Another Day, Another GAS.

As much as i love my Fujis, i'm still looking for a compact pocketable camera. My day to day clothing does not involve jackets so i cant bring the X100S in my jacket pocket, i'm wearing Teeshirt and quite slim jeans, not skinny jeans as my legs aren't skinny, well, not anymore. I wish i had a camera that has a APSC sensor that i can fit to my jeans. At the moment my best camera is my iphone. Because its just everywhere with me. but too bad, the IQ isnt all that great being an iphone4, hopefully iphone6 will be much better!

I'm looking for compact cameras with great IQ, that i can fit into my jeans's pocket. Because i'm just lazy to bring a bag with me. I want to take out the camera out of my pocket and shoot. That easy. Cant do that with my Fujis. but i can do that with my iphone but i want a real camera. I'm not a serious photographer who lugs around their DSLRs or Fujis or Olympus where ever they've gone to, i'm just the casual photographer, snapshots rather than perfectly compose shots. I want a small camera that i can bring anywhere without the hassle, ya know, bring a bag, take it out of the bag, snap snap snap, put it in the bag, even bringing a bag is a hassle to me. i like to travel light. Just my Tshirts and jeans and boots. Thats all. i hate carrying a bag. As much as light the Fuji is, i still find it heavy. I'm looking for the ultimate travel camera, something small, compact and light. but with great IQ.

At the moment, i like the Ricoh GR and the Sony RX100 iii. Both similarly priced. Both seems pocketable. or at least smaller than the Fuji X100S. I love retractable lens. its compact! Sony will be much versatile, zoom, wifi, selfies, but with a 1inch sensor. Ricoh has my fav length, 28mm and it also can do 35mm cropped, bigger sensor APSC, great low light but only at f/2.8. So less bokeh. Both are great point and shoot camera. Snapshots camera.

I have a trip to London + Italy coming, so i'm bringing my X100S and see if i can live with it or without it.

But lets not forget, that rangefinder looks of the X100S makes me want to pick it up and take photographs, or at least just press the shutter for nothing.

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!

Monday Blues.... Oh wait...It's Thursday

Maybe the weekend is coming, i'm just on hibernation mode. I wish i could stay in bed and look at the ceiling but we all gotta work. Now i'm just figuring my next move. Should i bid the Leica M8 just for GAS's sake? Or i should just ignore GAS? As history shows, GAS always won. I'm a slave to my desire. Not good at all, not good at all. Something about a Leica, i just wanted to have it, owned it. Its something i always wanted to do or have. Owned and shoot a Leica. It is just like owning a Harley Davidson, now that i own it, i'm not looking at other bikes. I hope i'm like that with Leica, because i'm actually tired of GASing for cameras. I should just concentrate on taking pictures or get another hobby or back to playing music. My Fujis are the best in the business, i have the cameras, i dont need no other cameras, i just need to shoot shoot shoot. but that's the thing, these gears, these cameras are just like toys to me. I mean we men never grow up. We still buy toys except that it is more expensive. You know we jumped for joy like a little boy when we get our so called "toys". I hate GAS. i totally am but i need it to feel alive LOL. Wait till my bank account goes zeros then lets see if i still feel alive!

Anyway, my mood at the moment is making my pictures over-processed, wayward colours, desaturated, contrasty, painted look, orthodox, all mix into one or not. I guess i'm bored. or i want to find/do/look something different. I'm not gonna print these over-processed pictures, just for web, just for fun. It's funny when i visited photography or camera forums, people or trolls get too critique, or attacking/bashing each other, especially fanboys who got really defensive and start swearing, attacking, arguing, fighting, and then there's the ego maniacs, and so on... i wont go into details but you know what i mean, you stumbled across this once in a while if you surf a lot on the internet. Why fight, why argue in the first place? Are we in the Olympics? Is there a gold medal to win for? When people start giving harsh critiques to someone else's photos, didn't they ever think that he/she wanted it to look like that? It's their taste, their cup of tea, who gives a sh!t what critiques have to say but of course being human, we were born with anger in one of our DNA and of course we got defensive and start arguing. i mean it's just a waste of time, arguing over the internet with no real winner of the debate competition which is not even taking place..... Oh boy i got too deep + emotional here... must be the monday blues eh wait, its thursday...weekend blues it is...... Its just sad to see our human civilisation is not even civilised...Sorry i just had to rant...You know how rants are...just got way off topic..........................

I believe taking photos are for the passion, pleasure, for fun, be it snapshot, documentary, reportage, art, manipulator, and the list goes on... but the root of it must be the passion, for the love of it.

Anyway, my mood at the moment is making my pictures over-processed, wayward colours, hey... didn't i already said this?

