Hi, My Name is Dark Moody

I'm beginning to dig the look of my 'Andy Lee' wannabe look. It has the sort of surreal feel, painted look and really dark mood feeling about it, as if its about to rain in a few minutes. I dont really shoot a lot of landscapes lately or ever but now that i have that 'dark mood look' recipe, i wanna try it on all of my landscapes pictures but first i need to shoot more landscapes. I've been digging my library and see if i can find more landscapes pictures but alas there's only a few. Shucks! I need to get my ass off this couch and start taking photos!

I found a few photos from my last year's trip to Kota Kinabalu Sabah. I'm diggin the look. I'm calling this my "Dark Moody" set.

All shots taken with Fuji X-M1.
Awesome little camera!

Uh Oh... Did i just bought the X-Pro1?

Yep! I finally did it....
My object of desire, object of lust, the Fuji X-Pro1, in the end i just have to own it. Purely aesthetical but great photos at the same time. It's a poor man's leica one said but better in terms of IQ, ISO performances bla bla bla... Its GAS. Everything is better.

Accessories!!

Its probably in packaging process for shipment right now since i bought it over the weekend. Fingers crossed hopefully it arrived safe and sound here, in one piece and in great working condition.  i just dont like to return items as i find it a hassle process here. i just want to receive it and play with it straight out of the box. I'll wear this x-pro1 as my fashion accessories lol.
I bought it with the zoom kit lens the 18-55mm. i was having a hard time whether to get the 18mm prime or the zoom lens. After a lot of reading reviews online, many pros and enthusiasts seems to liken the zoom very much. its sharp, a bit faster than your normal zoom kit lens, its at f2.8-4, very well made and maybe it focuses better. I chose the zoom also due to it having OIS. i love image stabilizer. i can shoot pretty slow shutter hand held, just for fun, but its better to not get lower than 1/10 or 1/20 although the lens is capable but ya know, sometimes it might not be as sharp as you wanted. i said in my previous post i can take sharp pictures at 1 sec hand held, well... not really... i did shot it hand-held but i put my arms on the desk to keep hold steady, and sitting down at the same time. that was just a fun test shoot. realistically, if i cant find a place to put my arms down on something, its not gonna be sharp, heck, its even gonna ruin the picture lol.
Anyway, back to my GAS. I also chose the zoom for its versatility, one lens to do all. wide, mid and tele. Guys, like Laroque and Lovegrove pretty much sold me this zoom lens. Now that i think of it, i just want the 18mm prime for its square hood look. Maybe i'll just get the 35mm. that lens is in my wishlist. no. wanted list. and the 14mm.
When i bought my X-M1, i thought to myself, i dont need a viewfinder. i just compose with my LCD as i did with my iphone. It was true for the first week but then i just miss the feeling of having a camera planted to my face lol. although as much as i love my X-M1, i am missing the viewfinder and Fuji did not make an external viewfinder for it. They have the X-E1. And at the same time i was really impressed with the image quality, this is when i decided to get the X100S, for its retro look, viewfinder and prime lens (i always shoot with one focal length). Pretty ironic now that i chose the zoom. But with an X-Pro1, i can change lens. i look at it this way, its a X100S with interchangeable lens.
Why get X-pro1 not X-T1 you say? Well, that rangefinder looks, just do it for me. Its a 2 years old camera but by no means its a bad camera, it might be discontinued or obsolete but it still takes beautiful pictures. Its like a 2 or 10 years old guitar, if its in good shape, it still plays music/notes... i mean its still a guitar. same goes to the X-pro1. it will still take pictures until it breaks that is. But then, the X-T1 is still in my wanted list so there. haha.

Well, looks like i'm going Fuji all the way. Sorry Oly. Hopefully there is a Fujimpus. Fuji's image quality plus superb performance of Olympus. Fujimpus.

Cant wait to get my hands on my new old X-pro1.

3-axis IBIS and XC OIS (revised)

I was playing around with the 3-axis IBIS of the OMD EM10 and it was pretty to cool to actually get a pretty sharp picture at 1sec hand held. Of course i had to push the camera up in my face while my eye on the EVF of course to hold it steady. Like really push it to my face. and then i have this idea to compare it with my Fuji X-M1 which dont have IBIS and see if this 3-axis camera is really useful/working or its just a placebo effect. So i try shooting my Fuji at 1sec hand held and to my surprise, it was pretty sharp too.... i was discontent! and here i thought a camera with IBIS and a camera without one is gonna win by a mile and no that is not the case. so i tried shooting both at different speeds and both was able to get sharp pictures (some after a few tries), so i was like "what the hell IBIS?" . i was cursing, swearing , bull this bull that until i realised that the XC16-50 lens on my X-M1 has OIS! ... what a noob.

