The New GR

I have always been a fan of the Ricoh GR series of camera. Unfortunately, they are on the fragile side - or at least when left in my hands. The first GR II suffered a malfunction on the lens mount after 3 years. So I bought a second unit.

Last a couple of Ramadhan back, I accidentally dropped the camera, damaging the kens cover. I was not able to completely close the lens, exposing the lens glasses to the elements. So, I could not take it out much longer. Then came the announcement that Ricoh would be launching a mark III of the Digital GR. 

The new update retained much of the old specs, with sensible improvements. It also shrunk in size, making the already small GR II even smaller, despite retaining the APS-C size sensor. But now, the resolution is bumped up to 24 MP. The lens also had some improvement, reportedly sharper. And now, it has a sensor-based image stabilising system. The lens remains 28mm equivalent with a maximum aperture of f2.8.

That however meant battery life suffered - hence the need for an extra battery pack, which I bought as part of the package. The new iteration also dd away with the built-in flash. This was a shame since I used plenty of them before for fill-ins.

I had only managed to use the camera twice so far, still undecided if processing the RAW file would be worth the hassle. The camera definitely is capable of capturing amazing images despite the tiny package. It needed getting used to as I tended to put it near my face expecting it to have a viewfinder. 

The colours seemed to be muted on the RAW captures, needing plenty of tweaking. Using Lightroom, the jpeg photos really have the richness which the RAW files appear to be missing. 

More experimentation and hopefully some chance to take the camera out in the next few days ...

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.

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...

Rediscovering Hipstamatic

Hipstamatic used to be one of my early photography app. It consolidated my commitment into switching to iPhone from my Nokia E71. I had been using the iPhone ever since, appreciating it's camera.

Lately, the camera on the iPhone has lagged behind the newer Android smartphones, with the Galaxy S6 and the Lumia 930 coming to the fore. But what the other platform lacked was Hipstamatic.

Hipstamatic offered the element of unpredictability and creativity into mundane everyday shooting, since you would never know what your final photo would look like until after you committed to your shutter. The numerous combination of frames, lenses and film simulation also allow you to immerse into your own creative journey, ensuring no two styles would be the same.

Curating your collection used to be a problem in the past. So was the wait between pressing the shutter button and the final photo. It may take up to 5 seconds for "processing" of the final look, locking up the camera in between. This wait was now gone with the newer iPhones with its faster processors.

I left the app back in 2012 after using it to document my grandmother funeral. I kept looking back to the day every time I see the Hipstamatic icon, even not downloading the app when I purchased my iPhone 6 plus.

So, it had been some time. I started using the app again in the last couple of days and decided maybe I should keep it on the phone for the time being. It would be nice if I could just upload photos taken by other camera on the iPhone and process it through the app, with the ability to switch lens and seeing the product. Alas, that was not what Hipstamatic was all out. Where would the unpredictability go if you could do all that ... The essence of the app would then be gone.

So, I shall be flooding my Instagram, Tumblr, 500px - and may even be Flickr and VSCO - feeds with Hipstamatic in the next coupld of days. Back to the glory days!

Low Light Class

Yes, I got my delivery early since I registered with the dealer. I got it a good month before it was available in the shops - well, it was still not available at the time I wrote this. It was Sony's new Alpha camera, the Alpha 7R mark II.

In body stabiliser with 42.2 MP full frame sensor. Couple that with a Leica lens, and the results thus far had been amazing.

The learning curve was straight forward as I was used to the system. Focus with the Leica lens was still as fiddly as usual, hence I would still prefer to walk around with my Leica M body. But with Sony's own FE lens, focusing was straight forward although the resolution exposed the weakness of the Sony zoom. So far, the FE 35mm Zeiss Distagon had been great.

I still have not had the time to really use the camera. I was hoping to do it during my recent Port Dickson trip but we ended up in the pool at the room instead.

On the only occasion I managed to take the camera out for a spin - on one of the evening around Suria KLCC - the low light performance had not been short of amazing. But attaching the Distagon made the system front heavy and unwieldy at times. The FE 28mm f2.0 had a better balance, although it struggled to cope with the demand of the 42.2 MP sensor.

The New Zoom

For the last few months, I have been stricter on my Thursdays. That's the only day when I have no clinics, and I have decided to devote the day for 'me' time. Yes, there were the occasional lunch meetings, or even worse, the ones which started at 5pm, but I would try to keep those to the minimum. I also tried to keep distractions to the minimum on those days and would stay away from the hospital as much as I could.

I was lucky last Thursday, when I was able to have lunch with Anita as well as took a new zoom I got last weekend for a bit of a spin.

It was a Fujinon on the X-T1 and I have been waiting for this lens for a good part of a year. The original announcement was made at the beginning of 2014 about a new pro-level standard zoom for the Fuji X-series. So, I ordered one in and was contacted by my usual dealer last week. It was the Fujinon XF 16-55mm 1:2.8. And it was a monster.

A much bigger lens than I thought, which was a surprise as it didn't carry an image stabilising motor on it. Using it on the X-T1 took some getting use to, and I had high hopes for the output.

It focused amazingly fast and accurately, and the results out opened was pretty sharp. But I had a problem. Since the beginning of the year, my main system had been the Sony A7 mark with Leica lenses. They were primes of course, and once you used the Leicas, nothing else came near them in terms of sharpness.

Although I understood the quality and the convenience of autofocus, the X-T1 with the new zoom was not the most mobile of setup. It was like carrying my EOS 7D with the 17-55 f2.8 zoom all over again. Although I must be honest, that the results from the Fujinon in terms of colour rendition and sharpness were much better.

I may take the combo for another spin this weekend, but my initial impression was somewhat flat. I was expecting a bit more. Maybe the Leica lens were poison! I am willing to give it another go though, and hopefully find a bit more joy. I will be posting more on the Fuji and Sony comparisons later ....