Finally got her excited about wearing these boots, and now I think she loves them 
Posing with mummy's bling bling bag.
This was taken at ISO 4000, but still quite usable with colour noise reduction applied. I'm quite impressed with the 5Dmk2's noise control, though after shooting with film recently, I've found that there is a big difference between the digital noise and film grain, and digital noise is no where as pleasant.
While waiting for my scanner to come back from Canon, and also my 40.5mm filter to be shipped in, here are some photos taken with my new Rokkor 40mm lens.
I really love the 40mm field of view. I think that 40mm is perfect for portraits and street photography. Not too wide such that the subject gets lost in the photo, but wide enough such that your subject has context. I've been searching in vain for a digital equivalent. Unfortunately, there isn't any digital camera with a full-frame sensor that has a 40mm lens. Sigh.
The other troublesome thing about film is the need to scan my negatives. With these photos, I tried the scanning service offered by the photo lab, but I find the results quite yucky actually. The photos look very grainy and the grain pattern has a very digital signature. I'm going to have to re-scan these when the scanner is back. I'm also considering getting a loupe so that I can pick out the shots I want to scan instead of scanning them all then deciding which ones to delete.
I was on the phone helping someone install a program off a cd today, and we waited about 5 minutes for the darn cd to load, and it just kept showing the Windows hourglass. I thought it was a faulty cd, and the other person was apologising for having such a slow computer.
So onto Plan B. Went to the website to try to download the same program, but 5 minutes later, we were still waiting for the darn website to load. I think the website was down.
So back to the cd for a second try. By then, Windows had given up and displayed an error that no disk had been inserted into the drive. It was then that I decided to ask the obvious question...
"Ma'am, can you eject the cd and tell me which side is facing up?"
"Erm, hold on and I'll check."
[Sound of cd drive opening, and general sounds of puzzlement]
"Ma'am, is the shiny side facing up or down? The printed side should be on top, and the shiny side should face downwards."
[More silence]
Then came the sheepish reply...
"Oh. I think I put the cd in the wrong way."
Gaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!
It was quite a downer to think that I spent most of the last days of 2008 mired in system testing and implementation. Even tonight, we had to leave our New Year gathering immediately after popping the bubbly at midnight, ala Cinderella. After dropping Clare and Joan off at home, I made a beeline to the nearest AXS machine to test out some transactions that had been rolled out at the stroke of midnight.
Whoever the powers that be are, please spare a thought for the little cogs that have to start spinning and grinding way before the last day of the year, just so that you can make a nice speech about how everything will be implemented from 1 January onwards. While you are asleep in bed or toasting champagne with your associates just before midnight, your little minions are running tests on our systems and frantically attempting to call or message each other over jammed phone networks.
Thank goodness for the little USB dongle that allows me to connect to the internet on the go. Without it, I would have had to make trips between home (so that I could access my office network) and the AXS machine to complete my tests. Thank goodness for my trusty Mac. There is no way I could have done what I did tonight with my useless work laptop. That piece of junk goes into brain freeze whenever it can't find the office network. In effect, it means that I can work on the go, but only if I'm within the office building!
I'm just very relieved that this project is all over. Well, at least the testing and implementation parts anyway. Still have to deal with the customer service aspect of things.
Now onto 2009. My resolutions? Can only think of 2 at the moment:
1) Start going to the gym again. I stopped because of this mega project that we were doing. Now that the project has reached its conclusion, I don't have an excuse anymore.
2) To take a holiday. I'm thinking either Beijing, Tokyo or an Eastern European country.
Good night everyone, and have a good 2009.
My second roll of film turned out much better, and I'm gettin gat bit better at scanning my film too. More pics here.
Hopefully as times goes by, my photos will get better too. I must say that shooting film has made me more mindful of my exposure and settings. Before, I'd sometimes shoot without checking the exposure settings, and end up messing up the shot.
I also managed to get my hands on the lens that I originally set out to get, which was the Minolta Rokkor 40mm f/2.0 lens. I really like the 40mm frame. Not too wide, not too tele. Perfect for street shots and portraits.
I'm quite torn now. I've gotten quite fond of the Canon lens that I used for my first 2 rolls, and it is a stop faster at f/1.4, but in terms of size, the Minolta has a smaller profile and is much more suited to being a walkabout lens.
