Hmm, won’t be blogging until I finish my core papers, i.e. Maths 3, Physics 4 and Accounting 4, 7th of November, I think. I’m not as stressful as my friends, since I only have 6 papers to do, so I better don’t spoil it. =\

^ Shot during the most recent Shahbandar outing, i.e. Andy’s Birthday celebration (inside joke), haha. =p Shahbandar outing may resume after A level, =) I did some editing to this photo, and I think it’s a crude edit, so tell me if you notice what’s odd about this shot, =p

Not really a picnic as we only brought a few pack of snacks and two bottle of soft drinks, lol. But it was fun enough, with lots of laughing and very, very pretty sunset. =)

Too bad I’m not ready to capture the sunset properly, and I think it would be more appropriate for me to capture it when I go there alone (or with a few friends who are interested in it).

When I look back at the photos, the atmosphere and moments we shared flashed back, and that’s something really nice, I think. That’s what photos are all about…

Had been shopping for a new desktop for months - asking around for the lowest price (lol, in Brunei, you gotta know someone..), comparing specs (especially for gaming!) while fighting off my dilemma of buying it before or after I finish my A level exams.

^ It comes with a free set of Acer wireless keyboard and mouse. The black mouse pad serve as a handy background for my amatuer product shot, =)

^ Another shot of the set, I think it’s pretty well lit. Haha. The keyboard is very damp, i.e. silent operation but required some time before I could get used to it, common for a transition from laptop keyboard to desktop keyboard.

^ I love the glowing ASPIRE! Nice touch up Acer! =)

Now the real technical part - the desktop runs on a powerful Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor (with 6MB cache, featured Intel’s new 45nm technology), 2 GB DDR2 RAM (typical on it’s class), 320GB hard disk and GeForce 9500 GS.

In layman’s term, it means that Photoshop CS3 takes less than 3 seconds to start-up. WOW!

Not sure if that’s impressive but for someone who upgraded from a dead Pentium 4 desktop (with 256MB RAM.. -.-”) and a hyper low spec laptop (Celeron M 1.6 GHz with 512MB RAM), the upgrade is steep. =)

^ The expansion bay is nice, and there’s a lot of USB ports - 9 in total excluding firewire. Nice! =)

I’m still not used to Windows Vista and are very skeptical about it’s stability, lol. Too lazy to reboot it with XP…. maybe after A level, lol. And I really need to calibrate my monitor, the contrast is amazingly high! Or perhaps my previous laptop’s contrast was way too low.

Let me know in your comment about the contrast and colour of the second photo, so I can have an idea of how my LCD differ from yours. =)

I had been wasting my holiday (i.e. study leave, duh~) doing random stuffs online and going out with friends, sigh. I bet that many people are suffering from this guiltiness as well, haha.

First Day - Dinner @ Seafood Restaurant

^ Look at those tanks! =D *drooling~*

^ I think this was a unique catch and were given a hefty price tag. By direct translation of the price tag, this is a coconut crab, which I’m pretty sure it is, due to the massive size and strong pincers (it cracked the basket, if you look at the photo carefully).

^ I’m never a fan of shells, clams or snails, but I took the chance to try some, and I like them, but yet to fall in love. =p I still prefer prawns.. =p

^ That’s me, eating some crabs (which I am a little allergic to), and edited with very, very high noise reduction setting, haha.

^ Taken after we had our dinner, at the WaterFront (I think that’s the name)

The Waterfront
Opposite Warisan Shopping centre and about 10 minutes walk from Cocoon is this little entertainment strip.  Packed from left to right with restaurants and bars, it’s a popular venue for locals and tourists alike.

^ Self portrait in my hotel room, lol…

^ I found this cute. They put this sticker (I need a rest…) on alternative lamps along the hotel corridor. They turn on all the lamps at night, but in the morning, those with the stickers are switched off, cool! =)

Second Day - Shopping @ 1Borneo

1Borneo is a new shopping mall, situated about 20mins drive away from KK City. It’s a new shopping mall with lots of branded retail outlets, restaurants, cineplex and more. A taxi ride from KK city to 1Borneo cost us about RM35, but after a bit of research, I found out that there’s actually a free shuttle bus provided by 1Borneo (KK City - 1Borneo), lol.

