GX GARNERINGS

(Ricoh GR: Exhausted. I could have risked an arrest of suspected stalking for taking this shot! No post processing) I have heard about how the Ricoh GR with its prime lens and a low-pass filter free sensor can produce sharp images. The sharpness is superb. The final images give a good amount of depth, or 3-dimension-ish, if you prefer. Some people have different opinion about the muted colour tone of the GR images, but they are exactly the character of GR. My cup of tea indeed. Surely there are options to make the colour more vibrant and vivid. ( Sisters and balloons ) ( Alone in the back alley ) While the image quality and the haptics of the camera are great, the quality control is anything but. Mine has a problem with the volume control – when playing back movies with the camera, pressing the volume to the maximum will mute the sound?! I may return it for a new one. What a shame! ( Helmet ) ( Stalking )

(Leica X1; The famous placard man in Mongkok with placards calling for genuine universal suffrage for Hong Kong’s chief in 2017) The Admiralty base camp of the over 2-month Umbrella Movement is going to be cleared off on Thursday morning Hong Kong time. The student leaders have publicly vowed not to defend the occupied area to avoid forced dispersion by the police. Stream of people came to the place to witness history and bid farewell to the movement on Wednesday night. The smell of sadness wafted in the air but was mixed with an undercurrent of strong sense of solidarity.  The News report has it that tens of thousands of people remained at the base camp overnight. The lone occupying protesters in Causeway Bay are expected to be removed soon afterwards. “We will be back”,  wrote a gigantic yellow banner glued on the highway at Admiralty. This seems to give a resounding conclusion to what the movement has achieved in the general citizens’ mind. The following are...

After much ado about what suited me most, I finally decided to part with my money in exchange for a GR limited edition. I hope to post some first shots when I am able to play with it. I almost settled for the Coolpix A, which has dropped to a much lower point than the already hugely discounted GR. That one is a very well built machine. Great haptics like a miniature Nikon DSLR but the ergonomics and controls aren't made for street photographers. Well certainly these have been discussed a year ago.

(Ricoh GX200) I have been doing some searching to satisfy my appetite for a new camera.  Taking stock of what cameras are in my arsenal, I found the fun, the serious and the speedy ones there.  What do I want? So I have been carrying each of them for a few days and shooting in a hope to find out if any of them needs an upgrade.  The more I shoot, the more confirmed my belief is that no camera makes a good photographer.  Certainly,the image quality varies and the bigger the sensor the better. But there is a way to work around every shortfall. As for the GX200, its grainy character could make tasty black and white images. That said, the Ricoh GR has come down lots in price which makes it very a tempting new acquisition. The B & H offers it at a reduced price with a free GV1 and a high capacity SD card.  Amazon offers one at a moderately higher price BUT with a GV1, a spare battery and a Ricoh flashgun! In Hong Kong, there is the limited edition which c...

Unfortunately, I am afraid that the answer is yes. As the camera uses the same sensor as the A7 (some suspected that the issue arose from the sensor reflection-sort-of problem), the A7II is probably still prone to the halo issue if the light enters at some angle to the lens. Well all cameras are so with the lens pointing at the light source. I didn’t compare the result with shots by other camera so I can’t say for sure. I am concerned that this is the case though ---- make your own conclusion from the following shots. These are shots I done with the A7II mounted with the Zeiss 55mm f1.8 and 24-70mm F4 ZA lenses. However, the other shots done with the kit zoom lens do show the halos:

(Leica D-Lux 5) Like one, that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread And having once turned round walks on Because he knows, a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, British Poet in The Ancient Mariner

(Ricoh GRD4) Everything around the base camp of the occupiers at Admiralty is so still and motionless that one can almost smell the chilling smell of an imminent storm wafting in the air. Two big trucks were seen quite near the area this morning.  A police enforcement order  additional to an injunction per private application has been granted by the court.  It is reported in today's newspaper that Judge Henry Litton, Non-Permanent Judge of Hong Kong's Final Court of Appeal, questioned the technicality of the court order at a law conference yesterday. The Honourable Henry Litton was "mystified" over the court order. His views were shared by the ex-law faculty dean of the Hong Kong University questioned. Link to the news report: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1638381/top-court-judge-questions-odd-injunction

(Ricoh GRD4) The Chinese characters on the yellow flyer reads, I want genuine universal suffrage. Well, is this becoming real only in the parallel universe?

(Leica D-Lux 5) No, she didn’t. I just run into her working around the base camp at Admiralty this evening. Her face has become so recognisable after her arrest.

(Leica X1) The pro-democracy protesters have braved all the challenges carrying on with the Umbrella Movement into the third week.  Visiting the occupied area has become a routine for lots of people.  Seeing the younger faces full of life, hopes and determination is as encouraging as worrying to the older generations who experienced the horror in the history of modern China and the 1989 massacre in Tianamen Square.  It is so.  It is so.

(Ricoh GRD4) My GRD4 and Lr5 are up and running, but our city is very sick. Sick, very sick of the patronising top officials unlashed by the dictators. There are lots of photo opportunity around. But as anyone sane living in the city, one almost can’t bear the intense power and uncertainty from the silence and calmness of the protesters in the occupied street while shooting. Just this afternoon, it was reported that seemingly concerted efforts between the law enforcement and the suspected triad- and Mainlanders-affiliated anti-protesters were made to remove barricades and stormed the occupied sites. At night, protesters started to fortify. This is as worrying as saddening.

(Works of Vivian Maier from the Internet) It is probably a nightmare for every serious photographer, amateur or professional. A few days ago, I found that the Lightroom in the computer wouldn't start! The dilemma between fixing the computer or relocating the programme to my inadequate laptop is quite a bother to me. There is an expensive option of buying a new computer, but I have to be a moron to be a spender like that. Since I had the Leica cameras some three years ago, I have been using Lightroom (freebie with purchase of a Leica) to manage my photos. The present issue won't hurt my efforts devoted to them coz I have not been silly enough to not make regular backups. It is a bugging reality that this has to be fixed somehow though. Without the regular workflow, this will also be preventing me from posting photos to GX Garnerings. The culprit, I guess, is a Chrome add-on called Disconnect. The last time the Lightroom worked was before installation of Disconnec...

(Ricoh GRD4) This photo-worthy scene presented itself literally around the corner. Glad that I had the GRD4 with me as always.

(Sony A55) A shot did in Osaka. Have a great week ahead!

(Sony A55) The ride on the waters gave quite an unforgettable experience. It somehow made me think of the great flood mentioned in the Holy Bible. A great photographic spot, but it has to be on the Canadian side of the place.