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[Dec. 8th, 2009|12:24 am] |
On the Shinkansen back home from Shimizu (Shizuoka).
Competition didn't go that well... But the booth was ok, and I did get a 500 Yen book voucher (toshoken) for a perfect 30 end, so all is well. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|12:45 am] |
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Went to see the current round of Juna21 exhibits at Nikon Salon today. Pretty much ran over to the building in lunch break, it really is too little time to appreciate the pictures fully :(
Sadly they weren't nearly as awesome as the previous ones, but oh well.
The first one I saw was 豚が嗤う (The pigs are laughing) by Iijima Nozomi.
The entire exhibition was made up of black&white captures of a farm, including building, fields, and equipment. Not too impressive really, kinda bland... Except for the far end wall:
Check out the large version, it's pretty awesome.
I didn't read much of the introduction (it was really long, and again, time constraints), but from what I gather, the farm is her family's business, so she must've spent loads of time with the animals. I didn't talk to the artist much, except to say hello and tell her I liked the arrangement on the big wall.
The second one was entitled ポケットの中の月(The moon in my pocket), a collection of really vibrant, colourful night shots by Matsumoto Kouichi.
I didn't get the chance to linger and spend time with the pictures, but I liked the colours a lot. The artist wasn't present, so I couldn't ask him about his process, but I would've liked to know how much of the adjustments are done in post-processing (from what I know about japanese photographers by now, probably not much). Very clever selection of subjects and lighting conditions to produce artful, contrast-rich images. More pop-art than photography, really.
I'm still really enjoying all these free galleries... I think Wakako's getting kinda tired of it, but I go gallery-hopping any chance I get! The exhibitions change every week, which is kinda sad for the photographers (at least with Nikon, they get a second exhibition period in Osaka), but for the consumer it's great as there's something new to see every week!
Work's been pretty busy, gearing up for the indoor season, working on next year's catalog, and trying to juggle the domestic stuff on the side. Pretty exhausting, but definitely rewarding when it is.
Here's some recent pictures of my own...
Coccoon tower, pretty much my favourite building in Tokyo! I watched it being built close to my office, so I have a connection like with a child I saw being raised... I recently noticed there's a bookstore with lots of artsy stuff in the basement (no wonder as it houses two or three art/design/fashion schools...)
I found this place walking around Saitama one night. At first I thought it was shards of glass, but the pavement on that particular street is just made to sparkle like that. Blew my mind.
Hikawa Maru in anchor at Yokohama bay. The thing is fricking huge... Also awesome. Went with Wakako, spent a lot of time just lounging about on the Osanbashi pier.. Very slow, relaxing time.
Took this the same time as the sparkling pavement. I love this shot.
Alright, finally saturday tomorrow. Going to see yet another photo exhibition, and then a movie, with the girl. Good times. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 8th, 2009|11:51 pm] |
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This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I want a poster of it.
(From one of the challenges at dpreview.com, click to go to the page. Not my photograph of course, by a photographer going by "Gary_Scotland")
We successfully survived the typhoon this morning... It did prevent me from getting to work until 2pm, as Tokyo was completely cut off transport-wise. Probably the longest train delay I've experienced so far. I gave up waiting around the station after about half and hour and waited it out at home.
This was Warabi station at 8:30am:
When I got word the trains were moving again and set out for work, the skies already looked like this:
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 30th, 2009|12:43 am] |
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Finally sold my 17mm lens :D Only one bet for the starting price of 29,500, but oh well... Combined with the 6,500 I got for my wide converter, I had almost enough (minus about 2000) for the Panasonic 200 f1.7. Thusly, I ran out to Yodobashi and got one!!
And took some pictures before going home too :)
I don't want to type it out again, so I'll just paste what I wrote on dpreview:
The blue-and-grey box contained the lens, warranty slip, instruction sheet, and a simple soft pouch. As others have stated before, there is no hood included. When I asked a Yodobashi employee (who are generally very well informed about their product), he told me it was built in a way so it didn't need one. Time will tell, I guess, and I can always get a generic 46mm screw on.
I took some pictures around Shinjuku before I headed home, and my initial impressions (which you can check out here: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1041&thread=33071042) about this lens were confirmed:
This camera & lens combination is awesome for my style of shooting.
