Shewsbury Photo Stream

Fun at the beach V2

2011-11-22T12:17:00.008+08:00

Recently we went to the beach again for the 2nd Shewsburians Picnic 2011, seems to be the last picnic of the year for most of us as after this we will be busy with school holidays, works and of coz Christmas and the year end.

With the help of Photoscape I made the above photo to be like this;

And the same for this one;

This is Toto, from the Toyotomi Hideyoshi clan and thus the short name is Toto LOL. I am from Maeda Toshie clan and our ancestors use to fight together under Lord Nobunaga several thousand years ago ^__^ LOL

This "Toto" or also known locally in Shewsbury Land as "Pengiran Khamis bin Ahad - Panglima Ular Bermata Hitam - Orang Kaya di Jerudong" LOL is well known as the Chairman and Chief Executive of Brunei Toy Collectors Club (BTC). I prefer to call him as "Toto the heart breaker" LOL...

He have lots of figure and toys collections from Gundam universe, Transformers and several other type of toys... quite rich huh? He is quite strong with some solid and though body and a little 6 pack on the tummy, many ladies tend to like him at first sight ^__^ especially ladies over 40's LOL....

Oh, another thing we like about him apart from being nice is that he love to eat "Maggi" (some sort of instant noodles, very popular brand in here) and he use Canon ^__^

Panasonic, Canon, Olympus and Fujifilm are the good friend of Shewsbury Land ^__^

When I saw him on the beach, he was busy taking photos of any couples walking around the beach... something like this;

I guess most of his photos are something like this;

Keroro joined us as well on this beautiful day on the beach;

And I saw a bunch of boys playing around with the sand.... I think they were building sand castle...

With a little bit of creativity and crazy ideas.... they managed to create some sort of scenes for their toys photography.... these people are quite brilliant...

I saw another toy photographer doing things they love the most - toy photography LOL;

This lady, she use Panasonic GF2 that comes with those touch screen thingy - a very fun camera to use ^__^

Look at this guy concentrating doing what ever he is doing;

This is before "Toto the heart breaker" step on this heart and destroy the shape ^__^

It was fun, the weather is perfect though it's kind of hot on this beach but I think we have no complain on it. Look forward to do this again next year maybe?

end

Morning in the park V5

2011-11-21T16:40:00.008+08:00

It was a night filled with heavy rain last Saturday and on early Sunday morning I wake up earlier than usual and head straight to the park to see the waterfall - as a matter of fact, it's been quite a while sine I came here ^__^ ;

And with the help of ND8 Filters, I manage to captured these;

I'm not really good with this nature and scenery shit but once a while it's fun to get away from toy photography and do something different, at least for fun sake....

In this edition I also like to highlight my favorite photo editing software - the wonderful "Photoscape" which you can get for free and legally from http://www.photoscape.org

I love to take random pictures like this;

For many people this is just a bad picture with no meaning what so ever... but when I captured the moment, I knew that I want to do something later in Photoscape.... so from the above picture, I made it to be like this;

Nothing great and perhaps some people might just say not much in it anyway but for me it's kind of artistic and more importantly I like it....

When I was in the park that morning I saw a bunch of peoples doing their routine weekend stuff like this;

And with the help of Close Up Filters and conversion lens, I also get some Macro shots... it's been a while since the last time I did this!!!!

Mr. Smith Wong here is pretty hard for me to catch up with it... constantly moving here and there building booby trap LOL.....

And oh, our old fren Mr. Peter Wong here seems to be relaxing himself enjoying the beautiful morning sunshine....

I hardly do any editing on the insects pictures but this time around I just really play a lot with those fun features in Photoscape.....

And I also suddenly met these 2 guys, Mr. Henry Wong and Mr. George Wong LOL.....

It was fun and I hope I can do this again often in the future.... I never get bored with this park and all the species found in there no matter how many times already I bumped into them....

end

Neutral Density Filter

2011-11-21T15:46:00.005+08:00

Neutral Density Filters (ND) have several purposes and offer the possibility to achieve brilliant and unique results unachievable without using the ND Filters.

ND filters appear gray and reduce the amount of light reaching the film, yet they have no affect on color balance. The main uses of ND Filter are as below:

1) Enable slow shutter speeds to be used to record movement in subjects such as waterfalls, clouds, cars, seas etc.

2) Decrease depth of field by allowing wider apertures to be used, which helps separate subjects from their background.

Just like the typical UV Filter, it's easy to use, just screw it onto the front of your lens. Several different size are available in accordance to the popular lens size from 52mm, 55mm, 58mm, 62mm, 67mm, 72mm and 77mm.

So usually your camera and lens can easily capture the waterfall scene like this;

But without ND Filters, it's extremely difficult or maybe impossible to achieve this result;

And that is why to achieve this kind of result, you need to use the ND Filter.

These photos are just some basic example, once you have your own ND Filter, I'm sure that you can achieve a better result than what you see here. This is from a lousy photographer like me :-(

Overall, ND Filter is one of the most basic and must have for those photographer who wanted to achieve certain particular results especially when doing scenery photography. It's cheap and useful. Simple as that.

end

Fisheye Conversion Lens

2011-11-21T13:57:00.012+08:00

This is 58mm 0.25x Fish Eye Conversion Lens with Macro/Close up Lens of +12.

From Wikipedia;
Fisheye lens is a wide-angle lens that takes in a broad, panoramic and hemispherical image. Fisheye lenses quickly became popular in general photography for their unique, distorted appearance. They are often used by photographers shooting broad landscapes to suggest the curve of the Earth. Hemispherical photography is used for various scientific purposes to study plant canopy geometry and to calculate near-ground solar radiation.

The focal lengths of fisheye lenses depend on the film format. For the popular 35 mm film format, typical focal lengths of fisheye lenses are between 8 mm and 10 mm for circular images, and 15–16 mm for full-frame images. For digital cameras using smaller electronic imagers such as 1/4" and 1/3" format CCD or CMOS sensors, the focal length of "miniature" fisheye lenses can be as short as 1 to 2mm.

All the ultra-wide angle lenses suffer from some amount of barrel distortion. While this can easily be corrected for moderately wide angles of view, rectilinear ultra-wide angle lenses with angles of view greater than 90 degrees are difficult to design. Fisheye lenses achieve extremely wide angles of view by forgoing a rectilinear image, opting instead for a special mapping (for example: equisolid angle), which gives images a characteristic convex appearance.

The box;

The box looks quite "fucked-up" - must be caused by those "impacts" during shipping and careless handling... nonetheless, the items inside are all perfect.

Out of the box.... they give this nice pouch;

And finally the lens;

Size comparison with the regular 1 litre of milk in the box;

This item is quite big and decently heavy....

This item actually is a combination of Fisheye Lens and Macro/Close Up lens with +12 power.

To use the "Fisheye" effect you need to combined both of them but if you want to use the "Macro/Close Up" lens only, you need to detached the "Fisheye" unit.

And this is how we attached this thing onto our camera lens;

So let's do some testing on this "Fisheye" thingy;

This is normal view on my camera (Panasonic Lumix G1 with 14-45mm lens) at 14mm (equivalent to 28mm in 35mm full frame format);

And this is how it looks like when I attached the "Fisheye" at 14mm;

And this is the view with a little bit of zooming, somewhere in the 20+ mm area;

This is normal view on my camera at 14mm;

And this is how it looks like when I attached the "Fisheye" at 14mm;

And this is the view with a little bit of zooming, somewhere in the 20+ mm area;

And now let's do some testing on the Macro/Close Up lens with +12 power....

This is the best I can get using my standard kit lens (14-45mm) with full zoom at 45mm (90mm equivalent in 35mm full frame format)

But at the same 45mm with the help of this Macro lens, I can go as close as this and see more details;

You can also try using this Macro lens on those small insects....

