Blazing 28 debut

I bought the Ricoh GXR 28mm f2.5 today. Finally! Ever since it was announced in March, I had been very curious about this lens. After I bought the GXR in September for my Pakistan trip, I was even more eager to try it out – while the 24-72mm zoom unit gave me a taste of the wonderful features of the GXR, from the many customisable settings to the advanced shooting options, I was never entirely convinced of its image quality at ISO 400 and above. (As a side note, I believe the pictures ST used for my Pakistan article were shot at ISO100 or 200)

I got to try out the 28mm unit when I visited Japan in October, at Ricoh’s Ringcube showroom in Ginza, Tokyo, and I was quite impressed. It was a pre-production model, however.

Last month, the lens was finally released in Japan, and two weeks later, it has arrived in Singapore. I was so excited to hear that my neighbourhood camera store (MS Color at Ang Mo Kio Hub) had it in stock, and I rushed down to the store after I attended a function Wednesday night. Alas, it turned out that I had used up the available funds in my current account because I’d spent a pretty penny on a pair of sunglasses earlier in the day, and I couldn’t pay up! So I paid a S$100 deposit and went there during my lunch time today and snapped it up.

When I slid the unit into my GXR and turned it on, I could immediately feel its tremendous quality. What has impressed me about the 28mm:

1. Impressive ISO performance all the way to ISO 3200. Thanks to the large APS-C sized sensor. It easily trumps my 3-year-old Nikon D40X, even though the sensor size is the same.
2. Very sharp lens. I was very impressed when I looked at the LCD of the Panasonic GF1 in Japan. With the 28mm on the GXR, I have nothing left to envy.
3. Fast AF. Ok it wouldn’t be fair to compare to my Nikon lenses on this, but for a compact camera, the 28mm is very fast and responsive. Definitely good enough for most shooting conditions, except for action/sports.

What could have been better:

1. An even faster lens, say f2? (I think f1.4 might be a bit too much to as for in a compact camera)
2. 43mm filter size instead? Why on earth does the 24-72mm unit use a 43mm filter while the 50mm and 28mm use 40.5mm?
3. A gold ring instead of a red one? Ok that’s just the Nikonian in me. Haha.

The lens was put to use on the very same day, as I attended a long-awaited gathering of my primary school class. It wasn’t exactly a snapfest, as 1) I was late and 2) I think I was better off trying to catch up with the rest. But I got a few good shots, and I think I can expect plenty more for the lens.

More to come!

Eating dinner while everyone else was finishing dessert… Hehe.

Haw Par Hoppin’ (Part 2)

As mentioned in Part 1, there are many downright grotesque statues in Haw Par Villa, many of which I do not quite understand the relevance to the overall theme of the place. There was one particular exhibit that got me quite fascinated.

A rat in a suit drags a rabbit onto the wedding bed, as another rat-like creature, who appears to be the wheeler dealer who arranged the marriage, chats on the phone, perhaps to seal his next deal?

“Hello Mr Dog, do you want to order a rabbit too?”

And we have a deer drinking tea served by a tortoise.

It appears humans don’t quite have a place here, except to help hold the flower vase.

What do you make out of that?

Unfortunately, it was too dark to take any pictures inside the Ten Courts of Hell exhibit, as it was indoors. But here’s a preview of what’s inside:

A beheaded corrupt official greets you on the way in.

I noticed the poor state of affairs at the park. The exhibits are generally in various states of disrepair, with paint peeling off and spider webs everywhere.

As I was walking about I spoke to a Malay lady, who told me that she showing her extended family from Malaysia around the place. She said she lived nearby and come by often when she was younger, but it was so different then. Back then, the statues were very well-maintained, and the paint was always fresh and colourful. And people were not allowed to touch the statues. (She pointed that out as the kids crawled up the platform and chased each other around the statues in one exhibit.)

Leftover lanterns at the canteen. I wonder from when?

The shops and the canteen are now closed as well, but I was relieved to see vending machines in operation as I was dying of thirst after walking about since early morning. Another surprise – the toilets were actually quite well-maintained, with proper lighting. (I definitely can’t say the same for some coffeeshops elsewhere.)

I think I’m grateful that the current owners of Haw Par Villa are still keeping it alive. No doubt they are minimising all costs of maintenance, but hey, there aren’t many places of interest in Singapore that have free admission. May the place remain open for years to come – it’s truly a place that is unlike any theme park I have ever heard of or been to.

See you again!

