Weigh Lost Program 2

My weigh lost program regime was in full swing.... this time I wanted to try going to walk all the way from Clarke Quay up Fort Canning Hill get out from another end of Fort Canning Hill, then go on to Parkway mall, and from there to Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, then down to Little India, Farrer Park, Boon Keng, Potong Pasir and finally Woodleigh. In actual fact, I would have wanted to walk back home in Kovan. But gave out after reaching Woodleigh.

The load I carried with me was:

1) Backpacker BBK-4 canvas camera bag (see my review)
2) Olympus OM-D
3) 12-50mm lens
4) 40-150mm lens
5) Gitzo 1-series Basalt traveller tripod
6) Sirui C-10 tripod head
7) NDX400 ND filter
8) Olympus FL600R speedlite
9) 1 bag of batteries
10) 1.8litres of mineral water (3 bottles of 600ml water)
11) extra memory cards
12) sunglasses
13) lucky red cap
14) various adapters
15) 2 little torch light
16) remote control for my OMD
17) etc.

All of these added to around 10kg of equipment and weigh.

Anyway, I reach Clarke Quay MRT at 1145hrs on the Sunday and started my walk. It was blazingly hot that day, my little red cap doesn't seemed to be able to keep out the sun from my face, but I journey on... I believe in this verse... no pain no gain.

 1/320sec, f10, ISO: 200

 1/25sec, f13, ISO:200

 1/100sec, f6, ISO:400

For the next 3 photos, I used my trusty old ND filter to cut down on the speed of my camera in a bright hot day. It is import to do that so that I could give a blur to the vehicle moving while keeping the background straight and steady... the build in IS of my OMD helped too.

 1/6sec, f22, ISO:200

 0.5sec, f5.4, ISO:200

 0.3sec, f5.2, ISO:200

Well... nearing and in Little India, I am pretty amazed by the number of older buildings.

 1/1600sec, f4, ISO:200

 1/640sec, f4, ISO:200

 1/2000sec, f4, ISO:200

 1/1600sec, f4, ISO:200

 1/400sec, f9, ISO: 200

Well... Little India is not the only place with loads of old buildings...

The photo of a Hindu temple underneath is pretty old... and it was not in Little India... in my opinion, Hindu Temples are a piece of art. And I thoroughly loved that type of architecture.

 1/4 sec, f5, ISO: 200.

Well, I used my ND filter here because I am shooting up the sky... and it gave me the reassurance that the sun would not fried my sensor.

 1/4sec, f5, ISO:200

 0.4sec, f5, ISO:200

After that, I took a number of photos along the way, but those are lacking substances, so I decided to to showcase them here... anyway, there are still a couple of photos that I am pretty pleased with... like the following,

 1/400sec, f10, ISO:200

The above is an old fire station, I am not sure if it was still in operation, but it sure is a pretty sight.

And there... it concluded my walk. Actually it was pretty fun, but I felt weird towards the end of the journey and decided against walking further... or I might just lose it and there will be no more walks for me.

Weigh lost programme

Well... I have always suspected it. Carrying lots of weight, walk for long distance under blazing sun and skip lunch is a good way to lose weigh.

And I put that to lots of try... everytime the result seemed promising. The last time, I carried 10kg plus of camera equipment to Pasir Ris park... and when I came home, I found that I have lost around 1kg of fats.

Today, I try that again... I carried around 6 to 7kg of camera equipment and went to Merlion Park, then walk all the way to Fort Canning Hill... and from there, back again. Drank 1.5litre of water, and still lose 1kg plus of fats. Hmmm... great!

 3.2sec, f/22, ISO200

 1/4 sec, f6.3, ISO200

 2sec, f22, ISO200

 1/800sec, f6.3, ISO200

 1/800sec, f6.3, ISO200

 1/60sec, f8, ISO400

 1/640sec, f10, ISO200

 1/640sec, f11, ISO200

 1/640sec, f11, ISO200

 1/1000sec, f11, ISO200

 1/500sec, f10, ISO200

So sometime it is good to have a hobby... like photography is my hobby... and if I really put my mind to it... it can also become a fun exercise routine that can let me cut down on the unwanted fats... and finally let me achieve my goal of attaining (finally) 85kg weight by this year end :)

Backpacker BBK-4 Canvas Camera Bag review

Finally I have gotten down to write this unprofessional review on a unknown brand camera bag... got it from ebay cheaply and fell in love with it after some time.

A brief History

I have gotten a National Geographic Camera Bag for my bro when he went overseas to further his education. I like the look and feel of the Nat Geo bag, but I hated the price... so I never get to buy one for myself.

Anyway, I was determine to find a decent canvas sling bag for my camera and went to ebay to have a look. Spend a couple of days to search for one... then came across the Chinese brand Backpacker BBK series of canvas bag. Well... I search the net... not much was written there (at least not much can be found in English), the pricing was reasonable though (much cheaper than Nat Geo). Then I found a site whereby I can bid for the bag. So I threw in the maximum I am willing to pay (I am not going to state the price here though) and wait... voila! I won the bag.

