I had been using Canon EOS-400D for over 4 years. It had been serving me faithfully. Unfortunately, recently, the built-in flash was not functioning properly and it was too expensive to get it repair. As such, I need to get a new camera to replace it.

I was looking at Canon EOS-60D, a semi-professional camera and EOS-600D, an entry level camera. Having been using an entry level camera for so many years, it would be fairly logical for me to upgrade to a semi-professional camera, rather than getting another entry level camera.

I did a comparison between the 2 cameras.

There are a number of technical similarities, which are 18MByte effective picture pixels, 3″ fully articulated LCD screen, up to 12800 ISO and many more.

Being a semi-professional camera, EOS-60D has the advantages of faster shutter speed of 1/8000 second (which I hardly used), shoulder LCD screen, environmentally sealed body and at least double the battery life.

All these benefits are more than enough to lure me to pay slightly more to get the EOS-60D.

Amazingly, the final reason which made me go towards the entry level EOS-600D camera was physical instead of technical.

I reflected my experience of going around with my camera and other stuffs. I prefer using a sling camera bag instead of a backpack camera bag due to the ease of taking out the camera. Soon, I found that I was having shoulder ache because of carrying so much heavy stuff.

The EOS-60D is a much heavier and bigger camera than the EOS-600D. Considering the weight factor, I finally decided to purchase the EOS-600D instead of upgrading.

Maybe someday in the future, I may get a semi-professional camera. But there is the future.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Purchasing a Blu-Ray Player was not really an easy task for me. There were many inexpensive Blu-Ray Players out there on the market. But I had other thoughts.

My current set-up was a 5.1 channels DVD home theatre system. There was no HDMI input/output on the home theatre system. My LCD TV set has only one HDMI input and it was utilized. Neither the TV set nor the home theatre system has S/PDIF connection.

Because of these limitations, I did not want to just get any Blu-Ray player. On top of the video quality, another reason to get Blu-Ray was the sound quality. I want to enjoy the surround sounds from the video as well. My current setup simply could not satisfy my requirements with just a Blu-Ray player.

I decided to replace my current DVD Home Theatre System with a Blu-Ray Home Theatre System.

I also put other factors into consideration. One was if the system has HDMI inputs. Since my TV set had only one HDMI input and it was utilized, I would want my new system to have HDMI input for my existing devices. I did not wish to change my TV set yet.

The other factor was that, if it could be used to watch YouTube video. Watching YouTube video was sort of the trend now, especially most of the newer models of Blu-Ray Home Theatre system had this function.

After a search, I decided on the Sony BDVE380 5.1-Channel High-Definition Blu-ray Disc Player/DVD Disc Home theater System. It is a 5.1 Channel Blu-Ray Player with 2 HDMI inputs and allows me to watch YouTube videos directly. Somehow, it just fitted into my requirements.

Now, I can enjoy Star Wars Blu-Ray, my existing devices and YouTube Video on this system.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

He carried on, “I am unlikely to watch these discs anytime soon. I had watched these movies countless time already. But getting this set is a fan thing… A must have.”

I understand what he meant. I did not have a Blu-Ray player yet, but I already bought the Blue-Ray set. Getting the Star Wars Blue-Ray set was a must have to a fan.

I had the original Star Wars Episode IV to VI Video CD and DVDs set. Frankly speaking, I had not really sat down to watch these videos discs. But I simply could not resist the Force to get them.

Star Wars Video Collection - VCD, DVD and Blu-Ray

I had not bought any of the Episodes I to III videos, because I knew one day, the complete saga set would be released. And this Star Wars Complete Saga Blu-Ray set was exactly what I had been waiting for.

This Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) [Blu-ray] had also given me the prefect excuse to get a Blu-Ray player. Although I do not know if I would really sit down and watch from start to end.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Bumblebee from Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Robot Mode)

Last evening, my friends asked me to join them to watch this movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D. I did not watch the first 2 movies. But I had heard that the review was good and I grew up with Transformers. So, I quickly agreed.

The movie was quite long, about 2 hours. But there was not a moment to be bored. I found that it has an interesting story line, about loyalty, true to the belief and betrayal. The supposing good Autobot turned out to be the bad one. The Autobots had to fight to protect Earth from this past leader and the Decepticons.

After the movie, I couldn’t help but to go to the nearest Toy Shop and look for the toy lines from the Movie.

After looking through the line, I bought the MechTech Deluxe – Bumblebee.

Bumblebee from Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Car Mode)

I found some of the parts a bit to move, especially the back part. Whenever I want to transform the Bumblebee, I have to be careful not to break a part.

