New Found - a Mayfly in Hotel room !!!

was surprise last trip to Terengganu, where we found 3 types of mayflies, soldierfly, beetle, ... in the hotel room itself ..........................



this is like other mayfly, not really move a lot and quite small ~5-7mm long .....

more flies pictures

My Gear - LP-E6 (a.k.a Battery)

As mentioned, slowly discuss all my equipments so I can't remember what I use after years later :D

from 3++ years ago, Sony a200, a700, 50d... all previous experience I did minimum own 3-4 batteries but until I own Canon EOS 5dm2, I still own 2 as today .. why .. this battery is so expensive .. ~RM330 (USD100) per pcs .. wow .......and there is no proven real good oem battery so far ... hmmm but recently someone told me another brand (OEM), and I just ordered online and hope it is real good and then I will share it here again....


so what so great of this battery ? the % .... it tell truth ,mean it tell you 5% mean you only have 5% to use not like previous battery even you see 1/3 bar but then it could just turn off your camera in 30s, you won;t know yours' actual remaining capacity. but for this .. it is so accurate ..

and how lasting ? hmmm if I shoot macro (non Liveview) with moderate preview .. it can easily shoot up to ~400-500 pictures ..... but while I shoot landscape, where I 95% use liveview and preview moderate, it only can last ~150-200 pictures and depend on the places I shoot (highland ... cold season .. all count too) ....

and why suddenly I want to share this before other accessories, because to let other know ... don't save xx dollar and you may already spent xxxxx dollar on gears .. it is so important ... and let's me share an experience (yesterday)...

I was went out for a discussion, and we decided to choose a place where I shoot a ok ok picture ... (as my client would like to shoot too)





but then, while I reach .... I have my tripod, lee filters , lenses ready .. and spot ready ... while I turn on my battery .. my battery sign blinking .. aikssssssssssss.. goiks .. and I went check .. it left 4% ........................................... and the sunset look great ... so I can';t resist to shoot few .. but the sky just turn amazing ... and I know I left last chance, may be last shot or even less than 5 ............and the SKY keep turn so dramatic , and I ask where is ALEX as he use to be here everyday and he is my the only hope . but he didn't turn up as busy with work .....and I use my last battery available to capture a video to share



so look at this view , do you still want to save $ on yours' battery ????

How I Shoot Landscape - Shoot under the rain

we having real bad weather recently .. either cloudy, hazy ... or rain almost everyday ... but again and again , we never give up and we managed to enjoy beautiful sunrise and sunset for last weekend ....

Every time rain, I telling my friend .. "no worry, canon weather proof mah .." so do I shoot under rain? Yes and no ... I never know how to verify how many ml/m or ml/feet .. :D so I judge myself every time... is it worth to shoot even rain ?  and I continue shoot most of the time if the rain do not hit on to my len :D

so when I 1st meet horn-frog in wild


it was heavy rain in the jungle ... I saw it ... how I resist to have few shot .. :D

last Saturday, I went out for a sunset outing and most of my gang never give up even raining. We setup our gear and wait for the light to appear ....

so how I call weather proof :D

haha .. normally I use rain coat for my camera so I will be all wet while waiting for the moment .. but this time I use umbrella .. thanks Suzanne Chew for the umbrella (think it was for me but end up I use it for my camera)...


both pictures above also capture using Canon :D (Canon Ixus :D )


so what I waiting for ?

... never give up ...


worth the wait ?




some of my "crazy gang waiting shot (different date) and thanks Alexander Poh for the lake location and the capture ....

*** please do not follow their action .. if you love yours; camera :D 

 

 

Landscape - Coldest landscape outing I ever have

for weeks. and here is still cold for me while waiting for the spring coming .. (range from 38F - 62F or 3C - 17C)

for the very first few days , while I still having my jet lag and I woke up 3-4 am to go out and find sunrise spot with google earth assistant ... I got 2 spots locate not far from my hotel and managed to capture some pictures (but not really able to process those pictures as my notebook screen is not calibrate correctly.. so have to wait till I back to MALAYSIA)

but I do shoot RAW + JPEG and let's share 2 coldest sunrise shot (for me) to you all

1. a sunrise that really cold ... it is so tough to press the shutter .... but great experience for me


2. the next day ... where the weather was better (not so cold) but not really shoot a lot as I park my car road side and got warning form Police where I shouldn't park my car at the road side ... (hmmmm and had looking for near by parking after this but can't find one so this will be my last chance here :( )

*** a reflection ... picture non crop, non rotate, non edit .. so any one can guess how I get this ?

Review - Canon 5dm2 vs 7d MACRO

I got an unit of Canon 7d for testing last 2 weeks ago but the results were unbelievable so I send back to Canon service center for checking and yesterday they call for collect after do some "minor" calibration .....and today I went out for quick test (my testing only based on on personal standard/interest and may not a good comparative among 2 Canon bodies)

how I do the test
i. ISO100 & F13
ii. max flash sync speed (5dm2 - 1/200 and 7d - 1/250)
iii. I try to shoot very close magnification (but can't get 100% same ....)
- 5dm2 ~3:1
- 7d 2:1
iv. same lighting (full flash) - as share here
v. all pictures stacked with 3 picture which focus on eye, nose and mouth of the dragonfly
v. AWB
vi. no noise reduction
vii. no sharpening


1. after resize to 1200 @ longer size, we can;t tell much different
Canon 5dm2 - 1200


7D - 1200


2. and if you wish to have a look at full size
Canon 5dm2 - full size
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2688/4496329257_1b112e0eec_o.jpg

Canon 7d - full size
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2672/4496958894_8f1640c86b_o.jpg

3. a 100% crop
Canon 5dm2


or larger size http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4496967212_babd6190bb_o.jpg

Canon 7d


or larger size
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4068/4496322417_2f774ce63a_o.jpg

personal view,
i. after calibration, IQ have improve and noise have reduce
ii. overall Canon 7d doing ok and not sure can it be fine tune any further or not
iii. Canon 7d noise still look bad @100% crop even at ISO100
iv. AWB, how could same brand camera have such different at same environment and using same lighting (flash)

I will do another test on landscape soon....