New Pano Maker for Mac

Yesterday, Simon; our Manager for New Operations Development inform me that there is a new panorama maker for Mac available for free! Thanks Simon!

Back home, at 8 pm; the late evening sun is setting over the Karori Valley. I noticed the nice cloud formation from our wide French door, a perfect "spread" to test out the free beta software!

I spent a pleasant 30 minutes on the deck with my Nikon D300 DSLR with a 20 years old Nikkor 35-70/3.5 zoom lens. The sunset was shot at ISO 200 at 35mm, f5.6 and 1/80 second, four shots; handheld and moving the camera from left to right.

According to Stoik Imaging, the free beta version of their PanoramaMaker for Mac is:

"a automatic panorama software that turns any group of overlapping photos into high quality panoramic image. The program combines very simple user interface, step by step work flow and powerful modern mathematical approach to image matching.

You can create panorama either automatically with just few clicks, or assemble and stitch pictures manually if automatic procedure fails to perfectly match images in complicated cases"

My GMT-Master

After a long wait of FOUR WEEKS, my Rolex GMT-Master finally came back from Singapore!

My friends laugh at me when I tell them I miss my watch!

"It is just a bloody watch, a watch to tell time!" Sigh ;( They just don't understand, this "watch"; a superlative chronometer to be exact has been on my wrist since 1988! Been everywhere with me, ticking accurately at 28,800 BPH (Beat Per Hour). Since I bought it in 1988, it has beat none stop, without complain; a whopping 52,9804,8000! That is FIFTY THREE MILLION beats!!

In comparison my heart only beat an average of 9,3819,6000, slightly more than nine million time!

"Just a watch?" DUH!

I still remember, it was like yesterday in 1988; my family and me were getting ready to move to Wellington, New Zealand. I always wanted a Rolex, but it is just a dream to a "lowly paid" Picture Editor of a local newspaper. Especially when the paper I work for was CLOSED by the Malaysian government!

Tui Obsession!

After shooting the Tui bird outside my dinner's window, I got kind of obsess with this native birds!

When I took my best shot to my work place last Monday and test print it on the new Epson Stylus Pro 9900 we just bought, the result was phenomenal! Now everyone want a print of that Tui bird!

Is this my best shots?

After all the initial excitement I look at the picture again and my photo-head tell me that there is something missing from this shot! Where was his LEG?

The Bird and The Lens!

You thought I am gonna tell you about the birds and the bees? Ha ha ha...

Last weekend I noticed this "black bird" outside my dinner's window picking at the giant flax plant. My photo-head told me that is a perfect subject for a lens test!

Click on the picture to see the bird on the flax!

It was much later that my daughter Ming-N told me that "black bird" is a native Tui! Duh! I think all Kiwis would know that! hee hee...

Daddy I Drop Your G7!

G7, Canon compact AF point and shoot extraordinaire! Since I got a G9, it was given to my younger daughter and last week when we meet up with her for lunch she told me she accidentally drop it!

At first I thought, "She'll be right!"; the little camera is built like a tank! Why, I cannot even see any dent or scratches after the drop!

Appearance is deceiving! The camera do not work anymore! The retractable lens is half-out and refuse to retract fully when the on/off button is pressed. All you can see on the rear screen is a line of text: "Lens error, restart camera"!

Those Canon engineers sure have a weird sense of humour! How the hell you are suppose to "restart" when the bleeding lens is STUCK outside the body?!!

Tea For Two

Our eldest daughter May-N took us to Vancouver Island when we were visiting her in Vancouver, on this spectacular and beautiful island we were introduced to the classical English High Tea.

Actually High Tea is a misnomer, most people refer to afternoon tea as high tea because it sounds more regal! High tea to the English is actually dinner. Do visits the link on English High Tea, it is fascinating!

The stunning waterfront city of Victoria is the vacation capital of Canada, it attract over six million visitors yearly!

Does Camera Matter?

Every time I show a better shot of mine to friends, my most often questions will be - "What camera you used?"; it is as if he/she was using the same type of camera I was using, they will capture the same moment ;)

So the six million dollar question, DOES CAMERA MATTER?

There are different school of thought to this question, Ken Rockwell; famous avid shooter and who has used every new model once launch, reckoned - "Your Camera Doesn't Matter!"

When I read his article I felt he was expressing a shallow advice, it was then I also read a rebuttal from my favorite site, Luminous Landscapes that I laugh my head off :) It is one of the BEST article I ever read on YOUR CAMERA DOES MATTER!

Take a look at the picture below:

"Feed The Birds" was shot along Collin Street, Melbourne; one Christmas day.

I like the shot because I feel the essence of the moment was captured.