Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH, worth buying used?

One of my friend thought he got a great deal out of eBay (Aust) a few weeks ago, he paid an equivalent of NZD240.00 for this three year old  Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH.
Since I used to review Panasonic cameras and lenses , he also would like my opinion on how good this preloved high speed "normal" lens for M43 system is.

This "pancake" lens actually has a long history, Panasonic presents their large (F1.7) aperture "pancake" 20mm (40mm equivalent) lens as the kit lens for the Lumix DMC-GF1 camera in 2010, TEN years ago.

I wrote about this lens, which I still got in Jan 2014; I reckoned then this is the Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH, the "Perfect Normal" Lens.

The Lumix 20mm was placed beside a SD card to show how small it is.
With a focal length equal to the M43 sensor's diagonal; this compact optics will produce images free of the 'perspective distortion' associated with wide angle or telephoto lenses!

Monday, January 28, 2019

Memento - P3 Beach Girl of The Star

Malaysia's leading English diary newspaper The Star was born on 9 September 1971.

From day one, Mr K.S.Choong, the founder decided that a bikini clad "Beach Girl" will grace Page3.

"Page 3 girls always sell paper!" Choong reckoned ;)


Doreen Quah was the FIRST Page 3 girl of The Star, picture was taken by Chiang Siak Weng.

I remember fondly that I went to a lot of these "Beach Girl Job", usually the News Editor; Charles Chan will assign a cub reporter to tag along for "job experience".

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Déjà vu - Tunku and Holden

Life is full of little surprises...

Out of the blue I received this Gmail from Mary ****, Portland, USA.

Mary even got my Gmail name with one dot too many! Yeah, but Gmail is clever, it decided the mail was for me!

"Dear Mr. Leow,

I was impressed by your photographic work in your blog, "The Man Behind the Lens: Freeze That Decisive Moment". Your work covers a great span of Malaysian history and you showed great persistence and loyalty in returning to the Star three times. 

Among the photos, I am particularly interested in the one between Tunku Abdul Rahman and William Holden in Penang. Based on what you said, these photos were taken during the '70's. Do you have an exact date? Were they connected with any newspaper articles? Have you made any copies or have sold any? 

I am interested in them for both a personal and historical level. My grandfather spent quite some time traveling and working in Southeast Asia especially Malaysia. Any insights you may have would be much appreciated and would be well recognized. Thank you again for your time and consideration. 

Sincerely,
Mary ******

This was the picture that Mary saw in my blog...