Category Archives: Pictures

22 11

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Moonshine: A Homemade Acoustic Show, The Apartment Downtown, Suria KLCC, 22nd November 2008.


Saxy time…


…with Ezam, who basically played his stuff from his band, Stoned Revivals.


I brought my Minolta 24-105mm F3.5-4.5. What a surprisingly contrasty lens wide open!


And then there was Zalila Lee with the infectious funk guitar chops!


In the audience was a member of 98 Degrees. Don’t you think so?


Melina William, who basically played her stuff from her band, Tempered Mental.

“I usually don’t do this“, she said. As in, play all the riffs and progressions and fills and everything that makes her progressive uh… band kick ass.


Oh and I was trying out various levels of Dynamic Range Optimizer. To some extent it worked… previously the signboards and lights would’ve been blown out into whiteness!

You can see some uncontrasty artifacts like on the dude on the bottom-left of the picture, who obviously has been pulled out of the shadows by the DRO engine.


Then, Mia Palencia performed, with some guest appearances by Reza Salleh and beatbox man Darren Ashley.


Interestingly I could use a positive exposure compensation to ‘unflatten’ the DRO-ed shadows, at the slight expense of highlights. Of course, it would look much worse without it turned on.


D-Ash the multi-talented! He’s always seen in white, which I guess helped with the metering of this shot.


Sweet duo!


Mia then called Reza to the front to just… stand there while the lights turned off.


I wonder if people ever really, really get surprised on their birthday.

Well I guess I did, at work, when my colleagues brought a cake… I knew we always celebrated birthdays at the office at exactly 5pm, and I made a mental note of it, tried to finish my work before 5pm, but I still went, “whoa it’s here!”


Then, Melina, Mia and Zalila did a kickass medley of Reza’s songs! Their vocal harmonies were magical. Of course, Melina also plays in the electric incarnation of Reza Salleh (er, I mean, Reza Salleh in a band named Reza Salleh…)


A “This is going to go on Youtube” moment. Ooo, somebody in this picture has her birthday coming reaaal soon!


I would have to say that it was the highlight of the night, getting your song covered by an impromptu girl band! (I take it that Sheen Tse and Aidil don’t have cameraphones.)


Of course, Reza was asked to perform. Which he foresaw, seeing that he brought his guitar.


Izzy provides percussions from the back of the crowd (surround sound!)


Then the D-Ash pumps some beats.


What the hell just happened I’m not really sure.

Quarter-century Crisis and the Zeiss 135mm F1.8

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Happy Birthday to myself! And so I got myself a Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA to match my Sony Alpha 900.


Handsome tapering lens this is, especially with the solid metal hood. The hood is so solid I could use it for a cowbell!

Its minimum focusing distance is 72cm; it uses internal focus, which is why despite focusing closer than the Minolta/Sony 135mm F2.8/T4.5 Smooth Transition Focus (which gets 87cm close) it shares the same 1:4 maximum magnification – internal focus causes the lens angle to widen when focusing closer.

72cm need I remind you is an amazing close-focusing distance beaten only by true macro lenses and superzooms that start wide – the Sony 55-200mm F4-5.6 DT focuses to 95cm close which is a record for a tele zoom in itself.


With a 2x teleconverter and 1.5x teleconverter, this makes it a 405mm F5.0 lens. This also makes the maximum magnification a staggering 1:1.33x!


Yes, 1:1.33x. This is with the APS-C mode of the A900. 405mm F8 1/400s ISO1600 in APS-C mode.


405mm F6.3 1/400s ISO1600 in APS-C mode. I focused first, got approximate focus, snapped 2 shots in case the bird would fly to another branch, then half-pressed again to refocus accurately. Focusing through 2 teleconverters made the lens a lot slower to focus and inaccurate.

I’m happy though that the Zeiss survives 2 teleconverters – it loses its shark bite and a smudge of contrast, and becomes a regular lens. But this still beats my Tamron 200-400mm F5.6 flat!


405mm F5 1/400s ISO200, 100% crop.


405mm F3.5 1/200s ISO500. Great shot, yes? Well, much greater if the white butterfly with red yellow and black spots was still on it. 🙁 The teleconverters really kill the insane focusing speed of the Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8.


That’s just prime. Left to right: Peleng 8mm F3.5 M42-mount circular fisheye, Vivitar 24mm F2.0 DIY tilt-shift, Minolta 28mm F2.8 Crossed-XX, Minolta 50mm F1.4 Original, Sony Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8


And a top view, this time with the 2 teleconverters.


