Leica GAS?

Leica lust, leica whore, leica porn.
whatever.
Anything to do with Leica is so sexy and yummy.
I cant resist my GAS.
I just bought an M8 in chrome.
Well i preferred the chrome than the black
But just after i press buy it now on the chrome M8, now i want it in black.
talk about dangerous GAS.
Before, i never liked the all black Leica. i always want it with a red dot logo, thats what Leica is famous for. I dont understand whats with Leica owner gaffer tape their red dot logo. i mean what the fuck man? Show it off to the world that its a leica you're holding, the most expensive piece of "shit" camera. There are other better cameras but Leica is a Leica. i wont go into details which camera is better but Leica is a Leica. its like the Ferrari of cameras. You dont need a Ferrari but if you can afford it why not?
Its the same, its just a tool, it will take you to point A and B. Same thing. iPhone can also take pictures. so what if the IQ sucks. the moments mattered most. Anyway i'm off the grid. Actually i just wanna talked about my GAS problem. My Leica lust problem im having right now. BTW speaking of people gaffer taping their Leica is because they wanted to be stealthier. Thats why Leica came up with the M9-P.... which unbelievably i'm bidding right now. Lust...Lust..Lust... i'm the type who cant pass a great deal. i've already missed out on the $2900 Leica M9 in steel grey with less than 2k shutter actuations. thats a great deal. My credit cards beg to differ though. I need rehab. somehow it felt good to press buy it now or start bidding. But just right after i press it, the feeling regret somehow creeps in. in my head, i bought the Leicas for collection. I didnt care much if it take pictures. although there are times i'm imagining shooting a wedding with them Leicas. For travelling, i'm not sure but for showing off, hell yeah...
I'm much more into aesthetic than picture taking. yea, boo me whatever. but that is just me. The Leica is so sexy. its like flirting with Scarlett or Blake lively or whoever hotties in hollywood. ya know what i mean. sometimes i do feel like that with my cameras. its actually a one night stand thing. i wonder if i will still keep my Leicas in the future. i hope i do. its the ultimate cannot do everything camera. but for what i do in photography, is enough. i dont do sports and fast objects. which Leica probably not good at. i know someone can do it. but i dont.
I keep saying Leicas Leicas Leicas as if i have more than one Leica. In fact after owning the Chrome which have yet to arrive, i'm eyeing on the all black M8.2. and the all black M9-P. Like i said, before, i didnt give a shit about all black Leica. its all about the red dot logo. but now, things have change.
I'm a Leica porn.

Help me.

 Leica M8 chrome.

Taken at www.photo.net

 Leica M8.2 in all black

taken at www.curious-creature.org

Leica M9-P

Taken at www.thephoblographer.com

Looking at the cameras all i can say and feel is....

AWESOME!

Please help me...

Leica M9??

i just missed out on a very good deal Leica M9 on fleabay. the winning bid was $2900. $2900 for a Leica M9... that is out of this world. well, not really, the price is trending at $3500 but still at $2900 its a steal! Now, i dunno if i should sit at a dark corner and regret for not entering the bidding war but wait! Am i nuts? My M8 have yet to arrive and i'm already eyeing the M9? Man, talk about GAS and a shit load of money to burn. But i'm not rich. Just crazy savings gone like the wind.... if i did bought the M9. I'm just a slave to my desire. Good God. I need to stop seeing Ebay.. or should i say i enter rehab?

But still, an M9 is an M9.

Leica in love forever.

Love, Lust and Leica.

There goes my X100S.....

