A picture a day

I think starting today imma post a picture a day on this blog, probably only on weekdays since its the only days i have access to my computer. i started one yesterday, its called a man with trombone. Hope you guys enjoy the picture, and the upcoming dreadful pictures that will come along your way. giggles..... and LOL

A Man with Trombone

I was in New Orleans just walking along the street when i spotted this guy with a trombone. As usual i took a quick shot as if i'm taking a picture of the whole damn street but i was caught. He was cool about it and said "How was it?!"
I said "Nice!" and gave him a thumbs up.

Such a cool city!

"Lenny Kravitz" with a trombone.

Leica M8 with Voigtlander 15mm. 

Voigtlander 35mm 2.5 OR 35mm 1.4 ??? Help me!

I used to have this problem. Its hard deciding which of these two lens i should get. Back when i got my Leica M9 i solved this problem by getting the 40mm 1.4. Its not 35mm but close. Now that i sold my M9 and left with an M8, this problem is back. M8 being not full frame, a 35mm will become something close to a 50mm, say 46mm?? Anyway, one problem i found with M8 is choosing the right focal length. All those RF lenses were design for full frame. 35mm is 35mm. I din wanna get the 40mm because it might be a bit on the longer side for the M8. I set my standard focal length as 35mm because this is how my X100S used to be and i'm comfortable with it. Then i should get the 28mm, it will be roughly about 35mm on the M8. But i wanted my lens to be small. all those 28mm with fast apertures are quite big. So to make things easy for me, i set myself to get a 35mm. but which one? a faster lens at 1.4 or a pancake but slower at 2.5. i'd love a faster lens as i like to play with bokeh and shooting in low light will allow for faster shutter speed. But based on reviews on the net, its a mix reaction but mostly said this 1.4 classic nokton has focus shift. and worst distortion and prone to flare. The 2.5 color skopar gets nice review, sharper, less distortion and less flare, able to get bokeh as well and cheaper too!

I knew in my heart that the 2.5 is a much better lens than the 1.4, but i just cant get f1.4 out of my head, i was placebo-ed by faster lens equals more bokeh, faster shutter speed. and i hate the fact that if i buy the 2.5, i might still buy the 1.4 in the future just for the sake of the 1.4.

Sigh. Story of my life!

From London to Italy and Leicester .... (Part 1 London)

12th July 2014

Its 6.15am and i'm hovering above the clouds of london, it was beautiful up here, the sunrise gave the clouds an orange tint glow and we're circling up here waiting for our turn to land. This is typical of london heathrow traffic, as we circled, there were a few planes visible from looking outside of the plane window as they takes turn to land. While we're up here it reminds me of the scenes from a movie called the langoliers, all you see is clouds blanketing the world below. I should have taken my camera but i'm too lazy to take it out of the bag, and just like that i missed the moment. As we descend into the clouds, i was expecting a little turbulence and to my surprise there was none. And then the city below begins to appear, London, gone was the sunrise, the city in mist and a typical london weather, grey skies. The mood definitely turns dark. The temperature outside is 17degrees celcius, not quite the hot summer but maybe it was just morning weather. I'm still adjusting the time change as my body prepares to prevent jetlag. I do feel like its 6am in the morning, thats a good start.
I hop the next train to Paddington.

I've arrived at Paddington station and it was quite a busy morning. Hundreds of people getting their coffees and catching the next train. There were a few cyclist, in their spandex also getting breakfast, there's burger king and some bagel stations, a lot of options to choose and me i just sit on the cold steel chair thinking what's good for breakfast. Pigeons literally flew past my face and i'm the one who needs dodging. Not from where i come from, a slight move of your hands, and there goes the birds fleeing for their lives.

Its 9am and the hotel check in policy is at 2pm. 5 hours to burn. My fuji x100s sits in my bag and have yet to come out. I'm too tired from the long flight and i need to sleep in a proper bed. Sitting for 16 hours is not cool. Your bottom hates you and your sleeping pattern messed up. I left my luggage at the hotel and head back to Paddington Underground Tube station. First stop, Whitechapel.

I am in Whitechapel to check out the market but it seems that i'm too early as they were just about to setting up their 'tent'. I've been to Shepperd's bush and i think Shepperd's is the better market. I'm talking about street market. cheap ripoff clothings, and stuffs. Its 10am and the weather is about to show its summer. cloudy blue skies and warm sun, here comes summer i thought. As i was taking out my camera and started taking pictures, one guy came to me, he was pushing a trolley full of stuffs, i guess he's one of the sellers there, he said "Brother, no picture please". I said "OK" and just like that, it turned me off, of doing any photography. I guess i am a sensitive guy. I also found out that, that place is quite dodgy. Quite a few hobos, asking for a penny. When one hobo came to me and ask for two penny, and me being the "NO" guy, of course said no, he started swearing and mumbling, all i heard was "Cmon its only 2 pennies". I am totally a foreigner there and for my own safety, I left whitechapel.

