GX GARNERINGS

(Ricoh GRD IV) (Leica D-Lux 5) Enjoy!

(Ricoh GRD IV) I really feel at home with the GRD IV. The functions are so accessible and customisable that experienced photographers can make all the tweaks in the matter of a second or two between shots. This camera is not one-hand operate-able. No, it requires just the thumb and index fingers for operation. My tip: set Fn1 to AEL to give you quick one-press access to the "right" metering of the scene from where you can quickly work out the desirable exposure. Again, the shot of today carries a distinctive GR signature of photojournalistic feel.  What makes it works to my eye is the different arrays of directions of the moving subjects.  This is a factor very important yet often overlooked in street shots as far as my experience goes. Enjoy!

(Ricoh GRD IV) Finally I failed to restrain myself from the purchase of the GRD IV at a temptingly low price.  The best is that I got the sexy white edition which comes with the must-have cap to prevent the camera from accidentally powering on.  Early last year I had the chance to play with a sample IV for some time and would have bought one if I had not been just given the Leica X1 and D-Lux 5 won from a photo contest. The GR cameras produce images of a distinctive signature in terms of colour and a photojournalistic feel. For the latter, I suspect that it has something to do with the GR followers being like-minded persons somehow (with a relaxed temperament? Visually attentive to the details of a fleeting moment?). Today's shot done in hi-contrast black-and-white hopefully carries such a signature.

(Leica D-Lux 5) Hong Kong has witnessed the Snowden's drama unfolding over the past week.  No doubt the whatever-gate-it-is-called will be made a Hollywood thriller -- there are just too many spy story elements to be missed.  Getting a glimpse of how the secretive world operates is, however brief and shallow, an eye-opener. Two idiotic things about the shebang are, first, how people in a free country are scared into taking for granted the legality of the blanket monitoring of communications --  maybe this poster found on the Internet carries some clue in that: ... and, second, that top officials of our tiny city have become addicted to the catchphrase, "we observe the law in ~ing...."*, which is undoubtedly taken for granted unless in authoritarian countries. The city shall of course be governed by the rule of law! We won't ask anyone to clean their arse after relaxing the bowels, will we? That's a common sense.  So absurd a comment as to be sarca...

(Leica D-Lux 5) Good morning the world!

(Leica D-Lux 5) The two bigger Chinese characters on the billboard right above the girl say so (or alternatively, heart gripping), from left to right pronounced as "sum suen".

(Sony A55; hand-held twilight mode up to ISO 1600) Hong Kong is baked in the stiff hotness while expecting the arrival of the first tropical cyclone to enter its precautionary radar zone this Saturday. The heat is caused by the strengthening of the typhoon, literally "big wind", which slows down the air movement in the surrounding atmosphere. But people like me were braving the heat of the street to check out what was going on in this city that never sleeps. I also took the opportunity to check out the availability and price of the GRD IV.  There are not many left for sale but the price goes as low as HK$2480 for a black body and HK$3180 for a white one which comes with the cover (the cover makes for good protection for the lens as it stops accidental power-up which in some real cases has caused the black IV's driving motor to malfunction eventually).