Yongnuo II Vs Canon - 50mm EF Mount f/1.8 Lenses

There something alluring about the price of the Yongnuo's 50mm f/1.8 Mark II EF mount lens for Canon. I seem to be having some trouble getting my mind of it. Perhaps I have been seduced by it. You can't blame me as I am staring at something like a 40% savings here compared to a Canon original 50mm f/1.8 STM lens. If Yongnuo II can perform as good as a Canon's why pay more, right?

Apple-to-apple comparison

But somehow I have this uneasy feeling. I need facts, I need proof that it can produce good quality images before opening my wallet. I need an apple-to-apple comparison between the two lenses. Otherwise, I just can't make a decision.

I searched, I Googled and I DuckDuckGo-ed. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything comprehensive. The best I could do was to collate the information from the videos by Christopher Frost Photography on Youtube. And below is what I have transcribed from this review videos to the best of my abilities. There are other reviewers on Youtube by the way. But I find the reviews by Christopher Frost Photography to be the best as he tested the lenses on both Full Frame and APSC cameras. Others may disagree but this is my opinion anyway.

A Chinese Pond Heron?

Spotted this rather big bird on a neighbour's roof a couple of weeks ago. I may have even seen it flying overhead a couple of times. But it was a bit too high up to identify this bird correctly without any binoculars.

This is my best guess. I suppose this bird is a Chinese Pond-Heron. I stand corrected obviously. Well, it has light greenish legs and brown back feathers.

Breeding plumage, non-breeding plumage. Urgh! So confusing.

Test Picture Upload To Flickr

Someone mentioned that the photo uploads to Flickr from Raven+ is broken (here and here). Looks like it is not. Here is an excerpt from the log for this blog post for my Flickr upload for the picture above:

Some Rumbling Going Round About Google Photos API

The following is from the OLW (Open Live Writer) Github support page dated Feb 13, 2019 by one danielpunkass.

Now, I haven't looked into the Google Photos term of service yet, so I am not too sure about the embedding-images bit. But judging by how Google is closing down is numerous software services over the last couple of years, it is not a bad idea, indeed prudent, to move away from the Blogger platform if your livelihood depends on it.

Have a read and see what you think. The problem with baseURL is valid, as mentioned in one of the links, by the way. It is only valid for 60 minutes after a picture upload (look under the heading 'Caching').

Python API Libraries For Google Photos

I thought I hit a dead-end when I couldn't find any Python API libraries for uploading my images to Google Photos via Raven+.

But a couple of hour search later via Google for "Google Photos Python Uploads" lead me to this:

• Google Photos and Albums sync with Google Photos Library API at Github from "The Google Photos API is a disaster".

• Quickstart example of how to use Google Photos API with Python also at Github from "Access Google Photo API with Python using google-api-python-client"

Brown Grasshopper - Name Please

A brown coloured grasshopper, with its colouration looking very much like that of a dried-up durian leaf. Not surprisingly, I do have a durian tree out in my front-yard.

My second encounter with this grasshopper species. The first was in 2015, if I am not mistaken.

Unfortunately, I failed in finding out the name of this species - just couldn't find anything about it on the web. Anybody knows?

UPDATE - May 11, 2024

Thanks to iNaturalist, I now know that this is a Malaysian Bush Cricket (Mecopoda elongata). For more info and more pictures, do follow this link:

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/366231-Mecopoda-elongata

My Rotary Push Mower And Cow Grass

Toxic Air

When using a petrol powered lawn mowers, aren't we breathing in all the toxic fumes while mowing the lawn? That's the exact thought that I had one day about 10 years ago. Fearing for my wellbeing, I stopped using it altogether after that. Instead I started trimming my front lawn with tools that I had with my hands. A garden shears initially, then with a long blade after the shears got misaligned due to repeated use (more like abuse) by me. Hardwork most definitely, not to mention my aching back. Neighbours and passers-by must think I am mad too!

Falcon Rotary Reel Mower

Well, I am not getting any younger as the days roll on. Age is catching up. So this year I got about thinking of getting myself a rotary push reel mower. But will it work at my front lawn? Will it mow cow grass? Now that is the big question.

There's only one way to find out: go get one push rotary reel cylinder mower myself and try it out; and if it doesn't work get creative.

And that's exactly what I did this year in June 2018.

A big thank you to Lazada Malaysia for having their "2018 Hari Raya Sale" then as I managed to get my mower at a very good discounted price of RM346.50 (can't remember the exact non-discounted figure but I think it was something like 400 odd Ringgit then). The brand name of this mower - Falcon. And it came in a big box (picture above).

My Gifts And Rebates From Canon

Super! I have received all my gifts and rebates from Canon Malaysia for my recent camera purchase 7 weeks ago. Took them about a month to have the Canon LP-E17 spare battery delivered. I received mine on 1st December 2018. To be honest, I had almost forgotten about it when suddenly it came out of nowhere via the local courier delivery service.

The all important RM 200 rebate arrived much later via electronic bank transfer - 12th December to be exact.

Camera Upgrade - My Best Bargain

I have just bought myself a new (my first in fact) DSLR camera: a Canon EOS 800D/T7i. This was a deal that I just could not ignore. The price I paid was RM 2,649, sold by FS Store on Lazada. Compared to what other sellers are selling at about RM 3,198 on Lazada Malaysia, that's about RM 549 in savings. Imagine, getting a Canon EOS 800D for the price of a much lower-end camera, the Canon EOS 200D.

The package includes a free 32 GB SD card and a camera case. Also included is a free battery and a RM 200 rebate that I have to claim from Canon Malaysia via its online registration - a promotion that they are currently having until December 31, 2018. So this is not an import unit, as far as I could tell. Warranty is 3 years, if I am not mistaken.

But still I have to wait a couple of days more to confirm everything as I made the purchase yesterday evening.

Raptor Migration Over Ipoh

Something extraordinary happened at 3:50 PM 8th October 2018. I accidentally caught sight of a small flock of about 10 eagle-like birds when I glanced out towards my Northern bedroom window. In the past, the norm was to have no more than 3 birds at any one time. "This is unusual", I thought to myself. And so, I attempted to photography them.

Having failed to capture any decent shots, I looked around and waited hoping for this flock to return. Nothing happened. I looked out on the Southern side of my bedroom window and I got excited when I saw, which I thought initially was the same flock. After taking a few shots, I then noticed that there were actually more birds in the sky than what I saw earlier. A thought then popped into my mind: Raptor Migration!!