Hoping To Obtain One Great Picture

I've moved

2010-12-29T12:22:00.001+08:00

Sorry it's been a while since i post anything here, btw i've moved to wordpress, feel free to drop by http://zulkhairy.wordpress.com

:: It's All About Film ::

2009-02-05T12:02:00.004+08:00

Kodak UltraMax 400

Fuji Superia Xtra 400

Kodak UltraMax 400

Fuji Superia Xtra 400

Lucky Super 200

I've been shooting film full time for almost 6 months now. Maybe people's are asking why film? Like i said it's a personal choice either you shoot film or digital. It's just the same either film or digital, what matters the most is the end result "the picture that you produce".

Some people's do label film photographer as "otai", but i don't really like the word "otai" it is like there's a gap between one and another. Why can't we just enjoy the art of photography without the gap?.

Which do i prefer black and white or color film? I shoot both black and white and color depends on the location and situation. For places which have a lot of contrast i.e color I'll used color film and for places with two tones contrast I'll used black and white.

I have several rolls of different film brand inside my fridge, black and white; Ilford HP5 Plus 400, Fuji Neopan 400, Lucky SHD 100 and Kodak Plus-X Pan 125PX, color film: Kodak UltraMax 400, Fuji Reala 100, Fuji Superia Xtra 400, Fuji Superia 200, Lucky Super 200 and Agfa Vista 200. My personal choice will be Lucky SHD 100 for black&white and Kodak UltraMax 400 for color.

Till we meet again.

Regards,
Zul

:: Film Photography ::

2009-02-04T11:29:00.002+08:00

Currently i'm into film photography. Going back to the old school, it's just a personal choice nothing more then that. Myb people's misjudge about people who shoot film by labeling them as a trend follower's or "otai" or 'poyo". But for me like i said it's just a personal choice either you shot film or digital.

I've been shooting using film on and off since 2005. But since now I've own my dream SLR, i shoot film full time. I'll post some of the pictures taken with film in the future. Stay tune for more updates. Thanks.

Regards,
Zul

:: I'm busy ::

2009-02-04T11:21:00.002+08:00

Have been quite a long time since i visit my own blog. I was a bit busy with work and most of the time busy snapping pictures and updating my flickr. I'll update this blog in the future. So all who drop by at my blog thanks a lot for your support.

Regards,
Zul

:: Still Life - My Try ::

2008-11-25T18:20:00.005+08:00

Self potrait lagik

2008-10-29T12:22:00.004+08:00

poyos... cass sxe kunun

Don't play-play

it's you

my self again...poem ler pulak

Me and my camera's

I dunno why, now i'm more into self potrait picture. Myb i wanna try some different shot of me expressing my self in a different angle or myb view.

I'll be going back to shoot nature, lanscape and streetshot soon.....

Diwali Outing 27th Oct 2008 with photomalaysia members

2008-10-28T17:00:00.013+08:00

The original plan was for all the Konica Minolta users to get together/outing but seems only me, mach and wlsiew are free on that day so i invited others forumers from photomalaysia.com i.e uncle noordin, david.tan and ali.
I did the same outing last year with the clubminolta.com members, so this year is like the annivesary of the 1st clubminolta.com outing. It was jus a simple outing, few shot at the Hindu temple opposite the puduraya. We spend about 2 hours shooting the devoted followers of Hindu, then decided to have a tt at central market.
See ya again next year.

Black & White Photography/Film - Ilford

2008-10-21T10:12:00.016+08:00

Ilford Black & White Film Products

Ilford Delta 100 Professional

Ilford Panf Plus

Ilford XP2 Super

Ilford Delta 3200 Professional

Ilford Delta 400 Professional

Ilford HP5 Plus

My Ilford HP5 400

Nahh... try one

This is my Ilford

During the KLPF 2008, i bought a few rolls of Ilford black & white film. I've never yet bought or tried any of Ilford black & white film, before and all this while i've been using the cheapo Lucky black & white film (only cost RM5 at Digicolor). I've been wanted to try Ilford for so long and now i've the chance to shoot using my Asashi Pentax SLR with the Ilford film inside.

