I remember I used to rummage through my parent’s wardrobe, closet, drawers and other compartments as a small kid. Yes..I know I shouldn’t do that. But as a kid, I was curios kid by nature. It s like going on a treasure hunt at home. I would be fascinated every time I find something new eg My parents Love Letters , Jewelries and etc. My dad used to have an old Yashica . Sad to say..I cant remember which model it was. But I remember going into the room quietly, opened the drawer, took out the camera and crank the advance lever quietly. Every time I released the shutter, I will imagine I am somewhere, taking pictures. If I am not mistaken, I think dad used to love to take pictures of us. But I don’t know why he gave up somewhere along the road haha. The camera eventually got discarded as it was full of fungus.

Sometime last year in 2009. I was bitten by the Leica Leitz IIIF bug. I think it s all because of Liew aka Silentshutter’s fault. He left his unit in my dry box for sometime. His IIIF is a Black Dial version. A Leica III is seriously a fully mechanical rangefinder. Not a camera for everyone but if you are serious about photography, you will appreciate such a masterpiece. First that grabs you is..The loading mechanism. You will have to trim the film leader. Loading is unlike the conventional way. Some might find it a hassle. It still amazes me how those war photographer changed film rapidly under stress *bullets and explosions all around* The is a Visual Finder (50 mm) and a Rangefinder Focusing window. Not easy as you will have to look into the Visual Finder first to compose and then into the Rangefinder Focusing window to focus. For focusing, there is even a zooming lever where you can zoom in to make focusing easier. After releasing the shutter, to advance you will have to rotate and dial the advance knob. Interesting piece of camera if you ask me. Hehehe.

I managed to get one really Mint Leica IIIF Red Dial Self Timer from a Hong Kong eBay seller. I was told that I do not require Clean Lube and Adjustment (CLA) as the owner had done so. Paid somewhere near a premium price for this camera. But when it arrived, I found that the camera need some form of adjustment. Didn’t pursue the matter with the seller as he is in Hong Kong. I shot a test roll of 36 exposures. First 20 frames came out perfect, but the last 16 frames were half exposed. Contacted YouXin. He said it s best to have it CLA-ed. Called my regular middleman Eddie Teoh. Had the camera passed to Vinson. I received the camera last week. Unfortunately..I dont want to say Vinson did a shoddy job. But the camera came back with 3 problems. It s back with him. I hope he will do a better job. To his credit, he did a really good job with my Pre AI and AI Nikon lens. Those were badly fungus-ed. The lens came back in pristine condition, not even a hint of wipemarks. So I hope the IIIF is an isolated case

Good Evening all!~ I m going to be a Daddy soon. Wife is currently 30 weeks pregnant. It s  such an amazing experience from Day 1. I didn’t really blog about this earlier. So I guess I want to share this now. We actually got to know about the pregnancy last year (Nothing to be shy about despite we actually got Married this year, but we are legally registered early last year) on the 27th of November. It was a day before my cousin’s birthday. Hahaha. Can remember this forever. I could hardly contain my excitement when wifey called me that morning. It was around 8 am. She told she had a positive result for the pregnancy test kit. The first person I called was my cousin. Hahaha. I didnt tell mom and dad immediately. I was worried as they are kinda traditional. But I did tell my parents after speaking with my cousin. I was kinda shock actually. The person who I thought all along as a  open minded person (mom) was shocked whereas the person I thought of as ‘kolot’ (dad) was pretty cool about it. Hahahah. Mom eventually shared the happiness and excitement. She was already wishing for a grand daughter. * her wish came true*

We went to a private O and G doctor at Sentosa Hospital to ‘confirm’ the pregnancy. Pregnancy was confirmed via a test strip again. Next came the ultrasound machine. Dr showed us a small sac with a black dot. She said, there..That s your Baby. I was like..Wah!~ But the next thing she did really kicked in. Dr: Mr Ng, Lets see if we can see the heartbeat. Me: Dr, Baru 6 weeks only wo..? And the next thing I saw was some ECG waves on the monitor. It was then, when I became kinda excited and in awe. I am going to be a father. Life is really a miracle. It’s just so magical. I got a copy of scan and kept it in the wallet

Fast forward, wow..Wifey is 4 months into pregnancy. We went for regular checkups in Klinik Kesihatan Jinjang. They have a Klinik Ibu and Anak there. We were actually amazed at the stringent screening process in KKJ. They did all kind of tests. Kudos to them. Imagine how much you will have to pay if these procedures are done in the private sector. Every a month or so, we went back for ultrasound scan. And this time, I asked the Dr ‘Eh Dr, Boleh nampak Boy or Girl tak? ‘ She zoomed into something and we actually saw a Penis!~ I was like super happy at that time coz I wanted a Boy!~ Hahahaha. Wifey have always wanted a girl. Kekekek. So I was talking to the tummy for one month or so by referring the baby as Boy Boy. Imagine my shock when during the fifth month ultrasound, we failed to locate the tiny kukuciao. Kakaka. Dr told me, ‘Jason..Saya rasa girl la..Pasal nampak Burger’. Hahaha. This time, Wifey was really happy. My mom was even happier. I was disappointed. But at the end of the day, I know I would be happy as long the baby is healthy

