Downgrade for the better?

seems counter-intuitive, but that is exactly what i have done.

i sold my canon 350d on clubsnap.org 2 days ago to a new DSLR user. prior to making the sale, i only sms the person and had not called my potential buyer. i also got lots of sms and a caller wanting to deal at a higher price than what i agreed upon. i told them that i am meeting a buyer and is not nice if i turned this buyer down. i feel it is only right that i give the person i am meeting "the right of first refusal". my buyer turned out to be a young girl who is doing her internship in a consulting firm located in Clarke Quay... from the way she held the camera in the shooting position, i can tell that she is an amatuer. i gave her some quick lessons and offered to pass her my 350d book that i bought on a whim at a later date.

anyways, after the sale, i stopped by ms colour to get a ricoh gx100 at SGD999 (SGD1009 plus lcd protector) as a replacement... well... i have to get a camera to take pictures of lucas right? hahaha.

immediately, i thought it was a bad move... the 350d was quick to write raw images to the CF card. had no lag during the write phase, can take fast moving shots. the gx100 is not able to stack up to these abilities. the gx100 has some write delay of 4 odd seconds when doing raw. requires the external view finder to be mounted in order to simulate a SLR. when the view finder is in use, the hot shoe would not be usable for an external flash unit.

however, the gx100 has real good marco capabilities that my sigma lens can never better (well, it is not a marco lens in the first place)... or would cost me an arm and a leg to purchase a marco for the 350d... plus i would have to lug around more gear. the gx100 also has quite good picture quality. guess i will need more time with it before i can fully appreciate it's beauty like others could.

i think the gx100 would allow me to take more pics of lucas without having to bring along too much stuff especially when on trips. i remembered i delibrately did not want to bring my dslr when we went to KL... let's hope the gx100 will change things for the better... photography is more skills than equipment right? hahaha... (a parallel to audio equipment as well?)

above pic is done using macro mode of gx100.
more pics here.

Great job HPDB!

Lucas was at Bedok Resovoir Park on Saturday to cheer the HPDB team in their qualifing heats in the 800m Corporate Men's category.

the HP dragon boat team came in first and second at the Bedok Resorvoir Park yesterday during the finals. since the team came onto the dragon boat scene last year during the Singapore River Regatta, it had won Gold in every open corporate race it participated in locally.



it is no mean feat and is testament to the training the team puts into race preparation every time. it is safe to say that the team is the one to beat in any corporate race. the fact that HP teams are in a corporate race would signal stiff competition to others.

keep it up, my fellow paddlers!

for more pics of the race, please check out Kam Meng's flickr set.

The A-bike

I'm not sure what led me to look for an A-bike... but the main intention was to have a bicycle that i can store away when not in use, and to be able to accompany Lucas when he is cycling.

Then I saw the Strida that was being sold in a store at Adelphi duing one of the walk arounds to check out hifi equipment in that building. The Strida was selling for around SGD800 if I am not mistaken. Quite a hefty price for a foldable bike. And it does not fold down to a small size. There is a youtube video that compared the 2 bikes.

The A-bike was designed by Daka Development, a SGX listed company, based in Hong Kong. The ironic thing is that the bike is not sold in Singapore... Shipping to Singapore would be 1/3 the bike price. Since my wife is in London, I asked if she could lug one back for me. Actually, prior to her trip, I told her it is not necessary to get one.

Anyways, she was nice enough to lug one from London to Berlin to Brussels to Singapore for me. I started riding it since yesterday. The short handle bar makes it difficult to maneuver the bike at slow speeds. Need some getting used to... The wheels also felt a little bouncy despite it being inflated till 90psi as recommended. And it did draw some attention when you are out cycling. Mostly because of its diminutive size. When my wife rode it in London, the people there thought she got it elsewhere as they had never seen this bike in London before.

All in all, a nice fun bike in a small package that will keep me from any DIY stuff this week. ;)

More pics here.