Author Archives: 2konbla

int geek = rnd * 23

Now for something totally random – pictures lying on my Windows desktop, for some reason, used for various explanations.

In Sony’s instruction manuals for the Alpha lenses, they sometimes say “in cameras without an AF/MF button”. This often causes panic for those who think that means there will be an Alpha body without the ability to switch between AF and MF on body, thus implying a screw-drive-less body like the Nikon D40/D40x/D60/D3000/D5000.

Sony is very careful with what they call their switches – and so, here’s how you tell.

Left to right: AF-S/AF-A/AF-C/MF dial on A700/A850/A900 (taken from Pete Ganzel’s site); AF/MF button on A700/A850/A900; AF/MF switch on every other Alpha body.

Somebody asked me if High Speed Sync lowers the flash power at faster shutter speeds such that it cannot be used for wireless photography. Of course it could (given a brighter aperture and higher ISO.) So here’s the A900 at 75mm F4.5 1/8000s ISO1600! One light from behind, one light from in front, in typical Rembrandt lighting, with the mandatory triangular highlight below the eye and triangular shadow cast by the nose.

The Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan is still one of my favorite lenses when it comes to bokeh, due to its painterly look.

Ein, after he bought his Sony HVL-F58AM flash – shot with the A900 and Minolta 50mm F1.4 at F1.4. Should’ve been wary of subject or body motion after locking focus…

Here’s how I demonstrated how to trigger the Sony flashes wirelessly when blocked by the subject. The flash is put sideways, so the sensor faces the wall. The pop-up flash (or F20 or F58 on the A850/A900) is wide enough to hit the wall and bounce off into the sensor.

A random Petronas Twin Towers shot.

My first roll through this ol’ Cosina CT1EX K-mount manual-focus, mechanical shutter film SLR was a blank. I hadn’t experienced this since the 2nd and 3rd rolls from my Olympus OM-2000! Looks like I hadn’t touched manual-loading film SLRs in a while (being babied by my Minolta Dynax 7, where most rolls go.)

This is where the Cosina CT1EX came from – a big box of spare parts!

An old cube versus the ad.

An unfortunate incident happened to a friend of mine – he put his HVL-F20AM on his camera and put it in the bag. According to the instruction manual (or rather, a yellow paper) it warns not to do so… which indemnifies them from fixing it for free. Unfortunately.

So boys and girls, read your instruction manuals!

The F20 flash, while of rather low power at Guide Number 20 meters ISO100 at 50mm, can be useful in tight situations where you don’t want to lug a huge flash. I brought just my Minolta 24-105mm F3.5-4.5(D), F20 and Sony LCS-WR1AM camera wrapping cloth for this, because camera bags are just bulky in the club. Of course, you help the flash out by using a high ISO, slow shutter speed and shooting wide open. Here it was 24mm F3.5 1/8s ISO3200.

And here, 24mm F4 1/5s ISO3200. I don’t think I took this picture though as slanted pictures are not my style.

Me, in the hood. Shot by Waifon.

A lot of lenses during a buka puasa TT sometime 2008.

Does a door peephole make a budget fisheye lens replacement?

Er… no. For one, whatever lens it is needs to be able to focus very close onto the peephole lens in order for it to work.

A simple two-flash setup, left and right.

24mm F4 1/5s ISO100, shot at 7:17pm, where the sky and building light match in intensity. Also known as Magic Hour.

I would suggest waiting for the flowers to show two or more different colors – more colors look better.

A random shot from Sunburst 2009 from the Zeiss 135mm F1.8.

A random shot from a buka puasa TT session sometime 2009.

How the correct WB can help with the perception of distinct, different colors – on top is the often favored warmish tint in tungsten light, while below is the corrected, neutral white balance. Neutral WB helps bring out distinct colors e.g. yellow and white, or blue and green, or orange and red. It also helps bring out the green vein on my hand.

smashpOp‘s bokeh jump!

Also from the Zeiss 135mm F1.8 – this kid ain’t jumping.

Ultra-Wide Comparison

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Here’s a quick, rough comparison of 3 APS-C ultra-wide angles for the Sony Alpha mount! All shots handheld using the A900 in full-frame mode, then cropped to APS-C region and midtones of Levels adjusted from 1.0 to 1.5. Pardon the exposure variance.

Photoshop’s Polygonal Lasso Tool was used to plot the corners of each straight line; a screenshot of that was then taken to capture the dotted outlines.

