As of late

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Mark

Lately I have been busy either attending my usual training courses which require me to stay over as well as band practice for my upcoming company trip. Those two activities really took a toll on me over the past week and I have been facing more internet connection problems at home, hence the lack of updates on this blog.

Now that I am back at work, I feel that the urge to blog might be a little lot less. Maybe its because I am quite worn out and I have two more band practice sessions coming up tomorrow night and on Wednesday night which I desperately need to practice my part or else the rest will hang me up to dry. There is this huge list of songs which I desperately need to get the chords and songs to practice with.

What was enjoyable last week was to be able to network with potential technology architects from around the world and if you see my Facebook account, you would notice that I have been adding friends from Columbia, South Africa, Netherlands, Australia and Singapore.

Other than that, I truly enjoyed playing back together with the “Accidentals” or was it “Accentrix”? I could never tell and it was really fun picking up a guitar again and jamming with the rest of the band. Of course it was blatantly obvious that I am completely out of touch with the whole jamming and guitaring scene but nevertheless, it was really fun!

The final bit of fun which I enjoyed over the period of last week was my very first experience on the golf course. Playing the first time on a full 18-hole course was a mind blowing experience especially seing all the wonder obstacles which stole 19 balls away from me (OB and water traps!). Next session is in 3 weeks time and I can’t wait to actually go to the golf shop to purchase my first set of golf clubs and then test it out on the driving range.

Finally, the next two weekends I will be away from KL, travelling to Damai Laut for my company trip and then to Singapore next weekend to attend a wedding.

And lastly, the Nikon D700 has been launched here in Malaysia and forums have been shouting with people getting some of them priced at RM8700 for the unit. Shashinki currently has a promotion for the D700 at RM8888 as well. I doubt that I can afford one anytime soon as recession is about to hit this country so cash savings is the better way to go.

Yes I am still alive!

Posted on July 27, 2008 by Mark

Yes I have been missing in action on my blog for a while and that is because I have been held up at work for the past week and this week, I am here at the Marriott hotel enjoying 5 nights stay here. Well I will hardly be in my room because I will be at training the entire week so I do hope that I have the time to blog. I totally forgot my camera so I need to swing by home to collect it sometime this week.

I still have 3 sets of photos to post process so I need to find the time but things have been delayed because of work and this training as well as my recent comeback to my old group of musicians. Yes, I attended a 3 hour practice session just now only to find myself totally rusty but still can do a little bit of winging and of course, assist out the vocal areas. Playing the guitar really did bring back some memories, who knows, I might be interested in pursuing an old Fender Strat. Awesome stuff again!

Till the next post, I got to finish up my CBT’s before I turn in for the day.

Lastly, here is a video for all you would be Nikon D700 users. More poison for you all

The Nikon D700 Unboxed from Jon Read on Vimeo.

Personally, I find the comments rather witty but the last bits were the interesting parts for me as he showed the new CF card slot functionality. Its blatantly obvious that the viewfinder seems a little out of proportion to me.

The Nikon D700 – Its Official

Posted on July 1, 2008 by Mark

Updated: 17:06

Thanks Eugene for the heads up on this bit of news. I was out at lunch earlier only to find this very interesting bit of news sitting in my comments column in my last post.

Good to know that Nikon has finally launched the Nikon D700 and its as good as the rumours claimed it to be. Awesome stuff this new FX camera which sports the Nikon D3′s CMOS full frame sensor. To top it off, Dpreview mentioned that it sports a sensor cleaner, something which Nikon’s flagship D3 did not have.

Image source: DPreview.com

As I previously posted, the Nikon D700 is indeed a camera to behold, fits nicely within the price ranges of the previous D300 and the high-end D3. At USD$2999, I would expect the camera to be priced at RM9k and any lower than that would be a good bonus.

I think it might just be the right time to retire my D200 and head towards greener pastures or perhaps, larger pastures. With this already available, I would say that all of my remaining lens purchases should revolve around FX type lenses and no longer should I look at DX lenses unless to be used with the D300.

Available at the end of July, we should expect the camera to hit our Malaysian shores in September and hopefully by then we can see samples of the D700 in action at ISO6400. Very curious to see if this baby can keep images clean at ISO6400.

2547 nikon d300 d700 preview The Nikon D700 Its Official
D700 next to a D300 - Image Source: Rob Galbraith

Update:

Pre-orders for both the Nikon D700 and SB-900 is already available at Shashinki. Check them out here.