So how about some daytime separation? 135mm F1.8 without teleconverters. Superb!


KJ does a Barack Obama smile. Shot at F1.8.


Eddy Han at F1.8 1/13s ISO1600. I was sitting in the rear left side of his car and he was in the driver seat (not driving when he looked back, fortunately.) The minimum focus distance of this lens continues to astound!


KJ and Rames‘ Domo-kun. Good match!


Aaa!


This, or rather a careful crop of this, is now Rames’ profile picture. Note how nearby people are smudged into a blurry mess while the out-of-focus highlights pop out. That’s a Zeiss for you.


F1.8 really helps on the street.


Shelley Leong holds amazingly still. 135mm F1.8 1/5s ISO6400, to be exact! I shot this handheld through some bars.


Oh, and I got myself an A900 Type-M user-serviceable focusing screen – it’s a Super Spherical Acute Matte. The default Type-G is a Spherical Acute Matte. The product code for this is FDA-FM1AM and it is vital if you want to manually focus F1.4 lenses and see the true depth-of-field in the viewfinder.

One thing I really like is how simple the whole operation is – use the tweezers to disengage the screen’s clip; the clip will then fold out like a tray, allowing the specially shaped tweezers to grab onto the existing screen. You then put it in the placeholder slot in the box, and take the replacement screen and install it, using the same tweezers to clip it back in. Finally, move the original screen from the placeholder slot, and let it sit in its place.


Alright, so here’s one from the Minolta 28mm F2.8. 28mm F11 20s ISO200, white balance set to 6200K to give it that richness.

Anyway, back to my birthday. This time around, there will be no surprises as I’ve already planned something. The best surprise was in 2006 when everybody wished me and asked if I was having a nice dinner with my friends. Funny, nobody actually invited, they all presumed I already had plans! So I ate at a mamak by myself.

Midnight Cowboy

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This is what happens when you wake up past the stop you’re supposed to get off at, on the last bus of the night.


No entry sir, but that does not stop a creature of the night.


Interesting device.


Still there is space for truckin’.

All with the Sony A700 and Minolta 50mm F1.4.

Flash Connect

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Some Sony Alpha owners have reported loose flash problems, where the flash is on, but the camera does not detect it, causing it to fire at full power or not fire at all. How can this problem be solved quickly?


The problem has two reasons – firstly, the metal pins on top tend to oxidize if exposed, especially in humid Malaysia. The oxidized layer is scratched away by the flash’s pins, leaving small tracks where there is contact.

The second reason is that the plastic on the flash mount and the body’s mount is looser to allow for quick mounting and dismounting of the flash. The slight play and wobble is fine but the problem happens because the wobble makes the pins move onto the oxidized area, off the clean tracks.


So, you will need to clean the metal pins on top – you could use a key which you carry, in emergencies, but if you want to be gentle, you can use an ink eraser.

Yes, I am advocating the use of rubber.


Or, in the worse case scenario, you can rub it with your fingernails! This is perfectly fine; it will not electrocute you (the circuit to be shorted is on the flash itself.)


So now, mount the flash – it works! Wobble it about and it’s still fine.


Finally, test it by turning it sideways. Some HVL-F58AM flash owners have reported that the flash might not be detected in portrait orientation before cleaning, so test it in this position as well.


If the wobble still bothers you, you could apply some white tape to the insides of the hotshoe so it will look like this hotshoe. That should tighten it up a lot. You must clean the oxidization regardless – if not, it will just be a tight, undetected flash.

Happy flashing!

Thirdniversary

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Moonshine: A Homemade Music Show, 13th November 2008, at Laundry Bar. This also happened to be the 3rd Anniversary of Moonshine, so more bright colorful lights were turned on!

This is Rendra Zanawi (featuring Alda the long-time-no-see-band-slut hehe.)


And this is Stephanie who played in 2 bands that night. Gotta love the translucent orange snare drum (and how it projects orange onto the carpet!)


Adil Johan saxing.


“I’ll play my part, and you’ll play yours.”

But really, this was an awesome, awesome battle between the sax and guitar.


Then it was Reza Salleh.


I love it whenever I catch the rare triangular light on cheekbones.


Melina also played for Tempered Mental, who was heavier than ever! Jack was let loose and yet sounded very composed ripping away metal solos.


At gigs I always bring my Minolta 50mm F1.4; the other lens is often a quandary. That night I picked the Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX and I love how it scales and distorts. This is a crop from my Sony A900!


Jimmy, who is probably the only drummer who is not a band slut around. Jack and Melina each play in other bands.


