Mamiya 6

Got myself an excellent condition Mamiya 6 medium format rangefinder camera at a bargain! Totally loving it for its image quality and handling! So far, I think it has the sharpest lens in my entire collection (OK, I know my collection is not a lot...).

One thing I have to get used to is the 6x6 format. I have been shooting 35mm film and I am used to the 1/3 rule. I'm not saying this can't be applied to a 6x6, but some times it just doesn't work. I'm loving this camera! The film advance lever is very smooth and the shutter is very very very silent thanks to its leaf shutter. Plus, it has a Aperture Priority mode, which suits me totally! I mean, I can do manual but if given the choice to use Aperture mode, why not?

Below are some of the shots taken with slides (Kodak Ektachrome 100S and Fuji Provia 400X).

Mobile Street Photography

With the rise (ok, it has risen since a few years back...) of smartphones and improving technology of a shorter shutter-release lag, mobile photography has taken a new meaning. I have seen on forums that some people are ditching their (real) cameras for smartphone cameras.

Everyone's on their phones

To me, mobile photography has a few advantages:

Instagram Camera?

As we all know (OK, some knew...), Instagram had been bought over by Facebook for a whopping $1 billion dollars! That's a lot of money! If I were the founder, I would be laughing my teeth off! After that, I'll be thinking how to spend my money! Perhaps I'll take a year's break and go on a round the world tour! After which, I'll probably find a place to migrate, buy a house and a car and find a new job (or find a new idea!). OK, I digress... Hahaha~

NEX5N and Leica Summitar

Recently acquired a second hand Sony Nex-5N, so decided to do some test shots using a Leica Summitar 50mm F2 Collapsible. Heard that this lens is very sharp even wide open at F2, so decided to test it out. Also not forgetting that this lens give a wild swirly bokeh, so makes me drool even more!

My Review of the Lytro Camera

Disclaimer: This is not THE review by professionals stating technical specifications and mathematically correct calculations. Believing that this is THE review by professionals is like believing the men in white is doing their job not for the money, but for the passion and the heart to serve the people. And now, MY review.

All the cameras! Fall in!

Ok, I've always wanted to do a shot of all my cameras. Should have done so before selling my 60D. After a year, my 60D has to go because it was seriously under-utilized. Since there's still value for it, I might as well sell it off to fund the next camera.

X100

Fujifilm has just released a new camera known as the FinePix X100. It is a 12.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS camera with a 23mm fixed focal length with a FAST! prime F2 Fujinon aspherical lens! How cool is that?!!! But the coolest thing about this camera that got all the camera-loving people all excited is the high resolution optical viewfinder (OVF) that packs 1.4 megapixel into that small LCD window! Just imagine the 3" LCD screen on your digital camera averages only about 0.5 megapixel. How the hell did they do that?! Nonetheless, it is still one sexy camera in my own opinion.

Drool at these pictures, mr friends...

 Pictures taken from Dpreview

Incredible Cardboard Cameras

Check out these amazing cardboard cameras made by Kiel Johnson. Simply amazing handicraft! A pity these cameras aren't functional.

Lego + Camera = ???

Remember those days when you have tons of Lego blocks and you made whatever things that come to your mind. Guns, animals, buildings... You know what you did with your Lego blocks. Decades down memory lane, you start to go into gadgets like cameras, phones, music players, games etc... What if someone/some companies decide to make a gadget out of toys?

Welcome Pentax Optio NB1000. Pentax decided to merge Lego with their Optio series of cameras, bringing a new meaning to the word "toy camera". I would say this is a pretty cool idea, but definitely not the first, since ndroo decorated one Holga with Lego blocks back in 2008. But nonetheless, I still love the Optio NB1000. Seems like it's going to be one hell-of-a-fun camera! I never had the luxury to play with Lego when I was young (I'm actually getting old now considering how often my muscles ache). So I'd definitely welcome this new "toy" into my "family". But subjected to my girlfriend's and mum's approval. I've been acquiring too many cameras nowadays... Need to have the "toy"'s passport stamped by these two authorities before they can be added to my (small) collection. But I wouldn't mind it as a birthday gift... *evil laughter* This way, I don't have to get the "passport" stamped...

The Impossible Camera

The folks from The Impossible Project is asking for ideas about making their new Impossible Camera. After working on an idea for a night, I found myself working on Illustrator to come up with this idea.

My concept is a camera that is able to do a tilt-shift mechanism to bring about the signature effect, such as this:

By pushing and pulling the 4 screws at each corner, you can achieve such an effect. The camera is to be compatible with The Impossible Project's PX100 instant film. Lens would be a 50mm F8 with variable shutter setting, including bulb mode for low light photography. 

Maybe I'm too stressed out by school work that I am taking the day off to slack and daydream. Been such a crazy and tedious time for me at the moment, juggling project, rushing report, preparing for symposiums and conferences and managing house chores... Not the easiest of life, but I do hope to get it over and done with soon so that I can head back home for good... 

First Post~

Thanks for dropping by! I have been wanting to set up a blog for all my photographic stuff, but only managed to do this up after being busy for a long time now. Hope to use this blog to review some cameras I have, as well as record some fun and lovely things in life.

So who am I? kaxdd, my nickname. What is "kaxdd"? This is a little secret of mine, so I will let this remain a secret. "How do you pronounce 'kaxdd'?" Pronounce it as "kax". Silent double D's. How old am I? Hmmm... I once told someone I am in my mid-twenties, and he used an explicit word on me. "SHIT! YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE YOU'RE IN YOUR MID-TWENTIES! You look like you're 21!" I told me new friends in university I'm 23, and they believed it. So I'm really confused about my age. Perhaps I should just stick to being 23 all the time. Hahaha~ What is my job? Ermmm... Student cum public sector worker. What are my hobbies? Traveling, enjoying a quiet cup of coffee, playing video games, watching soccer (and hopefully still can play),  and of course, photography!

Basically, I am someone who loves lenses! Be it spectacle glasses or camera lenses, I'd love them! I've got 5 pairs of glasses and counting! I love cameras! Why do I love lenses and cameras? I have myopia, so I can't see clearly without my glasses. Therefore, lenses are the tools for me to this beautiful world. Time is one element you cannot control. Once it's passed, it's history. But cameras have this ability to capture a moment and freeze it in time and space. Perhaps I have had too many moments in the past which I long to preserve, but haven't had the chance to. So now, I am making up for lost memories. So I hope to use cameras as a tool to capture all the extraordinary moments in life in the future. Be it film or digital cameras, I'll gladly pick any one of them up and go clicking away!

So now you have a better understanding of me, so stay tuned for more posts by me in the future! Cheers!