Benny's little blog

Dim Sum at the Red Star

2016-08-08T09:00:00.000+08:00

Red Star Dim Sum Restaurant

An old school feel of an old Chinese Dim Sum Restaurant near Chinatown Singapore, showcases dim sum on pushcart and the old ladies pushing them around the busy and noisy restaurant survives till today.

The Main Entrance of Red Star

Old Lady severing the "Chee Cheong Fun" on her mobile pushcart

People of ages coming to eat the old school dim sum

The last few dim sum before she push them to refill

Has lost quite a bit of crowds even though it's a Sunday lunchtime

The next series of picture will be in colors to show the food in the original state, all photos are sooc (Straight Out Of the Camera)

Carrot Cake (3pics per serving)

Fried Glutinous Rice, very old school taste

Dumpling Soup

Preserve Egg with lean meat porridge

Har Gow (4pics per serving)

Chee Cheong Fun with prawns Hong Kong Style

Char Siew Sou (3 pics per serving)

Hong Kong Style Egg Tart (3pics per serving)

Hong Kong Style Siew Mai

The Chicken Feet, My favorite

Char Siew Bao, the soul of the Dim Sum

Char Siew Bao, Har Gow and Siew Mai are the soul of the Dim Sum, if they are not nice and not up to standard, they are not fit sell.

The Char Siew Bao is good, the bao itself is soft and fluffy, first bite into it, the char siew and the bao dough mix it well and not "dry" when swallowing it.

The Har Gow and Siew Mai are so so only, the standard did drop alot after the old chef are no longer there to produce the finest when they are in peak during the 80s and 90s. Red Star opened in 1974 (The year which I was born) had been around for 40+ years and survives till now. For the old school feel, should come for a visit and feel the back to the past in the 70s

Full of Dim Sums on the pushcart trolley

The Aftermath

One Words, still good and the taste is nostalgia. Cannot go wrong with the feel here.

Olympus macro converter MCON-P02

2016-08-01T09:00:00.000+08:00

Got myself a cheap "Marco Lens" solution. What I did was bought from Amazon Olympus macro converter MCON-P02, converts your normal Lens to "Marco" capable. It is a little adapter, literally take up no visible space in my bag, can transform any of my 3 tiny holy trinity into "Marco" Lens anytime, anywhere.

The "Marco" converter

With the step up/down ring

It can support 37mm and 46mm, because it comes with a step up/down ring, the converter itself is 46mm, the ring convert its to 37mm.

The front element

I own the Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens, It is great for portraits and even general photography. It's minimum focus distance is 50cm. That doesn't let you get close enough to an insect to take a good photo. Add the converter and you can get much closer, about 24cm. The converter makes the 45mm lens even more versatile.

Here are some sample shots I took with my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark 2 with Olympus 45mm f1.8 with the Olympus macro converter MCON-P02.

Olympus 45mm f1.8 with Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on Made in Japan

Olympus 45mm f1.8 without Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on Made in Japan

Olympus 45mm f1.8 with Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on PRO1-D

Olympus 45mm f1.8 without Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on PRO1-D

Olympus 45mm f1.8 with Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on Lumix

Olympus 45mm f1.8 without Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on Lumix

MCONs are fun to have, but it is not for serious Macro Photography, it is for those on budget and hardly take Macro photos.

The Holy Trinity of Micro Four Thirds Lens

2016-07-25T09:00:00.001+08:00

The Holy Trinity of Micro Four Thirds Lens

Many photographers have heard of the “Holy Trinity” for various systems, when asked experienced photographer will say that lenses are a better investment than a new camera body.

Holy Trinity usually means a wide angle lens, a standard short portrait focal lens and a long/portraits focal lens which many blog site, many forums had deem are the Olympus 12mm f2.0 wide angle lens, Panasonic/Leica 25mm f1.4 lens and the Olympus 75mm f1.8 lens. As you can see these 3 lens are not cheap, the cheapest among is the Panasonic/Leica 25mm f1.4, Amazon selling USD $597.99, 2nd hand selling around $600 in Singapore Carousell.

My budget "Holy Trinity" lens are as follow:

Wide angle 28mm equivalent: Panasonic 14mm f2.5 (Around $150*) Reviews
Same viewing angle as the eye 50mm equivalent: Panasonic 25mm f1.7 (Around $200*) Reviews
Portrait lens 90mm equivalent: Olympus 45mm f1.8 (Around $200* but I got it @ $180*) Reviews

*Note: All those 2nd hand price quoted can be found in Carousell Singapore.


