Home Edge, it is:

Question: Whose style am I trying to imitate?
Answer: Asyraf Lee's

Yep, complete with the titling convention, black-and-white style and non-Rule-Of-Thirds framing, as accorded by XJ.

Shop attendants in DIY stores have an easy job.

Males don't ask for directions and just won't bother you.

Females in DIY shops are probably of the more independent variety, possibly with a more dominating, uh... personality.

That would make a relaxed job. I could stand in the solvents section and uh... open tins of thinner and turpentine to make sure they are still fresh and do not have a crusty coating.

Ah, high times! Sadly, I'm not cut out for that job. Contractors were in my new office with filler and turpentine, and I couldn't stand the fumes.

Click here to Simpsonize Me!
The Simpsons Movie was funny, yes, but it really did feel like just like one of those epic episodes of The Simpsons. Like the one where Bart goes to Australia. Or who shot Mr. Burns. Heck, it didn't even feel like it spanned over an hour. Then again, the typical Simpsons episode has always an unrelated pre-plot (in the first 5 minutes) that leads to the main plot. It seems to be the writers' challenge to link them.

Maybe it's not so much of the movie feeling just like an epic episode, but that the episodes feel lengthy due to the pre-plot and main plot.

Also, I watched Transformers (the live action movie) again, finally, this time, paying, and this time, in Imax 2D (there is no 3D version. :( ) The huge screen made it even harder to decipher the action (though after a while, I think I managed to identify who was hurling at who with my immense powers of observation.)

Dead Silence was cool. Amazing cinematography. Always cold blue faces. Cameos from the doll in Saw. A great attempt by the same director.

This is a really backdated post.

I got myself a Cosina 70-210mm F2.8-4.0 Macro for Minolta/Sony A-mount for use on my Sony Alpha 100. This is also known as the famous Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm F2.8-4.0 Macro.

This has the same range as the Minolta 70-210mm F4.0 beercan lens I have, but it's brighter at 70mm.

Cosina 70-210mm F2.8-4.0 apertures:
70mm onwards F2.8
85mm onwards F3.2
120mm onwards F3.5
150mm onwards F4.0

In comparison, the Cosina's plus points are:
- brighter before 150mm
- has a focus limiter switch which is better than standard focus limiters
- focuses to 1:2.5x macro
- shorter and will fit in my bag with camera body attached
- can be used with my fussy Tamron 1.4x 4-element 5-pin teleconverter


Cosina with the Tamron 1.4x to make 300mm F5.6.

Cosina 19-35mm F3.5-4.5 for Pentax-AF K-mount (sold to Yee Wei), Vivitar Series 1 28-105mm F2.8-3.8 for Minolta/Sony A-mount, and of course this Cosina 70-210mm F2.8-4.0 for Minolta/Sony A-mount.

My run-ins with Vivitar also include the Vivitar 24mm F2.0 for Olympus Zuiko OM-mount, Vivitar 28-70mm F3.9-4.8 for Minolta MD-mount, and Vivitar 75-205mm F3.5-4.5 for Pentax K-mount with 2x matched teleconverter. I've never shot through the fungused 28-70mm, but I've touched a Vivitar 100mm F3.5 Macro and it was good.

I also got myself a Kenko Teleplus 4-element 8-pin 2x teleconverter for Minolta/Sony A-mount. This converter oddly changes my Minolta 50mm F1.4 into a 105mm F3.5 (though metering indicates a accurate 2-stop loss). Astoundingly, this works with all my lenses unlike my fussy Tamron 4-element 5-pin 1.4x teleconverter. Despite the warning that a teleconverter and lens will only work if the combined total is brighter or equal to F6.3 (e.g. F3.5 lens on a 2x teleconverter cannot be used), the 2x throws that rule out the window. I can use my Sony 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 lens (easily my darkest lens) at 140mm F11.

It is then that I learnt to appreciate the kit lens; it's astounding even with the 2x teleconverter. Teleconverters expose the weakness of a lens and exaggerate it. The kit lens had little to no loss in quality... while the Minolta 50mm F1.4 just went super soft.

So what if I stacked my teleconverters together?


Shot through a window in afternoon light. 600mm F16 1/60s ISO400.