In the end, i have enough shots for comparing IBIS and OIS.

X-M1

ISO 200, 16mm f3.5 0.8sec

 Cropped

 EM10

ISO 200 14mm f4 0.8sec

cropped

i used 0.8 second here because of its high rate of not having motion blur after only the first try. i can get sharp pictures at 1sec (hand-held but my arms were on the desk to keep steady) but thats after 4 to 5 tries. During that time i can feel my heartbeats lol. I've tried my x100s at 1sec and none of the pictures are sharp maybe just one but its just not realistic to shoot 1sec with it hand held. So i guess these image stabilizers do really work. IBIS or OIS which one is better, i dont know. Based on my non-scientific test above both are similar. i heard the EM5 with 5-axis is much better than 3-axis but not much. After these test i frikkin love image stabilizer. sometimes i just play around with slow shutter to test the image stabilizer just for fun.

If only the primes has image stabilizer. This is where the Oly shines because IBIS is not lens dependent!

A Malay Engagement Day

Let me run you through it.
In a Malay culture when a couple wants to get married, they got engaged first, i mean thats normal everywhere in the world but most of the time, the guy didnt go down to his knees, unromantic right? thats what she said, but that just it, we went straight to the point, its like asking or even telling "Lets go dinner" but instead "let's get married." It is like a planned vacation. "This summer we go to Italy" but instead "This summer we get married"and no.... most of the time the guy didnt get down to his knees. If there is then he probably watched too many Hollywood movies. I think wedding is overrated or at least over budget. Usually when a couple wants to get married they made sure they have enough money first. Duh! Aint we all?? But really, a malay wedding can go up to $20K. True story. But that's the first stumbling block. A wedding can be cheap but with the way malay wedding culture goes, it tends to go over budget. Not "tends", but always.

EM10 with 25mm 1.8. Mad sharp!

X100S

Anyway, lets get into the engagement event.

Usually the guy's family will come to the girl's family home, by family i mean the guy's parents, uncles, aunts minus the groom-to-be, they'll come to the girl's house to meet with her parents as some sort of proposal. Usually, they also bring gifts for the bride-to-be and the engagement ring. Yes, the family is making the proposal and when you're at this stage basically the girl/parents already agreed to this proposal. This is just like a standard malay culture procedure, like a family meet up....

Fuji X-M1 OOC JPGs.

"These are the gifts and the ring"

Most of the time, the guy's family will come up with some kind of a poem,

roses are red,
violets are blue,
bla bla bla bla bla

and the bride's family will respond to that poem.

Fuji X100S

Fuji X100S

Of course this is all in malay. I dont remember what the poem was, but basically what they are trying to say is that their son (groom's name announced) is "interested" with the daughter (bride's name announced). And this is usually also the time to set up the wedding date and other things.

So assuming everything went well, this is when the bride-to-be comes out of her room, meet with the groom's mother, where the mother will put on the engagement ring into the bride-to-be fingers. I said fingers because usually there are 2 rings. I'm not really an expert in malay culture, so i cant explain why 2 rings, why this and why that but thats usually the flow of the event.

Taken with Fuji x100s

Fuji X-M1

After that, food is served. 

The groom-to-be comes for a photo session with family and friends and then after finish with the hi-tea the guy's family gone back home. So thats about it. The rest of the day is just photo session of the just-got-engaged couple. Look at the flower. Look into the sunset. Happily ever after.

Taken with X100S

Taken with OMD EM10 

Fujifilm OOC JPG and VSCO

I love VSCO.
I love vintage, film look style.
Heck i even start shooting film just because i love it so much.
But with the hassle and $$$ of shooting films, i rather not.
I love the flexibilty digital can offer.
And with the introduction of VSCO into this digital world, i no need to shoot films.
VSCO just nails it with that vintage look.
VSCO must mean Vintage Style COmpany......... instead of visual supply.

Every Fuji users i read on the internet praises Fuji for its colors.
Yes, i agree with them.
But i dont really care much about color since i VSCO'ed to death all my pictures lol.
I just love that vintage look so much.
i think i said too much love.
Well here's a picture taken with Fujifilm X-M1.
Its OOC but i bumped the exposure a bit because the original is a bit underexposed.
I like to shoot a bit underexposed, -1/3EV and bump the exposure in post process.
I dont mind blacks but not blown highlights!
Anyway...