My "Holy Trinity"

Tower of the Holy Trinity

Angelo Pelle Leather Strap

2016-07-18T09:00:00.000+08:00

Hand-make in Italy

How many time when you check the bottom of the items you purchase or going to purchase says Make in China? Almost everything in the world is Make in China, not that they are poor quality or something. My iPhone is make in China, my MacBook Air is also make in China. What happen to all the olden days hand make crafts that are pass down thru generations? Here is something hand make, not machine made, not make in China but Italy.

Angelo Pelle, a handcraft company based in Florence, are all hand work following a tradition lasting from hundreds of years. Hand made by some of the most skilled Italian artisans with more then 30 years of experience in this field, with the best tuscan naturally tanned leather (the same one is used by italian and french high fashion brands). Each half case/strap requires one day of work, all process is carefully handmade, the bottom of the case is stitched by hands (not glued to the upper part).

A small pad at the extremely of the wrist strap protect the camera from any scratch.

The hand made goodness

Comes with a soft porch

Vegetable Tanned Leather:
This type of natural tanning proess uses tannin extracted from plants (mimosa, chestnut, quebracho, tara, etc etc). Vegetable tannage is a very old procedure dating back to prehistoric period, a very slow process wich is considered an art. The formulas used by each tuscan tannery is a well kept secret, a result of a careful blending of Tuscan culture and knowledge, passed down through the years from father to son.
Each skin is unique: this uniqueness means that it does not have a uniform appearance, which represents the leather quality. The exclusive material is subject to the same wear as the person who use our half cases, the skin will gradually acquires that worn look who every person get with the life.

tonalities goes from foxy brown to dark brown

extra aged brown color

A Classic hand made Wrist straps with best vegetable tanned leather.

A beautiful leather strap, which will enhance the look of any camera while keeping it securely tied to your wrist. It's also immensely soft, I like the idea of the protective pad which slips between the camera body and the metal loop, ensuring your camera will never get scratched. That's why I choose to use it on my Olympus OM-D E-M10 mark II.

Purchases can be made directly at www.angelo-pelle.com.

Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8 The Portrait Lens

2016-07-11T09:00:00.001+08:00

The Portrait Lens

Mighty tiny lens which many will describe when anyone see it, hold it and shoot with it. The Olympus 45mm f1.8 m.Zuiko looks like a metal lens, but it's made of plastic with a bright silver finish and the mount is made of metal. It is small enough that it can be slipped into a pocket when not in use.

Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8

People who shoot with DSLR would be sucked into the obsession over larger aperture at one point. The lower the F-number, the drooling the lens would be. Fast lenses bring plenty of advantages to general photography situations, and the most important of all is the ability to gather more available ambient light to produce a much more natural, pleasing image. This is evidently useful when shooting under low light conditions, where higher shutter speed can be achieved with larger aperture opening, mainly is to freeze motions and to prevent hand shake blur.

The front view of 37mm

The Olympus 45mm f1.8 m.Zuiko is a very sharp lens, wide open at f1.8, the central region of the image is tack-sharp, there are not much difference in stopping down to f2.0, from f2.8 onwards the lens is as sharp as sharp gets. It is sharp all the way through to f16, where a slight hint of diffraction limiting is present, but it is still very sharp even at this aperture. At f22 there is only very slight softness across the frame. You’ve seen a lot of professional-level photos with sharply rendered subjects and artistic defocused backgrounds. This is the lens that will help you achieve the same kind of shots. It’s especially good for portraits, but also works well for stills, action and video.

The Olympus 45mm f1.8 m.Zuiko is really a mighty tiny lens. The 45mm f1.8 is an affordable fixed focal length prime lens that’s bright enough to excel in low-light interiors, fast enough for pro-quality action shots, and second to none when it comes to creating the lovely defocused background effects you want in your portraits.

The creamy bokeh

The Crop of the above photo

Photographers who shoot a lot of portraits and still-lives are always seeking good bokeh. Lenses with relatively shallow depth of field – like the 45mm – are especially well suited to capture the combination of tack-sharp subject and beautifully soft, defocused background that exemplifies bokeh. One of this lens’s most interesting features is the unique-to-Olympus Movie & Still Compatible mechanism, or MSC. This technology provides amazingly fast – and nearly silent – autofocus operation. You’ll really notice the benefit when you play back your HD video and the only thing you hear is the ambient background noise in the scene you were filming; what you won’t hear is the sound of the lens focusing. This lens is perfect for tracking action. With MSC and the super-bright f1.8 aperture, you can film a school play or indoor sporting event in low light and still get excellent results.

I'm reviewing base on real world hands on, as a tools. There will be no charts or numbers, I find them pointless.

Test Photo shot with Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8 using Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, first we test the sharpest that this lens can be.

45mm @ f1.8, Photo Mode Natural

Crop of the above original photo

See how sharp this lens is, under the right condition, it can give a sharp image. More of the photos as per below.

