In Hong Kong it is over $8000hk to purchase , which felt rather high for some goggles and a pair of controllers.

The best way to avoid buying this expensive bit of kit is to NOT go and have a demo of what the Vive can do. I ignored my own advise and decided to go to our HKT store to investigate.

To make a long story short I was rather impressed after the demo. A few months back I was able to try an early beta version of the Oculus Rift. I came away that time perhaps a little impressed, but the quality was very basic and applying the goggles, setting up and usage all felt a little awkward. I must emphasis again though, it was an early beta version. I had a much more impressive and exciting time with the Vive demo. Getting the goggles on was rather quick and easy. The wiring at the back of the headset was a little annoying, but the irritation faded away as you immerse yourself into the VR experience.

I was first introduced to a scene from the movie Jungle Book. I was standing on the branch of a giant tree. The jungle around me was green and lush. It was beautiful. I looked down and I could tell I was really high up….really high. And then this really big snake came to greet me. It got quite close. It’s jaws could cover my entire field of view. And then it was over. My time in the jungle was quite brief, but it was enjoyable. I was totally immersed and I could walk around a little bit too, I could look where ever I wanted to.

Next I was introduced to a Zombie killing demo called The Brookhaven Experiment. This was my first introduction to the controllers. I think this is something quite critical with the VR setup. The Vive controllers work perfectly in tandem with the goggles. Interestingly the first time I used the controllers they looked nothing like their original shape. I was wearing the goggles at the time and the demo assistant handed them to me. I couldn’t see the assistant as I was wearing the goggles. What I saw was a gun and torch floating towards me. When I took the torch it felt just like a torch, the button on the torch corresponded to a button on the controller exactly. When I took the gun, the controller felt exactly like the gun. The trigger on the controller was exactly where trigger of the gun was. The realism was just getting more and more …real. I was a bloody good shooter too! I got to rush around a little rectangular area, I used the torch to shine onto those damn Zombies and blew their heads off with my gun. I felt like a hero! The demo was brief, but was amazing.

At that time the Vive was not available in the stores yet, although I could pre-order. They were arriving “any day”. That was great! I could walk away from it.

The other mistake I made after that was to spend any free moment I had looking for VR stuff on the internet. A friend happened to point me to a game called Hover Junkers . This looked amazing. It is for the on-line multi-player and basically you flew around in your junky looking hover crafts killing each other and finding loot. I could name quite a few games already available with a similar storyline, but I thought this time it was different. These guys were really walking around their craft while flying and at the same time they could really have a gunfight. They could also really duck for cover. Something as simple as ducking for cover was amazing. If you were using a keyboard to play a game, if you needed to duck you would have to press an assigned key. Finger ducking.

All this rambling on is to finally end by saying that when the HTC Vive became available I went out and got one. I also got Hover Junkers and wow! Yes! I could really duck, crouch and walk around my little vehicle and all the while I was scooting around the landscape looting and shooting my opponents. It has really been a very immersing experience. A lot of fun and sometimes tiring experience. I need the aircon going full blast.

I should mention here that the HTC Vive bundle also include tracking sensors that need to be set-up in a room to allow you to walk around. The sensors need to be placed diagonally opposite in an elevated, downward angled position. There is a minimal space requirement of 2×1.5m . I was able to attach my sensors on bookcases in my PC room and was just able to meet the minimal requirement area. Setting up the space was done through SteamVR on Steam. I had no issues setting it up and took about 10 minutes.

I argued earlier with myself that I should check out the Oculus and the Playstation version as well. One thing is HTC Vive already has a very easy and accurate setup to track your movements around the room right now.  The Oculus Rift has no design of a controller that I know of at this moment. The controllers and the Vive headset work fantastically together. The Playstation should have controllers, but I am wondering if the PS4 can cope as well as my desktop. My Desktop is running an i7 core with 16gb ram and a GTX 980ti gpu. My thinking is the games may have more room to grow on my PC at this stage.

I can’t wait to see what the future VR technology will bring. A wireless headset will be high  on the wishlist. The screen resolution will only get better. Consoles and PCs will get more and more powerful. Things are looking great! If you can hold off getting VR stuff now I suspect you will get a choice of some fantastic piece of hardware in the future.

Just don’t go get a demonstration of VR gear.

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My daughter got into the Vive vibe very quickly. Kids can adapt to new things so easily. She enjoyed playing theBlu and the Waltz of the Wizard

Sigma has just released a new firmware update 1.01.

