Sunday, June 6, 2010

My Journey of Getting A .....


My Journey of Getting A

DSLR MICRO 4 THIRD

Compact Camera. FML.


Whenever I go to some nice place, or eat some really exquisite food, I would be like… Dang… no camera! All these while, you’ve been looking at the photos which I’ve captured with my SE C510 phone. Oklar.. still lucky I got a camera phone rite? The only reason I bought this phone was that it’s 3.2 MP Cybershot apart from the reason that my beloved sleek N76 decided to fail on me. Since I’ve so much trouble getting clear pictures under low light condition, I’ve decided to get myself a camera. My very first own camera.

About last year or so, DSLR was really a big hit and it’s not a norm anymore to see people carrying humongous black optical gadgets around their neck. Before that, I usually only see my uncle does that besides those professional photographers. Rarely see normal humans with DSLRs. There’s even once when I was at a wedding, and a lady was joking with her friend, telling her how ridiculous my uncle looks with his big, old fashioned camera. What she didn’t know was that the camera that my uncle was using was more high-end than her very slim and stylish compact. “Look who’s laughing now.”

So, last year I’ve decided to safe up my money to get a camera. (Yes, I’m a poor student. I need a year or so to get a darn camera) I made a lot of research and was really poisoned by the DSLR quality. But there’s one tiny bit of problem. DSLR are indeed too big for me and it doesn’t quite suit my image, does it? Plus I really gotta think about the portability. And I know, I’m the kind of person who really hates “troublesomeness”. So, I’ve decided to pass with DSLR.

Searched again, I found Lumix G1! It’s not a DSLR but it has DSLR quality images. Just that the camera is smaller because it doesn’t have the mirror thingy and no built in view finder. This type of camera is called a Micro Four Third. Up to date, Olympus and Panasonic(Lumix) are the leading brands which came up with Micro Four Thirds technology. One thing I like about Lumix G1 is that it’s LCD screen can swivel. How cool is that! It make’s our lives easier when we wanna cam-whore. But then I’ve got to give up this also because my friend said that it’s a little too big for me still and there are other smaller models. Heck!! I’m so small mer??

Ok Ok never mind. Continued my quest and I found out about GF 1 and EPL-1. The image quality of GF 1 is really good and this time, this camera is really small enough for me. I don’t think there is anything else smaller than this except of course, Compact Cameras. Just probably the kit lens is big but micro four thirds are not meant to be pocketable. Moreover I will invest on pancake lens in the future after my piggy bank is being filled up again, cause I’ve been poisoned by some lowyat forumers with their really powerful pancake lens’s image quality. Again like always, I will always face a problem. GF 1 is way too pricey and with that price tag, I don’t think I can get it any sooner. So sadly, I’ve got to say bye bye to my dear Lumix GF1. This means I’m left with the last hope, the EPL-1. To me, EPL-1 comes second after GF 1 for the image quality and auto-focus. Auto Focus is also very important to me because I take a lot of my nephew’s picture (Marcus) and he moves real much. Quite hard to get a clear picture of him. But then, quite a number of reviews said that GF 1 and EPL-1 can produce almost the same amount of usable pictures when snapping kids’ photos. So I guess, no difference in that. Price of EPL-1 is also very reasonable which is only 2.4k like that and I could bargain for a cheaper price. So, I’ve set my mind onto this camera and saved my money every month, made sure that my piggy bank is full as fast as possible. Only till last week when I’m sure that my piggy is well fed, I told mummy about this camera and she objected straight away upon hearing the price. She said there’s no need for me to get such an expensive camera blah blah blah.. My heart broke. Tore into two and fell apart. Well that was my last hope of getting a DSLR Micro 4/3. All this while I’ve been saving my every cent and this is the ending that I get? Sighhh!! I should have asked her earlier. If I knew this is gonna happen, I would have gotten a camera long ago. Even before my bday! I would have better pictures to post up for my Singapore trip. I could have gotten myself a nice bday present and adding a bag to my collection instead of just staring at them on my computer screen. Haiihhh all my fault lar..

I couldn’t wait any longer and I must get a camera by this week or latest next week so that I can make it for Marcus’s 1 year old birthday celebration. (dun even noe if I could make it if they are making it on a weekday!) But I still need one to start on my FYP. I can’t possibly present 3.2 MP pictures for my final year project report, right? Everything gotta be prefect and oh btw, I’ll be doing on Garbage Enzyme. Interesting topic. Most of the topics that I’ve chosen for assignments and all usually got something to do with ‘going green’. So, it’s not weird that my FYP should be something about helping the world too.