That's about it then, obviously I need to do more testing and have fun with this Fisheye lens and all that you can see here are just some example to give you the idea of what this lens can do for you. This is not really a must have lens for daily usage unless of coz if you do some sort of special photography on daily basis. This is a more fun to have kind of items that you would use sometimes once in a blue moon till you get bored with it.

Now, this cheap conversion lens cannot give you the perfect quality that you could or would demand from the dedicated Fisheye lens made by the prominent camera or lens maker that cost several hundreds to thousands of dollars in price.

At SGD 95.00 (USD 73.00) this conversion lens does the job accordingly, the end result is quite decent for some but maybe not great for others, it's all about personal taste and your own creativity and capabilities. It's never perfect but it does the job.

If you want perfection, then you can always buy those dedicated Fisheye lens made by your camera maker at the price of several hundreds or thousands of dollars - if you willing to pay the price, then why not? But if you are on a tight budget and just want to try this Fisheye effects for fun once in a blue moon then maybe you should consider this cheaper alternative...

At the end, it's your money, your choice....

end

Fun at the beach

2011-11-11T17:29:00.006+08:00

Went to the beach recently, it's been quiet a while in fact since the last time we visit any beach and I took some random pictures and share here with you. Most of this pictures have been edited using the free Photoscape.

She wonder if it's gonna rain later ^___^

A couple of love bird seems to having fun at the beach ^__^

Playing kites on the beach... this is epic!!!!

She knew I want her to stay still.....

And the other usual stuff we will see on the beach;

People really love to see camera ^__^

end

Pimp My G1 - 25mm F/1.4 C-Mount CCTV Lens

2011-07-26T11:48:00.018+08:00

Ever thought about using CCTV lens on your "Micro 4/3" (Micro Four Thirds) camera? Well, for many, that seems to be a strange idea and maybe some would say that's it's ridiculous or impossible.

As a loyalist of Panasonic Lumix brand, the reason to go into the world of Micro 4/3 is simply because I'm a happy customer and consumer of Panasonic Lumix products for the past 3 years and I've using several different types of their products from the so called budget entry level compact digicam (Panasonic Lumix LZ7) to the long superzoom digicam (Panasonic Lumix FZ28) and finally the advance compact digicam (Panasonic Lumix LX3).

I am very happy with all of the above mentioned products and naturally when I learned about the new format of "Micro 4/3" format created by Panasonic and Olympus, I feel ecstatic and wanted to try their offering in the so called "mirrorless compact" or what ever they call it.

And thus after having lot's of fun with the magnificent Panasonic LX3 late last year till early of this year, I then joined the Micro 4/3 world thru my beloved Panasonic Lumix G1, the first model introduced under the Micro 4/3 world.

The Micro 4/3 image sensor is basically the same size to that "Four Thirds" sensor size created by Olympus and Kodak and that also means it is 40% smaller than the conventional APS-C sensor size used by the likes of Canon in their DSLR camera models.

Unlike older SLR systems, "Four Thirds" has been designed from the ground up to be entirely digital. Many lenses are extensively computerized, to the point that manufacturers (like Olympus) offers firmware updates for many of them from time to time.

Lens design has been tailored to the requirements of digital sensors. The size of the sensor is significantly smaller than for most DSLRs and this implies that lenses can be smaller.

In the development process of "Micro 4/3 format", Panasonic and Olympus focus on the "slimming down process" further and they managed to find a way to discard the "mirror system" and the result is that the camera body can be smaller than the traditional DSLR, almost to the point of the size of those compact digicam.... almost, but not really, but that is already a big improvement at that point of time.

Since the sensor size is a little smaller, it is natural that the "Micro 4/3" may not be able to matched the superior image quality offered by the larger APS-C sensor, not at the moment at least, but nonetheless they are way much better than those offered by the advance compact digicam like Panasonic LX3 and/or Olympus XZ1.

Like they always said, sometimes we can't win everything... we win some, we lose some, all fair and square, that's the way life goes.

Nonetheless, our main focus today is not really about the history of Micro 4/3 but rather their ability to use many types of lens with the help of adapters. The Micro 4/3 format has a very short back focus distance this means that quite a few different lenses can be mounted on the camera through the use of adaptors.

Virtually any lens can be used on Micro 4/3 camera bodies using the proper adapter. For example, Four Thirds lenses can be used with auto focus using the adapters designed by Olympus and Panasonic though there are also some "un-official" adapters created by third parties which can be bought from E-Bay.

Frankly speaking, I never thought about using the so called "other lenses" on my Panasonic G1 but when I first learned about it thru the link below;

SLR Magic releases 26mm F1.4 Toy Lens for Micro Four Thirds

I suddenly kind of interested to know more about it.

I then visited the online shop selling it = http://www.gizmoshop.jp/item_slrmagic.php

But then at that point of time, they are "Sold Out".

So I searched in E-Bay and I found almost similar items which much cheaper price and I decided to give it a try and the rest is history.

And yesterday, finally, this "25mm F/1.4 C-Mount CCTV Lens" arrived at around 4.30pm and I can't wait to test it immediately.

This is now the review of this "25mm F/1.4 C-Mount CCTV Lens" or you can just simply call it as "Toy Lens" ^__^

I spent USD 60.00 (about roughly SGD 78.00) for this items, details as below;

25mm F/1.4 C-Mount CCTV Lens = USD 35.00
C-Mount to Micro 4/3 Adapter = USD 8.00
DHL courier service = USD 17.00

Please take note though that prices may vary from one seller to another and other factor such as location and custom duty tax for import and export need to be taken into account as well.

So depending on your luck in E-Bay or any other "online shop", you may or may not get lower or higher price accordingly.

And this is the box;

I don't know what WSL means, probably the manufacturer or the factory name, so I take the liberty to refer it as WSL = Wong Siew Ling.... LOL

And this is it outside the box;

The 25mm F/1.4 C-Mount CCTV Lens though on the lens body it is stated "WSL HDTV"

A little bit information about this "C-Mount" lens from Wikipedia;

A C-mount is a type of lens mount commonly found on 16mm movie cameras, closed-circuit television cameras, and trinocular microscope phototubes.

C-mount lenses provide a male thread which mates with a female thread on the camera. The thread is nominally 1 inch (25 mm) in diameter, with 32 threads per inch, designated as "1-32 UN 2A" in the ANSI B1.1 standard for unified screw threads. The flange focal distance is 17.526 millimetres (0.6900 in) for a C-mount.

Lenses made originally for TV cameras may not always fit movie cameras, as some lack provision to focus or set exposure, as the video cameras could perform these functions by other means. Also note that the back element of some video lenses may protrude too far from the mount, and would interfere with the shutter or reflex finder mechanisms in a movie camera. Although C-mount lenses are generally incompatible with 35mm interchangeable lens SLR cameras, they can be mounted on Micro Four Thirds digital cameras such as the Olympus E-P1, with a suitable adapter.

The letter "C" is said to stand for "cine", the original application being movie camera lenses.

This ring have Manual Aperture Ring and Manual Focus Ring;

Quite tiny indeed;

And this the adapters, basically all these comes from the adapter box (the box on your left from the above picture of 2 boxes)

This is the C-Mount to Micro 4/3 adapter;

As you can see at the back side here, no electronic/electric connector at all;

We then need to screw the lens onto the adapter;

Next, take out what ever lens you have on your camera, in my case, I only have the standard kit lens (Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6) that comes with my Panasonic G1 when I purchased the camera;

After that we attached the lens/adapter onto the camera;

Now, when using 3rd party lenses via adapters on a Micro 4/3 camera (in my case the Panasonic G1), you MUST go into the camera’s menu and allow the camera to “Shoot Without Lens” which is telling the camera to function when it doesn’t have an electronic connection to relay and/or to transmit information.

I described this process from the pictures below;

And just like that, you are ready to rock;

You can do the above process before or after you attached the lens.

