Life Thru The Lens

Quick Macro Mode Test on Olympus XZ-1

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 08:47:00 +0000

Note, this is not the Super Macro mode where it allows focussing distance as close as 1 cm from the lens. This is the standard Macro mode. Also, it is not as sharp as it can be due to a slight breeze and shots being taken hand-held, so please do not regard this as the capability of the camera. I only meant to show what you can do on an ad-hoc basis with the camera hanging on your neck.

The 100% crop of the area around the flower’s filament (the part that connects the anther to the main body of the flower.

A shot of the anther. Note that there was a slight breeze and hence the clarity of the fine “brush” is lost. The original shot.

100% crop of the area near the filament and the anther (focused on the “dead” anther).

The sharpness, in my humble opinion, is pretty good for a compact camera.

Amarin Heavenly Thai @ Mid-Valley Megamall

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:24:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of having a meal at Amarin Heavenly Thai courtesy of my wife recently. It was a fixed menu and “”sponsored” by her recently approved credit card.

The ambiance of the place has changed considerably from the last time I was there and the restaurant has been heavily renovated.

Anyway, first item to arrive was our Chinese Tea . Can’t really comment on the tea itself, quite “boringly” normal but that’s expected 95% of the time anyway.

Very quickly after that, we were served our starters, which were 6 very well deep fried spring rolls. They were served with sweet Thai chilli sauce which was not too light nor too strong. The spring rolls were close to “heavenly” I guess as it was lightly crisp, not oily and the content was warm to the palette.

It was quickly followed by the Green Chicken Curry which initially looked quite creamily harmless but proved to be rather spicy after just 2 mouthfuls. The portion was tiny but well proportioned with chicken and eggplant (brinjals).

Individual, i.e. 2 portions of, Pineapple Fried Rice were then served. I must comment that these were probably the best pineapple fried rice that I have had. It may not be the way it is suppose to be in reality but the sweetness of the pineapple fried rice wasn’t sugary sweet but fruit sweet. I am not sure if the sweetness is from the pineapple, it may be from other sources. It was not overwhelm with cashews nor prawns and mix was good. One tiny complain I have with this dish was that the prawns were not what I would call very fresh. They were ok, but I had expected better.

Our desserts were Tab Tim Krob, which were unfortunately not presented well nor was it made that well. The other dishes were well presented but the desert somehow looked like a rush job. We were served individual portions and it seemed that mine was twice as sweet and hence we suspect that the kitchen made a mistake with it. Otherwise, it would have been good.

Overall, I wouldn’t mind returning to this restaurant as the food is generally good although on the pricey side. As mentioned, our meal was sponsored, so here’s the bill .

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with Dock

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:23:00 +0000

Recently, there were quite significant coverage on Apple vs Samsung in the European courts where Apple has managed to put an injunction to prevent Samsung from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and other Samsung smartphones as well.

The end result is that the courts cited tons of prior art before the iPad (or you can say that Apple actually copied the ideas from others and should not claim to be their own, or another way to look at it … Apple’s patents are worthless!). The Dutch court even went as far to say that with the minimalist design of the iPad, it makes it almost impossible for Apple to claim anything. Everything was thrown out except for the part for the Gallery application violated the “feel” of scrolling between images whilst browsing.

That aside, I was lucky enough to be able to get hold of a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and even had an iPad next to it to determine for myself whether they are the same. It is DEFINITELY not the same nor similar! The iPad form factor is much better than the Galaxy Tab 10.1 probably due to the 4:3 ratio instead of the 16:9 ratio. The Galaxy Tab also doesn’t have the “home” button on the front. Anyway, I am not here to judge on this technically but it sure doesn’t look the same at all to me.

That aside, a tablet is a tablet. They are all rather similar but the Galaxy Tab 10.1, like the Apple iPad, is quite light and the trade off is the lack of extension ports such as USB or SD card slots. But it is definitely more portable than other tablets that I have had the opportunity to try out.

How does the docking station fare? It has a very white white surface that looks really good. The chiclet style keyboard is great and you can actually type pretty well on it. The tablet itself slots in very smoothly and it is angled at a comfortable typing angle (see below).

(I know I didn’t really say much about the Galaxy Tab 10.1 … let’s hope I do a better job with the Asus EEE Pad Transformer soon )

Nissin Di466 4/3rd Mount with Olympus XZ-1

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:37:00 +0000

One of the accessory that I bought with the Olympus XZ-1 was an external flash. Although the XZ-1 came with a built-in flash, it is rated at 8.6 Guide Number (GN) @ ISO100. Although it serves its purpose reasonably well, from past experience with indoor photography, 8.6 meters (8.6 GN is approximately 8.6 metres range) is insufficient.