^ Took these two when we were having our buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurant (10th floor, I think). According to the map, that’s Sutera Harbour resort and I’m pretty sure the two islands belong to the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. Was playing with the blue channel but I can’t seems to get a natural blue like what DevinKho did, =\

^ 1Borneo Rainforest, it’s in the top floor, didn’t go in because we don’t want to waste our precious shopping time, haha. Read what it’s all about here.

^ Wow, a shop that sells jigsaw puzzles only! Very cool and there’s some really unique puzzles in there (not jigsaw one).

^ There’s a lot of restaurants in 1Borneo, and we choose to have Bak Kut Teh in this restaurant which was renovated like ancient Chinese motel/restaurant, pretty cool but the food aren’t very nice, lol.

^ One of the less expensive shop in 1Borneo, lol. I think it’s a Malaysian brand but the design (of the clothes) are pretty cool, something like those extreme sports design. I think the guys will love it when we go KK again. =)

^ There’s was a car show/fair, because they’re including a Car City (or something else) in 1Borneo, which is actually an area where all the car showroom in KK are located. Sort of like the Beribi automobile (or light?) industry zone in Brunei.

^ And there’s even an art gallery shop there, haha, cool!

^ And while my mom and sister were having their tradional Thai massage, I went to discover the rest of the mall, and I found this in the basement floor, a China Town, lol. I think it’s not fully implemented yet, so nothing really spectacular but it’s quite interesting.

^ I love this shot! =)

Third Day - Shopping @ Warisan Square

Warisan Square is also quite new (1 year old, I think), a pretty high class shopping area made up by a few row of stores, I don’t really know how to explain, haha. It’s not a mall, that’s it.

^ Very expensive.. haha. A lot of bikini (lol), and the same shop also holds the franchise of Quicksilver, so the entire store is very expensive. lol.

^ One of the HongKong/China style restaurant in Warisan Square.

^ A Hong Kong restaurant, the BBQ pork is really nice! And original Hong Kong smooth milk tea, woo! But the bill shocked us.. lol.

^ That’s me with the milk tea, =D

^ (nearly) An entire store selling one product line only! Very cute Japanese dolls, I forgot the name, but it’s a very popular doll in Japan and quite expensive as well. Twice as expensive as Me-To-You bears, I think.

^ There’s a lot of lil’ donut booth and coffee shops in between the rows of stores. =) The donuts taste good, it’s called Big Apple Donuts, I think.

At Airport & in Aeroplane

^ I didn’t went scuba or snorkeling, so I took some of these from the seawater aquarium in KKIA (KK International Airport) lo, haha.

^ love this, =p

^ Like this a lot, too. Although a lil’ too late in shooting this, initially plan to capture the view before the van passes through the speed limit marking, haha.

^ kind of like this one, too.

^ A photographer’s favourite angle of shooting, lol.

^ Macro @ the window of the aeroplane as it accelerates, before take off. =) It was raining, so the water ‘ran’ when the aeroplane accelerates. =)

^ Arrival in Brunei Airport. =)

Wow, that’s a lot of photos, haha.

Hmmm, not sure if this can be counted as aerial photography, but yea, I couldn’t think of another genre where this set fits. Well, these are just a series of photos taken during my flight to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, about two weeks ago. Mind you but I have not been onboard of an aeroplane for more than 5 years already, sigh, talking about being desperate huh?

^ My favourite shot!

^ This island is close to Brunei, not sure what island is it tho’.

^ lucky enough to have a sunset when we were on our way back to Brunei.

^ This is the best shot I could came out with, as I were shooting through a dirty windows (of the aeroplane), sigh.

^ Love the crimson glow of the clouds!

^ Shot as we depart from KK airport.

^ Look at the waves!

^ Took this seconds before ‘touchdown’, =D I was putting my camera at risk though. =p

For some serious aerial photography, check out JanShim’s.

Yesterday, I was hanging around The Mall with some friends, including Shim (Shim De Zhen), and we had a short conversation about photography.

I was telling him what drives my passion towards photography - the passion to capture & preserve memories, and we went on to talk about videos, which can actually preserve memories better (which is true). Some people (like Shim) may ask, why don’t you shoot videos since you wanted to preserve memories? Well, I do have my reasons but I might start shooting some videos soon - thanks to the new D-movie feature introduced by Nikon.

