.: ShaolinTiger - Kung-Fu Geekery :.

Well I don't know if I'd call myself a photographer yet...but I've just passed my second year in photography..

I got my Nikon D70s on June 7th 2006, 2 years ago last month. I had some cameras before that, an old Olympus mju 35mm film point and shoot and I got my first digital camera in 2001 (which cost me a fortune) - the 3.2 megapixel Canon Powershot A70.

It did me well and most of my earlier pictures on this blog were from that camera.

I'd say I started photography properly when I got the D70s, before that I'd just started exploring what I could do with with the A70 and was starting to find it's limitations in terms of speed, noise at high ISO, accurate white balance and fine tuning controls. I decided against getting a bridge or prosumer camera and to go straight for a dSLR.

My choices at that time were the Canon 350D, the Olympus E-500 and the Nikon D70s.

I hardly got chance to use the camera, and had only just bought my first lens other than the kit lens (A Tamron SP90mm Di Macro Lens)...and my camera was stolen only 3 months after I'd bought it.

That was heartbreaking to say the least...by that time I'd completely gotten the photography bug though so I couldn't give up...I had a choice to make between getting the Nikon D80, which had just been released or the higher model the Nikon D200. I went for the D200 for various reasons (solid build, more accurate metering, CF card rather than SD and so on) and I have to say I've never regretted the decision.

Anyway here are a few of my personal favs I've taken in the 2 years since I've gone from complete noob to slightly less noob.

With the Nikon D70s

With the Nikon D200

I've had a stranger buy one of my pictures though, I've been published in quite a few magazines and national papers, I'll have a spread in FHM August, I've shot a major musical event and I've recently seen one of my pictures on a billboard! I've got a lot of unpublished stuff, so perhaps I'll make an effort to get it on my blog. Also of course we started Shutter Asia to expand my learning and network of photographers for outings and trips - so far it's been great!

It's a start!

I've still gotten a long way to go though, only 2 years into photography...probably another 23 years to go before I get any good Most things take at least 25 years to master reasonably well.

So last weekend I was shooting a couple of Korean girls in TTDI, Taman Rimba Kiara park to be precise. You might recognise one of the girls

It was unfortunate that the whole week was glorious weather with beautiful sunsets...but that Saturday the haze came down and flattened the light. I had to play around a bit with a reflector and some off camera lighting (tried to make it subtle). A lot were shot with a SB-800 in a silver reflective umbrella gelled with a CTO gel to warm up the flash light. Rear/rim light provided by SB-600 naked on a stand (about time I got a decent snoot or some grid-spots...waiting for Honl!). Anyway enough photogeeking stuff.

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So I got a chance to go to Nikon along with a few friends to try out the new Nikon D3 and D300 models set to be released later in the year. I don't usually camera geek here as I have DigiSniper for my gearhead side...but this is too special not to mention

I went to Menara PKNS on Friday afternoon to meet their technician and play with the new cameras. The new full frame Nikon D3 and my current cameras successor - the D300.

The D3 is the first full frame digital camera from Nikon and has set the digital camera world on fire with it's high ISO performance, usable croppable shots at ISO6400 with plenty of detail. You can read more here: Nikon D3 Hands on Detailed Preview.

My eyes are more on the D300 though, as the successor to my current camera (Detailed Hands on Preview of Nikon D300), with proper live view (contrast based AF) and super good high ISO performance...its' definitely tempting.

The monitor on the back is indeed a work of art, as seen on the recently released Sony Alpha A-700. It's a beauty to behold.

The white balance was a bit funky under tungsten lights, this is a problem with the prototype models. The hardware is pretty much finalised, but they are trying to perfect the firmware before release, doing extensive testing to make sure it works well under all conditions.

I guess they've had some challenges with the new CMOS sensor, apparently it gives better performance battery wise as CMOS draws less power than the previous CCD.

The megapixels are neglible, 12.3mp for the new D300 and 10.2mp for my current camera. Unless you quadruple the megapixels to effectively double the resolution, there's not much difference.

The main difference will be pixel density and detail, especially detail retained under high ISO conditions. After testing the new D300 I have to say it is noticeably better than the D200 at least by 1.5-2 stops. It does expose a bit on the high side though compared to previous cams which tend to underexpose.

I do wonder if it's set this way to give an impression of better ISO performance (overexposed images show less digital noise than those that are underexposed).

One thing about Nikon is though, it has much less 'digital' noise than some other brands. It has noise, but it's more pleasant and more detail is retained.