Things I liked:
(+) The construction feels solid and very smooth. Focus ring has just the right amount of tension.
(+) It does *not* stick out past the bottom of the cam. It has a good millimeter of space, I'm able to tilt the camera forward when flat on the table.
(+) The f1.7 aperture range helped me get better speeds, resulting in sharp images in less tries than I was used to.
(+) The IQ is amazing. I haven't quantified this of course, but it feels like it renders sharper than the 17mm.
Things I didn't like:
(-) The lenscap. It's very thick compared to the super sleek olympus slimline caps, and adds another 4-5mm to the lens length, and the camera doesn't slide into the bag compartment as smoothly anymore as it did with the 17mm :( Also, it's much harder to set on straight (I am fairly clumsy, would make a great beta-tester ;)) With the Oly cap, I'd just push it against one side of the thread, and then fit the other with the button depressed. This doesn't work as easily with the Lumix lens, making me a bit insecure about not having it on straight and having it come off when brushing against something. (I do like the clean front design btw)
(-) The visual design. It looks ok on the GF1, but it's a real clash with the E-P1, especially when viewed from above or from the side. I cannot stress enough how much I dislike the grey ring with the huge gold lettering between the focus ring and the mount.
(-) The focus motor is notably louder than the Oly 17mm.
(-) Tested in my dimly lit room, I was surprised to find that the AF did not improve notably compared to the Oly with updated Firmware.
(-) The lens maker and Model does not carry over in EXIF. This is a major gripe for me. (I manually added these in the samples)
(-) Strong bluish fringing in white/black contrasty areas. Check out the sample pictures.
( Test Pictures: )
I've created a flickr set with some additional shots, as well as full size versions for the pixel-peepers. http://www.flickr.com/photos/55494316@N00/sets/72157622480147710/
My sempai Tsuchiya, whom I assist in the domestic wholesale division, has been out of the office the past few days for the national sports festival, so I've had a ton more work than I usually do... I struggled a bit on Monday, today was a bit calmer. Don't really like being responsible for everything at once, but sometimes I guess I can't help it...
Also, met up with Ryan, an old internet acquaintance, in Akihabara the other day. He's doing JET in Akita, and was only here for the weekend, but it was extremely nice being able to hang out. Spent most of the day geeking out in Yodobashi camera and Super Potato (retro game mekkah!), and I even got him into a genuine Capsule Hotel (okay it was a really nice Capsule hotel)!
So far I've been super lucky with meeting net people in real life... Have yet to meet anyone who is an ass in real life. Oh except for Hiromi, who didn't even say hi ;p |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 4th, 2009|12:50 am] |
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Was able to snap some more shots with my FD 50 1.8 today!
This is my favourite shot of the day:
Old man having Ramen on the way home. Can't make up my mind if I should've waited until that woman was out of the frame. She's in the way, but on the other hand gives the picture a shot of dynamic energy, compared to the calm Ramen guy.
( more behind the cut... )
...Uh, I think I'll stop buying lenses now. (except for the Wide converter and the 14-42 kit zoom, all of these were about $10 each! Money well spent I say! Muahahaha.) |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 2nd, 2009|12:16 am] |
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Finally got my JLPT Lv.1 test results! I'd almost forgotten I took that test ;)
Fairly satisfied, I was expecting the low Writing/Vocab results, that part was hard as hell.
I had been aiming at 100% for the Listening part (it's always been my strongest, and I've been living here for a while now), but only got 93... I am fairly sure I know which ones were wrong, and they were mean traps.
I'm kinda surprised I tallied 185 on Reading/Grammar... Then again it might be close to 100 on reading, and below 90 for Grammar.
But all things considered, I'm fairly content with the result, and would really like to see what the average score of all the Asian kids in my class was ;)
Here's something I saw this morning and thought looked neat.
And something in the evening:
(This one's taken with the FD 50 1.8 S.C. btw)
One of my favorite train models:
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 1st, 2009|01:06 am] |
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Had a really good weekend..