Then the waiting game...

It came around 1 month after I pay... well... that was expected, I seldom got what I have paid in less than 3 weeks anyway...

The Actual Review

When I gotten the bag, the first thing I do was to inspect the bag... its workmanship seemed pretty good. It had a tough feel to it. The bag had a removable compartment for my camera stuff... and another compartment for a 14 inch notebook.

The photos on top show the removable camera compartment and laptop compartment. In interior of the bag is waterproof (and so was claimed by the seller - I wouldn't risk it though).

I try the bag with my notebook + adapter. No problem at all... so yeah... it works.

Then came a day when I wanted to try it with my camera stuff...

Ta da! That is what I cramped into/ or on top/ behind of the bag... what was not shown was a 600ml bottle of mineral water, ND filter, wired remote control and my lucky red cap.

Anyway, the rest of the items were;

1) Canon EOS 7D + Optech Neck strap

2) 1x Tokina 12-24mm f4 lens (mounted)

3) 1x Canon EF 70-200mm f4L lens

4) 1x Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4 lens

5) 1x IDEAL sunglass

6) 1x umbrella

7) 1x key pouch

8) 3x CF cards

9) 2x LED torch

10) a bag of batteries

11) 1x Canon battery (extra)

12) 1x External Battery + cable

13) 1x Yongnuo YN565EX flashgun

What I didn't bring is my monopod but it was shown in the photo to establish that it can be carried if needed.

Of course the black velcro straps and carabiner hooks do not came with the bag, instead I got them from local store cheaply.

Anyway, I wouldn't carry my monopod with that bag and so much equipment, it will be too heavy for my shoulder... and talking about weigh... I forgot to mention. The strap had a very very thick padding that is suppose to be comfortable for your shoulder... and I would say... it actually works!

All in all... I love my Backpacker BBK-4... and I am pretty confident that it will last me for years. So... who says good things are expensive?

Edit:

Recently I have been using the bag for photography trips around the island. And I always carried a Gitzo traveller tripod strap to the top of the bag. The bag could handle the weigh well... and I loved it alot.

Sunrise at Tanjung Rhu Singapore

Well... it had been some time now since I last took sunrise photos and had been hoping to do it... but no one was there to 'accompany' me for the shoot... so the lazy bones in me won the battle and taking sunrise shots remained as a dream. That is until one of the photography clubs that I was in organised a shoot in Tanjung Rhu on 04-May-2013. I was thrilled, I wanted to shoot sunrise shots... and there is a group of people who wanted to do it too.

So I signed up for the shoot.

Then it occurred to me that I needed to get there by six in the morning... I checked the internet... found that the first train from Serangoon would be at 0544hrs... and that is, if everything went on time... in recent days, there had been plenty of train delays and stuff like that. So seriously I am not having much confidence in the train systems. So I bite the bullet and make an advance booking for a cab to pick me up at 0500hrs on the day of the shoot.

The night before, I packed my Canon EOS 7D, a Tokina 12-24mm f4, a Canon EF 70-200mm f4L and a Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4 OS lens to my large shoulder bag (a China brand bag - Backpacker BBK-4 which I will do a review soon). I also packed a Yongnuo 565EX flashgun, a NX400 ND filter, some batteries (both for the Yongnuo and my Canon 7D), a 600ml bottle of mineral water, an umbrella, 3 Uncle Toby's energy bars to my bag. Then I pack my trusty old Gitzo to the tripod bag that my bro gave me... and was all set to go.

To cut long story short, I reach my destination safe and sound and had plenty of time spare to wander around. But I shall not bore any of you of the detail of my wandering. Anyway, my group of photography friends arrived on time and we are off to shoot.

 ISO 100, f9, 25sec

The abovementioned shot was a panorama photo comprise of 5 shots (stitched together with the Photoshop CS6).

The sun that day would rise at around 0645hrs to 0648hrs, so we have plenty of time to set up our tripod in a location that we found best suited to our taste. And I choose the area because it had the best view of the indoor stadium with the tower, bridge and some of the buildings in plain view.

ISO 100, f9, 30sec

 ISO 100, f9, 25sec

We waited patiently for the sun to rise... but something tell us that it is not gonna happen that day... the cloud... too many and concentrated are the cloud at the area where the sun should rise.

After 0700hrs... we know it was a failed attempt. Many people are starting to pack up. When suddenly we saw the shy orb peeking out from behind some clouds.

And so we went clicking.

 ISO 100, f16, 1/125sec

 ISO 100, f16, 5sec (added ND filter)

 ISO 100, f16, variable time (HDR compose of 6 photos of different exposure)

So it was not a total lost effort after all. We have a fabulous time and I took quite a number of shots that I liked. Anyway, I also had lots of fun with Photoshopping... especially trying out HDR and Panorama.

Looking forward for more sunrise shots in the future.