Protected: Disgusted

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Which camera should I buy?

Since today is the last day of my social medicine cycle and I’ve some time to spare, I would like to write a short guide to answer this question which a lot of ppl tend to ask. Which camera should I buy? I would like to take nice pics with it, taking pics during night time wouldn’t be a problem. Well, first of all, do answer the following questions and I might be able to help you to find your suitable camera.

In the current market, there are 3 main types of cameras. Let me start with the 1st group.

Digital Compact cameras@P&S

Translating literally from the word compact, it means small. Compacts are convenient, they slip into your pockets, pouches or handbags easily.

When it comes to pricing, the price range of compacts vary depending on the size and features. Usually the more expensive ones offer better features like higher megapixels, greater sensor sensitivity and so on so forth but that doesn’t mean cheaper ones aren’t good enough for you.

I’ve been using this compact casio before I got my DSLR. Although it’s not as slim as the latest compacts in the market, but it has served me well for the past few years.

Let’s move on to the next group. It’s also known as Semi pro @ Prosumer cameras.

As the name suggest, this group of gameras are halfway in between the professionals and the consumer, the prosumer range of cameras pack quite a punch if you consider the features you get for the price you pay.

The size and weight of Prosumer range are quite similar to that of DSLRs. So yeah, they’re not something you could slip in your pocket or handbag but the beauty of the Prosumer range is that they usually come with a lot more features than what you can find on a Compact such as manual controls.

In fact in some Prosumers even come with manual lens ring focusing, this means you would be able to manually focus your cameras just like how you would on a DSLR.

Prosumers generally come with powerful telephoto and macro mode capability. This means they’re great at zooming in on subjects at a distance, and also they’re great in taking small subjects at very close range.

The price of a prosumer hovers around the level of high-range compacts and some may even cost more than a beginner DSLR, however do note that you get an all-in-one package, features that a beginner DSLR will not have unless the owner is willing to fork out much more for a macro lens and tele lens.

Personally I do not own any prosumers but one of my club members used to have a Canon S5 IS. When she just joinned our club, I taught her the basic fundamentals of photography using this camera. Well, as I mentioned, it’s more flexible compared to a compact P&S but still not as flexible as a DSLR. Personally I think that one should either go for a compact or a DSLR. Prosumers ain’t my cup of tea but well, this group of cams might suit ppl that are lazy to change lens and still want some flexiblity in their cameras.

Now the last group. It’s known as Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras ( DSLR )

Many ppl might ask not be comfortable with the size of DSLR cameras. But for me the changeable lens of this system makes them the most flexible camera you can get your hands on - at a cost of course.

While the beginner DSLR is affordable, getting a beginner DSLR would mean that you’re stuck with the kit lens unless you spend a little more for additional lenses to vary your shots.

The price of  pro level DSLRs on the other hand costs much more, the highest end DSLR body and high-grade lens could cost more than a car. And that’s just A body and A lens.

Here I present to you my workhorse - the Canon 350D, Wanna know what a DSLR can do? Head over to my gallery.
Unlike the Digital Compacts and Prosumers, DSLRs do not come with VIDEO recording ability. That was the past, but with the new technology now, the upcoming new Canon 5D mk II and Nikon D90 supports video recording but it’s still a new technology. In my opinion, in a few years time, a DSLR would be able to replace a camcorder too.

So which one should I choose?

The COMPACT camera is suitable for you IF you
- are looking for something slim and easy to keep
- want something that’s user easy
- want video recording capability.
- don’t mind slower focusing and slower response.
- don’t mind the lack of noise control.

The PROSUMER camera is suitable for you IF you
- desire more controls over your shots.
- don’t intend to spend any much more for your photography gear.
- don’t wish to burden yourself with lens changing.
- want video recording capability.

The DSLR camera is suitable for you IF you
- really look forward to expand the variety of your shots.
- desire even more controls over your shots.
- don’t mind spending money buying better lenses as you progress further.
- don’t mind lugging around the camera and its lenses, and most IMPORTANTLY, the hassle of changing lens
- want better image quality, better&faster control+focusing, and better noise handling of your pictures.

