I've got the news from everyone on the net that the petrol price will increase. And I've seen ppl queing up in the petrol station to fuel up their tanks while their engines are still on. How much can these people save? Din they know that while waiting for the long que, and driving to the petrol station also cost money?


(Star pix)TAKEN BY SURPRISE: Motorists queueing up at a petrol station in Petaling Jaya to fill up their tanks as news of the increase in fuel price reached them Monday night.

For me, I didn't take drive out to fuel up because the only way I can save money is by driving less, cycle more. I've seen people drive to school where the school is just 5 minutes walk from their house. I can understand if they are girls, but I'm not sure why these guys are such "Prince of Candles" (a.k.a. Puteri Lilin)

Advice to my readers: Walk more, a little exercise will bring u a long way, and keep the environment clean.

Not all collaboration, but half the industry is moving this way. Here's what I've seen recently in the photography industry (1st in the industry)

Canon:
(a)FF sensor: EOS 1Ds MkII, EOS 5D means larger pixel pitch, lesser noise
(b)EF 28-70mm f2.8 IS: I don't find this any useful. No one would be needing the IS on such short focal length
(c)optimized CMOS sensor, Image Stabilizer, & DO Element (thanks yrh0413)

Nikon:
(a)200D: A huge leap & highly acclaimed semi-pro dSLR
(b)Macro with VR: Very useful, since 1:1 Macro have paper thin DoF
(c)11.1x zoom with VR: a walkabout lens which is able to do practically everything (photographically)

Panasonic + Olympus + Leica:
(a)Dust Removal: most useful tool, i think every dSLR should have
(b)4/3 system: suitable for shooting portraits

Konica Minolta + Sony:
(a)Image Stabilizing is on the CCD instead of lenses

Pentax + Samsung:
(a)Erm...Schneider lens??? Can't say much. But i heard a D200 competition might be coming up soon.

Fujifilm:
(a)SuperCCD: Store great details of both highlights and shadows.

Who will win the war? I'll say SIGMA corp.

Sigma have been coming out with new lens at least every 2 weeks. They have just announced 5 more lens for 4/3rd system. And they have new 70-200 DG HSM Macro, which might be my next target lens.

with all these new toys coming out, I might save up the money from going for a "graduation trip" and opt to get a decent lens instead. Sepang GT will be at the end of June, I'll really need to save up enough money for at least a RM1550 Nikkor AFD 80-200 f2.8 for this year's event.

I'm not sure how many of you still remember the advertisement where the kampung people work together to assemble a wooden house, and with the help of everyone, they moved the whole house into place.

I've never really seen such kind of team spirit before. I wonder if anyone who have malay friends can help me to ask around for such an event. I'll really loved to witness such a heritage/culture.

To get more information, I've sent an email to heritage-asia.com . Hopefully they will give me some satisfactory response. Crossing my fingers.

Is smallville production out of budget? The intro part where a cyborg Victor (guest star Lee Thompson Young) was running away from the lab in LutherCorp. The place was all run down and they tried to use a car park as a backdrop. I do admit that their photographers are great in bringing out their highlights, the rays, and the colors are saturated. But please, find a better place to shoot ur scenes. There are people who are really picky in these terms.

Anyway Allison Mack has start to reveal some of her assets in this series. Usually her great body is hidden under thick jackets when she's fully wrapped up. But on this episode, she's wearing a low cut top which reveals quite a lot of clevage. Go girl! At least there is smth to look upon this episode.

A word that is synonym to f*ck, but is used to write an Engineering research paper. Languages does make difference in this world i suppose.

“Compression Ignition by Air Injection”, the “CIBAI” cycle.

Source: Josh Chong

I'll be having a 9.30am interview with Robert Bosch tomorow morning. But I'm still here reading and blogging about cameras. When will this camera mania end??? I think I'll die of tiredness taking pictures, or hunger as I might spend all my hard earn money on studio lights, and to feed my greed to purchase a digital back like the Phase One P45.

Thank god I've sold away my S1 IS that time as the price of the unit will dramatically drop again after Canon annonce their S3 IS today. It's not uncommon for cameras to upgrade, but consumers will just put down their money for newer gadgets to play with/show off. I believe YeeJen will be very happy with his FZ30 even after reading this, as his Panasonic camera has a ring zoom instead of Canon's S-series electronic zoom. I'm also glad that I've choosen the Nikon camp even after reading the announcement of Canon's EOS 30D, which is nothing compared with the Nikon D200.

Nikon have made a great strategy in keeping it's customer's benifits by providing top class products. Canon however, have a good marketting plan where they emphasis on "upgrading" and encourage their customers to buy more thinks, and sell things at cut throat prices especially the "L" lenses. Their 18-55mm f2.8 IS is a mere upgrade as compared with the DX lens that Nikon announced 2 years ago. Nothing "WOW" about that anyway. Even their 85mm f1.2 is a refurbished lens with a new name.

