Xiaobudian playing with water again

No No, this will not be a solely camera banter post but sort of a hybrid type. You see, I bought an almost brand new with box Minolta telephoto lens, the 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 (D) lens 2nd hand so I just got to play with it right...


Waiting for her favourite aunt to come along

Some explanations on those technicalities.
75-300mm is the focal length of the lens. This determines the angle of view for your photos and the zoom (300/75 = 4x). For Alpha there is a crop factor of 1.5x or this is a 112.5-450mm equivalent lens.

f4.5-5.6 is the minimum aperture of the lens. A smaller number denotes a larger aperture (or bigger hole for taking photos) An aperture of 1 means your lens open fully wide when it takes a photo. An aperture of about 1.4 means the diameter of your lens is 1.4 times the diameter of the largest hole it can open. By simple ratio of length and area, f1.0 will have twice the area of f1.4, in other words it is twice as bright.

The (D) denotes this is a lens with a chip that supports ADI flash and it provides the camera with information such as the distance from the subject as you shoot.


Splash!!!

So I took the Alpha to the swimming pool and make full use of its telephoto capabilities. I had as much fun as using my H1 previously though the Alpha will draw more attention than my H1 did. I like the shallower depth of field that makes the Alpha photos stand out more than my H1 could ever do within the same focal length (35mm equivalent).


Running kids? No problem

One of the biggest challenge in shooting kids is that they are fast! And the infinite burst mode and the fast focusing enabled me to catch this shot while tracing xiaobudian. Not perfect but this is the keeper among those few burst shots. Kids are always full of expression and it's great to stand some distance away to capture these shots without them noticing.


Xiaobudian and her Elmo tee

Enough of camera banter, back to the everyday stuff. So Xiaobudian did not go swimming for a long long time and she refuses to come out of the pool, claiming that she wants to play in the pool in more than one occasion. Ohh... isn't she cute. And when we pull her out of the water to shower and subsequently leave home, this was how she looked.


Yuxin's first trip to the pool with her grandpa (and possibly grandpa's first trip to the pool in 20 years)...

Of course, I won't forget the little princess of our family, Yuxin, and brought her to the pool too. It was her first trip there and she was a little afraid of the water initially. That lasted for less than 5 minutes and is followed by an hour of fun in the pool. Kids...

Would had loved to put more photos up here but Yuxin's mum might kill me since most of the shots includes her and she isn't really fond in showing off her swimwear to the rest of the world. So I shall hold my peace till I get offical approval or some 免死金牌.


Xiaobudian @ Sentosa

In other non-related photographs, this is Xiaobudian playing with water taken way back in the trip to Sentosa. That was my first shoot with the Alpha and this is the keeper I got from my kit lens.

singapore Swimming pool photoblog sony a100 alpha

Enough of ramblings over this term break. Finally had some time to sit down, go through my photographs and pick out those gems taken over the past few months to do some postprocessing to make it nicer. Including some sharpening, colour curves and my favourite black borders. Cool... Here's some samples of those reborn pictures previously featured here and find more old and new photos in my webshot albums.

A bit of sharpening do wonders for those fireworks shot taken with the Alpha.


Free Mini Willy


Sunset @ Marina City Park - Again


Team Italy


Team Singapore


Team New Caledonia

singapore photoblog sony a100 alpha dsc h1

Did a simple test on the supersteady shot function for my H1 too and if you compare the results with my previous Alpha test, you will get an idea on how well the supersteady shot function had improved over a year.

Here are the pictures taken with my H1 using ISO 200 at 72mm (432mm equivalent). Please pardon the colour as I accidentally left my camera in custom wb mode and didn't notice it until the photos were taken. Silly me!

How could you measure the height of a building using a barometer? I set a similar guided problem in the recent Physics exam that involves the boring method. This is an urban legend ages old among us Physics majors but it is a relatively new and difficult problem for secondary students. I knew I just got to set this problem at least once in my career as a teacher.

Here's the whole story behind this problem, at least one version of it.

The following is a question on a physics exam at the University of Copenhagen:

"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer."

One student replied: "You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building."

This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that he failed the student who immediately appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct.

The university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case.

The arbiter ruled that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics. It was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer which showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles of physics.

For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make up his mind which to use.

On being advised to hurry up the student replied: "First, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can then be worked out from this formula I have worked out for you on my text paper here."

Then the student added, "But, Sir, I wouldn't recommend it. Bad luck on the barometer."