My film came back! The results aren't as bad as I thought they would be. At least there was nothing seriously over or underexposed. But I need to work on my focussing. Focussing a rangefinder manually can be quite a difficult thing, especially when it's dark, or your subject keeps running around.
Hopefully once I get the hang of the camera I can start taking more interesting photos
More pics here.
Well sort of.
I've been pretty inspired by this photographer on Flickr who shoots with a lot of expired film and primes. And I somehow found myself being very drawn to the look of grain and out-of-focus pictures that inspire a mix of atmosphere and curiousity.
But grain and blurriness are things that modern cameras with their digital sensors try their very best to eliminate.
Thus I found myself wandering into the world of rangefinders. One thing led to another and I found myself lusting after a Leica. In the course of reading up on the subject, I found that the camera and its lenses represent the epitome of quality and reliability. And like users of Macs, I found this very strong sense of product loyalty among users of Leica, almost always to the point where people on the other side shake their heads and dismiss them as fanboys.
My new camera! I had to use my iPhone to take the shot and upload to Flickr because my Mac is in the hospital and my work laptop is a total turtle and unsuitable for anything other than surfing. It even sucks at connecting to the office network from home, but I'll save that for another rant.
Make no mistake, I still like digital cameras. They are convenient and forgiving of mistakes. There is no need to waste time making a trip to the photo lab to get the film developed or to buy more film, there is no messing around in the darkroom or scanning photos and then cloning out dust spots. You can shoot in RAW and tweak the white balance, exposure and a whole host of other stuff.
So why am I going back to film?
I'm not sure really. I just got the feeling that the results I was getting out of shooting digital were starting to feel a little too predictable, too technically precise, and it felt as if the camera was doing most of the work, while I was just a lazy button presser, preferring to fix any mistakes in photoshop.
Another factor was the bulk and weight of the SLR. I love the quality of the DSLRs and pro-lenses, but they weigh a ton and it's no fun at all carrying them out with me. What's the use of having top-end gear when you leave it at home in the drybox?
I found myself longing for a small point-and-shoot sized camera with a small lens that I would carry with me everywhere. I wouldn't feel self-conscious carrying it around, and I wouldn't be stopped by pesky paranoid security when I feel the urge to whip it out and take a photo. Ideally, I'd like this camera to be digital, but my personal take is that the technology is not quite there yet. Perhaps one day when there is a Leica with a 5D-quality full-frame sensor that can handle all their M lenses I'll make the switch. But for now, I think I'll just settle for a film version.
Size comparison with our Canon G7. The CL is only slightly larger. I'm waiting to get a smaller profile 40mm lens and the setup will be even smaller.
So that's how I ended up hunting for a rangefinder. I was toying with getting a Bessa, which would have taken the same lenses, but I found myself drawn to the legendary quality touted by Leicaphiles, and figured that if I could find a Leica in good condition and not too expensive, I'd give it a go just to see what the fuss was about.
I began my adventure by hunting for a Leica M6, but I saw this great deal on a Leica CL, and something told me that I'd be a fool to pass it up. Basically, this camera was in fantastic condition, and had just been serviced by the legendary Sherry Krauter. The CL actually uses a mercury battery which nobody manufactures anymore, but Sherry installed an adaptor that allowed the camera to take standard non-mercury button cells.
In addition, she calibrated the meter to the new battery type, replaced the photo-cell, re-calibrated the focusing of the rangefinder and did a full CLA (clean, lube, adjust) on the camera.
In short, what I have is a camera that was made around 1974-75 (over 30 yrs old!!!), and in almost the same condition it was in when it left the factory. To top things off, the previous owner threw in a leather camera case and was selling the whole thing for under $900!
In comparison, a second hand M6 with no guarantee of being in similar condition would have cost me close to $2,000. Even though I still wanted an M6, I told myself that it would be impractical to pass up this offer, and I could always upgrade to an M body later.
Well the body was just part one of the great adventure. For a couple of days, the camera body remained in a ziplock bag without a lens. I had another lens deal going on at the same time as the camera body, but the lens was sold to someone else. I finally ended up getting a lens from the same guy who sold me the camera. I'm glad I ended up getting the lens from him though. It's another oldie, even older than my camera body. This lens was made between 1959 and 1968, but looking at the condition it was in, you wouldn't be able to tell!
The amazing thing was that this lens was cheaper than a modern day Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens, with better build quality to boot!