Anyway, with this toy around, I am now considering should I get the DVD of the previous two Transformers Movies: Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Single-Disc Edition).

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 Fisheye Effect

Finally, I have the opportunity to try out Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX over a weekend.

I had been thinking of buying this Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX for quite sometime, because there was a few occasions when I wished I had an ultra wide angle or fisheye lens. When I was covering events, I wish my lens was wide enough to cover the crowds. Or when I was capturing a beautiful scenery, I wish my lens was wide enough so that I would not have to use photo stitching software to get the panorama effect.

The first impression when I mount this Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX on my Canon DSLR camera, was the zoom rotation. I am used to rotating anti-clockwise for telephoto on my Canon and Sigma lens. However, I had to rotate clockwise for Tokina lens. It took me quite some time to get used to it. I believe Nikon users would have no problem on this.

The beauties of Fisheye lens are the barrel distortion and the ultrawide angle. At the widest angle with focus length of 10mm, Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX produced both the diagonal fisheye effect and the wide angle coverage. Now I had to learn how to frame my pictures at this angle. Many occasions, I even captured the railing or the windows frame.

Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 Fisheye DX at 10mm

At 17mm, the distortion was hardly noticable. In fact, I could not tell the photo was taken using the Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX or my Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC IF Macro Lens at 17mm.

Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 Fisheye DX at 17mm

Because of the ultrawide angle, I did not have much problem taking photos at night without using a tripod. The f3.5 aperture was not a concern. And most of the pictures came up clear and sharp.

Night shot with Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 Fisheye DX

Close shot using Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 Fisheye DX

During my few days of playing this Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX, I usually took pictures either at 10mm or 17mm. I hardly made use of any focus length in-between. So, I do wondered, which would be a better choice, a dedicated prime fisheye lens with wider aperture or this zoom fisheye lens. Maybe, the zoom feature would be useful for tighter framing during event coverage.

The fisheye lens could be a very fun lens to have because of its extreme barrel distortion. I took a few portrait pictures with this lens very closed to the face. The outcome was the extremely big nose, distorted face and triangular body.

After the weekend, I wished I did not have to return this lens. I had so much fun with this lens. I just wonder, how does this Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX compared to the recent announced Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM zoom lens. Anyway, till I got a choice to try the new Canon lens, Tokina ATX107PRODXC 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 Fish Eye ATX Pro DX shall remain in my wish list.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I wanted to bring out the darkness of Gundam Wing Mobile Suit. So I have to work mostly in darkness and used LED touches as my main sources of light.

Sometime back, I did some operations to insert a LED in each of my Gundam Deathscythe Scale Models, to light up the green eyes. I think the green eyes bring out the mysteries and darkness of this Gundam scale model series.

It was a fun experience taking photos of Gundam Deathscythe and Gundam Deathscythe Hell.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It was all started when I messed around with my wife’s Facebook Cafe World Game. I did so much mischief that, she made me add Cafe World game application in my own Facebook account.

After a short while playing “progressively” with the Cafe World game, I began to put my creativity in the Cafe World game on the layout.

According to the Cafe World Strategy Guide, the layout, how to decorate the cafe, placement of the tables etc will not only impact the ambiance of the place. It will also affect the cafe ability to succeed in the game and grow business.

There were two general suggestions from Cafe World Strategy Guide on layout.

First was to have easy access for the customers. The furniture has to be arranged such that the customers are able to get to all available tables and chairs.

The second was to was to “Save the Waiter’s Legs”. This was to arrange the furniture in such a way to minimize the time getting back and forth from the serving counters to the tables. And to help the waiters more time to serve the customers, we can give the customer a “long walk to their tables”, even “putting in a lot of twists and turns”.

The first was easy. I arranged the tables and chairs in a single row. The customers can easily access to all the chairs and tables.

To “Save the Waiter’s Legs”, I minimized the distance the between the tables and the serving counters. In fact, the distance was only a corridor of single square units.

I put in a lot of effort to ensure that the customers would take a long time to reach the tables. In fact, I think I reached a point of overdoing so.

I put rows of barriers in such a manner that the customers have to walk zig-zag for half the cafe before they can reach the tables. I wanted to make a maze using the barriers. Unfortunately, I do not have enough space in the restaurant for me to make an effective one. Maybe after I had expanded my cafe bigger, I would make another attempt to make a complex maze.

The final result that I observed was, at any one time, at most, four out of the eight tables were occupied. But it is really interesting to watch the customers walking a long, long way, half of the cafe to and fro the door and tables. And because of the long walk, the cafe look very “crowded”.