If you don't do that yet, you will see the following on your Live View (or EVF) screen;

Another thing, according to my situation with my Panasonic G1, it seems that I can use this lens on almost all of the shooting selection modes EXCEPT the "iAuto" (Intelligent Auto Mode or Full Automatic Mode) and also the "Custom Mode" as shown in the following pictures;

If you try to use this lens on the above mentioned "modes" this will appear on your screen;

I decided to choose the Aperture Priority Mode (A) or the full Manual Mode (M). Setting the camera to shoot in Aperture Priority will allow the camera to adjust your shutter speed according to the amount of light hitting the sensor.

I personally recommended that you stick with either the A or M though you can also try the P mode.

And as an additional notes, at the time of this review I only use the Aperture Priority Mode (A) all the time and that I haven't had the chance to try this lens using all the other customized or semi-auto modes or those built in shooting modes"

You can also adjust your exposure compensation (+ or -) to fine tune your desired exposure as the metering can be challenging.

So now before we view the sample pictures taken using this lens using Panasonic G1, I would like to highlight 1 thing about the lens "extras";

This is the lens;

And that part there is the "Macro Adapter";

The "Macro Adapter" is basically for those Macro and Close Up photography purpose. So if you want to do the Portrait, Scenery and Landscape photography, you need to remove the "Macro Adapter" accordingly or otherwise the lens can't focus into that far or long distance, something like that....

All the pictures below are in 12MP resolution, they have been "Auto Toned" using Adobe Lightroom 1.4 accordingly. Click the pictures to see them in full resolution;

And my first test subject is the toy... or action figures... in the photo below I wanted to see the "bokeh" in Macro or Close Up situation (with the Macro Adapter attached)

In the above picture, I use wide open Aperture setting (F/1.4) and I'm quite impress with it.

And in the picture below, I close the lens Aperture a little bit, somewhere in F/6.0;

Again shooting at small Aperture;

And now in wide open, big Aperture;

Now as you can see from the above, vignetting is an issue. With such small size of the lens, vignetting seems to be unavoidable and thus we should in fact do lots of cropping to get the desired result.

For some people, depending on their personal taste or respective project, they may or may not mind about the vignetting at all but for many I guess, they wont like it. At the end, it's all about personal taste and the desired results you are aiming for.

I don't bother to do any further editing and cropping on all the pictures in this review so that at least you can see them and later that will help you to make your decision accordingly. Basically that's how they look like out of the camera - with visible vignetting....

And 1 more thing about this lens that I consider as fun is that when you play around adjusting the Aperture Ring, you can actually see the lens open and close it's Aperture, something like this;

OK, now I removed the "Macro Adapter" and try to do some scenery and portrait stuff;

Scenery or landscape shooting usually required small Aperture, despite all the difficulties, I'm happy that I can get a decent result (at least in accordance to my own level) on the picture below;

Since it's night time, I'm quite lazy to do lot's of scenery and landscape shooting because I am spoiled with the modern "Auto Focus" technology and thus I find this "full time Manual Focus" especially in the dark can be very tricky and time consuming - or maybe I'm just lazy or an inexperience photographer.

So I then moving on to the "people photography" - the portrait;

Again, night outdoor portrait situation is not my forte...

So, I then moving on to the indoor portrait situation, with good or decent lights, I think it's much more easier ^__^

That's it for now, I will upload more picture sample as soon as I have it.

Overall, I think this lens is a great value for money as long as you know how to make the best use of it, simple as that.

Apart from my poor photography skills, I personally feel that this lens is quite sharp especially in the center area though eventually vignetting can be an issue but we can easily fix this with cropping. I'm not really an expert who can explain every single advantage and flow of this lens so apart from that, not much more I can say.

In a way, I jokingly told my friend that this is a "poor man" Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm F/1.4 ASPH lens. That is a specific Micro 4/3 prime lens which at the moment cost around roughly between SGD 900 to SGD 1,200 or something like that. In fact most Micro 4/3 lens are generally quite pricey with the Panasonic lens usually cost above SGD 600 (or more) while those from Olympus start at above SGD 400 but hopefully as time goes by the price may go down a little bit (hopefully - fingers crossed)....

Well, the truth is this lens does not in any way comparable to that superior lens mentioned above but then again, if you are on a tight budget and wanted to have F/1.4 at 25mm, then this toy lens can be an alternative for you to try and for fun sake since the price is quite cheap.

The "25mm" focal length of this lens used on Micro 4/3 bodies is equivalent to 50mm in "35mm Full Frame" format so I think portrait photography is quite fun with it while scenery and landscape is not impossible but it can be tricky.

I am spoiled with the modern "Auto Focus" technology and I personally feel that it's kind or cumbersome to use "Manual Focus" all the time especially in low light situation with this lens but then again I have no choice and have to live with it if I were to use this lens. Actually, that's how those great photographers use their camera several decades ago.

I will not recommend this to someone who are new in photography and camera world or someone who just joined the Micro 4/3 world but yet only enjoy to use the"iAuto mode" (full automatic mode) on their camera. There is nothing wrong with using the "iAuto mode" all the time, it's your money, your camera, use it the way you want it as long as you have fun with it.

For sure, this lens is not for beginners who only want "everything automatic".

About considering this as dedicated prime lens for your Micro 4/3 camera, I'm not sure about it either as after all, this is just a "toy lens" but if you personally feel comfortable with such idea and if it's suites your photography needs, then it's up to you to make that decision.

I personally feel this lens is fun to use but it has it's flow, then again, the price is friendly so I am all but happy with it. We can't expect a "Mercedes Benz" at the price of "Toyota Echo" right?

If you fully appreciate the concept of Micro 4/3 camera bodies using what ever lens available out there (including those old, classic, legacy lens) with suitable adapters and if you have decent knowledge and skills in photography and would like to try this kind of thing, then all you need to do is search the following items in E-Bay:

1) C-Mount lens
2) M42 Lens

and then you need to search for the suitable adapters, something like this;

1) C-Mount to Micro 4/3 adapter
2) M42 lens to Micro 4/3 adapter

and eventually, if you want to try the existing Canon EOS EF Lens or those modern Nikon lens, or if you happen to still have those classic film era SLR lens from Canon and Nikon, you can actually find the relevant adapter to use them with any of the Micro 4/3 camera as below;

- Panasonic G1/G2/G10/G3/GH1/GH2/GF1/GF2
- Oympus PEN EP1, EP2, EPL1
- and maybe many more to come in the near future

In fact there are some people out there currently using their classic Leica lens on the Micro 4/3 camera, all they need is the Leica M adapter to Micro 4/3 and that's it. See the link below;

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/m-43.shtml

This is in fact the hidden treasure of Micro 4/3 format, the ability to use virtually any lens with suitable adapters and I just love that idea... I'm not sure if the engineers or the designers did think about it when they created this format but I think it is simply fantastic.

end

Food fest in town

2011-07-25T15:23:00.014+08:00

It's been almost 2 weeks now since the wonderful parade and celebration for the king's birthday and the usually during this time of the year, the town will receive lot's of visitors, in fact many of them only bother to come to town during this period of time. Most of the time though, the town is just a small, peaceful and quite little town and of course beautiful....

During this time of the year, all the buildings around the town are decorated with big poster or banners with birthday wishes to His Majesty The King, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah as well as the nation's flag and all those beautiful lights all around the town....

And at the same time there will be many night stalls selling all kind of stuff, from foods (mostly foods though) to some sort of toys, apparels, cloths, fashion accessories, children's toy and what ever...

Balloons - parents with small kids usually try to avoid this ^_^

Cotton candy? Last time somebody told me this is actually from those used cotton buds (you use them to dig your ears), they recycle it, put some sugar and they become cotton candy... turn out that it's not true LOL ^__^

Some cosplayers ? LOL ^__^

The "restaurant zone";

And this is where I don't like it do much... traffic jam... too many people, you have to walk slowly... imagine if you are rushing to toilet... would be dreadful right... but then again that's the way it goes, you need a better vowel control.... LOL

Some interesting stuff here.... this can be helpful if you want to do those Ultraman or Gundam diorama... unfortunately the seller doesn't want to sell it... damn!!!!