Conclusion

Hopefully after reading this article, you would have a better idea of what you need and what you intend to buy to suit your purposes. If you’ve any question, do not hesitate to leave a comment.

p/s : Not easy writing a guide, although it’s still short. Phew…

S.W.O.T

I believe many of you out there have heard of this abbreviation before, no it’s not SWAT. I was chatting with my dad the other day and he shared it with me and I found it to be really inspiring and useful. Let’s have a look at the SWOT breakdown and how it can be applied in a relationship.

S-Strength

Certainly there are strong points that attract both individuals to be involved in a relationship. One should identify good & wonderful things that keep them together, and try to further build on these good points and find new ones along the way.

W-weaknesses

Actions should be taken to overcome all those harmful weaknesses. Let’s take an example, I’m not a patient person and I get frustrated very easily. I”m lucky because my other half is very patient with me but of course I’ve to do somethign to change. So be strong and stick to the plan and prepare to take the challenge & overcome all possible weaknesses. No human is perfect, so all of us will definitely have something to work on.

O-Opportunities

A relationship built on a healthy ground will bring emtional enrichment to the couple. A sense of stablity will provide both the individuals to prusue what they want to achieve, well in my case academic exellence. This is my personal favourite. A LDR provides the couple time to pursue their personal interest during the times when they’re not together, and at the same time knowing very well the person they love is doing things of his/her choice.

T-Threats

Ignoring S W O will lead to punishments of T. It may be a 1 sided relationship when the other side is tired of everything and doesn’t feel like giving in anymore. The worst case scenario is of course termination of the LDR.

I was having some internal conflicts within myself and after fully understanding what SWOT means, I feel much better now and all my problems are solved with the same principle. So I hope to those who are reading out there, it’ll help you to solve whatever problem you’re facing, be it relationship or not.

Tmrw is a off day for me ( raya break ) so ID cycle ended today. For this semester it’s all about intestinal infections and viral hepatitis, nothing much, just a revision of microbiology+some new stuff on treatment. Next cycle will be a relaxing one, social medicine.

On the other hand, I haven’t been shooting much since I came back, maybe I should get my lazy butt out of the room and start getting inspired. In fact, I’m inspired by someone and I had fun processing the tonnes of pics I took of her during the holidays. Will post some of them next time if she allows =P Till then…

My ISP sucks

Finally I manage to sign in to wordpress after I lodge a complain myself at the office. It seems that the amount of users in my hostel has exceeded the bandwidth that they can provide and that’s the main reason our line is so laggy. I don’t understand why those ukrainians are so stupid in doing business, they could just give us a line with bigger bandwidth and they don’t have receive so many complains now. Sigh, another 2 more yrs in this country..

Still in my  forensic medicine cycle right now, will be ending next friday. Next cycle would be ID ( infectious disease ) Finally I’ll have an further insight to what my mentor does for a living. Till then..

1st autopsy

Currently having forensic medicine cycle, and I did my first ever autopsy in the morgue today. 4 of us were assigned to a fresh cadaver. A middle aged IV drug abuser, he was cachexic and full of needle signs on his cubital region. Found numerous abcess filled with pus when I was in the process of cutting removing his brain. A few specimens were sent for histological confirmation. When we cut open his lungs, multilple foci were found and we suspected TB. Again, a few parts of the lungs were sent for histological examination. I won’t go into the other details here, it was an interesting experience but at the same time, I can’t be doing this for a living.

On the other hand, life is a lil tough at the current moment. My gf’s laptop died on her so now we’re contacting each other thru calls and sms only. Another week before her brother will fly over and luckily I still have a old laptop back at home and she can get to use it. If not, we’ll have to survive on calls & smses till our winter holidays. I know God is giving us a lil test, and yes I’m wiiling to endure the challenge no matter how tough it is. I chose to love this girl with all my heart, and I will no matter what happens.

Bi, nothing will change my love for you. The distance, the time difference will never be an obstacle for us. Stay strong for another 8 more days ok? I’m always a call away.

Vista frustration…

I had to reformat my laptop due to a acute virus attack on saturday night. Everything was smooth after that and this morning to my dissapointment, I can only use skype. All my other messengers and online browsing was impossible, I thought there was something wrong with the line, so after class I went over to the ISP office since it’s nearby the hospital I’m currently attached to.

The technician came just when I was about to take my afternoon nap, fiddled around for around an hour and he can’t find out why. Ask me to reformat my computer, as I installed a vpn client yesterday, he say maybe I messed up the settings. I told myself not again!! But well what to do, I need the internet connection badly. After half an hour, the 2nd reformating was done and well, sad to say the problem is not solved yet.

