Woot! Was goin through my Flickr and I found some Dennis Lau pics. If I  remembered correctly, I shot these in Bangkok Jazz club. Actually, I didnt know who he was back then. But believe me..He is really good with the violin. Here are some pics to share. All shot with Nikon D300 coupled with a Nikon 17-55 F2.8 and SB 800. Photos are processed using AlienSkin for those who are curious about the BW conversion. Cheers and Happy Sunday!~

A very talented singer. But I didn’t get his name.

Bassist doing a ‘Face-Off’

Another attempt at slow shutter

Yuri was a guest performer that night

Trying to create a mood. But I guess a bit underexposed

Slow Shutter with the Bassist

Morning all!~Tried taking a shot at the moon? I was browsing my Flickr account this morning and I came across this picture. I think I shot this pic some years ago. I had a 300 mm back then. When coupled with a crop body camera it becomes 450 mm effectively. Many years ago, I had a telescope. A cheapo RM200 Stargazer telescope. But it functioned well until it was attacked by fungus. I would often take a peek at the moon from my room. I remember I was really fascinated with it cause ‘Hey..You are viewing the moon up close and personal”.  So..Armed with a 300 mm ( You could still achieve something similar with a 180 mm lens) and the Nikon D300, I took some shots of the moon. Spot metered the moon and used a small aperture to obtain good depth of field. Ah yes, don’t forget your trusty tripod and cable release. Those are essential gears for night shoot.

Woot!~ 24th of May 2010 was an exciting day for Canon EOS users. In celebration of Canon endorsed artist Simon Yam being awarded the Best Actor Award (at the Hong Kong Film Festival), Canon organized a celebration party at Golden Screen Cinemas, Pavillion, Kuala Lumpur. Those who owns a Canon EOS were entitled to two invitation tickets to the event. It was however limited to the first 300 eligible registrants. I met  a few familiar faces over there that day. I saw MarkLeo and Munz. I also saw Hon Woei Tatt from CPF Negeri Sembilan. This is the first time I am up close and personal with Mr Simon. LOL. Didn’t dare to ask for a pic coz was shooting that time. Should have done it. Dang!~ Missed the chance. But overall, I think Simon is a real gentlemen. Soft spoken and a passionate about his work. And yes, from the short interview session, I know he is very passionate about the 5DMkII. Also recalled that he spoke of how he didn’t afford the luxury of a camera while growing up. Yeah Simon. Most of us share the same experiences. I think he also mentioned he did a short movie using the 5DMkII. I should google it up. Here are some pics to share and as usual BW mode.

Interview was done here

I also must camwhore abit. Thanks MarkLeo for the pic.

PS: Am gonna re-edit the pictures.

Good Morning. Yes! I know its 1.24 am in the morning. Actually waiting for Champion League Final. But I am gonna talk about something else. I was browsing through Flickr today and I came across some really nice Polaroid pictures. I thought the guy had some Polaroid template and Photoshop-ed the picture into the base template. I mailed him and asked. I was kinda surprised when he replied and told me its not a template. I can actually download the program from the net. He gave me the link to Poladroid. You guy can visit the web via http://poladroid.net. It’s available in both Mac and Windoze format. I downloaded the version for Windoze. Installation was fairly easy. Hehehe. When done click on the Poladroid icon on the desktop. The program will run and you will see a Polaroid camera. Hahaha. Here comes the fun part. Drag any picture onto the camera. Yes..Click and Drag. Oh yeah, make sure speaker ada on ok? If you ever handled a Polaroid camera or Fujifilm Instax, you will recognize the whirling sound immediately. The best part, this is your digital Polaroid. An image will appear on your desktop. Similar to the exposed Polaroid. If want the hasten the process, click on the image and drag it left and right. This is to simulate the ‘Polaroid shaking’ procedure. After a while, when a ribbon appears on the picture, voila..You have a Polaroid picture!~ I damn gatal and processed alot today. Have a look.

Leica IIIF

P.S. As off 10.45 am, I have problems with my wordpress. Am updating by typing in HTML codes. Hopefully this will work out. Hahahah.

P.S.2. As off 11.02 am, I have successfully posted a blog entry by using HTML codes. But susah la…

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