It's been slightly over 24 hours and I'm already on the start of my third roll of film. Hopefully, I'll have a couple of keepers at least. I'm not too hopeful for my first roll because I didn't attach the lens properly and I found that I was metering through the entire roll using only shutter speed, and aperture adjustments had no effect. For a while I panicked, thinking that my camera was a dud, but then I realised that the dud was me
I'm also having this issue where I tend to cock the shutter automatically after every shot, and when I pick up the camera after an hour or two, I end up accidentally hitting the shutter and wasting a frame.
I suspect that going back to film is going to train me to be more careful and think more before I fire off the shutter. Going by the rate at which I've been using film the last day or so, my mind is still in digital mode, but I'm sure that will change once I get the results back and see the number of good shots versus the number of crap pictures I get back.
That being said, I am in love with my camera, and I simply love the "click" of the rangefinder and the smell of the leather case.
I'm very very sad 
I forgot to zip up my bag after taking something out from it earlier. As I was walking out of the carpark, my macbook pro fell out of my bag and got a nasty dent! The DVD slot is bent out of shape and I'm worried that the drive might need to be replaced. The last time Joan had hers replaced, I think it cost close to $700.
I'm actually taking leave tomorrow morning to send it in for repairs.
I'm so mad at myself for being so careless. I'm probably going to have a huge repair bill to pay for, on top of the road tax and car insurance this month. I hope I get my mac back before Christmas...
If you are from Singapore, you will find that this scene looks very familiar. The difference is that this is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the last person standing doesn't win a car for their troubles. They win... a whopping $5,000.
The good news is that the winner does get the chance to use that $5,000 to go to Singapore to take part in the real deal. And this time, go home with a new car.
The Subaru Challenge has been held in Singapore for a while now, and each year, some people will try to be the last person standing with their hand on the car in order to win themselves a new Subaru car.
So this is the real deal. These people are doing this to win themselves a new car. Although honestly, I think Subaru has proven that people would do the same damn thing for $5,000, so maybe next year they should just give the winner a $5,000 discount off a new car 
Well, my daughter decided to give the challenge a go today, except that she was doing it to win... a box of mini highlighter markers, and a couple of balloons. It was the most patient I've EVER seen her.
Looking a bit stressed out, but still determined to hang on.
It was quite funny how she got all inspired to do this after watching those people with their hands on the car. In fact, she didn't want to let go, even after getting her prize!
Thumbs up with her granddad after a job well done 
This is a continuation of my horrific saga with HDB.
My last email to the CEO has also been ignored. Well, they're not getting away with it that easily. I know some people may think I'm crazy or anal, but I intend to keep going up the chain of command until somebody who cares about quality starts giving a shit. Today, I sent my complaint in via REACH. Let's see if I get a response this time. I've never received such poor service in all my dealings with the government!
I am writing to complain about the absolutely appalling service I have received from HDB regarding my waiver appeal for a parking fine.
My waiver appeal was rejected the first time. When I reappealed via the original case officer and the Quality Service Manager (attached), HDB ignored my email. I emailed the QSM a second time one week later, and I finally got 2 shoddily worded emails from 2 separate HDB employees (attached). Both basically ignored the contents of my email and simply referred me back to their original rejection email, i.e. the implied message was "We don't need to read your 2nd email, the case is closed, please pay up."
Totally horrified by the responses I received, I decided to email their CEO to complain about the appalling quality of service, believing that if anyone in the organisation cared about providing quality, it would be the CEO. Unbelievable as it may seem, it has been 3 working days, and HDB has not responded to my email! I have never received such terrible service from a government agency. Even non-SQA organisations would at least give me an interim response! Possibly, they are ignoring me in the hope that I'll eventually shut up and pay up.
Regardless of whether I get a waiver from HDB, what I want addressed is the shoddy and indifferent handling of this case by HDB, and the lack of attention to quality. I want to know what HDB is going to do about this, and I do not intend to stop pursuing the matter until I find someone who does care about quality.
Update:
HDB finally emailed me on 21 November with the expected response. They gave a general apology for the handling of the case, but rejected my waiver appeal on the grounds that I am a repeat offender (i.e. in the same league as jaywalkers, drug addicts and Mas Selamat). Oh well, at least I got the apology I wanted. I can step off my soap box now, until the next skirmish with them.