In the end I had to fix my own IP address as I think the DHCP can’t assign an IP to my computer, I’m not sure whether it’s a vista problem or not but my friend who is using XP has no problems at all till now. Sigh, when are they gonna fix those bugs for vista? I agree that vista looks really nice, with those new interface but a lot of important features are hidden here and there and to inexperienced users they’ll have to dig find hard to get it.

Well since everything is working fine now, I’ll rest my case, just need to rant…

1mbps finally!!

Finally a true broadband line after 5 years of waiting, complaining and ranting. They just installed it in the afternoon and so far everything is running smoothly. Till now, I still can’t belive it that my line is so fast, well I know not as fast as some of you out there, but for me, it’s so much better compared to the previous ISP.

I’m having opthalmology now, it’s interesting but I don’t think I’ll be specialising in this field as I can’t look at red watery eyes, my lacrimal glands will start overworking, don’t know why but since young it has been like that. Will write again soon, currently enjoying high speed download =P

Leaving..

In less than 12 hours time, my flight back will be taking off. Time really flies as this will be the 6th time I’m going back to ukraine.

I had a great holiday this time, and as usual time is always not enough although this summer holiday is a longer one compared to my previous holidays. A big thanks to my family members, for making my holidays a memorable one, and to those friends whom I didn’t get to meet up with due to my ‘busy’ schedule this year, I’m so sorry, perhaps we’ll catch up again when I come back next summer.

There is some major revamp on internet lines back in my place, so I will only update when I get back my line. It seems they cut off all the current line as the university decided to centralise everything rather than giving it to the previous lousy ISPs. Keeping my fingers crossed that the new line will be much better, till then..

Goodbye Malaysia! Cya again next summer..

A new laptop again..

I got back from JB yesterday evening with a heavy heart, it’ll be another 4 more months before I can meet my other half. Right now, she’s on her way back to moscow. I really wish I could fly together with you, at least we would have some more time together..

My new laptop’s clock is always out of order, always displaying the wrong time, sent it back to the service center for bios updating and when it came back a day later it was still the same. We went back to the shop and the owner agreed to give us a new replacement. I was in JB at that time so my parents were handling the whole exchanging process. They called me up telling me that the model I wanted last time is in stock and asked me whether I wanted the model. I thought about it for a while and said I’m happy with the current model. So in the end I told them to make the decision for me.

When I came back yesterday, another new beast machine was waiting for me at home, intel core 2 duo with dedicated video memory and 4GB of RAM. This laptop will serve me well for another few years, till I can afford to get my iMac =P

My 2nd new laptop

For the whole august I’ve been busy spending time with my gf, and at the same time busy fixing laptops. All in all, I’ve been installing and uninstalling softwares for 3 new laptops ( 2 of mine and my gf ), formating 2 old laptops. And besides that running certain softwares on vista is a big headache.. Hopefully I’ll get used to it soon.

Will be flying off next tuesday and I really enjoyed my summer holidays this time, learning so much from Jimbo and being able to spend most of my time with my family and gf. Another 2 more years to go..

New toy

My parents got me a new laptop over the weekend as my old one is showing signs of aging, slowly giving up on me. I do love my old laptop, serving me for the past 4 years faithfully but well just like any other things, it’s growing old and can’t perform properly anymore. Just in case it breaks down in ukraine, and FYI there is no acer service center over there, my parents decided to get me a new laptop.

I chose a cheaper model over the model I wanted to get initially due to a few reasons. Main reason is, the other one is out of stock and according to the salesman, it MIGHT come in end of this month, which by then I’m flying off. And of course the cheaper the better as I’ll be graduating 2 more years, I can get a better one if I need one when I start working.

Running photo editting programmes on a dual core + 3gb machine is really a breeze compared to my old companion, therefore reducing my fustration when post processing the tonnes of pictures I took for the past few weeks. Only thing is vista is troublesome, I’ve a lot of softwares which run perfectly on XP but when installed on vista, it can’t even startup properly. Sigh… spend a whole day yesterday finding out what’s wrong and if I can’t, no choice but to find some other alternatives. Other than that, everything is fine.

Strobist style again, flash fired off my right side, I’m starting to like the flexibility of firing flash off the camera hotshoe.