I was initially a little unsure whether the Nissin Di466 will work well with the XZ-1 as there were little confirmation online and I could not really find any images with the Di466 attached to the XZ-1 (hence the picture above for the rest of you!). The Di466 is rated at GN33 @ ISO100, which should be reasonably sufficient for indoor photography (especially for parties and with fast moving kids … well, the XZ-1 is technically still not that great for such an event as the Auto-Focus is not as fast as a full blown dSLR, but that’s another story altogether).

Other than pure reach of the external flash, it must be noted that the ability to bounce the light is of extreme importance. This is in order to avoid any harsh lighting, such as that in the picture above. It was directly from the built-in flash of my Panasonic LZ8.

Like all external flashes, the Di466 also came with a built-in diffuser. Of course it is just a basic diffuser and serves it’s purpose well.

Although it is a smallish external flash, it uses 4 AA sized batteries (I use Maha Imedions). Another plus point on having an external flash is that the battery for the XZ-1 will last longer. If the built-in flash is used consecutively, from my estimates, you will probably get less than 200 shots on one battery charge (I may be wrong here, but it is just a rough estimate from my earlier test shots).

The Di466 can be triggered remotely and wirelessly! Although I don’t think it is able to function with it’s TTL whilst in wireless mode, this capability comes in handy. It is triggered using the built-in flash and works very well.

The A700 successor, the A77 is finally here!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:52:00 +0000

There were many different rumoured versions of the replacement for the A700 over the last couple of months … wait … it’s actually years! I haven’t really posted much about it as there were very little clarity on them. However, it seems that it is certain that the A77 will be the “successor” to the A700. It is not exactly the successor as it is strictly speaking not a dSLR.

What’s new? It utilizes Sony’s unique approach to their dSLR class cameras in using the SLT approach. SLT stands for Single Lens Translucent which basically the replacement of the optical viewfinder and the moving mirror that defines dSLRs.

24MP Exmor HD CMOS sensor (not sure how sharp the captured pictures will be!)
19 points AF
ISO100-16000 (yes, 16,000)
Full HD with AVCHD (see top beside top LCD)
Full manual controls for video (cool)
12 fps
Articulated 3in 'TruBlack' LCD with 912k dots
Super-fast 1/8000 shutter speed
3 million dot OLED viewfinder (basically a built in EVF), compare this to the 1.14 million dot on the A55.
Built-in GPS (picture states that it is there)
Weather proof magnesium alloy body
SD card, CF and Memory Card slots (can it really fit all 3?)

Other things that are rumoured to be announced include;

A65 (also 24MP it seems!)
16-50 f2.8 (kit lens for the A77 and I presume A65 also)
NEX-7 (you may find pictures online but also suppose to be 24MP!)
NEX-5 replacement and EVF for it.

Tong Pak Fu Dessert @ Taman Equine

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:39:00 +0000

I am not a Tong Sui fan in general but about a week ago, I stumbled upon this place as someone wanted to have a Tau Foo Far after dinner. We had dinner in the shop next to this place, Street House (can’t remember the exact name) and as we were leaving, we saw this shop and coincidently, it serves Tau Foo Far.

Another week went by and once again, we decided to pay this place a visit. I won’t really say that it is the best but what I can say is that they don’t over-sweetened everything and kill off the taste of the actual content! It is how I actually like it but may not be to everyone’s palette.

I had the Red Bean with Ginko dessert, and I can confirm that it is sweetened nicely. It is however, as diluted as what I had last week which was maybe how they make their Red Bean desserts. So, to confirm this, we ordered another dessert, the Mango Sago (they call it Sagu) dessert.

This is also slightly different from what we had expected, instead of using coconut milk, they used milk and served it cold with ice cubes in them. It is also very light and without the “santan”, it feels healthy. The amount of fresh mangoes in it is very generous. If you like milky desserts, this is a good choice.

Once again, we also had Tau Foo Far and we can confirm that the texture is consistent; soft and smooth. Again, it gave that very light feel to the taste. Also recommended if you are not into strong tasting desserts, but are the type that likes “mouth wash”.

Other than “chinese” type desserts, they also serve items such as Mango Smoothie (pictured above). When it came, it looks like a big lump of Mango pudding/jelly and the straw looked out of place. However, it is actually the mixture of the fibrous mango with ice. They were really generous with the Mangoes. This is a really great “drink” for a warm evening or after a hot day.

They also serve food such as Chicken Chop, Chee Cheong Fun and Fried Rice. We ordered the fried rice and although it looked quite ordinary, we think they added glutinous rice which made it slightly special. The sticky nature of the fried rice gave it an edge over other ordinary fried rice. A recommended item.

