HOBBIT Farce @ The Middle of Middle-Earth

FARCE... Referring to something that isn't cool, 

yet is hard to ignore!

My friend asked me why I was not at the HOBBIT world premiere launch at Courternay Place, The Middle of Middle-Earth yesterday?

 I WAS! Actually WE WERE!

Did we enjoy the launch?  NO! Was it entertaining? NO! NO! NO!

Nikon P7700 v Canon G12

The Nikon Coolpix series is the point and shoot series of digital cameras produced by Nikon.  - Wikipedia

Nikon call their  Coolpix "P" series the Performance Series, they compete directly with Canon's Powershot "G" series. But year after year, Canon Gs lead the prosumer market while Nikon play catching up!

Until now?

Like the Phoenix in mythology, Nikon latest Coolpix P7700 rises from the ashes of the P7100 to compete with the Canon G12 (old enemy) and G15 (new foe)!

In 2010, out of desperation; Nikon released their Coolpix P7000 which not only look like the Canon G12, it even have near-identical top-level specifications! Sadly, the P7000's slow operational speed and confusing on-screen menus caused it's early downfall.

The replacement P7100 failed to topple the G12 superiority either!

Solar Eclipse Wows Wellingtonians!

We Wellingtonians get easily excited by "small" events, you see; nothing much exciting happen here ;)  Not that it is a bad thing, I like the peace and quite...

So can you imagine all the buzz around Wellington today?

Wow!  There is a FULL SOLAR ECLIPSE from 10 am!

 And at 1.30 pm Prince Charles and Camella are at Frank Kitts Park, meeting the Wellingtonians! And more than 10,000 Royalists were there to greet them!

Me?  I was more interested with the solar eclipse, I decided going to work late and drove up to Mt Victoria look out to experience the phenomenon; hoping it will be more exciting than the BORING film ECLIPSE shown on our TV last night!!  

For those who don't know, Mount Victoria, locally abbreviated to Mt. Vic, is a prominent hill (height 196 metres) to the east of the center of Wellington, New Zealand, and its associated suburb.

From Mt. Vic you can have a 360 degree view of Wellington!

Why was I there?  To photograph the eclipsed sun?

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.

FOCUS PEAKING feature HIDDEN in OM-D EM-5!

Before we even start on the subject of FOCUS PEAKING and not wanting to repeat what hundreds of write up on this very useful feature, please go and check this page out and watch the video below!



DONE?  By now you should know exactly what Focus Peaking is all about ;)

In short, Focus Peaking is a fast and accurate way to focus a manual lens on a mirrorless camera!

If Focus Peaking is so effective, WHY-WHY-WHY, that the most popular M4/3 Olympus OM-D E-M5 DO NOT HAVE IT??

After all, Sony; Pentax, Panasonic etc have this feature built in!

All this while, OM-D user like me suffered in silence; avoiding using our manual focus lenses because you really have to strain your eye to get an accurate focus!

Yes, yes; yes, I know there is the magnified  manual focus aid you can activate, have you try it out?  The blow-up image shake like hell and after a while you gave up ;)

Eye To Eye ;)

Some of my friends was wondering why I have not been posting for a while, would you believe my retina display detached and I was virtually blind with only a good left eye?

Did I say Retina Display? Duh!

Retina Display is a brand name used by Apple for liquid crystal displays which they claim to have a high enough pixel density that the human eye is unable to notice pixelation at a typical viewing distance. The term is used for several Apple products, including the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and MacBook Pro.  -Wikipedia

What I had was a Retinal Detachment!  Nasty!

Retinal detachment is a disorder of the eye in which the retina peels away from its underlying layer of support tissue. Initial detachment may be localized, but without rapid treatment the entire retina may detach, leading to vision loss and blindness. It is a medical emergency.

No, that discus fish above did not have retina problem; even though his eye is much redder than my right eye after the op ;)

We Shoot Tulips With Olympus Don't We?

It is that time of the year again, spring is in the air; again, tulips are in full bloom at our Wellington Botanical Garden again ;)

Turn out to be a dry and mild sunny day, after lunch we head for the garden; to admire the short lived, glorious flowers. I expect all the blooms will be gone early next week.

I took TWO Olympus with me, the 3 year old E-P2 and the 8 months old OM-D E-M5. To calm my aching knee I only have TWO Panasonic lenses, my favorite super wide zoom; the Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO 7-14 mm F4.0 ASPH and the very compact Panasonic Lumix G X Vario PZ 45-175mm f/4-5.6 zoom.

Out of the blue, Le General insisted that she wanted to shoot her own pictures!  I have to give her the E-P2 with the 7-14 lens which she hogged the whole afternoon ;)

A 45mm view of the garden taken by LB before she took over the ultra wide.