"Another alternative", offered the student, "is this: If the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer,then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional geometry to work out the height of the skyscraper. On the paper is the formula for that as well."

"But, Sir, if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is worked out by the difference in a gravitational formula, which I have determined here this time on a long sheet of paper with a very long and complicated calculation."

"Or, Sir, here's another way, and not a bad one at all. If the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up."

"But if you merely wanted to be very boring and very orthodox about the answer you seem to seek, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof, and on the ground, and then convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building."

"But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say to him 'If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper'."

The student was Niels Bohr, the only Dane ever to win the Nobel Prize in physics.

This is part of my random user review on the Sony Alpha 100 camera system. As and when I find something interesting about the Alpha, I may or may not share it here. So do not stay tuned for any updates regarding the camera but do stay tune for more photographs.

Let's see the bad thing.

Can't see too much difference with your bare eyes eh? Remember these are 100% crop and any subtle differences would not be visible in your everyday 4R prints. For those photographically challenged, the results shown here show that the Alpha manage to capture shots that are 5 stops slower than the common acceptable limit of 1/focal length (or 1/300 s). In ISO terms, that's ISO 100 versus ISO 3200. Of course, I used techniques to hold my camera still which accounted for that extra 1-2 stops gained so I cheated a bit but SSS works and still rocks!

Updated (6/9/06)
Here's two handheld photos at 1/10 secs with SSS off just for comparison...

Incense paper (金银纸)

Last month, I had a chance to bring my alpha to this hungry ghost festival ceremony for some cultural immersion and to test out my new camera. This authentic cultural experience sure beats all the stuff we just read from textbooks as I got up close and personal with the rituals involved in this festival of the ghosts.


Always seen this around but wonder what is it called.

This is a great experience for me both culturally and photographically. It's the first time I tried to shoot a night only indoor event and the first time I attend such a ritual. I was told that I should not use flash photography so I had to rely heavily on the super steadyshot of the camera to yield a few good shots out of a bunch.


Pot of flame, taken handheld, just like most of the other photos here.

We have seen rituals like these on TV and movies but its never like it in real life. I could hardly get a clear shot without anyone around in my frame because it takes a lot of people to ensure that everything runs smoothly throughout the ritual.


Sun Wukong with his rod. 孙悟空和他的金箍棒

Without any flash it means that I had awful shadows at places that you would least want it. Plus the ritual could not stop and pose for you to take photographs, I had to run around to get the best angle. And before I could take a couple of shots, the subjects moved on to another place or did a somersault throwing me off my position.


Awful shadow on the face.

I suppose there are lots of meaning behind these rituals that I do not know and I'm pretty sure that many younger Singaporeans would not know either. I recall that almost 20 years ago, one taoist ritual priest wanted to recruit me as his disciple to learn his trade of performing rituals for the dead. Which of course I flatly refused back then.


Carrying the incense pot to the altar.

Now, almost all the people performing these rituals are in their middle age and I wonder how long could these traditions last in Singapore.


Joss sticks

That night was a night of a series of rituals. After the Monkey god, we have the black and white guards of hell (黑白无常) gracing the altar from a lorry. I wonder how could it be safe to seat on chairs in a lorry. But maybe they were driving very slowly.


The guards of hell in their 5 star lorry seats.

These guards were welcomed as I guess they bring fortunes and luck to the worshippers present. But you have to treat them with respect and do their biddings to receive blessings. I always thought that they were associated to death but the words on their hats suggest otherwise.


Anticipated for this shot but sadly the shutter was too slow to do a good one. I think this is about 0.2 s exposure.


One could read the 4 characters on the white hat. Which literally means "Great fortunes with a look" (一见发财)

Now I learnt that these guards from hell used to smoke opium in rituals of the past but since opium is a controlled drug in Singapore and I'm sure no one wants to be hanged for just a ritual, they changed to cigarettes instead.



Smoking and relaxing

They were soon joined by another guard from hell, from a different level, to have their kopitiam chit chat session here. I couldn't understand most of what they are saying since it's in hokkien and the only dialect that I'm proficient in is cantonese.


Getting ready for the ritual to invite the guard from hell for the tea liquor (五加皮?) session.

Sucre sweared that she heard loads of swear words from these guards and she was very disturbed by it. As for me, perhaps those were the only words that ring a bell from me as it brings me back to my army days. It's rather unfortunate that most of the hokkien that I could decipher were the swear words.


