Hard Rock Bengaluru

My housemate suggest that we go to hard rock during this weekend. Well it was a swell idea since my wife wanted to go there for some time now. In the afternoon I had a case of indigestion and the and the pain was quite bad. Took some pills and a short nap and thank God i about 90% recovered when i woke up. I expected the restaurant to be quite dark so i snap on my 35mm f2 and was all set to go. The ambience the place was indeed dark when we entered. The below snapshots are all taken at ISO1100 and f-stop between 2 to 2.8 max. Love the warm lightings on the memorabilia and the food there was not bad. It was a wonderful night out with good food, company, ambience, music and best of all photography.

My thoughts on Nikon

Hi y'all, i have just reached the 1st anniversary since i purchased my D300. It has faithfully served me well and i am pleased with it's capabilities. By no means i have mastered it and there is still a long long way for me to go and i do not think i'll ever 'get there'. I don't think there is a end point for learning though. Comparing my trusty D40 and the D300 (i know it's a few fold more expensive machine) other than giving richer colours, far superior ISO performance and speed, the D40 is actually a very good camera. You can compare the results yourself in this blog. The results of the both is really quite good. The LCD on the D40 is just great, much better than the ones on Canon(eveyrthing before 450D or 50D). The only 2 qualms i have about the D40 is that there is no internal motor and there is no dail a the front of the grip. If you can live without these then please go for it. It's a really good beginner's camera. Cheap n Good! If you got a higher budget but not enough the get the D90 then by all means go get the D80. The brighter view finder is heaven compared to the tiny n dark one on the D40. No need to talk about the D200 coz it's simply not worth it getting now.

The newly launched D90 is just fantastic. It's a very good alternative to the D300. The feel of it really resembles the D80 but the technology within borrows a lot from the D300. It would be much better if it shares the same battery grip as the D300. The outdated MB-D80 is really quite a lousy grip for such a great camare to inherit. The D700/D300/D200/D90/D80 uses the same EN-EL3e battery anyway so what didn't they use the MB-D10's grip on the D90 still remains a mystery to me. Another thing that that i would like to mention is on how nikon cut cost on the D90 package by building the new 18-105VR kit lense with a plastic mounting! That is simply silly! I have seen some older lenses with plastic mounts being worn til it's loose when fitted and some where the mount just broke. Even the cheapest 50mm f1.8 has a metal mount. They should have done away with plastic mounts long ago. Well i guess these lenses are not made to last like the older or more expensive Nikkors.

Here i would like to address sour grape D90 users that swear that their babies are leaps and bounds better than the D300 or are even foolish enough to compare it with a D3. You are fooling no one but yourselves (and your group of sore-losers). If that was true, the D90 should be the D300's replacement model and not as a line below the D300. If you're not willing to face the facts then photography is not for you as you are in it to brag about how much you know about it. And in doing so, you hope to catch the attention of some bimbo that will think, 'Oh, how smart and wonderful you are!' Please stay out of forums and don't post any of your work since no one likes a smarty pants. If what I say makes you mad then you are one of them and you are not welcome to post a comment on my blog.

Anyways, not to (further) offend D90 (sour grape) users, the D90 is a very good camera (like the D40 and D80) and if you can't afford or willing to pay the extra (or to much of a cheapskate and still wants to brag) to get a D300, go for the D90 kit. You will love it and if you have some extra cash at the side, get the battery grip as well for it will really help the ergonomics of the camera. I would advice you to get the kit but sell the lense before the mounting gives way and get a tamron 17-50mm f2.8 or the famous 18-200 VR. Forget about sigma's 18-200 OS that has no second hand value and has a finishing that'll peel.

Nikon's full frame line up D700, D3 and the D3x are truely worthy cameras. Each great in their own way:
D700 - inherit D3's qualities internally but in a D300 size. Super!
D3 - Superb Pro-grade camera
D3x - Over priced D3 with more megapixels, LOL!
However, nikon do not have enough full-frame lense in their line up. I think they we making so much money from DX lenses that they didn't see the need or vision to move users to the coming full-frame trend. Yes there is a set of latest line up or the nikon 'dream team' namely 14-24mm f2.8, 28-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8 but these lenses cost a minimum of RM5.5k for the cheapest one. That is crazy! I would say that Canon has a much better lense line up with their delicious L lenses and they cost less.

Hope you'll find what i have rant about useful and if i have offended you, i mean to.