Haw Par Hoppin’ (Part 1)

There are not many places of interest in Singapore. Whenever I'm overseas, and people ask me about Singapore, I find it hard to hype it up as a tourist destination. We have great food, lots of shopping malls and clean streets, but that is rather generic. We have historical attractions such as temples and mosques, but nothing as grand and old as what you would find in our neighbouring countries, which have longer histories. We have modern attractions like a world-class zoo and two mega-casinos, but they probably only cater to a select audience.

 

(But as a place to live, I would still say Singapore's better than almost all the countries I have been to.)

 

Anyway, there is one particular place of interest here that is still open but more or less forgotten. Haw Par Villa. I'd heard much about it as a kid, esp. about the infamous “18 levels of hell” exhibit, but its heydays are longer over. That they don't even charge for entrance now probably tells you the state it is in.

 

Weclome to Haw Par Villa!

 

Well so I was free on a Sunday, since Joanne’s working, and I decided to finally visit the place, after sitting on the idea for months. It was the perfect opportunity to break out my Nikon F6 for some film photography – I think it was the camera’s first outing since January. Just brought along the manual 28mm for some wide angle, and the 60mm macro for everything else.

 

Completed in 1937 at a whopping S$1 million – a lot  of money at that time – by tycoon Aw Boon Haw for his brother Aw Boon Par, Haw Par Villa has quite a colourful history. You may not have heard of them, but their family created the now famous Tiger Balm ointment, sold in many countries around the world. This was probably why Haw Par Villa was also known as the Tiger Balm Gardens. For a more detailed walkthrough of the villa’s history, do take a quick read here.

 

According to the explanatory sign, the brothers used to drive this around town. Way too cool.

 

The many statues in the park are mainly based on Chinese mythology. These include the scenes from literary classic Journey to the West, the aforementioned Ten Courts of Hell, and the Eight Immortals. There are also many statues of Chinese deities and of Buddha.

 

Buddhist monk Tripitaka/Xuanzhang, one of the main characters of Journey to the West, being seduced by demons in one of the classic scenes in the epic story.

Guanyin and Buddha.

Tea time for the gods.

Yet, there are also many other statues that seem to appear out of sync with the Chinese mythology theme. There are sumo wrestlers, lots of strange animals and even a Statue of Liberty. In addition, many statues are downright grotesque, and can easily freak out a timid kid, I think! I would loathe to be out here alone at night.

 

The Pig, from Journey to the West.

A really crabby lady.

Yep.

More to come in the next post…

My favourite shop in Tokyo

As an exchange student in Japan, I was not really into fashion and in general, didn't want to spend too much money on clothes. In most cases, my spending on clothing was due to necessity — to survive the cold in winter because coming from tropical Singapore, I didn't have any thick clothing. Most of my money, which came from the JASSO scholarship, was spent on travelling — in my year in Japan, I visited all of Japan's main islands: Honshu (of course, since that's where Tokyo is), Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku (which most Japanese I know have never visited themselves). I don't think many other exchange students travelled so much within Japan as I did! My little badge of honour.

Anyway, I was thus naturally attracted to the budget clothing stores, and the biggest one in Japan was and still is Uniqlo. Now with a presence in the US, Europe and many countries in Asia, including Singapore, it is one of the most successful Japanese companies in recent years.

But besides the usual stores, Uniqlo had a special branch called Uniqlo UT.  Located in Harajuku, it has a distinctive industrial design, with wall lines with LED displays and rows and rows of Uniqlo UT T-shirts in transparent cyclindrical containers. I believe it is the only one in the world. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and the bright lighting and futuristic design was always a refreshing change from other stores in the vincity. I'd bought a few T-shirts in UT Harajuku during my year in Japan, and admittedly not always out of necessity but purely because I like some designs and the shopping experience there so much.

Back in Tokyo again, this time for vacation with Joanne, we were in Omotesando this afternoon and I decided to check out the store again. And I was surprised to see a series based on the new Evangelion movies! For the uninitiated, Evangelion, which appeared first as a 26-episode anime series, is just about the biggest anime ever. And the picture on the stickers on the T-shirt containers was a silhouette of lead character Rei Ayanami against a full moon. I knew I had to buy one of the shirts.

Rei Ayanami, one of the most famous anime characters ever. 

The current flavour of the month is Ghost in the Shell, another famous anime from the 1990s.

Joanne, who had visited Harajuku in her previous Japan trip two years ago but didn't know about the UT shop, quite liked the place too. She is not a fan of T-shirts however. Pity. She almost bought a jacket though!

 

Almost like a uniform! 

Got to love the industrial design. I learned that there are now 4 floors, when there were only 3 a couple of years ago.

The mirrors on the 2nd storey are still there, as I remembered them.

