Check out this month's UK Digital Camera issue. D3100 ranked second to D5100 which is 200 pounds more for entry level DSLRs. Canon 1100D ranked only 5th.Saturday, December 3, 2011
Toddler the most difficult to instruct to take picture. The short period he was seated here is with the white reflector.
Here you can see the difference without the reflector.I got mine cheap from ShaShinKi.com - Malaysia's Online Camera Shop!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
I think its my fourth time here but its my first time with a DSLR and my toddler.
Aside when I was at my preschooler school concert, this is also an occasion where I wished I had longer zoom lens (Always checking out ShaShinKi.com - Malaysia's Online Camera Shop! for any good second hand zoom lens). This baby elephant was quite close at the fence so I could take a nice shot of it.
The deers are actually fun to feed and I think they are the only animals allowed to be fed. This was on a cloudy day so I set on high ISO, white balance on cloudy. I also remained the circular polarizer (CPL) on as because there were a lot of lakes with fishes and sometimes the cages are made from reflective glasses that bounces light. CPL helped a lot in cutting out the light that bounces from reflective surfaces like water and glass. The below image is of the fishes with the CPL turned until the amount of reflection is minimized if not totally gone.
Being the wettest place in Malaysia, its not a wonder why it rained 3 times when we were there.
Snake House!! More like sleeping snake house when we went there. It was so dark and I'm not a fan of snakes, so I didn't bother taking any snakey images without a tripod. I could however try this effect which is an easy trick. As shutter is clicked, zoom out (or zoom in depending where you started) as quickly as you can. I tried this 2 times before I got this image. This works well if you are on slower speed.
Aside when I was at my preschooler school concert, this is also an occasion where I wished I had longer zoom lens (Always checking out ShaShinKi.com - Malaysia's Online Camera Shop! for any good second hand zoom lens). This baby elephant was quite close at the fence so I could take a nice shot of it. 
The deers are actually fun to feed and I think they are the only animals allowed to be fed. This was on a cloudy day so I set on high ISO, white balance on cloudy. I also remained the circular polarizer (CPL) on as because there were a lot of lakes with fishes and sometimes the cages are made from reflective glasses that bounces light. CPL helped a lot in cutting out the light that bounces from reflective surfaces like water and glass. The below image is of the fishes with the CPL turned until the amount of reflection is minimized if not totally gone.
Being the wettest place in Malaysia, its not a wonder why it rained 3 times when we were there.
Snake House!! More like sleeping snake house when we went there. It was so dark and I'm not a fan of snakes, so I didn't bother taking any snakey images without a tripod. I could however try this effect which is an easy trick. As shutter is clicked, zoom out (or zoom in depending where you started) as quickly as you can. I tried this 2 times before I got this image. This works well if you are on slower speed.Sunday, November 27, 2011
If you want better tips with gears visit Digital Rev TV on YouTube. Kai the DSLR nerd is really cool 'cos out from his hat that he wears a lot of time, he has a lot of advise for gears options without us actually buying them.
But for me, let me just share why I got the Nikon D3100 as my option DSLR. It was a high time for me to get one after putting it off for a lot of time already. I was surviving total of 3 Canon point and shoot for the past 7 years. My dearest one was the Canon PS A540 at RM799 after the Canon PS A400 got really outdated especially the issue with the AA batts which I had to deal with too many a times. The A540 got conked because I attempted to power it a power adaptor but with the wrong polarity. Really sayang cause A540 gave me a lot of good images, sometimes DSLR like although its bulky built. The craze for that time were the slim, cute digital cameras and the smallest mobile phones you could get. I ended up with another Canon at RM350 which was easy to use and fit my easy to adjust criterias (instead of just auto point and shoot) but that one had speed issues and too much noise at high ISO.
Okay, back to Nikon D3100. I am obviously a Canon point and shoot fan as I had not so great experience with Nikon point and shoot with then the company's camera (Coolpix - cost so much but so slow on the flash recharging!). Before D3100, I was also on my dad's Canon EOS 450D that I helped to get fixed. The fact that is was defected, my dad told me to never get Canon DSLR and stay with Nikon. I was with Nikon FE10 (film SLR) back then, so agreed that Nikon would be a better suit for me to get back to SLR again.
With the budget I had, obviously entry levels were the better option. So if for entry level, Nikon D3100 and Canon 1100D were the options (and of course, rivals). Both were entry levels and both priced about the same and came with kit lenses. Zooming on to Nikon, I checked out specs for all Nikon DSLRs from obsolete to the present models, from entry to advance levels, to really understand why is it considered 'entry level' in the first place.Beginners, don't get discouraged at all that what you have is considered 'entry-level'. What you have actually is a mighty tool and with the right skill, you can produce results which no one can tell from the 'advance' range! And please invest on lenses rather than upgrading the body.
Looking at the comparison chart I narrowed down to Nikon D5000 and D3100 and in terms of price, D3100 is better and in terms of spec, the D5000 win over mostly on the 'flip screen', which isn't a big up for most purist anyway! Even D3100 has higher effective mega pixels even though priced lower than D3100. It also has a guide menu at the dial which Canon 1100D doesn't have and although I really didn't need it (not boasting ok!) but it's a very good option for those entering into DSLR with very little theory. I am a mother of 2 and I do have bills to pay and alas I became the owner of D3100. I am happy with it as for now. I have held the Canon 1100D before and probably biased, I think I prefer the D3100. Review by Digital Camera magazine rated the Canon entry level 1 star higher than the Nikon one actually. But when it comes to the mid and advance levels, they are quite close, having the Nikon winning over Canon at the advance level. Not to much info there for you but the point is both Canon and Nikon are really competitive with each other. No one can say one is way better than the other, but mostly I think it's the matter of which suit the individual. So, when I'm with my Nikon don't ask me with a high pitch, "Why did you get Neeekon??" Perhaps I should start answering, "WHY NOT? Nikon don't make printers. Why should I get a camera from a printer manufacturer?" - just kidding Canon guys!
