D7000 price release!!

Sorry guys, is been a while i didn't post any update into my blog.. sorry ah.. too busy with work and family stuff recently... actually i got a lot of thing planning to update but lack of time.. pai seh pai seh
ok lah.. today i going to tell you Malaysia finally released the price for D7000. Guess how much? not cheap friend, RM3950 (USD1267) for body only (free 8GB SHHC & Nikon SLR bag). it was a good camera but i am sure it going to burn a big hole into your pocket. I am still waiting the full review report from dpreview.com. After i read it ah, i will post my own comment about this camera some time soon. If got chance i will go to camera shop to hold this camera as well.. if i can find a good time doing this..

Nikon D3100

Not sure you feel the same or not, when a lot of folks try to invest to for their first SLR, usually they will have a lot of hard time in choosing which SLR worth to spend their hard earn $$$, go for Canon, Nikon or Sony? of course there are other brand out there but in Malaysia this 3 are the top runners. I group top 6 considerations that bugging their mind the most

1. Cost of the camera
2. Branding (which one better, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Pentax)
3. Lens choice
4. Weight & Size
5. Image quality
6. Do i really need SLR??

But if you are looking for the first SLR that won't put a big hole to your pocket and answer all the worries above, personally i would recommend Nikon D3100. Why? price is very attractive loh, tag at RM1988 in Shashinki with free SLR bag & 4GB memory. Sui leh...Compare to Canon still selling 1000D as their budget line with dated features, Nikon really outshine in

• 14.2 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor
• 3.0" LCD monitor (230,000 dots)
• Image sensor cleaning (sensor shake)
• 11 AF points (with 3D tracking)
• IS0 100-3200 range (12,800 expanded)
• HD movies (1080, 720p or WVGA)
• Live View
• Ability to shoot Raw + Fine JPEG
• Expeed 2 Image processing engine

Image below compare side by side between Canon 1000D & Sony A390. Three of them almost the same in size. D3100 is quite lightweight, so no worry to carry around. 

Ok, let review again the top 6 considerations for D3100

1. Cost of the camera - Cheap, less than RM2k
2. Branding - Nikon leh, big brand, no worry on build quality
3. Lens choice - plenty out there, but your lens need to have build in motor lo..
4. Weight & Size - only 505grams. lightweight lah.. small in size, easy to carry around
5. Image quality - impressive for a budget SLR standpoint
6. Do i really need SLR?? - ask back yourself

Alright, i hope i do provide a little help before you make up your mind which SLR to go. Watch the quick hands on from youtube, the ISO performance is remarkable good for a budget camera, good job Nikon. 

Hong Kong - Giant Buddha or 天壇大佛

It is photo time again, this round i would to share the photos i took from my last Hong Kong trip in 2009. Pai seh i am not going to share all in single post because there are a lot and i prefer split into few post. 


Today i will just share the giant Buddha photo. If you never went there before, Giant Buddha is located in Ngong Ping, Lantau island. To go there you can take MTR to Tung Ching station and change to cable car or bus if you scare of height or kiam siap :). Giant Buddha is 34 metres (112 ft) tall, weighs 250 metric tons (280 short tons) and it is one of the world's tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha. If you like to know more about Giant Buddha... Google it yourself lah.. 


It was December at that time, not so hot but not cold either, perfect timing for travel. ok lah. stop talking liao, here you go the photos.

That's all for this round, next post i will share others location photo from HK, stay tune.

Canon 60D price released!!!!

All right!!!!!!!! Malaysia finally released the price for 60D and you should able to get it by October. Compare to Amazon US and Shashinki Malaysia. Malaysia price is very attracting and i believe a lot of 350D, 400D, 450D & 500D user already start to prepare their pocket money for this upgrade. Unfortunately 50D body still sell at MYR 2998, i don't think still have anybody will go to get 50D right now unless you have special reason. 


Amazon

60D body - USD 1099 (MYR 3383)

60D with 18-135mm - USD1399 (MYR 6134)

Shashinki

60D body - MYR 3198

60D with 18-135mm - MYR 3998

Sg Layar photo outing

It’s been a while I didn't share any photo from my canon 350D, pai seh ah.. I was too lazy to pick photos from my collections and share it out to you guys, plus this week I am busy doing OT in weekend to earn extra pocket money. Hehe

Last week my sister and her hubby came back from Singapore to visit our parent in Sg Petani, Kedah and we decided to organize a small photo outing between myself and my SGD (Singapore dollor) brother in law :-) to test out his new camera. He actually bought Panasonic FZ35 few months back after I recommend this model to him as I bought same camera model to my wife earlier of the year. Primary objective of this photo outing is for him to get familiar with FZ35 function before my sister and him travel to Korea in October.  Secondly is to avoid him complain the camera lao beh (lame), you know lah.. usually people blame the camera more than their own skills mah... sorry bro.......wahahaha... 