Why Ilford? most of black & white photographer choose Ilford because of the quality produce by the Ilford film i.e grain, contrast and sharpness are known the best in the black & white photography.

Why black & white? hurrmm.. exactly it's a personal choice either to shoot black & white or colour. Me myself i shoot both black & white and colour either using DSLR (colour) and Film (colour and black & white).

My next target is to have my own film developer kit and film scanner... till then bye.

Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival 2008

2008-10-20T19:33:00.011+08:00

The setup

1st day of the exhibition

2nd day of the exhibition

My pictures being exhibit at the KLPF 2008

At Photomalaysia booth

Me in action (credit to hancw for the shot)

Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival 2008 or better known as KLPF 2008. This yearly event is the main attraction for all the photographers across Malaysian and also the neighourhood countries such as Singapore and Thailand.

All of the main players in the photography/camera industry took this oppurtunity to show off all their lastest gear such as Canon did display the brand new 5D Mark II and Nikon with their D90. Sony didn't display their so called full frame 24.6mp which is A900 (noise reduction very bad), a bit of dissapointment among the photographer's that are looking forward to try out the newly A900.

Some of the main distributor/reatiler/shop also took this chance to display and sell their product. The main attaraction for the crowd was Keat Photo, Digicolor, Direct Photo, Engtong and not forgeting Shasinki.

Photomalaysia.com pacticipated by displaying the photo by their members. I have the chance to volunteer manage the booth. It was an awesome exposure and knowledgeble experience wereby I have the chance to meet all sort photographer and share some tips and knowldege about photography.

Till we meet again at Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival 2009!

Harley Davidson Vrod

2008-10-14T01:36:00.006+08:00

Harley Davidson Vrod...
Pictures were taken during the Sony Convention 2008 at the Le Meridien, KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur. I've tried different angle to show off the beauty of the bike. Most of the parts on the bike are crome and this what make the bike look more sexy.

Malaysia Oh Tanahair Ku

2008-10-14T01:17:00.003+08:00

1. Malaysia

2. Tanahair ku

Malaysia Oh Tanahair ku..
Malaysia tempat tumpah darahku..
Malaysia

Malaysia Oh Tanahair ku
Malaysia Negara ku
Malaysia

Malaysia Oh Tanahair ku
Malaysia Negara Yang Harmoni
Malaysia

Malaysia Oh Tanahair ku
Malaysia Negara Berbilang Kaum
Malaysia

Malaysia Oh Tanahair ku
Malaysia Makmur Dan Aman
Malaysia

Malaysia Oh Tanahair ku
Malaysia

My Self Potrait

2008-09-17T14:00:00.008+08:00

Black & White Magezine

Digital Camera Magezine

Travelmate Magezine

I was very bored last nite dunno what to do, my astro kena potong bcos tak bayar bill then my maxis broadband also hang last nite so i cannot surf the net like i used to do at nite lor. So i took out my tripod and mount my alpha on it, did a few shoot of me reading the magezines.
My must beli magezines are Digital Camera Magezine, Black & White Photography Magezine, Click Magezine and Advanced Images Magezine.
These magezines are my printed refer information on photography technique and how to get the correct shot in term of compo, angle and etc.

(sorry my spelling and grammar up side down) :-)

What is Bokeh?

2008-09-09T21:38:00.003+08:00

Bokeh describes the rendition of out-of-focus points of light.

Bokeh is different from sharpness. Sharpness is what happens at the point of best focus. Bokeh is what happens away from the point of best focus.

Bokeh describes the appearance or "feel" of out-of-focus backgrounds and foregrounds.
Unfortunately the good bokeh doesn't happen automatically in lens design. Perfect lenses render out-of-focus points of light as circles with sharp edges. Ideal bokeh would render each of these points as blurs, not hard-edged circles. Mathematicians would say the intensity distribution of the blur circles are rectangular in perfect lenses, and good bokeh would prefer a Gaussian distribution. This is one area in which physics doesn't mirror what we want artistically.

Differing amounts of spherical aberration alter how lenses render out-of-focus points of light, and thus their bokeh. The word "bokeh" comes from the Japanese word "boke" (pronounced bo-keh) which literally means fuzziness or dizziness.

