Shooting with a prime lens is so much joy. It’s quite intuitive since it’s what your eyes see. And since there’s no zoom, it trains me to look out for photo opportunities. I’d love to be able to take some great street photos one day.

Photos from Pentax DA 35mm F2.4 AL

Here some test shots I took today. Taken in medium quality JPEG. No post processing done unless otherwise stated.

This was one of my first shots with the lens. I obviously hadn’t gotten the focus quite right yet. But I like this photo of the unsuspecting bf.

A photo of me with disheveled hair. Post-processed for color correction (and to remove a zit).

Yum! I love taking photos of food!

Check out the blurred background!

Quick snap of Capitol Building. Post-processed for black & white, high contrast effect.

Cropped version of the photo above just to show you the amazing detail.

The Pentax really shines at night.

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Indoor shot at the Esplanade

My fave shot of the day! But I should’ve focused on the lady instead of the frame though.

Before I end, here’s some noob-to-noob advice. If you’re looking for your first prime lens, make sure you know what sensor your camera body has. Many pro photographers will tell you to get a 50mm prime lens because that’s the closest to you eye’s view. That’s only true if you camera body has a full-frame sensor. Many beginner dSLRs have cropped sensors. That means 50mm isn’t really 50mm, it’s actually a more zoomed in version of what your eyes see. If that’s the case, you should go for a 35mm or 28mm, depending how cropped your sensor is. Here are two good articles to read about cropped vs full frame sensors and the crop factor.

Related posts:

1. A Night in Photos
2. Sashimi Feast in Photos
3. Chic DSLR Camera Bag

But then I found the Herringbone Discovery Canvas Black today. It’s a Korean brand, if I’m not mistaken. Not the most stylish bag in the market, but it only costs S$69! It can hold my Pentax K-x and 1 extra lens. There’s also a small pocket inside to put extra SD cards.

Photos below. Check out the carrier it comes in…very unique!

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So I’ve asked the kind folks at Ogilvy (Canon’s PR agency) to provide a step-by-step guide to Color Swap on your Canon PowerShots and IXUS cameras. The Color Accent is fairly similar except that you only need to select one color. As for the other scene modes like Nostalgia and Miniature, they are found under SCN for PowerShot models and P (sometimes displayed as the Camera icon) on IXUS models.

Color Swap on Canon PowerShot models

1. Set camera mode to SCN
2. Press the FUNC SET button
3. Use the Down arrow to move to the “Special Scenes” mode
4. Use the Left and Right arrows to move to Color Swap
5. Press on DISP.
6. Aim the color you want to change from with the small box at the center of your camera’s screen and press the left arrow to select
7. Aim the camera at the colour you want to change to, and press the right arrow to select
8. Set the tolerance (-5 will change the exact color you selected; +5 will change colours close to the colour you selected), and then press DISP. to select
9. Then fire away!

Color Swap on Canon IXUS non-touchscreen models

1. Set camera to P mode (sometimes displayed as a camera icon in black)
2. Press func set button
3. Scroll to find Color Swap, then press func set button to select it
4. Press DISP. to bring up the two color boxes
5. Aim the color you want to change from with the small box at the center of your camera’s screen and press the left arrow to select
6. Aim the camera at the colour you want to change to, and press the right arrow to select
7. Then fire away!

Color Swap on Canon IXUS touchscreen models

For touchscreen IXUS models, the process is the same as the non-touchscreen models except that you touch the colored boxes at the bottom of the screen to select the colours you want to change from and to, instead of using the left and right arrow buttons.

Hope this helps!

Related posts:

1. Night Out with the Canon PowerShot S95
2. A Day with Canon PowerShot SX210 IS at Universal Studios Singapore
3. Review: LG Viewty KU990R

I managed to spend some time with the Canon PowerShot S95 and the semi-pro EOS 60D. Here some initial thoughts.

Canon PowerShot S95

This is the mother of all point and shoot cameras. If you have even the slightest interest in photography, you MUST seriously consider this camera. If I didn’t already own 3 cameras, I would probably get one myself. As an entry-level DSLR user, I was totally blown away by what this tiny thing can do! Here’s what I liked:

Breathtaking Night Shots
Its main value proposition? It’s got a very wide aperture of f2.0. For non-enthusiasts, that basically means it can take breathtaking night shots without a tripod.

Here’s a comparison. This photo was taken with ISO 125, F9.0 and shutter speed of 5 seconds. At those settings, almost all cameras can take stunning night shots. But who can hold a camera in their hand without shaking for a whole 5 seconds?! (I used a ledge to support the camera, by the way.)

So the hallmark of a good low-light camera is for it replicate this image quality with a much shorter shutter speed, while keeping the noise low. Here’s how the S95 fared:

Maintaining an ISO of 125, this shot was taken with f3.5 and shutter speed of 1s. Isn’t it close?!