On Saturday, Wakako and I went to see 20th Century Boys (The Last Chapter), but it was sold out, so we ended up going to Roppongi Hills instead and saw the Ai Wei Wei exhibit at the Mori Modern Arts Gallery. It was one of the better exhibitions we'd seen (we go pretty much every time), very satisfied.
Also, they had another iteration of the "Sky Aquarium," an exhibit of aquariums arranged and lighted artfully, and once again it utterly outperformed the actual exhibition.
Just beautiful to behold...
I have tons of pictures from this, but I haven't sorted them yet, so here's two favourites:
Wakako commented that these looked like Gyoza dumplings. (Correct)
Completely random pic from the Skydeck:
Yesterday, I went to cheer on Osaka U at the annual competition between the original 7 imperial universities. Unfortunately, a typhoon was about to land, and it was rainy and windy and cold... It was painful to watch, and even I got drenched in the process.
Still good to see everyone though.
Also, here's some more pics taken with that old FD 50mm 1.8 S.C. lens.
Taken in the mall waiting for Wakako. Very impressed with the DOF performance of the lens, love the circular highlight blur ("bokeh")!
The table was too small to allow for a head and shoulders type portrait... 50mm is a freaking tele lens on this camera!!
Today, I got a hood for my FD lenses. 600 Yen... xD |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 22nd, 2009|01:07 am] |
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Egads, my flickr pro account expired! What to do, what to do...
Will probably extend it when my credit card comes back to life on the 10th.
Got Adobe Camera RAW... So fun tweaking all the development options.
Tweaked my tunnel pic a bit:
This is probably my favourite picture of Wakako I have shot so far, even though it's not a portrait.
Also, tweaked the picture of those students at Kyoto station wearing Yukata. Much more pleased with the colors now, and I wish I'd have been able to blur the background a little more (this is already at f2.8, as open as the pancake lens goes...)
( Behind the cut for large imagery )
Thinking of submitting these two to one of the casual photo contests in Asahi or Nippon Camera. Will have to see how well they print...
Also, I got a nice lens off Yahoo Auctions, since everyone keeps going on about classic prime lenses on the forums I frequent... I decided to go with a Canon FD 50mm 1.8SC. It's really old (probably older than me) and the mount system is discontinued, so I was able to snatch it up for 1,100 Yen (which is like $10 US). Even if it doesn't live up to the hype, it'll be fun to play with for the money. Of course, I will have to get an adapter for like 8k. Putting that off until at least payday next tuesday...
I was, however, able to test it out by holding it up to the camera, connected by an "adapter" made out of a toilet paper roll core. Yes, that actually worked. See for yourself.
That's about f5.6 or so (no EXIF), and looks awesome!! I wonder how well the blur (refuse to use the word "bokeh" just yet) will be controllable once I have the actual adapter...
This is the lens:
Yea, having too much fun with photos. I'm heading to Nagano for summer camp next month, and am fully planning to take some EXCITING night sky pictures, since you can actually SEE stars over there :p |
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| Osaka/Kyoto pics |
[Aug. 19th, 2009|12:10 am] |
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Ok, pics are up on Flickr!
I narrowed it down to 91 that I actually liked. Not too narrow, eh...
I commented on them on Flickr while uploading, so please browse through the set, I promise there are some worthwhile pics in there.
Though, a lot of pics have a hazy glow in them, which I think is from the PL filter which I stupidly left on the entire time.
Favourites:
My mom commented on how the thing that left the biggest impact on her about japan was the stark contrasts. I don't think it gets any starker than this...
Taking pictures on Dotonbori. I found that the Toyfoto Artfilter suited Osaka extremely well, so a lot of my pics have it on there (added afterwards in Olympus Master)
This guy was walking an actual lizard around the Amemura area. I think it was mainly to pick up girls.
Shinsekai is one of my very favourite places in Osaka. It's like Osaka distilled into one messy, busy place. Sporting the ugliest, most awesome tower of all times.
I set up my tripod at a nice angle and waited for sunset to paint the sky behind Tsutenkaku (for a good hour or so...). I ended up not being able to capture it, because it clouded up just prior, destroying the mood. However, I did make friends with a couple of old guys playing Shogi (a chess-like game) on a big piece of cardboard spread out on the sidewalk.
