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Showing posts from November 9, 2008

Port of Call

The Victoria Harbour was the dividing line between the Kowloon Peninsular and the Hong Kong Island, and literally so before the takeover of even the Kowloon Peninsular more than 100 years ago by the British who had taken charge of the Hong Kong Island. When the British first entered into the Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong was remarked as, "a barren rock". Then as time worn on, Hong Kong started to d evelop itself more into a modern city. Before it reached the height of the present development, the Victoria Harbour had much fewer activites, hence cleaner enough for fishing and the annual cross harbour swimming galas . Now Hong Kong is a major port of call in Asia for passenger liners, and the home port of several cruise operators. The old airport -- the Kai Tak Airport famous for giving passengers an illusion of landing on the roofs of the flanking buildings and on the waters, and being one of the ten most demanding airports for flight captains -- are being developed in...

Nightshots Comparison: GX200 vs G10 vs G9 vs LX3 vs P6000

(invalid links REALLY FIXED) (Note: At long last, I garnered some test shots from different pages and arranged in order here for you. I didn't take the photos. D o come back to check out another comparison between G1 and a proper DSLR . I need more time.) Subsequent to the last how-they-fare-in-real-life-situations approach of comparison (to me, the most common aspect of use in general is shooting JPEGs), here is another comparison. Check out how good or bad these serious compacts see with JPEGs at night below. The photos are resized, yes. But they suit the need: they give an impression of what the photos are like in a real life situation in which they are viewed not at 100% magnification but at a normal size. Bear in mind that noise may not be a bad thing when doing the comparison. And small sensor compacts, however serious, are not endowed with a good ability to see at night. Don't judge them only by what they cannot do but more by what they can: GX200 G10 G9 LX3 P6000 ...

Stop and Think

(A mother and her two children were on their way to the kindergarten. They were walking towards the Nathan Road, the longest thoroughfare and lifeline of the Kowloon Peninsular of Hong Kong, and stopped by the traffic light where a delivery man swished past in a bike that was unusually small for a delivery man. Back in the days when Hong Kong was under British colonial rule, you would have seen traffic facilities shipped from Britain at every zebra crossing. In those days, probably such a short-distance crossing would also have a safety island in the middle with two British made lamp boxes. You know what the British were getting at then. Guess what? Now the traffic lights use the lamp lids that resemble those used in China.) Have you ever stopped and thought, "When has buying a camera started to become so complicated and time-consuming?" As an amateur photographer for two decades and with a GX200 for some months, I have been amazed by the details that reviewers have gone i...

Is that a Bird? A Superman? It's a Plane!

(Click the picture for the colour photo) Ricoh GX200 is a great camera. I take it with me everyday, hanging it around my neck with a neckstrap and slipping into my skirt pocket. As my workplace is so close by that I walk to the office and on the way, I have taken tons of photos. One of my secrets about GX200 is to customise the snapshot mode to M1 so that I can go for a quick shot when a scene arises. Thanks to the snapshot mode which sort of pre-focuses already. It is autumn in Hong Kong. And if you are an observant photographer and live in a place not far away from the equator, you already know that autumn is the best season for photography because the sun is at the right angle to bring out most of the colours we can see. In Southern Australia, it would be like taking pictures on a late afternoon at the tail end of winter (late August), which I did when in Melbourne having a spin in an old man's car. It is also like taking pictures half an hour before sunset when the sun is at ...

Non-Commercial Reviews of GX200

(My Minolta Dynax 7 with 24-105mm and GX200 with 24-75mm) Tempted or considering to grab a GX200? Puzzled by the "info-mercials" about GX200 in the commercial sites? Here are some of the non-commercial reviews you will certianly find useful: Wouter's Impression , Keithcooper's Review , Carl's Review and Pavel's Comparison of GX200 and LX3 .

Does Noise Sound Really Bad?

(This is the Cultural Centre sitting astride a large piece of land fronting the famous Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Climb on the second deck of a podium in front of it at night and you'll have a great shooting opportunity for the backlit scene on the one hand and for the amazing harbour aglow with a motley of neonlights on the other. Now, can you guess if the shadows are of one person of two? ) (Cultural Centre, Hong Kong) Before I post the nightshots comparison of the GX200, G10, LX3 and other beasts, may I ask: How does noise sound to you? "The high ISO shots by GX200 are noisy," one commentary goes. "The high ISO performance of G10 is not as good as LX3 noise-wise," another review says. "The noisy nightshots of P6000 make it a headturner," the third one laments. Does noise sound really bad? A friend of mine looked at her wedding shots at the studio and sounded really puzzled, "Why are these film photos not as clean as the DSLR's?...

Sex-Service Sign?

A reader has observed in the photo of the post "Buntings" an understatement about the far distance between the ladies's underwear on the left and the man's navy underpants on the right. In fact, in the old areas here in Hong Kong, if you notice a window with no washing hanging outside to dry but a set of ladies' underwear, it is likely a sex-service-available-here sign. The understandment is probably to draw the distance closer instead.  I cropped the photo. Now, look again and guess why the bras and panties are hanging so far apart from the rest and the windows are shaded and shut. Yes, you've got it. Very, very likely. By the way, brothels are illegal in Hong Kong.

I Won the October Photo Contest

(Title: Basic Instinct) Yahoo! I've got the highest number of votes in a photo contest for October .   If you are one of my voters, a BIG thank you!  Making use of GX200's S-Continuous mode, I titled the photo "Basic Instinct", a sracarstic way of saying about the little girl turning to the most basic resort to cure her itching nostril when her mum was away. By the way, further to the last comparison , DO COME BACK to check out the nightshots comparison between the recent serious compacts including GX200, G10, LX3, P6000 and even G1 !  It will be ready in a few days! And dear visitors, please support me by clicking the ads by the way: my frustrated wife has been asking why I spend so much time blogging.  My very effective reply was, "The site can earn money."  So, please give me a hand.  Thanks!