New Scene Modes
The last time I wrote about Canon cameras, I talked about the Fisheye, Miniature, Color Accent and Color Swap. Canon has upped the ante with even more new modes like Nostalgia and Poster Color. Here are some test shots in Nostalgia mode.

Nostalgia tries to emulate the feel of older cameras. There are different ‘levels’ of Nostalgia, each level represents an era of cameras so to speak. This has become my second favorite mode after Miniature!

A Pocket DSLR
The controls really emulate the DSLRs. It’s got two control rings, a custom mode to save a shooting profile, it tells you the focal length and even comes with a grid so you can shoot with the Rules of Third in sight.

Who’s it for?
I’m very tempted to say everyone because it’s got an intuitive auto mode for casual shooters, scalability for photography noobs and DSLR-like controls for enthusiasts. I highly, highly recommend this camera.

Canon EOS 60D

This is from Canon’s prosumer range of DSLRs – a range that clearly outmatches my level of skill. I had to spend a whole 30 minutes learning how to use basic functions like adjusting the shutter speed, aperture and custom white balance. I only had one usable shot too. Here’s a picture of Nicole – and even then the white balance wasn’t quite right.

Here are some highlights:
Quick Mode
It’s a mode that lets you see a whole lot of settings at a glance. You press the Q button to adjust these settings. On top of the usual ISO, shutter and aperture, there are things electronic field which helps you judge how you tilt your camera and color fidelity. It took a little getting used but I appreciate the level of control it brings.

Mode Dial Lock
I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing but the mode dials are locked by default. You have to press a button to release the dials every time you plan to switch modes. I guess that would be nifty to prevent your dials from being accidentally switched. I personally prefer my dials to be unlocked.

That’s it for Canon’s latest line-up. Check out my Canon Blogger Flickr set for more sample pictures.

Related posts:

1. A Day with Canon PowerShot SX210 IS at Universal Studios Singapore
2. An Night of Adventure in Singapore
3. A Night in Photos

Photos first, enlightenment later.

Photos of Angkor Wat

This is the moat that surrounds the Angkor Wat temple at 5am.

This is Angkor Wat at dawn. The Cambodian skies are absolutely gorgeous. On hindsight, it’s probably not the sky that’s beautiful, but that it isn’t littered with skyscrapers like Singapore.

This is one of the towers of Angkor Wat. I took this shot from the inside of the building to give it a bit more perspective.

Another shot of Angkor Wat from the inside.

One of the hundreds (or was it thousands?) of depictions of Apsara at Angkor Wat. An apsara is a nymph. The Hindus believed that having pictures of apsaras will bring about good luck and ward off evil spirits.

A monk happened to be posing for a group of photographers as I was leaving Angkor Wat. What luck!

Photo of Ta Phrom

By the time we arrived at Ta Phrom temple, where Tomb Raider was filmed, I was so exhausted under the sweltering heat, I couldn’t be bothered to take photos. This was the only half-decent shot I took.

Photos of Bayon Temple

The amazing view that surrounds the entrance to Bayon Temple.

The entrance to Bayon temple.

Bayon Temple. This is probably the most magnificent temple of the three I visited at the Angkor Wat complex. I didn’t manage to visit the inside of this temple — not because it was under construction or anything…

…I was simply paralyzed by uneasiness as I approached the temple steps. Partially, it was fear. Due to an accident some years ago, I am afraid of heights. You could say that I’m trying too hard to rationalize my fear, but another part of the uneasiness came from a voice within. Something was telling me that I wasn’t ready to walk in yet. It was telling me that I spent all my time acquiring new skills to advance my career, strategizing the most efficient way to lead life that I had begun to neglect my spiritual and physical well-being. It was telling me that I had to learn to balance mind, body and soul before I could gain the right to step in.

So I’m taking life a little slower and trying not to suppress my soul so much. Hopefully, I’ll achieve that balance within this lifetime.

My Favorite Photo Taken in Cambodia

To end my entry, here’s my favorite photo from the entire trip. No post-processing was done.

This is taken at the Silver Pagoda complex at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. I loved how the silver stupa blends with the silver sky. I felt a strong connection with the structure. I couldn’t really identify the feeling but it sure helped capture this shot.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I’ve enjoyed taking them! You can find more photos on my Flickr photostream.

Related posts:

1. A Day in Photos
2. A Night in Photos
3. Sashimi Feast in Photos

On a side note, it’s a shame I didn’t bring my camera since my clutch was too small. I had to rely on my 5MP LG phone instead. Sorry if it doesn’t look as appetizing as it was.

Beef Sashimi

This is beef sashimi marinated in soy sauce. I’m not a fan of red meat (yes, I actually don’t like steak), but this was just exquisite. It tastes a lot like seafood sashimi, but has more bite to it.

Sake Sashimi Salad

The salmon was fresh, and complemented well with the salad. It was very unfortunate that it was simply too salty for my taste.

