Managing Finances

With so many loan firms, it’s difficult to decide which meets our needs, and offers good service. Varying from firm to firm, interest rates are different everywhere. This is the main reason why credit cards have become increasingly popular for customers to pay for their purchases. Yes, this brings benefits, for example, instead of carrying cash, carrying a credit card is safer (especially at places with high crime rates), as the credit card can then be cancelled by the owner. However, if the card is not paid for almost immediately, it can lead to major financial problems, with the debts growing by the day. There is a solution now though, payday loans that provide alternative funds overnight to settle debts.

Canon Goes Green!

Canon launched an environmental campaign called Canon Goes Green some time ago. I saw the billboard of it along Federal Highway the other day so I took a look at the website. I initially thought they were launching some sort of eco-friendly batteries or something, blame the camera-minded me. That intro song at the website really made me smile. For this campaign, Canon will plant 2500 saplings in Padang Kota Damansara, wherever it is. All you have to do is submit a photo It’s that simple. Do the environment a small, tiny even, favour by submitting just about any photo, the site didn’t say the photo has to be taken with a Canon. It’s the least everyone of us could do for all the crap pollution and stuff we already did to Earth. The “Start to Stop” phrase in the photo meant start stopping the pollution if you couldn’t figure that out.

I submitted one, okay. And when a crap photographer like me can, you can too. Hell, everyone and anyone can.

Okay, I noticed my post are always about cameras and photography. And Canon too. I promise I’ll come out with more interesting ones after the PMR. I don’t even have the time or rather, chance to go out there and take some photos. If the posts before and after this one seem weird to you, they’re sponsored posts. Yes, sponsored posts. I ought to hide my grin somewhere.

I’m really going into crunch mode this Hari Raya holidays. It’s like the last chance I have to make it, the 7As.

Pacific Advance – Fast Cash!

Need a fast cash advance payday loan for your educational, daily and personal needs? Pacific Advance has just the solution for you then! Finding alternative loan sources can be a tedious task, especially when dealing with banks, or worse, loan sharks. Pacific Advance is a web-based loan institution that can provide you with a cash advance ahead until your next payday, which is very useful for emergencies. Here are the basic terms you must meet to be pre-approved. Pacific Advance are willing to loan $100 to $2500. You have to repay the amount of the loan on your next payday. So, if you need a trustworthy and secure way to get the cash you need, Pacific Advance is the way to go. I assure you they’ll provide you good service. Good luck and spend your money wisely.

evolved.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II has officially been announced just today. It isn’t the 7D like what has been speculated and even someone saying that it’s the 7D and his friend has tested it and all. It’s the Mark II, I’m guessing because it’s a high-end model, like the EOS-1 series.

They’ve revealed it completely here.

I gotta say, it looks stunning. It still maintains that evergreen 5D look but with an exotic mix of the 1Ds Mark III.

With the 24-105mm, a popular standard zoom since the EOS 5D. It’s still being offered as a kit with this lens. Where’s that speculated 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM? It’s either coming soon, or not at all.

I’m going to give it a test run once it’s out here, if I can get my hands on one. See how it compares to our current classic 5D. The specifications on the Mark II look great. Here’s a run through.

• 21 MP full-frame CMOS
• Full HD video recording
• 3.9 frames per second continuous shooting
• High performance DIGIC 4 providing superb image quality
• Maximum 310 large JPEG images in a single burst with a UDMA card
• 3.0” VGA (920k dots) Clear View LCD
• ISO 100-6400 (expansion from 50 up to 25,600)
• 9 AF points + 6 Assist AF points

So, D700 users, any comment? Really, it looks way more refined than the D700 in my humble opinion

Just as I’m typing this, DPreview has put up a preview on it. Hohohoh, I’m drooling. It’s officially my dream camera now. Time to work hard for that 7As I guess.

They’ve also introduced tons of mouth-watering new cameras and lenses (EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM!). See DPreview

Images from Canon Press Library and Canon Australia.

Kata R-101 GDC review

Kata produces high-quality bags and cases for photographers and videographers alike. Apart from Lowepro, it’s probably the best camera bag I’ve seen and used so far. With experience in military equipment, you can’t go wrong using their carrying solutions. I’ll be reviewing the Kata R-101 backpack, which is in the GDC range, apparently their top-end one. Note that this is a pretty lengthy and detailed review, so be prepared for a lot of photos.

