Putrajaya Botanical Garden Photo Shoot [29 Aug 2010]

Cloudy day, no sunset...










View more after the jump

Sony Multi-Card Reader/Writer MRW62E-T2

I mean, who the heck reviews a card reader/writer??

Well, there's something interesting about card readers... Most of the China brand card readers reads almost everything, from CF, SD, XD, MS, M2, your mind, your dog's mind, a book and so on... They do suck. Not because of their transfer speed (which is slow), but their quality. I mean, would you trust something dinky to transfer your precious photos from an 8GB memory card (could be 1000++ images) to your computer while it decides to kill your card and everything in it? I can hear those people using film laughing and snickering now...


But, everything has it ups and down, right?


Well, yesterday I bought a card reader/writer from Sony. Been all the shops around the Mines Shopping Mall and all I got are 3 reputable brands. Sony, Cooler Master and Apacer. Each were priced (sticker) of RM32.90, RM33.00, RM35.00.


I got the Sony. I got it since they are known to have better QC, and Cooler Master don't do chips, and Apacer... Well, I'm not sure about them...


I mean, what Card Reader comes with a instruction manual??? And the USB transfer cable comes with a ferrite choke.


I haven't tested it's speed though, but it reads my phone's Multi-Media Card (RS) and writes, to which my previous no-brand card reader/writer on reads.. -.-"

Overall, the Sony card reader does its job.

Zoo Negara on the 22nd August 2010

Went to Zoo Negara, on a Sunday. Surprisingly, there weren't a lot of people...





Since I've its been ages since I went to a zoo, (either that or I didn't even remember when was the last time I went to a Zoo...)







Click on the link below to see the rest of the pictures..

Film Photography

Here is an interesting article of film photography through an enthusiast that has embraced both film and digital photography. Its like yin and yang, for a person to embrace both formats, as usually people would just dis at each other, *cough* fanboys *cough*...


Enjoy. =)


Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

Experimenting - Pop Up Flash

Pop up flash are underrated due to its low power, low reach, and well, we can turn the thing in another direction.

But, flash photography is still important, especially when taking portraiture, or in fact anything. Since light plays a major role in all photographs and pictures, [unless you like to a black image through out] we actually need more light to make it as though there is no light. [a.k.a no shadows]



As the photo suggest, there is no clear visible shadows on the model, yet she is well lit [thought about using well exposed, but then it would seem wrong] because during the photo shot, studio lighting or maybe strobes are used to take the photos.




In my case, I simply used the pop up flash on my D90, set it to rear curtain sync, in just aperture priority mode, set the negative (-1) exposure compensation for the flash and good to go. Without the flash, there would be visible shadows due to the angle of the brochure. [Don't know why there's a lot of pictures of a single clothing item on a brochure]


Yeah, the image looks kinda soft cause its a printed material.

KONICA MINOLTA PAGEPRO 1380 MF part 1

THIS PRINTER DOESN'T SUPPORT WINDOWS 7, yet.....


Until I did something like this...



Though its not fully supported on Win-7...


-.-"

52.5mm Challange

Armed with just a loaner 35mm f/1.8G AF-S, with an equivalent focal length of 52.5mm on a DX crop factored camera (which is what my D90 is), see what the standard lens can bring to the table...

But before that, what is a standard lens? (WARNING: BORING STUFF AHEAD, JUST SKIP TO THE PICS OR OTHERWISE)

A standard (normal) lens is "A lens that provides about the same angle of view of a scene as the human eye and that does not unduly magnify or diminish the relative size of objects in the image." as quoted from www.sederquist.com/clagloss.html

Or scientifically, (very boring stuff) "let's conduct a thought experiment in which we take a picture, make a print on the spot, then see how it compares to the scene in front of us. Simple geometry (using the concept of similar triangles) states that a print viewed from a distance equal to it's diagonal will exactly match the subject in perspective when the focal length of the lens that was used to make the picture is equal to the diagonal of the sensor. When we use this approach to calculate the focal lengths of 'theoretically correct' standard lenses for various sensor sizes, the results are slightly surprising. Full frame works out as 43mm, 1.5x APS-C as 29mm, and Four Thirds, 21mm. This flies in the face of received wisdom (and convention), which suggests 50mm, 35mm and 25mm respectively." (DPreview.com)



Simply put, its the lens that is about the same magnification as what our eyes perceives.


Note that this challenge is to use a fix focused length camera all day without changing lenses, with the purpose to reduce bulk on light travel.


The setting: PC fair 2010 (II)



First up, parked the car at Menara Keck Seng, and since its Saturday, the whole day parking rate is RM3.00 (after Saturday afternoon working hours).

And walked to Pavilion which is opposite, and saw this...















[Check out the price, close to a cool million ringgit, though gotta say that the rated fuel consumption is not bad]



[Big Bum]



And later we passed by a construction site on the way over to KLCC [convention center]







[Now I sorta understand Kai W...]




And here we arrived at the PC fair...

Booth professional pics and some other interesting pics are next...












[A strike at the PC fair??]




































[Hmmm... The booth professional at Lenovo Hall 2]








[They were shouting... Something like a 10-pac DVD for RM1, t&c is buy above RM10]















[The booths are tall...]












[Cloudy day... and this pic seems like a d*** coming out of a b*sh. Wakakakka, that's Maxis for you]






After hauling the big ass multifunction b/w laser printer for 1.7km, we head to the Curve for dinner... [another post about the printer... *$%#&@!!!!]



















The conclusion:

1. At some point I would still prefer my 50mm lens as I'm used to frame with it.
2. Using the standard lens brought me some wide coverage, as in I don't have to reverse back for side to side shots. (22.5mm difference is quite a lot in wideness, considering)
3. Would I get it? I think that I would need more time to get used to the loaner lens..


Another thing is that, thanks to Ng. PL for the loaner lens. Good lens, fast auto focus (and quiet too).