Left to right: Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 DiII, Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC, Konica Minolta 11-18mm F4.5-5.6 DT.

The following six pictures can be clicked on for a larger view:

A) Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC at 10mm F4.

B) Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC at 20mm F5.6.

C) Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 DiII at 10mm F3.5.

D) Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 DiII at 24mm F4.5.

E) Konica Minolta 11-18mm F4.5-5.6 DT at 11mm F4.5.

F) Konica Minolta 11-18mm F4.5-5.6 DT at 18mm F5.6.

The Tamron gives full-frame coverage at 24mm. It also does so from 15mm onwards. (This is the same shot as D) above.)

The Konica Minolta gives full-frame coverage at 18mm. It also does so from 15mm onwards. (This is the same shot as F) above.)

The A850 and A900 switch to APS-C mode automatically when a Konica Minolta DT or Sony DT lens is attached. However we can override this by pressing the lens release button and turning the lens slightly to disconnect the pins. Further turning will close down the aperture blades.

The Tamron at 24mm F4.5 at its Minimum Focus Distance of 24cm gives the shallowest depth of field on full-frame. Bokeh is not all that clean, though.

Verdict

Honestly, I can’t tell if there is complex distortion, but all of these lenses have barrel distortion at the widest focal length (where the wall connects to the ceiling.)

As expected, none of the lenses distort lines coming from the center outwards (the table is straight.) Heck, my Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye doesn’t do so, either!

I do find the Tamron sufficiently sharp at the focus point, even wide open. However you might be fussier than I am – in which I’d recommend you stop down to F8-F16 as what people who shoot landscapes and interiors do.

24mm on the Tamron, is a lot longer than 20mm and 18mm on the Sigma and Konica Minolta respectively. It is very obvious (between D) and F) for example). Personally, I like my ultra-wides to reach 24mm on APS-C or 35mm on full-frame at least, so the Tamron can look at least somewhat normal and not ultra-wide if I needed to get a less-distorted shot. Full-frame ultrawides usually reach 35mm, anyway!

My personal choice would be the Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 DiII, if I had an APS-C camera.

Bonus comparison! Left: Sony Alpha 850 with Minolta crossed-XX 50mm F1.7 lens; right: Sony Alpha 900 with Minolta 50mm F1.4 lens. Notice that the surface is different; the A850 has a matte finish which looks more gray while the A900 has a speckled black finish.

Some Burst Of Pictures, Part 4!

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Here’s some more from Sunburst KL 2009, 21st March 2009! Guess which band this is…

He’s just sessioning.

And a string section, who could it be?

Famous producer Greg Henderson. Which hard-rocking Malaysian band could this be?

She got on stage, representing her other half, a guitarist that could not be there…

The bassist however is the familiar Kadak!

And the vocalist Emmett.

Who else, but Malaysian rock legends Butterfingers!

If they started in school, I would gander that they’ve been doing this for half their lives.

Later, there was Twilight Action Girl. Is she Twilight Action Girl?

I heard that Twilight Action Girl was made of more than one person. Is it this group of girls?

“No man we’re a bunch of dudes!” This is DJ Bunga a.k.a. Lim Kok Kean.

This is hairstylist DJ Xu a.k.a. Su.

This is DJ ChaseyLain a.k.a. Kelvin Oon.

This is DJ Ribut 10:59 a.k.a. Daryl Goh.

Together, they play the randomest mix of indie, dance, soul and electro. I used to go frequently when they played at The Loft, Zouk KL (before the renovations.) It is always refreshing to have Twilight Action Girl play in a open space. I have to admit I am a bit claustrophobic with a packed dance floor full of indie kids due to a past incident…

After this, 2 international headliner acts!

More here:
Some Burst Of Pictures, Part 3!
Some Burst Of Pictures, Part 2!
Some Burst Of Pictures!

Can Ye?

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Dang, they beat me to it!

http://kanyegate.tumblr.com/

(Not that I would make the site, but I have always wanted to use the line in real-life conversation somewhere! I knew this would make it big this way!)

Then there’s also this:

http://kanyelicio.us/http://www.glaringnotebook.com/

Getting Dirty With The Thirty

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F22: What is that I see, right in front of me?

F2.8: Speaker grilles!

F14: Stereo mike.

F2.8: More speaker grilles!

What else, but the new Sony 30mm F2.8 DT Macro SAM lens! It features SAM (Smooth Autofocus Motor) and an AF/MF switch, and can focus to 129mm from subject to sensor plane (or 20mm from the front of the lens). Interestingly, they mark the inches with “in” where there is space.