 This is original (exposure +0.70)

As you can see, Fuji colors is oh so nice.

This is VSCOed.

i think its a Kodak portra preset.

i just love how vsco played with the greens. and make it sort of warmer.

This would be a nicer picture without the man at the back.

Now i need to google how to remove objects in the background in photoshop.

VSCO anyone?

I need, I want, the WCL-X100

With the recent announcements of a tele-conversion lens now officially available for the X100S, now i have the luxury of having a wide, normal and zoom lens in one great camera! There's the wide conversion lens already available which equivalent to 28mm focal length, not so much wide in my opinion but wider than the 35mm, would be great if it was 24mm wide, now thats a very much difference! And now the recently announced tele conversion, which will make it at 50mm focal length, great for tight crop portraits!

Which ultimately make me ONLY need to have one camera.
No more buying gears.
Just get these 2 conversion lenses and i'm covered.
Thats pretty much focal length that i need for my kind of photography.

I dont have to drool over the X-T1 or the bad ass X-pro1.
But GAS is GAS.
So many toys to own.
So much money not well spent.

After my previous post,
i do have a gut feeling that i'd be selling my Olympus OMD. GASP!
Its a great little camera, speed demon, great for candid photos but it just that my OCD will always kicks in. I will always pixel peep zooming in and out my OMD pictures. I'm just not happy with the noise that its JPEGs created. i know i'm crazy, i dont do large prints, its just that my OCD will always have that mindset that the OMD is not capable of doing very large prints. The noise is just not that clean to my eyes. i blame Fuji for that. Too fine quality. I might be wrong. Because i haven't prove it yet. But when will i be printing large banners for corporate ads? Right?? ironically, that picture of the x100s above is from my OMD EM10.

I still want to keep the Olympus but i'm no photographer pro. I dont make a living from photography, its still a hobby of mine, something i'm passionate about. i would love to go pro but yeahh ..not so at the moment.

Actually i'm out of my topic, suddenly the urge to rant is just stronger.
Actually i wanna talk about the WCL-X100.
I've been eyeing one on ebay, but i haven't pull the trigger.
I want it, i dont want it.
Next week, i want it. Next minute, i dont.
GAS is bad, but now after my OMD stint, i think i want to shoot Fuji exclusively.
I think i want the WCL and the new TCL................................. plus the X-T1 and the X-Pro1.
And be done with it.
Boom!

Between Fuji and Olympus...

Okay,

This is an old age debate i've been having ever since i got the Olympus OMD EM10. From shooting with a Fuji system with stunning images quality to the small micro four third system of Olympus which is also praised all over the internet/world for its images quality. But i am still having second thoughts on Olympus. How did the world praises it so much that sometimes some would say the images quality is the same or even greater as the bigger size sensor of the Fuji? 

First off, i'm a totally JPEG only shooter, i like to shoot people, portraits, and candid plus street photography. Expression is more precious to me than a beautiful landscapes. With landscapes, you can come back to it twice, triple or more, to get a better light, better composition, better this and better that but not with expressions, that can only come once and its gone. Poof! Thats my type of photography, For me Out of Camera JPEG, the Fuji wins hands down. Something about the skin tones that the Olympus failed for me. I always read Olympus colors are the best and best this, best that.. but i think Fuji wins hands down. But salute Olympus for having a small sensor to produce a great image quality that can rival say, a crop Canon DSLR like a 700d. But people talking about Olympus being great than Fuji? That is just nonsense talk.

Or Maybe i should start shooting RAW with Olympus but that is just adding work for me. More hassle. With Fuji i can just shoot JPG and be done with it. If i want to edit the files, there are so much details in the Fuji's JPEG file.

Then there's the High ISO talk. Okay, noise is noise, grain is grain. But Olympus JPG files produce something what my friend like to call "a low JPG quality effect". There is just this black artifacts, or oversharpen kind of effect, that is always visible on skin tones. And it does not just affect the HIgh ISOs even at base ISO of 200, there's still that effect. i'll show you what i mean.

 Nothing is wrong with this pic.

OCD kicks in. Zoom in. See those black dots/spots on the face. This is ISO200.

 Nothing wrong with this one too.

 Zoom in and see those fingers, black spots/dots or smudges (i cant explain). i dont think its grain or noise. This is at ISO400.

Here's the Fuji. Shot with X-M1

OOC JPG. Look at it. There's little or no editing you can just print it or post it straight away.

Clean noise free at ISO400. 