I've always preferred it personally.

Anyway, I'd love a D300...but I doubt it'll happen any time soon, I just can't justify it and it'll be around RM6k mark I guess.

I don't have much to say about the D3...it's just too fantastic for words and I have to keep my hands off it - less I get terminally poisoned.

The shutter sound for both is nice and sharp, ergonomically they are almost identical to the previous models (D2Xs for D3) apart from the addition of LV for Liveview on the command wheel.

The liveview works well with the contrast based AF, it's pretty slow though. And in 'tripod' mode you can choose the focal point (and zoom up to 15x for those tricky macro shots), in handheld you have to use the middle point and you can't zoom in so much.

The new D300 battery grip is sweet too (MB-D10), it no longer has the T shape design so with the grip the camera can support 3 batteries! (And it's easier to store) And AA batteries (8 I think). Plus the new grip has a joystick like the back of the camera for proper selection of AF points rather than scrolling with the wheel. It can support the D2/3 series batteries as well for a higher frame rate (EN-EL4/EN-EL4a).

With EN-EL4/EN-EL4a & AA batteries it'll give you a higher frame rate of 8fps and it's magnesium alloy...so it's set to be expensive.

There should be stock in the market in Malaysia by mid-late December for both models, how much stock...I don't know.

And what the price will be? That doesn't seem to have been decided yet.

Pics taken with Fuji f31d at ISO800

Full moon, super bright and round last night so I took a couple of shots to wish you all Happy Moon Festival.

Hope you enjoyed your lanterns!

During the weekend one of Kim's friends was around, and I'd had an idea for a photoshoot in my head for a while..so we headed off to a carpark to take some urban portraiture.

I used artificial lighting as the carpark was very dark, mostly an SB-800 with a reflective umbrella and a naked SB-600.

Before the shoot I had a good idea of the look I wanted to achieve by using a cross-processed style.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, let me know what you think and which picture is your favourite.

Also if you are interested in any portfolio shots or have any interesting ideas for a photoshoot let me know.

First Shot

Just Cool

Attitude

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We headed over to FRIM again last Saturday with the Shutter Asia gang for some more crawling around in the jungle and getting all leeched up.

Don't let the guards rip you off, it's RM1 per person and RM5 per car. If you are doing commercial shoot such as bridal or wedding it's RM88. Just drive in with your camera in it's bag and you shouldn't have any problems.

We found a good variety of stuff this time (spiders, flies, damselfly, dragonfly, centipede and even a scorpion!)

Caterpillar

Spiny Spider AKA Jewel Spider Eating a MOTH!

Orb Weaver (Not sure which kind)

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Over the weekend I had the honour of spending some more time with Manuel Librodo Jr. and his beautiful Filipina muse Kharu, we shot on location in a Bungalow at Mines resort.

The bungalow produces operas so had some fantastic costumes and Kharu had some great costumes and accessories of her own.

This is the first early morning set.

China Doll

Finding the light

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Shutter Asia (SA) was set-up in March 2007 by a group of like-minded friends who were interested in photography and travel, the idea was for the site to become a friendly community for photography enthusiasts and travelers around Asia and other areas, for asking questions, sharing photographs & techniques, discussing travel and locations and learning in a welcoming and friendly atmosphere.

It's officially launching today, so do join up and contribute.

http://www.shutterasia.com

There is a lot of information on the Internet regarding photography and especially equipment and technical terms (Aperture, Shutter, White Balance etc) but it can be very daunting for a new user or even confusing for an intermediate user. We wanted to get away from the bad attitudes, gear talk, cliques and flaming of other sites and communities and create a relaxed, but knowledgeable user base that will eventually fill our forum wonderful information and images.

We also have a Flickr group you can join here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/shutterasia/

And an active Shoutbox for real-time chat:

http://www.shutterasia.com/forum/shoutbox.php

If you have any feedback, let us know. Do introduce yourself and start posting pictures!

The second picture in the series with Krystal.

View the Large 'Freedom' On Black.

Do you like it?

An attempt at Dramatic Portraiture.

Hope to process them all soon!

A while back I went to a watch exhibition to get poisoned with the purchase of more things I really can't afford! You can find some more info about it here.

Conquest of Time was held at KL Convention Center by Sincere (The watch specialist?!).

First up we had a talk by some dude from Switzerland about some really freaking expensive watches and how they are made (specialist stuff like tourbillon, chronograph and perpetual calendar...These are terms watch geeks are intimate with).

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