Just for display apparently >__<

The fruits sections.... this is the popular "Long Anne" fruit or locally known as "Longan" - original made in China LOL...

And this is the famous "Hairy Tan" fruit....

Because it has so many hairs... so we call em "Hairy Tan" and since the name is "Tan" I suspect they are "Hokkien" fruits LOL ^__^

And more of those foods and BBQ stuff;

My loot of the night... just this cheap SGD 1.00 burger (about USD 0.82), nothing great about it, basically just bread and meet....

And of coz this "fried tang hoon" - something like slim noodles LOL ^__^

And that's about it.... another year, another festival and celebration, people come, family outings, buy their foods, get tired and go home.... and next year, we wait for the same again...

end

Abstract Light Painting V2

2011-07-13T17:29:00.006+08:00

Up until recently, when it comes to "White Balance" setting on my camera, I always use the "Auto White Balance" and I guess many other people out there did the same.

But that all changed after I read some "expert advise" from the Lumix Lifestyle - basically some sort of a club or rather forum for owners of Panasonic Lumix camera.

And recently, I went down town to do some outdoor night scenery shooting and this time around I did play around a lot on that "K" temperature thingy (some White Balance adjustment number) on my Panasonic Lumix G1.

I also managed to do something fun... the "abstract light painting" stuff.....

And all these are some of the result;

And this one happen to be my personal favorite of them all;

I think it's beautiful.... created out of no where without planning what so ever.... this is absolute genius LOL.... oh well, if I don't praise and appreciate my own works, I guess no body else would isn't it....

end

Macro in the park V5

2011-06-28T17:41:00.006+08:00

Continuing the usual Macro in the park photography series..... this time around I finally see this old friend... Mr. Big Fly....

And this time around also I'm quite lucky that this Spidey Wong playing around near me for quite a long time, giving me the chances to shoot plenty of photos of him....

And my luck is only up to that.... other than those 2, I don't see any other insects around... or probably they were hiding much earlier the moment they saw me with my camera LOL....

end

Abstract Light Painting LOL

2011-05-18T15:05:00.008+08:00

Suddenly I feel want to do something fun with my camera at night... out of focus shot and slow shutter speed shot with lot's of movement to create some unknown unique result.

The good thing with "digital" era is that we can shot as much as we want or can without worrying about films and all those photo development stuff.

And sometimes, it's fun to produce a picture or photo that is not so conventional or typically normal.

All these are the results that I get... eventually I give them all what ever nicknames that I like - for fun sake....

Moment from the past;

Heart beat;

Vigilant;

Confusion;

Panther;

Turbulence;

Consistency;

Random;

Longevity;

Hungry;

Rushing;

Hungry Dragon;

Erection (LOL);

Chinese Lion Dance;

Hope;

Anxiety;

Running wild;

Chinese New Year;

Inside my head;

Reaching the finishing line;

Performance indicator;

Harmony;

Vision;

Teamwork;

Nice legs;

Isolation;

Cloud computing;

end

Customized White Balance

2011-05-18T13:36:00.004+08:00

Frankly speaking, being typical novice I always tend to use "Auto White Balance" settings though once in a while I will switched to the other "White Balance" settings like Sunny, Cloudy, Florescent, Incandescent if I remember to do it but most of the time - say 70% of the time I will just leave it to "Auto White Balance".

But recently I joined the Panasonic Lumix Lifestyle Club and I go thru all the tutorials and expert advice as I believe that the process of learning should continue and there is nothing wrong to go thru the basic all over again.

Night photography, be it scenery or outdoor portrait is can be difficult due to the low or minimal light situation. However, that doesn't mean that we should avoid it all together, it's challenging - yes, but if we take the time to learn and understand about the full capabilities of our camera and also by reading advice and tips available freely from the internet, surely we can make something out of it. After all photography is all about experimenting and have fun.

And in this post you can see all these photos, using Manual Mode, small to medium Aperture setting, slow Shutter speed from 5 to 10 seconds, ISO 100 and most of all the "Custom White Balance" - between the 3000K to 5000K - something that I never thought I would use - ever...

How about you? Do your camera also have those customized "White Balance" settings? Did you ever tried using it before?

end

Crocodile Farm Part 2 of 2

2011-05-09T16:51:00.015+08:00

This is the continuation from Part 1, click the link below if you want to read the Part 1;

Crocodile Farm Part 1 of 2

Otherwise, you can proceed to scroll down further as you pleased;

At time like this, long zoom lens can be very useful. I don't have long zoom lens for my Canon 1000D or Panasonic G1, but I do have the old and reliable superzoom digicam, the Panasonic FZ28 with 18x zoom (27-486mm)

The high speed non-stop continuous shooting mode (at reduced image size of 2MP) in Panasonic FZ28 (also available in all Panasonic Lumix digicam models inside the "Scene Mode") is also helpful to capture the following scene;

Apparently there are lots of photos, about 40 to 60 (every movement is captured) for these sequences alone but I just selected a few of them which I think is enough to show the "eating action".....

And that's about it.... it was a hot day, but its well worth it... and for just SGD 1.00 - it's an excellent value for your money for memorable experience....

From what I gathered, not many locals knew about this crocodile farm as well... some of my staff were shocked to knew about it from me.

end

Crocodile Farm Part 1 of 2

2011-05-06T14:54:00.014+08:00

We went to this local crocodile farm recently and snap lot's photos there. I personally feel this farm is quite amazing.

It doesn't have fancy or great amenities but rather its more kind of "original".

The road to go inside is quite bumpy - no tarmac - all soils, mud, rock and stones....

It's about 1KM from the main road...

Nonetheless, some photos from the farm;

Some of their "mini collections":

And along the way as you walked, you will also passed by those chicken hatchery... I didn't bother to take any photos coz the smell is "lovely" - if you know what I mean....

I just walk pass it as fast as I can....

They also have these ostrich there, plenty of them, at least its not so stink in here;

The entrance fee is only a mere SGD 1.00 (about USD 0.81 cents / 65 yen) - that's damn cheap...

Between you and this monster is only those normal chain link fence - feels quite OK, but not so sturdy though ^_^ - just pray that those fences wont fall down...

They have about 200 crocodiles in various size and types within this big pond.... my personal estimation, it is roughly as big as 6 or 7 Olympic size swimming pool - if you could imagine that

And we are kind of lucky, it's around 4pm, it's their "dinner" time....

I did mentioned chicken hatchery earlier - apparently, those chickens who were sick and dying and dead - will become the food of this crocs.... those who are healthy will be slaughtered for commercial purposes.... either way, those chicken are meant to die... LOL

I've been to a small crocodile zoo in Sabah many years ago, but nothing quite like this... that one have the "commercial feeling" on it while this one... feels like you went into some farms in a remote area - with mosquitoes and fly and stink smell here and there.... absolutely "original" - no doubt about it.

1 of these crocodiles body are as big or as wide as 80cm - almost like my big office desk...

Be careful - as these ants might bite you while enjoying the crocs scenery....

More photos in the Part 2 of this articles;

Crocodile Farm Part 2 of 2

end

Horse

2011-04-06T16:53:00.011+08:00

Believe it or not, I just discovered about this place with many friendly horses recently by accident.... poor me, I really don't know much...

Nonetheless, I kind of like it, watching this friendly horse, just standing there outside the fences watching them for a long time, taking some photos - I find it quite relaxing....

All these photos are combination from Canon 1000D (with Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 II), Panasonic G1 (with G Vario 14-45mm F/3.5-5.6) and Panasonic FZ28 for long zoom purpose.

These kids joined us this time around.....

It's been a while since they last going out from Shewsbury Land anyway.

And probably this is the first time they saw and took photo with horses....

We've spent about 1 and a half hour here.... enjoying the scenery... time move fast....

