More details on my visit to Carcosa here.
The Bukit Bintang MRT Station
Super-Vario-Elmar
I had always been fond of wide-angle photography. It gave a different perspective and captures the essence of what was going on surrounding you better than just a standard lens. That also explained my preference to 35 mm to 50 mm as my standard prime lens.
I had a few selections of other lens for my Sony - the Batis 18mm f2.8 -, Fuji - the 10-22mm - and the GoPro.
The famous crossing opposite Pavilion
Fancy a ride?
The contrast
A couple of months ago, I acquired this wide-angle zoom for my CL - the Leica Super-Vario-Elmar-TL. The range was 11 mm to 23 mm on the crop factor sensor, delivering the equivalence of 16 to 35 mm on full frame. Not exactly the fastest lens with aperture ranging from f3.5 to f4.5. But you were supposed to use this lens at f8 anyway. So that would do.
How good is this lens? It was amazing! I reckon that it had easily out-resolutioned the CL sensor at f8. At wide open, it gave this lovely distortion which screamed wide-angle. At to that the secret sauce which only Leica could deliver in terms of colour rendition. And you have a winner.
The top floor of Pavilion
Loving Lot 10
The KLCC Fountain
By Masjid Jamek
It was not the most compact of lenses but attached the CL, it gave a nice balance. Leica managed to cut the weight down by not having any image stabilisation on the lens. Autofocus was snappy and accurate. The zoom ring was typical Leica with enough give.
Unfortunately I felt that the construction should be better. This lens was made in Japan rather than Germany. The hood which came with the lens also felt cheap and plasticky. The focusing manually was also done by wire rather than mechanical. I therefore use this lens on autofocus most of the time.
Bangunan Sultan ABdul Samad
The River of Life
The Bukit Bintang intersection
I can't fault the results however. And certainly with the amount of money I invested in this lens, it certainly brought back in the value.
Postcards From the South
I had been collecting tea table books for quite some time now. They mainly were about cityscapes and photography. I didn’t plan them. If I happened to be passing by a book shop, I would go in and look at the local or photography section. Lately, I have added local history to the list.
I have since collected a couple of rows of books. Hardly a library, but it was a good start. The latest one was rather different. I bought it straight from the publisher and was delivered to me via post.
With opening lines such as that, who could put the book down?
I was smitten. From the moment I opened the cover, I could not put it down. It was called “Postcard From the South”, written by Mahen Bala. I attended a few of his talks before about the subject matter. So, I had a vibe about what was on offer. But the writing just blew my mind. It just flowed out of the book, like a story. And this would be part of a bigger series called Projek Keretapi Kita.
The printing was also top notch, on high quality papers with great texture. For RM 130, this was an absolute steal! You can order your copy here.
Proudly on the display cabinet
Mahen will be hosting a forum hosted by the Malaysia Design Archive at Kampung Attap on the 25th August 2018. Shame that I might be out of town at the time.
Ramadhan Walk
Since I was off for the first day of Ramadhan, I decided to take a ride into time en route to pick Anita up from Gombak. It allowed me to stop at the bank to settle some bills and took my camera with me.
That famous monorel bridge at NU Sentral
Waiting for my ride
Decorations at NU Sentral
Packing them in ...
I just got myself a new lens and was eager to give that a go. Ramadhan and the hot sunshine did not stop me.
One of the many arches around Central Market
Medan Pasar
Still too early for Aidil Fitri
Walking around Medan Pasar and Central Market at that hour was not really my idea of a photowalk, but there were quite a few subjects to aim at.
The ever-familiar KL Tower
The number to call
Masjid Jamek
Making my way back ...
The new setup I tried - the Leica CL with Summicron-TL 23 - was a dream to use, especially as I usually use a manual setup. Focussing on this combo was fast and usually accurate despite the lens wide open. Contrast may not be as great as the Summilux-M 35 which I normally use, but the convenience of autofocus made up for it. Time to get more mileage on the lens and get use to the renderings ...
Decorations at Pavilion
When it came to festivities, Pavilion was always tops with the decorations. This Hari Raya, it was no exception. The theme was not very clear, but I saw many stars about. And of course some pelita - the traditional Malay lantern.
