When The Camera Focuses On The Wrong Thing

Some photographs stay with us not because they are technically perfect, but because they capture a moment that is impossible to recreate. A few months ago, I spotted a Gardenia bread delivery man walking under the blazing Malaysian afternoon sun. Instead of carrying the empty plastic bread basket normally, he had lifted it over his head, using it as a makeshift sunshade. It was one of those wonderfully human moments - practical, slightly amusing, and instantly relatable to anyone who has experienced our tropical heat.

Focus Bracketing With Olympus EPL-9 And Nisi 58mm Close-up Filter

Greater depth of field. That's what I want for my macro pictures.

So, focus bracketing with a close-up filter attached was one of the first thing that I tried when I first got my Olympus Pen EPL-9 camera and Olympus M.Zuiko ED 40 - 150mm R zoom lens. Tried a few takes and I was disappointed. The results that I got then was unimpressive. I was confused and I wrongly assumed then that the close-up filter combination with the zoom lens doesn't work. How wrong was I. It does works, albeit with some limitations.

The focal length must be between 40mm and 80mm, and ideally, the subject should be at least 25mm across in size. Beyond the 80mm focal length or if the subject is too small (like a lady bug that is 5mm across), the pictures will be unimpressive.

I haven't tried but with a Raynox DCR-250, the focal length range should be less because of its higher magnification capabilities. Maybe between 40mm to 70mm. Again, I haven't tried.

I stumbled upon this find accidentally earlier this month. Not sure why but when I saw this colpacampsomeris indica wasp (thanks to bob296 at iNaturalist for identification) resting on a leave in the cool 8 A.M. morning air, I turned the dial on the camera to AP mode, selected Focus Bracketing, and I clicked away. And the outcome (after much editing because it was shot handheld) was this:

Sorry for the Dreamstime watermark. The picture was too good to not submit it as a stock photo. For a closer look of this picture at Dreamstime, click here. And oh yeah, I wasn't stung by this wasp.

Weifeng WT-1003 Monopod

I have bought myself a monopod. A made in China Weifeng WT-1003. The build is surprisingly quite good despite the budget friendly price. Maximum length when fully extended is about 1.7m which is about right for my height. It is quite light and overall, I am happy with my purchase as it serves it purpose for my needs as it is suppose to.

Olympus E-PL 9 + Zoom Lens With Raynox At f/18 Aperture

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been toying around with the idea of getting a budget manual macro lens. Not too sure why I did not try it out earlier, but after stopping down the aperture to f/18 (with my Olympus camera + zoom lens and Raynox DCR-250), I think I will be delaying my decision a bit. Reason being, the picture quality is not too bad with this setup as you can see from the picture above, unedited 100% cropped ( click here for enlarged image).

Bought Another Camera, The Olympus Pen EPL-9

I already own two cameras: a Canon EOS 800D/T7i and a Canon Powershot SX530HS. And it all started with me searching for a Canon telephoto lens a few months ago. It ended though with something quite unexpected. I did get my telephoto lens (a 40-150mm) and, believe it or not, I actually bought myself another camera - an entry level mirrorless camera from Olympus, the PEN EPL-9. Hey! This decision made financial sense, to me at least - see below.

It actually took me some 2 months to finally own this camera. I did face some hurdles along the way. It first caught my eye (which was bundled with a 40-150mm lens) quite unexpectedly towards the end of June 2020. I did my maths and realised that the listed selling price was a great bargain. Clever me thought that since the Lazada 7.7 sale was coming up on July 7 2020, why not wait and enjoy an even greater discount.

Big mistake. On that very fateful day, the price for the camera was revised upwards by some RM500, The bargain was no more. I was obviously disappointed. The 7.7 sale did give a RM20 discount coupon though. But trading in RM500 to receive a RM20 coupon? Who would do that?

I persevered.

Proocam 49mm To 58mm Step-up Ring

The Raynox DCR-250 clip-on lens that I own, it can only be mounted onto a camera that has lens thread size of between 52mm and 67mm.

My Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM lens on my Canon EOS 800d/T7i though, only has a thread size of 49mm.

So how am I going to mount my Raynox clip-on lens onto my Canon 50mm lens? Get myself a step-up ring of course. And that is exactly what I did 2 months ago - I bought myself a Proocam 49mm to 58mm step-up ring. A Proocam by the way since I am happy with my last purchase for my point-and-shoot camera. The price too is quite reasonable at RM20 since they were having a promotion at that time.