In the end I bought an Evangelion shirt and one based on the Ricoh GR Digital camera. The latter is part of a series on famous Japanese companies. The GRD is apparently a cult favourite camera in Japan, and Ricoh is still a very well respected name in digital imaging here. 

I'll be back again! (Maybe not during this trip though.)

More to come...

Japan Revisited

I really missed Tokyo and Japan!

Mitsubishi's iMIEV, the first mass produced Electric Vehicle in the world

Visitors at Asakusa temple taking in the incense smoke, which is said to give good luck.

It's great to sit down at a cafe in town and while away the time drinking coffee and people-watching.

Wind power generator in Yokohama.

Mind boggling variety.

Nagoya castle

For lonely males on week-long work trips

My camera of choice (for now)

A return to Tokyo probably wouldn't be complete without meeting some of the people with whom I was there with. I suppose I was lucky that Xianna has just started work in Tokyo, after spending a year on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme. And Manuel, my mate from school during my Waseda days happened to be back in Tokyo for a brief two weeks for work. 

Xianna

Manuel

There wasn't much time to look around during this trip though. I didn't even have time to complete my souvenir shopping!

I'm actually back in Tokyo as I write this... I arrived here on holiday just yesterday afternoon, this time with Joanne. Good two weeks ahead... :)

Rainbow

I was already planning to go to Japan for vacation next Month. But then came an invitation from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to attend a special programme for foreign journalists. It is held about once a year and some of my colleagues have attended this in the past. The theme this time is on Japan and climate change. 

Interestingly, there are journalists — 9 of us in total — from Asia, Africa and South America on this trip. I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn about the latter two continents — I really know so little about them.

As Joanne and I loitered around Singapore's Changi Airport Terminal 3 before I entered the departure gate, last week, we spotted a little rainbow (of sorts) on the floor. I guess I can see that as a lucky sign? 

I touched down at Narita Airport on Sep 24, around 6pm. It was already dark by then, as we are approaching winter. I was somewhat swept by nostalgia. It was my first return to Tokyo since two years ago after all. And this was the only country I've lived in, albeit only for a year, other than Singapore.

More to come...

Life Squared

Using the Ricoh GXR has been somewhat a liberating experience. While the image quality and response are not as good as a DSLR like my Nikon D40X, I have been using it quite a bit since I bought it on Aug 31. 

Being relatively compact, I can really bring it wherever I go. I enjoy shooting with the D40X but carrying it out always causes me a headache, since I seldom go out with shooting pictures as my sole objective. In the days before the GXR, I sometimes looked back fondly on the days when I was using my Sony point-and-shoot, which I could just stuff into any bag I was using.

Novice baker Joanne's blueberry muffins :)

Currently, I'm particularly enamoured of the GXR's ability to shoot in square format natively. Of course you can take any picture from any camera and just crop it in Photoshop, but shooting it in square format directly allows you to compose the pictures the way you want it to turn out, instead of as an afterthought/picture-salvaging effort on the computer. (The RAW files are recorded in square format too btw, so that's a potential downside)

Chanced upon the colour windmill display outside Ang Mo Kio Hub earlier this week.

The GXR's option to store 3 custom shooting settings on the mode dial (MY1, MY2 & MY3) make it easy to switch to square format on the fly. I've set MY2 and MY3 to square frame, in colour and sepia tone respectively. 

As mentioned earlier, the GXR is easy to carry about, and this makes it great as a camera to take pictures of daily life.

Mushrooms at West Coast Park.

Put the two attributes together and that's how I arrived at the Life Squared project:

Life Squared = Life X Life = Life in Squares

"Life X Life" is in part symbolic of my relationship with Joanne, who is of course a big part of my life now. ;) At the same time, I also think it encapsulates my goal of living life to the max. 

Joanne and I having a pleasant little picnic at West Coast Park. 

As for "Life in Squares", besides the aesthetic appeal and relatively freshness of square pictures, I recall my sergeant-major from my Officer Cadet days during National Service, who's well-remembered by my company mates for his frequent pep talks when he would tell us to "square" things away, by which he meant put things in proper order. 

I liked that guy. He was very enthusiastic (sometimes overly though) and actually brought some nice changes to the the company after he arrived. I shall continue squaring away my life. 

Joanne prepared quite a spread! Despite eating a Mac's meal before that (because we had to hide from the downpour when we first arrived at the park), I licked up every last crumb. 

More to come...

Sindh province, Pakistan, after the floods

As mentioned in my previous post, I visited Pakistan for a work trip a couple of weeks back. I accompanied Singapore NGO Mercy Relief on their second disaster relief mission to Pakistan, which experienced its worst ever flooding this August.