The liquid green

The Vegetable green

The Carrot orange

The mixture of colors

The mischievous


45mm @ f1.8

45mm @ f1.8

In short, it’s a great addition to your Olympus photographic system.

Another underrated gem Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 ASPH LUMIX G

2016-07-04T09:00:00.000+08:00

Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 ASPH LUMIX G

Some people are disappointed by the aperture because of its only f2.5 which is slow for a prime lens. But the size and weight is number one (1), Japanese made product are well known in the world as reliability and quality. Although it is made mostly from plastic, but the mount is made in metal. The focus ring is smooth and easy to operate, auto focus is fast and accurate.

Panasonic 14mm f2.5

Front View

Panasonic 14mm produce relatively sharp wide open , the sharpness came from the center of the lens whereas the corner are softer. The lens can at times have heavy chromatic aberrations near the corners with back-lit objects The wide angle field of view forces you to get close to your subject and capture the context scene, once you are close enough, it produces a creamy shallow depth of field. 28mm wide angle really great for street shooting.

I'm reviewing base on real world hands on, as a tools. There will be no charts or numbers, I find them pointless.

The test shot for the Panasonic 14mm f2.5 ASPH Lumix G.

14mm @ f2.8, Picture Mode: Natural

Crop from above picture

This lens really not bad, for the price and sharpness. Really small pancake size, drop in your pocket and off you explore the world. With sharp results and only slight issues with CA, the 14mm has produced a very nice walk-around lens because it’s so small and light, you won’t feel like you are carrying a full bag marching with you when you go out shooting. Especially after a long day of walking around, everyone will appreciate the weight they carry.

Somemore photos from the 14mm.

14mm @ f2.5, Picture Mode Natural

Bokeh, nice and round

More bokeh, creamy round

14mm @ f2.8, Picture Mode Natural

14mm @ f2.5, Picture Mode Natural

I'm very satisfy with image quality of the lens, its sharp, be it f2.5 or f2.8, the fast focus although at the max aperture of f2.5, its move fast and lock on quickly. Most importantly, its cheap. Even you lost it, drop it or spoils it, doesn't matter, get another one and replace it without having heart pain. The 14mm is always on my E-M10 Mark II wherever I bring it out. One of my always must have to bring out favorite lens.

Introduce a cheap and good Mirco Four Third Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 ASPH LUMIX G

2016-06-27T09:00:00.000+08:00

When I was looking for a wide-angle prime lens, first thing came to my mind is Olympus 25mm f1.8 this one is topped on my list. Olympus Singapore is selling $598, street price in other camera shop is selling around $550, 2nd hand is selling around $350 - $400 in clubsnap. The price is ok if you compare with Sony prime lens, lets see the Sony line up, the SEL range equivalent to the M43 are the 16mm and 20mm but they are of f2.8, cost around $399 and $349. The lower f factor prime lens are 28mm f2.0, 50mm f1.8 and the Zesis 24mm f1.8, except for the 50mm, the rest are expensive. Done comparing with Sony. Lets get back to Micro 4/3.

Panasonic 25mm f1.7

Olympus and Panasonic are both a Micro 4/3, so when I was researching the price, I was surprise that Panasonic cost only fraction of Olympus!! Official Panasonic selling $349, anyway I got it at $200 brand new from someone in carousell Singapore.

With the cheap price you would not expect Leica-like quality in terms of build, the lens is make of matte black plastic that is well assembled and shows no flimsiness or creaking. With plastic exterior, rear ends is a metal mount. Focus is internal, so the length of the lens won’t change during focusing. The lens is so light you will have to check if it’s actually mounted on your camera.

Panasonic gives a nice hood and we will definitely need it. To install the hood you have to remove the decorative ring on the lens, the hood is reversible so it will not occupy that much more space in the bag, and the cap is of the center pinch type, so you will be able to easily fit it on the lens even when the hood is on.

Front View

The Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 features a fast and fairly quiet lens motor, and can focus as close as 0.25m. Focus is acquired nearly instantly on my Olympus OM-D E-M10 II, even in lower light. The lens is rather quiet when focusing, but it isn’t completely silent, some soft clicking sounds can be heard from the lens, which may be audible on video if shooting in quiet rooms, but otherwise will not be a distraction.

Hear a lot that the Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 produces images with good sharpness at most working apertures, including at f/1.7. For shooting shots of people or closer subjects, you’ll find the lens can render high levels of resolution, though it falls a bit short of the very best optics here. Sample of the photos as below shot from my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with the Panasonic 25mm f1.7 lens.

I'm reviewing base on real world hands on, as a tools. There will be no charts or numbers, I find them pointless.