I just sold my fav camera the X100S!! I am really sad to let it go but i have to sell it to fund my Leica lust. Awww maaaannn...... I just wish that i could at least sold the X-pro1 first and then sell the X100S. Now i am left with my X-pro1 which no one seem to have taken interest with. Its not that i dont like the X-Pro1 but i just prefer my X100S over it. This is all Leica's fault. A really good deal on a used Leica M8 in chrome!! i just cant let it go. it had to be done. And a quite good deal on a Voigtlander 40mm 1.4 lens too! and now im wanting the 15mm and be done with it. i hope so. i know i wanted the 28mm f2 ultron because i just missed my X100S. lol. I know i was a clean high iso freak, i was spoilt by X100S. now i need to accept that the M8 is a no challenge in the high ISO contest with the X100S. i hope i can adapt and accept it. because thats also the main reason i sold my Oly EM10 back then. the high ISO is not clean enough!. but as time pass by, i slowly accept, the non Fuji IQ i can get with my latest camera the Sony RX100M3. I find it good enough. i need to get back to basics. grain is good. i started to put sense in my brain, i never really gonna print that large every day or at least every month. the pictures will always stay in the hard drive. if i can recall, i made a resolution slash revolution last year that i want to print as much as i could but i cant believe that its already been a year and i have yet to print anything. I cant believe i had the X100S for a year now,  i thought i just had it like 5 months back. woahhh, the time passed very quickly. scary. so thats that. i did miss my X100S but theres always the new one, the T. I guess if i got fed up with my Leica in the future, i might as well get back to Fujifilm and get the X100T.

Oh well.

I got the Leica Bug!

I always want it, i'm always thinking about it, i always dream about it, owning it, holding it, take a picture with it, heck, let's just do this, lets buy it!

And i bought it.

My first Leica, and its gotta be M, the M8.

Half nuts, half guts.

Nuts, because its a 2006 technology. thats a lifetime in digital age. But it doesn't mean its a bad camera, it took breathtaking shots back then, it still is gonna take the same shot now, unless the sensor went bonkers...well i pray hope not...

I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas came early they say.

Cant wait for that package to arrive.

Should be here in one week. Fly across continents my Leica will.

I bought a Voigtlander 40mm 1.4 to mount it with. Its gotta be a fast lens. I need bokeh. i want bokeh. Not necessary for all photos but i need it. its like drugs. although i find the 40mm is gonna be quite tele if you know what i mean, because i so like wide angle, but i could not find a wide angle fast lens, most of the lens are f4 onwards, i'm thinking about the Voigtlander 15mm 4.5. Thats my next lens. or should i just buy it now? and be done with it? but wait, i also want the 28mm f2 ultron. so i can get that 35mm FOV. just like my x100s. but why compare it to my Fuji. Leica is leica. what the hell m i talking about?

I'm all Voigtlander lenses here, thats probably the only lenses i be able to afford. i still need my kidney...

I'm planning to sell all my Fuji gears, my X-pro1, my X100S, and my X-M1 and just shoot Leica. Now i can shoot more shitty photos from a Leica. I've done it with Fuji, now its Leica turn. OMG, its a dream come true. i think i'm still dreaming! but my Leica is on its way. i pray to God that its in working order. I hope its not a bad copy.

I bought mine in chrome. now i want black too!

I always read that Fujis are better than Leica but Leica is a Leica. its a dream. a dream come true. Why buy a wannabe rangefinder when the real rangefinder is getting closer to affordable territory. well, thats the M8 for you, you can get it less than $2k, i'll wait for another 10 years for the M9.

I still love Fuji, but as i said, Leica is a Leica.

Its like Megadeth is great but Metallica is greater...... kinda.

Sony RX100iii's metering bonkers??

Ya, i've read it somewhere but i just had to write it to paper or more specifically this blog, the metering on the Sony is kinda bonkers... not consistent to be exact, one time it'll use the lower ISO and at other times it uses the highest ISO available... although i must admit i didn't really check which shutter it used on both low or high ISO because i always monitor the ISO when i take the shot....but anyway the metering is kinda inconsistent.... in the same indoor low light room, sometimes it used the high iso and when you meter the next shot, it used the low ISO....oh well... i look at the LCD and the ISO sometimes jumps from iso640 to iso6400... man... talk about inconsistency (thats 3 times).... and i noticed that the Sony will always use 1/30 and f1.8 combo, no matter the ISO.... especially indoors...

Sorry i dont have a sample to show you, but i just realised in the same indoor room, it used a high shutter speed and high ISO and the other shot it used the 1/30 and low iso, both at widest aperture. the same exposure but different calculations or whatever....

by the way, this little thing rocks!

My first basic video editing using FCPX + Sony RX100iii

Yea, that's my other alter ego....

I have a macbook pro and the only logical choice was to use Final Cut Pro for video editing, why? because its an apple product.... i've seen my friend edit a video using Premiere pro and it looks complicated.... it just look complicated, maybe its not.... anyway, this is my first time using Final Cut Pro X, and i've been youtubing looking for basic tutorial.... i had experience with video editing before using movie maker.... its similar in a way, so i guess i was quick to pick up, its like riding a bicycle, once you know how, it will always in the brain muscle, whatever, i'm being random here.