It was my first time in Pakistan and my main concerns were security. Indeed, there were multiple bomb attacks in various parts of the country in the short 6 days I was there. Fortunately, none of them happened in Karachi, where we were based for this mission. But an Al Jazeera cameraman, who joined us for filming midway through, told us that he had a friend who died during a blast in Lahore just the day before. Despite that, he still maintained his professionalism and completed his filming over the next two days.

Indeed, if there was one thing I observed about the Pakistanis during the trip, it would be exactly that — they are a hardy bunch. Even during our visits to the various relief camps, I saw more smiling faces than sulking ones. Yes, the children are probably less aware of the severity of the situation and the whole displacement might have been more of a joyride to them, but among the adults, I saw many who seem to have gotten over their losses and are trying to improve their situation. The flood victims may have been through a lot, but life goes on.

Anyway, I was told to file a story on my fourth day, which came as a surprise because my boss had told me prior to the trip that I could file after I'd gotten back to Singapore. Fortunately, I managed to get access to a working PC with internet connection that afternoon — because of the time difference with Singapore, I had to send in my story by around 5 to 6pm local time. I say "fortunately" because on all the other days of the trip, we would have been in the middle of nowhere and there would have been no way I could have written a full story in time. It was still a mad rush though — I effectively had about two and a half hours to write the story and send in pictures. (To add to my fortune, I had already flagged my best pictures a day earlier, on the long van ride back to Karachi from the flood-hit areas, so it didn't take me very long to select the photos)

But it was worthwhile in the end, because a picture I took for my story made it to the front cover of the Straits Times. I couldn't contain my delight when Joanne first told me about it. 

The Straits Times cover on Sep 6, 2010.

The picture was of Madam Saleha, who lost her home during the flood. She now lives in a tent by the side of a road on an embankment, and depends on aid for food and water. It was a poignant picture because my story was about how the victims all want to go back to their land, where generations have lived. 

The original picture. Madam Saleha's house is somewhere under the water, in the background.

I also took many other pictures, which did not make it to print due to lack of space. I was very pleased with the Ricoh GXR camera (with the S10 24-72mm lens unit), which I had bought for this trip. It took me a while to get used to, as it operates a noticeably slower than my DSLR, but looking at the final products, I had very little to complain about.

Here are some of my personal favourites:

A boy carries a carton of read-to-eat food packs given out by Mercy Relief as his family follows him back to their makeshift tent in Thatta district, Sindh province.

Flood victims at a relief camp in Sindh queue up with their ration forms in hand while waiting for their turn to collect their carton of ready-to-eat meal packs, disbursed by Mercy Relief. 

Madam Aasi, 45, broke her left arm as she scrambled to evacuate her home when the floods came. But she recovered from her shock and eventually walked for 3 days before reaching the relief camp in Thatta district in Sindh province, where she is now staying. To her left are her daughter-in-law, who is holding her grandchild, and her daughter.

Three men walking on a flooded road near the Indus River. The last man was holding some fish he caught, presumably from the flood waters.

Ready-to-eat food packs, bought by Mercy Relief, in a store room at the office of their local NGO partner. 

Young flood victims in a relief camp in Thatta district, Sindh province.

A young girl at a relief camp in Thatta district, Sindh province.

Though short, the trip was a very memorable experience. I would never have gone to Pakistan under any other circumstances, given the volatile security situation. For the first time, I made it a point to let my mum know that I was ok at the end of every day during the trip — I just had to. I do wish to revisit this country again in less troubled times, however.

For now, I hope that all the victims are getting on well, and may they return to their land to start their lives anew soon.

Ricoh GXR + S10 Mini-Review

So I bought the Ricoh GXR with the S10 24-72mm f2.5-4.4 lens unit. It was partly because I needed to get a compact camera for my work trip to Pakistan, where I followed Singaporean humanitarian group Mercy Relief to report on their flood relief operations there.

Ricoh GXR + S10 unit. Picture from http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/

Prior to the trip, Hassan, the Chief Executive of Mercy Relief suggested that it's better to bring along a compact camera, as it is less conspicuous. If I were to bring along a DSLR, he said a small lens would be better. Therein lies the problem for me. I don't have any small zoom lenses to use with my Nikon D40X. The smallest lens I have is the Nikkor AIS 28mm f2.8, which neither meters nor is wide enough on the D40X. My other option was to bring the 28mm with the F6, but film is not a very practical option for the work I was doing (possibility of fogging at the airport scanners; can't publish the pictures until I get back to Singapore).