There's maybe noise reduction in camera but still it doesnt look painted to me.

Let's try another Olympus picture.

I think this is not a bad one. 

 OMD EM10 at ISO500. Not bad not bad.

Ooooh mama. Ouch! What is those black spots-dots-smudges? i did not add grain here. Thats edited JPG.

Its just annoying. I hate looking at those black smudges (i dont know what its called). Its just annoying. I know its only visible if you zoom in and pixel peep but its just annoys me that its there if you wanna look. It probably matter if you do a lot of large prints which i dont but it still annoys the hell out of me that its there. it might be my OCD talking but its there. i would just zoom in and pixel peep and look at it and be frustrated about it. Gosh! But there's none of that effect with Fuji. I'm not bashing Olympus     (maybe i did a lil bit) but its just there.

 Well maybe thats just me being anal wanting the best, perfect and ultimate camera. but there's none. I can praise Fuji for all of their fine stunning images quality but the focusing is slow. Sometimes its painful to miss a shot just because my Fuji's aren't locking the focus. Thats where the Olympus win.

Olympus is speed king. If your photography needs speed then i would suggest Olympus.

Its been a while since i last use a Fuji, i've been shooting with Olympus (its the new toy!). But yesterday i get to used my X-M1 for the whole time and i did not zoom in pixel peep. Man, i just realised it was tiring to pixel peep. With the Olympus i pixel peep a lot! hohoho... but with Fuji, i dont have to. Clean noise free images and no black spots, dots artifacts. But i do miss shots because of Fuji's slow auto focus technology. Sometimes it focus quick only to get the focus box in red color which means it didnt focus right. Blarghh!

Since i am too picky over image quality but i still need the speed of Olympus, i guess i need to realise that i have to get that....

Fuji X-T1 !!!!

GAS alert!

My Fuji X-M1 dead?

Not a beautiful sight indeed.... my X-M1 in all its not so glory days and the culprit behind it (literally)...

So we were heading the pantry, i went first and Matt's behind me when all of the sudden the pantry door slammed his hand that held the X-M1..... BOOM! it went fast.... it keeps repeating in my head.... the sound of the crash and my dead X-M1 lying on the ground...broken...in shattered glass...


"Oh, where oh where can my baby be?
  The Lord took her away from me......  I'll never forget the sound that night....... 
  the bustin' glass.....The painful scream that I heard last"
(Pearl Jam, Wayne Cochrane cover, Last Kiss)


So with fingers crossed, i was hoping for the magnificent works of japanese products to withstand this manslaughter although this X-M1 was made in Thailand. Switched it ON, everything seems normal, half press shutter and it auto focus like nothing happened.... almost a sigh of relief until i noticed the shutter didnt work! DAMNNN.... i half press the shutter again, it auto focus but when i finish fully press the shutter, no shutter works..no picture taking, it only keep its focusing.... press it harder nothing happen....FUDGE>> im screwed..... test the video mode and it works.... but i dont want video... i want it to take pictures!.... noooooooooooooooooooooooò

i never sleep easy forward on

PeeKaBoo ....

Unintentional....but works with the title..

Puzzled? Let me explain...

I was uploading a photo to my 500px , it looked like this in the website (black and white category)

See there?

As you can see its all blacked out on 500px website, it looks like there is something wrong with my picture, and viewers would also think either its just an all black photo or corrupted photo.

But actually if you're really intrigued and clicked on the picture, actually its a picture of ...

PeeKaBoo!!

my kid.....
right at the bottom of the pic...

It was unintentional, but somehow coincidentally works with the title!

The real story was, i'm tryin to do a self portrait but with manual focus and no help it was PITA to nail focus so i asked my kid to stand in and adjusted focus and took her picture along the way.

First attempt at night photography

This is taken from my hotel window. First attempt. i never done any night photography. i always imagined i do. im just so lazy to go out at night and take photos. But i do read on the how to, Rule of 600/400, star trails, long exposure and so on. Oh by the way this is in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

This hotel is located at the mountain's foot? lol... just somewhere in between...lets just say im at the mountainous area. Was looking out my hotel window when i realised that the sky was super clear. There were stars. so i quickly took my XM1 out of the bag and get my small tripod. Those tripod work wonders!. Set it to 25second and playing around with the ISOs, aperture wide open, mine was f/3.5. Set the self timer to 2 second and boom!

i was in awe with my results. its not the best night photography, im not gonna win whatever photographers price out there but it was my first attempt and i was really surprised that it looked damn good. i couldnt believe that so many stars are actually in the sky. it was really fun.