LUMIX GX9 FIASCO

I was asked by my readers to write a post on the new Lumix GX9 camera and why it is receiving a lot of bad vibes from Lumix fans...

To understand why the Lumix GX9, a really good micro 43 offering from Panasonic is getting lambasted by it's fans, we got to rewind to the beginning...

In November 7, 2011 Panasonic announced their LUMIX DMC GX1.

The DMC-GX1 has a 16MP sensor with a top ISO of 12,800. The 460,000 dot 3.0" fixed LCD functions as a touch screen. The camera will create full AVCHD 1080/60i video from 30fps sensor output. Continuous full resolution shooting is 4fps while burst mode allows continuous shooting up to 20fps at a lower resolution. Extra function buttons were added bringing the total to four, two of which are on the touch screen. Auto bracketing will create sets of 3, 5 or 7 exposures at 1/3, 2/3 or 1 stop. Wikipedia

MY GM1 12-32 Kit Lens BROKE!!

If you are following my photo blog, you will know that I just ADORE my little LUMIX GM1 and it's tiny Lumix G 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens!

For the last two years, I have been using this set up for everything from food to line dancing.

I love this little lens for its compactness and good sharpness, so what if it is not very "bright" at F3.5 but I can live with that!

To maintain the compactness of this little lens, you need to twist the lens barrel to extend the lens and make the GM1 active. The camera WILL NOT WORK if the lens is not extended.

Now I suppose you realised that, if you switch on your camera thousands of time to take pictures, you will have also twist and extend the little lens thousands of time!

A DSLR Fanboy's Rant...

2015 is NOT a good year for my Photo Blog, two months ago, I was told by the person who loan me test cameras and lenses that his "bosses" do not like what he did; so no more toys for me :(

Oh well, I knew good things don't last...

Looking at the brighter side, I noticed this long comment from "Rob" in Adiós DSLR!, a September 2014 post.

I love the way he express his dissatisfaction with my "test"...

"This is the most biased review I have ever read. Never mind that you're comparing a 1 year old pano with upgraded glass that's arguably the best pee-wee you can get, to a 5 year old mid-range nikon with a bargain-box lens. Despite all this you failed to note the colour depth in the nikon being far superior to the pano, and there's at least 10m difference of effective shooting distance in your "Sharpness Test"... Whether it was the zoom or the standing position it still skews the outcome. 

Don't get me wrong. I agree that there's way too many people in the world lugging around slr's they really don't need to. But to try and give the impression that a pee-wee is better than an SLR is preposterous.

"review" blogs like yours are half of the reason it was so hard to make someone buy the correct camera for their needs when I sold them for a living. Because people who don't know any better read this drivel and actually believe it.... 

you want to do this test for real? try using two cameras that were actually built in the same generation of digital technology for a start. The GM1 is an impressive camera for what it is, but it isn't better than an EQUIVALENT D-SLR, and it never will be. Stop talking garbage."

The cameras that started Rob's comment, on the left, in Rob's words, the "PANO PEE-WEE" and right, my 5 year old Nikon D300 with a "BARGAIN-BOX" lens.

In reality the small "Pee-Wee" was my feather weight Lumix GM1 with the Panasonic 7-14mm f/4 ASPH LUMIX G VARIO ultra wide zoom.

The 5 year old Nikon was once the Camera Of The Year, the zoom lens was a Nikon 12-24mm f/4 AF-S DX, an expensive highly praised and reviewed ultra wide zoom; never in the "Bargain Box"!

Bomb Detector Conman Jailed For 10 Years!

James McCormick arrives for sentencing at the Old Bailey in London.

Photograph © Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

According to The Guardian today...

"A fraudster who made an estimated £55m selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq and other security hotspots has been jailed for 10 years.

Jim McCormick, 57, was found guilty of three counts of fraud over the sale of bogus explosive and drug detection devices for as much as £10,000 each when they were based on £15 novelty golf ball finders.

At the Old Bailey on Thursday Mr Justice Hone handed down the maximum sentence for a crime he described as "a callous confidence trick".

Bought Any BOMB DETECTOR Lately??

This is such an incredible story that you might think it is an April Fool joke, but I assure you it is not; many innocent people have DIED because of this MOTHER OF ALL FIASCO!

The Story...

In a land far far away, businessman James McCormick found out that you can make millions in defense technology without any skill, scientific knowledge, all you need is the GIFT OF THE GAP ;)

© http://tech.yolobazinga.co

They Doctored Gory News Pictures Too!

Gory... Covered or stained with gore; bloody.

The media zoos of the world are still transfix over the Boston Marathon Explosion, Google that phrase and you are returned with TWO point SIX Billion hits!

After the horrific event, every newspapers in the world tried their best to display the BEST news pictures depicting the horror on their front page; virtually all the front pages selection were gory, bloody.

The front page of the New York Daily News featured a gory decisive moment shot of the bloody aftermath, captured by Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki.

 

I was a stunning and horrific news picture, except with the leg of the woman lying on the pavement, top left; WAS DOCTORED! Photoshopped!

Canon G7 G9 Loose Screws Fiasco!

Fiasco [fɪˈæskəʊ]n pl - a complete failure, especially one that is ignominious or humiliating!

If you have been following my blog, you will know I WAS a sucker for Canon G series of compact cameras.

According to Wikipedia:

The PowerShot products are a line of consumer and prosumer grade digital cameras, launched by Canon in 1995. The PowerShot line has been successful for Canon, and is one of the best-selling digital camera lines worldwide.

The Canon PowerShot G is a series of digital cameras released by Canon. The G series cameras are Canon's flagship models aimed at prosumer photography enthusiasts desiring more flexibility than a point-and-shoot without the bulk of a digital single-lens reflex camera.

