Canon, My Favourite Brand, Disappointed...

Canon has been my favorite camera brand since I was young, as its camera build and lens quality is really excellent and robust. Since the start of the dslr era, Canon has been leading in terms of technology (CMOS sensor) and camera build. However, after the release of 350D (My first and still my favourite Canon dslr), it seems like Canon start to bump into lots of problem.

1. Release of Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS. Since the release of this lens at August 2007, the problem start to arise after 1 year. It seems like there is a serious issue either on the design itself or the QA, for the friends I know that having this lens, all facing focusing motor stalled problem and have to send back to Canon for repair. The surprising thing is that Canon didn't even ask extra question when you send in for repair, which means that it might be a well known problem for the lens. I pay a visit to the camera shop that I always visit, the advice is "don't get this lens, the motor has problem". It has been 2 years since the lens release, and still Canon can't solve this crucial issue?

2. Release of 450D. The camera being released with a simple defect which will stop people from getting it: NOISE.....it is really a surprise that Canon actually sell this camera which obviously has a higher noise level compare with 400D.

3. FPS. Since 350D vs D70s, Canon has been lack behind in terms of this.

4. Wireless flash control. Something that has been missing from all Canon DSLR.

5. CMOS sensor. The obvious advantage of Canon dslr, which is now long gone......

6. Release of 50D. We can notice that the frequency of the firmware release by Canon is really "amazing", which should not happen with a good QA in place.

7. L lens need to revise. Yes, all the current range L lens are still good quality, the problem is the IS system is too old and the lens is not specially built for digital sensor. It is time for Canon to actually revise all the L lens and give it the feature it should carry.

The latest release by Canon which is the 7D really make all the Canon fans excited, full featured, nice build, solve all the missing features compare with Nikon, but still, 2 firmware patch within 2 weeks? This is definitely a "no no" if you are considering to get the 7D. I'll suggest to wait for at least 6 months before getting this beauty.

Hopefully, Canon will start to beef up their QA and design quality and not just rush their camera out to grab the market, which sacrifice its fans who spend the hard earn money and end up be Canon's "QA" team.

Wake up, Canon.

Kuching Trip Day 3 - Kampung Benuk, Bidayuh Longhouse

Kampung Benuk, one of the oldest Bidayuh Longhouse in Kuching, located around 15 minutes away from Semenggoh Wildlife Center, is what you should not miss after a morning visit to the Semenggoh Wildlife Center.


There is a tourist information center just outside of the village, you are supposed to register yourself and pay RM6.00 per person for the visit. There is also package for village stay (2D1N, 3D2N and etc.)...


To enter the village, you'll cross a small wooden bridge and pass through the arch at the entrance of the village.

Once you reach the longhouse, you'll first need to climb up the traditional timber wood staircase.

Once you had climb up, you'll be walking on the bamboo made platform which is wide and sturdy.

At the outside of the house, can see that the house is made of wood with bamboo fence...

All the houses are side by side without any fences to separate them out.

Interior of the longhouse...


As most of the villagers are farmers, you can notice crops, rubber sheets being dried under the hot sun on the bamboo floor.


Bidayuh farmer...


Hall...


The unique roof of the hall.


Model of Bidayuh Longhouse displayed in the hall...


The unique outlook of the longhouse. This is a quite modern longhouse, there are plenty of them has been converted into a double storey house.


Another view of the longhouse.


Bamboo bridge across the river......


This is a small private museum operated by an old Bidayuh woman. We had a little chat with her.......
Pay a visit to the place as you can really get to see lots of the old traditional things that you'll not able to find anywhere else...and there is no entrance fee, just a small donation (non fixed amount) to the museum will do.

Kuching Trip Day 3 - Semenggoh Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre

If you have a chance to visit East Malaysia, visiting Orang Utan rehabilitation center is the activities you must not meet. We chose the nearest center which located in Semenggoh, around 22km away from Kuching. The nice thing about this center is that the orang utan there is semi-wild, where they roamed around the forest freely and just come back to the center for feeding when they not managed to get fruits in the forest. So, this also means that it is based on your luck whether you'll meet them or not.


The center open from 8.00am to 12.00pm, and 2.00pm to 4.15pm. There are 2 feeding sessions which start from 9.00am to 9.30am, and 3.00pm to 3.30pm. The entrance fees is RM3.00 for the adult and RM1.50 for the child. It is really affordable even for whole family to visit this place.


The feeding area is some distance away from the center into the forest, where a wooden platform is built and a visitors seat area far away from it. So, prepare to use a super tele lens (recommended at least 300mm) or binoculars. When we were there (early August), it is fruits season where there are plenty of fruits supply in the forest, which means that most of the orang utan will not come out for the feeding. We waited there for 20mins and none of them actually came out. It is really disappointed, but in the other hands, I felt happy as well because this means that the orang utan able to survive by themselves in the forest. :)


Well, at least we managed to up close with one of the female orang utan who came out to the center with her little baby for food. :)


The ranger just throw the whole bunch of bananas up for her. She grabbed it easily, swinging a bit with her baby clutching tightly to her and then enjoy her meals by sitting on the branch. Below are some better photos that I managed to capture.



Hello......



Nyam nyam......



Sweet and shy baby orang utan...



Close up.


There is also a biography of all the orang utans at the center, they have name for each of the orang utan live there.

The "Street Photography Challenge" Contest by Canon

The contest start from 23rd October 2009 (12.00pm) until 29th December 2009 (5.00pm). Each photographer are allowed to submit 3 photos. More details on the official site...

Gambate!!!! The prize is Canon S90 and there are 3 of them to be grab by the 3 winners. Visit the site as there are tips on street photography as well.