Last but not least guys, why not save time and money, have your DSLR and gears delivered by Pos Laju to your doorstep by shopping online for at ShaShinKi.com - Malaysia's Online Camera Shop!
Don't worry, they give freebies like bag and SD card like those conventional shops too! I wish I had bought my DSLR from there but I didn't know about it before. However, I did order an ND filter, circular polarizer filters and a 4 way reflector and it came in the mail the very next day! Price wise, very happy as I have been looking around for the said accessories and they always price quite high in stores.
Friday, November 25, 2011
It was a Friday and an off day for me (shutdown) so me and son went for movies at Gurney Plaza, so I could also check out the Camera Fair this time around. The last time I went there weren't many things to see and do. This time, although I'm not exactly budgeting for anything, I went and actually saw some cool and interesting stuff going on.
They had model shooting competition which I didn't actually participate but joined in snapping away.
Meet Miss Olympus (look like Miss Chinatown).
Of course the real stars of the fair aren't really the fair models but the gears. The new Nikon 1 that comes in pink, white and black are actually something really cool to have!! Apart from being pink, this is actually a powerful mirrorless compact that comes with interchangeable lenses that are the current rival for Sony's Nex 3, Olympus' 'Respect' PEN, Lumix's DMC LX5 and Canon's G12.
I still have problem accepting that some compacts don't have shortcuts to the M, A and S functions. You actually have to press menu for those.
Camwhores will alas jubilate with this Samsung digital camera with screen that flips 180 deg. Something a little more sharp than smart phones perhaps. Perfect for travels when there's no one around to snap a picture of you!
Something else that caught me were the mini studio booths for sale. I've seen this on online stores but this is the first time I'm seeing one. This is a consideration for those who want a home studio for marketing goods where you can just place the stuff in it, flip the lights on and take clear pictures of them with any background colour you want.
Not to worry if selling goods is not in your book, they also have human size booths. This one is RM6700 per unit! A little too pricey for amateurs like me. I forced the kid to model in it and this is the result. Actually kinda cool, with all key lighting in place, you can have that studio look like in magazines. This is absolutely so much advance than my home made studio I did in my 'Images of Low Key Lighting' post.
They had model shooting competition which I didn't actually participate but joined in snapping away.
Meet Miss Olympus (look like Miss Chinatown).
Miss Olympus at the booth (Kawaii look)
and of course Miss Nikon, she looks a bit like Unduk Ngadau.
Of course the real stars of the fair aren't really the fair models but the gears. The new Nikon 1 that comes in pink, white and black are actually something really cool to have!! Apart from being pink, this is actually a powerful mirrorless compact that comes with interchangeable lenses that are the current rival for Sony's Nex 3, Olympus' 'Respect' PEN, Lumix's DMC LX5 and Canon's G12.
I still have problem accepting that some compacts don't have shortcuts to the M, A and S functions. You actually have to press menu for those.Camwhores will alas jubilate with this Samsung digital camera with screen that flips 180 deg. Something a little more sharp than smart phones perhaps. Perfect for travels when there's no one around to snap a picture of you!
Something else that caught me were the mini studio booths for sale. I've seen this on online stores but this is the first time I'm seeing one. This is a consideration for those who want a home studio for marketing goods where you can just place the stuff in it, flip the lights on and take clear pictures of them with any background colour you want.
Not to worry if selling goods is not in your book, they also have human size booths. This one is RM6700 per unit! A little too pricey for amateurs like me. I forced the kid to model in it and this is the result. Actually kinda cool, with all key lighting in place, you can have that studio look like in magazines. This is absolutely so much advance than my home made studio I did in my 'Images of Low Key Lighting' post.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
A totally unplanned photo shoot and was running low on juice. The three of us attended a friend's wedding luncheon at town and afterwards since we were all dressed and in make up, we head to the Baba Nyonya House just shoot outside since my batts was low. Fact is, I really didn't know that we were going for more shoots. We took turn holding the toddler that followed me along :)Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Went for team building during the weekend to hot and humid Bukit Merah Laketown Resort. I just had to bring the camera despite busy with activities. Had to test the ND filter and circular polarizer I bought from ShaShinKi.com - Malaysia's Online Camera Shop! arrived just in time for the trip.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
She looks really pretty in this one but the lamp post is distracting. My bad.
Calm
Hot look
Walk in the park*Had a lot of favourite shots today, hard to pick just a few.
Friday, September 9, 2011
We had nowhere to go during the Raya break and we decided not to travel further than the state to avoid being stuck in the traffic jams. Since kid number 2 have never been there, we went there kinda late in the afternoon. Can't say I'm happy enough with the results and not long when we were inside, we were gently shoo-ed out as they were closing up. Kinda disappointed as we paid RM18/pax adult and RM10/child (i think) which was a big hike from RM10/pax during our last visit which was only 2.5 years ago! And even knowing they were closing soon the man who probably was the owner greeted us at the ticket counter anyway and asked us to pay up. There weren't many butterflies too, and the big ones are nowhere to be seen. I keep seeing the same orange variety most of the time. I tried getting more than 1 butterfly in a frame bet failed. What do you think, was it worth it by looking at the results above?I was probably happier during our last visit when I only had a normal Canon Powershot!
From our visit last 2.5 years ago with Canon Powershot A550
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