Happy Holidays
and best wishes
for the new year.

A little memento from a dear friend in celebration of friendship.

Took the Canon G6 out of storage and playing around with flash. Quite pleased with the result, but still lots to learn. The G6 is really quite sturdy, unfortunately the jog dial is not working too well and the swivel screen doesn't swivel anymore. Time for a new toy right?

Ricoh GXR

Seems like there are a few Ricoh fans in Singapore. About 3 have posted in DPReview and Clubsnap Forums their GXR experience.

I have had only few minutes to try it out recently and it felt both familiar and yet something a little different. Guess that is what plastic surgery feels like?

The chief complaint of most people is the auto-focus, which I do find slow too. Even compared to their CX1 which is surprisingly snappy for a compact camera. I don't expect it to lock on like an SLR, but slower than a compact? That is a bit sad.

Another thing strange is the in-camera JPG capture. While testing both modules, the RAW pictures seem to turn out quite nice in terms of exposure and even image noise. The JPG seems to be overexposed and noticeable noise reduction.



The composite above was made in Picasa, picture taken with the A12 module. Left is the rendering of the DNG file by Picasa and right the JPG. (Ricoh has the option of RAW+JPG, which gives 2 files of the same picture.) Strange the JPG is even more overexposed compared to the Raw file.

That said, the Raw picture of the S10 module seems much better than the GX100, and that is just "processing" with Picasa.

Another thing that Ricoh is weak in is flash photography. At least I can never seem to get it right with flash, so I tend not to use it. The old favourite, Canon G6, is better.

Ricoh Fanboy

I was recently branded a Ricoh fanboy over their latest incarnation, the GXR model
Can't explain it, I like it, I am intrigued by it. Unfortunately or perhaps a good thing, I can't afford it. Yet.

Sigh! Fanboy, capital F and in bold.



Advertisement for the GXR in The Straits Times



Updated 1st January 2010

Food!

Anyone with a camera will have at least one food photo!

My current favorite food pic
A delicious way of eating air. Souffle from Chalk.

Wall Pic of the rest

Jiu Zhai Gou 2009
Memories of Huang Long, Jiu Zhai Gou, Er Mei, Le Shan and Cheng Du.
Si Chuan China

This is a cool way to post pictures! Cooliris

Cellphone Panoramic pictures

Nokia E52 has a built in panoramic function. It is a totally automated process, take the first shot where you intend the scene to start and pan either left or right. A red frame marks the spot you pan to, the phone then automatically takes the next shot and on you go. Satisfied with what you need, the phone then stitches all the frames into one panoramic shot.

The problem is the framing image is very small, about a third of the height of the phone screen. Also you can only appreciate the actual image off the phone

Frozen worlds

A breath taking view of the vast frozen land below. Probably Canada, said the flight attendant, midway a 30 hour flight. Beautiful for sure, but a minor headache for landing and connecting flights.

Mid winter on the Chicago river

Favourite pastime

Just not on a tree for me

Sometimes the right subject at the right time and setting means not needing the "right" gear.
Taken with Nokia E61i

Back Again

Now with Ricoh CX 1