Why so serious?

Yeah, this was a severely underexposed F1.4 ISO6400 image which I attempted to pull up. It’s a severe crop, too.


And then the trumpets blared and the saxophones returned on stage – big ska band 40 Winks was on!


He’s not Adlin Rosli, he claims.

Delayed Loop

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Feedback Open Mic at Cloth & Clef, a certain 8th November 2008.


R.I.P. (Rock In Peace) Gene Simmons!

Yes, they were still in the mood for Halloween. If you saw how much they decked out the place, you wouldn’t want to take them down, either.


This man waits, nevertheless.


The Theory Of Change. They had an angry song, Killing Anna. Wow.


George, meanwhile, was emo with a capital E.


Steph has been drumming for a very, very long time.


Reza Salleh, Melina William, and their FANS!


Oh look mom I can do diptychs too!

Boohoo, I used to do diptychs before I even knew they were called diptychs. Left, Nick Davis with some angry acoustica; right, Wani Ardy with some mellow acoustica.


Ferns, who has a really nifty CD cover. Go check it out.


Left, guitarist; right, his effects cheat sheet.


Left, Haziq; right, Anuar. Anuar asked us what we wanted – another sad song, or the blues. I voted for the blues and was the majority.


Left, Tom; right, his delay/loop pedal.

I love it when white singer-songwriter dudes come and they play with delay/loop pedals! A few examplary one-man-band bands I have witnessed and enjoyed were Jamie Woon, David Knight and Tom I-don’t-know-his-surname.


Videographers!


Petrina was doing a hilarious petwalk catwalk.


Darren Ashley rips out a soulful rockin’ tune and wakes everybody-the-f-up to get up and jive. He is that cool. Gotta dig the beat-boxing skills, yo!

He got some white people to dance to Sweet Home Alabama. I think. But then, white guys (and girls) dance to anything. That’s why they call it the white guy dance. Because they don’t have to listen to cool music to dance. Not that Lynyrd Skynyrd is not cool. After years of shouting FREEBIRD! at every performer who takes a pause between songs, I still have not seen it happen.


And whoa, he has long fingers. I tried to replicate the same position. What a stretch!


Ending the night were crowd-shakers The Ramanados. What a refreshing gig that was!

Downstairs, Downtown

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This is Wani Ardy. She looks very student-like, yes?

She’s a lecturer.


Moonshine: A Homemade Acoustic Show, October 18th 2008!


These are some camwhores.


Reza Salleh, organizer.


This time around, it was downstairs at The Apartment Downtown, KLCC.


Soft Touch, long time no see! Songs about peace and the polar bear never get old.

Man, was metering tricky! Gotta push DRO+ the next time; the frames behind keep getting blown out. But the lights look like wings.


The aforementioned polar bear.


Szetoo is the real gangster, yo!


Azmyl Yunor practices outside.


He’s a lecturer, too!


With Reza on one of his classic folk singalongs!

I just wish Azmyl would make his students come to see his shows, as he did back then. They were quite a bunch!


Szetoo doesn’t look as funny as some people do when she looks through the viewfinder and closes the other eye.

Time Out, No?

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Apologies for the hiatus, I’ve been busy. Here’s Time Out KL’s On The Up, one 15th of October 2008 at No Black Tie.


Kokokaina spotted in the audience!


Tony Leo Selvaraj. Usually I do not fancy tilted pictures unless there is an element that is grounded to the 90 degree angles of the picture (in this case, the microphone.)


Crowd stalkin’.


Thing One, fantastic instrumental band. Expect no less from ICOM!


More crowd stalkin’!


Nish on keyboards with an expression pedal makes funky Keytar-like sounds!


The crowd is amused!


Four Letter Story, modern rock. The music sounds uncannily like Broken Scar‘s! The vocalist even sings like him and has the same slightly gruff voice!


They covered Mariah Carey – Always Be My Baby.


And finally, the amazing Adil Johan Quartet Quintet.


Oh well, I lost count. Here are guest vocalists Otam and Melissa Suciato.


Le fans.


Le drummer, a long missing Alex (who we hear has gone to his roots for a hiatus…)


One of…


Doze 2. Again, guest rapping. But Adil does good rapping himself!


I doze 2! (Or at least look emo.)


Sax-y.


I didn’t catch his name.

9-11, Moonshine!

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Moonshine September 11th 2008, Laundry Bar!


And that was the return of the Qings & Kueens, one of the most melodic hard rock bands out there.


Onto something brilliant and vastly technical – Tokyo Blue!


