the Canon lens, there's only one tripod socket, so it might be an issue for that particular lens.

For people living in the states, you can actually buy and return, shouldn't be an issue. For the people living in countries like mine without a return policy, please go down to local stores and try it out, or if you can find review like mine which shows a particular lens and body in use, then not its not much of a problem. As many people have told me, try out to see if it fits you and if its to your liking. Personally, I'm loving how solid the head is and yet how smooth it is in use and I can't wait to use it in actual shoots which could happen pretty soon. I'm waiting for the weather to clear to shoot some sunsets, but I'll find time to do some night shoots.


Photos taken using the tripod head
Shot of the moon (composite 2 images, 1 to preserve moon details, one for building details) and the moon was blown up a bit. The glow is digitally created. Shot with the D3 and 70-200 aimed up, tripod head didn't move at all.


Lasalle School Of The Arts in HDR

Central Fire Station in HDR

More to be added

Finally! My Tripod Head Is Here!

Hey guys!


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


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


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


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


3 Packages came

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

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

Impressive 10 year warranty

Contents of the tripod head box

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

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


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

Hey guys!

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


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


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


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


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


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

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

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

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


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

Hey guys!

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


The envelop

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

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

After using the cable ring, so much better!

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


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

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

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

Mounted on the D3

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

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