Location was my kampung (home place), Sg Layar - the place i spent my youth days. It got river, got padi field and it is only 5min away, perfect location for photo shooting. We woke up at early morning and travel to Sg Jagung river with my elder sister motorcycle. We stop at a small jetty nearby the bridge connect Sg Layar to Semerling so that we can start shooting some nice photo. 

It was a nice morning and the view was great too except we still a bit sleepy at that time. It still early and no people around except a few workers but surprisingly i met my secondary school junior. She was alone and i managed to take some photo of her before i go and say hi to her. 

Ok lah, enough talking.. enjoy the photos around the jetty and do leave some comment if you feel  the photo is nice or need some improvement.

Fisherman

She was thinking something when i took this photo

Another photo of her from the back

The view to Sg Jagung river from the bridge

The bridge between Sg Layar and Semerling

.

View from jetty

Pillar at the jetty

     

A view below the jetty

Fisherman boat (Sampan) 

View from the sampan to the bridge

Another view from the sampan to the bridge

Passenger boat from the jetty

The fisherman is preparing to catch some fish

Iphone4 finally launch in Malaysia

Believe it or not, after a day i ask about when iphone4 will launch in Malaysia? then today it launch right away... what a coincidence ah......

Okay, there are 2 carrier in Malaysia offer iphone4, Maxis and Digi. If you look at the package offer by them, Digi package is far better as you only need to pay lesser monthly fees, RM58 compare to Maxis you need to pay RM100 per month just to own the phone.

Haha.. i believe now you know who will be your choice to get a iphone4 then. Enjoy your Q to get the phone lah... do remember to bring your sleeping bag, toothbrush, homemade pillow, mineral water, magazine and a friend too so that you can go to toilet mah... if is even better your mom can bring chicken soup for you to drink while you are Q'ing. hahaha...

Digi offer

Maxis Offer

When Iphone 4 will start selling in Malaysia??

Singapore already selling Iphone4 for quite sometimes, with or without carrier contract, which is a good news for all the consumer as they no need to sign the contract just to get the phone. Hopefully Malaysia will do the same thing as well and not just lock down to 2 carrier like what happen on Iphone 3Gs. Iphone 4 is a cool phone but i hope you won't upset with the signal lost as Apple will give you a free condom (rubber) that can fix the problem (oops, Apple CEO Mr Steve not really think this is a problem). As you can see from the photo, white color is not available yet due to some technical issue, i think the paint easily tear out kut....

My sister own a Iphone4 and luckily i have a chance to play with it. While holding the phone on my palm, the phone feel very solid and heavier compare to 3Gs which feel plastic and lighter. The build quality is good and you can feel it is worth for the money. The 3.5 inch screen color is stunning, resolution is 960 x 640 and the color is a lot better compare to my Samsung Omnia 2. It has front camera and the back is packed with 5MP and flash. But funny is the phone only can make video call thru wifi but not 3G. Pelik (odd)!!!. So simple said you only able to make video call when you have wireless connection.

For the user who bought iphone, you won't disappointed with the software experience. Another + point is the free apps are a lot too. But bear in mind that Android phone popularity is increasing and very soon it will become the biggest rival of Iphone. So you like Iphone or Android, remember to do some comparison and try it at phone shop before you make final decision to spend your hard earn money on the gadget.

Nikon D7000

Canon competitor Nikon has launch D7000, a new segment between D90 and D300s. So whoever looking for D90 replacement, you won't get 1 to 1 replacement instead you need to pay extra bucks to get D7000.  I am not sure D7000 will be the direct competitor for Canon 60D or not, but i am sure a lot of photography review website definitely will do some PK between this 2 cameras, so let's see what is the outcome later. 


Okay, back to D7000, the size is almost the same with D90, so the handling should be the same except D7000 is magnesium alloy body which give you more solid feel. It pack with 16.2MP sensor (from Sony i think), quite high for Nikon family actually. If you familiar with Canon, they always pack with higher resolution sensor compare to Nikon. Anyway, do take note that higher MP doesn't mean you can get better picture quality, at least not all the time. 