The D90 (& a new kit lens: 18-105mm VR) was announced on 27th of August. It wasn’t surprising due to the amount of leak/buzz/rumors around the internet (to track Nikon rumors/buzz, visit NikonWatch & NikonRumors), but one feature stole the show, the revolutionary D-Movie. It’s revolutionary because it’s the very first D-SLR that captures video!

D-SLR : Big cameras with interchangeable lenses.

I had been following photography forum very closely these days (especially DPreview, where lots of trolls and self-proclaimed pro(s) hang around), and there’s some heated up debate between D-Movie (new) fans and purists - people who think D-SLR should only be used for photography alone. The same kind of debate happens when Olympus announced the first D-SLR with Live View. At that time, the same group (I assume) of purists claim that live view is useless and should remain on P&S (point and shoot, i.e. normal digital camera) only, nothing like that should be introduced in a D-SLR. And what happen now? Live view is fully accepted and EVERY D-SLR introduced these days (this year) comes with live view.

Live view : Without live view, you can only compose your shots by looking through the tiny window on the camera (like on film cameras). You can’t compose your photos through the LCD, like normal digital camera.

With the large number of interchangeable lenses, can you imagine what you do with D-Movie? Put on a macro lens and you can start filming insects; put on a telephoto lens and you can start shooting wildlife like an Animal Planet professional! It’s the cross-over to a world of unlimited creativity. =)

Well, many claimed that the current D-Movie is a ‘half-baked’ feature, which is actually quite true. However, what they claimed to be ‘necessary’ (or minimum) features of a movie function isn’t really what Nikon has in mind. I believe that Nikon is testing the water, and the movie function of D90 isn’t really geared towards the use of those self-proclaimed professionals. No AF (auto-focus)? Well, it did limit the situation in which you could make use of D-Movie but it also opens up the market for old, manual focus Nikkors (Nikon’s lenses are known as Nikkors).

Those who follow my personal message in MSN know that I’m a big fan of MF Nikkors.

Enough with the writing, you might want to check out the sample videos yourself. =) And together with a sensor that is said to be better than that of the Nikon D300 - I am likely to upgrade to D90 next year, if I ever go oversea to study. =) Check out this professional too, he tested the D90 for Nikon.

Nikon Mini site (very good design!) & Sample Nikon Gallery (shot by the above mentioned pro who tested D90 & his friends)

Article from International Herald Tribune - Nikon ushers in the era of the video SLR

If you just saw it sitting there, you’d never guess that the new Nikon D90 is a mind-blowing, game-changing camera.

It looks like any other big, black intermediate single-lens reflex camera: more compact than professional models, but much bigger and heavier than pocket cameras. An SLR comes with a shoulder strap because it needs one.

What you get in return for looking like a tourist, of course, is the potential for absolutely stunning photos. Thanks to factors like high-quality, interchangeable lenses, a huge light sensor and high-speed circuitry that virtually eliminates shutter lag, the pictures you get from an SLR generally make pocket cameras’ output look amateurish.

The D90, which arrives in stores next month, happens to be a superb SLR. At $1,000 (or $1,300 with a new, 18-105 mm, image-stabilized lens), it is priced neatly between the D300 (Nikon’s bigger, heavier, all-metal, professional model, which costs $1,650 online) and the intermediate D80 ($720 online), which will soon be discontinued. (These last two are body-only prices; lenses are not included.)

The specs and features sit neatly between those cameras, too. The D90 has a 12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor that measures 1.14 inches diagonally (24 x 16 mm), a hair smaller than on professional cameras. At start-up (or on command), the D90 gives that sensor a little shudder to shake off dust that may have entered the camera during a lens change.

This camera is rocket-fast, too. Autofocus is nearly instantaneous, shutter lag (the delay after you press the button) is zero, and you can capture 4.5 photos a second for as long as you keep the button pressed.

There are some new features: a clever calendar that lets you hunt down photos by date; an effect that simulates the spherical look of a fisheye lens; a jack for an external GPS receiver (for geo-tagging your pictures); a function that straightens out off-kilter horizons; face-recognition autofocus; and so on.

But none of that is the big news.

If you want a hint, consider the D90’s live-view feature. That’s where you can frame a photo using the extremely sharp, 3-inch, or 7.6-centimeter, screen on the back.