Overall, there is nothing really outstanding about this place but it is a cosy, good value and the food has this home-cooked feel to it. In other words, it doesn’t make you feel guilty in terms of health after eating out too often. The food also doesn’t have very strong taste to them, that is typical of many restaurants. Desserts aren’t made too sweet nor too thick.

A good place to hang-out after dinner (but it closes at 10 pm!) or just to have a simple dinner.

View Larger Map

32, Jalan Equine 9C, Taman Equine
Bandar Putra Permai
43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor

Olympus XZ-1 Review

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:39:00 +0000

Another new toy on hand! From the day it was launched, I was awed by the fact that this compact camera has a F1.8 aperture and what more, on the tele-end, it is only at F2.5! I had my doubts on the IQ of the camera but from initial reviews I read from various sources, there were nothing more than accolades for this camera. Olympus was thought of as a “dying” brand except for those underwater fanatics and obviously Olympus also launched the underwater casing for this compact.

Many months ago, I had already given this camera some thought, together with the Lumix LX-5, Canon S95 and the Sony HX9V. I was already leaning towards the XZ-1 but when it was time to get a unit, the LX-5 saw a price reduction! This created a slight delay in my purchasing but a decision had to be made. Both cameras were so close in terms of usability and even specifications (but that’s not the main point here).

I am not going to list down the specifications or comparison with other cameras in the same range but will basically highlight what you may be interested to know about that’s rarely mentioned in other reviews. First up, the fastest shutter speed is 1/2000th of a second which is slower than the LX-5. However, they do provide a BUILT-IN Neutral Density filter, which is about a 3 stop ND filter. This is not a software feature but a physical ND filter that sits behind the lens. I will try to post up pictures taken using the ND filter to show the number of stops equivalent later.

The picture above has a Keep Digital UV Filter on the front of the lens. It uses a 34mm filter size, not the screw on type used on dSLR lenses, but a stuck on type. This is usually used for Digital Video Cameras.

Other features (which are also available on the LX-5) that should be noted are the multi-exposure capability and the super MACRO mode that has a minimum focussing distance of 1cm. It also has one of the highest ISO sensitivity settings at ISO6400 but at ISO1600 and above, it is really too noisy.

On the negative side, there is no controls for White Balance using the Colour Temperature (Kelvin), it does not have an AEL button (well, doesn’t really bother me actually) and it comes with an in-camera charger via the USB port (this bothers me as I would like to charge my batteries externally).

What was my deciding factor against the LX-5? I must firstly state that I think you can’t go wrong with either camera but I had to make a decision. Whilst the LX-5 is a good 10% cheaper, has a 24mm equivalent wide angle lens and I love the control dials on the camera (same as the Micro 4/3 on the GF-series), the decision on the XZ-1 was made due to the slightly bigger aperture, the slightly longer (although not as wide as the LX-5) zoom range and surprisingly, the control ring is quite pleasant and easy to use.

What else did I get with it? A WHITE Nissin Di466 external flash to match the camera! Will try to post my thoughts on;

ISO
Nissin External Flash
Built-in Neutral Density Filter

… when I have the time

Old Man Restaurant, Kajang

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 17:27:00 +0000

This place came highly recommended by a colleague of mine and it seems that everyone who lives in Kajang or nearby knows about it. It is suppose to a very reasonably priced place that serves good fresh food. They have just moved to the current location not too long ago (a year ago?) from their previous location that’s just down the road.

We checked out their online site and it states that they are open 7 days a week and their operating hours in the evening is from 5:30 pm to 11:00 pm. We have been told that they can get rather crowded and as such we decided to get there early. It is not that difficult to find with the directions that they provided on their online site as well as on their facebook site. We got there slightly after 5:30 pm and their blinds were still down (as above). Yippee, we avoided the crowd and even parked our car right in front of the restaurant. We went in and noticed that we were not the first, there were two other tables.

The staff were very attentive even though they were actually in the middle of having their early evening meal. For a busy restaurant, they were very patient as we were rather fickle minded about what to order. The first thing that we ordered was their house speciality and unique Tobiko Fried Rice.

To those who are wondering what’s that orange stuff on top of the fried rice, it’s Tobiko, which is the roe of the flying fish species. They are generally very small, about half a millimetre in diameter and pops in your mouth when you bite them. The Tobiko themselves were rather expensive but the fried rice themselves were full of large prawns! … oh, and fresh ones too!

Next up was the Gui Lin Tofu. This dish is surprisingly well made in that the sauce is not too starchy and the taste is just right, not too strong and the garnishing was not overwhelming and gave it the right crunch.

