CHINON REVUENON 200mm f3.3

Stressful times at work call for retail therapy. And since there is no time to go for such therapy during the day or weekends, it can only then be done in front of the PC at night.

EBay, my favourite website for great online deals.

The latest "toy" is a CHINON REVUENON 200mm f3.3 manual prime lens. It's pretty fast for a 200mm (300mm equivalent in 35mm format). Will be trying to find some time to go to Sungei Buloh or somewhere to test out this fast telephoto. Stay tuned for some (hopefully) interesting shots!

Botanical Gardens

While wifey was having her facial, I dropped by the Singapore Botanical Gardens (SBG) for an hour in the afternoon to do some shooting. It's been a while since I have gone out taking photos by myself. It was sunny and warm, good weather for photos and a tan ...



See the flickr photoset HERE.

Sunset @ Yew Tee

"Salted Egg" taken from my window at Yew Tee area. Cropped to remove some HDB buildings. Looks like the "fungussy" 70-210mm is going to be pretty useful, time to look for cheap lens cleaning services...

Logistics

The back order for my Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 EX DC Macro was finally fulfilled. The item was shipped from the US a few days ago. The courier service is UPS.

The detail in the package tracking ability of logistics companies nowadays is amazing because you know exactly the progress and how far away the package is from its destination (Well, almost, and it would be really cool if they can somehow track your package via GPS in future). Anyway, as the package makes its way around the world, the updates you see everytime you refresh that tracking page adds to the feeling of anticipation.

Here is what I have this morning. Seems like the package has already arrived in Singapore ...

Bye Bye R3

After more than a year, I've finally just sold off my Ricoh R3 to a fellow ClubSnap member today. So here's goodbye to superb 1cm macro shots for now, or at least until my next Ricoh or I get enough $$$ to invest in a DSLR with a proper Macro lens. :-)

Canon Ixus 850 IS

After using it for almost a week or so and comparing it with my current Ricoh R3, general feedback is:

1. Macro shots cannot beat the Ricoh in terms of super closeup and macro flash capability. Ivan from RecentRunes have the same comments.
2. General non-macro shots are better than the Ricoh in terms of noise reduction.
3. Because of the AF assist lamp and more powerful flash, low light general photography is better with the Canon. However, that said, the latest Ricoh R5 comes with AF assist so it may be as good as the Canon.
4. The Canon flash seems to produce a yellowish tinge for closeup and macro photos.

BTW, Ricoh Singapore has 3 year warranty on the R3 while Canon only has 1 year + 3 months (if you register online)

I am expecting the Canon to perform better at taking people with its face detection technology and all. Will be using it over the next 2 weeks during the Christmas and New Year gatherings to see how it performs.

More sample shots from the Canon Ixus 850 IS.

IQ Test

Was fooling around with the new digicam.
Try to read the red text in the picture to determine your IQ.

KooshLog: Pentax K10D

Found a video on the K10D HERE.

Old Photographs

Decided to put all my photos onto Flickr for backup and sharing. This includes those old photos taken many many years ago. Was considering getting a second hand film/negative scanner from eBay but could not find any nice and cheap one with good quality. Furthermore, some of the photos I do not have the negative. So decided to do it the old fashioned way, scan them!

So far I've done about 20%. Pretty tedious as each scan takes about 20 seconds ...

Pentax K10D

Its finally out! I'm glad I held off purchasing the K100D as the specifications for the new K10D are so much better. By the time it is available in Singapore, it should be near the end of the year or early next year. Something to look forward to at bonus time! Photography_

PENTAX K10D(shown here with optional battery grip)

Key features include:

• 10 Megapixel Sensor
• 11 Point Auto Focus
• Shake Reduction
• Weather proof body
• CCD Dust Removal
• Pentaprism (not mirror)
• New PRIME image processor
• Compatible with K-Mount lenses

A hands on preview is available HERE.

Still Life Part #1

Still life, shot #1, with lots of "Bokeh" ... Photography_



This piece of rope seems to have been around for quite some time. The loop and the rope seems to have been overpainted, and the paint has already started cracking ...

Anyway, can you guess where the rope leads to?
And have you ever wondered ... is this the end of the line, or the beginning ... ??

Stay tuned, for part #2 ...

Ricoh R3 Firmware Update

Amazing! Another firmware update for the Ricoh R3 (v1.29) in such a short space of time. Looks like they are coming up with monthly updates ...Photography_

Ricoh R3 Firmware Update

This may be old news but a new firmware update for the Ricoh R3 (v1.28) is out, less than one month from the previous update! This can be taken as good news or bad news ... Photography_

Bad: The camera got lots of things to fix!
Good: Ricoh is actively working to improve the camera!

Will post some updates on the firmware improvements this evening after I download and install it.

OK, have just installed the update and tested the camera under indoor flourescent lighting conditions. Acquisition of focus seems to be faster. Otherwise, images captured are more or less the same.

Digital Photo Noise Reduction Tip

For those who are using cameras which tend to produce noisy pictures (especially at high ISOs), you can try NeatImage. NeatImage significantly reduces noise and is able to provide some sharpening of your pictures. The Demo version is good enough for most home users.

I have attached 2 pictures of the guppy fry taken at ISO 200 with the Ricoh R3 (which is known to be noisy). The images are cropped and uploaded at original resolution. Compare the before and after. Photography_

Ricoh R3 Firmware Update

Installed the latest firmware update (v1.27). Supposed to have improvements in macro focusing and image stabilisation.

Performed some test shots using macro mode at night under indoor lighting conditions. The shots were taken at ISO64, 1/2s handheld with both arms resting on the table. Photography_