A little close up zoom to see their lovely skin patterns;

Apparently.... I was born on the Chinese year of the horse....

end

DIY Dry Box

2011-04-04T15:00:00.000+08:00

This is basically my current budget DIY dry box where I stores all my camera and lens... not sure of how long I will use this but as it is now, it works fine though I fully understand as well that this does not replaced the dedicated electronic dry box/cabinet.

For those of you who already knew and/or have your own DIY dry box or the electronic dry box/cabinet - don't bother to read further...

For those of you who still do not know and still interested to read this.... based from what I read from other website, blogs and forums, here and there, dry box is very important to avoid fungus appear on your photography stuff - mainly the lens and the camera body perhaps....

This fungus fucker can just appear magically out of no where especially in the weather condition of South East Asia (and perhaps some other Asian region or other continent as well) where humidity level of 70% is normal.

The typical electronic dry box/cabinet with 30 liter capacity will cost about SGD 150 (about roughly USD 120) being the cheapest and you can go all the way to several hundreds of dollars depending on the size and quantity of your camera/lens equipment or what ever stuff that you need to put into that dry box/cabinet.

At the moment, I only have 3 camera, 1 long zoom digicam with fixed lens (Panasonic FZ28) and 2 are DSLR camera (Canon 1000D and Panasonic G1). This is nothing if compared to the more serious or professional photographer who probably have lots of stuff amounting to several thousands of dollars.

Although eventually I will use the Panasonic G1 almost on daily basis, the other 2 camera (Canon 1000D and Panasonic FZ28) will only have their chance once a week - during the weekend.

After reading lots of information form the web, I feel worried about this fungus and humidity and longevity issues and then finally, I decided to worry no more and take action instead - it's now or never.

So at the time being, I decided to choose the "DIY path"

As I mentioned earlier, the cheapest electronic dry box/cabinet will cost around SGD 150 (about roughly USD 120) but this "DIY" solutions will cost slightly lesser and cheaper....

This 50 liter contena or plastic box cost SGD 16.00 (about roughly USD 13.00), should be cheaper if you buy the smaller size.

And then I bought this Hygrometer;

I found this from the car accessories shop, eventually they sell it as 2 in 1 package together with the thermometer for SGD 20.00 (about roughly USD 16.00) but it happen on that day they give me 50% discount - so end up the net price is only SGD 10.00 (USD 8.00)

*****************************

According to Wikipedia;

Hygrometer is an instrument used for measuring the moisture content in the environmental air, or humidity. Humidity is difficult to measure accurately. Most measurement devices usually rely on measurements of some other quantity such as temperature, pressure, mass or a mechanical or electrical change in a substance as moisture is absorbed. From calculations based on physical principles, or especially by calibration with a reference standard, these measured quantities can lead to a measurement of humidity. Modern electronic devices use temperature of condensation, changes in electrical resistance, and changes in electrical capacitance to measure humidity changes.

*****************************

Again, from what I read in some forums, the safe humidity level should between 40% to 55%.

However, there is this 1 website or blog that mentioned about some sort of thumb rule about the best possible level to keep your camera and lens safe and that is by referring to your product "User Guide" or "Manual" and in the "Specification" section, they always mentioned about "Operating Environment" or something like that.

So basically, for storage purpose, you need to halved the "Operating Environment" humidity level.

For example, I did check on Canon 1000D use manual and it says the "Operating Environment = 85% RH", while both the Panasonic G1 and FZ28 says "Operating Environment = 80% RH"

That means, 85% for Canon is 42.5% while 80% for the Panasonic G1 and FZ28 is 40%.

And thus I believe that from what I read in those forums, 40% to 55% are quite relevant and correct. I'm no scientist, I also depend on what I read.

So I guess, 43% RH would be the most perfect though I think anything between 40% to 50% is not bad either.

Last but not least, I bought this "Thirsty Hippo" moisture absorber for cupboards and small spaces. In other words, this is those disposable dehumidifier or something like that.

Other alternative solutions include using silica gel;

Usually when you buy new bags or shoes, you will find this thing inside the box. You can also order this from E-Bay, some Chinese sellers do sell it at reasonable price.

As for me, I prefer the easy solution, Thirsty Hippo, I can buy easily in the local supermarket.

According to product information, usually it will last about 2 months but in fact they also provide some sort of indicator label or marking. So once the things inside goes lower than that "mark", just change it with a new one.

I bought this 1 pack with 6 boxes for SGD 13.00 (about roughly USD 10.00)

So depend on the "humidity percentage level" I see on the Hygrometer, I can/will use up to 2 or even 3 boxes or more - if I really want it.

Oh yeah, for fuck sake, I also put the "non-slip mat" inside so that if I move the plastic box here and there, the thing inside wont move much.

And that's it - my poor man DIY Dry Box....

Now, I'm not sure how long will I use this method, so far it works, but even so, I'm not saying that you should ignore the electronic dry box/cabinet and go for this option instead.

The amount I spent so far;

50 Liter Contena = SGD 16.00
Hygrometer = SGD 10.00
Dehumidifier = SGD 13.00 (for 6 boxes - I just use 2 so far)
Non-Slip mat = Free - I got left over from some other purpose, it's cheap anyway.

At the end, make your decision based on your own needs and cash.... Naturally many will say the best solution is to buy the dedicated electronic dry box/cabinet. It's not logical to spend few thousands for camera and lens and not just a few hundreds to keep it safe - this opinion is very true.

But my other friend also say, even if you spend several hundred dollars for the electronic dry box/cabinet to keep the camera safe but at the same time you are also clumsy in handling your equipment, drop it here and there.... at the end, the thing will broke and damage also.... quite true indeed....

Bottom line is, ff you can afford to buy better thing, why bother with cheap solution, but sometimes not everybody can afford everything.

It's normal that for all human, if they can afford it, everybody just want to pay and get what they want quick and fast and they want it to be perfect.

Sometimes, cheap solution is better than none and you get what you pay - simple as that....

end

Macro in the park V4

2011-04-04T07:00:00.002+08:00

Recently I went to the park again but this time around I only brought the Panasonic FZ28 with me as well as the Raynox DCR-250 Macro Lens.

I really wanted to try the capability of this Panasonic FZ28 in macro photography paired with the Raynox lens.

The first 5 photos above are captured using the telephoto zooming function on the Leica lens of Panasonic FZ28.

The Panasonic FZ28 technology of 2008, seems to be outdated now but the truth is that 10 mega pixels CCD multi aspect ratio sensor used by Panasonic in this camera produced excellent image quality (at compact digicam level) and I would say that it is way much better if compared to the 10 mega pixels BSI CMOS sensor used in Fujifilm HS10.

Eventually, after about 1 hour in the park it seems to be another less fruitful day but on my way out, I detected some "unfriendly" smell from what I believed to be monkey's crap and I can sense many flies around that area and you can tell with their "buzzing" sound...

When I look around..... this is what I found;

Those bastards seems to be enjoying their feast of shit.....

There is an old saying goes; "where there is crap, there will be fly"... simple as that....

In order to capture all these scenes, I have to deal with the unfriendly smell accordingly....

And while I busy trying to capture more photos of those flies, I suddenly saw a spider grabbing one of the flies and captured it accordingly. It happens so fast within that split seconds....

And from there onwards, I focus my attention to the situation.... in my previous article, I did mentioned that every time I went to this very same park, I always believed that someday I will see something new and interesting and I guess this is one of those interesting stuff as it is not everyday (or even every week) I have the chance to witness this;

At first the fly did struggle a bit, trying to move but I guess the spider injected some of his venom onto the fly's body and thus slowly but surely the fly become weaker and "dead meat"

Photography is my hobby, not my profession, but I carry my camera to work and shoot nearly every day. I cannot afford high-end camera equipment, so I make do with what I can afford. Even so, I have lots of fun with my hobby and that is the most important thing.