Now they were drinking, smoking and swearing

We managed to spot this gem from the ritual too. I'm sure most of you would have seen those mother of all joss sticks that is at least an inch thick. Ever wonder how they light it up? Here's the modern answer.


Pyro just lost his job to this gas flamer because he couldn't control his fire

The ritual would last through the night but it's almost midnight and time for us to leave. As we were about to leave, they were setting up another area for the next part of the ritual. Who knows what did we miss... but it's getting a bit too late for us and we had to do a bit of travelling too.


Looks like a mat for people to lie down and relax. Who knows.. (Taken with the Fuji F11).

I would need a fast lens (i.e. Minolta/Sony 50mm 1.4 prime lens) to do a better job without flash. Compare to the kit lens, a fast prime lens would be 2^4 times as fast so it could push the shutter speed from a SSS limits of 1/13s at 70mm (105mm equivalent) to a cool 1/200s at 50mm (85mm equivalent).

All photos taken with the Sony Alpha 100 with the Sony 18-70 mm DT kit lens unless stated otherwise.

singapore hungry ghost festival ritual photoblog sony a100 alpha fuji f11

For the past month I'm sure you could spot a few pictures taken with my new camera, the Sony alpha 100. We are such a s**ker for greek letters, it's all around Physics! It's one of the few new entry level dSLR for the year. The others are the Canon 400D and Nikon D80. But the Sony is very competitively priced, feature packed (including supersteady shot, built-in wireless flash blah blah) so I settled for a Sony.


First few shots with our Alpha, with Sugar as our model.

I had the Sony H1 for less than a year and it is still great fun to use it. It's a cheap and versatile little camera that I have no doubts that I will carry it around when I go out in the day or go overseas in the future. The alpha system on the other hand would be useful for those events coverage indoors or for those nice portraits that I crave.


My Wife's Taxi

The alpha is fast becoming another fun camera, even xiaobudian had fun watching me take photographs of her with it (more of it another day). However I got to watch my spending on the lens and accessories. Thankfully, I now own most of the lens and stuff I wanted to go with my alpha and the availability of Minolta lens at discounted price 2nd hand makes thing easier too. The alpha may cost as much as a Sony R1 but one could spend a lot more on lens and other accessories.


I like the colours I get from default, just like I liked my H1 colours.

Things I like most about the Alpha system? Got to be supersteady shot and the unlimited burst mode in jpeg. Won't comment much as I'm still learning lots from this new system, exploring areas of photography where the H1 couldn't do.


Telephoto options of the alpha system, first shot with the 75-300mm (D) Minolta lens. The state of my house fridge, littered with home delivery leaflets.

And did I mentioned that the battery life rocks? A single charge could last more than 600 shots (with fireworks) and more than 800 shots for everyday use.

All shots taken with the kit lens (Sony 18-70mm DT) unless stated otherwise, a great kit lens with little distortion, according to popular photography online.

singapore photoblog sony a100 alpha

Just found out that one of our over a year old article on wikipedia is now added to wikipedia on the page about wikipedia. Cool!

Thanks to whoever who added the link there.


In case you can't find it in a long list of links, here's the visual guide.

Didn't knew that they have a wiki page on wiki itself until today. Wicked.

wiki

Less than 12 hours after the dinner we had the teacher's day celebration in school. The theme was Bollywood and Mr Hagrid was complaining about costume fatigue. I totally didn't care about dressing up in Bollywood style, though it did crossed my mind to unbutton my shirt and draw some chest and facial hair for the not-so-authentic hairy bollywood star look. But here's some pics from the celebration.


Self-made cake in a shoe box cutting ceremony...


And they realised that the cake was a bit too hard to cut...


Then there's scores of performance in the hall but my H1 is not really suitable for indoor concerts like these.


I even had the chance to go up the stage to do some Bollywood dance myself. (Don't expect that I'll take a photo of myself dancing right?)


I'm so glad the concert ended as the hall proves to be too stuffy for my nose. So I went back to the staff room to do this photo after finding a few more stuff lying on the table. (There's a few more items not in pic because it's not with me at the time I took this photographs)

Thanks everyone for your encouraging gifts and letters to me. Have a very happy teacher's day and a fruitful term break! For the DHP 4 students, Bon Voyage!

All photos taken with the Sony H1.

singapore teacher's day photoblog sony dsc h1