Lets put some random pictures, enough of this ramblings. Because a picture speaks a thousand words.

Some over-processed pictures goodies.

 Dark skies, moody landscape. Just like how i'm feeling today

There are times when i like to see things differently. Different colours. Like you're in a movie, the colours were never 'normal'. 

To photo nerds, this is taken with my Fuji X-M1 + kit lens. This is in Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Kundasang, Malaysia, at Mount Kinabalu, ...far away from the city...... Thank god they have KFC here.

I'm a sucker for presets.

I'm a sucker for Lightroom/Photoshop presets. Period. I'm just too lazy. One-click-boom. Thats why i love VSCO presets. They are so worth it. Recreate film looks, polaroid looks.... ya know, those vintage looks. But at the moment, i'm done with film looks, i got a bit tired of it. But thats today, maybe tomorrow i'm back into it. Right now, i'm into those contrasty but desaturated colors. I was actually looking for a tutorial on recreating that look when i stumbled upon free presets for Lightroom. See, i'm not that lazy, i want to learn on how to recreate those looks but instead i found presets thus diverted me from learning to just using the presets. Lazy over learning. Nice.

While browsing the internet, i found presets and tutorials but mostly free preset on creating gritty, grungy look, which is the look im into right now, some are really nice which made me search for more free presets all over the net. Who doesnt like free stuffs right?

While on the topic of grunge look, I also stumbled across a bloke named Dave Hill. Though his pictures are nice but not really my type, i mean i really like it but i'm not gonna use it all the time. and then there's the DRAGAN effect too. Based on my findings these free presets that tried to recreate the grunge, dave hill and dragan effect look are mostly pushing the sliders in lightroom to the max!

Highlights pushed to 100
Shadows pushed to 100
Blacks bring down to balance the look
Clarity pushed to, yes you guess it right, to 100. I love pushed clarity. Gave that painted look
Vibrance pushed to 100
Saturation pull to taste, -50, depends on how unsaturated look you're looking for.
Exposure to taste.

Some presets pushed the sharpness too hard, like 80, but for my taste i pulled a bit and just play around with it.

Let's use a sample image i've downloaded from Robin Wong EM10. I hope he don't mind. This are not my photo. It's Robin's.

Original File 

This is my Bleach Bypass look, i've edited from Lightroom's own bleach bypass preset 

 Not too forget, the "300" look, i found this lightroom preset on google

I called this my Wannabe Dave Hill look although i adjusted to my liking. I dont remember which preset i based this on. but i adjusted it to make it less painted effect.

*I based this on the Grunge preset i found on google*

Some may dig the look, some may not. Its for fun, sometimes i just want to push the files to never before land lols.

Oh what's in the mail???

The post office here is so slow. Period. I've ordered stuffs from ebay, and the wait period is like a month or two. and its only from China. The US stuffs came here pretty quick and i thought China is closer. Apparently, the stuffs arrived early but the post office or the postmen here decided to keep it in the store room for a month or so as they are busy partying. no joke. I've lost tracked of what i ordered, but those with tracking numbers are safely sound while the others that dont have tracking numbers, well.... be prepared for doom.

Anyway, i've bought my self a fake leather sling shoulder camera bag and its pretty neat. i love it. its small and looks good. i also bought a canvas type but thats bigger and heavier. I was on GAS, so i bought both bags, maybe i'll add another one. this fake leather is nice. I want a bag that i can use for travelling and carry my camera, i think i've found it.

I'm into desaturated colors these days so trust me, its not your monitor, it doesnt need calibrating.

It can fit both my X100s + X-Pro1 with the 18-55 kit lens, a nexus 7 tablet, a selfie monopod (ahaks), 2 X-pro1 batts, 1 x100s batt, an earphone, a few sd cards....

I also received my soft release shutter button shown in red on the X-pro1.

There are 2 front pockets, 1 back pocket and inside there's a camera padding insert.

I have a trip to London coming. I have the bag but cant decide which camera to bring. X100S or X-pro1 ..... arggh like i said, i hate choices.

Just search on Ebay using these words "Vintage britpop camera bag" ... if you're interested. Mostly the sellers are from Hong Kong or China.

I missed my X100S... Lets go Lunch...

Been shooting with the X-Pro1 ever since i got it, and little attention did my X100S get. To be honest i prefer my X100S for its size. The X-Pro1 with the Zoom lens is just too big, no, i meant quite big, SLR is bigger! The zoom kit lens is just too long. Should have bought the primes! Gaahh... i hate choices. Anyway, i prefer the images that my X100S created. somewhat contrasty. and with the leaf shutter, its dead quiet! But dead quiet doesnt equate balls. Balls to shoot strangers, up close and personal. i still take pictures as quick as possible and always resulted in motion blur. I hate doing candid street photography but really like the genre. Capturing day to day life moments. If only i'm Bruce Gilden, steel balls that guy.