25mm @ f1.7 Aperture Priority, Enhance picture style

Crop of the above picture

Sharpness is pretty good at f/1.7 because it doesn’t seem to improve too much upon stopping down. Slight increase in sharpness can be seen at f/2.8 and f/4 and this shows predominantly even sharpness across the frame, with some minor softening in the corners. While there are certainly sharper lenses around, the 25mm f/1.7 is going to give you plenty of resolution in most any situation. Lets sum all up, for a very sensible sum of money, Panasonic offers you a lens with good albeit not outstanding optics, what’s more important is it manages to avoid any image resolution flaws.

Bokeh!!

25mm @ f1.7, Picture Mode Natural

The Panasonic 25mm f1.7 prime lens produces very sharp images with very nice bokeh, but not very creamy tho. It focuses quickly and accurately and and despite it’s low price, it hangs with the equivalent product from Olympus. It’s a great bargain and would make a great addition to any kit lens, specially for anyone on a budget. It will be my 50mm equivalent everyday lens.

Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ

2016-06-20T09:00:00.000+08:00

Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 on OM-D E-M10 Mark II

When was the last time you heard people praising the kit lens, for their sharpness, the stunning colors and overall image quality? Kit lens is something most people would not stay with very long after they bought their first system camera, many looking for options to upgrade to L Lens from Canon, Zesis/G Master Lens from Sony or even Olympus Pro Zoom/Prime lenses. Well you cannot blame them, most of the kit lens bundle together with entry level camera and some of the mid-level to higher level APS-C DSLR cameras performing less than mediocre.

But I can tell you that not for the case of Olympus kit lens, at first I was skeptic when friends using the Olympus commending about it and to be honest before I bought my OM-D E-M10 Mark II, I was already looking at the Pro zoom lens and Prime lens to replace the kit lens. When I got the OM-D E-M10 Mark II on a Saturday morning, I was together with my family. We are going "kai kai" with the kiddos, so I thought I just use first, maybe next week change the kit lens.

After a long day out with the kiddos, and massive shooting with them, I was speechless. They are so good (a bit slow on focusing) that I thought the shop had mistakenly given me a more premium type of zoom lens. I check and recheck and read the description on the lens itself!! Well, pictures really show more than a thousand words.

All of the test shots were captured with the Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ pancake kit lens using Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, shooting in JPEG Large Fine only, I used aperture priority exposure modes and the Natural picture style for the first 2 photos and Enhance picture style for the other 2 photos.

I'm reviewing base on real world hands on, as a tools. There will be no charts or numbers, I find them pointless.

Natural picture style, 18mm @ f5.6, Aperture Priority

Crop of the above original photos

Enhance picture style, 14mm @ f10, Aperture Priority

Corp of the above original photo

Look at the sharpness, you no need any pro lens to do that. Olympus kit lens can do the job nicely. Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ is so good, right out of box, even better than my Sony A350 kit lens 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 when I first purchase it in 2008.

Test Shots

HDB Flats

Bus stop

The Intern

The Canteen

Work Place

Lego Nexo Knights

Marche Green Cows

Winner

Beginners, amateurs or even pros of photography, when you first got your camera system, and the kit lens bundles with the camera, did your friends started to psycho you on how the kit lens suck and they even how-lian (show off) you images from their higher grade lenses. They went on and on to you how sharp their lenses were, and how they can produce more "pro" look, which you know that your lousy kit lens cannot. Then you start to loose interest in using the kit lens, and march to the camera store to buy that Pro and Premium Zoom lens that you had been poison to, so that you can do what your peers can do? Give it a try first, shoot it for a week or two then decide whether to upgrade or hold. I'm still holding it, didn't get any Pro zoom lens yet, only 2 prime lens and they are very cheap to begin with. Will do a review with test shots on the 2 prime lens.

Next article will do a review/test shots on one of the budget Prime lens. So see you all next week

My New Mirrorless Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II

2016-06-13T09:00:00.000+08:00

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II

Reading reviews upon reviews of different brands of Mirror-less camera, finding one that does not burn a hole in your pocket, must have similar features that are found on my Sony A350 DSLR, like having Super SteadyShot in-camera body image stabilization (offers from 2.5 to 3.5 stops of compensation). This feature is very important to me, it really helps me reduce blur image when handheld. Many bad photos that appear to be out of focus or blur are actually caused by camera shake. Sony seems to have upgraded their Super SteadyShot (Approx. 2.5 EV - 4.5 EV decrease in shutter speed). And SSS only available for their full fledged DSLR A Mount Series. But I do not want another bigger and heavier DSLR, my A350 is already very heavy liao and together with the SAL16-50mm f2.8, weighting like a ton.