Sashimi Platter

Here we have salmon (鮭; sake), tuna (まぐろ; maguro), yellowtail (魬, hamachi), amongst others. My favorite is, was and always be salmon – probably because it was the very type of sashimi I tasted as a kid.

Yakitori 焼き鳥

This is yakitori. It literally means ‘grilled bird’. With the exception of the grilled shiitake mushroom, everything was made from chicken. What I found most interesting is the grilled chicken cartilage (軟骨; nankotsu). For those who fell asleep in middle school science, cartilage is the crunchy, white-ish soft bone of which your ear is comprised. I’ve always loved cartilage; I just never thought of grilling it.

Whilst in Canada, I met many people who have never tasted (never wanted to taste, perhaps?) sushi – let alone sashimi. I can understand the fear in eating raw foods. I was pretty hesitant when I first saw my dad eating some reddish raw fish. And it didn’t help that I hate fish. But after a lot of persuasion, I had my first bite.

And I haven’t stopped ever since.

Even though I still hate fish.

Have you had sashimi? Do you like it? Why or why not?

Related posts:

1. A Night in Photos
2. A Day in Photos

Sorry for being away from the blog scene the past week. I’ve been extremely busy preparing for my return to Singapore next week; renting out my room, packing up, buying last minute stuff has been incredibly time-consuming and taxing. I’ll be blogging erratically for the next 2 weeks. Hopefully, by then I think I’ll be completely settled down in Singapore.

New Camera!

Perils of moving across 12 timezones aside, my boyfriend and I drove to the middle of nowhere to get me a new camera yesterday (because it was that much cheaper than buying it downtown). It’s the one I’ve been eying on since its release: Canon Powershot A590 IS. It’s a budget camera that takes amazing shots with full manual controls. It only costs 160 CAD. What a steal! And I even got a 4GB SDHC card for 15 CAD.

All psyched out like a little kid, I was haphazardly taking hundreds of pictures on the way back home from the store. I didn’t really have the time to figure out how to use the manual controls, so I shot everything in Easy and Auto mode. And this is how it turned out…

12.40PM: First Test Shot

As we were leaving the store, we drove past a marsh. It was so ugly that it was unworthy of my new camera. So I pointed the lens at the sky instead. It was shot on Easy mode in a moving car. Not the brightest colors but amazing nonetheless.

1.00PM: Lunch at Pacific Mall

Hunger struck. So, we drove to Pacific Mall for lunch (you know, the one Russell Peters refers to in his ‘Chinese bargain’ joke). And this is what I had: Chinese-cooked Korean food. Marinated BBQ beef (Kalbi), with potato noodles (Japchae), spicy seaweed and salad with fruit dressing (yuck! no, and I don’t mean the name).

1:00PM: Emperor Chair

This was on my left while I was savoring my lunch: the emperor chair. The sign on the chair was absolutely amusing. It says “Please do not sit on the emperor chair.” If I hadn’t had known it was an emperor chair, my urge to sit on it wouldn’t be half as strong. The irony.

2.00PM: Cosplay Store

After lunch, we spent a couple hours just checking out the stores. And then we walked past a cosplay (costume play) store. This mannequin particularly caught my eye because I instantly recognized which anime it was from (Ulquiorra Schiffer from BLEACH). I would have loved to try it on. Too bad the store was closed. I spent another 5 minutes peeking through window hoping to catch a glimpse of another costume that I might’ve recognized. Unfortunately, the 3500 anime episodes I’ve watched didn’t help with identifying anymore costumes.

3:40PM: Long Drive Home

I snapped quite a few pictures on the way home and I particularly liked this shot. I wanted to capture the yellow flowers as the car was coming to a halt (for the red light). Just as I switched on the camera, a bus was rushing from behind, so I haphazardly snapped before it would block my view. I was so sure that the camera wouldn’t shoot in time and I would have ended up with half a bus in my frame. But as you can see here, it’s 100% bus-free. What speed.

4.00PM: Longest Street in the World

Yonge Street used to be longest street of the world at 1,896 kilometers. Despite having its record broken, Yonge Street is still an important road as it neatly splits Toronto from the East and the West. The picture on the left is a snapshot of Yonge Street somewhere in the Greater Toronto Area (i.e. far away from downtown) and the picture on the right shows Yonge Street downtown. (I used to live not too far from here.)

6.00PM: Dinner at Korean Town

My favorite place to be. Doesn’t look spectacular but the food is amazing! Wasn’t paying much attention to where I was shooting, but the stuff at BnC cake house is just too yummy. The fresh cream cakes are just.. wow. If you ever visit Toronto, you must try one!

Epilogue

With this I ended my first date with the Canon A590 IS. My photography skills are currently at 0%. Nevertheless, I think the pictures turned out well. I just started to learn about aperture and shutter speed today and hopefully I can take some professional-like pictures when I go to Niagara this Thursday. So, until then, enjoy the rest of my amateur shots at my Flickr account.

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