It can capture an image at 1:1 magnification – that is, the surface area captured is equal to the sensor size (23.5mm X 15.6mm on the A700 for example).

From the underside at F2.8; notice the longitudinal chromatic aberration (the reddish outline in front of the focus point, and the greenish outline behind the focus point.)

A slight rant – people tend to confuse longitudinal chromatic aberration with lateral/transverse chromatic aberration (which appears towards the sides and corners of wide-angle lenses) and purple fringing (which appears at the point of focus, especially with white on black detail.)

More reading on the various types of chromatic aberration, here.

F2.8 (100% crop from the Sony Alpha 900.) This lens has longitudinal chromatic aberration (or LoCA in short.) LoCA is common in Sony, Minolta and Zeiss lenses, and it adds to the color of the out-of-focus areas, giving Minolta lenses their definite look. My old Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm F2.4 had a tendency to bring out ultramarine-blue purple fringing, though (which is a bad thing, but can be reduced by choosing a darker aperture.)

F2.8: 30mm on APS-C gives the same angle of view as a 45mm lens on a full-frame camera. This is often considered ‘normal’ – neither wide nor tele. Depending on how you compose, you can make it seem wider or more telephoto.

F2.8: Real shallow.

F22: The obligatory shot. You know what this is.

Previously my experience with SAM lenses is that you might’ve been able to turn the focus ring when the body is set to MF, or focus is achieved and the focus screw disengages (body DMF – Direct Manual Focus). However, the instruction manual tells you not to! No wonder it does feel a bit rough.

No matter what, you need to set the AF/MF switch on the lens to MF, in order to turn the focus ring. You can still use AF/MF or DMF on the body to stop focusing – just don’t turn the ring.

These warnings are written in the instruction manual for a reason. The manufacturer will not fix your lens for free under warranty if you have damaged it this way, because they have already warned you! Same reason why McDonalds Apple Pie boxes state: Caution: Contents May Be Hot. So if you burn your tongue, you can’t sue McDonalds because they have already warned you.

F2.8: At F2.8, it is sharp, but not too sharp (like the Tamron 60mm F2.0 Macro DiII, also an APS-C 1:1 macro lens). This makes the lens good for walkaround purposes, where the kit lens would usually stop you from getting too close (exception being the Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 EX DC and Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC, with exceptional minimum focusing distances of 20cm).

It reminds me of my wonderful time with the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm F2.4 M42 lens – it could focus to 19cm close! So instead of zooming in (not possible on this prime lens) I would just get closer to the subject until I filled the frame with my subject. Great fun for walking in the park or the woods.

Shallow, narrow-minded camera-owning people will tell you that macro lenses must have long focal lengths. Obviously, their idea of macro is only insects (which are often, painfully boring because they tend to throw composition out of the window and go into “oh you guys are all about gear… hey look here’s the same insect at 5 different magnifications all higher than 1:1. Oh yes, all 5 pictures are the same thing, same angle.“)

These macro nuts look at cropping as an evil sin, but they do not hesitate to take a few pictures at different focus points and merge them together (focus stitching.)

Last I knew, shooting macro means shooting anything small. A macro lens can be used for close-ups. You can shoot flowers. Grass. Miniature figurines. Patterns and details you never knew existed.

If you shoot the same thing with a long lens, you will get a different perspective, and shallower depth of field, which does not help with macro – you often need to step down to F16-F32 to get something tiny in focus! You also need a lot of light from your flash. A shorter focal length is easier.

With a wide macro, you can get a shot like this:

17mm F8. You can get a flower and a building in the same shot!

Some Burst Of Pictures, Part 3!

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Here’s some more from Sunburst KL 2009, 21st March 2009! 21st Night.

Juwita Suwito, local songstress.

Projek Pistol. I like their flavor of metal!

Indie favorite Hujan.

Dead Mushroom returns! I remember their classic Read My Mind.

Meet Uncle Hussain, a more recent band, with a most powerful vocalist.

Estrella with everyone’s favorite Liyana Fizi! (Edit: Ooo it’s her birthday today!)

Someday when I bump into her again I shall remember to ask what happened to the original rendition of Take It Slow.

From Singapore came Sixx!

They had a supercute jumpy vocalist and funky rock anthems!

Add a rapper for good measure.

Gerhana Ska Cinta‘s gotta have horns to play ska!

Nao, hard-hitting Chinese-scene rockers.