Until Olympus pioneered the system a couple of years ago, SLRs required you to compose a shot by pressing your eye to the optical viewfinder. The screen was used exclusively for playing back pictures.

The challenge, on an SLR, was figuring out what to do with the mirror inside. Ordinarily, it bounces light from the lens into the eyepiece; it flips out of the way, exposing the sensor, only at the instant you take a photo. To display a live image on the screen, you have to lock that mirror out of the way, so that the sensor receives light continuously.

That is exactly what happens when you press the Live View button on the D90. You hear a little clack - that’s the mirror flipping aside - and a live video image appears on the screen. Now you can shoot photos at angles where holding the camera to your head just wouldn’t work; it comes in handy more often than you might think.

Live View is the key to the breakthrough feature of the D90, the secret that turns it into a completely new kind of recording instrument, the trick that will attract creative people who would otherwise have no interest in a $1,000 camera. Ready?

The D90 is the first SLR in the world that can record video.

High-definition video, at that. Stunning, vivid, wide screen, 1024 x 720 pixel, 24-frames-per-second video, with the color and clarity that only an SLR can provide.

Now, most people’s first reaction is: “Well, duh. My $200 Canon has been capturing video for years.” Or maybe: “What a gimmick. Who would ever use video on a $1,000 piece of photographic equipment?” Or, at best: “Well, I guess it might sometimes be useful to snag a video clip when I’m out shooting stills.”

But there is something much bigger going on here. Remember: Any control, effect or lens that is available for the D90’s still photos is now available for videos. Think of all the freedom you gain that you wouldn’t generally have on a camcorder: control over focus, depth of field and exposure, special effects like fisheye, monochrome and vivid and excellent image stabilization when using a Nikon VR lens.

But here’s the real mind-blower: You now have a video camera that takes interchangeable lenses. Before the D90, if you wanted a high-definition video camera with removable lenses, you would pay $7,000 for the camera, and $7,000 to $20,000 more for each lens.

On this camera, though, I tried Nikon’s $500 fisheye lens, and filmed a complete 180-degree vista without having to turn or pan. With a macro lens, I filmed a bumblebee, huge and clear as though it were in a National Geographic documentary. With a 300-mm telephoto lens, sitting in my bleachers seat at a tennis tournament, I was suddenly filming what other people could only capture as still images.

Now then, before you get on the D90 waiting list, a word of warning: It’s not a camcorder. Its screen does not flip out and swivel, so you can’t easily film yourself. There’s a microphone and speaker, but the sound is mono. And the AVI-format video, while easily editable in programs like iMovie and Movie Maker, eats up an insane amount of memory-card space - about 400 megabytes per minute. (Fortunately, the camera accommodates SD cards as big as they come - 32 gigabytes, for example, which is good for 80 minutes of video.)

An individual high-definition shot can’t be longer than five minutes, either, or 20 minutes in standard definition; after that, the sensor heats up too much.

Worst of all, the autofocus doesn’t work for video. You can use autofocus before you start rolling, or you can use the manual-focus ring while filming, but that’s all.

In other words, the Nikon D90 presents benefits and drawbacks that are not found in any other category of image-recording equipment. On one hand, your creativity may be challenged by the lack of autofocus, the limited shot duration and the enormous file size.

On the other hand, the D90 brings you an incredible range of video image controls; interchangeable lenses at a fraction of the usual prices for video; a gigantic sensor that takes videos in lighting conditions that would make a traditional camcorder throw up its hands; and the convenience of capturing short, sharp video clips without hauling around a second machine.

It’s pretty funny that it comes from Nikon, a company with practically no experience in video cameras.

But who cares? Even with its limitations, the D90 is an outstanding still camera and an eyebrow-raising video camera. The era of the video SLR has begun.

And I am done with another set of photos - photos from CHMS Dancing Night Out 2008. =)

So, what do you think about this new blog? I am afraid that it might be a bit too graphics intensive, lol, but it sure looks good, no? =D I really like the way links and archives are displayed as 2 column on the sidebar, and the super wide tagboard seems pretty good, too. And I also did a small customisation to this theme, can you notice it? =D

I finally wrote my About page (but still incomplete), too! =D

And well, my mock exams ended on Monday, and I’m finally editing some long overdue photos, hehe. First set to be completed (Promised Shim) is the MD 2007/8 Prefect Appreciation Dinner @ Millennium Restaurant. It was an ok night, with pretty good food (or maybe because I was pretty hungry). Enjoy! =)

P.S: most photos are taken by others, and ChungSun/Louis, I think.