100x100 NK D700 The Nikon D700 Its Official

Nikon D700 Digital SLR Camera Body Only (FX Full Frame 12MP CMOS, Live View, Image Sensor Cleaning) (Japan Import)
Date Added: Tuesday 01 July, 2008
Manufacturer: Nikon
Price: RM10,300.00

100x100 NK SB900 The Nikon D700 Its Official

Nikon SB-900 Speedlight i-TTL Shoe Mount Flash (Guide No. 34/111.5 (ISO 100, m/ft))
Date Added: Tuesday 01 July, 2008
Manufacturer: Nikon
Price: RM1,995.00

Sources:

More Nikon D700 leaks with pictures!

Posted on July 1, 2008 by Mark

Late last night after my meeting, I managed to catch Eugene’s site on this bit of news. Today I found the site that reportedly published the Nikon D700 and the new SB-900 (new flash unit) will be out at the end of July.

Nikon D700 profifoto More Nikon D700 leaks with pictures!

Mind you, its in a different language (German if you can understand it) but its Google translation to the rescue!

Translated bits:
After Nikon with the full-format camera D3 in August 2007 is the first Nikon model with full small image sensor-Formar 24×36 mm that was now follows is not entirely unexpected, the D700. Derselbe 12-Megapixel-Sensor, augenscheinlich dasselbe 51-Punkt-Autofokussystem, etwas geringere Serienbildgeschwindigkeit (5Â B/s statt 9Â B/s – allerdings kann das mit Batterieteil auf 8Â B/s gesteigert werden), Sucherbildfeld 95 statt 100 Prozent, dafÃ¼r aber ein eingebauter Blitz (auch zur Drahtlos-Blitzsteuerung), ein Sensor-Reinigungssystem (dazu morgen mehr) und ein interessantes Preisschild: knapp 2600Â Euro soll die Neue kosten und ab Ende Juli 2008 erhÃ¤ltlich sein. The same 12-megapixel sensor, apparently the same 51-point autofocus system, slightly lower image speed serial (5 B / s instead of 9 B / – however, the battery part to 8 B / s increase), the viewfinder field of 95 instead of 100 percent, but but a built-in flash (also for wireless flash control), a sensor-cleaning system (more about this tomorrow) and an interesting price tag: just under 2,600 euro, the new costs and from the end of July 2008 will be available.
Next is a flash Nikon SB-900 as a successor model of the SB-800, whose zoom reflector should be directed to focal lengths from 17-200 mm and in DX and FX sensors recruits, and in which the user firmware updates for the first time in a Nikon Lightning can even aufspielen.

Now, the first thing in people’s mind would be, “Is this another rumour?”. Well rumours tend to be true most of the time but upon closer inspect of the image on the magazine, you can see that one of the newer characteristics of the D700 is the viewfinder. Seems different from all of the other DX range of cameras.

So this is the best piece of news since they even mentioned that it will be out late July, perhaps a pre-empt strike against the upcoming Canon 5D MkII? Who knows but for one thing, everyone is waiting for the release of this baby.

D700 rumour was a fake???

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Mark

Last week a hopeful image of the so called “Nikon D700” was “leaked” and the news spread like wildfire amongst photography sites, forums and personal blogs, mine included of course. This was a picture that was posted up on Engadget on the 25th of June. It looked really real and this is something that we might have predicted or imagine that a smaller full frame sensor Nikon camera would look like (to rival Canon’s 5D of course).

6 25 08 d700 D700 rumour was a fake???

That was posted on the 25th of June. It took only 2 whole days before the real news was unearthed. Yup, suspicions were true, it was just a photoshopped D300. I guess this is one of the banes of Photoshop! Grrrr.

d700 debunk shot with orig 2 D700 rumour was a fake???

The real image was actually up on Flickr over here. Here is the image of the original shot which was actually a Nikon D300 all the while. And no, it wasn’t my D300 that I shot!

2613106469 8376111ba8 D700 rumour was a fake???

Like the title says in the Flickr image, “Awwww….no D700 after all“.

I had my hopes up really high, only a couple of hours more before I can call this so called rumour that Nikon will make an announcement on the 30th of June a true blown rumour. Anyway I am sure a lot of people are still expecting an announcement from Nikon soon, whether it may be the D700 or the D90 or the D3x, who knows what Nikon has in store but for sure we would find out something by September.

My fingers are still crossed though.

Getting back on track (4) – A morning with Jacq, Sofea and Castelle

Posted on February 28, 2008 by Mark

Here is the final installation of my “getting back on track” plan. Well it is not really a full blown workshop but more of like a gathering of photographers from the Lowyat.Net forum early on a Sunday morning to learn from one another shooting 3 models. After all of these workshops and outings, I still feel there is much to learn and much more to explore as I feel that I have yet to achieve what I plan to gain. Nevertheless, the learning experience was just incredible.