Whilst placing our order, I asked about whether they have any curry dish other than the Curry Fish Head. They recommended the Curry Tilapia Fish which I asked them to place additional vegetables. After we placed our orders, I started to wonder about how they will cook the Tilapia in a curry as Tilapia fish are generally either steamed or deep fried instead of cooked in a curry. Well, the way they did it was to firstly deep fry the fish and then cook it in the curry which was extremely pleasing to the taste buds.

The curry was great! Of course, we needed extra rice to finish off the gravy! Next was the boring potato leaves fried with garlic. Ok, although it is boring, they actually did it very well. We think it was because the vegetable was very fresh and the taste was slightly different in that the garlic was very lightly “cooked”, not even fried (we think).

We also tried their crabmeat tofu. They were very generous with the crab sauce which again was not as starchy as most other places and it actually had quite a lot of real crab meat! A very good dish (except that when they use real crab meat, it also unfortunately had small crab shells )

We had the Claypot Eggplant as well. It was sizzling when it arrived, the eggplant were definitely fresh and smelt really good. It does however is a little too saltish for us, as they had abundance of what we believe Taucu beans in it.

For meat dishes, we tried the Thai Salad Chicken which we had no complains about but I am not able to describe it well here. Definitely a good dish but unfortunately overshadowed by their other dishes.

Another meat dish that we tried was their Nestum Pork Chop. The meat slices were very thin and well coated with Nestum. We believe the trick in their well deep fried Nestum Pork Chop is the thinnest of the meat so that it was just a quick dip and fry. It is definitely a recommended dish if you love the taste of Nestum.

We would recommend all the dishes above, especially the Tobiko Fried Rice, the Curry Tilapia Fish, the Gui Lin Tofu and the Nestum Pork Chop. There is however, only one rather disappointing dish, which was their Salad Prawns. Although there is really nothing wrong with it but we felt that it would be much better if it had a crispier batter coating. However, the coleslaw that came with it was excellent.

That all, we will be visiting them again soon. Oh, the price is very reasonable as well. Note that we did not have all the above dishes in one sitting, it was over 2 meals.

Happy O Restaurant, Mahkota Cheras

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:37:00 +0000

It was one of those evenings when we just wanted a simple meals but was too lazy to cook at home. Then the next problem was to decide where to go that will firstly not break the piggy bank and if possible somewhere that we have not tried before. Of course, going somewhere that we have not tried before would also entail the risk of breaking the piggy bank.

Somehow, we ended up driving to Mahkota Cheras and it was between the Greedy Miow (which we will try the next time we visit this place) or the “restaurant behind Si Fu restaurant”. We arrived before 7 pm and since there were ample parking space in front of Happy O Restaurant, the decision was made there and then.

In order not to break the piggy, the first thing we decided was not to have any seafood! So we proceeded to order a boring but safe meal. Dishes that is almost impossible to go wrong. First to arrive was Sweet and Sour Pork.

The taste was normal, nothing to complain about it except that I usually prefer my meat to be crispier. Next to arrive was the House Speciality Tofu.

This tofu, according to the “captain” is made by themselves. It was very well fried as the outside was “springy” whilst the inside was really soft. The sauce was not starchy and had the right fluidity in the texture. The taste was neither salty nor too sweet and hence this is a recommended dish. Someone at the table wanted fried rice, so we also ordered a single portion.

I had 2 mouthfuls of the fried rice, really nothing to complain about it but also nothing really spectacular either. Then came the Egg Foo Yoong (didn’t I tell you we just wanted a simple meal?).

I never really knew how to take a picture of an Egg Foo Yoong especially this one where it looked like a flat pancake, almost in a single yellowish brown tone in colour. The Egg Foo Yoong was well done, the ingredients were neither too sparse nor too much. My only minor complain is that it was really thin!

Finally, we also had a Spinach in Soup but we were given a choice of with or without fish paste. I looked at the price and decided that it will not break the piggy, so we ordered a small portion with fish paste. No regrets! The fish paste was firm and springy, the way I liked them! It went well with the spinach and the soup was also neither salty nor too strong. Another recommended dish.

No negatives at this place, including the price. We paid less than RM50 (phew) for 5 people, 4 dishes, tea and rice. Oh, if I have to say something negative, the rice was on the hard side. You better order something with gravy to go with the rice.

View Larger Map

Sony Malaysia: Submit a Photo and Win

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:34:00 +0000

Well, if you are a creative soul and unsure what to do for the next few days, go grab your digital camera and snap away creatively during your meals. If food pictures are not your cup of tea, then I am sure you do have some amazing travel pictures to share as well.

