Are You Talking To Me, Punk?

The dust has finally settle on Christmas parties… This would be the last in a long time that I get to enjoy myself. At least not until after the exams.

I just LOVE this photo. For once, I think the camera nailed the focus perfectly. But it does show the less-than-creamy bokeh of the 85mm f/1.8. Good enough but not wonderful.

“Never in the history of mankind has so much been owed by so many to so few” – William Churchill

Ears Of Ultimate Ears

Delayed blog post. Been extremely busy preparing for exams in the last month. Only decided to post because I need an outlet for my dissatisfaction.

As well as loving photography, I am a music nut. I was spoiled with good sound from my first computer. Instead of buying a £10 speaker set for my Acer Aspire Pentium 133MHz, I bought a £100 Cambridge Soundworks speaker set. And thus my audiophilic nature was cultivated.

So realise my joy in finding the quality offered by high-end earphone manufacturers such as Etymotic Research’s ER-6i. The sound quality and isolation offered by them is fantastic. I would even go and say they are even better than my JBL Creature II speakers I have sitting by my MBP.

Within 1 year, 1 pair of Etymotic ER-6is broke on me. The join of the cable to the monitor driver itself snapped. Fine. I accept it. I tug on the cord more than I should. It’s my fault. My pure dumb luck. Bought another pair and less than 1 year later ANOTHER dud. That’s £200 of high-end earphones down the drain in less than one and a half years! I’ve had enough. They aren’t going to earn another dime for me.

And so…. TA DA! Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 3 Studio. Not exactly in the same range as the Etymotic ER-6i. Sound-wise, a little bass heavy and loss of detail in the bass with a decent mid-range and highs. The fit is a little strange being over-the-ear monitors style. Not the most comfortable but the sound isolation is suprisingly comparable to the double-flanged earpiece I use on the Etymotics. However, for added isolation, I ordered double-flanged earpieces from Ultimate Ears.

Let’s hope this pair lasts the distance. I bought it from a reputable source this time so if anything at all goes wrong I can get them repaired.

And the journey begins…

Number Five

Experimental macro shot. Taken using a 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 combined with a reverse mounted 50mm f/1.8 lens at the end of it. Getting some extreme magnification but with a number of distortions to it.

The depth of field with this set-up is extremely shallow and I couldn’t get the whole “5″ in focus. There was also a lot of vignetting in this shot.

On another note, I’m proud to note that Wall.E is a Mac. Haha… To all Mac-philes who noticed, the sound of Wall.E being fully charged is the same sound that a Mac makes when its booted up. Also he rocks on his awesome iPod. That just oozes cool.

I’ll award bragging rights to anyone that can identify what this is a macro shot of.

Buzz Buzz

One of my favourite photos of late. Taken at Brodick castle. What you DON’T see is the hundreds of swarming mosquitoes sucking the life out of you. Never have I ever seen so many of them sucking my blood. After the weekend, I looked like a smallpox survivor.

I really like this shot because even though it’s with the 18-200mm which isn’t a dedicated macro lens, I think it still takes decent close-up shots. Unlike the 17-55mm which I just got whose minimum focusing distance is still at least 30cm. Really starting to like the macro world and just might build myself a cheap lightbox to do some experimenting.

With that in mind, I’m off to London for the weekend so no updates till then. Hopefully will come back with a new batch of photos ready for the upload.

One thing though, I know many people would disagree, but I’ve decided to take the 17-55mm rather than the 18-200mm for the trip to London. I really would like to take the lens through its paces and am a bigger fan of the f/2.8 rather than the extended focal range of the 18-200mm. But if anyone has a convincing argument why the 18-200mm might be better, let me know soon before I go!

New Lens Day. Yay!

After a MONTH of non-posts, it’s time for a proper post. Haha… And what better a way to celebrate this auspicious day than with a photo of my new lens. The Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 lens. I was hoping for the Nikon 28-75mm f/2.8 lens as that’s the range I shoot more often rather than the wide-angle side of things but I wasn’t able to score a deal on that.

So anyway, what’s new with me? Getting ready for my holidays. I just can’t wait. Travelling from Glasgow to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Malacca, Brunei, Miri, Manila and who knows where else!

T-minus 3 weeks and I’m off!

iPhone Going Zoom

The Apple iPhone just got a major overhaul today which makes me kick myself up the rectum as to why I didn’t wait a few months longer to get the new iPhone 3G. Darn you Steve Jobs.

I think Apple has an interesting strategy in keeping things secret until the last minute and keeping the rest of the world guessing. It evokes a sense of child-like anticipation. Kids love Christmas because they don’t know what Santa is going to bring them. In our new modern world of eBay and Amazon, everything is at our fingertips. There is positively nothing new to be excited about. Companies lay out roadmaps which tell of their products in the next 10-12 years and it all becomes a monochromatic blur. Just as this picture is.

But with Apple. Keeping everyone guessing, keeping us wondering, thinking, hoping. It all creates a fever pitch that makes us hang on to the Jobsian word as if he were Kris Kringle and we were the bad kids hoping not to get coal in our stocking.

Good job Mr Jobs. I thank you for maintaining that desire in me. I look forward to many more of your exciting products.