June 10th 2015
***at this moment, i have lost my idea for a write up, might as well post some pictures rather than me talking out of my ass, this has been a long overdue blog post LOL***

Just some Leica M8 shots in New Orleans

 I love how the sun burst into a sunstar. But ghosting visible and actually a lot of dust spots on my M8. time for a clean up.

 I love this city. Jazz all around. 

Something about in the middle of a railway tracks

I knew it would come to this!

GAS works in mysterious ways. at least with me yes. It comes and goes. At one time i would go Fuji crazy then at one time i go Leica crazy. Now that i dont own a Leica M9 anymore, guess what? you're right, i got the Leica bug back again. Just days ago i was so into the Fuji X100T, i still am but i'm still justifying the purchase of yet another brand new spanking camera. Its just a hobby of mine, i dont get money from taking pictures so why get a new camera when the one with me still works right? Well i have GAS disorder. i need rehab i think. But the camera i have right now cant compete with Fuji's IQ. at least thats what GAS told me. and the nifty features i like from X100T are the :-

• ability to print directly to Instax Share printer, 
• the classic chrome emulation, 
• Wifi integrated, 
• bigger LCD, 
• faster EVF,
• Face detection
• Better faster autofocus

But all of these features i research via Google and various blogs reviewing the X100T, i have yet to test the camera myself. All those features i mentioned above are what makes me want to upgrade from X100S. Back during the S days, i have to transfer my pictures via a memory card reader which is kinda an ass. iPads being difficult, sometimes it just wont work straight out of the box with the memory card reader. basically it takes a lot of steps. Now with Wifi, it solved just that.

I have an Instax SHARE printer so i would love to have my camera print directly to it.

Classic Chrome not so much actually because i have VSCO but VSCO didnt have the KODACHROME film emulation which the classic chrome emulates. Bigger LCD is better to have because i have "the bigger the better" bug. i want the nexus 6!!!!

Now this one feature is i'm really curious, FACE DETECTION. Some reviewers said it works out of the box, some said it still needs improvement. but i really want this feature to work. so i can easily just put the camera to my hip and let the autofocus/face detect choose the faces and snap the photo for my candid street photography. that would be interesting. and with Face detection i dont need to do focus and recompose thingy.

I haven't updated you guys but i dont have any Fujifilm cameras no more. i just sold off my X-pro1 over the weekend. Thats why i'm hunting for an X camera now. at first i wanted the X-T10 but then i always like the X100 series. Still i haven't make the plunge. Maybe this week or next year or wait for the new X100F.

SO i was speaking about the Leica bug. At the moment, gratefully i am not crazy for a used M9 yet or the M240. Actually i'm loving my M8. Now i just wanted to add a collection of lens for the M8. i'm eyeing the voigtlander 35mm or the zeiss 28mm zm. I love the M8 but it being not full frame i have a hard time choosing lens as it is cropped sensor. 35mm becomes 46mm, etc etc etc. i'm not sure i wanna get wide or tele. and then there's the IR cut filter issue. it is bloody expensive. but i still put up the M8 for sale. Not sure if there's a crazy person will come up with cash like the M9 buyer did. LOL.

Leica M9 sold!!! Sob Sob Sob.... should i get the T now?

Cant believe for the life of me that someone actually came up with $4k cash money to buy my Leica M9. Worst it was in $5 notes. Now i'm not sure if i regret it or happy. Actually i felt both. Happy that i am $4k richer but sad that i had to let go a pristine condition and very low shutter count, its not even 500! for only $4k. and it comes with a Voigtlander lens. i feel stupid. stupid stupid stupid. its stupid cheap. its my fault that i put up a very low offer, a very good offer for the buyer actually. i dinna expect someone in this country would appreciate a Leica and comes up with cold hard cash. Its just because here, those entry SLR are more popular. Maybe only a hand few of people would understand and appreciate a Leica. Now i'm left with a Leica M8. Its still my favorite Leica. But M9 being the younger brother, full frame, now i just realised to feel the loss. Today i started to feel the loss. Last night after i met the buyer, i was so happy depositing my sale. and did not miss the Leica M9 at all. In my mind, an X100T would suit me best, better. its after all my favourite camera too! But after looking some pictures, i just realised there is just something different about Leica's bokeh rendering. The bokeh has character, maybe harsh for someone but i just love the look. almost balls of blurry and again harsh. It could be the Voigtlander's bokeh character but i just love the look. or maybe because its at 1.4. I try to find the same bokeh character as the Voigtlander on my Fuji X100S pictures..... None. The X100S bokeh is smooth out of focus. Cant replicate the harsh bokeh. Oh my.... what have i done? I sold my Leica for a Fuji upgrade. Sometimes you just didnt realise how much something is valuable to you until its gone. I took my Leica M9 for granted. But lets be real, i just suck at manual focus, why focus manually when your camera can do super fast auto focus right? i guess it was meant to be, the honeymoon period with my Leica M9 was over. It only lasted for months. She's not a bad girlfriend, its just that we do not click. there's no chemistry. i dont like making decisions, the Fuji X100T can make decisions for me. Leica? not so much. i am in control. i dont want to be in control.

I guess i was better off selling my Leica M9. at least i am $4ooo richer.