These photos are no where near professional level but at least at my level, I am happy and proud of it. With my limited skills and equipment, I guess this is the best I could achieve.

Eventually I spent quite a long time watching this spider wondering what will he do next....

I was hoping to see the spider eating the fly but I was out of luck as slowly but surely, the spider run away... I guess heading home to where he will finally having his own feast.....

Since the Panasonic FZ28 can shoot video, I did record some movie.... don't expect anything magnificent, I am not a skilled videographer - in fact video is not really a feature that I bothered so much when choosing a camera, good to have, wont miss it if it's not there.

While that 1 particular fly now become the "food" of the spider.... the rest of his friends don't even bother about him... all they do is to continue enjoying their meal.... the monkey's poo...

I wonder why they never at least try to help the other guy... but I guess being "fly"... no such thing as friendship loyalty or family cares or anything alike...

So if you always complain about your life suck.... try imagine being a fly... you eat shit and even so the spider will still happily eat you and when you being captured, your friend and family don't even bother as they only want to enjoy their meals....

And lastly, when I arrived at home.... right on top of my door, I saw this fucker building up his "castle" somewhere near my door area.

And so before I "terminate" this fucker, I decided to snap some photos for memory;

Yeah, just one of those typical spider you will see at home.... I just call him Stanley Wong...

And right after the photo session... I let the "Ridsect" spray do the job.....

end

Spider V4

2011-04-01T18:00:00.001+08:00

Found this spider in our recent "Macro in the park" outings. As usual I don't know the actual species name and thus I take just call it Samuel Wong.

Looks beautiful but I think they have some venom inside them though I'm not sure if the venom from the smaller one like this can be dangerous to human or not...

end

Macro In the park V3

2011-04-01T17:00:00.000+08:00

Macro in the park is my usual macro/nature/insects photography activities on the weekend if the weather permits.

No matter how many times I went to the same park and sometimes end up capturing the same insects over and over again, I never get bored and I also believe that maybe someday I will see something new and interesting - I don't know what is it but I always believe it firmly and that have been my usual motivation when I went to the park looking out for insect, hoping to find something new....

I guess that's what they call passion...

But for me, I think it's kind of fun and surely more fun than just sitting at home in front of TV.

This time around, first and foremost, is this small creatures.... looks like ants but I'm not really sure their type and species name and I take the liberty calling them as Lily Wong.

By the way, this time around, we use both the superzoom Panasonic FZ28 and the mirror-less compact, Panasonic G1 (with standard kit lens of 14-45mm). Additionally, we also use the Raynox DCR-250 Macro Lens for further magnification.

And the next subject is this butterfly.... the long zoom of Panasonic FZ28 is very useful....

And now the dragon fly.....

And on my way home, I saw this tiny grass hopper (or so I think);

I also spotted a spider but I will upload the photo in a separate article later...

end

Macro at home V3

2011-03-25T10:12:00.006+08:00

Found this guy, don't know the name as usual so I just call it George Wong.

When I hold this George Wong like this, he make a funny sounds - something like that sounds from typical frog....

end

Downsized photos from Panasonic G1

2011-03-21T16:23:00.015+08:00

These are all the samples photo taken with our (newly-old) Panasonic G1. You can read our amateur review for this camera from this link.

All these photos have been downsized to 1024 x 768 pixels for easy uploading purpose.

Waterfall - playing around with Shutter Speed;

Our first favorite location for the photography test is this lovely park, our favorite "playground"

We then continue to the town area;

1 of the "technology" of Panasonic camera that I like (in a way), the so called "EZ" thingy which means "Extended Zoom". Eventually, when you reduce the image size or image resolution output, you will gain extended optical zoom.

For example, the Panasonic G Vario 14-45mm MOIS lens kit (which equivalent to 28-90mm on 35mm format) have 3x optical zoom (45/14 = 3.2)

Note: The first 2 photos below are from our main review page, in full resolution.

Now at 10 Mega Pixels (3:2 Aspect Ratio), this is at Wide Angle - 14mm (equiv. to 28mm);

Now at 10MP (3:2 Aspect Ratio), this is at Full Telephoto - 45mm (equiv. to 90mm);

And now when we reduce the image size to 5MP (3:2 Aspect Ratio), this is now at 14mm (equiv. to 28mm);

And this is at Full Telephoto;

And we can get closer we reduce the image size to 3MP.

As you can see from the above 4 photos, there is some nice benefits from this features at the expense of reduce image resolutions - so if you love to use this, be mindful of the end result.

I personally feel that there are times where 5MP of image resolution is acceptable, sometimes you just want to shoot a simple scenery and perhaps it's OK to lose some fine details but if you only want the best and highest possible resolution, probably you will not like this.

And thus we continue our "shooting-spree" again;

The standard kit lens Macro ability is not great but I'm quite happy with it....

Again, playing around with the Shutter Speed;

We then visit this most popular landmark in the town and possibly in the country, the magnificent "The SOAS Mosque" (The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque);

Completed in 1958 and being used since then....

If you're Bruneian, have you ever pray or at least visit this mosque in your whole life time so far?

a) Yes, once
b) Not even once, but planning to do it someday
c) Yes, many times
d) Yes, once a while, at least once a year.

This landmark on the waterfront side facing the "Kampung Air" (Water Village) marked the 60th birthday or our beloved king, H.M. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.

Well, that's about it....

end

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1

2011-03-21T14:08:00.023+08:00

Panasonic G1, yeah, finally... my "dream gadget" since the first time I read about the review 2 years ago in 2009.

Link of the reviews by professional that I read;

Digital Photography Review
Trusted Reviews
Imaging Resource

Finally now in 2011, we managed to grab this camera at reasonable price - considering the fact that this model is no longer in production now though you can eventually get the latest model Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2 which add touch screen feature and of course video (both of which I don't really bother) at the price of almost SGD 1,300.00 locally here plus they have to order it first and you have to wait for at least about 1 week before the item arrived.

This G1, there is 1 small camera shop in town apparently have the (old) stock, so it's cash and carry and you ready to shot.

So let's continue with this amateur review of our dream gadget, Panasonic G1 - I just love the number.

As I mentioned above, this is just an amateur review and thus I cannot provide many important technical information. If you want a more comprehensive review provided by the expert or the pros, go to the links above.

Out of the box (apart from the camera and the lens kit) you will get all these stuff - plus there are some nice thick "user guide book" in the box;

This is now the camera and the lens attached to it already;

This Panasonic G1 can be considered as some sort of DSLR as you can/need to change the lens for different purpose of photography and more spending is possible though eventually they are an evolution of the traditional DSLR system where they can make the body slimmer/smaller by modifying certain elements of the traditional DSLR. Some call it Micro 4/3 System or Mirror-Less System or what ever it is, for me it's just Panasonic G Series... LOL

The above photos taken from Digital Photography Review explaining the mirror-less camera system thingy, a.k.a Micro 4/3 mirror-less system. Note: I do not claim any rights on this photo. This photo were used for information/reference only. All rights and credits belong to the respective copyright owner.

High resolution (460K pixel) wide angle articulated LCD screen - I love!!!!

And the magnificent EVF (as shown below), it's larger than the one you can find on most normal bridge/superzoom digicam, bright electronic viewfinder with 1.4x magnification, 0.7x FF equivalent.

Panasonic use single-panel LED-illuminated Direct-view LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) technology, and is based on Panasonic's latest professional high-end system video cameras. Certainly one of the most features you will love on this camera as well..... I love!!!!

The above photos taken from Digital Photography Review showing the single-panel LED-illuminated Direct-view LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) thingy. Note: I do not claim any rights on this photo. This photo were used for information/reference only. All rights and credits belong to the respective copyright owner.

The rear control panel, all those buttons....

On this side is the "Auto Focus" control button though 90% of the time I just use "Auto Focus Single (AFS)" and you can also see the diopter control for the EVF and the flash activation button.