Shortlisted a few of the Mirror-less, Sony A6300 and Sony A6000, but both models don't have the Super SteadyShot. A7II had sensor shift something like SSS, but it's a full frame and the cost!!! Fuji film X-T10 which my friend recommend me, had the retro looks, but no image stabilization.

I'm reviewing base on real world hands on, as a tools. There will be no charts or numbers, I find them pointless if you don't understand. To be honest, I don't.

Finally Olympus OM-D series caught my eyes.

The Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II launched in August 2015 is the only entry class Mirror-less Interchangeable Lens Camera with 5-axis image stabilization. Replacing Olympus OM-D E-M10, having most features of both E-M5 Mark II and E-M1. The E-M10 Mark II also uses the similar 16-megapixel image sensor and processing engine Truepic 7 as the E-M5 Mark II. And what's caught my eyes is the reminisce of my dad's Olympus OM-1 camera. He loves to take pictures of us, and always bring it with him whenever we went out to the beach and parks as it is quite nimble to use. And that camera was always imprint in my memories.

Do they looks alike?

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II

Olympus OM-1

Let's talk about the E-M10 Mark II, design looks retro like the older model of OM 1 series, which is available in both all black and silver/black. E-M10 Mark 2 has many big dials on the top, reminds of the older days film cameras. The body is a mix of poly-carbonate and metal, with a metal internal frame covered by body of mixed materials. A leather-textured surface is layered onto the metal exterior for design full of sophistication. This classic style is the very same that Olympus has been using on interchangeable lens cameras since the beginning. Small enough to carry with you, and with a stylish design that you want to carry it around everywhere.

The OM-D words

Those big big dials

E-M10 Mark II's mark

The main features of the OM-D E-M10 Mark II: 5-axis image stabilisation, AF Targeting Pad, Large Electronic ViewFinder, Creative Photo Functions, Build-in WIFI

pitch (1), yaw (2), horizontal and vertical translation (3/4) and rotation (5) by moving its sensor.

Nightscapes: Roll

The E-M10 Mark II uses in-body image stabilization for compensating for camera roll that tends to occur when shooting nightscapes. (Roll cannot be compensated for on competitor interchangeable lens cameras with in-lens image stabilization)

Macro: Shift

Shift tends to occur during macro shooting. With the E-M10 Mark II, shift is reduced for beautiful macro photos. (Shift cannot be compensated for on a competitor interchangeable lens camera with general in-lens image stabilization)

Telephoto: Angular shake

Angular shake tends to occur during telephoto shooting. With the E-M10 Mark II, beautiful photos with virtually no angular shake are possible even during telephoto shooting.

Single-handed: Angular shake, roll

When shooting with a single hand, angular shake and roll occur more easily. However, angular shake and roll can drastically be reduced when shooting with the E-M10 Mark II.

AF Targeting Pad

The OM-D E-M10 Mark II is equipped with AF Targeting Pad, so you can simply touch the subject on the rear monitor to instantly snap a photo of the subject or you can trace your thumb along the rear monitor while looking through the viewfinder to quickly set a focus point, after the AF position is determined, press the shutter button halfway to focus. With a short shooting time lag and quick touch response, you can always capture the moment you're waiting for. Olympus AF system has been known to be super fast and accurate and this continues in the E-M10 Mark II.

The touch screen

Large, Easy-to-see Electronic Viewfinder

The E-M10 Mark II comes with a large, easy-to-see electronic viewfinder with 100% field of view. With this, you can shoot while confirming what the finished photo will look like. OLED electronic viewfinder provides high-resolution at 2.36 million dots. The 100% field of view display is larger than that of same-class interchangeable lens cameras. The optical viewfinder on most SLR cameras makes it difficult to see in dark situations, but the electronic viewfinder on the E-M10 Mark II gives you clear vision even in dark areas. Because the viewfinder optimizes brightness no matter what lens is attached, you can shoot night scenes exactly as you want. You can shoot while confirming the brightness, colour balance, and vividness in the viewfinder. This helpful function is not available in an optical viewfinder found on DSLRs.

Inside of the electronic view finder

Creative Photo Functions

The OM-D E-M10 Mark II is packed with functions for capturing creative photos. Capture the rich personality hidden in normal, everyday scenes. Art Filters expand your artistic expressions. Add creative Filters to both movies and still images. Art Effects give a further level of depth to the appeal of Art Filters. You can create more stand-out pictures that match your shooting intentions and enjoy easily capturing creative expressions that go beyond your imagination. Photo Story lets you capture multiple images of the same scene in a single photo to tell a story. Using touch operations on the rear monitor, you can change the composition, add accents to colors, and combine multiple photos to create a single work of art.