Panasonic release firmware update ver2.1 for LX3

After the suspension for firmware ver2.0, finally Panasonic announce the release of the latest ver2.1 firmware for LX3 today. It is recommended for those who upgrade to ver2.0 to update again to ver2.1. Below is the snapshot of the official announcement from Panasonic Lumix LX3 download site:

Kuching Trip Day 2 - Cat Museum

When you are in Kuching, this is one place that you should not miss, the "Cat Museum". It is located on the ground floor of MBKU (North Kuching City Hall) in Petra Jaya. The museum open daily from 9.00am to 5.00pm except on Public Holidays. The best thing is that the entrance is free! However, if you are bringing in camera or video cam, be prepared to pay RM3.00 per camera and RM5.00 for the video cam. It is a small price to pay for all the cats you can photographed with. :P



Once you are in the MBKU building, just turn left and walk straight, you'll see the striking nice entrance of the "Cat Museum".



After you had pay for the camera, whiskas cat will be the first to say "Hello" to you......




Then, on your right, you'll have a chance to be a "cat face" and take a photograph as memories...


The cats in the museum are really amazing, ranging from the nature cats to cartoon cats (Hello Kitty, Doraemon and etc.....) to the mummies cat, everything you can imagine is in there (including Cat woman from the Batman movie).



The Japanese prosperities cat...

We spent around 2 hours in the museum to look through all the cats, but if you are cat lovers, you'll need a day or two to really thoroughly go through all the explanations. The only things I have complain is the air-conditioning, it is really hot inside as it seems like the air-cond is not working. Hopefully it'll be better the next time I'm there.


If you wish to buy some souvenir, there are souvenir stalls setup inside the museum as well.


Information online:
e-borneo
e-tawau


Cat Museum contact:
CAT MUSEUM UNIT
CORPORATE AND PUBLIC RELATION DIVISION
KUCHING NORTH CITY HALL
Bukit Siol, Jalan Semariang, Petra Jaya, 93050 Kuching, Sarawak, East Malaysia.
Tel : 082-446688 Ext. 805  Fax : 082-44641
Email : dbkuqrc@po.jaring.my

Kuching Trip Day 2 - Kuching Riverside and Town Visit

On the street...



The traditional building......



There are nice cats statue at the roundabout to represent nine life cat (九命猫) near Grand Margherita Hotel.



Another view of the nine cats infront of the Grand Margherita Hotel. We are supposed to stay in this hotel but then we tried to book too late and end up in HarborView Hotel.



HarborView Hotel, it is 3 stars, but the room is clean and nice, not a bad choice if you run out of place to stay in Kuching. :P
It is just opposite the famous "Tua Pek Kong" temple.

Well, we didn't know that Kuching is so famous until that most of the hotel were fully book. Then, one of the hotel staff told us that....



This...Sarawak Regatta



And this...Kuching Festival



And this...Launch of the new State Assembly Hall + Sultan's meeting is why all the hotel are fully book.



Night scene at Kuching riverside at night. The new state assembly hall was lit up nicely. (Photo taken with LX3, :P)



Fountain at riverside...



View from the top of Civic Center, this place must go since it is free entrance. :P
You can get the view of the whole Kuching town from here, too bad it is closed at night, if not the night view should be superb.



Another cat statue at the junction towards Everrise Supermarket.



TheSpring, the new and largest shopping mall in Kuching.

Picasa - My favourite photo organizer

Before Picasa is born, I have always having issues to organize my photo, as I always take photo in RAW format, the differences of the RAW format by different manufacturer and different camera model always give me a headache.

Why is that so? I have a Canon 350D and a Panasonic Lumix LX3, which both come with their own software (Canon ZoomBrowser and Panasonic PhotoFunStudio).  Now, here comes the problem, Canon ZoomBrowser cannot understand RW2 format and Panasonic PhotoFunStudio cannot understand CR2 format. So, if I took an event with both cameras, it is really hard for me to view all the photo in the same software.

So, I opt for the Windows explorer thumbnail. What is the issue then? The issue is that Microsoft Windows explorer "suppose" to be able to thumbnail any format as long as you install the RAW format driver. It seems like a nemesis to Windows that "it will work when is it working", which translated to "if you see it, congrats. If not, I'm sorry".

Then, I have been left with the choice of Adobe Bridge or Lightroom, which I'll have to pay for it, and yet, there are no guarantee that you'll be able to view the thumbnail as well. I had test it out and some how it is unable to thumbnail RW2. I'm not sure if it is my machine problem or the software problem, as I'm looking for something that will work out of the box.

I have live with all the pains until Picasa is born. As a start, I don't really put a high hope that it will work as what I wish it to, but then, voila! After the installation, I can just see all my photos thumbnail! Yay, finally something is working as what I want. It is not only that, Picasa come with a free 1GB web album. It is not a lot but I'm not backing up my photo in it, I just want to share it with a smaller version of my photos, and Picasa offered a direct resize feature during uploading process! This software is really built to cater every needs that I have.

The photo album organization is simple and straightforward as well. As you move your photo from album to album, you can opt to move the physical file in your folder as well, nice. Also, you can add watermark to every photos during export process, create collage and etc......I just love the features.

There are some simple photo editing features as well, but that is the weak point for Picasa, as it tends to create noisy photo after the editing. Hope that this can be improved. :P

With that latest release which is Picasa 3.5, there are more that you can do, geotag, add places, organize photo according to people (it is auto detect!) and etc......go check the Picasa website

And lastly and the most important thing is.......IT IS FREE!!! And now they are offering Picasa for Windows, OSX and Linux as well. This means, as long as you have a machine, you can install it. :)