The Sony A100 can only autofocus at F8 or brighter; at F11, this Cosina combo (which I will call the 600mm F11) is too full of spherical aberration when near focus, the camera cannot possibly focus.

Strangely, though, it is easier to manual focus. The lens feels great for manual focus, and when a black, backlit subject is out of focus, chromatic aberration leaks onto the black and turns it either purple or green. When the object is in focus, it is a solid black!

Alternatively, I could zoom out to 200mm F8 and auto-focus, then zoom in.

The 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 with 2x teleconverter at 140mm F11 is very easy to manual focus too; the entire image melts into spherical aberration softness, and it is very obvious when it is in focus. It feels like the outside matte surface of a split-prism viewfinder on ye olde Manual Focus SLRs. (Of which I have too many of.)


1200mm F22 1/80s ISO100. The camera reported an EXIF of 9999mm while my computer reported an EXIF of 65535mm. Apparently, it couldn't count to 1200mm, heh. (Nearly focused) out-of-focus is pretty, and obvious.


My Minolta Dynax 7, Tamron 2x 7-element teleconverter, Kenko Teleplus 2x 4-element teleconverter, Tamron 1.4x 4-element teleconverter, Tamron 100mm F3.5 Macro lens. This famous lens allows close focus to 1:2 magnification, and 1:1 magnification with the supplied screw-on lens. This combo gives 3:1 magnification!


1000mm F16 1/15 ISO1600. This was with the Sony 500mm F8 reflex mirror lens. It can still (try to) auto-focus! At such slow speeds it cannot be ascertained if it was handshake or motion blur.


Stopping down my 600mm F11 provided better results. It goes down to F64! At this point any dust on the sensor becomes small and manageable. This is also where I wish for an Olympus Super-Sonic Wave Filter anti-dust solution, because that's the only one that really works. Shot at 600mm F64 1/160s ISO1600.


My pride. 600mm F11 1/2s ISO400. Half a second handheld! Handshake and softness is of course apparent, but the size of the subject makes it less relevant.

light in the sky was Venus. Or was it Saturn?


600mm F16 1/80s ISO400, for the birds. Any shorter focal length would need you to step closer... and the birds would fly away. This makes shooting in a bird park a lot easier because them birds don't fly away.


I spy smashpOp!


I spy on the police!


Big macro zooms, left to right: Minolta Dynax 7 with Kenko 2x, Tamron 1.4x and Cosina 70-210mm F2.8-4.0 Macro; Pentax P30t with Vivitar 2x matched teleconverter with Vivitar 75-205mm F3.5-4.5; Olympus OM-2000 with Vivitar 2x teleconverter with Soligor 70-220mm F3.5 Macro.

Add 1:2.5x magnification with a 3x magnification from the teleconverters to get 3:2.5x or 1.2:1!

So where's the customary shot of all my Minolta-mount lenses? It's not here, because there's yet another I didn't mention, and another on its way. This isn't even the last of the geek entries, I assure you that.

Tempered Mental's album launch at Laundry Bar. The album, titled The View From Here, features 10 solid songs of the progressive metal/rock variety. As a fan of them since the very first gig I had been to in the original No Black Tie, where I first saw them, this was a long-awaited album.

However, none of the songs overlap with the previous Honestly single (which had, well... 7 songs) so we got mostly fresh works with the great Greg Henderson on production. Then, there's Trust which I downloaded from their official site a looong looong time ago.

Why no local independent band has an album out with more than 10 proper songs, I don't know. However, Tempered Mental could have added those 7 songs from the single in to beat complete the record. However, it might sound disconnected because the album has funky effects applied to the vocals (which I took a while to get used to) while the single doesn't.


Guess who I bumped into? Grace and my little Transformers Movie Barricade.


Jack the ripper shredder.


For once, Laundry Bar looked extremely well-lit.


Slyde looks lost.

Vig shows us how it's done with just a Nikon D200 and Nikkor AF-D 35mm F2.0.

They performed Superstar, Undone, Nothingness, Open, Cross and Design. Unfortunately, they did not have a second set. Price and where to get the album will be available once their uh... manager gets back to me.