The Menu

This OM-D E-M10 Mark II is equipped with Live Bulb so you can create works of art by drawing light trails with a penlight, etc. You can confirm your progress on the rear monitor, making the process easier. For scenes that get too bright overall when using Live Bulb, you can use Live Composite, which merges images using just the newly bright areas for beautiful light trails. As with Live Bulb, you can confirm your progress on the LCD monitor.

WIFI

The OM-D E-M10 Mark II has built-in Wi-Fi for easy connection to a smartphone. With this feature you can quickly share images stored on the camera. You can also control the camera, add location information acquired on the smartphone to images, and apply Art Filters to recorded images.

With the 14-42mm kit lens

Final Thought

I'm definitely did not regret getting the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, it is lighter, smaller and can take sharp pictures of my kids and stuffs. Although it is small, but it fits nicely on my hand, handling it just feel like any other DSLR. The griping design of the camera body is truly ingenious, using your right thumb and the last 3 fingers to support the body, while your index finger is free to snap away on the shutter button. Using 1 hand to compose, focus and snap, it's so effortlessly. Maybe it's time for my Sony A350 DSLR to be retired in my dry cabinet for the time being. Don't get me wrong, the Sony A350 of it's age still can work wonders, still produces stunning pictures, just that it did not really fit into the new photographic world of weight, size and speed.

Next article I will do a review/test shots on the Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ pancake kit lens, so see you next week.

New Camera, new system, new life

2016-06-06T10:35:00.003+08:00

Hi people, sure a long long time since I update on my blog. Life always get busier and many many commitment to fulfill.

Change of jobs, change of house, have more kids, earning a living in Singapore is not simple. Every things needs money to survive. after little Wayne had reach 1 years old, his little brother little Wallace came to this world. With 2 babies, really had the nightly father duty of making milks every few hours. Thats the experience that no money can buy and a very tiring one,

Changes are inevitable, so does this blog, there will be changes coming up soon. I also change my DSLR system, from Sony A350 which have been with me around 8 years, time to upgrade to new technology, new kind of DSLR, they call it DMLR (Digital Mirror-less Lens Reflex)...hahaha

After numerous of reading thru reviews, Sony, Olympus, Fuji, Panasonic, Nikon, Canon, exclude both Nikon and Canon, sorry, i dun really like (Nikon and Canon). Sony has the most advance Tech in their cameras, world's fastest AF (0.05 sec), auto focus with the world’s most(425) phase-detection AF points, and 4K recording. But do you know, Sony lens are also expensive? I had been using their Alpha System for 8 Years, and their normal cheaper lens are also more expensive then others. Not to say those pro lens which can cost you arms and legs.

In the end, settle with Olympus OM-D system, although they are bit outdated on megapixels, but are you sure you going to develop sure a big poster? The most we develop are 4R or 8R max, where 4R are 1200x1800 Pixels @ 300PPI or 8R are 2400x3000 Pixels @ 300PPI. Olympus/Panasonic Micro four third system had been around since 2008, the technology they use for are mirror-less interchangeable lens digital cameras, camcorders and lenses. More info can be found on http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/index.html

I will do a product intro on the next post and some thoughts of the product I use.

Baby Wayne becoming cuter n cuter as each day pass by

2010-09-16T12:26:00.000+08:00

He is becoming cuter each pass day, making me rushing home from work each everyday...

His expression is priceless

2010-08-16T12:11:00.008+08:00

His priceless expressions make ones forgot his worries and frustration...

I'm a Tiger...roarrrr

where is papa??

Am I cute??

kiss kiss....I want hug hug

Discharge from KK Women's and Children Hospital

2010-07-06T12:07:00.004+08:00

Finally after a few days in the hospital, he can goes home....

He is back home on his new bed....

My New Born Son.....Wayne Wong

2010-07-01T12:02:00.000+08:00

His first cry to this world on the 1st of July 2010, 0936 in KK Women's and Children Hospital, weighting 3.09KG!!! My New Born Son WAYNE WONG

His first cry, and the nurse tells me to count his 8 fingers and 2 thumbs, his 20 toes too...

Look how peaceful he is when a sleep

his a bit awake, peeping thru his eyes...hahaha

he sleeps most of the time

New Design, New life and my new born boy

2010-06-25T14:12:00.001+08:00

Been a year since i last update my blog, busy prepare things for my new born son....

His new bed

His 2nd bed

SunSet @ Changi Beach

2009-08-30T15:29:00.002+08:00

Went to Changi Beach for late lunch and some sunset photos shooting, walking around for some street shots walkabout, the sunset was very nice and the weather is clear and free of pollution....Wish the sunset remains timestill forever, the sight is breath taking, lets the photos do the talking....

After the late lunch, took some stroll along the Changi Beach where the bumboats are setting off to the islands northeast of Singapore.