Shooting Stock Video With My Canon Powershot SX530HS

Soft at the telephoto end, chromatic aberration at high contrast areas and sensor noise. These are the reasons why I bought my Canon EOS 800D/T7i. But little did I know that my Canon Powershot SX530 HS takes excellent videos. So much so that three of my stock video footage were accepted by Dreamstime without much editing, shot at 1080p:

• Man Removing Concrete Forms From Ceiling
• Male Pink-necked Green Pigeon Preening
• Timber falling of a broken pallet in mid-air

Fastening A String To My Third Party Lens Caps

When I received my recent DSLR camera purchase, I was quite disappointed when I realised that Canon only provided a standalone lens cap that comes with no attachment cord. I wonder why as after all, the lens cap from my Canon Powershot does come with one. My recent lens purchase, the Canon EF 50mm lens, comes with no attached cord either. A piece of string for attaching the lens cap to the camera strap or body, I don't think they are that expensive. They are pretty handy in preventing lens cap from going missing.

Caps From China

Luckily there are third party lens caps for sale online. And I bought two (because of the different lens sizes that I have) from two separate online merchants in China. One for my Canon EF-S 18-55mm kit lens and another for my Canon EF 50mm prime lens. The build quality is pretty good and sturdy in my opinion. No complains there. But then that attachment cords for both caps. Why can't they provide a better one rather that giving me essentially just a piece of plain old string. The worse part - the given strings is a bit insufficient at just 13" in length. I did make do for awhile by employing the "pedigree cow hitch" and "overhand loop" knots, but because of me accidentally tugging at them quite often, the "pedigree cow hitch" knot eventually came loose yesterday.

Discounts And Bargain Hunting For My 50mm Canon Lens

I hope this will become the norm. Discounts. I talking about bargain and discounts when shopping online, especially at Lazada Malaysia.

You see, I just bought myself a Canon 50mm F/1.8 STM lens at a very good bargain price during the "Lazada Malaysia's 7th Anniversary sale". This purchase includes a 1-year warranty and a RM50 rebate from Canon Malaysian. Added to that, Lazada also gave me a 5% rebate for topping up my Lazada wallet. So in effect, the amount that is coming out of my pocket is around RM364. That's a 27% discount there! My lucky day I guess - Santa came early for me this year.

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.

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.

Raynox DCR-250 - Adding Value To My Canon Powershot SX530 HS Camera

This Raynox DCR-250 clip-on lens - there's only one way of describing it: Amazing. No that's an understatement, make that Super Amazing. To show you what I mean, just looks at this picture that I have taken with my Canon Powershot SX530 HS in macro mode, uncropped but scaled down to fit in this page:

The subject, a Wasp Moth, barely fills 1/9th of the frame. Not much details to look at I must say. Cropping doesn't help much either.

Now compare the picture above with the following picture below. The same camera but with the Raynox lens attached, again uncropped but scaled down to fit in this page:

See why I am so excited with this lens now? A magnifying glass for my camera with the insect now filling about half the frame. The fine details, the furry bits around the insect, even the flower's pollen on the insect's feelers can be captured with my low-end prosumer point-and-shoot camera. A perfect value-add accessory to my camera.

My Opinion On My New 32-bead LED Lamp

Should I get the 16-bead, 32-bead, 36-bead, 49-bead or the 64-bead LED lamp for my still-life and wildlife macro photography? Will the lighting be adequate? There's only one way to find out - just go out (or online), buy one, test it out and see how it performs. And that was exactly what I did last week. Shown in the picture above is the lamp that I bought - a 32-bead rechargeable LED lamp from Lazada Malaysia. It arrived last Friday, 6 days after placing my order. Not too bad, considering that the item was shipped overseas from Hong Kong, China. The price: about US$10 (including shipping charges) which is quite reasonable since I didn't want to spend too much on something that I know nothing of.

My Opinion

So did it meet my needs? Well, not exactly.

My First Sale On Dreamstime

I sign-up on Dreamstime sometime at the beginning of this year. Nine months and 40 uploads later (and not to forget many, many hours of learning Gimp and Lightzone from scratch), I finally have my first sale; this photo of a squirrel in my garden:

© Chuah TC 2017 - Buy this picture

Thank you buyer. Thank your squirrel. Thank you mango tree.

