Category Archives: Pictures

Streety TT

28th February 2010 a bunch of us were down at Signatures Food Court at KLCC for some geeking out!

Left to right: Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye (M42 mount), Samyang 8mm F3.5 diagonal fisheye (A-mount, APS-C only), Minolta 16mm F2.8 diagonal fisheye.

Here’s my Opteka 85mm F1.4 on the left (which is really a rebadged Samyang) and the Samyang 8mm F3.5 diagonal fisheye with the lens hood.

Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye on the Sony Alpha 900. Click picture for bigger version!

Samyang 8mm F3.5 diagonal fisheye on the Sony Alpha 900. The lens hood forms the APS-C coverage rectangle. Click picture for bigger version!

And then, we went for Szetoo‘s Introduction To Travel And Street Photography Talk!

I have to say her pictures looked even better projected for some reason. Inspired, we set out to go outdoors to street shoot (but that will be in another post.)

Iqbal through the Minolta 50mm F1.4.

farex (sorry didn’t get your real name).

It rained heavily so we resigned to another Teh Tarik session. Click picture for bigger version!

Left to right: A300/A350? with imitation A300 battery grip; A300/A350? with Sony VG-B30AM battery grip; A550 with imitation A550 battery grip; A700 with Sony VG-C70AM battery grip; A900 with imitation A900 battery grip.

And of course, the shot you guys have been waiting for! Click picture for bigger version!

Sony unveils new Alpha concept models at PMA 2010!

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Here’s a brightened version of the stock shot. Click on image for a bigger view! (Credit #3)

The big silver lens is the Sony 500mm F4G SSM. Previously it was rumored to be a 500mm F4.5G SSM. Thanks for the upgrade! (Credit #1)

The smaller lens is the Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM. (Credit #4)

Edited: It has a 72mm filter thread, which makes it not very small. One possible benefit of the lens being F2.0 instead of F1.4 is that it could be smaller, lighter and optically better. So far it doesn’t seem that much smaller than the Nikkor 24mm F1.4 AF-S or Canon 24mm F1.4L II USM!

And yes, I would’ve preferred it to be a F1.4.

Edited: The bigger body is the supposed Sony Alpha 700 replacement. The AF/MF button is still there, as well as the metering mode dial and the AEL button. The joystick is still there, too. (Credit http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/)

We see that the Menu and Disp buttons have moved up to the top-left corner while the Play and Delete buttons have moved to the bottom-right like the Alpha 550.

The smaller body appears to have a monoaural mike, while there is no visible mike on the A700 replacement.

The A700 replacement mock/concept is missing:
– PC Sync port
– USB port
– HDMI port
– ISO button
– WB button
– Grip Sensor (after the EU nickel fiasco, the A700 is the only Alpha with one.)
– C button (but keeping the Fn button)
– Edited: DC power in
– Steadyshot switch
– remote shutter cable socket

The A700 replacement mock/concept adds:
– top LCD (honestly, I don’t use this, and see this as a waste of space – ISO/WB would be better.)
– supposedly, 1080p HD recording.

The A700 replacement does not have a tilt screen while the smaller Alpha does. It would be great to have, for video and overhead Live View shooting!

The C button being missing is interesting – does this mean they’ve changed Quick Navi into something else? The A200 is pretty much an A300 without Quick AF Live View, and the A300 is designed to be a Live View camera (hence the lack of Quick Navi). The A550 fixed this somewhat with an overlay mode – probably this is what we will see in these models.

Of course, they probably would tweak the interface more to support video recording better.

Edited: This is the smaller Alpha. It still has a AF/MF switch next to the lens release button – that means it will still support screw-drive lenses, YAY! (Credit #5)

Even more surprising is that it appears to have a DOF Preview button which takes a design cue from the A100.

At the back there is a Movie record button. (Credit #5)

They also announced the concept models for their new compact Alpha range. It comes in three colors. The sensor seems to be 3:2 ratio still and is APS-C with support for AVCHD video recording, which is a professional recording format. (Credit #3)

These are the supposed lenses for the new compact Alpha range. (Credit #3)

Edited: This is the back. Honestly though I think they would add a dial to control aperture at least, with a middle-click function. (Credit #4)

The rumors are that the bodies will be called the NEX3 and NEX5 (with a later NEX7) and that the lenses are, from left to right:
1) 18-55mm F3.5-5.6
2) 18-200mm SSM (unknown aperture, but is meant to be quiet for video recording)
3) 16mm F2.8 pancake

The positive on these compact Alphas:
– it seems to look much smaller than the GF-1 and other Micro-Four-Thirds cameras. And simpler too – I honestly thought the EP-1 was ugly compared to its prototype design! I dare say they look almost pocketable in any pocket, like my Sony Cybershot WX-1 (with a bit of struggle to fit the pancake lens in.)
– there seems to be a pop-up flash.
– they seem to have an AF assist light!
– the pancake lens seems to have a hood bayonet mount – whatever for?