D7000 standard ISO range is 100-6400 and it can expand to 12,800/25,600, which is quite match to current middle level SLR market expectation. The camera also come with 921k dot 3 inch LCD screen, full HD video recording and what surprise me is the dual SD card slots. For normal photo shooting, i believe 1 SD card slot is enough, but if taking full HD movie, the 2 card slot will come in handy because HD movie easily suck out a lot of memory. 


Amazon has start to receive pre-order for D7000, price is USD1199 for body only. By compare to Canon 60D, D7000 is USD100 more expensive. So which one worth the money from your pocket? you know the answer better than i do.  


Okay, that's all i want to talk about D7000, if you looking for in depth review, just google and you will find a lot of useful site that better than mine one. Picture below showed the size by size comparison between D90, D7000 & D300s

Key Features of D7000

• 16.2MP CMOS sensor
• 1080p HD video recording
• ISO 100-6400 (plus H1 and H2 equivalent to ISO 12,800/25,600)
• New 39-point AF system
• Dual SD card slots
• 3.0 inch 921k dot LCD screen
• Up to 6fps continuous shooting
• Lockable shooting mode dial
• Built-in intervalometer
• Electronic virtual horizon
• Magnesium alloy body

**D7000 camera photo were copy from dpreview.com

罗忆诗 - 来不及

好感动的一首歌... 完全唱到我心里去了...很感触。。也让我想起了很多事情。
她是罗忆诗，马来西亚的一位实力派创作歌手。
当你听这首歌的时后，请记得看歌词，很有意思。

罗忆诗 - 来不及

习惯一个人看戏 

习惯一个人旅行 

习惯一个人静静想你 

想你现在在哪里 

想你会为谁担心 

想你是否已忘记 

忘记那段爱情 

忘记那颗泪滴 

忘记了所有不该忘的回忆 

我来不及将你的手紧紧握着 

对你说我只想要我们能快乐 

曾以为少了你的陪伴不算什么 

怎么我微笑着心却是痛的 

我来不及将记忆中的你消除了 

我明白错过的从此难以负荷 

如果眼泪能够证明我是爱你的 

那么重新选择是不是来不及了 

忘记那段爱情忘记那颗泪滴 

忘记了所有不该忘的回忆 

我来不及将你的手紧紧握着 

对你说我只想要我们能快乐 

曾以为少了你的陪伴不算什么 

怎么我微笑着心却是痛的 

我来不及将记忆中的你消除了 

我明白错过的从此难以负荷 

如果眼泪能够证明我是爱你的 

那么重新选择是不是来不及了 

我来不及将你的手紧紧握着 

对你说我只想要我们能快乐 

曾以为少了你的陪伴不算什么 

怎么我微笑着心却是痛的 

我来不及将记忆中的你消除了 

我明白错过的从此难以负荷 

如果眼泪能够证明我是爱你的 

那么重新选择是不是来不及了

New Ipod Nano

Apple has launched new Ipod Nano and now it is avalable on Malaysia Apple Store. According to Mr Steve Job (Apple CEO), the new Ipod nano is about 50% lighter and 50% smaller to previous Nano. Okay... it is supporting touch screen features now with multi touch technology, meaning you can put 2 fingers into the1.54 inch screen and tweak around. But the screen is relative small, i don't think you can satisfy with it compare with ipod touch which is as big as iphone. 


The icon idea are copied from Iphone and it should be no problem for the folks to play around with it. Nano can last for 24 hours playback with single charge. pretty standard compare to others brand player. Weight is only 21.1 grams, for me it is very light and you won't easily notice if it drop from your pocket. According to Apple Store, selling price for 8GB is RM549 and 16GB is RM679, okay for the price standpoint but i bet you can pay 100 to 200 bucks less if you are buying China brand player with same memory capacity. But if you buy Nano because it is "Apple" then it shouldn't be a big problem for you to pay this amount of money.  So for the folks still struggle on gift idea to your lover this year. Nano might be a good choice for you then

Canon drop SLR price, prepared for 60D launch?

Recently Canon has drop the selling price for Canon 550D, 500D, 50D, 5D, 1000D & 7D. So are they preparing for 60D launch and revise the selling price? let's wait and see.