The only thing that comes "new" might be integrating IS technology into their IXUS series. But Panasonic already have that long ago in their FX cameras.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How about let's hear what Nikon have to say today. "Hm...how do you like a Macro lens with VR?" A macro lens with VR??? Isn't that perfect? With a maximum aperture of f2.8, VR, and reproduction ratio of 1:1 (1.6:1 as of 1.6x crop factor)... Nikon just open another wide opportunity to a better photography experience! But I don't think this luxury lens comes cheap. I'll try to use a Tamron SP90 first before even thinking of getting this one.

Footnote: Not that I don't like my S1 IS, but it's that Canon have been way too "commercialized" these days.

"RM30 again for model shooting?" That was my response when I first got invited by chyeo to go for another photoshooting at Tengkera. I din ask why, how or who. Why I agree is that I haven't been going out with this group of photographers for quite some time. The previous model shooting with them was a disaster. The night before the shooting I messaged him, " Don't want go can ar?". But after getting to know that it's a studio shootout, I give in.

I followed Ricky's car there as I don't know the location of the studio. The place is just a 2 storey shop lot located on the roadside, the carpets are already coming off, and there are not much displays on the front. Upstairs the girls are still getting ready even after I've finished 3 pieces of Roti Canai waiting for them. They are never ready...as oppose to the Eveready Batteries (now known as Energizers).

Mr Heng starts by introducing us to the lights, the light meter, the settings of the camera and all. We have a lot of auto modes in the camera, but when it comes to studio shooting, everything have to go back to old school Manual mode:- no TTL, no TTL-BL, no matrix metering and all. Thankfully I have my own Nikon SB-600 as my friends who were using Canon 420EX doesn't have manual mode, so their flash was practically useless in such situations. Eventually the have to share the sync-cord among themselves.

When the backdrop was ready, we start some warm up shots with a 1-light system, which he claims was the best. Then we increase our play with more lights, and different backdrops. We faced a huge problem at the start as the models are shy and are not cooperative. But as they warm up, nicer pose came up and by the end of the day, we managed to get back with our memory cards full of photos to edit. Mr Tan and Wen Qi was also helpful among other people. Really thank them for the skills they shared.

Actually RM 30 for such a class is just a small fee for the shop owner (who is also a member of the Melacca Photographic Society). But the lesson I got today really changed me a lot. I'll have more thoughts of which kinda photography I'll be heading for. The only complain I have is that the boss is not willing to lent me his equiptments for the other project i'm working on.

Have been spending all night editing the photos and trying out new tools with the (also all manual) Photoshop CS. Only managed to edit <10 pictures as I'm shooting RAW and I only found out my CCD has dust particles on it when I reach home. Dang! Anyway, here's one I'll like to share with you readers.

The coffee shops have been selling anything from Horlicks, Milo and Syrup juices but never have I seen people selling Ribena anywhere in Malaysia. Packet drinks yes, but not those they mix themselves.

I was really excited once about 4 years ago when i saw a bottle of Ribena on the food court I quickly ordered a cup. But the person says that that bottle is for the kids, my face instantly turn red and I can't find a place to hide myself.

Ribena is a healthy drink which is rich in vitamin C. The coffee shops should start serving Ribena, I'm sure it's a good sale.

I received an assignment from a friend asking me to help him up in doing some product shots for advertisement on magazines. It was really hard at first as I'm not sure what kinda shit I step into. Product photography is a totally different field from capturing People & Landscapes (which i do mostly).

He showed me the effects he wants, and the samples that I need to reached at least. I wasn't sure how to start photographing, not even knowing what price to quote him for such a job. Worse thing is, I don't even know where to start!!!

Right after reaching home, I go online to search for reading materials. There can't seemed to be any samples online, nor anyone discussing about their product shots on all the forums that I've been participating in.

But last night(few hours ago), I was taking pictures for the Night of Celebrations and the play was sponsored by Tupperware (R). The company sponsored a lot of goodies, but one person's junk is another person's treasure. I was so happy while flipping through the pages of the brochures that came with the "door gift". It's a gift from god to give me a good start. More photo taking this weekend then...

I've just received an email from the moderator of MalaysianBlog.net inviting me to participate in their listings. Do spare some time to vote for me. If you are a blogger yourself, you might want to be included in the listings to get more readers. But for me, it's just for friendship.

Malaysians... Wawasan 2020 cononnya...

TM Net [Wikipedia]

It's already been since my grandpa passed away. Was watching some drama talking about Fathers Day. I remember Grandpa will be having his birthday around fathers day. I really miss you grandpa.

Note: I've updated my Gallery from version 1.5.2 to version 2.0.2. The contents are all yet to be uploaded and sorted properly. Do be patient while I make the ammendments.

Celebrated this day at Page One. Nice place. Made a movie from the pictures i took the other day. Do download and take a look. Peace!