They bugged me with questions about this and that, and I snapped some pictures in return... Very welcome distraction from the dull wait.
Tsutenkaku got a big clock!
Saw these guys while waiting for the girl in Kyoto station. They looked awesomely out of time and place.
We visited this bridge in Kyoto. It's able to disconnect itself when caught in a flood, making it nigh-indestructible.
We actually got to play in the untouched, sandy riverbed, probably my favourite bit of the entire trip.
Posing for the camera in Fushimi Inari Taisha. If you don't know where that is, you will probably recognizing when you look at the next picture:
Tons of bright-red Torii forming a path. Sadly, it had TONS of mosquitoes, so we didn't linger too long.
A house with lots of gourds near Tenryuuji. I dunno what the story behind this is, but it's intriguing.
Playing with depth of field. Wakako liked this one a lot.
Again, check out the rest on Flickr! I commented on each one, took a while. Don't make me regret it :p |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 17th, 2009|09:36 pm] |
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Back home from a 5-day trip to Osaka and Kyoto.
A ton of fun as usual, good times seeing old friends, and visiting places I love. Also, tons of fun sightseeing in Kyoto with my girlfriend!
I filled up my entire 8GB memorycard (going to have to rethink shooting in jpeg+raw), so it'll take a bit of time to sift through all the pictures.
In the meantime, check out these pseudo-macro pics I took today... stop reading if you don't like spiders.
This guy was probably like 3-4mm large in real size. I was quite surprised at how much detail I could squeeze out of the standard 14-42 zoom...
I found it amusing how it was staring back at me most of the time.
Trying to look imposing and threatening?
This guy was sitting nearby on the stairs, so I got another shot.
Kinda similar, found at Tenryuuji:
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 9th, 2009|10:57 pm] |
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Today we went to see "Egypt's Sunken Treasure" at the Yokohama Pacifico.
The exhibit was ok, really really crowded, so we couldn't really take time to look at any of the display. A lot of the items were really washed out by the sea, and had lost a lot of detail (duh, submerged for 2000 years or so), so it wasn't as impressive as it could've been.
I took a few pics around the bay area (especially down from Landmark Tower), but it was really overhung and pretty much the worst light I've ever seen, washing everything out to grey. I really hope we have good weather next week in Kyoto. Then again, Kyoto is generally more earthy-toned, so the pictures should be ok.
Still, I could really use a break from the rain. It's been raining so ridiculously much that farmers have a hard time getting their crops in, and produce prices have risen to crazy levels (as if they weren't expensive enough before).
Anyways, here's some pictures...
They had a display of aquariums up on the observatory floor, much like the "Sky Aquarium" exhibit in the Mori Tower... Unfortunately it was much less spectacular, but the kids still seemed to dig it.
I'm proud of how this one turned out... Don't ask how many shots it took.
After the trip up Landmark Tower, and having delicious gelato in the adjacent mall, I headed to Shinjuku to get a travel guide for Kyoto (I was considering getting a lonely planet, but they're ridiculously expensive, and I didn't even find it that interesting anymore, especially since I don't need all the info on getting around and places to stay).
This is the walkway from Hands to Kinokuniya. the original was really drab and boring, but changing the aspect ratio to 6:6 and applying the Toy Photo filter did wonders on it.
This guy was outside Takashimaya, having a smoke while waiting for his girl. The high contrast and wet floor really caught my eye, so I yanked out the camera and snapped away.
A couple more snaps on the way home:
Do check out the Large Version of this, the old guy has such an awesome smile.
Trying to make my "home" town of Warabi look interesting. Gotta love puddles!
As always, originals are up on my Flickr.
Oh, also, one of my pics is up for voting in the dpreview.com "Landmarks" challenge. Vote for me! http://www.dpreview.com/challenges/Entry.aspx?ID=146272&View=My&Rows=4
(Not my best, wish I could've framed out that blasted tree, but Coccoon Tower still deserves some attention!!) |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 7th, 2009|12:40 am] |
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Uninspired. I can't wait for the weekend. Going to see Egypt's sunken treasures in Yokohama :)
The conversion lens I wrote about yesterday. Don't lenses just look really pretty?
I was packing up, when the reflection caught my eye.