Anyway, i brought my x100s for lunch today. Been using the X100S lately, oh boy i really missed it. Really love playing with the bokehs. I should get the 35mm for the X-Pro so i can appreciate the bokehness. With the zoom kit lens, its just 'meh'. But i love the OIS on that one. slow shutter speed and sharp pictures! Always a compromise. Slower lens + OIS, Fast lens no OIS... why not both? I hope the new X3000000Z will have fast lens + OIS.

With the X100S i just love shooting wide open. Bokeh there, Bokeh this. Amazing it is this little camera. I'm also playing with the bleach bypass look. Although it wont work on food photography. it looked pale like zombies foods, or that langolier movie. i used polaroid 690 preset on the food photos. All are shot with X100S.

 Although the x100s able to focus this close, i noticed that its a bit soft. maybe its the F2. i dunno. i aint no scientist.

 Lunch with a zombie. Hold your eye, Z.

 I love the bleach bypass look of this picture except for the motion blur. Arghh.. steel balls please grow.

FEAR overcame me so i took this shot quickly and thus equal motion blur.

 Bokeh Bokeh Bokeh

 Coffee bun but no coffee taste. i'm ripped off. I should color you with my bleach bypass preset because thats how you taste. Booo

Ribs with soggy rice. 'Meh'

Really fun just shooting with the X100S. Bring everywhere anywhere camera. Do i still think of the Leica M8? Yes i do. because GAS said so! 

UPDATE

Just for fun, here's the Coffee Bun with my bleach bypass preset..

Pale, just like how it tasted

Hello Kuala Lumpur

Went to Kuala Lumpur last week over the weekend for a family trip, i thought i would take a lot of photos and man i was wrong. When you got your hands on the kids stroller all the time, you don't have a chance to take your camera out of your bag. Even if i did, we were quite rushing going places and there's no quality time with my X-pro1. I guess thats why i'd still prefer my iphone as a camera, its easy just slip in my pocket, cant do that with any of my Fujis. Looking to see if i can fit the new Sony Rx100 iii into my pocket, then it'll be my new toy!! C'mon Fuji, announce your new cameras!

7 adults and 7 kids and i'm being kind of the tour guide as i'm bringing first timers. there's no stopping, just walk, eat, shop and go! I don't want to bore or make them wait for me to take photos. 3 days are not enough for first timers going to Kuala Lumpur, too many places to visit, so it was like rushing/amazing race all the time. It was fun actually, my only gripe was the bullshit driver of ours who seems to be much more in a rush than us. All in all it was a great trip, too bad i didn't take a lot of photos as i liked to.

Silhoutte 

Above the clouds 

Lost balloons 

Busking N Robbins 

Not bad, not bad at all

Sunway

Night Market

To photogs nerds, these are all shot with an X-Pro1 + 18-55mm lens, edited in Lightroom with VSCO film presets. 

I'm also trying a different perspective, unconventional, quirky, unorthodox, screw-rule-of-thirds, out of the box ways of taking a photos+compositions. Just trying to be different than what i'm used to. Pretty or not, improve or not, as long as it captures the moments, the story, its fine with me.

Thoughts from my X-Pro1....

Just some random snapshots.....

i'm loving my X-Pro1 and if i had a chance to press the shutter, i go for it.

Lets call it my X-Pro1 journal...

My first impressions on my Fujifilm X-pro1

So far.... So Good.... So What!... - Dave Mustaine

Fuji X-Pro1 18-55mm at 39mm 1/75s f/3.6 ISO3200

I know this is old news, right now its all about the new X-T1. The X-Pro1 is.... sort of forgotten. Everyone that i followed who used a Fuji in their professional work, they seem to all talked and upgraded to the new Fuji X-T1, no harm done, i would have but instead i chose to get the X-Pro1, for one reason only, the rangefinder looks..... and of course the great deal its on. Hahah...condemn me all you want but that's just me. i just love the looks. Maybe next time X-T1. I'll wait for your weather sealed lens bundled kit. 

I owned the X100S and i just loved the JPG files that i get from it. Great image quality, High ISO is so good, clean and the grain is just film like, so my standard IQ must equal or higher to the X100S and not lower, thats why i sold my Olympus as , to my eyes, its not on par with the X100S but maybe that is just me. 

