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.

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.

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...

Labour Day

After staying low for almost a month, I decided to take my camera out and have a quick meal outside. It was a public holiday and after my ward round I decided to venture out.

Jo Malone is in the house

The always changing facade

The bubble merchant 

I fancied some Arab food. Some kebab. But unfortunately the place were not run by anyone from the Middle East anymore. In fact not a single one of the staff there were Arab. All of them were Bangladeshi. But I assumed that being a Labour Day, the usual workers got their day off!

Watch on by ...

And then came the rain ...

Waiting it out

Any how, the meal was a disaster. Some slices of kebab meat in a pitta bread rolled with some potato fries in them! This lot was really creative!

Looking out from the inside ...

The monochrome feature from the P10 can do wonderous things ...

Leaving the shop unimpressed, I walked around Bukit Bintang quietly, and soon after to started to rain .... Enough for the short outing! Time to get some shelters ...

Walking around Pavilion

 It had been a while since I did a photo walk, be it solo or in a group. I had some free time this afternoon, but due to drizzle outside, the photo walk ended up mostly indoors.

 All the malls were packed with Chinese New Year shoppers, and taking a camera out at this time was not ideal. But the decorations were well worth the hassle. Anticipating heavy traffic around Bukit Bintang, I decided to lark the car at KLCC and took the walk across to Pavilion.

 The decorations at Suria KLCC were rather subdued and predictable. A lost opportunity really considering the number of foreign visitors coming to the place. Not many snaps were taken there and I swiftly made my way across to Pavilion via the pedestrian walkway.

 The scene there was different, and I arrived just before the scheduled lion dance show at 3pm. The crowd was too packed, and decided to walk further down towards Fahrenheit, Sungai Wang and finally, Low Yat Plaza.

 After a spot of browsing, I doubled back to Pavilion, taking the time - as the main foyer where the lion dance show took place were empty - to snap more frames.

 Back to Suria next, and then across to Avenue K at the Leica Store. I thought that there was an exhibition going on there, but I got the venue mixed up. Oh well, I caught up with an old friend there instead, and looking at one of the photographers there setting up a mini-studio to try out the Leica S medium format system. An RM100k outfit that I could never afford! That camera was pumping out 37MP files from its sensor. Mind boggling!

 It was time for tea after I left, and I took out dinner for my boys back at Suria. A long day indeed ...

Smells Like Xmas

It was still 40 days away from Xmas, but Malaysian loved their festivities and mall decorations. I had an unexpected free afternoon yesterday, and after the morning rounds, set out towards Bukit Bintang camera in hand.

Pavilion had this tradition of elaborate decorations, especially for Xmas. This year was a bit more toned down, but extravagant none the less. I wasn't clear about the theme yet. It wasn't very obvious. There was a huge carriage in then middle of the main foyer. For the kids, there was also a small train on rails which went around in circle. The children would love it. My boys might be a bit too big for that though.

I walked further towards Fahrenheit. The were celebrating Doraemon's 100 birthday. Nothing fancy there as yet.

Come December, most of the other malls would catch up and start erecting their displays. I would be taking my cameras doing the rounds of course ....

Pavilion Again

​Idlan has his Quran class today, so I returned to Gombak for Iftar today to join the rest of the family. As I was on call yesterday and due to lack of sleep, I ended up sleeping in front of the TV as soon as I reached home. I was woken up in time for Maghrib, and groggily I went upstairs for food. It was one of those meal where you couldn't remember exactly what you've eaten. I was better after the shower.

The famous fountain at night​

So, on the way back to the apartment, we decided to take a tour to Pavilion as I had to settle my credit card bills. Peckish since I hardly eaten during iftar, I gobbled down some sandwich, and then with the boys had a nightcap at Godiva. Nice rich, fattening chocolate!

After the meal, Anita did some shopping, and I was left with my camera to explore the Raya decorations around Pavilion. The theme was not very clear, but the had plenty of way - traditional Malay kite - hanging around. Plenty of stalls around the main foyer, selling cookies mainly, but nothing much else to talk about. 

The area around Bukit Bintang and the fountain was still buzzing at that hour. There were plenty of foreigners, quite sizeable from the Middle East. And the traffic was still packed even close to 10 pm.

The place was still buzzing at this hour​