Railway tracks, taken from up the bridge to Takashimaya/Tokyu Hands. I like how they look tiny, like a model train!
Down the other side.
Been having way too much fun browsing camera stuff at Yodobashi Camera during Lunch break lately... If only I had the money ;) |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 5th, 2009|10:31 pm] |
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Made another impulse purchase!
I've been itching for a wide angle lens ever since I got my E-P1. Since most of my pictures are urban landscape depictions, there's been lots of time when I couldn't seem to fit all the detail onto the picture area. Especially skyscrapers have been extremely challenging...
A few days ago, I stumbled upon an article about E-P1 customization, featuring a couple of combination with wide conversion lenses. Which, incidentally, cost about a 6th of the Voigtlander lenses I've been craving!
Needless to say, being the king of impulse buys, I jumped right in. Or, rather, walked calmly to Yodobashi camera and forked over some cash for a Ricoh GW-1 wide conversion lens and a 37mm Kenko Filter to extend the Pancake thread.
Thusly,
This
turned into this:
And this
Into this:
Yay! No more crouching in the middle of roads trying to squeeze a building into a picture!! (Or at least less of it)
It's got some slight blur towards the edges, but nothing too bad. Although I'll hold off on judgement on that until I've gotten around to taking pictures during the day.. (Hello weekend!)
If you want to check the details for yourself, head to the big versions on my Flickr.
I took the combination out for a very, very short spin to try and capture some HDR pics...
But even after some additional Level etc tweaking, this is all I can get out of Photoshop's HDR processor:
And while these don't look bad at all, it's still nothing close to those crazy hdr shots I've been seeing all over the web... I guess I'll have to tinker around some more and try to get the hang of it.
Lastly, here's a little self portrait taken in front of a random truck's rear view mirror in Shibuya. Look at the humongous lens on my camera! haha. BW conversion via Photoshop's Black&White filter (check out the awesome effect on the streamers in the background)
I can't wait to test out my new gear in Osaka and Kyoto next week!! |
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| More Fireworks |
[Aug. 3rd, 2009|01:13 am] |
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Had a pretty good day at Nakayama Keibajo (Horseracing Arena). They were having fireworks in the evening, so my colleague Tsuchiya invited me over, and we did some betting beforehands (won some, lost some, came out even).
The fireworks themselves were pretty spectacular, especially when they used the entire width of the place. Unfortunately, there was little to no wind, so the smoke accumulated extremely fast and stuck around, making it almost impossible to take good pictures. I did anyways, and luckily was able to salvage some through Photoshop Level tweaking (actually very impressed at how much that helped).
As always, more in my Fireworks set on Flickr. Note, these are all done freehand without a tripod. Actually adds to some of the pictures, I think...
I actually like the effect the smoke creates in this one.
The ones below are from the one in Toda the day before, which I only went to see very briefly.
Slow shutter + twisty camera = psychedelic dance of light!! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 30th, 2009|11:01 pm] |
Random pics! Large versions at my Flickr.
On the train home. Inconspicuously took pictures out of the window like a good tourist, then tilted the camera to get the inside too. Not the most ethical approach, but the result is pretty good.
Took this one yesterday evening. The blurred out cars are of course intentional, I love that effect.
Ani-zoo was performing too, so I stopped by and gave him prints of the pics from the day before. He seemed pretty happy with them.
Another Shinjuku night shot. The reflection on the handrail caught my eye, so I stopped and snapped a few...
Two more fireworks festivals this weekend, going to see if I can take some more good fireworks pics. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 26th, 2009|10:21 pm] |
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I spent literally the entire day (well, afternoon, since I slept in) taking pictures.
It was SUPER bright and hot today, and both me and the camera had trouble adapting to it.
I walked from Warabi down to Akabane, then took the train down to Shinjuku and went up to the Town Hall Observation decks (Yes, both towers). However, I found that outdoors/roof decks are waaay more suited to taking pictures.
As always, all pictures (took 176, kept 20) are up on my Flickr.
Favourites:
I tried to take a picture of these guys coming my way (which failed spectacularly), and they noticed and started waving and hollering at me. I played along, and followed this guy with my camera as he breezed by me. Split second shutter chance, and I think it turned out pretty awesome. My favourite pic all day.
