3D imaging

It's one of the latest technology available nowadays. From TV sets right down to compact cams. My Nex have 3D sweep panorama, which, I'm only able to see it from a 3D enabled tv and the special glasses. However, it has been outperform by Sony's new Cybershots, the TX-9 and WX-5. Both have 3D capabilities, but the best part is, you can view its effects right on the camera's LCD screen. Just tilt camera left and right like a seesaw. Check out youtube if you want to see that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCrvA9inGAo







Watching is nice, but wearing it is another thing, especially if you wear spectacles. It kept slipping down my nose that I have to tilt my head backwards a bit.

Then, 3D movies came. Luckily GSC at Suria Sabah offered 3D movies, and I went there this evening to catch my first 3D movie, Step Up. The storyline was ok, but I was more interested in the effects. It was cool! Uber cool! I wonder how Avatar 3D would fare. I saw Avatar being played in blue-ray format and LED TV, and that was already awesome to watch.

Enough of 3D, I'm gonna see Shrek, Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe in real life soon. Yes, tomorrow's the day that I'm going to Singapore! And the thing that eventually made me buy the airplane tickets is Universal Studios, which I'm going to visit on Monday. Hopefully SGD66 ticket is worth spending. And there's the Marina Bay and Singapore Flyer which I intend to visit too. I was worried about my camera's memory card that I bought a new one.


Bought it quite cheap at yours truly, CPL photo of KK plaza.

Aite, time to sleep. Can't wait to take photos tomorrow.

Sony Cybershot TX-7 first try

Yay! One of my colleagues bought herself the new Cybershot TX-7. It's the successor of TX-1 which incorporates Exmor-R sensor and the sweep panorama(I like this!). Without any hesitation I borrowed her cam to explore what this little thing can do.


Self portrait. Pardon the messy mirror.

It fits nicely in my hand. The brushed aluminum body is nice to touch and easier to grip. At the back, lies the 3.5 inch touchscreen LCD. Everything on the camera is set using the touchscreen except the power, shutter, movie and play button. I like how the zoom dial is located now. It's at the upper right edge of the camera.

Having bigger screen leads to bigger menu icons which is easier to click upon(as compared to my wife's smaller T70 screen). Notable features of the TX-7 is 10 fps(frame per second) burst mode and the twilight mode. In twilight mode, the camera will capture 6 images in a second and merged them into one to create a well-exposed, less-noise photo.


Compared with the Faber-Castell ball pen.

Okay then, here comes some quick shots. Note : all photos were taken straight from the camera. No post processing added except cropping and resizing.


Auto mode. 4mm, f4.5, 1/800, iso 125


This shot was taken using Gourmet mode in the Scene Selection menu. Does it make you hungry. Maybe some more light will churns out more saliva. 4mm, f3.5, 1/25, iso400.


Close up shots. 4mm, f3.5, 1/25, iso 125 in Super Macro mode. You can always set to Auto Macro where the camera will automatically set everything for you. Minimum focus distance about 2 cm.


4mm, f3.5, 1/2, iso 125


Close up on the cool Cybershot casing. 4mm, f3.5, 1/25, iso 125


4mm, f3.5, 1/25, iso 160


4mm, f3.5, 1/30, iso 125


My stationaries organiser.


My table in school.

Now come the best part. Sweep panorama. Cool way to take super wide shots of landscape. Click on both photos to see the bigger files.


4mm, f4.5, 1/500, iso125


4mm, f3.5, 1/30, iso1600

This little camera has a lot to offer. Given time to familiarize with its features, I think it will reward its user with good photos. The 3.5 inch LCD is a joy to use especially during movie capture. Still, I do wish for manual aperture settings like the ones in prosumer cameras.

Futsal in Lawas

Puma Futsala IV.

Our futsal game slowed down last month because we were denied playing at a school compound in Lawas because of conflicting opinions. So we literally quit the game and I continued my usual jogging session. Even though I just picked up the game and slowly honing my skills, I enjoyed kicking the ball, passing the ball and even scoring. I did score a few but mostly by pure luck. No skills used whatsoever. :p

Anyway a new futsal court was opened recently and we were ecstatic! Just that we can't play often because we have to pay RM50 per hour. Last time it was free and we played almost everyday.

Apart from the court fees, we paid the boat fee as well. Where's our court you might ask.


There it is! Across the Lawas river!




Here's our boat. RM1 round trip.


It can fit 12 adults comfortably at a time.






Just a short one-minute trip.


The court. We can even play at night!


Actions before the game.

A short Brunei trip with Cybershot T70.

Two weeks ago I joined my wife's family for a trip to Brunei to attend their relative's funeral. It was my first time being in Bandar Seri Begawan, its capital city. Before this I just drove there as a transit visitor.

We reached the city at night, and stopped beside the big Omar Ali Saifuddin mosque. The abundance of road signs helped us from getting lost. As I didn't bring my cam with me, I borrowed my wife's Sony Cybershot T70 for this shot.


Sony T70, 6mm, iso 1600, 1/40, f3.5.

Well, that's all about my trip there. Hehe. I just want to show this shot using a PnS and I'm quite impressed with the output. The manual controls only allows adjustments for iso, focus area, metering mode and EV values.

I owned a PnS previously and I remembered I didn't use the manual settings much, nor I understand how to use it. Most shots were using Auto or the default scene selection. Nice photos taken but somehow I'm not satisfied. But after I owned and handled a dslr, I realised that I'm starting to enjoy fiddling with a PnS limited but still interesting manual adjustments. How I wish I have this knowledge and experience last time.