Sony Malaysia is running a contest at the moment, where there will be 3 themes (with 3 winners each) and a final grand finale as well. The 3 themes can be described simply as:

Dining Theme
Travel Theme
Fashion/Shopping Theme

To enter, go to their facebook site and “like” the page. Instructions, terms and conditions are all described on their page. In summary;

The photographs can be taken by any camera (does not have to be a Sony camera) with the exception of the Grand Finale.
The images should have a minimum dimension of 800x600 for landscape pictures or 600x800 for portrait orientation.
Maximum size of pictures is limited to 2MB

Prizes can be summarized as (for details, visit their website);

Dining Theme – Dining Experience, USD200 Cash, Sony WX7
Travel – 3D/2N ClubMed Cherating, Sony TX10
Fashion/Shopping – USD500, 3xUSD150, Sony Ericsson Phone
Grand Prize – All inclusive trip to Singapore and Sony NEX

I had a quick browse through the submission for the Dining Theme … I think there is a good chance for anyone at the moment

Microsoft Camera Codec to view RAW files in Windows Explorer

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 07:39:00 +0000

For many of us who are “stuck” in the Microsoft platform and shoots photographs in the RAW format, it is a bane to have to load up specialized software for a quick view of the photographs that we have taken. Microsoft has made available the “Microsoft Camera Codec” to assist us in this. The overview (taken from Microsoft’s site);

Overview

The Microsoft Camera Codec Pack enables the viewing of a variety of device-specific file formats in Window Live Photo Gallery as well as other software that is based in Windows Imaging Codecs (WIC).
Installing this package will allow supported RAW camera files to be viewable in Windows Explorer.
This package is available in both the x86 and x64 versions .
The Microsoft Camera Codec Pack provides support for the following device formats:
- Canon: EOS 1000D, EOS 10D, EOS 1D Mk2, EOS 1D Mk3, EOS 1D Mk4, EOS 1D Mk2 N, EOS 1Ds Mk2, EOS 1Ds Mk3, EOS 20D, EOS 300D, EOS 30D, EOS 350D, EOS 400D, EOS 40D, EOS 450D, EOS 500D, EOS 550D, EOS 50D, EOS 5D, EOS 5D Mk2, EOS 7D, EOS D30, EOS D60, G2, G3, G5, G6, G9, G10, G11, Pro1, S90
- Nikon: D100, D1H, D200, D2H, D2Hs, D2X, D2Xs, D3, D3s, D300, D3000, D300s, D3X, D40, D40x, D50, D5000, D60, D70, D700, D70s, D80, D90, P6000
- Sony: A100, A200, A230, A300, A330, A350, A380, A700, A850, A900, DSC-R1
- Olympus: C7070, C8080, E1, E10, E20, E3, E30, E300, E330, E400, E410, E420, E450, E500, E510, E520, E620, EP1
- Panasonic: G1, GH1, GF1, LX3

You can download it from the site link above and the file for the x86 platform is just 4MB. Below is a short video on the codec.

Hurrah for Microsoft!

Perodua MyVi 2011 Advertisement (?)

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:49:00 +0000

Guess what I found online! Supposedly a “Lagi Best” advertisement for the new Perodua MyVi 2011. Well, it will be launched soon and sales outlets will start to accept bookings for it from today (4th June 2011) onwards.

What’s new to me? Well, the exterior of the car has some minor changes, personally it looks like a facelift model. However, on the inside, the premium model (unsure what they will call it), has a different dashboard, similar to that found on the Alza and with in-dash GPS. I guess the in-dash GPS is the first for our national car makers?

The meters themselves seems to be more interesting, whether better or not, we have yet to experience.

Oh, is new spelt as “Baru” or “Baharu”? It’s at 0:56 of the video clip above. Anyway, advertisement aside. I think the 1.5l version may be of interest … if priced appropriately.

Reunification Palace, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:43:00 +0000

The site of the Reunification Palace (or Reunification Hall) has a very long history, starting from the mid 19th century. It has always been the administrative centre for the region until the end of the Vietnam war in 1975.

This site has marked the end of the Vietnam war when the North Vietnam Army’s tank crashed through the gates. Until today, they have two tanks in the large front lawn of the grounds facing inwards.

It is an unusual sight as you would expect that any guns would be facing away from the palace. However it signifies that, with the tanks crashing into the ground and its turret facing inwards, the war ended.

You will probably be able to find many pictures of the Reunification Palace online, displaying the South Vietnam’s President’s office, some replica of the official Mercedes, the east and west dining room setup, the underground chambers and so on. The building is well maintained and serves as one of the main tourist site.

What I find interesting is actually not the rooms or replicas but the overall fittings. The building itself is a basic boxy shape but the large number of windows, coupled with “sun shades” are interesting. A view along the corridor:-

And a closer view of the window architecture.