For Sale: My Photos At Dreamstime.com

My photographs, they are up for sale now at Dreamstime.

I have always thought that it was tough to get into this business of selling pictures online. It was not until I read a comment from someone saying that he was doing it with nothing more than his Sony Xperia. A Sony Xperia: that's a smartphone isn't it? Well, I have a Canon Superzoom a Powershot SX530HS; that should be good enough. But is it? So, the only way for me to find out is to upload a test (sharp and with minimal noise) photograph to Dreamstime and see what happens.

An voila, my photo was approved 5 days later.

Canon Powershot SX530 HS - My New Birding Camera

It was suppose to take 3 days but it finally arrived, some 9 days later. What happened Superbuy.my? You had me worried there for a couple of days. Better late than never I suppose.

Yes, I have finally bought myself a new superzoom bridge camera - a Canon Powershot SX530 HS (SX530HS) with 50x optical zoom. Warranty periods is for 1 year from Canon Malaysia - got my email confirmation last week to prove it. I will be using this camera largely for birding and wildlife photography. Long overdue I think.

My Opinion

Having used this camera over the last couple of days, I must say that I am very pleased with my decision. Compared with my previous low-end camera, focusing and the image quality is definitely much better. I am surprised to find such fine details of a pigeon (and other birds too in fact; picture quality is subject to my shaky hands) captured with this camera. Just look at the picture below to see what I mean (do click to enlarge). Except for some cropping, there were no other editing done to this picture. It blew me away the first time I saw it. This camera is making birding and photography fun again! Previously, the only way for me to get such fine details was to hold my subject at arms length. I know because I photographed my rooster that way once. And no I was not tormenting it; I was just trying to photograph its injured eye.

Selection Process

The SX530HS is not my first choice actually. To be honest, it was not even my second.

Getting Sharp Macro Butterfly Pictures

I was taken aback by the 2 photos above when I first viewed it on my computer. I was not expecting to see such sharp images, clear enough to see the finer details on the butterfly (do click on the pictures to enlarge). And the colours, they are just spectacular - totally unanticipated. The only editing that I did on these two photos was to crop and resize them, nothing else.

Previous Attempts

Compare the 2 pictures above with the one below, a picture that I took about a year ago. I think you will agree that this photo is less striking. A little over exposed, I think.

Tiny Mushrooms

If there is no moisture, there will be no mushroom. With the onset of the year-end North-East monsoon, where it rains almost every day, little tiny mushrooms started to appear here and there around my front garden. The top part of these mushrooms, its cap, measures about an inch across; its height, no more than three inches. These mushrooms will start to dry up after about 24 hours. I don't think these mushrooms are edible - there's not much to chew on even if it is.

Here are some macros (closeups) that I have taken one fine morning towards the end of October. If you enjoy looking at the finer details, like I do, just click on the pictures to enlarge.

A Night Shot Of A Large-Tailed Nightjar

The month of April 2015 must be a lucky month for me. For some reason, I began to get regular visits from a Large-Tailed Nightjar, almost daily for over a span of a month-and-a-half. I don't have the slightest clue if this is just one particular bird. But one thing is certain: when it does come to my front yard, it will very much likely perch on the telephone wire at a distance of not more than 10 feet away from my bedroom window. Without a doubt, an ideal position for taking some photographs with my low end compact digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix L27.

Do Monitor Lizards Climb Trees?

On the left is a picture of a Water Monitor Lizard clinging onto a mango tree in front of my house. If one needs proof that they do climb trees, well here it is.

In fact, not only do they climb trees, but they can also climb up (on the inside) of vertical cast-iron sewage pipes. I know because one actually entered my bedroom, via my attached bathroom, not too long ago. Not a pleasant thought considering that it had to submerge itself in raw sewage in the septic tank before ending up in my room

Taking This Shot

It is not possible for me to take a close-up photo as Monitor Lizards are shy creatures (but not aggressive as far as I can tell). As soon as they caught sight of me, they will bolt. And they can run at amazing speed.

The picture on the left was taken from my bedroom window upstairs, at roughly about 10 feet away with my Nikon compact camera set at 5x zoom and the scene mode set to "Dusk/Dawn". I don't think it was aware of my presence as otherwise it would have climbed to the other side of the tree, away from me.

Check out that tail length.

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