The Tugu Drum Circle spans the whole picture!

Anybody can join the Tugu Drum Circle – all you need is a percussive instrument. Shot with the Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye with 2x teleconverter on the A900, to form a diagonal fisheye.

I particularly like the coke-bottle-top shaker.

Cosmic Kitchen is out of this world.

Mmm yes fretless bass.

Some shots used the Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8 with 2x teleconverter. I used F6.3 for this shot, to compensate for the quality loss caused by the teleconverter.

Trendkill. The picture is self-explanatory, what more if you are a Pantera (RIP Dimebag) fan!

Okay, so Dimebag didn’t use ESP Limiteds…

Estranged rocks the set again!

Nidji comes down from Indonesia again!

Behind every good MC is a good DJ.

And this good MC is none other than Joe Flizzow!

Agrikulture, with jumpy disco rock.

He takes the threat of rain under a covered stage, very seriously.

Shirley Klarisse Yonavive Edwards (or S.K.Y.E. in short.) (Thanks Waifon for the update!)

There will be more! This set is just the cleaner stuff for the season.

More here:
Some Burst Of Pictures, Part 2!
Some Burst Of Pictures!

Now In Color

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1st April 2009 – what better way to spend April Fool’s Day than at No Black Tie with comedian Andrew Netto?

But first, a stairway shot.

A Justin Wong shot.

A Greg Ramanado from above shot. He was in the mood for some Jamiroquai – Love Foolosophy (which explains the beanie, which appears in their Abbey Road live video.)

A bokeh-ful drummer shot.

For once, I like this angle of the piano.

Gotta have bass to cover Jamiroquai!

Back to the crowd.

And on to the show – arguably Malaysia’s youngest stand-up comedian!

One of his famous dance acts.

Fast-forward to 8th July 2009. Mr. Netto looks starkingly like a Thriller-esque Michael Jackson here!

Shot at 135mm F1.8 1/5s ISO6400.

And of course, opening act The Ramanados must cover Michael Jackson as a tribute…

…with excellent covers of Billie Jean and The Way You Make Me Feel.

There was also a Def Leppard – Walk Away cover. All within the myriad styles that the Ramanados play.

Though, I must say I didn’t appreciate that 3 of the 4 lights in No Black Tie had suddenly gotten a blue gel overlaid.

Bola Cat

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It was a hot sunny 18th of April 2009 down at the Xtion Paintball Park in Bukit Jalil.

The occasion? The Taylor’s College Masscolympics.

This would be the first time I’d shoot paintball – I brought my Tamron 200-400mm F5.6 out of the drybox for this one.

Glory be to bright, bright sunlight!

I shot through the fence instead of inside, so there is occasionally that veil of out-of-focus netting.

Fearless.

Start (again!) I’m not sure what they were playing, but having a lot of teams they had to quickly sift through and eliminate teams.

This is not a trip.

Was I safe from the paintballs? Apparently, that’s what the netting is for.

Fallen paintballs.

The Advertlets team – Josh Lim is in khakis, while Eugene Ooi is in red pants.

Running pants.

MissyCheerio the thirsty, and the long-time-no-see Simon on the far right.

If paintball is not your idea of fun, I’m sure you can improvise with flour and water balloons.

Yeah, water balloons!

Or, if you’re a blogger, camwhoring is fun.

Date With Kurma

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I don’t know what good deeds I have done of late but I’ve had good karma recently.

I was at Midvalley, craving a bite, and I walked in the direction of Krispy Kreme. I was thinking of just buying one glazed donut, but sometimes when you queue they give free glazed donuts so I might end up with 2 glazed donuts (which is overkill for me, and ironic because I just want one glazed donut.)

So as I approached, I saw people slowing down in front of Krispy Kreme. They were giving out free glazed donuts! I slowed down, put on a glazed-eye look, and pretended like I didn’t see the free donut giveaway until 5 steps away (and that I did not just command them to give free donuts by the awesome power of my mind) and I took that free glazed donut.

It was not too warm, which was a pity, but still, very nice. I know when you give out free stuff you just want to finish giving out free stuff as soon as possible. The dude probably couldn’t wait to go back in and sit and chat with colleagues.

This is not the first time this month I have had a random occurence of free food – last Saturday I was at Midvalley when I bumped into a colleague, who led me to a free buka puasa at San Francisco Steakhouse!

And now, for a random musical link:

Tragedy! Bee Gees turns metal. Kick ass!