The decorations started from the Bukit Bintang entrace, leading straight to main lobby. There were stalls there as usual, with a small stage for shows.
I was there on a Sunday, and the place was packed! Luckily I parked at Low Yat - having been doing some shopping there before walking across as the weather was nice. I also get o try my new wode-angle zoom for the CL - a Super-Vario-Elmar.
Apart from the decorations, there were not much happening then. I did not hang around for too long as I had to do more shopping after.
Vespa at Dataran
It seemed that things were going full circle. Now, Vespas are the hipster way to travel in town and a few weekends back, I spotted a few gathering around Dataran Merdeka and I started snapping a few photos.
The guys there were pretty friendly and were very keen on their hobby. Most of them actually fix and maintain their vehicles diligently. And they cost a fair few bobs. Not exactly a cheap hobby this ....
There were many versions of the Vespas and they came from various generations. They were in pristine condition - most of them - and all the drivers had a story to tell. Great stuff all around ...
The iPhone X Camera
I take my phone everywhere and being an avid photographer, the most accessible phone I had most often were my mobile phone. Over the years I had been carrying many phones and the decision on which phone I chose to buy had how good the camera was being one of the top point of consideration.
The original iPhone did not have a good camera. Back then, the best camera phone I had used was the Nokia N73. Despite only having a 3.2MP camera, the Zeiss optics it carried made for some really great photographs. That sort of crystallised on me the idea that a camera phone may be enough for everyday snapping.
Then came the iPhone 4. For the iOS platform, it showed that Apple was taking photography seriously. A few Android phones then entered the picture with the HTC One being one of my early favourites. In early 2015, I discovered the Nokia 930. It had on it the best camera I had ever seen. And till this day, I could argue that it was still a capable shooter despite being almost 4 years old.
Now, my second phone was the Huawei P10 Plus. With its Leica optics, the photos especially the monochrome were just amazing. I still took it around during weekends as I shot around town. But now, I have a new contender for the best camera phone. The iPhone X.
Right off the bat, there was something natural about the photos. There were some element of over processing from the camera but they weren't as obvious as the Samsung. The photos did not over saturated and at low ISO, they appeared realistic. The focusing was
snappy and there were plenty of third-party apps for post-production of our snaps.
Last weekend, I took the phone out for a spin around Bukit Bintang to capture the Xmas decorations. I was practically blown away. The photos were much better than I expected. Coupled with its capability to capture 4K videos at 60fps, the camera feature is a winner.
In terms of monochrome snaps, it still lacked behind the Huawei. But for sheer overall joy, Apple clearly had the right formula here. Just for the camera alone, it was definitely an upgrade from my iPhone 7 Plus, although I do understand that the iPhone 8 use the same camera module as the X although with a narrower telephoto second sensor.
I'm definitely looking forward to more snaps from the phone...
A Day in Penang
Everyone got up earlier on the Saturday after having a nice rest at the hotel the night before. We were up in plenty of time for breakfast before joining my Mum and Aunt again at her place. Then came the plan to head to Penang Island to visit more relatives. My Aunt tagged along as well.
We arrived at my other Aunt's place well before lunch - there was hardly any traffic getting there. We decided to have lunch at one of the nasi kandar shop near my Aunt's apartment and it was a delight. Irfan especially felt sleepy after the curry and ended up on the sofa while we were waiting for Zohor prayers.
Irfan contemplating what to eat next ...
I think that's a thumb up
Making acquintance with the local wildlife
Next stop .... Padang Kota. As per custom, we would order pasembor, laksa, sotong bakar, sotong kangkung and ais kacang; not necessarily in that order. It was gorgeous although the laksa could have been better - it didn't come with shrimp paste.
We just sat at the esplanade after the meal with the boys playing with bubbles and running around the place.
Nah! We stick to bubbles ...
That's Butterworth at the far end ....
Let's start ...
The wind blowing heavily ...
Next stop was at another Aunt's place in Kepala Batas. They had recently moved there from Butterworth and this was the first time I came over to visit them at their new place. More food and by this time, the boys were already getting grumpy. When we finally dropped my Mum and Aunt, it was already past sunset. Another early for the long journey tomorrow ...