The shooting dial menu for you to choose from full Manual or those Semi Auto and full Auto. You can also see that "Film Mode" button, that is basically for you to choose the color/effect like Standard, Vibrant, Dynamic, BW and so on. The "Quick Menu" button can be customized to do what ever menu or function that you need the most. ;

On this side you can see the compartment for "Remote Control" below it you can see the compartment for HDMI and USB output.

This camera use the cheap SDHC Card, which is a very good news as you can get them anywhere easily and it doesn't cost an arm or leg if you need to buy another one as a spare.

This wheel is for adjusting Aperture and Shutter Speed when shooting in full Manual Mode or in one of those P, A and S Modes. I love!!!!

Made in Japan, maybe that's why this camera is a bit pricey...

That's the battery compartment there;

And this is the battery... I shoot about 500 plus photos using the EVF and/or the LCD alternately depending on the situation with less photo reviewing and finally the battery dry - that is superbly impressive. I love!!!

Currently I only have 2 battery, 1 comes with the camera and the other 1 is a spare, however I will buy another 3 units as extra spare for future use.

The kit lens, Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-45mm F/3.5-5.6 with 52mm filter threads;

Usually Panasonic "high end" camera comes with lens developed/produced by Leica but I guess over the years they have learned many things from Leica (and possibly also Olympus, their close ally in developing the Micro 4/3 standard) and thus they managed to developed/produced their own lens using their own brand name and nothing else....

This is the lens at "standard" position;

And this is now the lens at full stretch;

Panasonic very own Mega Optical Image Stabilization (Mega O.I.S) system to combat vibration and shake. According to my very own personal experience after been using 4 Panasonic cameras (LZ7, FZ28, LX3 and finally this G1), their "M.O.I.S" technology is indeed quite effective and can be considered as one of the best in the market.

Just for the sake of protecting the front lens glass surface, I use this cheap Kenko 52mm UV Filter.

In addition, I can always use all the 52mm filters that I use for my Panasonic LX3.

Size comparison with our other camera, the DSLR Canon EOS 1000D (Rebel XS);

Our 3 favorite cameras in Shewsbury Land - Panasonic LX3 (10MP), the new comer Panasonic G1 (12MP) and the reliable DSLR for beginners - Canon 1000D (Rebel XS);

OK, finally some photos from this wonderful Panasonic G1 (click the photo for larger view);

The zoom capability of the basic 14-45mm lens kit of this camera (3x optical zoom at full resolution);

At wide angle 14mm (equiv. 28mm)

At full telephoto end 45mm (equiv. 90mm)

This 3X zoom is not great if compared to some bridge/superzoom digicam like Canon SX30 (35x optical zoom) or Fujifilm HS10 and HS20 (30x optical zoom) or Panasonic very own FZ28 and FZ38 (18x zoom) or FZ100 (24x zoom) and not to forget the Panasonic G Vario 45-200mm zoom lens and some other DSLR long zoom lens, however this zoom range is basically enough for "standard and simple" photography purpose. The thumb rule is, if you want more, spend more, simple as that...

Macro and "bokeh" is not bad at all - not great, but I'm happy with it;

Another samples of outdoor scenery photo;

And lastly, quite important, the low light ability of Panasonic G1;

This photo is captured using ISO 1600 in quite a low light situation and I'm very happy with the result.

And again another test, this time I put the Nendoroid Tsukasa underneath my office table;

And now this is the result, this photo is captured using ISO 2500, it may not be able to match other mid-range or high end DSLR camera from Canon/Nikon etc., but for me personally, as an amateur, I think this is good enough - ISO 2500 is something I don't even think about while using Panasonic LX3.

If you interested you can see more photos from the link below, however, all of them were downsized to 1074 x 768 pixels for easy uploading purpose;

Photos from Panasonic G1

I'm not a professional or skilled photographer, I'm happy to just call my self as amateur who love camera and the development of the digital camera world.

Overall, this Panasonic G1 is indeed a very wonderful camera and is set to replaced our Panasonic LX3 as our new main camera and this means the Canon 1000D + Canon EF-50mm F/1.8 Mk. II lens will rest further and will be mainly used for portrait photography.

The "Micro 4/3" image sensor size is about the same to that "4/3" image sensor size used in previous DSLR camera models from Olympus and Panasonic.

As you can see from the picture below, the "Micro 4/3" sensor size is much bigger than the already big (for a compact digicam level) 1.1/6" CCD sensor size used on Panasonic LX3 and eventually Panasonic LX5. I would say that the "Micro 4/3" image sensor size is about 3 or 4 times bigger than those in Panasonic LX3 and Panasonic LX5.

But even so, the "Canon APS-C" image sensor size is still bigger than the "Micro 4/3" image sensor size. This means "in general terms" the traditional DSLR like our Canon 1000D is much better when it comes to low light performance but this also related to the relevant lens factor as well as other technical factor.

So obviously this Panasonic G1 (or rather the G series) is the logical upgrade from a Panasonic LX3/LX5 user point of view though then again, if your pocket permits, you can always aim higher - those high end DSLR models from the big 2 (Canon and Nikon) or even from several other camera maker.

Note: The above image is taken from Wikipedia for information/reference purpose only. All rights and credits belong to the respective copyright owner.

Having said that, I am now still waiting for the following lens (Canon EF-28mm F/2.8) to be used as simple walk around lens with my Canon 1000D but I've been waiting for almost a month now and the local shop where I made my order told me to wait a little while as their supplier is probably running out of stock. I don't mind though as they offered me a decent price and anyway since the Panasonic G1 is available now, I guess I don't mind to wait longer.

And I also considering now either to grab the following Sigma 18-200mm DC OS lens (the local price here is SGD 595.00) or just grab a bridge/superzoom digicam which is also around almost the same range, just slightly higher maybe..... sigh

end

Macro at home V2

2011-03-11T17:01:00.004+08:00

Found this brown beetle or what ever it is at home recently. I don't know the actual species name and thus I nick named it as Brandon Wong.

The photos were captured using Panasonic LX3 with Raynox MSN-202 Macro Lens.

end

Macro at home

2011-03-02T17:13:00.004+08:00

Found this little green guy while washing some vegetables when I was about to cook it and my immediate reaction is to grab my Panasonic LX3 and my Raynox MSN-202 Macro Lens.

I don't know the name so I just call it Dorothy Wong...

They said if you lucky and found this pest on your vege, that means the vege have less pest control poison and should be good....

According to the legend of Shewsbury Land, if you see this Dorothy Wong that means you will meet someone new and important in your life...

Honestly, this is really my first time to see this Dorothy Wong...

After doing the photo shooting, I spent some time observing the behavior of this Dorothy Wong...

There are plenty of small insects (and even pest) that we rarely see and observe carefully and this is one of the reason why I love Macro photography though eventually I am still at amateur level yet. Every time I saw something new, I feel so excited about it....

And when I observe those small insects, for a while it makes me thinking and be grateful that it is so good to be human coz no matter how troublesome life can be, as long as we know how to handle it and have fun along the way - life can be rewarding.

Many depressed or disappointed people always said how nice if they just die and everything will be over and OK but truth is dying is not fun at all. We might feel one of the most painful feeling we never experienced before and next thing you know you are six feet down under or toasted in that cremation house burning machine....

Life is so rewarding and thus we must live every moment the best we can.... time fly so fast, next thing we know, we get old and slowly get weaker and sex will be less frequent or none....

I love life - if possible I want to be live for another 398 years as a rich man who can buy anything and have sex many times here and there LOL.....

One good thing being human is you can have hobby and having fun with your hobby while being insects - I'm not sure if they have any hobby other than sex and occasional group orgies sex...

The worst part is that their life are heavily influence by the "food chain cycle" and in any given Sunday they can just fucked up and gone....

Did you ever encounter such situation - found some pest on your food - in either cooked or raw situation?

