Village House

Was recently invited to a house warming and blessing of a place simply called the Village House. This is a lodge at the foot of Mount Santubong fronting the South China Sea. Opened by my dear friends, a husband and wife team who are avid travelers and photographers as well. This is their second place after Singgahsana Lodge in Kuching town. Set is a peaceful and quaint little malay kampong, you can sip pina coladas whole day in the inviting pool with a bar just steps away. I highly recommend both these places to 'singgah' if you are ever in this part of Borneo.

Finally got my first L lens

 Yes folks, Santa Claus came early and I got myself my 1st Canon 'L' lens. L for Luxury, top of the line professional grade Canon lens. Not just any lens but a 70-200mm F4 IS USM lens, the white colored lens. I have been longing for this lens and poured through every review there is about this lens. It gets a 9.9/10.0, any better would be the holy grail for a zoom lens. Hot from the oven I got a photoshoot and what exciting opportunity to try this baby. Went straight to location and open the boxed in the car and snapped it on, boy does it feel good. I am not going to do a review because there is nothing I can say thats not been said already. I just want to say I am simply delighted and excited with this wonderful acquisition. Anyway the photoshoot is a PR shoot for an up and coming MP. If he wins the election, this lens is worth it! 

Art on Horse

Was out to town Saturday with a friend to look at some computer stuff. Went to a spanking new mall called the Pavillion near Bukit Bintang. It's massive, clean and airy. It's an upmarket mall and at the 5th floor there a Apple reseller called epiCentre, you can try out all the new iPods and iMac. On the way to Low Yat Plaza, stopped for lunch at the sidewalk cafe and there was this row of life-size horses all painted in beautiful colors. What a opportunity as I got my camera with my 85mm on it. These horses were painted by an art academy sponsored by Samsung. With those colorful shots I did a slideshow using Photopresenter and my favorite singer Andrea and try to upload it here in video format (took ages). Enjoy.

Canon Customer Care Experience

Canon slogan is 'Delighting you always' and let me tell you how true it was after my experience at their Customer care center in Peremba Square,Subang. I had just got a new lens, the EF85mm 1.8 and by experience prime lens are inherently sharp.However after the 1st evening trial shots were reviewed I detected that this lens was back focusing, I conducted further test and confirmed my suspicion. So after posting on shutter asia forum unavoidablyI need to sent it for recalibration. Called the CCC on Tuesday morning and was given directions, went straight there together with my camera as well to checked. Since I got international warranty I may still have to pay handling fees after the repair which they estimated to be a week. It was a pleasant affair and was out of there in 30 mins. Thought I would wait 3 days to find out the status but surprise surpise, early Thursday morning  I received sms that my camera ready for collection and its FOC!!!!!! Is that great or is that great? Well I went to collect it and tested it and the autofocus is now spot on. Now I am totally delighted at Canon's commitment to customer care and other established companies should emulate this. You leave with a feeling that with Canon product you don't have to worry and this feeling breeds brand loyalty.Syabas, Canon boleh.

New lens & Flash!

I love taking portraits an is looking for a lens that fulfills my need in that category. Of course if money is no object than I will definitely get the Canon EF 85mm F 1.2 L lens. That will cost a bomb and I just cannot justify acquiring it just yet as a keen amateur.The next best thing is the one I just received.I love it already.There are plenty of reviews and I can definitely agree with all the positive rating. It's solidly built and pictures are just crisp with the kind of contrast and saturation I love. The bokeh is really smooth andmakes your subject stands out like 3D.
Another required gear is the Canon 580EX ll Flash. Nowadays most people including myself will check out all the reviews of the products before buying it. You cannot go wrong when the reviewer is a professional and also ratings by people who are using the product already.It may seem cruel but these reviews can actually make or break the product.So in this case I am going for top of the line professional flash.I rather have saved and have this flash now rather than going the route of upgrading.In photography your gear plays an important part.Knowing it an getting the maximum out of it brings out the best in you and your gear.Check out my album using this lens.

Added new gear!

I have acquired a couple of new photographic equipment. It's a Canon battery grip BG-E2 with 2 generic BP511A batteries. This grip will extend shots to at least 1000 plus shooting in portrait mode is easier. There are times that I swore I wish I had more juice and the grip also give it mass to better balance my future acquisition of  the long zooms. Of course I also need a bigger bag to put all these new gear in so I got the Bagman Snapman  Trekka. Lots of rearrangeable padded compartment and space for my Macbook too.I got a Mocha colored bag knowing how dirt will definitely show up on brightly colored ones. This bag is also less assuming than  a shoulder one that I have been using. Heard camera bags have been snatched around KLCC area.So it's better to be safe than sorry.

Mac OS 10 Leopard

Finally upgraded to Leopard!!! Well there's 300 reason why you should but a couple of new cool stuff really is the reason why I did. The cover flow view in finder with quick look is so useful. I am sure there lot's more really cool stuff as I am still exploring. Oh, here's one, in iChat video mode you can have an animated background or any background you want. There one with fishes swimming behind you too. Yes it can now support bluetooth stereo headset. Although I find that there's interference oif you are having a few devices connected on bluetooth. Maybe apple will sort this out with a service pack.So if you have not upgraded, don;t hesitate!