New Year Wishes

“Kung Hei Fat Choi”

Plenty of life happenings as I traveled through the public space of a nearby public estate. I do not get to see a lot of these in my neighborhood. I did greet them with interest, they were absolutely generous to say hello. I thought these were some good documentation of life in a public estate which not a lot of people would see.

Besides seeing all the red banners/leaflets, red pockets, tangerines, flowers around town, what we Chinese wish to get are good health, security, fortune and prosperity. With that being said, we often visit temples and hope god would make everyone’s wishes come true. It’s a tradition that we all do once in a while.

Worshippers flocked to a few well-known temples in town. Here we have the Wong Tai Sin Temple.

Forget about the fortune cookies, it’s only available in the Western world 😉 When we want fortune, we visit temples.

Got any wishes?

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Photos taken with X100 (March 2012)
I had been reviewing photos taken in the past few months. I do that once in a while to re-align myself. This time I even took one step further to see what photos I had taken when I bought myself the X100. This is what comes up which fits the theme and all. I actual visited this temple twice last year. Once with the X100 and once with the GRD. The GRD has got too much depth of field. When it multiplied with the 28mm focal, photos turned out so messy and crowded. I guess it’s a clear choice why I’m still sticking with a 35mm camera.

The X100 farewell series

Photos were taken in August (except the last one in September). When I think of it, it was a harsh month, a busy one. I spent a week working at an exhibition with long hours and plenty of standing. I could only think of the coming exhibition in Macao, with even longer hours. Will I still be in shape for any photography after work at night? Hmm..

You must be also thinking. Now I’ve sold my X100, what do I think about it as a postmortem? My verdict to the Fujifilm X100 remains positive. The image quality is right there as good as the X2. It’s only a matter of how you take control of it in your photos. I would have preferred the ‘black’ limited edition for a more stealthy outfit. The AEL/AFL button is the key answer to the manual focus. It’s the quick autofocus cheat in manual mode. I found myself missing that button quite a bit (X2 does not have an equivalent function). And my last series had shown my extensive use of that button.

It’s a very decent camera.

Thanks so much and goodbye!

Goodbye X100, Hello X2.

Last few months I had come with the idea of just photographing anything with one camera. The idea was to stick with what we’ve got and do the best out of it. I believed in what I could do with only a GRD. Thanks to so many advantages. A lot of the attention had gone to my GRD. So what about my ‘other’ camera – X100.

It came to my understanding that the delay from the eye sensor was a huge drawback for me. I can work with many other things just not the delay when I bring the camera to my eye. Another drawback is the frame line thru the viewfinder. Whenever the shutter is full released, the frame line is at the center position; And when the shutter is hit, it shifts to the appropriate position to counter the parallax. I have missed so many shots no matter how hard I give in for myself.

I’ve looked for many other camera options. Like the GXR, it’s compact but the hot shoe position is not aligned to the lens. How am I going to pop in a OVF. Then the GX1, I’ve tried a G3. Not much difference, the shutter sound is so f-ing loud. That left me no choice but to go back to my GRD.

My other dream (yes) besides well settling with the GRD, is the Leica X2. I got attracted by the compact body and a few accessories that go with it (OVF, hand grip). I’d seen the X1 in person at a used camera shop a few months back. It’s hella compact. And it’s a Leica with red dot.

I complained much about the X100. It did served the purpose but not to a point which I ‘enjoy’. The X100 actually catches some attention although how everybody says about it’s discreet. It’s really not when the body shines. I hesitated in bringing it out even for a few days as you know what persisted my ‘One month with GRD’ project.

The X100 is actually quite solid (by that means – heavy). I’m not a muscular guy…As an average guy, I prefer going light. Until last week, one of my favorite photographers (Yannick – http://yanidel.net/) bought a Leica X1 as his secondary, for his coming South America trip. I had gone back to my dream, and that had made me articulate my dream to thoughts. The more I read, the more I want to challenge myself with a Leica X camera.

You might ask, why the heck do I want a high end compact? I know the limitation of GRD is the clarity and image quality. A high end compact allows me to do some more manual stuff with greater control. Very much like driving with a stick shift.

Until yesterday, the last holiday of a long weekend. I went to trade-in my X100 and bought a X2. That used quite some of my savings to fund this baby. I do not think I’m suffering from G.A.S. I think it’s more of a dedication to my photography.

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My Initial Impression on Leica X2
As I would have thought. I’m more used to the classic optical viewfinder experience so I got myself a used Leica OVF. I love the magnification of it (almost like what we exact see naturally). Everything about the X2 works,  you might thought the setting wheel that controls the manual focus distance is weird. It’s not. It’s very smart to have controls at our finger tips. Same thing applied to the aperture dial, all the values can be set without going to the other function lever like in X100.

Taken with X2

Some other designs such as the optical viewfinder mode. It turns off the LCD screen but whenever you call out the settings such as ISO, focus, WB, etc. The screen would show you the detail. And if you wish to have the screen display again, pressing the info button would maintain the screen. Apart from that, there’s also a LED placed near the hot shoe which allows users to know if subject is in focus or not by indicating green and red – green in focus, vice versa. Ricoh actually has it, but i don’t think I’ve ever gotten any reds???

I’ve set my autofocus to area mode. As it says on the manual, it’d aid in quicker focus. Let’s see if it’s acceptably fast. I really like the shutter sound. It’s audible for the user, in a very silent way.

Taken with X2

With all the praises, is there anything I do not like? I found the distortion is a bit annoying. It’s not fully corrected in the camera? I tested it side by side with X1. It has the same issue. I do not know if anyone had complained about it or not. This is something the X100 won over X1/X2.

This new toy is still new to me. I’d only spent half an hour at night with it. I still don’t know how to hold it comfortably in hand. I had thought about the handgrip accessory, that makes changing battery a hassle. I’ll think about it later as there’s still so much to learn about this camera. One thing that I still very much believe in, camera is just a tool. I’m still the person who’s in charge. I hope I’ll make it to good use very soon.

More updates and photos on X2 on my coming posts.