A group of 15 photographers met up at Taman Tasik Permaisuri (opposite HUKM) together with 3 models and began our shooting at 9.00am. We split into 3 groups and the models went to each of the group so everyone had the chance to shoot all of the models. By noon time everyone was getting tired and weary but it was a healthy bunch, mainly armed with Nikon and Canon cameras.

Here are some of the photos I took over last weekend. Do leave some comments, especially what you think of the photos. Whether I can shoot them better or my post processing was off or the entire picture sucks. Don’t worry, I take criticism (good or bad) positively as I am striving myself to improve.

To be quite frank, after all of this, I still want to learn more and I have already signed up for two more workshops with Louis Pang. Now that is something I am truly looking forward to and will be paying 200% attention to what he has to teach and be exactly like a sponge and absorb everything. Until then, I got about close to two months before the first one and about 4 months before the second one. Hopefully I would have more jobs between then and be able to afford to get myself a laptop (praying hard for that).

I guess learning is always a lifelong process and I will definitely do my bit to learn as much as I can as well as teach what I have learned to others.

Getting back on track (3) – An afternoon with Nicole

Posted on February 25, 2008 by Mark

Sometimes I wondered why I signed up for a workshop which was something I most probably knew everything that was going to be thought. Really, the very first 30-40minutes I was just flabbergastered because I really knew what the trainers were teaching to the rest of the students.

Then it hit me, absolute pride. I began to think again, where was my meekness especially the time when I was down? What happened to that? Just because I took a few “good” photos (note the quotes, “”, at good) doesn’t mean that I am the best? Not really, I am totally far from being called a “good photographer” and ever lightyears away from being called “the best”.

Anyway, the workshop with the trainers (Andrew and Mohd Haidar) over at the Nikonian Academy brought a new light to me. There are far more people with so much more experience that I can learn and absorb from. I need to be a sponge and absorb all of it. There were plenty of tips I picked up along the way and definitely shooting under such bright sunlight was a pain (I realised so many hotspots or overexposed areas on my shots!).

Part of my homework is to choose the best three but frankly, I haven’t found them yet. I took two which I liked and posted them here but I haven’t found my favourite 3 yet. I need to go back home, sit down in front of my PC and start post processing them.

Lastly I would like to take the time to thank the trainers, Andrew and Haidar for teaching us the fundamentals of shooting outdoor portaits as well as Nicole who was our model for the day. Thanks so much, an afternoon with you guys made me realise that I have got a lot more to learn.

Coming soon….

Posted on January 31, 2008 by Mark

So what’s coming soon? Read below to find out more.

Over the past few weeks I have been shooting some cakes for a client and although it was one of my first product shoot attempts, it was very rewarding. Namely, all the sample cakes I get to bring back and eat. Trust me, they are superb, 100% better than those factory made Secret Recipe ones.

These photos are meant to be used for their website so until the website is up and running, I shall keep mum on the whole thing and slowly post some teaser photos here.

Anyway, if you are interested in ordering cakes for events or parties (I know I will be), do drop me a note and I can pass on the contact number.

Guess who I shot last week at home?

Posted on January 29, 2008 by Mark

It was rather fun shooting for friends. I guess from my usual group who are rather camera shy, this is a huge leap in terms of getting them to pose in front of my camera with studio strobes next to them.

Frankly, I am not too satisfied with my shots because I lack space in my house and there are just too many distractions in the pictures. Also I feel that if I weren’t so rushed for time, I could have taken better photos. But for the mean time, they will have to do. Hopefully, the might be a part 2 to this post.

I have been poisoned

Posted on January 29, 2008 by Mark

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of being poisoned by someone who owned the legendary (well, I consider that legendary to my own standards) Nikon D3. If you must know, the Nikon D3 is a hell of a camera and its hefty price tag (RM15,000 for just the body alone) turn a lot of people away.

d3front 001 I have been poisoned

Image source: Dpreview.comÂ

Anyway back to my poisoning story, yes, the camera is an incredible feat of engineering and I was so blown away by its weight and the quality of it’s images. I was busy shooting at ISO 3200 and it looks just as clean as my D200 shooting at ISO 400-500.Perhaps, if I stop spending my money on soft drinks, snacks, McDonalds and KFC, I should be able to get this baby in about 3-4 years time.

For those of you who want more info about the picture quality of the Nikon D3, you can head over here, here and here.

Mark Leo Dot Net

Loving all things photography, tech, gadgets, Apple and cars

Tag Archives: Nikon