The next thing to do in the list is how to get that movie, cinematic feel. i hope i quickly grasp the concept or else i got bored too easily and quit videography altogether.....

Sony RX100iii, my nonsense review

I owned the RX100iii for almost 2 weeks now,
being the lazy bum i am, i did not really explore the camera features wholeheartedly. I just set my new camera on intelligent mode and begin snapping away.

I bought it at Sony store Bugis in Singapore, and i didn't even had time to come back to get my warranty card! Yes, they were out of warranty card, unbelievable. They asked me to come the next day or before i leave the country but i had too many places to go and in the end i left Singapore without the warranty card. and you know what the suckiest part of this story, i have a DEAD PIXEL on my Sony RX100iii, out of the box!! and the saddest part of it i didnt have time to exchange it, if they ever exchange one to one which i doubt it. maybe i'm wrong. oh to hell with it, now i just have to live with it, no warranty card and a dead pixel. which isn't really that annoying in broad daylight, but indoors....baarghh , sometimes it looked like a speck of dust that needs blowing but when i blow it of course it is still there. its a dead pixel. oh well....

Now with my rant aside, its actually a fun camera! Small and pocketable, although with my kind of skinny jeans, its bulging in pocket. and the horror of dust spots in Ricoh GR, i try to avoid putting it in my pocket which to be honest defeats the purpose of being pocketable. Yea, im too paranoid. But lucky me when i bought it i got a free belt strap bag, an extra battery and an SD card. So i use the belt strap bag most of the times although it gets kinda annoying when you loosen your belt, its kinda heavy to put the belt on, if you know what i mean.

To be honest i was kinda debating whether to purchase the Sony or the new iPhone 6plus. i was leaning towards the iPhone but lucky me, it was out of stock everywhere in Singapore, you know why i was lucky? because the iPhone6 BENDS when you put it in your pocket, which again defeats the purpose. Thats my purpose, to find a pocketable camera! small and take great pictures. i still believe an iPhone is better since it goes everywhere with me, hopefully one day Apple will make a 1inch sensor iPhone.

I have to say i am very happy with my purchase, the Sony RX100iii, even though it has a dead pixel on it... i am cursing myself for not testing the camera in store when i bought it!!! i was in a rush, people are waiting for me, i just could not stand the pressure i put myself to take a lil bit of time to test the camera so i just brought it home back to the hotel thinking everythings gonna be okay which is not. okay sorry for the random rant..

where am i? ok, Sony RX100iii. yes, i am very happy with it. its fun. it has a selfie mode. it got wifi. too bad it did not have touch screen. why oh why? in these days and age, every camera nowadays should be automatically built with touch screen features. and i just realised that 70mm is not really much of a zoom. its a "meh" zoom. i find myself needing a lil bit of reach. i guess 100mm should be fine. Well i guess a zoom is better than no zoom at all, unless you want prime lens but thats a different story. and as others on the net has reviewed, its actually a f2.8 aperture most of the time. the only time its f1.8 is at the very wide end at 24mm. Once you start to zoom a bit the aperture kind of instantly change to f2.8. i think these are my only gripe with this Sony RX100iii. Maybe the mark4 will fix these and if im crazy enough i'll buy it.

oh theres another, the selfie mode, most of the time with the intelligent mode, it tends to shoot at f1.8, yes, bokeh, i like that, but not in selfie mode, i want everything to be in focus, because when i want to take a quick group selfies or some BS new word ussies, i tend to be in front of the group as i'm the one holding the camera and because i want to get everyone in the pic and get the background as well, 24mm, its not as wide as the GoPro (the best selfie camera) and being f1.8 i'm the one in focus, the guys at the back is kinda blurry if you look at a bigger screen, it's fine if you look at tiny screens where everyone seems to be in focus but not really........ its not really a big deal, thats my problem i guess. i just need to quickly change the aperture to f4 or more and get everyone in focus. i guess thats where custom settings is handy, which i have yet to explore with.