The negative on these compact Alphas:
– there does not seem to be a hotshoe. I hope they have wireless flash, or at least a way to bounce the pop-up flash.
– they do not seem to have a PASM dial. I don’t miss the PASM dial on my Sony Cybershot WX-1, but I know some people are all hyped up about it when honestly, P mode does well.
– they do not seem to have an Electronic View Finder or a way to attach one

If it is that simplified, it had better be cheap, so I could use them as lens caps!

Pictures taken from:
#1 http://p3newsreviews.blogspot.com/
#2 http://www.dpreview.com/
#3 http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_room/
#4 http://www.engadget.com/
#5 http://www.flickr.com/photos/42967233@N02/

Red Bricks

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A900 with the Opteka 85mm F1.4 at ISO400 1/125s. Aperture was not recorded in EXIF because it’s an unchipped lens.

Now here are two puzzles:

1) What aperture do you think it is at, given that this was in shade?

2) What do you think I would have titled this picture? Hint: The initials are S.B.D..

The first person who can answer both, will be pimped on this blog in my next blog entry.

A New Cycle

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My mom declared that there shall be no reunion dinner this Chinese New Year. Which was very un-Chinese, so I decided to hanker on with one of the traditions anyway – cleaning up the house!

I managed to garner 4 cardboard bags full of old magazines and leaflets. Home alone, I took 4 trips across the neighborhood playground to the recycling bin. On my 3rd trip back, I saw this mom and son carrying old clothes to the bin (which also doubles as a donation box for old clothes.)

On my 4th time there, a car was in my way – a macha had loaded 3 of my bags into his front seat! He asked if I was carrying more books. Yes, I said, and I passed him my last bag.

Bless him for doing his bit, and bless him if he gets money out of it.

I wanted to take a picture of my 4 bags lying near the bin to declare “PAPER IS DEAD TO ME!” but I was a bit too late.

My housemate (if you read my blog, you’d know who he is) came back, and we hauled out 6 more bags to the neighborhood recycling bin! This time an older couple was throwing out their stuff. It’s a nice feeling seeing people recycle.

Seriously though, I don’t see the value to paper anymore. What did I throw out?

– old college books that were outdated and irrelevant even when I got them
– newsletters
– computer price lists
– newspapers
– annual reports (my housemate is a massive hoarder)

I did not throw out my massive stash of:
– Guitar And Bass
– ROTTW (Rhythm Of The Third World)
– TONE (yeah man!)
– KLue

All of this information, is better in digital format. When you have no use for it – delete it!

I have no romantic notion with print. I don’t read books on the bus – instead my mind wanders to a random curiosity and I read Wikipedia on my Nokia N70. (I’ve been doing this long before all you iPhone yuppies!) If you have a stash of annual reports you can bet that finding the information under a big pile, with dust, is not as convenient as a digitized format.

Even if digital formats do die, the information is probably of less relevance by then.

Oh, and Happy Chinese New Year everybody! Happy Valentine’s Day, and Singles Awareness Day. I have to say the SAD nights are more fun because they’re not so expensive.

* the picture above has nothing to do with the recycling bin.

Rock The World 9 Part Four!

Rock The World 9 Part Three!

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26th December 2009: Rock The World 9 at Bukit Jalil! This is the hardcore Restraint.

Modread.

John’s Mistress is back…

…with a new guitarist!

Say what? Ask Me Again.

The wider telephoto shots that have a shallow depth of field were shot with my freshly-gotten Opteka 85mm F1.4. Here’s Rosevelt!

Meanwhile, the Zeiss 135mm F1.8 was used for all drummer shots.

Nitrus, who has been around.

They did a cover of Duffy – Mercy. Fun!

Surf rockers Kugiran Di Tepi Pantai, who have been around even longer, were great fun. That guitar looked like something I saw from a distant memory in Peterson Guitars.

“I wanna hold your haaand!” Beatles done surf style.

Forty Winks, who probably has as many members in the band.

Whatever happened to Faiz being vocalist for Lied?

The Roland AX-Synth, a legitimate Keytar!

Rendra Zawawi brings his dark folk to the folk.

Blind Tribe raaawrrr! No white face powder though; they’re death metal not black metal.

When headbanging with dreadlocks, you may be reminded of its smell.

Still, makes for a good shot.

Eve Oh, an emo representative of An Honest Mistake.

Artcore is hardcore!

Darren runs up to the crowd to tell them to buy his band T-shirt. Yes I want one too!

Lurks is still lurking around.

And that ends my daylight series – the next series of pictures were after the torrents of rain that caused a blackout on the power generators. They shall have stage lights!

More pictures here:
Rock The World 9 Part Two!
Rock The World 9 Part One!

Rock The World 9 Part Two!

Rock The World 9 Part One!

In The Rain For Kicks

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I was at Kelab Aman to shoot a wedding but came a bit too early. So I caught a hockey match and football match going on outside, in the rain!

You shall not pass.

No passing!

Dude signalled to me to take a picture.

Of course, I shot this all in the comfort of the shade, away from the rain, with just a lot of room from the Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8 to crop out of the A900 in APS-C mode. None of these shots are 100% crops, in fact far from it.