the story so far in Cyprus
- Been shooting film…
I’ve been meaning to do more updates but because of training that hasn’t been possible and because of that, I’ve also had very little chance for any shooting. And any shooting I do is mostly with my minolta CLE which show far has been a gem to use since it doesn’t attract so much attention so taking shots is pretty easy without anyone knowing.
Yesterday (Friday was actually a public holiday hence a long weekend), I had original opt to join a group of the other trainees from India but I pulled out last minute when I wasn’t feeling too well.
Sure it would have been cheaper to go with them yesterday but feeling down and so fourth would not have been a good idea.
Anyway, I figure since I brought so many rolls of film it would be best I try to use them instead of bringing back unused.
So far, I’ve only explored the city of Nicosia and frankly I find it rather simple, nothing really stands out and it’s pretty run down and really old.
Hopefully with the money I’ve saved so far, I can rent the car myself or hire a driver with it and head up to troodoos myself next week.
Will let you know til then.
Gear review: Square light tent
Today I'll reviewing my latest purchase. A square light tent measuring at 80cm which I bought from aiphos in photomalaysia. Its pretty cheap at only RM100, other places were selling it for RM350++ for roughly the same size. Here's a shot of the light tent with a Nikon SB-600 just to give you a rough idea of how big it is...
Mind your weight!
Some of you might remember my article or take on the Desert Island Scenario where I mentioned you should absolutely either keep camera gear to the lightest or none at all but instead focus on survival equipment.
Well here is a short story of Ed Stafford on CNN who is concluding a 2 year trek through the amazon with his friend Gadiel “Cho” Sanchez Rivera. You can find the article here.
As I also mentioned previously, the reason why you must keep weight to a minimum because the more gear or stuff you carry, the shorter the distance you travel per day. And you cannot be stingy on survival gear which will be heavy! As exemplify by this paragraph on the CNN article.
“Cho and I take turns up front with the machete. We walk 50 minutes of every hour and rest 10 minutes, so we do 25-minute shifts. It’s enough when you have to carry a 35 to 45 kg pack (the weight depends on the quantity of food and duration of the leg.) ”, Ed Stafford.
The paragraph below further proves my point that even if you are in tip-top physical condition (which most photographers I’ve met these days are NOT!), you will be dead exhausted by the end of the day…….
“When we break for a rest and slump onto our packs we stare at the floor and try and regain the composure to speak to each other. Sometimes this never comes and we don’t speak all day. Nothing sinister — it’s just complete exhaustion. We don’t lunch; we just keep grazing on farinha and salt.”, Ed Stafford.
See? This gear masturbation is bullshit. That’s why I hate all this talk about desert island or “Lost” scenario. You will not and cannot go nuts on the camera gear when you have more important things to prepare when going on a hiking trip whether its for a few days to a few months or like these 2 guys, a few years!
Is there a mouse squeaking in my 17-35mm lens?
The Nikkor AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8
About a while ago my favorite lens started to make squeaking noises whenever it focused.
At first I figure was due to lubrication problems but didn’t think much of it until weeks ago
I’m falling for you~~
Is this what its like to fall and not know it?!
Ever have one of those days where you had the chance to try out something and suddenly fell in love with it? I mean seriously fell in head over heels type of love?
Benjawan Iamwilaikul
No, I did not misspell that. That really is her name. She’s Thai okay? Finally managed to get some work done on her set. Though its not completed yet and I really don’t know when it’ll be completed. So many ideas I could use and yet so little obvious choice to go about processing her set.
This always seems to happen to me when I do model shoots where no prior expectations were set and as a result, the finished work always feels rather sub-par or overdone like steak.
This as always greatly disappoints me and why I don’t do many model shoot often.
Though that may be the case but Benjie as she likes to be called was fantastic to work with, I would describe her as someone with a vibrant and absolutely fun personality. She knows all her good sides and how to really present herself to the camera.
I definitely would look her up again for my next trip into Bangkok.
That is if I find another reason to go there beside BIM but then the world is full of chances.
You may be wondering, how did we communicate with her? Luckily we managed to procure the services of a interpreter who happens to be a friend of ours in Bangkok. Its always good to have many friends in many places…….:D
Anyway, enjoy the photos……….-_-;; (more…)
Loot from Operation Chiaki…
As promised here is the loot report. You didn’t think after 30 days plus in Japan I wouldn’t have bought anything? Well most of it are just books that can’t be found in Malaysia due to censorship controls or are just plain rare!
Everything was shipped back via EMS at the total cost of 22,300 yen which is about GASP! RM830! Still cheaper than paying the overweight fine at the airport (it would have been about Rm2,000).
Okay let’s get to the detail item list…..
Benro-C 168-M8
Today I’ve had the fortunate luck of getting one of Benro’s carbon fiber Travel angel to review.
This is supposedly one of the lightest and strongest tripod available on the market. Benro is currently one of China well known brands among tripod makers.
The Desert Island scenario for photographers……..