Here is the new price i checked from shashinki.com

Price listed below are body only
550D   - Price drop from RM2699 to RM2328
500D   - Price drop from EM2395 to RM1968
1000D - Price drop from RM1850 to RM1588
50D     - Price drop from RM3695 to RM2988
7D       - Price drop from RM5750 to RM4589
60D     - I predict price should be between RM3.4k to 3.8k

Canon has released the official website for Canon 60D for Canon Asia. Do take a look if you have time.
http://www.canon-asia.com/eos60d/

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Dan Brown, the best selling author for The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, his latest thriller fiction, The Lost Symbol finally reached my hand. Selling price is RM32.90 but i managed to get 20% discount using P book store member card from a 27 years old pretty lady. So after i paid RM26.30. I happily bring this book back to home and carefully unwrap the plastic bag. The book has 700 pages and i am going to start reading it real soon. Robert Langdon, here i come to read your adventure story in solving and decoding all the clues with your symbol and history expertise.

房祖名 & 龔芝怡 - 最好的我

Few days ago i had introduced you the song from Serene Kong (明知道我爱你), i hope you like it as i did. Alright, today i am going to introduce another song from Serene which she sing with Jaycee Chan. Song title is 最好的我 and the music was composed by Serene and Lyric was wrote by Jaycee. 

Jaycee showed his great talent in writing the lyrics with Mandarin, Cantonese and English. Furthermore, he is the director of this MV. I hope you will like this song. :)

龚芝怡 明知我爱你

新加坡歌手龚芝怡新歌明知我爱你。歌词平凡而真实。韻律简单但触动人心。我特别喜欢以下这些歌词。


多痛都可以 不能没有你 
明知道我爱你 却不敢告诉你
我害怕失去你 宁愿沉默不语
该如何整理 幸福在手里
我恨自己 无能为力

希望大家会喜欢这首歌。

龚芝怡 明知我爱你

告诉你 瞒着你 只不过是个决定
放弃你 忘记你 只怕我无法前进
不知道为什么会如此莫名紧张你
我越了解你 越靠近你 越犹豫

明知道我爱你 却不敢告诉你
我害怕失去你 宁愿沉默不语
该如何整理 幸福在手里
我恨自己 无能为力

明知道我爱你 却不敢靠近你
我假装不在意 反而痛了自己
多痛都可以 不能没有你
只想永远永远爱你
你知不知道我也没关系

告诉你 瞒着你 只不过是个决定
但为何 到如今 我依然无法前进
不知道为什么会如此莫名紧张你
我越了解你 越靠近你 越犹豫

明知道我爱你 却不敢告诉你
我害怕失去你 宁愿沉默不语
该如何整理 幸福在手里
我恨自己 无能为力

明知道我爱你 却不敢靠近你
我假装不在意 反而痛了自己
多痛都可以 不能没有你
只想永远永远爱你
你知不知道我也没关系

明知道我爱你 假装不在意
多痛都可以 不能没有你
只想永远永远爱你
你知不知道真的没关系

Canon 60D

The long wait Canon 60D has finally launched and personally i am very excited. You might ask why excited? ok lah, because it might be my replacement to my aging 350D once i save enough money ...:)

60D is different to it's old sibling 50D in term of size and most important market position. I believe a lot of people has compared 550D with 50D and the conclusion was 550D has outshine 50D in a lot of way unless you are looking for magnesium body, better handling and considerably quicker 6.3fps continuous shooting. But if you okay without those features, no doubt 550D is a good choice and and more important the price tag is cheaper than 50D.

Canon designer and marketing folks has to think of something new to make 60D alive and help the company continue to make $$$ with X0D series. After months and months of design review and R&D, canon decided to add articulated LCD into 60D. Not sure you know or not, this is first Canon DSLR gain 3:2 articulated LCD and packed with 18MP sensor. If you compare side by side with 50D, you will notice 60D is actually smaller, it also no longer use magnesium body. By doing this, canon managed to bring down the weight to 685g and but at the same time save some cost as well. By comparing back to back, the screen now carry 3:2 instead of 4:3 which is more suitable. The button has been re-arrange as well and no more joystick in 60D.  60D still remained 9 point AF which is a bit disappointed but it did leverage TTL full aperture metering with 63 zone Dual Layer (iFCL) metering system from 7D. 60D has drop CF support and move to SD slots. The is not definitely not friendly for those who like to upgrade their body from 50D to 60D as they need to buy all the memory card again. Below are the key features for 60D, take a look


Key features

• 18MP APS-C CMOS sensor
• ISO 100-3200 (expandable to 12,800)
• 5.3 fps continuous shooting
• 1080p HD video recording with manual controls
• SD / SDHC / SDXC storage
• In-camera raw development
• Subject modes with 'Ambience Selection' (Standard, Vivid, Soft, Warm, Intense, Cool, Brighter, Darker and Monochrome)
• In-camera Creative Filters (special effects)
• Fully articulated 3.0" screen (3:2)
• iFCL metering with 63-zone Dual-layer Sensor
• Integrated Speedlite transmitter
• In-camera RAW processing
• Advanced creative features with Basic +
• DIGIC 4
• 5.3fps shooting for up to 58 JPEGs
• 9-point cross type AF System

Amazon is accepting pre-book with USD1,099 or RMK3.4k. For Malaysia market, release date not yet announce. Let me know if you know the release date as i need to camera shop to do some hands on.

