Photojournalist Attacked @ KL Rally!

It is NOT SAFE being a photojournalist and it is getting worst!  I Google "photojournalist attacked" and got 2,840,000 results!

Photo © Guang Ming Daily

The appalling picture above showed the photographer from Guang Ming Daily in Kuala Lumpur being knocked to the ground by Malaysian police!

Canon Explained 5D Mark III Light Leak Fiasco

After two weeks of rumors, speculations; yesterday Canon finally released their second product advisory regarding the 5D Mk III light leak issue.

To Users of the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera:

Thank you for using Canon products.

Concerning the EOS 5D Mark III digital SLR camera, when the LCD panel illuminates in extremely dark environments, the displayed exposure value may change. Canon has concluded the investigation of this phenomenon, and this announcement informs you of our findings as described below.

Nikon D800E The SHARPEST DSLR!

The Nikon D800E is a special edition of the D800 that minus the effects of an optical anti-aliasing filter.

It is so sharp that the D800E should in theory, rival medium format digital back in resolution!

In digital cameras, the anti-aliasing filter is also known as an optical lowpass filter or blur filter or AA filter.
Such a filter involves a tradeoff among sharpness, aliasing, and fill factor. In a monochrome or three-CCD or Foveon X3 camera, the fill factor alone, if near 100% effective with microlenses, can provide a significant anti-aliasing effect,while in color filter array (CFA, e.g. Bayer filter) cameras, an additional filter is generally needed to reduce aliasing to an acceptable level.  - Wikipedia

5D MkIII Light Leak, the Plot Thickens!

Way back in 2007 Canon was the undisputed DSLR KING, their super fast; accurate 1D MkI followed by MkII were outclassing all the other pro DSLR!

Then came the MkIII, with their "better" revamped AF system; has so many problem that left hundreds of irritated loyal Canon users cursing.

With the pending Beijing Olympics and the newly launched, virtually flawless Nikon D3; pro shooters left in droves for the "Dark Side" and the rest is history.

From 2007 Canon lost its dominance of the DSLR!

WWW On A Plate!

Two years ago I found out the most expensive Malaysian registration number plate, MCA 1 was sold for RM300,000 (NZ$119,168) in 2010!

For those who don't know, in Malaysia the license plate format consists of one or more letters (the first letter(s) serving as a vehicle or location prefix) followed by up to four numerical digits with no leading zeros.

The location prefix start with a letter of the alphabet defining one of its states where the vehicles are registered, for example; cars in Penang island carried plates with prefix "P" and "M" are cars registered in Malacca.

Canon 5D MkIII Light Leak Issue!

I was skeptical when my contact told me that the spanking new, much desired Canon 5D MkIII suffered from light leak; 

Canon? 

Come on! And April 1 was 14 days ago!

Well, yesterday Canon issued a product advisory:

To Users of the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera-  Thank you for using Canon products.

The phenomenon described below has been confirmed when using the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera.

Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO 7-14 mm F4.0 ASPH - Revisited

Sixteen months ago I wrote about my favorite ultra-wide zoom lens, the Panasonic Lumix G Vario 7-14 mm F4.0 ASPH; I was surprised how popular the page became, it is among the top three most read in my blog!


There was even one reader who informed me she bought the same lens because of my rant ;)

Her last comment...

"Hi, finally I got myself landed with Panasonic 7-14 wide lens. It is indeed a great lens! Just want to say thank you very much for your review and the sample images you posted in your blog [ and also answering my questions earlier ]. I really appreciate it :) " - Fiziskandarz.

I went and look at her blog and what do you know, she already started using her new ultra-wide for some cool shots! 

My First Digital Picture With Nikon Fujix E2!

FOUND! My very first picture taken with a DIGITAL (DSLR) camera!

Fast rewind to 1995, I was working as a Picture Editor in Singapore.

In 1994,  professional digital photography was more or less dominated by Kodak and Nikon finally realise the needs of photojournalists/publisher's demand for such tools in professional photography! This prompted Nikon to take an initial effort in developing their fist DSLRs.

"Nikon quietly teamed up with their countryman, Fuji Photo Films Co. Ltd. in developing their first digital SLR body which used Nikon system as the frameworks. 

The partnership made a lot of business sense as both can share the initial high cost in research and development for such a new untested product in the highly competitive market place. 

So, the birth of the E2/E2s was not entirely coincidental as Nikon mentioned in their literature "... E2/E2s were co-developed with Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. All names of companies and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Specifications and equipment based on November 1995..." and it explained partly why the camera also bear a "Fujix" name tag on top of the hand grip section."

- info from mir.com.my