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

Going down that rabbit hole

Okay, i'm ready. Swallow the red pill. The red-dot pill to be exact! Yes, i'm going Leica. Its time to stop pretending. I have always like Leica. Love Leica. Never touch it though. Just fell in love with the beauty. Something about it, just makes it special. That red dot.
My Fujis will always be under its shadows. You know its true. Even if you tell everyone Fuji is the real deal, better image quality, better high iso but still it is not a Leica. People will always ask,

"is that a Leica?" pointing to the X100S.

"NO", you said, "Its a Fuji, it takes nice pictures, sharp bla bla bla bla bla".

Thats what people gonna hear you say, just right after you said Fuji. They are not gonna care of its IQ, high isos etc etc just because its not a Leica. Its their loss. But somehow you feel them. Its like driving a red mitsubishi GTO with a Ferrari sticker on it. Or a Yamaha Dragstar with a Harley Davidson sticker on it. or worse, stick on a Leica red dot on the Fuji X100s. Ouch! You know its the better deal but still its a fake, copy or imitator. Usually i dont care for these imitation stuffs. i dont care what people think. i still dont care about what people think . But i still want the original, the real deal, the pride, the classic, the high class, the legendary,  Leica. Its the Ferrari of cameras. You'd know how you feel if you own a Ferrari. Its not for show-off, maybe just a little but its just something about it. Lets just say, enthusiast and passion. plus GAS.

There's no turning back, if i'm going Leica, i'm going all the way. No, i'm not gonna get the M240. The price is way up high for a single camera. I hope i'm not that mad and spent al my savings. Still not even an M9. I'm looking at the M8 and the X2. and the digilux2. Now thats GAS driven. I'm still keeping my Fujis. Those are for my wedding/engagement work. With Leica, i want to taste Leica, i want to experience Leica. Lets use a real rangefinder. Stop using copy, use the original.

I hope i find the experience i'm looking for.

GAS alert...

And i thought i'm done lusting for a leica, boy i was wrong. With all the rangfinder-ish look of the Fujis that i owned, i thought i would stop looking at the leicas. I guess thats what happen when you bought a "copy" instead of the true original, in the end you still be thinking of the latter. If you ever read the beginnings of this blog, i was lusting for leicas, film leicas, since its price is at the budget zone. I wanted the Leica experience. I wanted to shoot film but since it is costly and theres no more professional film developer here anymore, and the flexibility of digital, i just stick to digital. With the help of VSCO, i can create similar films look. So bye bye Film. Bye bye Film Leica.

So how did i come back to lusting Leica? It started with the x2. I cant believe i "missed" this model. I thought i knew all the Digital Leica models. Maybe because it didnt have that OVF look on it, that's why i skipped looking at it. Maybe i'm just looking at the M's and forget everything else. Maybe i've already owned the Fujis that i wanted and start GAS-ing other cameras. Actually i'm GASing for that new Sony RX100iii and then i found on google, someone made a comparison between the old Sony RX100ii and the Leica X2. Thats when i started to do a research on the X2. It is similar to the Fuji X100s. To be honest the Fuji is more handsome but that red dot..... that red dot is what make this Leica apart from the other cameras. Just something about it i cant explain. Its like looking at a beautiful girl, just something about their pretty eyes you just cant explain. and thats what happened to me if i see a Leica. And thats when i started GASing for the Leica again.
  

Taken from leicarumors.com

That is one sexy camera.

As usual i would search for it on ebay to see the price ranges, used and new, the used ones seems to be in the budget zone of mine. But thats when i stumble on the leica m8. The price differences was not really that far off, might as well go for the M instead of the x2. I always wanted the M, never really was a fan of the x2. I have the habit of owning everything else except the ultimate one. instead i should have kept that money that i spent on "everything else" and bought the ultimate one, in this case, the Leica M. One example, I have a Harley Davidson but before i bought my ultimate/dream bike, the Harley Davidson, i bought two bikes before i bought the Harley, a scooter and an off-road bike. i mean, i should have just bought the Harley ONLY instead of the other 2 bikes. I am really having a serious GAS condition.

Back to Leica, so the M8 is my only option at the moment as the others are still budget-wise out of the question or out of the equation....

taken from dpreview.com

i dont know why i wanted the M8, my Fujis are better, being an enthusiast, i guess i just had to experience a Leica M once in a lifetime.

So now the question that begs an answer,
Silver or Black?!

I hate choices!

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.

That new Sony is intriguing

Yep, the new RX100 iii is really such a cool camera, intriguing to say the least, fast lens and a pop up EVF! Who would think of that?!! I'm waiting for a review and see if i will add this camera to my collection. Im looking for a pocketable camera for travel and the sony seems to fit the bill, i still love my fujis but i still prefer small pocketable camera cos im lazy, im lazy to take out my camera from its bag again n again everytime i wanna take a picture, im not the type of guy who always sling the camera over my shoulder everytime, im afraid of knocks n bumps and dust and water, i like to cover n keep my camera in the bag, maybe i should stop pampering the camera too much. I think my best camera is my iphone although IQ wise its easily defeated by real cameras, maybe i should wait till iphone can create stunning images like Fuji!

Back to Sony, im always intrigue with Sony cameras, in fact 9years ago my camera for my honeymoon was a sony and at that time i was blown away with its quality, but being a Sony back then i hate that they used their own proprietary memory card  n they are not a real camera company lol. So sony was never on my radar if im looking for a real camera, but with the rise of mirrorless camera everyone seems to praise Sony, being small and full frame, and great IQ. i was really interested with the new alpha7s for its low light capability, im waiting for review but it seems that camera is focusing more towards video instead of stills, and the price is way out of my budget but the rx100 seems to be in my budget zone haha (GAS talk)...and the rx100 seems to be a great camera for travel. So where is this review? Cmon internet!

But as much as i wait for the Sony reviews, im also waiting for Fuji announcements of their new cameras, the X30, x200 and the x-pro2. We'll see what Fuji have up in their sleeves.