A technically perfect lens has no spherical aberration. Therefore a perfect lens focuses all points of light as cones of light behind the lens. The image is in focus if the film is exactly where the cone reaches its finest point. The better the lens, the tinier this point gets.

If the film is not exactly where that cone of light reaches its smallest point, then that point of the image is not in focus. Then that point is rendered on film as a disk of light, instead instead of as a point. This disc is also called the "blur circle," or "circle of confusion" by people calculating depth-of-field charts. In a lens with no spherical aberration this blur circle is an evenly illuminated disc. Out of focus points all look like perfect discs with sharp edges. (OK, at smaller apertures where the image is in pretty good focus you may see additional "Airy" rings around the circle, but that's a diffraction pattern we're not discussing here.) This isn't optimal for bokeh, since as you can imagine the sharp edge of these discs can start to give definition to things intended to be out-of-focus.

There are no perfect lenses, so one usually does not see these perfect discs.
Real lenses have some degree of spherical aberration. This means that in practice, even though all the light coming through the lens from a point on the subject may meet at a nice, tiny point on the film, that the light distribution within the cone itself may be uneven. Yes, we are getting abstract here, which is why some denser photographers refuse to try understand bokeh.

Spherical aberration means that the discs made by out-of-focus points on the subject will not be evenly illuminated. Instead they tend to have more of the light collect in the middle of the disc or towards the edges. Here are some illustrations:

1. Poor Bokeh. This is a greatly magnified blur circle showing very poor bokeh. A blur circle is how an out-of-focus point of light is rendered. Note how the edge is sharply defined and even emphasized for a point that is supposed to be out-of-focus, and that the center is dim.

2. Neutral Bokeh. This is a a technically perfect and evenly illuminated blur circle. This isn't good either for bokeh, because the edge is still well defined. Out-of-focus objects, either points of light or lines, can effectively create reasonably sharp lines in the image due to the edges of the sharp blur circle. This is the blur circle from most modern lenses designed to be "perfect."

3. Good Bokeh. Here is what we want. This is great for bokeh since the edge is completely undefined. This also is the result of the same spherical aberration, but in the opposite direction, of the poor example seen in Fig. 1. This is where art and engineering start to diverge, since the better looking image is the result of an imperfection. Perfect bokeh demands a Gaussian blur circle distribution, and lenses are designed for the neutral.

As you may have gathered, if the light tends to collect towards the middle of the out-of-focus discs on one side of the cone, then it will collect on the outsides of the discs on the other side of the cone. Under-corrected spherical aberration causes the light to collect in one way, overcorrected spherical aberration causes it to collect in the other. Therefore, a lens with great bokeh for backgrounds has awful bokeh for foregrounds, and vice-versa.

Things get weirder from here. Another big factor is how sharply the outside of the blur circle is rendered. Even if we have a poor signature, if the outer edge of this is rendered softly, as it is in the AF-S Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8, we have good bokeh.

Artistically most people tend to prefer sharper foregrounds and softer backgrounds. Fuzzy foregrounds tend to make people crazy, and fuzzy backgrounds are fine. Therefore I classify lenses with good bokeh as those with good background bokeh. Personally I avoid anything fuzzy in my foregrounds by moving the camera or the foreground object.

The reason bokeh is discussed in photography is because we prefer soft out-of-focus areas to hard ones that seem to take on texture, even though everything is out-of-focus. Because of this, it is preferable to those who want soft out-of-focus areas to have the distribution of the light within each blur circle to be concentrated more towards the center of the blur circle. That way each blur circle tends to be a bright spot that gets dimmer gradually towards the edges. This way all the blur circles blend nicely.

On the other hand, if one is trying to keep everything as sharp as possible, these bokeh effects will work differently where your image is close to being in focus. If in doubt, try it out. Lens design very quickly gets very weird.

There is no measurement for bokeh, since scientists aim for the mediocre as their "perfect" lens. Like everything else in art, you gauge bokeh by looking at the image.

Nikon's Defocus Control, or DC, Lenses
Nikon's Defocus Control, or DC, lenses for their popular 35mm SLR cameras actually allow one to manipulate the nature of the spherical aberration correction to allow one to locate the region of good bokeh to be either in the foreground or background. It also allows one to change the amount of spherical aberration for total control.