So it was the perfect excuse for me to get the GXR, which I'd read up so much on. Based on my budget and the reviews I have read, it was the best camera for the job.

Hooray for self-portrait possibilities again!

To be frank, I didn't quite get the system initially. It was an interesting concept, but it wasn't compatible with any of my current Nikon gear and Ricoh had effectively priced itself out of the market.

But more recently, I have realised the advantages of their approach:

1. Because each lens unit can use a different sensor, it allows you to use both a lightweight travel zoom with a smaller sensor as well as a high-end prime or zoom lens with a DSLR type sensor on the same system. 
2. That means you can basically use the same camera, albeit with different camera units, for all your photography needs. 
3. Theoretically, it is possible to have a 35mm "full frame" sensor or even a medium format sized sensor unit on the GXR. 

The A12 50mm f2.5 macro unit, seen on the right, has a DSLR cropped frame-sized sensor. According to reviews, the image quality is as good as any other DSLR out there. Picture from http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/

In other words, the system is extremely versatile, unlike cameras with fixed sensors, ie. everything else in the market now (with the exception of medium format cameras with interchangeable backs, but those are in a different league). My D40X, for example, is only small when I use it with a small lens like the 28mm. But it becomes a behemoth once I fix on my Nikkor AFS 24-70mm f2.8, a monster of a lens. The GXR can be portable when you need it to be, and in future, could expand to something much more.

A size comparison: GXR vs the Nikon F6 with the 24-70mm f2.8 lens.

Recently, Ricoh started selling the GXR as a kit with two of its lens units, starting with the new P10 28-300mm f3.5-5.6 and then the S10 24-72mm f2.5-4.4, which was released last year at the GXR's launch. Both are now selling at about S$700. For the S10 combo, it's almost half the price before it was packaged as a kit!

So I was sold.

Build Quality and Ergonomics

When I first held the GXR in my hands hours after deciding on getting it, I was immediately impressed. It felt extremely solid and well-built, just as the reviews say. The magnesium alloy exterior — typically only used on high-end DSLRs — with ample rubber padding on the hand grip on the front and back of the camera exudes pure quality. It is lighter and smaller than any DSLR, yet heavy enough to give it enough heft for stability and big enough to hold comfortably.

Menus and customisation

Coming from a Nikon DSLR user's background, however, the menu system took me a while to get used to. The 200-page manual (it's not as daunting as it seems) was a great help in this, and I brought it along on my trip, as there was so much to learn. But once I figured things out, after about two days of irregular testing, I recognised the ingenuity behind the system — almost every button and function can be customised to your own shooting style. 

The Fn1 and Fn2 buttons can be customised any quick setting. I have currently set "Macro target" on Fn1 and "AF/Snap" on Fn2. Picture from http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/

AF Performance

This is where the camera is a little disappointing. AF is definitely nowhere near the speed of the Nikon D40X.

But there is a workaround — the Snap AF function. This basically allows you to set the camera to a specific focus distance, and when you press the shutter all the way without letting the camera autofocus, it will snap at that preset focus distance. This is basically the same as zone focusing. It is particularly useable because the camera tells you the depth of field with the chosen aperture setting. I've used it for everything from portraits to street photography. I usually set it to 1.5m or 2.5m (depending on distance of main subject from the camera), zoom out to 24-28mm and set the aperture to f4.6, which means everything from about 1m away to infinity would be in focus. It has worked perfectly.

In fact, I believe the picture I took that eventually ended up on The Straits Times' page 1 on September 6 was also taken using Snap AF. (Please see the next post!)

Image quality

This was the main reason why I chose the S10 over the P10 unit, with its 10x zoom versatility. At higher ISOs, the S10 clearly stands out. From my own usage, I think the camera is easily usable up to ISO1600, and 3200 is usable in a pinch. While I think it does lose out in terms of sheer image quality compared to the Nikon D40X at all ISO levels, I feel it's good enough for my uses. 

So there you have it, a quick run-down of what I like (lots) and dislike (slow AF) about the Ricoh GXR so far.  While it took a fair of getting used to initially, I have grown to enjoy using it so much that I'm even considering quitting DSLRs now. But maybe not so soon. The fourth camera unit is coming out this winter. It's a 28mm f2.5 lens with a DSLR-type sensor, which promises superb image quality, as seen from the 50mm. I'm eagerly waiting for its release, and at the same time, I hope Ricoh finds a remedy for the slow AF on the GXR system as a whole soon.

In the meantime, please look out for some of my pictures taken on the Pakistan trip in my next post!