White Beauty

Got this from Harvey Norman last week, a vaio P series netbook (VGN P13GHW). It was their last display model and hence, we got a fairly good discount from them. It looks like a sport car on steroid, it is "beautiful"!

Yes...look without essence some might say, well, frankly I don't give a rat about what others said. The look alone is enough to justify the premium price although it has slower atom cpu, smaller hd and running on Vista, which slows it down further :)

Well, after all I am not intend to play game on it. The main reason I bought it is to travel with it so I can have occassional internet access and a place to save all my photos, and for that, this baby fits my criteria perfectly....and it can even fit into my pocket! All I need now is some spare batteries to go with it lol!

Update 26/7/9: This amazing netbook is great for watching movies/trailers in real HD on the go (720p/1080p) provided you use the correct software and codecs. For smooth HD playback, the best software to use is the Cyerlink PowerDVD 8 or Windows Media Classic HC (open source) with PowerDVD's playback filter. Playback using WMP is choppy and virtually unwatchable. I am also able to overclock this tiny Atom Z520 using setFSB from 1.33Ghz to 1.6Ghz without any problem, although I am struggling to find any real world improvement with it :)

USS George Washington (CVN73)

This Giant US Navy aircraft carrier was docked 3km off Fremantle Port this week and we were lucky to come across it on our way to Cottlesloe today.











Here are some facts about this amazing nuclear-powered carrier:
Displacement: Approximately 101,000 long tons
Length: 332.8m
Flight Deck Area: 4.5acres
Power: 2x nuclear reactors that permit the carrier to steam for almost 18 years before refueling
Range: Virtually unlimited! (I need a car with nuclear reactor!)
Speed: About 56+km/hr
Number of aircrafts: 75
Propellers: 4x five-bladed brass propellers weighing 30,000kg each
Anchors: Two, each weighing 30,000kg as well
Meals: 7 galleys serving 18,000 meals daily
Water distiller: 15,000L fresh water daily
Crew accommodations: 6,250

The first is teenage boy's wet dream, the sequel is just masturbation.

Well, there is nothing "naughty" about the stuff that I wrote here today. The above is a direct quotation from a critic from the Scorecard Review about the second installment of the Transformer: The Revenge of the Fallen. A quick check of the tomatometer, at 20%, it is considered by most movie critics around the globe as a utter disaster or a blockbuster flop. Well, I beg to think otherwise. True, the plot is getting thinner and the humour has grown a little tired but I still love those giant robots, those massive explosions and it's no doubt on par with the first. If you like the first Transformer movie, I think you are going to love this one. And guess what? In the packed movie theatre on last Tuesday night, I could confidently said Megan Fox was still the hottest chick in that room! Perhaps the biggest drawback about this second movie is that it is a tad too long, in fact, if it was about 30-60 minutes shorter, it would have been a perfect movie...yawn :)

Backfocus...a real pain!

Back focus is when the focus point or the focal plane is behind of the focus point where you originally intended. I first noticed this issue with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4, especially with the aperture wide open. Although taking close-up shots, it is not much of a problem but as the distance between the subject and the camera increases, the back focus problem worsens. Mucking around with the autofocus/microadjustment setting of my camera improves the situation slightly but the problem is never fully resolved. Hence, AF with the 50mm is unfortunately a hit or miss affair most of the time. With the Canon EF 70-200mm, it consistantly front-focus for some reason, luckily by adjusting the autofocus/microadjustment setting to +5, it fixed the issue all together...or as far as I can see anyway.

These shots were taken on Sunday in Perth during a lazy afternoon stroll. Despite the unpredictable weather and sporadic downpour, there were still plenty of shoppers around for the end of yet another financial year sale.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

As I mentioned in my previous post, I brought this lens to Lisa & Tim's wedding for a test drive. I was very worried because firstly, this is a new lens that I have no experience using it with and secondly, Lisa slammed the title of their wedding photographer on me!

Well, I shot roughly 80% of my photos on the day with this lens and the results were stunning to say the least. It is a fairly fast lens and coupled with 2nd generation image stabilizer from Canon, it has made indoor/available light photography a breeze and a joy to use. I manage to get decent images even at shutter speed of around 1/10th of a second at 200mm and that's amazing. It definitely blew the conventional shutter speed rule of 1/focal length to pieces! The zoom ring is easy to use and very well dampened. During zooming and focusing, the length of the lens does not change, in fact, nothing physically changes outside the lens and it is also impossible to get lens creep.

There is already so much great thing being said about this lens on the net, I don't think there is anything left for me to add. There are only 2 things left on my wish list, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L (waiting for IS version) and Canon 5D MarkIII(?) :)

Meet my new family member :)

I remember when I first bought my first digital slr, the Canon 400D back in 2006, it came with a "twin lens" kit. They were the Canon EF 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 and 70-300mm f4-5.6 and I thought they were all I need :) Was I wrong, or may be I am just getting greedier, collecting lenses are just so addictive hehe!

Today I added the 7th member to my growing family of lenses, the Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS. This is an important milestone for me because I have never own any L-lens before and that also means the most expensive investment thus far. I can't really write much about this lens at the moment because I haven't got chance to use it outside yet due to the appalling weather today. However, I am going take it alone for my first mission tomorrow, a wedding to photograph! I did take a few shots indoor at home and I must say, it's money well spent! AF is fast and virtually silent and boy, this baby is sharp even at f2.8. From the few sample shots I have taken, the AF was spot on!

I was tossing between the IS and the non-IS version but I think I have made the right decision to go with the IS despite being some $700 more. Why? My left hand was starting to shake after holding the lens up shooting for less than 10mins :) The lens itself weighs a hefty 1.57kg and although it doesn't sound like much, but try to hold it up to your head with the camera attached for a few minute and you will know what I mean. All I can say is, it is a serious piece of equipment and I truely love it!

Paper Cactus

The last of the set :) Have a fantastic weekend my friends!

Paper Cactus

This is the second one, the third one is coming :)










p/s taken with bounced light vs without (previous post)

Paper Cactus

Jin made this one from paper the other night, I thought it was rather amazing :)

Addicted to Coffee

One for me, one for her :)

Today is only Wednesday but you know it is a "long week" when it feels like a Thursday or even Friday today! Work was pretty flat out in the past couple of days following the long weekend and I think I am just about to have enough!

Now.....
wonder how I make those patterns on my coffee? Well, I am pretty new at this as well but I don't mind to share it with you if you are interested. First, you will need an espresso machine with a steam wand of course. Don't have to be a fancy one because mine isn't. Start with really cold milk in a stainless steel jug filled to about 1/3 full. Colder milk allows you to "stretch" the milk a little bit longer without "burning" the milk.

Start with the steam wand's tip just breaking the surface of the milk. This will help draw in more air into the milk and you know you are doing the right thing when you hear the occassional "hissing" sound. Be careful not to add too much volume to your milk, about 10-20% is sufficient I think. After that, lower the steam wand slightly into the milk and continue "whip" the milk around the jug with the steam until the jug is too hot for you hold in your hands. Turn off the steam but keep the milk moving in the jug to avoid separation of foam from milk. Pour about 2/3 of the milk gently toward the centre of your espresso shot in your cup, then start from the outer edge, swaying the milk from side to side while drawing the jug towards you. Then pour the reminder in a straight line back towards the outer edge.

What I have found is that you have to pour the milk gently but fast enough (but not too fast) to prevent the foam from leaving behind in the jug. Too much foam is no good, and nor does too little. It's all about striking the balance and to achieve that, keep drinking coffee and practicing every single damned day!! :)