GX GARNERINGS

Early on this year, Canon's commercial Freeze Tag has won several awards.  It is the 2010 EMMY Winner, 2010 CLIO Winner, 2010 Gold Addy Winner and 2010 YDA Winner. Also check out the video below for the BTS nitty-gritty. CANON: Freeze Tag - Behind The Scenes from Saman Keshavarz on Vimeo .

(Click the image to visit the Candid Photo Gallery by Ricoh China's "promotion ambassadors") Three new serious compact cameras have been put up for purchase this week in Hong Kong.  Surprisingly, despite the appreciation of the Japanese Yen to a new high level, the Ricoh GR Lens A12 28mm f/2.8 is far less expensive than the A12 50mm.  Is the pricing strategy adjusted?  Likely. The suggested retail price of the GR Lens A12 28mm is HK$5,500, and that of the GXR body with the A12 28mm (free hood）is $7,300.  As a reference, the NEX5 with two lenses or the NX100 with one kit lens now asks for about HK$5,500 to HK$5,700.  [Use the exchange rate widget in the sidebar.] Panasonic has also released the pricing for its two new cameras.   The slightly compact GH2 body is selling for HK$ 8,380; the body plus 14-42mm lens for $ 9,380; the body plus 14-140mm lens for $ 12,990.  Since these are suggested retail prices, the street prices can be about two hundred HK dollars cheaper.

(Camera: Ricoh CX1) It is generally thought that indecisive focusing is quintessential of contrast detection adpoted in smaller-sensor compacts.  This detection operation has an inherit constraint: it is limited by the level of contrast available for detection.  In a nutshell, in low-light situations, the photographers have to convince and wait for the focus to really lock on the subjects.  This observation still holds true.  But the perception of contrast detection as such is changing. Until recently, contrast detection has lagged behind in focusing when compared with phase detection.  As the Panasonic's top-class model GF2 attests, the MFT sensor using contrast detection is really fast in good lighting situations.  Probably in those situations, it is marginally slower than phase detection.  If you've not checked it out, go here . So, while contrast detection still sucks in low-light settings, it has caught up quite close focusing-speed-wise. The common saying goes, &qu

(Camera: Samsung WB600) The light and shadows of people big and small entering a stadium are fascinating.  The shots were done with the WB600 of which the 24mm to 360mm focal range were really handy for the shooting occasion with wide and far-away scenes. Trimming and some post-processing were applied.

Today, let's enjoy a set (and many more here ) of amazing yet mind-boggling photographic works of Bolin LIU from China.  He took and, by painting on himself  to blend into the background, modelled for the picture.  Simply clever!

(Camera: Samsung NX100) Recently I came across a blogger who called himself a gear-whore. What a word! But it, I would say, vividly depicts how the photographers' head is always filled with thoughts of new cameras. These photographers -- I mean, we can be one of them -- can glue themselves to the monitor for the Internet news and reviews as much as their depreciating stamina after a day's work or study can carry them forward. Of all the concerns, the matter of ISO speed in terms of useable image is the most common. After trying out a dozen of new enthusiast compact cameras -- fitted with a 1/1.7" or APS-C or MFT sensor -- over the past twelve months, our impression is that we have only pushed the cameras to ISO 800 top on 80% of the shooting occasions. For one thing, anything above that ISO800 threshold is generally on a downward curve of image quality. The image quality, so to speak, plateaus at ISO 800. Back to the shot "Speed" today, it was taken at ISO1

(Camera: Samsung EX1) I like the way he casually held the cigarette in his mouth.

(Camera: Samsung EX1) You have to wait for the pedestrian traffic to clear up slowly.  Your vehicle can't go really fast anyway. Learn to be patient.  At least you don't have to hurry today.  This is Sunday.  Slow Down.