Reflex and Mirror Lenses
Mirror, or reflex lenses, have awful bokeh. This is because they have a relay mirror in the front of the lens that blocks the central part of the lens' aperture. Therefore all the out-of-focus highlights are represented as doughnuts, which looks unnatural and awful.

Leitz 90 mm f/2.2 Thambar
This was a 1940s soft-focus lens with a twist. Spherical aberration was deliberately left uncorrected at the sides. The softening is most obvious at full aperture. The lens becomes sharp as you stop it down. Leitz pulled a clever trick and included a removable front filter with an opaque central circle. The central stop eliminates the contribution from the lens' highly corrected central portion and let you get a soft central image as desired.

Diaphragm Blades
The shape and number of a lens' diaphragm blades has little to do with bokeh. They define the shape of the blur circle, but they don't define how the light is distributed within that circle. These circles are no longer circles, but shapes with as many sides as there are blades. For instance, with five blades as most Hasselblad and Mamiya lenses one gets five-sided pentagons as the shapes of out-of-focus highlights instead of circles. This isn't too great. With six blades, most common in discount lenses for 35mm SLRs, one gets hexagons. With seven blades (most Nikkor SLR lenses) things really start to improve, since the seven-sided heptagons start looking like circles instead of recognizable shapes. Nine blades (common on Nikkor telephotos) are great, and lately they are being designed with curved blades to give a close approximation of a circle.

Odd numbers of blades will give diffraction and reflection stars around very bright points of light that have double the number of points as the number of blades. For instance, a seven-blade diaphragm will give a lovely 14-pointed star. Even numbers of blades will give stars with the same number of points as you have blades. An eight-bladed diaphragm will give a boring eight pointed star.

Again, how well one approximates a circle is only a small part of the equation. The important part is how the light is distributed. Obviously at full aperture where most people worry about this the diaphragm plays no part.

The reason some manufacturers attempt to draw a correlation between bokeh and numbers of diaphragm blades is because it's easy to see how many blades there are at the sales counter, but almost impossible to see bokeh.

p/s: review taken from the internet

Basic Photography Technique - Rule Of Thirds

2008-09-09T20:29:00.005+08:00

Basic Photography Technique - Rule Of Thirds

Rule of thirds is a basic photography technique as a guide in the off-center placement of your subjects. Below how it's work.

Before you snap the picture, imagine your picture area divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically. The intersections of these imaginary lines suggest four options for placing the center of interest for good composition. The option you select depends upon the subject and how you would like that subject to be presented.

I don't have a Digital Single Lense Reflect (DSLR) camera how do I apply this technique?
You can apply this technique in any camera either it is a point of shoot digital camera or even your phone camera! Most point and shoot (PNS) digital camera nowdays do have setting at the menu whereby you can see the LCD screen divide into 3 horizontal and 3 vertical as you were aiming for a subject. See below.

Sample of picture that applied the Rule Of Thirds

Hope my brief explaination helps you better in composing your image/subject the right way it should be. Cheers.

Sony New HVL-F58AM Flagship Flash

2008-09-09T00:35:00.006+08:00

This is what inovation & technology is all about

Wow... tempting

SAN DIEGO, Jun. 19, 2008 – Sony is expanding its a (alpha) system of accessories to include the new HVL-F58AM flash unit with exceptional features for versatile and flexible external lighting control.

Quick Shift Bounce and Expanded Versatility
This new flash features a new and innovative Quick Shift Bounce system. It offers more creative ways to achieve lighting, flash and bounce angles you may not have been able to experience before.

The flash head can pivot 90 degrees left and right on a horizontal axis in addition to the conventional up and down vertical adjustment. With this system, the camera and flash unit can keep the same orientation regardless of portrait or landscape shooting. This gives a higher degree of flexibility when arranging the direction of light.

For example, you can take full advantage of the flash unit’s built-in bounce card even during portrait shots since the flash head can maintain the same orientation as it would in the landscape position.

