Sunday, December 26, 2010

Macro & Close Up – Outing @ Tun Fuad Stephens Park (Bukit Padang)

So me and my cousin had a special Christmas day this year, instead of him going to church, we had our 1st macro outing together at one of the local parks – Tun Fuad Stephens Park (Bukit Padang).  It was a great day.

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Plants

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Insects

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Misc.

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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Macro & Close Up – Part 14

 

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I think it’s kind of a paper wasp species.

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A ladybird.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Monday, December 20, 2010

Macro & Close Up – Part 11

2AM:  I was still awake.  So picked up my camera and headed out to my backyard to have a look see. 

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4PM:  Light shower rain.  I was thinking it could be fun to see what those little creatures were doing.  Aaah…they want a shower too. Open-mouthed smile

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Sunday, December 19, 2010

Which Lenses?

When me and my friends are having our tea, we always talk about what lens to use or which lens should we buy.  I’m not a professional photographer, nor I have used all of the lenses which I will be talking about.  They are solely my own point of view/opinion, standing from a hobby direction, and they are all for Nikon cameras, with a few of them being DX lenses (all my friends are currently using DX format Nikon body.  FX is just too expensive for us, at least at the moment.).

Anyway, below are lenses which I think are more wallet-friendly for most of us, and yet able to produce excellent image quality, for our day to day usage, cover from ultra wide angle to tele-zoom range. Of course, if your financial allows, the Nikon Pro lenses 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, and 70-200mm f/2.8 will be a perfect combination, if you don’t mind about the weight.  Otherwise, I think the following lenses are worth to consider:

1. Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX 11-16mm f/2.8 AF

tokina[1]This is one of the best wide angle lenses you can get.  According to some reviews, it is able to beat the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 in image sharpness.  However, if you seldom take landscape photo, then the Nikon 18-55 kit lens is good enough.  No need to waste money.

 


 

 

 

 

2. Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX

35mmThis is the lens to get for indoor group photo, party or gathering. With its short focal length, it's easy to capture sharp image even at low shutter speed without the need of speedlight/flash. You won't go wrong with this in your camera bag.


 

 

 

 

 

3. Nikon 60mm f/2.8G AF-S Micro Nikkor ED

60mm microIf you already have a 50mm, and you don't shoot macro, then there is no point to get this lens.  Otherwise, I think it can be a very good portrait/macro lens too.  So, if you haven't have a 50mm and you like to shoot small insects once in a while, then this is worth to be considered.


 

 

 

 

 

4. Samyang 85mm f/1.4 IF MC Multi Coated Lens (Nikon AF)

samyang 85mmA very sharp portrait lens with very nice bokeh (according to some reviews).  It's second to the Nikon's expensive 85mm portrait lens. Price-to-performance wise, it will be number one.  Not everyone can afford the Nikon unit.  Otherwise, definitely the Nikon 85mm f1.4G AF-S Classic Portrait Lens

Alternatively, the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens is a very popular short-telephoto macro lens too, although the build quality is only average.  People have used it as portrait lens, and the results are excellent.


 

 

5. Nikon 105mm f/2.8G Micro-Nikkor ED-IF AF-S VR

nikon 105mmIf you don't shoot macro, and only portrait, then there is no point to buy this lens.  Get the 85mm portrait lens instead.  Otherwise, it can be a very excellent macro/portrait lens.  This lens stays with my camera most of the time since the day I bought it. 


 

 

 

6. Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED

AFS 70-300VROne of the affordable 5-Star Nikon lenses which you can't go wrong with.  Excellent for outdoor portrait, candid photography, zoo, and of course, any objects that are from a distance.  Image is sharp, and focusing is fast (under bright ambient lighting condition).

One of my friends was able to get the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 (the one without image stabilizer) cheap.  In that case, the Sigma is definitely a better choice.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Saturday, December 11, 2010

HobbyCon 2010

It’s a hobby convention, and it is going to be a 2-day event (11th-12th, Dec 2010) at a local shopping mall, City Mall.  So me and my friends went there today to have a look see.  The place was packed and jammed.  With 105mm lens, it’s almost impossible to take a full length portrait of those beautiful Cosplayers. 

While I’m not familiar with most of the Japan animations, but it’s nice to see the people having some fun and good times.

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Action Figures

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Anime Cosplay

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Doing some drawings, probably requested by visitors.

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