The Facebook Cafe World is an interesting game for us to try out the various layout. I will be definitely trying out more complex layout to make the customers walk, and make the customers walk a lot more! There could be more ideas from Cafe World Strategy Guide for us to try out.

Let the Customers Walk

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I took my camera and my furthest telezoom lens to somewhere I would not be disturbed and I could get a clear view of the moon. I did not attempt to look for a dark place because I am living in a city. Almost anywhere is surrounded by city light.

I was using the Canon DEOS 400D with Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens.

Initially, I used P-mode for my shots. No matter how I tried, the moon appeared too bright, with all the features missing. Then I switched to Manual Mode.

After many attempts, I think I managed to find the optimal range of setting to take the photo of the moon – 300mm f/45 (the max available) 0.6s ISO 100. We may need to adjust the timing up or down a few steps for best result at different environment.

The photo of the moon

Photo of the Moon (100% crop) (Click to view full)

As seen in the pictures, at 300mm, the moon is very small. Maybe, in my next attempt, I will try to get a 2x Extender to fill the moon in the frame.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Recently, I had the opportunity to test out more effect using Circular Polarizing Filter – reduce reflection for shoot before water surface.

The following are two pictures taken using different rotation of the Circular Polarizing Filter.

Effect of Circular Polarizing Filter - Reflection on Water Surface

Effect of Circular Polarizing Filter - Reducing the Reflection on the Water Surface

In the first picture, because of the reflection on the water surface, we can hardly see the fishes in the water.

Thank to the Circular Polarizing Filter, we can see the fishes in the water more clearly. However, in this picture, the ground above the water surface look washed out.

The Circular Polarizing Filter can easily help to reduce the reflection on the water surface, so that we can shoot beyond the water surface, what is in the water.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This make me curious to try out the game myself. And that was how I started playing this Mafia Wars. Throughout, I had some interesting unexpected gain as posted previously. I also have some frustration, especially on the influence points.

I did a search on the marketplace to look for products on Mafia Wars. These are some of what I found:

1. The Dominate Mafia Wars Guide
   The author shared the secret on how he grew his Mafia, even starting the first level with 500 Mafia Members. Never Losing A Fight Or Ever Getting Robbed, And Destroying Every Target On My Hit List With Reckless Abandon!
2. Mafia Wars Blueprint
   The author chose 2 applicants who were a level 2 and 5. He gave them simple instruction. They played the game for no more than 2 hours per day for the next 8 days. Result – $6 Billion, 952 Godfather Points and 673 Mafia Followers In 8 Days…
3. Mafia Wars Wizard
   Never Lose a Fight Or Get Robbed, Start At The Very First Level With 500 MAFIA MEMBERS, Get Revenge On ANY Mafia Crew, Master Every Job At Break-Neck Speed, Plus Get All The Weapons And Tools You Can Dream Of – Using Idiot-Proof Secret Tactics and Tricks – Become The Envy Of Every Single Mafia Wars ‘Wannabe’ Player..
4. Mafia War Secrets
   The author claimed that he cracked the codes to Mafia Wars and now have amazing cheat codes that propel you to the top of Mafia Wars with the biggest mafia immediately.
5. Mafia Sniper
   This provides training videos and guides to help players learn to achieve top boss
6. Mafia Wars Game Guide
   “Top Mafia Godfather with Over 786 Hours, Played Time Experience…Shares Highly Classified Tactics & Secrets on How to Legally Dominate Mafia Wars, Leveling 1 to 200 in 3 days, Grow Your Mafia Family in Record Time and Destroying Anyone Who Dares to Get in Your Way With Ease!”
7. Mafia Wars Kingpin
   “This information is unlike any other “Mickey Mouse” Mafia Wars information that you’ve ever seen online! These no fluff tactics are the exact strategies being used by the underground elite Bosses.”
8. Top Mafia Secrets
   3 Steps to Mafia Wars Success – Step 1: Review the material outlined in this unique guide. Step 2: Put what you’ve discovered into action. Step 3: Sit back, relax, and watch how quickly & easily to level up to 800.
9. Mafia Wars Annihilation
   The author claimed he spent over the past year and a half, glued to PC, literally only getting up to eat and hit the bathroom… studying Mafia Wars inside and out… MASTERING it.
10. Cheats 4 Mafia Wars
    The author shared how get to access to unlimited resource and unlimited Mobsters

On top of the above, there are others products on Mafia Wars as well.

Personally, I preferred to take my Mafia Wars as it is and had not tried out any of these products. Maybe, one day, I would get impatient and get one to speed up the growth.

If you wish to grow your Mafia Wars at super speed as they claimed, you would like to try out one or more of these products. Feel free to share your experience in the comments

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.