Enhanced Operability and Ease-of-Use
A powerful performer, the HVL-F58AM flash unit features a maximum guide number of 58 at 105mm and ISO 100. It recycles (or recharges) in as little as five seconds, approximately 55% faster than the predecessor HVL-F56AM model, so you are ready to capture the next shot. And because it features a quiet recycle charge, there’s no whine to distract you from your subject.

It also has a large, easy-to-read LCD screen that is about 13% larger than its predecessor’s. Its intuitive control layout makes it easy to control flash functions and configure the settings based on your shooting needs.

Wireless Auto Flash Control
This new flash has wireless auto flash control so you can remove the flash unit from the camera and easily light subjects from different angles. Photographers can create soft shadows to add depth to their images and avoid the strong shadows and hot spots that can occur with front lighting. The HVL-F58AM flash unit can also control the ratio of lighting from several off-camera flash units.

Up to three groups of flashes can be set up for optimal, complete control of lighting via a wireless connection. Flash output ratios can be adjusted automatically without having to do tedious exposure calculations. Additionally, you can fire a modeling flash to preview flash effects before taking the picture. Even with multiple units, the modeling flash fires according to the flash ratio you have set.

Advanced Features for Optimal DSLR Performance
One of the flash’s most advanced features is its sophisticated zoom control that automatically optimizes illumination angles that are suitable for either APS-C size or 35mm full frame sensors. This control reduces light “fall-off” at the periphery of images.

It also has an advanced white balance compensation system that gathers color temperature information, complimenting the white balance information reading of the camera. This achieves more accurate results when the main unit is in auto white balance mode.

Other features include: high-speed synchronization at shutter speeds of up to 1/4000 of a second, ADI flash metering, manual flash and zoom (six levels), multiple-flash, and a supplied mini-stand for greater wireless freedom.

Price and Availability
The HVL-F58AM flash unit will ship in September for about US$500 (RM1650) at sonystyle.com, Sony Style® retail stores (www.sonystyle.com/retail), military base exchanges, and authorized dealers nationwide. Pre-orders begin online on Jun. 20 at www.sonystyle.com.

p/s: review taken from photomalaysia.com website

Sony Alpha 900 - The latest flagship from Sony

2008-09-08T12:26:00.002+08:00

The old Minolta Maxxum 9

The flagship Sony Alpha 900

Review taken from photographybay.com

Previously, Sony revealed the A700 and the A900 (rumored name) at PMA 2007. We were promised one of the cameras in 2007 and the other to follow in 2008. Sony released the A700 in fall 2007. Now, 2008 is here. Surprisingly, Sony launched the entry-level A200 at CES on January 6, 2008. The A200 didn’t make it to the second page before rumors of an A300 (with leak shots) were in full swing.

PMA is just a couple of weeks away and Sony gearheads are sitting on the edge of their seats, eagerly awaiting Sony’s next offering(s). Updated: The A300 and A350 were announced at PMA 2008.

What we know from Sony about the “A900″:

Flagship model (body)

The highest-end α (Alpha) product
Achieves high level of overall picture quality through development of new image sensor and
Bionz™ image processing engine
Super SteadyShot® image stabilization inside
Realizes high performance that lives up to even professional users’ demanding requirements.
One of the two prototypes stated above will be on sale within this calendar year.

This info comes from Sony’s press sheet at PMA 2007. Everything else is rumors at this point, including the pretty ad above (which has been floating around the internet). The Sony gearheads believe (wish?) that the A900 will feature a full-frame sensor that’s 20+ megapixels, which will compete directly with Canon’s flagship 1Ds Mark III.

Updated: Sony has announced that it will release a full frame DSLR this year featuring its 24.81 megapixel imaging sensor, which was announced at PMA 2008