I would like to hereby declare them “dramatic jazz”. You heard it here first!


They are the shadows of other great bands before them, which each member came from.


Ywenna! I first knew her as one half of Rhapsody. What a classic duo that was.


Poova! Poova-ful voice. She brings the band into verse-chorus-verse sensibility.


So how do you make a post-rock band? First, you place a few pedals on the floor. Don’t bother connecting them, let the static jump between pedals, causing an ad hoc wireless connection. So you don’t have to go through all the trouble to make the white noise – it will all come to you naturally.


Then, you get a diverse drummer.


Oh and a prerequisite is a Fender Jaguar, Mustang or Jagstang. Those switches add to post-rockingness!


But seriously man, I like Furniture.


And then, there was the Stoned Revivals.


Vandal popped by to drop a line.

Netto @ Latte @ 8

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The answer to my question as to who is being watched, is of course Andrew Netto!

For some reason, I like this shot of him the most. It’s as if the stars fell into place.


Rewind to when he had shorter hair…


…and the college girl skit.


One staple is of course, the dance skit. Someday when he has all his stuff up on Youtube I’ll be able to reference it.


He is joined by the Ramanados for a song!


This is one of his many politician skits, I’m sure.


This is his rempit skit. Gotta love the voice he puts on for this!

As of late I find I am unable to ‘put on voices’. This saddens me.


Seeing the difference in tie and suit made me realize that I don’t actually have any suits. This also saddens me.


Don’t mind this shot, he’s actually generally acknowledged as Malaysia’s youngest stand-up comedian. (Does that mean that other stand-ups only get into stand-up later in their lives, as a sideline to their thespian activities? Perhaps. But Andrew wasn’t a thespian as far as I knew.)


Sometime 24th October 2008, I caught Latte@8 (you mean they still show this?)


Jason Lo himself does a stand-up routine before his show.


Audience impressions.

Well I laughed! So I must have an advanced sense of humor, as he does. Catch him on Actorlympics and his jokes are some of the sharper ones!


Al Jazeera reporters know how to cycle their face to different cameras every few seconds. I kid you not.


Then it was Mr. Netto’s turn to be on the show, giving a stand-up routine before that.


He uncovers what’s under his jacket…


…before his interview with Jason the Chelsea fan.


Gotcha!TM

Interestingly, in an earlier part of the interview with the reporter, Jason blurted out his radio station affiliation, which is in a competitor company to the company which produces Latte@8… on live TV. I know if he did the reverse, the competitor company would freak out and go all out on damage control.


“Eh come back la.”


It’s no longer the Tak Nak guy or the Drummer Boy or the Estranged drummer Azwin Andy – it’s now DJ Nas-T, or Abu of KAMI. KAMI was a great movie, by the way…

It had been a long time since I’d seen him. I told him what I thought about the movie. He asked, “Did you cry when I died?”

“Oh shit, I don’t remember if I did.”

Oh shit, I just gave out a spoiler.

But now that I think about it, yes I did cry. And ironically Winamp’s randomizer picked Johnny Cash – Cry Cry Cry.


And then, it was Laila’s Lounge to end the set.


These boys will be up on Fat Boys Records’ annual (well, almost, forgoing 2007) rock festival, Rock The World 8.

Say what?

What: Rock The World 8
When: 12 noon to 12 midnight, 20th December 2008
Where: The Secret Garden, Merdeka Stadium (in other words, the parking lot)
How Much: RM25. Tickets are available at Extreme outlets, Music Valley, Rock Corner, Maju Junction Mall and at the event itself.
Who: Butterfingers, Estranged, One Buck Short, OAG, Koffin Kanser, Pure Vibracions, The Times, Bunkface, Republic Of Brickfields, They Will Kill Us All, Zip Zieller, Upon Arrival, Komplot, Laila’s Lounge, The Otherside Orchestra, Revenge

Yes you’re probably thinking the same thing, haven’t we seen most of these bands before? Heck who cares man, it’s the one festival to bump into all your rocker buddies and have a good headbang!

Oh and then there’s Moonshine: A Homemade Acoustic Show this weekend.

What: Moonshine: A Homemade Acoustic Show
When: 9:30pm to 12:30am, 22nd November 2008
Where: The Apartment Downtown, KLCC
How Much: Free, but buy one of them funky drinks
Who: Mia Palencia (jazz/soul diva!), Melina William, Zalila Lee and Slowjaxx

Melina on acoustic! This is a rare show, where this progressive guitar hero plays tunes meant for an entire band with all the riffs and parts all crammed into one guitar while she sings.