I still have problem getting the colours right.. Grrrr…

^ Guardian environmental friendly bag!

Mom bought this bag from Guardian Miri for RM2.50, it’s really nice! I love the way it’s designed, =p Nice! Solved my main concern over bringing an environmental tote bag to shopping! Now I hope some factory is making customise version of it, maybe PYRO or other group can make some, =)

^ And you just need to fold it…

^ Tada!~ =D Brilliant huh? So cute man.. xD

Well, I have a hard time tweaking the exposure without blowing off the red channel (of the RGB)! It’s time to learn some deeper techy stuffs about colours.. hehe. =) (Was actually trying to get the texture of the fibers out, but I can’t, unless I darken the photo to a terrible level, lol!)

And I NEED an off-camera flash sync cable or some IR trigger! lol, I can’t ‘de-shadow’ my product shots, man..

Really random post, lol, I’m just trying to keep my blog alive and keep myself from staying infront of my laptop doing nothing.. -.-” now, I need to drag myself to my pile of physics notes..

Anyway, just to update my blog for the sake of updating, haha. Not in the mood to write much because mock is coming up and I doubt I can do well in it, buuuu!~

Hmmm, proceed only if you want, they’re a couple self-portraits I took when I was revising. Hmm, I’m not sure why but I always take self-portrait during revision, lol.

^ I really like this one, haha. Comment? =p

^ Same photo, different post-processing. I like both for different reason. What’s your pick? =D

^ Well, just playing around with light, lol. And yeap, I wear that jacket when I study, because I am kind of afraid of cold (and my aircond is set to 24 degree, hahahaha).

And if you’re interested, head here to have a look at my study table, haha. =D

Last Sunday, we spent our entire day @ Pusat Ehsan Charity Bazaar. Most of us were there as volunteer workers (representing PYRO club of MD) while the BEs/juniors are there to setup a game booth. I

t was actually a pretty fun day but I was bounded by some jobs, so I didn’t really shoot much that day, which is something I kind of regret because the sunlight was pretty good that day. =p Anyway, I love the photos taken and 80% of the photos in my memory card are worth keeping (although I deleted quite a lot on the spot as I review them when I am free) and that kind of speed up my post-process work flow, hah!

I’ll feature photos taken when they were riding the flying fox, setup by the scouts. I didn’t play this time, and while many would see that as a sign of coward, I personally don’t think I’m really afraid to do it. What I am ‘afraid’ is the time when everyone is concentrating on you, I think it’s pretty weird. lol. It’s just me anyway so i gave it a pass and choose to stay on the ground to shoot - and this gave me even more feel of accomplishment, lol.

It was a real hot day and it is not an easy task to shoot people ‘flying’ towards you and the sun is above your subject (and you). These photos are purposely overexposed (the level of overexpose is not consistent tho’) so their faces wouldn’t be too dark due to the shadows from their safety helmet. I am not sure if I did the right thing by overexposing them but at least the main thing I wanted to capture (the expression) are there, so yea.

It was tricky to shoot these and I am very happy with my result. i rarely pan (almost never) and so I’m very happy about the result!

^ Preparation to fly!

^ This is the very few shot where the sky and mountain and ‘flyer’ are properly exposed, lol! I like lo, =p

^ I’m reluctant to put this up because I think the sky is pretty weird, lol.

^ One of the few young ‘foxes’, lol. This kid is pretty darn naughty tho’, haha.

^ KuiChuan, hmm, he looks rather relax, lol!

^ YiHuey’s landing. Hmm, I am particularly interested in the guy who laughed so hard, lol! =D

^ YiShien, woo, I really think I could win some loterry, it’s tack sharp! =D

^ Hahaha, she was screaming, lol~

^ Perhaps my favourite panning but it’s overexposed (too much)! =\

^ This is obviously not sharp but… yea, hehehehe. =D

By the way, here’s the link to the blog post which talks about my first experience in shooting flying fox. =D