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Shutter Speed V3

2011-02-22T15:15:00.004+08:00

Another boring night, so I play around with the Shutter Speed on the Fujifilm HS10 for fun sake. The above photo with F/11 - 20 seconds.

This one below with F/4.4 - 12 seconds.

These two are F/11 - 30 seconds

This one below with F/4 - 30 seconds.

This last photo looks like there is some sort of explosion down there... that's F/9 and 30 seconds.

I just love to play around with camera....

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Macro in the park V2

2011-02-22T14:27:00.007+08:00

Just another day of Macro photography in the park... with the exception of the above photo, all of the photos below were taken using Canon 1000D + Canon EF-50mm F/1.8 Mark II Lens and Raynox DCR-250 Macro Lens.

The first insect is this fly;

And these, not sure the name, so I just called them Angie Wong;

This one I nicknamed it Tommy Wong;

On the way out, I saw this lizard species, don't know the exact name so I just named it as Lizarus Wong;

And probably the best catch of the day - this gorgeous spider;

Macro photography is quite difficult and can be expensive and time consuming and tiring - but the excitement to find a new species or new type of insects that we never seen before can always make you forget all those difficulties and just keep on shooting in joy - I was amazed and also cautious when taking photos of an unknown species - you'll never knew if they will attack and if they're poisonous or deadly....

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Berakas Forest Recreation Park - The Extra

2011-02-22T13:11:00.008+08:00

These are just some additional photos taken using my Canon 1000D + Canon EF-50mm F/1.8 Mark II lens.

You can see the original article about this beach in here;

http://shewsburycam.blogspot.com/2011/02/berakas-forest-recreation-park.html

The Canon EF-50mm F/1.8 Mark II lens sure have limited view angle but somehow I love to use this lens, in fact it's the sole lens I use with my Canon 1000D for now for certain special use while my Panasonic LX3 will do the "standard/general purpose" photography duty.

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Acrobatic stuff

2011-02-21T17:46:00.001+08:00

A bunch of teenagers showing off their talents and ability doing this fun acrobatic stuff... probably if I were 15 years younger, I can do the same... too bad I'm too old for this now....LOL

I know there are many youngsters out there nowadays who can even do better than this though for me this is already extreme enough... perhaps I'm just an old pervert...

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Berakas Forest Recreation Park

2011-02-21T17:01:00.019+08:00

Went to Taman Rekreasi Hutan Berakas (Berakas Forest Recreation Park) recently just to enjoy the breeze and the scenery around it. Eventually at first I plan to do some Macro photography but as soon as I arrived, changed my mind and decided to just relax instead.

This park is located about 11km from Bandar Seri Begawan (a.k.a BSB - the capital of Brunei) and some 20km from Muara Town (a small town at the North of Brunei, known for the port and ships and ferry stuff).

You can go here by driving which will take about 10-15 minutes from BSB or if you strong enough, you can just walk all the way... LOL

As you drive into the entrance you will see a warning on your right - "No Dogs Allowed" so that means Scooby Doo and Snoopy or anything alike is forbidden to be at this park....

Eventually this is also my first time visiting this park.... so I just drive slowly hoping that I wont get lost...

And finally I arrived at this area... so I guess, this is it....

And from there onwards.... I let my Panasonic LX3 do her job....

So far, I think I like the surroundings and the set up....

My first glimpse of the beach area....

And oh... I happen to see lot's of this acrobatic stuff... these bunch of talented and energetic kids love to showing off their hidden talents and I am more than willing to snap some photos...

Eventually if you like that, you can see more of it in here;

http://shewsburycam.blogspot.com/2011/02/acrobatic-stuff.html

As for me, I don't know what else to do, the breeze certainly makes me lazy and I just looking around, pressing the shutter button of the Panasonic LX3 as I please, walking here and there a bit and watching people all around doing their own stuff....

I don't really know much about scenery, but since I just keep on pressing the shutter of my camera....

I would consider that this beach is quite clean though I think the Tutong Beach is still the best...

This family seems to be having fun building sand castle... I always plan to do it but never actually did it.... sigh...

Looks great....

And I saw some naughty man wrote this on the sand;

And so I decided to write my name as well;

The one and only food/drinks stall in this park... they sell anything from junk food to soft drinks including those coconut juice (with lots of sugar) though there is no condom available what so ever....

It's been a tiring day and I deserve to reward my self with this fantastic Kickapoo Joy Juice...

On the way out, I saw this monkey....

They also have the "jungle/forest" area but I didn't go there this time as I hate those mosquitoes, you can get AIDS from those bastards if you're unlucky - but maybe next time I surely go there to do some Macro photography stuff...

If you like to spend some time with friends and family at the beach doing BBQ or picnic stuff or just hanging around the beach eating junk food or even doing many fun stuff like sand castle or Kamen Rider battle, this beach/forest should be considered. However, if you have children with you, be careful and look after them carefully coz some of the terrains can be dangerous...

That's about it.... I look forward to come here again next time.... certainly a must visit place if you come to Brunei....

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Celebration coming soon

2011-02-21T16:10:00.005+08:00

The National Day is coming soon and for this quiet town, that is when the streets look so lovely at night time...

The 3 photos below, I'm playing around with the slow shutter speed;

OK, these are now the normal night scenery shot;

I'm sure soon there will be many shutterbugs coming to town to capture all those lovely night scenery around the town....

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Macro in the park

2011-02-05T21:57:00.005+08:00

Went to the park again recently after a long hiatus for insects macro photography as the current weather in the winter is not really friendly for outings anyway... lot's of rain lately...

First is the collections of photos from Fujifilm HS10 with Raynox DCR-250 Macro Lens;

One of those spider species, not sure the exact name, but basically it's a spider... quite huge this one...

This one, I'm not sure what is the name, so I just call it Tommy Wong.... LOL

Next are the collections from Panasonic LX3 with Raynox MSN-202 Macro Lens;

Still the same spider.....

And still the same Tommy Wong... LOL...

This another one I don't know the name, so I call it Nancy Wong... LOL.... apparently I only managed to grab 1 shot of her and she fly away immediately after that - that's the challenge in this insects macro photography, not only you need to be lucky, you also need a sharp eyes to spot them and last but not least when the time comes, you need to be super fast or else you'll miss it.

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2011 Rabbit Year Decoration Display

2011-02-05T21:26:00.007+08:00

Went to the biggest local car dealer showroom, something like that "Nadasvaram, Rhythm and Talam Auto Dealer" in Shewsbury Land (LOL) recently to captured these night scenery. Lot's of people there and I have to adjust my shooting angle accordingly....

All the above photos are taken using Fujifilm HS10, downsized to 1074 x 768 for quick uploading reason.

And all the photos below are taken using Panasonic LX3, downsized to 1074 x 768 for quick uploading reason.

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Macro fun in Tutong

2011-02-02T12:43:00.007+08:00

When I went to Tutong beach recently, I did brought all my filters and macro conversion lens together with me - just in case - and at the end it is indeed rewarding as I managed to captured some small insects using Panasonic LX3 and the Raynox MSN-202 Macro Lens.

I seriously don't know that kind of insects is this - for the first time ever I saw it;

At the same tree where I saw the above insect, I also saw this egg, not sure who owns it, probably some lizards or some sort....

And I also saw this some left over of body frame from particular insects....

I also saw this small guy, is it caterpillar? what ever, but 1 thing for sure, it's never easy to snap a good photo of it especially when this guy is moving around, this seems to be the only good shot that I had on him....

The biggest bonus of the day is this ants with green color on it..... first time ever I saw it as well...

The photos are taken using Panasonic LX3 and either the Raynox MSN-202 Macro Lens or the several Close Up Lens Filters stacked together to get "+11" close up power.

Is not easy to hold on to this ants, he keeps on moving...

At the end I use this chocolate cake and thankfully he like it and stays there for a while enjoying his meal....

And for the first time ever, I try recording video using the LX3 and this is the result - you can basically see him eating;

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