It’s a blog, not bollocks

Most ppl were surprised to see me payin’ 2000 bucks for a bulky and "old-school" lookin’ G7. "We’re goin’ for compact yet comprehensive camera but you’re goin’ the other way round." I’ve been gettin’ comments like this, in different versions. So, why is it so?

I get real serious with camera exactly half a year ago, yes, last Aug when my brother lent me his IXUS 40 for a company trip in PD. I did "experiment" the IXUS for the sake of takin’ better pic instead of simply point & shoot. Well, indeed IXUS did equip with quite a lot of features and it was then I found out lots of interestin’ theory in photography.

So please don’t be surprise if I haven’t been updating blog for months, cuz you know what I’ve been doin’. Check out my Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenchew instead

Well juz feel like sharin’ some experience here. Bare in mind, I’m not a pro and I’ve very little knowledge ’bout photography. I’m still a novice so please don’t condemn me, but comments are welcome.

I luv to take macro shot (close up). Macro simply gives me a feelin’ that I can give prominence to an object, makin’ the photo speaks for me. But one thing that made macro so fascinatin’ is the blurry effect. One way of makin’ the object stands out is to blur the background. To what extend should it be blurred? Well it really depends. Let my photos tell the story…

Figure 1
F2.8
1/3″
ISO 200

Figure 2
F6.3
2″
ISO 200

Explanation

I stretched opened the aperture to the max (which is F2.8 in my camera) in the Figure 1, so I had a very very shallow depth of field(meaning the area being focused is small). Dun understand? Nevermind, look at the the figurine who sat on my thumbdrive. Can you tell it’s a Garfield? You may; but can you tell me, from Figure 1, what’s the brand of my laptop? (Dun say yes, I’m not gonna believe you…)

On the other hand, look at Figure 2. I slightly increase the aperture to F6.3, so I’ve a wider depth of field. Now, I bet you can tell me the figurine at the back indeed a Garfield (unless you dunno what’s Garfield). What ’bout the brand of my laptop? Unable to see? It may not be as clear cuz I didn’t have it in focus, but try to click on the picture to enlarge it. Still CAN’T? Go get yourself a pair of presbyopic specs.

(Some of my friends said I look like the Garfield. What’re you tryin’ to say? You mean I look as fat as the lazy cat huh?)

Wow, my first post in 2007. Supposed to post ’bout Christmas but somehow, hmm…left my photos in office’s pc, might as well forget ’bout it. So, what’s new? What’s actually "New Year, New Toy"?

Well, I had a rather distinctive New Year in 2007. Instead of goin’ countdown with my colleagues or college ex-classmate, I happened to meet up with old friends from secondary school . Guess what? Why is it distinctive? I actually counted-down in Era Walk. *Huh, where the heck izzit?* I can hear you ppl screamin’. Dun be astonished. It’s a new place in my hometown, but please dun compare with "Bintang Walk" or not even "Hartamas Walk". Livin’ here for more than 2 decades, I dun think I ever went out for countdown in one of these happenin’ places in my hometown.

Ok, talk ’bout the place Era Walk, nothing more than a tiled street with a stage in the middle. When the second hand struck 12 at 11:59 on 31st Dec ‘06, I can anticipate the all and singular atmosphere; screamin’, huggin’, hand-shakin’, jumpin’ around blah blah blah…It simply couldn’t be any difference. Garbage generation session (sprayin’ of chemical product like synthetic-snow) actually took place. But not as bad as places like Sg. Wang or Gurney Drive.

That’s all ’bout my New Year in 2007, nothing outstandin’ but ermm…it’s different somehow

Then what’s "New Toy" all ’bout? After months of incitement from my colleague as well as my brother, I finally bought myself a Canon Powershot G7 today (Mainly is to subside my enthusiasm of ownin’ a prosumer camera which caused me a few sleepless night ). My new toy for the new year, and to reward myself for workin’ 1 year . But on the other hand, so to speak, the camera actually costs more than my 1 month salary (there goes my 1 year savings). Guys, juz survey on G7’s market price and you’ll know my pay, I’m indeed a poor engineer

Nice design for the box, but soon or later gonna lie in the dark and start collectin’ dust.

Sleek design~~~Maybe slightly big compared to a consumer/compact camera, but it’s considerably slim of its class — prosumer.

Time to boast around with it. The first thing that caught your attention - 10 Megapixels. *Wow, so high-tech what for?* I knew you’re complainin’, or maybe some admirin’, but that’s not I fonded. 8mp or even 6mp is juz as good to me. Yeah 10mp would last me up-to-date for another year or so, but dun forget it keeps me updatin’ my harddisk/SD card storage at the same time .

It attracted me because it’s a prosumer (range between professional and consumer) camera. A consumer camera is those kind Point & Shoot, which doesn’t really need to care ’bout the settings, the camera will take care for you. It does lack of flexibility, and most of all, the quality might not be impressin’. All you can get from the photo taken is to prove that you’ve been to a certain place. It’s a piece of evidence, not masterpiece. Whilst professional camera like DSLR indeed attracted me especially Nikon D40, but in the end I gave up due to its bulkiness (It makes me look like a pro photographer or reporter, which I’m NOT). All I want is to have a camera which enables me to manually adjust the aperture, shutter speed, ISO speed, focus…blah blah blah…it’s the right camera for me.

It seems like I’m gonna eat bread + jam for 3 meals for the following months, in order to clear my debt.