Yup, it was bound to happen. Sooner or later someone (actually a lot of times since a lot of newbies ask me this interesting question) would ask for this, what do I bring to a desert island of despair~~~~~~? (dum dum dum da~~~~~~~)
(more…)
The golden shell Sprite 180 studio flash setup.
Today I finally got around to fully test the S180 studio light setup as I had absolutely nothing to do today.
I also decided to take this opportunity to yes one of my other figures in my collection aside from Momo.
Here in her lively splendor is Ayanami Rei by Yamato.
But before we begin here is the rundown about this studio light set. It consist of
1. 3 strobe lights
2. A large square diffuser
3. A large octogonal diffuser
4. A honeycomb head with 4 different colored gel
All the lights are very well built and it seems to be equiped with all the trimmings you would expect from a studio light set, minus the expensive price tag of course.
Also I better put a disclaimer about this review, this is my first time using a studio light set all by myself and without the hustle and bustle of a time schedule but I make no claim that this is an exhaustive review of this studio light and I make no claim that I am very very sure of my techniques here. Right let’s get down to it shall we?
Fun with Nikon ais 50mm f/1.2
The current price of Fujifilm S5 pro.
Here is the current price of the Fujifilm S5 pro……….
Rm3,500……Damn what a drop…… This deal can be found at Shashinki
I really love this cam, just wish it had a bigger sensor and a little (READ LOTS!) faster and it would be perfect!
Get it if you’ve been waiting. I don’t think it will hold out much longer as Fujifilm appears to be pulling out of the DSLR race.
Till then, pleasant dreams~~~
What I bought at KLPF
The KL photography Festival and Digicolor
Though first we went to meet up with Boon another of Albert’s friend as he wanted to borrow a lens from him. The Minolta 85mm f/1.5
We spend quite a while doing a lot of comparisons between the Minolta lenses and the Nikon lenses to see their performance. Here is my 85mm f/1.8, the bokeh in Minolta 85mm had their own distinstive character where the bokeh were stronger.
Nikon 85mm f/1.8
It’s considered to be one of the best portrait lens considering focal length-wise of course. On a crop sensor it’s still considered quite a good portrait lens as it becomes 135mm.
I spotted this at Mid Valley…….
I thought “Wow! Bet I’ll never see a shop here sell that! Who would be crazy enough to bring in that lens to sell here? No one in Malaysia I believe would buy it.”
Anyway, last night I stopped by Mid valley to unwind and was just looking around when I spotted this .
My jaw dropped at that sight. Some shop actually had the balls to bring it in!!!! The price of this sucker is RM53,888!!!! That’s more then my hire purchase for my CAR! This is only a manual lens! For crying out louds! with such a price tag I expect the glass to be made from ruby quartz! As well as the lens material to be titanium!!!! But strangely, I did some background check, aside from the fast aperture of about f/1.0, there is nothing else special about this lens.
My next big question, what kind of idiot buys such a lens?! @_@
D700 + 14-24mm
Testing different types of flash setup style.
For this test I will be using my figurine Momo.
For starters, let go with the basic 2 lamp types which I picked up a Ikea for RM60 each (inclusive of light bulb if I remember correctly)
Here I have 2 lamps setup
Yeah! Its fixed!
Yesterday after leaving work, I headed out for YL cameras at Pudu to pick up my camera.
Here is a shot of it after I got home. It’s all fixed! I was worried that I would have had to pay a huge sum just to have the glass repaired! But the only quoted me Rm100 for the repair and it only took a day to fix it up!
Anyway, I’m going to test it out along with my Velbon VC6 as well which I had picked up frm Hike Enterprise in Penang! So until then pleasant dreams~~!!
A brief comparison.
I just saw this on the DPreview website. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, Sigma had release an update to their old Sigma 24-70mm with a newer, smaller and faster version.
As you can see, it’s rought 50~60% of the size of the Nikon version. While of course it doesn’t have the Nano coating stuff along with the obvious weather sealing and I have a feeling the new Sigma version will extend out just like their old version.
Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G
Malaysian International fireworks competition 2008
I went to last Saturday’s competition at Putrajaya with a friend and I have to say, I was rather impressed by the show.
This event is spans over a few weeks by different countries competing for first place. The reason why it spans over a few weeks is because preparations can take many days. Hence the reason for the huge gaps in between performing countries.
The event is actually held at the Putrajaya International Convention Center (PICC). Its about 45 minutes drive from Petaling Jaya, why is the event being held so far from anywhere? to reduce the lightly hood of any incidents should something unexpected happen as well as reduce light pollution from the city. Although I suspect its to draw people to Malaysia’s rarely seen and used Putrajaya sector which to me feels like a big white elephant.
The competing countries are: (each on a different date)
- Team Malaysia (12 August 2008)
- Team China (16 August 2008)
- Team Canada (20 August 2008)
- Team Spain (24 August 2008)
With the Grand finale on the 29 August 2008. I have so far only gone to Team China show as the Malaysian team was on the 12 of August which is a week day.
Nikon D700, the smaller FX camera.
Finally got it on Saturday morning. Its pretty well built, just like the D300.
Recent Comments