Hong Kong Trip 2012

This is one of the most enjoyable trip with my family.

The Grand Old Lady

This is the first oil well in Miri, built in 1910.

The almighty teleconverter lens

Let's me explain what is teleconverter lens? And what does it do?
Basically, a teleconverter (also called a tele-extender, converter or extender) is an optical device that fits between your camera and the lens.
The main function is to extend the telephoto focal lengths without buying a totally new telephoto lens. It has a few magnification factors typically ranging from 1.4x to 3x. So if you fit a 1.4x teleconverter lens between your camera and a 300mm lens, you will get 420mm (672mm on 1.6x crop camera!) instead. Simple as that! Now you can have 2 focal lengths lens with minimal cost. Typically, it costs ranging from SGD190 to SGD600, depending on the magnification factor and brand name. As for me, I got it off from ebay which cost me about SGD190 for a Kenko 1.4x teleconverter lens. And its optical quality is almost as good as Canon 1.4X which costs about 600 bucks! In addtion, the Canon one only compatible with Canon lenses whereas Kenko can work well with other brands such as Sigma and Tamron.
After listening all the good things about this lens and now let's find out what are the drawbacks.

Here comes the EFS-60mm f2.8 Macro Lens

Well, it has been quite some time that I have not posted anything about photography stuff.
Okay! I bought a macro lens recently. This lens is meant for non-full frame camera, such as Canon 350D, 400D, 30D, 40D and so on.
I did not go for EF-100mm because the focal length 100mm is a bit too long and very tight cropped for general purpose use other than close-up photography. With 60mm, I can use it for close-up shot as well as portrait shot. Hence, it kills 2 birds with 1 stone. Furthermore, the image results were all tack sharp. After playing a while, I outline with the following pros and cons:
Pros
- Sharp image
- Lightweight as compared to 100mm
- Fast focusing speed
- f2.8 constant aperture
- Excellent bokeh
- Good for portrait and flower and big insect close-up

Cons
- A bit AF hunting on less contrast object and low light
- Only supports 1.6x crop factor camera
- Requires a tripod to obtain sharp images
- Limited working distance on smaller insect close-up as compared to 100mm

Check this out!

Mid-Autumn Festival 2007 with EF 70-200mm

Didn't really celebrate much on this festival. In fact, I had a few mooncakes even before the actual day. During that evening, my son was sick and somehow he lost interest in playing lantern. I brought him outside with a little lantern. He just walked a few steps and requested to go home. I guess he must be very tired. See...


So I decided to take some photos of this festival outside from my flat using my EF70-200mm f4L lens with tripod. Here's the catch on that evening:

Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006

Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006, one of the world’s finest tropical flower, fruit and plant expositions befitting the name, Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 – International Horticultural Exposition for His Majesty the King, it was hosted in the city of Chiang Mai from November 1, 2006 to January 31, 2007. Fortunately, we were there to enjoy the flower exhibition. This was the biggest flower expo I've ever seen.

Chiang Mai Night Bazaar

Every evening, the centre of Chiang Mai comes alive with a massive Night Bazaar, and few people visit the city without picking up a few bargains here. In fact, the stalls that are squeezed on to the pavement and in the purpose-built arcades are one of Chiang Mai's biggest attractions.

Here you can pick up everything from antiques to fake Rolex watches, choose from an astonishing variety of handicraft souvenirs, sample the smoothness of the colourful silk on sale everywhere, have a suit measured up, ready for your collection the following evening, browse exquisite Asian silver jewellery or stock up on cheap DVDs.


The roti prata there very cheap and tasty, especially the banana roti prata with chocolate top. It cost SGD0.80 only!


Below is a taxi not a pick-up truck. It is called "songthaew" means "two benches".


Tuk-tuk, a three-wheeled bicycle equiped with a powerful engine, serve as Chiang Mai's taxis.

Wat Prathat Doi Suthep

This one of the famous temples in Chiang Mai built in 14th century. Doi Suthep is a mountain, about 15 kilometers from Chiang Mai, with on it Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, a Holy Buddhist Temple. Every Temple with a name starting with Wat Prathat contains Buddha relics and therefore is Holy to Buddhists.


Inside the temple there is a giant Chedi, covered with gold.


Chiang Mai night scenery from the temple.

Chiang Mai Trip - Day 1 (12-Jan-07)

This is a 3 days 2 nights trip. My wife and I stayed at the Empress Hotel located at south east of the city. Overall, it was a pleasant trip. More importantly, things there were dirt cheap and it's cheaper than Bangkok.
We arrived at the Chiang Mai international Airport at about 11am. Then we moved on to fill our stomach at the Park Royal hotel. It's a buffet lunch. So all you can eat.




After lunch, we headed to the Mae Sa Elephant Camp.



Here's the elephant profile and attendant...



Hey! Those elephants are very clever and they can draw very well.