It appears to address the issue of the non-functioning of lenses in continuous mode. They stated the upgrade works for the “non-compatible” lenses.
As mentioned in my original report I came across this problem with a few of my Canon lenses.|
I am happy to say that the problem appears to have been resolved. I have tried the 24-70mm and the 40mm Pancake lens and they were very well in continuous mode now. I have not tried it on the 100-400mm lens yet, but I am hopeful that this lens will be fine as well. I will report on this one later.

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Last week I was looking everywhere, high and low for the Sigma MC-11 adapter and was so happy to have found it a few days ago. This Sigma adapter foremost allows me to attach my Sigma lenses , with EF mounts made specifically for Canon cameras, to my Sony a7r mk2. Theoretically the adapter can also be used to attach Canon lenses to my Sony camera as well.

I bought the adapter mainly to allow me to attach my Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary EF lens. I already own 2 other adapters made by Techart and Pro-Tama. While these 2 adapters do work with the Sigma Superzoom they only appear to AF to a certain degree and I found the ability to AF was inconsistent. Sometimes there would stop working altogether. They were mostly unreliable at 600mm while trying to focus long range towards infinity. Sigma’s claim that with their Sigma lenses adapted to the Sony cameras using the MC-11, it will allow them to work natively with the camera.

The adapter looks well made and feels quite robust. The quality seems to be in line with a product that has a “Made in Japan” label on it. It actually fits on quite nicely to the Sigma lenses that I have. At a glance you wouldn’t really be aware that the lenses have the adapter attached to it. Apart from the Sigma Superzoom I also have the Sigma Art 50mm f1.4. The new range of Sigma Art, Sport and Contemporary lenses are nicely designed and I think are quite appealing to look at. I have to think the adapter has been designed to adopt the same feel and finish. A nice little touch is the addition of an LED light on the adapter to notify you of compatibility with the lens and adapter. A green light indicates full compatibility. A flashing light indicates compatibility, but a firmware upgraded is needed for the lens. If no light appears it is a warning that the lens may not operate properly with the adapter.

I am happy to report that the Sigma lens appear to have adapted very well to my Sony A7r mk2. All the focus mode and focus area options appear to be available to me. I am most happy with the fact that the AF works very nicely at 600mm even while trying to focus towards infinity. I do own a Canon 5Dm3 for which the Sigma Superzoom is designed for. If I compare the AF speeds of the 2 cameras, then the Canon is still faster. The speed and accuracy that I am getting with the Sony and Sigma seem good enough for my needs, though. The performance of the MC-11 adapter exceeds the performance on my other adapters by a long mile. I have read other users have had problems with continuous AF on subjects when they are coming towards you. It seems that the lens may stop tracking. I have not had a chance to try this out in detail, but this may be an issue.

Some bad news is that I have had some problems with a few of my Canon lenses when used with the MC-11. I have come across camera lockup with some lenses when it is in AF-c and AF-s while the shooting is set to high speed continuous. Unfortunately this is my choice setting for my camera. The lockup can be fixed by setting the camera to single shot or slow continuous, which are settings that I rarely use. It seems to be a problem with the newer released Canon lenses. The Canon lenses that I had this experience with was the EF 24-70mm f2.8 L mk2, EF 100-400mm f4.5-5,6 L IS mk2  and the EF 40mm pancake STM f2.8.

Some good news is that I have other Canon lenses that have performed exceptionally well with no lock ups and they tend to be the older lenses. The ones that have worked include the EF 85mm f1.8, EF 50mm submacro f2.5, EF 135mm L f2, EF 75-300mm IS f4-5.6 and the 70-200mm L IS f2.8.

It would have been nice to have a “one that fits all” adapter, but Sigma did make this for their own lenses. It is good that at least some of the Canon lenses work and quite well too. Fortunately my other adapters perform very well with the Canon lenses that lock up. So at the very least I can carry 2 adapters, which should not be a problem. As the MC-11 is firmware upgrade-able perhaps the lockup will go away with any new subsequent firmware upgrade. For now I am quite happy to have a very capable superzoom to work on my Sony a7r mk2.

The Sony a6300 has arrived in Hong Kong. Compared to the superseded a6000 it is identical in looks, but feels more premium now as it is now clothed in an alloy shell. Compared to the older a6000 it certainly feels more robust.
The a6000 was a great little camera and I expect this one will not disappoint either.

My short play with it gave me a good impression that the AF system is quite accurate. I did a quick pan of the room at 12fps and then examining the last photo,  the centred subject was in focus.

The EVF worked very nicely. To be honest I think the EVF is the mirrorless camera’s secret weapon. I notice very little lag between photos now and unlike the traditional dslr the EVF picture is wysiwyg. In a darkened room for example. a DSLR can not really tell you if the exposure is right through the viewfinder. You would need to go search for the photo and view it on the LCD to confirm that it is the exposure you were aiming for.