Went around MV with darling today and of course I did my research before going. Found out about Lumix FH20. The latest Lumix series for compact cameras this year. So some photos, not bad also lar.. since one guy from flickr is also quite professional and he claimed that this camera is not bad at all, so I might as well give this model a try. Quite reasonable price also lar for a 14 MP, 8X optical zoom, HD video and 28mm wide angle. But what attracted me the most was not all that features. Obviously the image quality was already out cause my mind was already deadly poisoned by DSLR quality. Guess what?? It was the colour of the camera which gave me the urge to buy it. I know some of you could have guessed it right by now. It’s VIOLET aka PURPLE. So goddamn excited when I saw this colour. So scouted around for the best price. One Panasonic booth in the exhibition centre in MV gave me the lowest price. RM750 with all those standard freebies like case + tripod together with a 4GB memory card instead of 2GB. Shangri-La offered with RM760 but once she said she doesn’t have purple I just said bye bye to her and walked out from the shop. NO PURPLE NO TALK. Lucky I did my daily weekly routine on shoppingNsales website and got to know that Fotokem is setting up a booth in centre court G floor and doing promotion. So walked over there to have a look. The sales guy offered me Rm770 but he gave me extra freebies. Standard ones like casing+tripod together with 4GB memory card. He added another 2 GB memory card but it wasn’t from Panasonic but wth rite?? It’s free, just take lar.. and he also gave me a screen protector and a very cute memory card holder/case. I suppose the sp and 2Gb memory card could have caused at least the extra RM 20. Had a hard time thinking whether I should get that model or not and if I should get it from the exhibition hall or here. But in the end I got it from Fotokem. They have a really good sales person. Even before I said I wanted it, he already wrote down the receipt, wth!!! But in the end I still bought it larr…

We took some pictures around MV and the pictures look clear on the LCD screen of the camera. Came back home and I transferred it into my PC, the quality was not what I really expected. I suspect is my skills, it must be. And of course, I can’t put all the blame on the poor compact since my brain had been fatally infected by the ‘DSLR feel/quality’ that I’ve always wanted and dreamt of. I even have the thoughts of making a mini photo shoot for Marcus at his house. I have even thought of the poses. Now that I don’t have a DSLR or M 4/3, I’m sorry Marcus… If you want, ask Ah Mah to buy me a DSLR or ask Mummy bring you go studio ok?? Since I’ve purchased this camera I might as well just love every bit of it and try to forget about Micro 4/3. Maybe mummy is right. This is not the right time for me to get a M 4/3 and it’s way too expensive for me to handle. Maybe in 2 years from now I will get one and do a little of travelling. Hopefully by that time the price will drop. And oh, bye that time, I dun think I’ll go for epl-1 anymore more GF 1. I have a new favourite. Ricoh, introduced by darling. We tried it in one of the shops and totally loved the crispness and crystal clear image quality. Plus this camera might be better in the sense that if the LED(I think) of the lens spoil, then can change together with the lens whereas Lumix and Oly have to change the whole body.

Picture Time....

Lumix FH20 named him LuPy

Case

Box

Cute Memory Card Case

Normal Mini Tripod

Nike

Darling

Darling with Giant Nike boots


ohh... Saw Red Mummy and Beautiful Nara at Astro Beyond

me

Write the Future






Darling support Netherlands




Oohhh.. I love this one!


yes I watched Prince of Persia.. Romantic indeed..


GSC Signature.. First time there and first time Premier class

fountain blue



fountain purple

fountain green


fountain red







Oohhh... thats all about it.. Sorry no food pictures this time. Didn't quite eat anything since had popcorn for lunch in the cinema and just Nasi Goreng Thai for supper. Soo tired now.. Good night everybody.. shall explore the camera more tomoro... i mean later in the afternoon. Nites Earthlings..

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kingsley: The pictures look nice la... =)
I like the toy sotry and nike football boots shot, very clear..

lilimingi said...

aha.. the nike boots cos i zoom it near.

Anonymous said...

Kingsley: XD

juney said...

OMG A FREAKING LONG POST, i need time to read properly! btw grats on the camera,yay we can take nice pics in our future outing if there is one! ;)

lilimingi said...

haha.. dun need to read properly.. skim n scan can d lar.. yeah!! better pictures for a brighter future..

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