So last night, wifey is already 30 weeks pregnant. I took out the camera and said ‘Mummy!~ Come..Lets take some picture’. It was raining and we did about 10 shots in the bedroom Hehehe. Since I am still in Black and White mood. I kinda converted some pics into BW again. Kekekeke. One thing I noticed was..The tummy is really Bulat. Old people has this saying ‘ If it s a boy, the tummy elongates. And if it s a girl, the tummy is Round’. I guess it s pretty true. I hope to take more pics soon. So stay tune

My wife asked me to smooth-en her hands..Mana boleh wey!~ Hahahah *evil*

Not exactly what I had in my mind..My PP not power la

Woot! Sometime ago I had a small TT session with my friends. One of them brought a M9 and another had his 50 mm Noctilux. So I mounted the lens and had a go with it. I find the Noct exhibits some really neat characteristics of its own. For instance, when shot wide..You will get some really nice vignetting effect. Hahaha. Yes, that s right. No need to photoshop. The image is not really sharp. It s a bit soft. So I sharpen my shot abit. Not supposed to do that, but I think I wanted all the attention on my subject of interest. The bokeh rendered is amazingly addictive. Once you tried it, you would wanna try to shoot wide open all the time. This is not the first time I handled the M9. But I would like to comment on a few things. First, I dunno why the hell it cost so much compared to the M8 and M8.2 . And even if you have the moolah for one, M9 is pretty scarce. It s hard to land your hands on one. Even if you do find one, the price tag is pretty high. I have seen some trying to sell at RM28k in Msia and higher than RM30k in HK. So if your urge to get one is high, by all means get it. Put the price factor and el-cheapo LCD aside..You have one hell of a RF camera here. Here is a pic to illustrate the output from the M9 and Noct.

Photo data:
Year: 2010
Sensor: Leica M9
Developer : Photoshop
Lens: 50 mm Noctilux

Last week, I paid a good friend of mine a visit. Torben from Denmark is one of the most well versed Leica-guy that I have ever met. I first met him during a Leica outing organized by Photomalaysia sometime in 2008 ( If I am not mistaken). He has in his collection some really mean Leica gears Now he uses the best Leica M ever produced. That s another story. Anyway, I believe Torben shot film for most of his life. So here we have me, I needed a refreshment or rather, a guide to show me how to dev BW film. It s not that I have not done it before but I wanted really consistent results.

So here are some steps which I would like to highlight in this entry. It will also serve as a reminder to me as well. Hehehe. During the demonstration session, I noticed one thing. Eliminate all possible source of errors. Torben uses one developer only. I asked him why not try other developers. He said this is to achieve consistent results and he can expects or predicts the outcome of the film. I hereby need to stress that all developers has their own characteristics.  Temperature is the next important factor during the developing process. Torben actually has a separate tray filled with ice water bath with the developing tank in the tray. He checks the temperature every now and then and pops in a cube or two of ice to maintain the temperature at 20 degree Celsius. He says..If the formula says 20 degree Celsius, make sure it 20 degree Celsius during the 12 mins of developing time.

We used water as Stopper. It works the same. Fixing is interesting. Torben used the same temperature theory as the developer. We kept the temperature constant at 20 degree Celsius. Fixing time is from 2-5 minutes. But you can check easily by looking at the negatives. If it appears cloudy and hazy..Fix again. Last step, instead of using wetting agent, Torben flushed the negatives for half hour. And the last step is the easiest..Dry it. O..I forgot. Instead of the up and down agitation. We actually used the spindle that came with the developing tank. We swirled the negatives slowly for every 10 sec of the minute. I can see that the negatives came out less contrasty and it s better than mine LOL. Here are two pics to share with you guys. Cheers! Happy BW Developing. Thanks Torben

My dear wife..Yee Woon

My dear Cousin..Anderson

Photo data:
Year: 2009
Film: Kodak Tri-X
Developer : D76
Lens: 50 mm Summilux

Hello Hello!~ I know I have not updated my blog regularly. My bad..My bad. I tried. I do have a couple of draft saved up. But I m having a ‘writer’s block’ LOL. I love to write..Yes I do. I cant write material like what you see in the magazine, no. But I always try to write from heart. Anyway, had a lovely yumcha session with Brother Edwin two nights ago. He was telling me, ‘Update your blog la..”. I said I m having a writer’s blog. He said..You can still post pics. LOL. So I got back and went through my archive to see what I have worthy of posting on the web. Oh yes I did. A gem or two. Nothing fantastic. But it s something from the 1 Utama Countdown Concert last year. Hahaha. This time there is a pic or two in colour. Kekekek. So here you go Edwin bro. Some pics lar. KEkekek

988 Radio Deejay

I forgot his name

I forgot his name too

I love flare!~

Joe Flizzow

Joe Flizzow