Drought Cont...(3)

Below are one of the last pictures i took with my trusty old D40. Upgraded to a D300 after this. Have to wait 3 whole weeks with no camera due to the delay in delivery of my pre-booked camera. So gald i got it before Christmas last year, but that's old news. Not even a half-a-year after the launch of the D300 the D700 was announced. Love that it's a full frame and hope to get to move to that someday.

Anyways, about the pics taken below. These were taken during a visit to an orang asli settlement and a group of us joined them for a very special (and my first) Lord's Supper in Bahasa.

Sunset Comparison

We have clear skies for the pass 2 weeks and i had 2 great weekends to shoot nice sunsets. I think the one that i took about half an hour ago is nicer.

Taken 7th Dec


Taken today 13th Dec

Drought Cont...(2)

As promised, here are some photographes taken with my trusty old D40 with my 'new' (at that time) lens Nikon 18-200VR. Once again the below sequence is in chronological order.

1) These are taken at Youth Park. My favourite is the one with the lizard. It was so friendly that i could get as close as 30cm from it.






2) I always wanted to capture the vibrance of a chinese opera and i manage to do just that at Bayan Baru market. Hope you'll love it as much as me.






3) The below waterfall shots were taken at the Penang Forest Reserve and the buttlefly pics at the Butterfly Farm. I shot the spider through the glass and was surprised it turned out ok.










Stay tuned for more.......

Rooftop Shooting Part.3

This was taken last weekend. It has been a very hectic week at work and I'm beat when i reach home. Really too exhausted to update my blog. Well this is shot was taken at about 6 something in the evening when my wife told me she saw very nice sunset colours through the kitchen window. I rushed to grab my camera and ran upstairs. Really need to rush coz magical sunset moments only last about 10-15minutes. Too bad the sun hid behind the clouds but some clouds to reflect the rays will give more vibrant colours. Hope to capture one with the whole sun but i doubt coz at the horizon there are tall coconut trees blocking the western skies.

Though it's everyday we have sunrise and sunset, i thank God for creating such a beautiful earth and for His faithfulness in holding everything togather in His hands. Lets enjoy His goodness togather.

Drought

With no photography opportunity and being swarm with work for a past few weeks, i have decided to post some old pics taken with my old D40 and the 18-55mm kit lense. Looking through these pics, brings me lots of nostalgic memories of the places and my journey into photography. The below sequance is in chronological order.

1) Hike to Pantai Keracut. One of the first pictures taken with my D40


2) Redang trip with Dell colleagues. Really miss relexing on the soft white sand beach..ahh....








3) Slow hike up BJ hill through a less travelled trail.


4) Cool Sunday evening walk around Ayer Itam Dam.


To be continued......with a new lense........

Rooftop Shooting Part.2

Boring night tonight. Feeling quite tired after work and warm after a nice warm bath. Wanted to watch some top chef with my wife but there was a powercut(again). So decided to go to the rooftop again to shoot the moon and cool off in the night breeze. I was eying the moon for the pass few nights as it was really bright n round. Good thing we had clear skies tonight and what a perfect environment to do this.

Shot in raw(full 12-bit) and convert it to jpeg with no sharpening. Just crop n post. Didn't expect the 18-200mm VR to show such details but i am not very satisfied. Wonder if anyone can lend me a 80-400mm VR to shoot the moon?

Rooftop Shooting

We have clear skies here in Bangalore nowadays. Not a cloud in the sky. I always wanted to try and shoot stars and here is my chance. Only a few bright ones were visible but long exposure surely bring out those hidden ones. The three stars lined up is called the belt of orion. Learnt that from a classmate of mine many years back. The picture is a bit blurry not because we have earthquakes here but with the long exposure we can capture the rotation of the earth. Couldn't help but to snap a pic of the neighbourhood as well.

Deepavali in Bangalore

I am now sitting in the living room basking in the mood of the festive mood of Deepavali. Never have i thought that Deepavali will be such a big thing here in India. The evenings here is like a warzone where the explosion of fireworks never cease. Even now as i am typing this, there are fireworks going off every second. This truely reminds me of chinese new year back home except there are loads more fireworks here. Couldn't resist but to go to the roof and snap some of the action going on. I can't believe my first time shooting fireworks will be here in Bangalore. Enjoy these fresh from the roof just about an hour ago.

Sunday Lunch at Olive Beach

Some friends are in town this week and we had a blast at Olive Beach. Lots of food and loads of drinks!

Food:










Drinks: