Thank Goodness My PC Broke Down At The RIght Time

Today after ballet class, I came home and switched on my PC. Before I even got to see the Windows startup screen, I heard a loud bang and a flash coming from the PC's power supply unit (PSU in short). The PC then went dead.

My first thing that came to my mind: did the PSU blow? Then I thought: now I can't do any work. Then I realised: thankfully it didn't occur tomorrow.

Why not tomorrow? Because I have a wedding shoot and the couple ordered the Express Montage.

Actually I have a spare PC, but obviously it will run slower and therefore less efficient.

My next worry was: was the mainboard blown as well? Previously I've had bad experience with the mainboard's capacitor blew up.

I thought through and decided: what the heck, let's replace the PSU first and hope that the PC works.

Then I thought: where shall I buy a new PSU? Sim Lim? Yah I could, since I'm free.

But is it worth the trip? Why not get it at the computer shop at the nearby town central.

So I removed the PSU, put it in a plastic bag, and walked to central. After a brief chat with the shopowner, I bought the top-end Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 460W at $75. I might be able to get it cheaper at Sim Lim, but that's the price you pay for convenience.

I never knew why the PSU blew out of nowhere. But am I glad that it died on me when I least needed it. I actually have 4 wedding assignments in the next 30 days, including my sister's wedding event, so I cannot afford to miss a beat.

I have also upgraded my second harddisk in my PC after hearing some weird noises coming from the harddisk head. Harddisks are a dime a dozen - $105 to be exact for my WD SATA2. Data is priceless, so it's better safe than sorely (pun intended).

Speaking of upgrades, I went to COMEX yesterday, and strangely, there were less crowd than the PC Show in June. While I was there, I grabbed a special Anti-virus offer for existing subscribers, traded in my rechargeable batteries for a new set, and bought the Sandisk Extreme IV 8GB CF card. I really shouldn't have bought that, especially when I already have the Vosonic VP8860 to backup the files on the go. But I found that the Nikon D700 is extremely picky on slow CF cards. If the camera takes a long time to write to the CF card, it will slow down on the playback review function. I could have gotten a 16GB Transcend CF card for the same price, but there is difference in the write speed. Speed matters if I want to backup CF cards with the Vosonic, especially with large-capacity memory cards. A 120x-speed 4GB card takes about 15 minutes to backup, so imagine a sluggish 16GB. Bleah.

Yesterday was also the first time I brought my camera to snap at event girls. Actually, it's only for 2 event girls - Huirong and Zoe. What's so special?

1. They are my regular MSN buddies for years.
2. They are working together for the same company.
3. They work for Nikon, my camera brand.

Haven't met Huirong for almost 2 years. The last time I saw her in person was for the Domus photoshoot. She saw some changes in me, because she never saw me since then. But to me, she looked the same, because she's always updating her photos in her blog.


The other 2 Nikon girls, Zylia and Claire.
I was kindda awkward hanging around the 2 girls. Passers-by might think I was trying to get fresh. I really wanted to capture some journalistic images of these 2 girls at work instead of the usual pose-and-smile snaps, but I didn't bring my tele lenses and if I really did, I probably will look like I'm really trying to get fresh with these 2 girls. After 15 minutes, I decided that I have stayed long enough to receive unwanted attention, and bid the ladies adieu.

These are as far as I could get.

Photo Story: The Final Ember

It all started with this photo...

(not shot by me! It's a reference photo)

Many months ago, I found this photo in an online photo forum. The model bears an uncanny resemblance to Zoe, a model friend. I showed her the photo and she was excited to see an alter ego.

When I saw the photo, I interpreted it as a girl who is sickly depressed. Immediately I decided that if I were to do a shoot with this feel, it would have to be a story of a girl who is stricken with a disease and is dying. The story would capture her emotions and how she spent her dying days.

I never really went on to actually write out a script, until (you guessed it) I got hold of the Nikon D700. In a desperate bid to fully utilise the camera before I return to T3 Magazine, I once again showed the photo to Zoe while planning for the other portraiture shoot with Emi. That stirred her interest once again and from there on, I quickly drafted the story.

This story was shot in less than 4 hours, and I consider that an achievement, having considered the number of scenes we have to cover. Admittedly, the execution wasn't perfect. In the midst of the shoot, I kindda blanked out, not able to visualise how to capture the last moments. The only thing that is perfect is the weather: it was raining the whole morning, giving the desired gloomy atmosphere.

Of the entire photostory, the only scene that is executed as what I had visualised was the falling-stairs scene. I knew exactly how it should turn out. The outdoor shoot was also quite as intended. So is the letter-writing scene.

Make-up was also a challenge. I need the look that make Zoe look sickly yet not ugly. I had a hard time convincing her to uglify herself especially in the final few scenes. The "wet" scenes weren't captured as intended partly because I was concerned about her getting totally wet. Plus, the bathroom wasn't in a good lighting and size to get it done.

Being the first time doing a ficticious photo story, the process was more challenging than I thought. For instance, I need Zoe to get into character, very much like doing drama. Thinking back, I probably should shown her the concept or script and walkthrough the expected expressions for each scene. Without that process, we ended up having little giggles and losing the mood.

But still, Zoe did a stellar job in portraying that elegiac feel. If she lacked the spectrum of expressions, blame it on the photostory director, me. It really wasn't easy juggling as the director, photographer, props and lighting designer, and what-not. It was a good try, and there is always room for improvement in my next project.

Click the image below to view the photostory.

Flickr Mirror Link

Before I sign-off, here's how the photo I imitated turned out:

Baby's Ill

The weekend was busy with a half-day photoshoot and the rest of the time with Baby. She was ill after the MMR vaccination on Thursday. Her temperature went on a roller-coaster ride, hovering around 37.5 degrees. Personally I don't think that's a concern because most docs we've consulted say that you should be concerned more with the baby's behaviour more than the baby's temperature. If baby has higher-than-normal temperature but still behaves normally, that's fine.

Mayenne's condition compounded with the recurring running nose. Previously it was blocked nose so we were frantically trying to clear her 'gold'. This time round, it was runny - just like ol' Daddy. Problem is, she doesn't know how to blow her nose, so that probably irrirated her. She hasn't been eating well over the weekend, and we don't know whether it's her fever or her nose. The only recourse is to feed her the fever and flu medication, but it didn't help and she got fussed up and cried, thus increasing the mucus in her nose.

Sometimes, I wonder whether we should leave her symptons alone since she was not particularly behaving sickly. If we force the medication, she would turn upset and all the "sickly" symptons would surface.

Some people feel that baby should be left to build her own anti-bodies against the common illness. Others feel that medication must be administered to fight the viruses.

All I know is that whichever option we take, it is always for the baby's best interest. That's more important than trying to insist which is the better option. After all, there is no scientific proof to claim which is really better, and that is the situation that we will have to live with for many generations - until proven. It's just like determining whether mobile phones causes brain cancer.

The D700 Experience Continues - Emilia and Zoe

Because of the Nikon D700 magazine review, I have planned more shoots that I ever had in the past week. Justifiably-so, because I do not think I will really buy one.

Not that it's no good. It's fantastic, that is why I am creating opportunities for me to experience the technological marvel. But I feel that the FX format is yet to mature. Specifically, the 51-area sensor is not spread across the entire FX frame, something that puts me off because it shows that Nikon is cutting corners and deploying the same AF sensor as the DX format.

And after Deon's shoot, I am holding back more, because I get to find out that my current Capture NX and Lightroom do not support D700 RAW image processing. Both software just released new versions, so it is very unlikely they will release an update for the old software. Therefore, if I do purchase D700, software costs have to be factored.

So for the shoot I did with Zoe and Emilia yesterday, I used both D300 and D700 interchangeably. For shots where I get sufficient light to shoot below ISO 400, I use D300 (so that I can process my RAW). For shots that the D300 loses in noise, I switch to D700 (RAW+JPG Fine). Where I require wider coverage, I shoot with D700 and 24-70mm. Where I require zoom, I couple D300 with 80-200mm.

Out of 1000 shots, here are 2 images taken (I think) with D300.

D700 Road Test - Deon

I have been looking around for test subjects to try out the Nikon D700 before I had to return to T3 next week. Sheer luck, one of my ballet pianists was also interested in doing a photoshoot. So we arranged the shoot at her house, to photograph her with her musical instrument - the harp.

Deon just got accepted into Melbourne University to study Music. Her primary instrument is piano and secondary instrument is harp. But she loves the harp so much that she's trying to appeal to have it swapped as primary instead.

I shot entirely in D700 NEF (RAW) format, which I sort-of regretted, because I came to realise that my Lightroom 1.4 and Nikon Capture NX do not read and support D700 NEF. Fortunately, Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 can support, so I did a batch convert to JPG before I get on to edit the images in Lightroom. Ironically, the outdated Google Picasa can read D700 uncompressed NEF, albeit not-so-accurate conversion.

I do find that most of my images are over-exposed but looked fine on the D700 LCD monitor. Without proper support for D700 NEF, I had to make do with the lost highlights, and probably re-process when the NEF format is readily convertible.

Here are some of my favourites. Almost all of them are shot above ISO 1600.

Piano Spa 5 by Fred Lin

Many people informed me and congratulated me on the release of Piano Spa 5, which they recently spotted at music stores, but Piano Spa 5 is actually done by Fred Lin, the co-composer for Piano Spa 4. I wasn't able to contribute in time for this release, so Fred agreed to do all 30 tracks in the album. He's now a full-time music producer currently based in China so it's an exciting time for him as he progressively gains recognition in the music industry.

Go grab Piano Spa 5 and enjoy the music!

D700 - Review in progress

I seldom - actually, never - reveal my works in progress online until I complete it. In this case, I cannot contain myself on the exhilaration of testing the Nikon D700. Although it's been a few weeks late since it launched officially in Singapore on 22 July, it's better late than never.

Thanks to T3 Magazine Singapore, I have a chance to try out not just the D700, but also the SB-900 speedlight flash.

D700 is one of those equipment that inspires you creatively, and such inspiration is important to motivate you to create works.

D700 is fatter than D300, and that translates to a more comfortable grip. Last night I was fervently comparing images between both cameras using same lenses. The only major difference is the ISO noise and the image sharpness.

This morning, I was snapping at Mayenne in her playful mood. At ISO6400 and a shutter speed of 1/125 seconds, I didn't miss a frame of her moment.


The only limiting factor is the maximum 5fps: that's even slower than the D300's 6fps. But the D700 compensates with a memory buffer that allows you to shoot at 5fps regardless of the image processing setting you have. 14-bit lossless RAW+JPEG Fine and Active D-lighting enabled, and you still can shoot at full 5fps. Not for D300, it drops to 2.5fps. Bleah.

The SB-900 is equally impressive. It's got a huge flashhead that auto-zooms with your camera zoom setting. It's wheel dial means you can quickly select your desired setting. The only irritating issue is the operation noise: the zoom mechanism is noisy, the wheel clicks when you turn. In other words, it's not ideal to operate the flash in a quiet environment (as if the DSLR mirror slap is not loud enough... sigh).

More detailed review, after I have spend some more time.

National Day 2008

Mayenne celebrates her second National Day.





And the House of Leong does it the n-th time in the annual "Dress-in-Red" BBQ Gathering.

The Dark Knight - finally

After almost 2 weeks of the islandwide theatrical release, I finally watched the Batman sequel, The Dark Knight, today.

I've read so many blogs about how good Heath Ledger is. I felt that his performance is overrated, partly because he didn't hog the screen time a lot. No doubt he portrayed The Joker excellently, but that is what good actors do. In comparison, I would very much prefer this year's Oscar winner for supporting actor, Javier Bardem, in his villain role for "No Country For Old Men", and felt his acting is more impactful, partly because of his extensive screen time.

The plot of The Dark Knight feels a lot like the Die Hard series, where the good guy has to crack riddles or solve dilemmas plotted by the villain in such an inconceivably flawless way.

But I took home another more important lesson that is the soul of the Batman comic's essence. And that is how a futile vigilante struggles in a city of ultimate corrupt to fight crime. Rather than creating a superhero that seems to always save the day at every appearance, Batman deals with real issues about how having a masked vigilante could make things worse, by luring villains like The Joker to unleash their talent to scheme just for pleasure.

The scriptwriter truly captures the essence of the relationship between Batman and Joker, and that they need each other to make their existence meaningful. I felt depressed that there is such a 'hopeless' societal city where being corrupt is the way of life. If I do ever live in this kind of city, I would have moved out long ago. But this is just fiction, a way of storytelling in order to deliver entertainment value, and at the same time teaches us some human values.

I'm not sure how the next Batman can continue to develop this human element. Or it could simply be a "Batman Saves The Day" flick, like what Tim Burton's previous Batman franchise did. Seriously, Tim Burton's version is family-friendly and has its values. Nowadays, it's harder to be good filmmakers because the audience expectations go up exponentially. With all the CGI-effects bombarding the cinematic world, how can you expect producers to make films that thrills audience and yet contains character depth?

Surprisingly, The Dark Knight does that. And it deserves to be on the fastest-grossing film of all time.

A Quote about Praying

I love this quote from the movie "Evan Almighty". This is what Morgan Freeman (as God) said:

If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?

I'm always fascinated about destiny and whatever Higher Being whom some people strongly believe. To give a simple illustration, you might encounter some people who seem to always say things that aren't the most pleasant to hear. But do you wonder why you get to hear these words? Perhaps it was some pre-destined arrangement to forewarn you about some events, or a wake-up call about how you live your life.

Every action you take will indirectly affect someone I stay up late so that I can hear Mayenne's cries and put her to sleep before Angie hears it and gets up from her bed. I spend time capturing and editing photos so that my clients will see themselves good-looking and perhaps boost their confidence in life. I compose piano music and sell them in CD shops so that someone could buy them and play at home and make their newborn baby sleep better, resulting in better sleep for the parents too.

One of the things I've always wanted is to be wealthier. Now I think back and realised that I have been wealthy all my life. I remember a saying from my friend: "If a problem can be solved by money, then it is not a real problem." Although it sounds like some saying from the triad society, it makes perfect sense.

I need a HDB flat when I got married. I get one by getting a HDB loan and paying the mortgage via CPF.

I need a new car when I got my first kid. I get one by paying cash which I saved over the years.

Wealth is all about yourself. Even if you earn $20,000 a month, you might end up paying for the $3m house loan or the $200,000 luxury car or the $5,000 living expenses.

And in fact, I care about how you feel about your wealth, because, who knows, your state of happiness may indirectly affect mine too.

Live happy.

NATAS Travel faire

Today I applied half day to go to NATAS Travel Fair to book a tour package. Angie and I had already decided to head for Hokkaido to check out the beauty (or lack) of North Japan. October is probably not the most scenic time to go: it neither is the flower season nor the Winter season. But Angie wanna go to a temperate country, and I have, as usual, no strong opinions on where we should tour.

We drove to Singapore Expo, and had a hard time finding a parking lot. Never fails to amaze me the number of Singaporeans who don't work during office hours, or apply leave to sign up a tour package in order to utilise more leave.

The more shocking part is yet to come.

We strolled to Hall 4, saw the queue to enter into the travel fair. We followed the queue, and it led us to the end of Hall 6. Anyone who've been to Singapore Expo will know how big the place is. The queue went from the end of Hall4 to the end of Hall 6. Walking alone takes about 5 minutes, letting alone queuing.

We struggled for a moment, and decided to give up on entering the Hall. Fortunately, there was also a Watson Warehouse Sale at Hall 3, so we popped by and bought some stuff. Then we bought a drink at Burger King and sat there for a moment. We saw the queue move quite smoothly and rethought our decision. Then I told her I'd go and queue up, and if I reached where Burger King was within 15 minutes, we'll go into NATAS.

It took me less than 5 to achieve that.

Angie then joined me on the queue.

Then the queue seemed to stop.

(Hmmm...)

After 15 minutes or so, we finally got into the Hall. But more queue to come - admission fee. There were 2 queues: pay by cash or MasterCard. Pay by MasterCard and enjoy $1 off, so we went for the MasterCard queue.

OK finally we're in. We headed straight to the Big Players. First stop, ASA Holidays. We got a queue number and was served after 4 numbers. We found that the 7-day Hokkaido package is actually 4 days at Hokkaido tour and 2 days at Narita. And the package turned out to be over S$2800.

Then we checked out CTC Holidays. The tour itinerary is better, and we get options of a 6D6N by JAL or 7D6N Northwest Airlines. With JAL, we fly on midnight, arrive Narita in the morning, and transfer to Hokkaido. With NW, we fly in the morning, arrive Narita in the afternoon, stay overnight, next day transfer to Hokkaido, thus the additional day. Ironically, NW package is cheaper at below S$2500.

We proceeded to check out SA Tours. We were presented with an itinerary that is generic from Oct to March, and seemed to showcase the Winter season more. Also, the day flight is more expensive than the overnight flight, and the quoted package is about S$2600.

We decided to go for CTC because:
1. It's the cheapest.
2. We liked the itinerary a little better.
3. Our previous Japan tour is also with CTC.
4. The sales guy is an experienced tour leader to Hokkaido which added to the convincing factor.

In order to enjoy freebies from the credit card companies, we paid $4000 for the deposit. Competition among the card companies is tight, but I decided to pay by UOB and got the Philips DVD player. It's not exactly a high-end model, so I really wondered if it's really more expensive than the luggage bag that is redeemable with just $2000. After redeeming it, I then realised that I am not eligible to go for the lucky dip (every $800 spend) once I redeemed the gifts. I walked away wondering if I could have won a better item from the dip. Then again, I was never the kind with luck. Last Sunday I spent enough at Centrepoint to earn a lucky dip and got myself some hair salon discount voucher.

Well I guess the UOB offer is still better than OCBC, which apparently gave away some cooker for a $4000 spend. But I think Citibank's the best: a 3-piece breakfast set consisting of a coffee-maker, toaster and juicer. Looks expensive, though I still prefer the DVD player for its practicality.

Truthfully-speaking, we are not well-prepared for this purchase. On hindsight, we should have done more research on the right places to visit in Hokkaido, as well as comparing the freebies of each credit card companies.

But after all that we had gone through, I'm glad we got ourselves a good deal and will be looking forward to see what Hokkaido has to offer.