The small harbour for the bumboats.

Saw 1 couple sitting at the beach, fishing rod at the side, maybe too engross with their future planing together...

The sky they are watching as bumboats passingby them....

Saw a big bird on a tree....waiting to spot his dinner

Red shirt aunty playing sands on the beach, who say only kids can play sands.....

Speed Boats passing thru so fast, I nearly fell off to the sea....

The slower bumboat moving out from the small harbour towards the small islands

Bumboats coming in from the small islands towards the small harbour

This small speed boats is speeding....where's the TP??

The sunset starting at 6:47pm

Had took 3 photos over the 1 mins interval.

Took this @ 7:09pm

@ 7:10pm

@ 7:11pm

The final cropping of the my selected Sunset @ Changi Beach

Some comments pls....thks

All Shot Taken by Sony Alpha DSLR A350

Using

Sony Carl Zeiss 16-80mm lens

Hong Kong Trip in 21 OCT 2008 Day 4 (Part 3)

2009-03-01T12:20:00.000+08:00

The last part of the Hong Kong Trips, continue.......

That's all folks, the trip to Hong Kong is completed. Thinking of going to Taiwan in my next trip.

OK, below here is the photo after I had done some photoshop to it, like the purplish sun setting behind the castle, so Medieval Times feel....so much magical feeling behind, just like Everyone says, Its Full of Disney Magic

All Shot Taken by Sony Alpha DSLR A350

Using

Sony Carl Zeiss 16-80mm lens

Hong Kong Trip in 21 OCT 2008 Day 4 (Part 2)

2008-12-30T20:19:00.001+08:00

Continue from the part 1, now to DISNEYLAND.....

The Entrances to the Disneyland....

Disneyland MTR station

Willy the whale?

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Pluto

Geoffrey

Daisy Duck

Donald Duck

Yes, I'm leaving Today....

Disney's Staff

Where is Alice?

ALIENS!!!!

This is the Toilet, really it is a toilet.

"Live" band musical road show...

To be continue......

All Shot Taken by Sony Alpha DSLR A350

Using

Sony Carl Zeiss 16-80mm lens

Hong Kong Trip in 21 OCT 2008 Day 4 (Part 1)

2008-12-29T22:00:00.000+08:00

Excited, Day 4 is going to where kids loves to go, yes home of MICKEY MOUSE and his gang.....

DISNEYLAND, but first, check out the Disney's Holloywood Hotel, 5 stars hotel in Hong Kong....WOO HOO.....

Leaving my hotel where I stay for the past 3 days.

Sounds familiar....hmm

I see the Disneyland Sign.....woooo

Police road block???

Hong Kong Traffic Police....

Another van bite the dust.....

Disneyland turning left......yay

Nope, this not my hotel, havent reach yet.....

Nice purple color grass....

Look nice, Disneyland Hotel

Yes, Disney's Hollywood Hotel....Tats my hotel...

Mickey's logo everywhere.....

Front entrance of the Hotel Lobby.

Will continue part 2, there will be tons of photos in Disneyland....

All Shot Taken by Sony Alpha DSLR A350

Using

Sony Carl Zeiss 16-80mm lens

Hong Kong Trip in 20 OCT 2008 Day 3

2008-12-28T14:14:00.006+08:00

Day 3, going to Ocean Park and some shopping, not much photos are taken in, so here u are, almost a day in Ocean Park with nice scenery.

Endless flight of escalator.

When I'm in Hong Kong, its hallowing, so they are preparing for the hallowing event.

Meet some school kids out for excursion, look at their young innocent expression.

Very nice blue/green sea

Remind me of kidergartens, where we walk in 2s, holding hands....

Oh...tio snap

Snap this when i was taking a smoke break in the Ocean Park.

Day 3 in Hong Kong, not much sight seeing, just Ocean Park which I spent the whole of morning till mid afternoon, when back hotel to take a rest and came out in the evening for some walkabout in MongKok area and some roadside food stall for some dinner.

Day 4 will be the most interesting, will be going to where home of M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E is

Disneyland

All Shot Taken by Sony Alpha DSLR A350

Using

Sony Carl Zeiss 16-80mm lens

Hong Kong Trip in 19 OCT 2008 Day 2

2008-12-27T11:42:00.004+08:00

Day 2 start out for some famous HK dim sum, on the quest to the recommended restaurant. Here are some authenticate HK dim sum...., will be going to the water-front, the Jardine Market area and the PEAK....hope will have enough time to cover....here are the photos of Day 2 event.

Looks yummy leh....

Took their MTR (aka MRT in Singapore)

They are having MINI meetup at the water-front.

The famous Bruce Lee...