They Doctored News Pictures In Malaysia Don't They?

Do they or they do not?

Of course they do, not forgetting photographers have been manipulating pictures since the medium was invented!

Fast rewind to September 9, I read with interest an news item in the Malaysia paper; The New Straits Times which was posted in Face Book...
 

WORK ETHIC: Bernama man denies senator's claim he had doctored photo of PM's Hari Raya open house

PUTRAJAYA: THE photographer who covered the Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and ministers on Aug 19 regrets that his picture has become a subject of dispute by an opposition party senator who alleged it had been doctored.

"Doctoring pictures is not part of my work ethic. In fact, it is not the work ethic of any Bernama staff. The allegation is an insult," said Harry Salzman Abu Bakar, a Bernama photograher.

Nikon Admit D4 and D800 Lock Up Issues!!

What is going on?  At least now the Canon fan boys are laughing at all the Nikon fan boys! Ha ha ha...

The following is a statement from Nikon Inc. sent to PDN in response to a problem they had with an early review unit of the 16.2-megapixel Nikon D4, which locked up during usage on several occasions. The camera would only start working again if we took out and reinstalled the battery.

"Nikon has received reports of a small number of D4/D800 users who are experiencing 'locking up' issues, where the camera becomes unresponsive until the battery is removed and reinserted," Nikon's statement reads.

How Canon Fix 5D Mark III Light Leak!

Last month Canon received some pretty bad press on their 5D Mark III’s light leak issue — granted a minor flaw where light from (or through) the top LCD panel can affect the camera’s exposure readings in very dark environments.

Canon finished investigating the issue last week, and reported that only 5D Mk III cameras with a certain range of serial numbers are affected. They also confirmed that the company has implemented a fix for newer bodies.

Canon also announced that service centers would be providing free “inspections” for owners concerned about this issue.

After the announcement 5D Mk III were wondering what high tech fix Canon has came up with ;)

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.

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!

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.

Olympus OM-D Preorder Promotion ?!!

I read with interest that Olympus Malaysia is holding a Pre-Order Promotion for the new OM-D EM-5 camera.

For a deposit of Rm 200.00 you can pre-order this beauty and Olympus Malaysia will throw in some freebies too!

Well, yours truly was ecstatic and was going to call his friend in KL to book one for him!

He DO NOT care about all those freebies but he really wanted a HL-D6 battery holder / grip!

He found out Olympus Malaysia is selling that for a very special price of Rm 899.00 (Rm 999.00 usual price) during this promo!

Canon G1-X advert Made a Boo Boo!

 

Singapore magazine “TODAY” on Friday March 9 posted a Canon G1 X advertisement (see on top), that boast about their humongous CMOS sensor in their G1-X compared to the much much smaller Micro Four-Third!

Take a look at the size comparison diagram in the ad ;)

3½ Months To Renew M'sian Passport In NZ!

Last week, after waiting for THREE AND HALF MONTHS we FINALLY got our "renew" Malaysian passports!

My Kiwi colleague was amused and asked if Malaysia belongs to a THIRD WORLD country!

I remember FIVE years ago, we went through the same angst!

Five years ago I complained to Jeff Ooi and he blogged my pain in his Screen Shot's "Wisma Putra Blues" entry.

"Citizen CY Leow, who has been residing in Kiwiland as a Permanent Resident in order to school his two daughters, never realised renewing his Malaysian passport at the Wellington Malaysian High Commission in the New Zealand capital can be so 'third world'.

He shares his bitter experience.

About time someone brought this up!"  said Jeff and that was five years ago!

Objects of angst!

Chef Wan Craze In Wellington!

Media Release way back on 20 June 2011...

Malaysian night market comes to Wellington
There’s good news in store for Kiwis who know and love the bright lights, smells and excitement of the night markets so familiar throughout Asia.

Malaysia Kitchen is bringing New Zealand’s capital city its very own Malaysian night market
as part of this year’s Visa Wellington On a Plate festivities.

The special Malaysia Kitchen Night Market is taking place on Sunday 21 August in Opera
House Lane.

With free entry and dishes priced from $5, visitors can experience the best of authentic
Malaysian street food produced by some of Wellington’s best-loved Malaysian restaurants.

Still No Apology Needed!!

Wednesday 23 March 2011

It started with this front page picture ;)

A day after the September 4th, 2010 devastating earthquake in Christchurch created a "field day" for the photojournalists, hundreds if not thousands of news pictures are being shot and transmitted around the world to record and show the extend of damages in this disaster.

Hybrid HDD hiccup in MacBook Pro!

On February 17 I wrote about "A Hybrid HDD for my MacBook Pro", I was happy because now I have a 500 GB drive instead of only 160 GB of the OEM!

Now I am able to dedicate a 30 GB Scratch Partition just for Photoshop!

The main reason I pick this Seagate drive was the incredible review done by benchmarkreviews.com !

According to their review and I quote...

Key Features and Benefits

• Boots 40 percent faster than traditional 7200-RPM drives (for overall system performance, that's within 1% of an SSD*)
• Cuts costs by 75 percent compared to SSDs by combining solid state and hard drive technologies
• Delivers the perfect balance of speed and capacity
• Uses Adaptive Memory technology to optimize performance in real time by storing frequently used files and data on the solid state drive component
• Ensures compatibility with any operating system or application with a standard 9.5mm notebook drive form factor and the characteristics of a traditional 7200RPM drive
• Offers all the benefits of SSD performance with the high capacity, storage, battery life, power consumption and heat generation of a traditional hard drive