Another welcomed feature for many will be the addition of 4K video recording.
Unfortunately the a6300 does not have the 5 axis stabilisation feature that the a7 series has. It has been a very useful feature to have with both photo and video taking on the a7 cameras.

For HKD 8K you get a teeny wee bit of change with your new a6300 and 16-50mm Power Zoom kit lens.  Less 1K for body only.

Equally exciting is the release of the new G-master series lenses. I was hoping to get a glimpse of these lenses, but they have not arrived yet. Will follow up on the lenses soon.

Sony a6300

Source: Apple.com

It doesn’t take long to get the hang of standing on the platform. When you get on the pads click down and the motors are activated. There is an electric motor on each wheel. When you lean slightly forward it will move forwards and lean slightly back to reverse. The platform can twist on it axis at the middle. When you lean to the side the two platforms can twist in opposing directions and this allows you to turn left and right.  Turning is sharp enough to allow you to turn on the spot.

The specifications say that the unit will run for about 20km on each charge. I used it all afternoon without being able to drain the battery, so it seems to run for quite a long while. It is able to go up an incline of about 15 degrees and has a top speed of 10km/h.

They claim it can get wet and I have used it once in the rain. It worked fine then and so far it is working OK right now. My 7 yo daughter can ride it quite easily, but I pad her up with wrist, elbow and knee guards. Oh and helmet. I have had one fall on it and came down a bit hard and bruised my elbow, so caution when you first get on one of these.

It really is a lot of fun and great for doing chores with

The Z Ultra is another Android machine, coming in Jelly Bean flavour. It will be running on a 2.2ghz Qualcomm,  quad core cpu with 2gb of ram and 16gb of usable rom. A slot is available to add a microsd card up to 64gb in size.

Probably the most interesting feature is the full HD screen. It is a massive 6.44 inches in size. That is huge for the smartphone category and uses Sony’s own Triluminous display. Hopefully this means a screen with a stunning display.

I recently got hold of the new Sony Xperia Tablet Z. I am loving this tablet so far.
It comes in as a featherweight at less than 500g and the shape is beautifully thin.
The screen resolution of 1920×1080 is actually higher than my current laptop. I have to say that the screen is lovely

What has surprised me so far is how easily it has adapted to becoming my daily office laptop. I have largely adopted the Googleplex cloud environment now. Spreadsheets and Word documents work very well on Googe Drive now. Gmail works great and seems to do a fine job at filtering spam. I have redirected my personal email and work email address to go through Gmail now as well. Any other apps I need can easily be found on Google Play now. I have found WordPress, Dropbox and Pocket to be especially useful in a cloud environment. The ability to literally share anything to anywhere with Android is a very useful thing. The cloud environment has been really useful for linking all my computers and smartphones together. I find that I can easily switch between different devices and have continuous, uninterrupted information that I have saved for myself.

I have mated the Xperia with a bluetooth mouse and I found a very nicely designed Logitech keyboard which is also connects via bluetooth. The Logitech keyboard is actually made for the iPad tablet, but appears to work fine with my Android Tablet.
Even though the tablet is a touch screen I still find it easier to navigate with the mouse while the tablet is sitting in front of me in an upright position.
The nice thing about this set up is I can just pick up the tablet, untethered by the bluetooth hardware and bring it along with me to lunch or a coffee place and still use the tablet from the touch screen.

The only thing that is missing is Steam and the ability to install Lightroom for Raw file manipulation. I guess I shouldn’t actually need Steam. Recently Adobe has been talking about cloud computing for the photo editing software. I hope this means that they are developing software like Lightroom for tablets.

I think I will try using the Xperia for a few weeks as my sole portable solution and see how it goes. So far it has been working out quite nicely

The document is converted to a pdf document once you have taken the picture and you can choose the scan to be in colour or black ‘n white.

There are some simple editing tools available to allow you to crop or rotate the image before saving and storing.

I went to Liquipel my phone today. Liquipel is a process which allows you to effectively waterproof your phone. The process involves the permeation of fine nano particles to the inside and outside of the phone. The process does not require you to take apart your phone. Batteries can be done individually as well if it is removeable. In fact they allowed me to have my spare battery treated at the same time.  When you leave your phone with them you need to wait 2hrs before you get your phone back.

For your efforts you also get a soft Liquipel pouch and a registration card. If your phone needs servicing within 90 days of applying the Liquipel you get to do your phone again for free.

I bought a package for 3 phones. It comes to about $HK349 per phone. Liquipel in Hong Kong is at Billion Centre, Kowloon Bay

Liquipel

Photosphere