周杰倫 退後

退後 or step back in English was an old song from Jay Chou released in 2006. Can't explain why, i still like this song although i had listen to it for many many times. Until now it still one of my favorite songs and hereby i would like to share it with you. The lyric is meaningful, especially (我知道妳我都沒有錯 只是忘了怎麼退後) which carry the meaning "I know that it is not your fault or mine, we just forgot how to step back". (只是放手會比較好過 最美的愛情 回憶裡待續) - "letting you go would make things easier, the most beautiful of love is let it continue in our memory". Enjoy the song..


詞／宋健彰(彈頭)
Lyrics: Devon Song　
曲／周杰倫
Music: Jay Chou


天空灰得像哭过 The sky is so gray that it looks like it just cried
离开你以后 After leaving you

並沒有更自由 I did not gain more freedom
酸酸的空氣 The sourness from the air

嗅出我们的距离 Smelling out our distance
一幕锥心的结局 A scene of of heartbreaking ending

像呼吸般无法停息 Like breathing, unable to stop.
抽屉泛黄的日记 The yellowed diary in the drawer

榨乾了回憶 pressed dry our memories
那笑容是夏季 That smile is summer

你我的过去 Our past
被順時針的忘记 Has been forgotten as time goes by

缺氧过后的爱情 A love that lacked oxygen.
粗心的眼泪是多余 Careless tears are unnecessary

我知道你我都没有错 I know that it is not your fault or mine.
只是忘了怎么退后 We just forgot how to step back

信誓旦旦给了承诺 We made promises to each other with confidence
却被时间扑了空 Yet it has been emptied by time

我知道我们都没有错 I know that it is not your fault or mine
只是放手会比较好过 It's just that letting you go would make things easier
最美的爱情回忆里待續 The most beautiful of love is let it continue in our memory

53rd Merdeka day

Today i would like to wish Malaysia happy 53rd birthday, Hari Merdeka or 1 Malaysia day. It has already 53 years we became big family and i wish all of us love each other with respect and maintain the harmony. Although we are multiracial, multi religion and multi language but we all are Malaysian!!! We born here, live here and this is our homeland, not China or India. At last, happy holiday and i hope you have your quality time with your family.

Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower, it is a global symbol of Paris and it is one of the greatest monument in the world. Every year it attracted a lot of tourist visit this romantic place and bring France a lot of $$$$$. My wife like this tower very much and drive me to write this post. Both of us do have plan to visit Paris one day to enjoy this remarkable scenery. So in this post, i am going to introduce a little bit about Eiffel Tower based on my reading & understanding, hopefully everybody will know more about Eiffel tower.

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel

Eiffel Tower was built in 1887 and finished at 1889, located on Champ de Mars in Paris. I don't know how to pronounce Champ de Mars in France, if you know, teach me. :). The tower was designed by a guy name Gustave Eiffel that you can see from right. Mmmm, right now we know how the tower name came from.  The tower is 1063 ft tall, about 81-storey height. According to Wikipedia, it was the tallest man made building until Chrysler Building in New York City completed built in 1930. The tower become the symbol/icon for both Paris and France. It also known as one of the most romantic place in the world for lovers.

Night view in blue

The whole tower weighs 10,00 tonnes and consists 7,300 tonnes of metal. Wah lou, 1ton = 1000kg leh, 7,300 tonnes meaning it use a lot of metal. I am sure our metal theft in Malaysia sure like Eiffel tower more than us. For maintenance wise, it is not easy too, every 7 years Paris need to apply 50 tonnes of brownish-grey/dark brown paint to protect it from rust. Pity to the paint worker...... i think my wife sure very happy if one day Paris decide to paint the tower into pink..... OMG...

Night view in yellow

If you plan to walk from ground to top, you will need to walk 1665 steps. But don't worry, the walkable steps by visitors only 704. Sorry, i will still take the lifts by paying some extra money. Another interesting fact is the tower height can varies up to 15cm due to thermal expansion from the metal. There is a restaurant at the tower and i heard it is very expensive.Ok lah, that's all what i want to write about Eiffel tower, thanks for reading. All the images copied from from internet.

Another night view