GX GARNERINGS

  (The upbeat light plays, like a naked child, among the motley of innocent colours, not knowing that the bustling world beyond the mountains is full of lies) This photo was taken when our boat sailed past this villager standing on the prow and talking to the lady leaning on the wooden railing of the titled house.  I held up my camera and took several shots of him.  He was very co-operative and I simply smiled back.  Later on, I walked through the labyrinthic alleys between the tiled houses.  Interestingly, people could walk from one house to another.  Doors of all houses are open and the lively community spirit was uncommon to those living in the city.  Instead of using the camera, we drew some pictures of the scene in one of the houses.  (Photo taken with Minolta Dynax 7)

(Upper: Front Cover of the Guide Lower: The complimentary silver ring for GRD/II) Nevin said that Cristi from London mentioned a Ricoh user in Macau, which is an hour's catamaran ride from Hong Kong, owned a whole lot of books about GRD. He (Hi to you if you're reading this) must be interested in this one. How about you GRD / II users? A blogger got a copy of this "GR Digital Complete Guide" which is a compiled copy of the GRD Perfect Guide Vols. 1, 2 and GRD II Perfect Guide. The former two guides were published in 2005 and 2006, respectively. This limited edition for 8,000 copies is surely the bible of GRD users. What's more, it is enclosed with a giveaway: a silver lens ring. The guide offers, among other things, tricks and photos taken with GRD I and II by renowned Japanese photographers. It is, of course, written in Japanese. But the Japanese magazines are known for their clear pictorial illustrations. The guide is for sale here , in case you...

(Listen, my heart, to the whispers of the mountains with which it makes love to you) Tai O is famous for its tilted houses over the waters. These age-old structures are typical of shanty fishing villages in Hong Kong, which proliferated over the territory of "a barren rock" (the then HK through a British colonial high official's eyes) more than a century ago. Just as most part of Hong Kong, Tai O is surrounded by a mountainous terrain, which sends visitors a tremendous feeling of seclusion about the place. I, riding on a boat, went close to the tilted houses. Instead of their outlook that meets the eye, the houses are furnished with as many more modern home appliances as every urbanite does to his place. But the predominate coarse quality to them makes for a, rightly or wrongly, believable pristine state of the whole place. When the boatman halted the boat and its movement finally subsided, I took the picture and, holding down the camera with my eyes close, took in th...

There was another scaffolding structure across the river on the ebb. Some villagers having watched the opera made their way through a makeshift bridge to that structure, which was found to be a temporary temple as I went closer. I do not know the legend of the monkey god down pat but it must be a fictitious guardian to the villagers just as the many other vernacular gods so commonly found in the wealth of Chinese tales. (Photo taken with Minolta Dynax 7)

Hong Kong impresses many as a busy business city.  There are more about this place.  Let me show you around the contryside.   This is Tai O, a fishing village on the western tip of Hong Kong's largest offshore island, the Lautau Island, bordering on Mainland China's waters. Tai O is, so to speak, in relatively pristine conditions. It is usually touristy on weekends. The Thursday I visited there coincided with the birthday of the monkey god. A scaffolded hall was erected for Cantonese opera performances in celebration of the sacred day. As I took the shot, villagers were leaving the hall after the last performance in the afternoon session.    (Photo taken with Minolta Dynax 7)

Okay, this is not just another post about compacts. But, for sure, this is about photography and too good to be missed. Read here and be awed by the power of photos.

(A Surreptitious Glance: I took this photo in Shanghai Street of Mongkok. The vacant shop had originally been rented by a small eatery for almost ten years. It survived the Asian financial crisis and the outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong which hit the economy hard.  Sadly, the owners didn't make it this time. The vacant shop is next to a roadside newspaper kiosk which also sells a wide array of porn magazines. After all, this is the district where prospective patrons come for sex service)   In the local business world, empty shops have been “flourishing” throughout the territory for the past few months. An increasing number of short-term shop tenancies in Mongkok, a shoppers’ Mecca in Hong Kong, may epitomise the general situation: big businesses are braking their operations. (Telltale Sight of Depression: This vacant shop is on a side street in Mongkok. The metal gate has been posted and reposted with bills by different property agents in vain hope of ...

Japan's highly-regarded DC Watch website has published the voting results for the most popular DSLRs and compacts within the country in 2008. GX 200 is voted the second most popular compact in the Japan market. Well done again, Ricoh. First, for compacts, the votes given to the runners-up are really close. The winner is DP1, which actually is larger in its sensor size and in a class of its own. For those with comparable sensor sizes, namely, the Canon G10, Ricoh GX200 and Panasonic LX3, their respective votes account for 22.5%, 22.5% (both first runners-up) and 22.3% (second runner-up) of the total votes. It is interesting to note that Nikon has met its tragic waterloo with the P6000 favoured by only 9.4% voters. The P6000 is supposedly in the same class as the G10, GX200 and LX3. For the DSLR results, it is somewhat surprised to see G1 topping the list, followed closely by Nikon D700 and farther away by Sony Alpha 900, which is also our favourite system. Canon does not fare r...

When everyone was busy preparing for the Christmas, a piece of good news was quietly let slip (by us ;>). In addition to the previous design awards , RICOH announced in December 2008 that its GRD II and GX200 received the iF product design award 2009 for outstanding design. Organised by German company iF International Forum Design GmbH, the iF design awards are among the most respected in the world. This year 802 products have been awarded. 2,808 products from 1025 contestants submitted from 39 different countries, competed for a coveted iF product design award. With a new total of 16 categories, this international competition is geared to all entrepreneurs, designers and manufacturers who are dedicated to high-quality design and eager to communicate this fact. The several awards received by Ricoh speak volumns for the fact that the two Ricoh cameras are a style and joy to use apart from the great IQ it affords the users. The awards ceremony announcing the winners of the 50 iF gol...

This morning I had a loving stroll on the street under the mild sunshine warming the cool air and the brisk wind keeping my mind crisp. As I walked, I looked up at the sky with the clouds forming different patterns. It must be very windy up above in the sky. It looked as if the sky had been a big canvas and the clouds dots of pale colours. I couldn't help taking photos of them. (The thick clouds are gradually broken into small heaps) (The long, thin boys chasing the fluffy, scudding girls) (The small heaps are making way for the long fellows to dance)