That’s all for now, more on Saigon … oppss .. Ho Chi Minh City, later.

Lion Dance, 2011 Lunar New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:48:00 +0000

Another year, another opportunity for some “snapshots” of the traditional lion dance. This is the third opportunity I have (in 3 years) and I am still trying to figure out what would be the right style for me? Why? Previous attempts in 2009 provided me with my first taste using a DSLR on the sharpness that can be achieved. However, most of those shots were on stationary or with little action by the lions.

In 2010, I tried to capture shots of the fast moving lion dance, with very little success, if at all! So, for this opportunity, I tried to capture most of the shots using Aperture Priority and using high ISO settings, up to 1600 but most at 800.

Managed to freeze some shots of the lions leaping and overall, I am quite satisfied with the shots although I still need to get the focus right to obtain sharper shots.

Some candid shots of the lion “bullying” some spectators …

And a shot of an “auntie” to the rescue! Looks like the lion is getting a telling off!

There were 5 lions on that day, here is a shot of 5 of them (only 4 in view).

A nice close up shot of one of the lion head.

And to round it off, the fire cracker shot!

So, high ISO is also used during the day! =)

Tanah Lot, Bali, Indonesia

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:30:00 +0000

A visit to Bali will generally entail multiple visits to the many temples on the island. Each with its own unique story or situation. Pura Tanah Lot is one of them, situated on the west coast of the island with a dramatic ocean front and with limited access governed by the ocean tide.

Being one of the most visited and probably interesting sites of Bali, the path to the temple is surrounded by shops selling souvenirs, handicrafts and snacks. There are some interesting items that are quite unique and may be worth sometime to browse through.

It is quite a walk to the temple itself.

Entrance to Pura Tanah Lot

Although we arrived around mid-day with the sun blazing down directly, it didn’t feel that warm due to the sea breeze. One thing to note that because we were rush for time, we went at mid-day, otherwise for photographers, the best time would be at dusk.

Of course, the most common picture must be taken. On a search for Tanah Lot online, you will most probably be greeted with this picture, the seemingly “floating” part of the temple.

When I arrived, it was high tide and hence we were not able to walk across to the temple. Below is an image which may give you an idea of the distance to walk on low tide.

The picture immediately above was taken from the other end of the crescent shaped grounds. The temple is also known in the past (or is it also in the present) with the abundance of poisonous snakes! The picture below is a “seemingly” harmless snake that is on it’s way to have itself wrap around tourists for photo taking sessions … which of course, yours truly stayed very VERY far away from.

I would like to suggest that if you ever do go there, bring a bottle of cold water and spend sometime walking around. Other than the gargoyles (which are everywhere in Bali), there are some very detailed architectural crafts.

Bayan Indah Culinary Retreat–X’mas Party

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:12:00 +0000

Sometime before Christmas 2010, I was very fortunate to be invited to a culinary retreat at Bayan Indah. When I was first invited for it, I wasn’t too keen as it was on a weekday evening and we had to be there by 6:00 pm. Knowing that it is somewhere in Kampung Penchala, which would mean that I had to leave my office early, go home and freshen up and drive a good 40 minutes (I thought) to the location …

After a smooth drive (by paying lots of tolls to ensure that we arrive on time), we got to Kampung Penchala and from there on, it was … how should I put it … an interesting drive that can only be done with very specific directions that we obtained from Bayan Indah. The instructions were something along the lines of “when you see a large bins on the right, turn left, drive on straight and you will see a left turn with yellow houses on the left and right” (those were not the actual instructions but you get the idea). And guess what! We were the first from our group to arrive! Upon arrival and entering the very serene “resort”, I was immediately rejuvenated even after having started my day early in the office.

The place was so well looked after and a very “tidy” jungle retreat. As it was drizzling, we went to the main function area where the tables have been laid out and free flow of coffee was made available. One thing I must say, although the coffee was instant coffee, being the an area surrounded by lush green “forestry" and with the slight drizzle … the coffee tasted so goooood.

I will not say too much about the place, it is just a very pleasant place to “retreat” to if you have been spending your time in the city, visiting malls, living in the concrete jungle, stuck in traffic jams … well, this is definitely a place worth visiting.

As it is a culinary retreat, part of our X’mas party was also to prepare the food ourselves. To keep it short, my experience is beyond my expectations as firstly, they have a kitchen that was so inviting and so well laid out; secondly, our main host (Rohani Jelani) and her assistants were so patient and made the whole experience very relaxing and enjoyable; and thirdly, our group was just great! lively with some starting out shy about their lack of cooking experiences (but hey, just look at what they came out with in the pictures below!).

My station (above), the person who ended up without a proper recipe and a super-duper large fish with a vegetable that I have never cooked before!