How I Did The Test

I bought the bag in late July, it’s been used quite often since then. Therefore, this review is largely based on what I think of it throughout the usage. I subjected it to some abuse during the hike, some on purpose to test its ruggedness and durability. Of course, information on fabrics, material, etc are from research online.

Exterior

The exterior employs extensive use of ballistic nylon, originally developed by DuPont for the purpose of clothing protecting the wearer from bullet shards. The material is abrasion-resistant, which is good so the bag does not really show wear. Ballistic nylon is also tough and water-resistant. The downside? It’s actually very heavy compared to other types of nylon.

Canon’s Moon Teaser

Canon has been getting photographers all excited and anticipated with this teaser. Those marketing boffins at Canon Imaging just had to generate more hype for it (seems it’s a replacement model for the 2005 EOS 5D, which is the longest living Canon Digital SLR camera) than the D700 did. Idiots.

Every few days or so, they shed more light, showing more and more of the camera’s body curves (yum).I have absolutely no idea why they showed the Moon but here’s a wild guess, it’s a replacement model for the EOS 20Da instead, which is specialised in astrophotography, but that’s highly unlikely.

And here’s why. Based on my noob analysing (so don’t trust anything, I suck at such predictions). Okay, here goes nothing. It’s got a large prism bulge, somewhat similar in size to that of the awesome Nikon D700. No internal flash can be seen in that prism head. 5D and the 1D-series never had built-in flashes, so it initially must be either the 5D or some super 1D/1Ds. Now, why isn’t it a 1D-series body? Most obviously, because it has a mode dial on the top left-hand side (back of camera facing). Canon’s 1D-series bodies never had those, you change between exposure modes by pressing a simple combination of buttons and scrolling, probably paying homage the first EOS model, the EOS 650 (which is a great film camera, btw, I can tell although it’s just stored away most of the time).

I think Canon was already prepared to announce it months ago, but then Nikon came out with the D3, D300 and later on D700 that almost didn’t have the word “image noise” in them. Then they probably had to get around reworking on it’s sensor design to compete with the D700. From what I read, the current 5D already produces great images in JPEG (and RAW CR2, it feels just at home in both) but the D700 doesn’t really have good JPEGS. It’s RAW NEF files are of course, superb. I can’t wait till I check that teaser microsite everyday.

A Year Ago

Exactly a year ago, I created this blog. My posts were stupid and I blogged about dumb random stuff like a whore. I knew nothing about writing interesting stuff.

Now, I mainly blog about photography. Since a year ago, I got about 9K hits. Thank you, people. It might seem modest to blogging giants but I don’t even do this as a hobby.

I went into my blog stats recently and I was pretty surprised on the clicks I get. Last month, I got 1124 views. Thanks for the support, whoever reads my blog

I’ve grown fond of the WordPress interface. It’s very user friendly and the themes are to my liking. Of course, you can’t put Google AdSense bars up but I don’t do this for that.

Well, happy birthday, blog!

My First Macro

Sounds like some kiddie book, no? Yes, its my first time doing real macro photos, not easy.

I got the macro lens, so I did some macro in the garden (obviously). I wanna go to FRIM after PMR! But then again, knowing those ‘authorities’ there, I’ll have to almost smuggle my cameras in, which is, well, almost, if not impossible.

These photos were taken last month, I finally got around it. Spotted just a few common ones, after about half an hour scrutinizing every plant in the garden in search of tiny creatures with a heavy load on my back. Here are some of the best ones, some shot in RAW. All with 400D, 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM and 580EX II. Yes, I kind of needed the flash because sunlight was quite blocked by the overcast conditions. But, no precipitations that day, something I wanted  to have at night to shoot none other than – lightning surges! Hahahah. (still haven’t had the chance to shoot them)

Not all photos were taken at 1:1 magnification. The 100mm gets nearer Photos were edited only during the RAW converting stages, at minimum. I can’t name the insects in the photos by their scientific names, either because I just started macro work, I don’t have an insect book or simply because I have none or little interest in knowing it. You choose.

Please note – this is a noob at work play, so constructive comments and criticisms welcome (:

Some kind of butterfly I assume is common. Notice the torn wing.

Same butterfly. It flew from that spot and I followed it.

Shiny looking fly

Closer look at a different angle of the same one as above.

Bougainvillea flower. Focused on the inner pollen grain in the stigma (correct me if I’m wrong)

This needs no introduction. The one that holds its own feast with your food in the school canteen

Well, that’s all. I’ve many subjects and photographic goals (or grails…) on my list to achieve. After PMR