Those are the famous actor/singer I known....

Tired after walking around the water-front for the whole morning, now relax and have some snack before carry on to the next location.

The Jardine road at HK main land, was a busy little market in central.

Took their MTR from Mongkok to Central, to The PEAK.....

The surrounding area to the PEAK.

Waiting in line for the tram to bring us up to the PEAK.....

My favorite actor of all....

HK view from the PEAK is really awsome and breath taking.....

All Shot Taken by Sony Alpha DSLR A350

Using

Sony Carl Zeiss 16-80mm lens

Hong Kong Trip in 18 OCT 2008 Day 1

2008-12-26T08:16:00.010+08:00

Its a long time I havent update my blog, sorry guys. Been busy lately for work and school....Programming was really a nightmare for me, been agonize by it.....well everything is over, exams are over too...woohooo, no more programming. So I reward my self a trip to Hong Kong, here are some of the photos I took there....

This plane took me to Hong Kong, look small.....

First stop, lunch.....

Yummy, wonton mee...woohoo

On my way to buy my long waited Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* Sony DT 16-80mm F3.5 - 4.5 Lens

Also buy my wife's Nikon mount Tamron SP AF17-50mm F2.8 XR lens, finally she can take down those low light photos.

This stall food is nice, cheap some more, like the HK serial drama, those street food....

Have u seen a building just bossini only, only in HK.

Mongkok area is like Orchard Rd in Singapore, so many people,People Mountain People Sea(人山人海)...

Went to this famous shop for some dessert...nice

Mango dessert, think HK ppl like to eat mango dessert more.

My damage for Day 1.

All Shot Taken by Sony Alpha DSLR A350

Using

Minolta 50mm Lens and Sony Carl Zeiss 16-80mm lens

TFCD Model Shoot Daphanie

2008-09-22T10:04:00.003+08:00

Had been invited to a Japanese Restaurant to eat good food and shoot a cute model - Daphanie. Here are some of her photos, enjoy.

All Shot Taken by Sony Alpha DSLR A350

Using

Minolta 50mm Lens @ F2.8

Sony Alpha 900 is OUT!!!

2008-09-10T10:16:00.014+08:00

In the cut-throat digital camera market it's increasingly unusual for products to be shown in prototype form or announced more than a matter of weeks before they hit the stores. There's several reasons for the manufacturers' habit of playing their cards so close to their chests, not least that they can't afford to harm sales of the models they've already released. Sony, the newest 'new kid' on the DLSR block, has no such worries, this being its first proper 'high end' DSLR. In fact, if anything the pressure was on the company to show it was committed to becoming a major SLR system player and that it wasn't going to squander Minolta's long legacy in this market after picking up the assets Konica Minolta shed when it pulled out of the photography market. Thus we saw the first prototype of the Alpha 900 - Sony's flagship full frame digital SLR - back in early 2007 (it appeared behind glass at trade shows such as PMA in March 07), and information has been trickling out ever since; most significantly with the announcement in January of this year of a 35mm full frame CMOS sensor.

And so when Sony finally showed the finished Alpha 900 to us a month or so ago there were few surprises at the basic specification or the appearance of the camera. As we started to dig a little deeper, pore over the fine print and actually use the Alpha 900 we were, however, increasingly surprised - and almost always pleasantly so - at some of the decisions made by Sony's engineers when designing its flagship SLR.

The success of the Alpha 900 among the Minolta, Konica Minolta and Sony faithful seems assured; at a launch price of just shy of USD$3000 it offers a lot of 'bang for your buck' and there is undoubtedly a significant number of Minolta film SLR users who've been waiting years for a full frame digital body on which to use their existing lenses. The challenge for Sony, however, is to generate some interest from people without an existing investment in the Minolta (or subsequent Alpha) system. And on paper the Alpha 900 looks promising - and we're already impressed with the build, handling and viewfinder; we'll find out more about how well it actually performs when we finish our full review. For now enjoy this in-depth preview of the latest addition to the small but growing, exclusive full frame DSLR club.

New lenses

The A900 is launched with two new full frame lenses, the 70-400mm F4-5.6 G SSM and this very nice Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM. Incidentally you can use Sony/ Minolta crop lenses (DT) on the Alpha 900 by switching on the 'crop mode' option.

Reviews from dpreview.com

Walkabout in Little India

2008-09-06T15:28:00.008+08:00

Meetup with fellows Alpha Forum guys @ 9am for a walkabout in Little India, was fun and hot. The rich colors and culture really a must visit for tourist to come visit and walkabout + shoot. The first stop, went to have a hearty breakfast before start of the walkabout.

All Shot Taken by Sony Alpha DSLR A350

Using

Minolta 28-105mm Lens