Friday, November 19, 2010

In Search of A Perfect Picture

I've encountered few issues over these few days. First of all, dusty lens! Just found out  that the Voigtlander I just bought have dust on the inside. But actually this is normal for any lenses. I thought it was the dust which caused spots on my shots, but turns out that it is the sensor itself caught dust. Now I must clean the sensor myself.
Then there's the autofocus problem on my Tamron. I suspect it was the PDAF algorithm since CDAF is perfectly fine.

Given the experiences, I come to a conclusion that, like life, there is no perfect lens (and photographic forums around the internet confirm this. Amen) But there's always a good news at the end of it, right ? Right ?! Yep! I just bought the carbon fiber tripod that I need (not want.. I swear :P), and the second GM firmware for my iPad runs without getting a WiFi problem anymore.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

New Lens! Voigtlander Nokton 58mm/f1.4

I just got a new lens last week. I was very excited because of the technical review at photozone rate this lens as one of the best lenses. Sure enough after I try it, the lens produce stunning images!
Even everyday objects came out beautiful. Its a manual focus lens in Nikon F mount, with aperture control and metering. I think its a bit overexposed for my liking though.




On my Nikon :)

See.. the lens produce nice images that just leaps at you. I had to sell my Voigtlander Classic 35mm to fund this lens. Nevertheless.. I have no regret :) This lens is highly recommended. Its sharp wide open, nice OOF and good color rendition. Cmon, what else would you ask for ? ;)

Thursday, November 04, 2010

iOS 4.2 for iPad

Can you say Folders ? Multitasking ? Yaay!
I took the plunge today and install the unofficial release of iOS 4.2.
And yesterday I got Bloomberg app for Android, plus an iTunes voucher to buy paid apps on the iPad.
Some screenshots to enjoy
Folders
Multitask

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Shopping List

Ok.. maybe this list is to compensate my lack of skill, but some of the items here are really the essential tools for serious photographer, like the tripod. I just burn my budget for this month.. so.. (and still have to pay past expenses installment for the next few months LoL)

- tripod (Manfrotto, Sirui)
- flash, preferably SB 700 or up
- monitor color profiler (Spyder or i1)
- A3 printer (Canon or Epson)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

iPad!

Have i told you that i like my new iPad?
The colour rendition is just superb. I like to browse through my recent Turkey trip photos and look for the details in the picture that I did not even notice when I took it. People at the window, the sparkling sand, ....
Not mentioned it has tons of books and magazines. And the recent NatGeo travel magazine is featuring Istanbul =D




Saturday, October 09, 2010

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Shopping Spree *kind of*

Today my books order just arrived, the Fine Art Printing for Photographers: Exhibition Quality Prints with Inkjet Printers, 2nd Edition. And Ctein's Digital Restoration from Start to Finish, Second Edition: How to repair old and damaged photographs. I'm quite interested in printing fine art quality photograph, which means I have to cough more money, which I already don't have. I was going to get a dye-based A4 printer, but upon reading the book, the image quality degradation for dye based ink is much faster than pigment inks. So I'll probably get pigment based A3 Epson R1900.


The photo book from my recent trip to Turkey have finally arrived. It only takes three days to finish and deliver it. Quite impressive.




I have bought a dry cabinet for all my camera gear. I guess it is a necessary investment *cough*..
Not mentioned I also bought an iPad.. I'm bleeding money, I should go to the hospital now. *cough cough*