GX GARNERINGS

The first batch of testers are writing their impressions of the GXR.  What are the most important aspects to you?  Its ergonomics and operating speed?  Or the image quality? For the first two aspects, you can only choose to believe what are being written by the tester unless you can have a hands-on yourselves, which is always the better way for making an informed choice.  For image quality, the following are some aperture-cum-ISO-test shots taken with the A12 (50mm lens with a APS-C size sensor) by a Japanese tester for you to make your own conclusion (you may download these images to view the EXIF data):   ISO Aperture (Bokeh) comparison 200 F2.5, 1/68s      F4.0, 1/30s   F5.6, 1/16s   F8.0, 1/9s   F11, 1/4s ...

^An old station notice at the Sheung Wan tram terminus. Some holiday travellers skip Hong Kong for other cities in this part of the world because to them, Hong Kong is out and out a business city. It is simply not a place for leisure, they may think. Back some years ago, for that same reason, I gave a friend of mine from Melbourne a spin around the countryside from the far eastern to the far western side of the New Territories beyond Kowloon. It took us some five hours including the stops at some destinations we made during the driving. At the end of the day, she admitted that it changed her perception about Hong Kong size-wise and history-wise. Fact is, Hong Kong as the British bridgehead and bulwark, and its allies' for that matter, against the warring and later communist China, it has no lack in history. One of the historic routes for travellers is the trail of Dr Sun Yat-san in Hong Kong, the man who initiated the revolution whereby the last imperial emperor in the history...

It is a widely known trick that one can make do with a cheapy(cheaper)  filter coated with petroleum jelly as a diffusion filter.  Not all such filters deliver the same result .    But if you care about not as much being a connoisseur in the diffusion result as getting soften images or images with less harsh contrast, this is the trick for you. All you need is a cheapy filter and a jar of Vaseline petroleum jelly available in the dispensaries and supermarkets.  The amount of jelly to be applied on the filter is something you may need to try and err to get it right.  In short, making it the size of two to three grains of rice will do. A point to note in applying the jelly on the filter is that you may keep the centre area just barely or even not coated. A diffusion filter is suitable not just for your young model.  It is in fact more fitting for your subject of an older age as the soften image will blur their wrinkles.  Oh, if yo...

A fanciful possibility, Ricoh? (Source: Livedoor )

^ An image of Marc the guitar player in dreamy colour whose engrossment in the music is told by his body form, and supplemented by the blurred background, instead of a regular frontal shot of the player. We looked at some of Tess Roby's photos on Monday . Today, let's look into her images in a more philosophical way. We will focus on how observation enriches photographic works. Tess's images beam out an other-worldly quality. It is integral to, operating consciously or subconsciously, her way of observing and deciphering a scene. She said in yesterday's post, "One of the most important things... is making sure you know what's in your lens. You need to focus on all the aspects of the photo, not just your subject." ^The shot was taken at Tess's first listen of Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion When an eye-catching image gives her an urge to photograph, she focuses on the scene as a whole and not just on the primary subject. This logic le...

The Internet is starting to be awash with yet another rumour when the atmosphere in this traditional shopping season is gaining momentum: Sony's next mirrorless big-sensor camera. The picture is probably photoshopped. But there is no smoke without fire. The rumour has it that the release day will be 18 November. Wonder how such smaller beasts will overlap the APS-C DSLRs for the market share? (Source: Photo Rumours and Livedoor ) In parallel, and a bit out of topic, here is a site specialising in teaching users to fix their electronic stuff on their own. Look, a gutted Sony DSC-H2 is lying bare.

^ A shot in a cafe on the last day of 2008 Catching sight of some of Tess Roby’s photos on her Flickr page , I was like, "Wow, this aspiring young photographer could be the lady version of SY Hsu." (By the way, SY Hsu , who has appeared in quite a number of our Selected Excellence posts, won in yet another international photo contest after his two consecutive year of winning some prizes in France’s PX3. This time it is the 2009 IPA’s honourable mention.) She is young but her photos show signs of her talent in photography.  A special photographer's eye she has, which I will write some observations as to why tomorrow.  If her style can be summarised in one word, it will be "other-worldliness". ^It was the image that misled me to guess that Tess was British.  The quality of other-worldliness to the photo may have some bearing on the unspeakable, out-of-this-world Britishness in it.  The shot was taken on a farm in Suffolk, England.   Int...

Mr Crane : "Mr Bank of China Tower, you should have gone on a diet." This is Sunday.  Enjoy a sumptuous meal with your family!