Ok, enough about my “handiwork”, here are some other “professionals” at work!

Ok, ok … can’t help it … here’s MY FISH again …

Back to other creations!

To get much better pictures from the event and to know more about Bayan Indah, you can visit their website at www.bayanindah.com or even better follow them on Facebook!

As for the location … contact them to setup your culinary retreat! It is definitely well worth the experience and I will definitely try to get back there again.

Which Premium Compact Camera? XZ-1, LX-5, S95 or Sony HX9V!

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 07:03:00 +0000

After dropping the idea of the EVIL cameras as they are not as portable as I would like them to be (a kinda neither here nor there situation for me), I have been toying with the idea of a premium compact camera. However, I find the cost is a little prohibitive for my light pocket !

Lately, I have reading reviews of these cameras on www.dpreview.com (one of my favourite gear review sites) and they have a comprehensive Panasonic Lumix LX-5, Canon G12 and Nikon S7000 shootout, coupled with an in-depth review of the Olympus XZ-1.

As you noticed, I am leaning towards the Olympus XZ-1, mainly because of the super large aperture (f1.8 – 2.5) even at the telephoto end! and the hotshoe for external flash. However, it is a tad too large in my opinion and the Lumix LX-5 seems to fit the hands better.

Anyway, it seems that the major players are coming up with large aperture premium “compacts” (they are after all not that small!), including Samsung … but I find it interesting that Sony doesn’t have a similar product (or am I wrong?). Their latest being the 16MP HX9V, which seems like a superzoom camera to me and nothing fancy about it …

Waiting for Sony’s premium … when? what? … or are they going to position the NEX-3 as the alternative?

Sigma Announces Price Reduction for 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 07:20:00 +0000

Does it really effect Sony users? Well, not really as the price for the non-OS lenses were already at this price range … yeah, the advantage of having in-body image stabilizer, cheaper third party lenses anyway!

The lens have seen a downward price reduction of USD300, which I guess we will not see as much a reduction on the street price, probably half of that amount? Latest price check on B&H photo states that they are selling it for USD1,399 (which is the price announced by Sigma, reduced from USD1,699). Nevertheless, it will make it a more attractive alternative for most users (including myself). I wonder if they have also reduced the price for the 50-150mm F2.8 … to complement my current 18-50mm F2.8 on the Canon …

Fo Guang Shan (FGS) Dong Zen Temple Lantern Festival 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:22:00 +0000

I was meant to visit FGS Dong Zen Temple last year, however, after spending a little too much time at i-City, I was not able to make it. This year, a last minute decision to go over to Klang-Banting area for our family dinner, I suggested that we pay this place a visit. It took us around 45 minutes from Petaling Jaya, via the Damansara Toll, via Elite Highway, to Kesas and we took an unusual turn off after Bukit Rimau instead of using the Klang-Banting road. We got there around 6:30 pm and … and … it was CROWDED!

As we were a little “early”, the lanterns and the festivities haven’t started. You can stroll around and the place to try to get to early is the floral display at the rear of the temple (after the toilets). There are giant orchids, which unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of them.

Other than the lantern and flora displays, there is a mini fun-fair setup, with a ferries wheel, a mini fun ride and a mini train ride. You will need to buy tokens for these. The ferries wheel (it’s called the Balloon Wheel) seem to be the most popular, 3 tokens for adults and 2 tokens for children (1 token = RM2).

I would however, suggest that if you do pay this place a visit, the best time would be around 7:00 pm when the lights come on. The huge lanterns and other displays are quite pretty.

Of course, ushering the Year of the Rabbit, there are numerous displays of the rabbit everywhere.

Is it worth going? Yes, but bear in mind that it is crowded! (Will upload location and some driving hints if there are requests – currently, my Internet connection is slow )

CES2011: Sony A700 Replacement and 7 New Lenses Expected for Sony NEX

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:06:00 +0000

In addition to the ever eluding Sony Alpha A700 replacement, Sony has also showcased some mock up lenses for the Sony NEX series, or rather the E-Mount Lenses. The latest rumours of the A700 replacement (maybe named A800) are;

15 MP Sensor
100-12800 ISO
6.5 fps
23 AF points
HD 1080

What is probably more interesting is that there are no less than 7 new E-mount lenses expected for the Sony NEX series. It seems that it will effectively cover nearly all the basic needs for prime portrait lens, macro lens and even G lenses (Sony premium lenses).

Well, my current interest is still the Olympus XZ-1 compact with a FAST F1.8 – 2.5 aperture for it’s 4x zoom range. That’s interesting …

Is it time for an EVIL camera?

