Monthly Archives: October 2006

Star Wars… Roll Out?

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At last, my Star Wars Transformers collection is complete!


The Imperial Shuttle (yes, I added the cheesy lens flare effect.)


It transforms into Emperor Palpatine. You better believe it.


…I suspect Botox was the force at work.

Clone Pilot

Then there’s the sweet ARC-170 Starfighter.


These figures are now RM65, cheaper than their previous RM75.


Freeze, space trucker!


“Boba Fett, I am your father. Jango Fett.” (On the right.)


Then we have the classic space ship; the Millenium Falcon!


This is a chunky deluxe space trucker that separates into…


Han Solo!


…and Chewbacca!


GRRRMMMMPPPHHHHH!!!


“Chewie, I know you feel misrepresented, but it does look like you, you oversized wookie.”

I don’t get why the crappy figures (especially those with lousy legs) get recolors like Jango Fett being a recolor of Boba Fett and Anakin Skywalker being a recolor of Obi Wan Kenobi. God forbid another recolor! Emperor Palpatine has by far the best articulation and balance for the small figures; Han Solo and Chewbacca are excellent, chunky, poseable figures too.

Previously:

Part 1: Obi Wan Kenobi/Jedi Starfighter, General Grevious/Wheel Bike, Darth Vader/Tie Bomber Advanced, Luke Skywalker/X-Wing
Part 2: Darth Maul/Sith Infiltrator, Boba Fett/Slave I, Anakin Skywalker/Jedi Starfighter

Why I’d Fish

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Alright, so I’ve had this since June, but figured I’d blog about everything else first.


This is a door peephole. I bought the biggest size for under RM40, with a viewing angle of 170 degrees.


But guess what happens when you put it in front of a camera! (Yes, that’s my pocketable Canon Powershot A520. I do not have a big camera!)


Fisheye, baby.


The distortion made the satellite dishes on the left look suggestive on the right. I had to get closer to get the dishes to fill up the frame. Note the strong chromatic aberration, or purple fringing.

This can be countered in Photoshop by going to Image – Adjustments – Hue/Saturation…, choosing the color channel closest to the purple fringing (usually Blue or Magenta) and then decreasing the Saturation and Lightness.


What if you took an already curved surface? More distortion!


A normal fisheye mirror…


…seen through a fisheye lens.


Surprisingly, the fixed focus front camera of my Nokia N70 wields decent results. Another issue with the fisheye is that the brass keeps it a distance from the lens, making it hard to have sharp focus at the center of the image. So I have to focus as close as possible, and choose as dark as aperture (F7.1 is safe) to get a sharper image.