So to summarise,

the PROS,

- Small, lightweight, pocketable
- Tilting Screen
- EVF
- Wifi
- Remote Control Wifi
- Selfie Mode
- Fast Lens

the GRIPE,

- No touch screen (which means no touch to focus, touch to shoot, bla bla bla)
- "Meh" zoom (sometimes i feel like needing a bit of reach)
- f1.8 only at 24mm
- Selfie mode on intelligent mode tends to defocus the background (ok for ownself, sucks for group)
- what else is there? i'll update if i found more 
- Oh yea, the stabilizer isnt that great like those on Olympus. or maybe im just too shakey.

During photokina, Canon comes up with a 1inch sensor model of their own, the G7X, which remedies most of my gripes, it has a better perform lens on paper, more reach up to 100mm, it retains its f1.8 a bit longer when zooming and touch screen! but the video features kinda sucks thats why i stick to buying the Sony!

Did i mention that the Sony RX100iii is a pocketable cinema camera? Just search on google or youtube for Sony RX100iii videos, and most of them are impressive coming from this little powerhorse! and since i am into videography now, i chose Sony rather than waiting for Canon G7x.

I did not say a lot about the EVF, i used it sometimes, its okay i guess, its tiny though.

Handling wise i must say is a lil bit slippery, since the body design where the hand holds the camera has no grip. There's a thumb rest which is nice but there are no "fingers rest" on the front, ya know, the grip..... i saw online theres a grip called Franiac i think, which seems to add grip for the Sony.

Wifi is a great feature nowadays, it is easier now to share pictures among friends and families, you can either download the original file or resize to 2Mb which is great for phones and saves a lot of storage. Remote control via wifi is a blast, now i can take selfie with a monopod, although the Sony can be a bit heavy when hand holding it with the monopod. I haven't test it yet but i think i cant touch to focus on my iphone via remote control, so just hope for the face detection and its wide focus points to choose focus. correct me if im wrong.

I've tried recording videos, and my only gripe is the stabilizer isnt as great as those on Olympus. When i used my Olympus before i can see the stabilizer working (some sort of smooth glide kinda motion, not so much on the Sony), its there but not really noticeable. but at least there is a stabilizer. On stills i think its great, i shot in low light at 1/10s and the picture came out sharp.

Built in flash is meh, the best built in flash camera i have ever experience is the Fuji X100S series. The flash on the Sony is just like those compact cameras flash, hard-direct-dump-on-all-of-your-face flash.

Live everyone else on the net said, the EVF is kinda annoying when it automatically shut down the camera when you decide not to use it and push it back in the camera. There should be a fix where i can just pull it up or push it down without it powering off. Powering on is fine but not powering off.

I saw a book on Google, i havent bought it, something called "A photographer's guide to Sony RX100iii" by Alexander White, seems a useful book to have for us Sony RX100iii owners. looks better than the manual. it explains better i guess.

IQ wise it is great enough for a small camera. Better than the iPhone4. like i said, its not Fujifilm territory but its great. Great in low light too. i dont mind shooting at iso6400 but i pretty much limit my auto iso to iso3200. its not the grain that i'm worried, its the smearing of details. maybe i post on another blog post comparing isos and what not.

Oh well, enough words, lets see some pictures.

Lets stack it up with the Fujis. Sizes wise.

 With the Fuji X100S. Look how small the Sony is.

Looking at the bulging lens of the X-M1, you know that aint pocketable.

Lets look at some sample images from my Sony RX100iii.

i went to the Singapore Zoo and waterpark, a great place to take a lot of pictures and test the camera.

Most of the time i'm on intelligent mode. Auto ISO. 

Just snapping away.

No editing done. Just resizing for web.

 Here's the zoom at 70mm

Here's the wide angle at 24mm

Here's another one,

 70mm

24mm

The rest of the sample images.

 This camera is great for food pornography

This little squirrel doesn't mind me shooting up close and personal, ......too busy munching this peanut, too busy. 

 Zebras are horses that escaped from prison

 Hello donkey, whats with the long face? ... they called you pony is it?

iso800 and 1/10 sec. i guess the stabilizer does good here. 

 Smell gasoline everywhere, those guys must have bad breath literally

On a moving tram at night safari, i didn't take a lot of pictures because the conductor was pissed someone used flash photography and her speaker got blown off everytime she gave the warning. 

 One more for the road, food pornography

My favourite look recently.... why not..

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