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:48:00 +0000

I find that travelling with a DSLR on short trips has its pros and cons. Of course, the good thing about it is that it captures a much wider dynamic range for sceneries (well, I am using scenery as a simple word for both street photography and landscape photography), is generally better for low light photography where using a harsh flash may just not be a good thing and the ability for manual controls to sometimes be a little creative. However, it is also a bane at times as you will need to lug it around with you.

So, the thought of not loosing those advantages whilst travelling seem to lead us to the EVIL cameras. They are not exactly EVIL, but stands for Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens cameras. These are the Olympus PEN, Panasonic GF-1/GF-2, Sony NEX and Samsung’s NX-10 cameras. In fact, some of them even boast the same or even more superior sensors than entry level DSLRs. However, you do loose some useful buttons for quick setup changes on the cameras with them.

Anyway, now for those who are like me … HERE is a new reason! Although it is not my preferred travelling destination, but this may happen in various places around the world. Recently, I was stopped from taking a picture about 50 metres away from the US Embassy in Ho Chi Minh City and I think if I wasn’t using a DSLR, no one would have noticed it anyway!

Or maybe a good compact camera such as the Panasonic LUMIX LX-5 or a Canon S95 would be more convenient?

[Rumours] Panasonic GF-2 … tomorrow?

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:40:00 +0000

Following the success of the Lumix GF-1, Panasonic is expected to launch the Lumix GF-2 tomorrow … did I say tomorrow? Actually, I am not sure, but generally most launches, whether they are cars, property or even cameras seem to occur on a Thursday :-)

Together with the GF-2, it is also expected that Panasonic will launch a 50mm equivalent lens (is that 25mm in 4/3 speak?) and rumours has it that it will be so compact that it will rival that of it’s own offering, the Lumix LX-5! Of course, it has a larger sensor but with the same megapixel … 12MP. Not much other information available but expect it to be priced similarly to the GF-1. Will the GF-1 see a price drop or will it be replaced?

What’s interesting with this model. It seems that it will have a built-in EVF and it is positioned at the side. This makes sense as the camera is small and hence there is a need for the shutter to be far enough from the EVF. It is also suppose to have a repositioned pop-up flash that is much like a DSLR, in that it is above the lens mount.

For those who are interested … I believe this patent filing document will give you an idea of what to expect.

KL Photography Festival (KLPF)

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:44:00 +0000

Better now than never. Ok, there is this large exhibition going on at the Mid-Valley Exhibition Center that is hosting more than 50 photography related exhibitors for this weekend. These include the normal suspects; Nikon, Canon, Benro, Lowerpro, Epson, Fujifilm …. but, but … also Sigma! Sony! and a few other unusual exhibitors for these type of trade shows.

I for one, who have been avoiding Mid-Valley for weekends, will not be going. That is for sure. However, for those who loves an adventure in traffic manoeuvring and experts in special parking areas, there are lots of activities lined up. These include;

Sigma New Lens Part I - Steve Chong
The Olympus PEN as an every day camera by David Chua
Sony Alpha “The Moment” by James, and
Lots of Model Shooting opportunities

Have fun and do give leave your comments here after you visited KLPF! Doesn’t have to be about photography, but the whole idea of having a trade show in a place where even without anything happening on the MVEC, it is already a nightmare place to go to …

Pre-view of 5 new Lotus cars, the Elan, Elise, Eterne, Esprit and Elite

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:13:00 +0000

Wow … with the on-going saga on Lotus vs Lotus (to be exact Team Lotus vs Lotus Group), Lotus Group has unveiled 5 new Lotus cars. Ok, technically 4 more new Lotus cars as the Elite was already disclosed a few weeks back. Starting from the £35,000 Elise to the £120,000 Eterne, the expected range of cars are:-

Esprit … yes, the name of the legendary James Bond Lotus Esprit is back in 2013
Elan, an everyday sports car, that is also expected in 2013
Elite, the Aston Martin looking car, that was earlier unveiled and is expected in 2014
Elise, the most affordable model which is expected in 2015
Eterne, a four-door sports sedan that is also expected in 2015

The Esprit!

The Elise!

The Elan!

The 4 Door Eterne!

Oh … before someone says I forgotten one model … there is a Lotus everyday car that is based on the Concept Proton Emas as well. But that’s not that interesting as these other 5 models … ;-)

More on A700 replacement at Photokina 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Tan) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 17:04:00 +0000

Found this video that seems to be captured and uploaded to YouTube by What Digital Camera. It may be of interest to those (like myself) who have been waiting … and waiting … and waiting for the A700 replacement.

Well, not sure what to think but partially still a little sceptical on the use of SLT and hence an electronic viewfinder on a DSLR. Oh, note … a new Flash in addition to lenses will soon be available too :-)