So when i test fired my X-pro1, the files didnt look anything like my X100S. I was gutted. I thought the IQ should be the same. it must be the same. But after comparing images between the two fujis, i could see that the X100S is a stop cleaner and better. My X-Pro1 just seems to generate a lot of noise and looked washed out. Ever since i owned the Olympus i turned into a noise-pixel-peeper. Zooming in every pictures looking for noise level. Its not healthy. To my eyes, the X-pro1 files are similar to what i could get from my Olympus. and to be honest, the Olympus is a better camera feature-wise. I have a slight regret of selling my Olympus too soon. and its not helping seeing it everyday, making things worse, seeing my friend playing with its features, touch screen to take pictures and wifi abilities..... i'm screaming silently! lol.

So what is wrong with my X-Pro1? I thought i had a bad copy. It could be the old vs new X Trans sensor and the old vs new EXR II processor. I searched the internet and no one seems to mention about these two cameras. No one compared the IQ. They all said its the same IQ...... being a Fuji. But thats not what i'm seeing. I do found some words of encouragement from fellow blogger who said that the new Fujis are a tad better in terms of image quality. But still i find that hard to believe. I'm in denial. "The IQ should be the same", i said to myself. 

If i'm not making myself clear, here is a summary of my first impressions on my Fuji X-pro1.......

1 - I see DEAD Pixels. (Ok, so i assume this is normal, its only 3 out of millions. But how come i never came across this on my x100s and x-m1? .... maybe i wasnt pixel peeping back then)

2 - Its prone to HOT Pixels. (Yep, at higher ISOs, these white specks randomly appeared especially on shadows area, its like dandruff as i've always seen it on hairs but.... theres a but.... i've never seen this on my other Fujis)

3 - Its MORE noisier than my x100s. (I am making myself believe that this is due to the new processor on x100s which makes its files cleaner)

4 - The JPGs files have not so much "headroom". (I tend to underexposed a picture and upped the exposure one stop in post processing. This is fine with x100s but with my X-pro1 the hot pixels start to appear)

Is there a number 5? i'm not sure.... but all these problems only occur when i zoomed in at 100%. Its not nice being a pixel peeper. Where is thy joy? On standard view, the IQ is awesome, its what you would expect from a Fuji files. So how do i find the remedies that i mentioned above? .....Google is my friend.

a - All digital cameras have dead pixels, you were just not looking.... and mine have 3 dead pixels out of millions? ... it sure bugs the hell out of me but i just have to take it out of the equation. its not visible, unless i looked for it. thats why pixel peeping is bad, it takes out the joy out of photography.

b - To confirmed myself on the HOT pixels mentioned, i searched the internet for Fuji X-Pro1 and the X-E1 High ISOs pictures, since they shared the same sensor and processor and indeed the hot pixels are there too! Those white specks just appeared randomly especially at ISO3200 and onwards. I noticed that its less on RAW files. But since i'm a Jpg shooter, the HOT pixels are not so bad, its still not visible unless i zoomed in...... i can live with it. This also shows that the newer cameras, the x100s, XE2 and XT1 can handle the HOT pixels better.

c - Well noise is noise. I'm lucky that Fuji's grain are film-like. I also believe the newer technology in the X100S handles the noise better and produce better image quality. Look for lens modulation optimizer.

d - About it being not-so-much headroom, i just had to change my way of taking shots. i need to get the exposure just right... i mean thats the best way to take a shot anyway, the best/right exposure. Even if i have to upped the exposure in post processing, its only HOT pixels i have to deal with, which only a problem if you pixel peep or zoomed in at 100%. I mean, i'm not gonna print big canvas any day now... if i would i should have shot in RAW and get the exposure right!

I mean Phewww... i thought i had a bad copy. I'm just obsessed that it needs to be on par with my X100S. But then the X-Pro1 is older and used older technology. which in a way makes sense that X100S is better in every aspect. eg. IQ, faster AF

Like i said, all these problems only occur when i zoomed in 100% and in JPGs. The pizza shot above is fine to my eyes, no lighting involve except the house indoor lights .... thus the high ISO. I'm so used to seeing my x100s files, i find all other files inferior. In fact, i compared so many images of my X-pro1 to my X100S and found out that the X100S seems to used a lot of noise reduction in camera. .....How about that??...... I was too worried that my X-pro1 was inferior, in finding the weakness of my Xpro1, i exposed the weakness of my x100s, maybe not a weakness to some but it is using too much noise reduction. Sometimes i find the faces gets a little smooth and waxy. Now i'm on the lowest setting of my NR.

But thats the thing with my X-Pro1, I am more forgiving to it than i am with the Olympus. I dont know why and to be honest i think my EM10 is a better camera. Small, Fast and Grainy pictures... my X-pro1 only has grainy pictures, minus speed and size lol. 

So thats basically my first impressions, i have yet to put it through its paces, just some random shots and VSCO it to death. and i gotta say i'm liking those grainy pictures of the X-Pro1!