Have you ever wondered how Japanese garden, there being barely any space between houses? Now you know.
A bit of a visual break from the other pics, but this one just turned out really well. Kinda proud of the framing, too.
It's a set of really odd looking swings.
Palm tree, power lines, blue, blue sky. Seriously, I hate when there are no clouds at all...
All the railway tracks up here are surrounded by this kinda chainlink fence. This one has seen better days...
There was this Yakuza-looking guy watching me from a souped-up Skyline the whole time when I took this... Kinda scary. Has a nice, tranquil feel to it though. And again proud of the framing.
Ok, am I the only one who really likes concrete/steel bridges? I cropped this down a little to make the bright red scooter more visible, cause it adds so much (could've done without the thrown over bike).
Two hard working fellas having a well-deserved break.
Tokyo Town Hall looms. Note the epic lensflare.
Tokyo. Note the epic lensflare.
Plants. Lensflare. IT WAS REALLY BRIGHT, DO YOU GET IT?
How come Coccoon Tower doesn't get a lens flare? Coccoon Tower > Town Hall.
I like how the contrast came out on this one.
Several more on my Flickr E-P1 Set
(BTW, there were lots of times, especially with the big cityscapes, where I really wished I'd had that wide lens. Totally getting it for myself when Christmas comes around.) |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 25th, 2009|11:32 am] |
I knew there was a time and place for monochrome... I just never realized it was Shinjuku at night.
Browsing at the drug store...
Focus on the bonsai in front of Yakichi.
Good old Tori Gen.
Chicken Kebab ad lamp. This would not have looked as good in color, the lamp was green for some reason. (Usually they're bright red)
One of my drinks last evening. It was an Imo Shochu (Potato-based Spirit), not too bad.
These were pretty much all fully manual. Focus, ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture. Some have gain too.In case you really need to know, check the EXIF data on Flickr.
And because they seem to be popular, more floors in rough mono:
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 22nd, 2009|11:47 pm] |
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Three from today's lunch break:
I'm very partial to how the rough monochrome filter makes this kinda setting look. All shot with the pancake lens, by the way. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 21st, 2009|11:13 pm] |
Took another bunch of pictures on Monday, as well as a decent set today.
The full rundown is at my E-P1 set on Flickr. I'll employ lj-cuts (which I hate because people don't bother to click ;p) on here, lest people get pissy at me for dragging out their friendslist.
Made a trip to Meiji shrine, to take some good plant and shrine architecture pics. The weather was overhung most of the time, and, defying my expectations, I felt extremely uninspired. Here's a tree. I think it needs a lensflare.
Took this mainly to play with Aperture settings. Couldn't get it quite as blurry as I wanted, but it's a start.
( more pictures behind the cut... )
Today, I'd taken the camera along just in case, pancake lens only, in a super-basic Uniqlo pouch (Which ended up working super well). It started raining in the afternoon, and I decided to make a trip down to Omoide Yokocho ("Memory Lane"), which is awesome as is, but I figured the rain would give it that special little something.
( more pics behind the cut... )
I am now fully convinced that the E-P1 handles low-light situations well. Now I only need to work on my fricking skills so as to not make my pics look like tourist snapshots anymore :p
More pictures up on Flickr. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 3rd, 2009|03:53 pm] |
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Finally, Golden Week! Can't even remember when I last had 5 days off in a row.
Yesterday I took a long walk around Ikebukuro, then Akihabara, windowshopping through Tokyu Hands, Loft, Yodobashi.
One thing I was consciously searching for was one of those "inner bags" people use to organize their cluttered laptop bags, since my little Vaude Messenger has too much stuff in it.. (Now that I am lugging around an eneloop mobile booster charging kit to help my iphone last through a full day of function)
I didn't end up buying one though, since they all looked kinda cheap.
I did buy this though, something I found the other day in Kotobukiya.
They also had Chocobos, Goblins, and that Cactus guy (forgot the name) but nothing beats Tonberrry!
Also took a couple of pictures, which you can find on my flickr account.
Tonight I'll be off to Osaka, to see my university archery team compete in the League. Some long-needed reunions too, should be good. |
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