Sony & Konica Minolta Gear Line Up

2008-09-08T12:08:00.002+08:00

Konica Minolta Line Up

Sony Line Up

Konica Minolta Wallpaper

2008-09-07T12:59:00.003+08:00

Team Konica Minolta MotoGP 2007

My Mountainbike Tank DS1

2008-09-07T03:33:00.002+08:00

Tank Dual Slalom DS1 Freeride/Jump Bike/Downhill Setup

Sony Melaka Outing - 2nd Place

2008-09-07T02:35:00.008+08:00

Prize giving ceremony - 2nd place

1. Picture submitted

2. Picture submitted

3. Picture submitted

4. Picture submitted

5. Picture submitted

In July 2008 Sony Malaysia organize an outing to Melaka for Sony Alpha owner. A total of 30 participants join the outing. It was my 2nd outing with Sony after the Sony Zoo Challenge. All of us gathered at Midvalley before depart to Melaka with bus. We reached Melaka town around 2.30pm and the rain start pouring as after we had our lunch.
We were given 4 hours to walk around and snap our picture of the scene at Jonkers Street, we were require to submit 5 pictures for the competition (above is my 5 submission pictures). I'm very please with the pictures that i've got.
All of our pictures were being shown during the dinner at Nyonya Restaurant (the food was just so so). As usual my picture were shown the last slide (my name start with Z). And then came the result 3rd place when to Brandon and when george announce the 2nd place he called my name, what a supprise? i didn't expect my name to be called. and the 1st place when to Mos Johari. The best part is all the winner pictures will be published in a photography magezines (Advanced Images, Photo Creator and Travelmate).
It was a great recognition to me as my pictures will be publish in a magezine. That's to all my fellow alpha members for the support.

I Used To Be A Wedding Photog

2008-09-06T23:50:00.013+08:00

As what been said i used to be a wedding photog. I was an exciting experience thanks to my friend aka sifu (khai) who lead me all the way and giving me the tips and skill of wedding photography.
Every new job is challenging, try not to repeat the same pose was mind stroming. But the ising on the cake is when you get the pose that you want. Really satisfied although it was tiring busting your ass for nearly a 5 hours or more for one jod when you get the pose.

My Best Shot So Far

2008-09-06T22:32:00.007+08:00

Picture were taken during Sony Malaysia Zoo Challange 2008 at Zoo Negara Malaysia, Hulu Kelang.

Picture was taken during the Sony Malaysia outing to Sungai Congkak, Hulu Langat, Selangor. I found this spot while walking through the waterfall.

Picture was taken at Pengkalan Balak, Melaka, Malaysia. I was hanging around with my friends at the beach, then i saw the moon reflection on the water and with out any delay i grap my tripod and setup my gear to shot this picture.

Pictures was taken during Clubminolta Malaysia outing to Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. I saw this lovely duck swimming and it was cool to see this duck kinda of give a nice pose to me.

Picture were taken during my nite outing with my fellow Alpha members at Tasik Titiwangsa, Kuala Lumpur. This is 1st ever shot of the Eye On Malaysia.

My DSLR, Film SLR and Film Rangefinder Collection

2008-09-06T21:55:00.009+08:00

Sony Alpha A200

Konica Minolta 7D & 5D

Minolta SRT 101 & Minolta 16

Asahi Pentax Spotmatic & Praktica Bx20

Konica EE-Matic Deluxe New & Minolta Hi-Matic 7s

My collection of camera as at 6th September 2008. I've started with photography using my parent Yashica pns film camera. Then in 2007, I bought my 1st Canon A550 pns digital camera. In August 2007, I've upgraded to my 1st DSLR which is Konica Minolta 5D.
In April 2008, I've bought the Sony Alpha A200 very satisfied with the performace of the Alpha with is fast auto focus compare to my Konica Minolta 5D. At time goes by i've added a few of camera which is the Konica EE-Matic Deluxe New, Minolta SRT101, Minolta Hi-Matic 7s, Practica BX20 and Konica Minolta 7D.
The list continue......

My AF & Manual Lens Collection

2008-09-06T20:21:00.005+08:00

My lens collection as at 6th September 2008, lens are from my Alpha/Konica Minolta DSLR, Minolta SRT 101 SLR , Praktica BX20 SLR and Pentax Spotmatic SLR.

1st row: Konica Minolta 28-75mm f/2.8, Konica Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8-4, Sigma ZEN 28-70mm f/2.8

2nd row: Super Takumar M42 50mm f/1.4, Super Takumar 135mm f/3.5, Sigma 18-50mm, f/3.5-4.5, Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar M42 50mm f/2.8

3rd row: Pentacon 50mm f/1.8, Minolta Rokkor 55mm f/1.4, Pentacon Carl Zeiss Jena 28mm f/2.8