http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:alokethebloke&section=today deviantART RSS for by:alokethebloke en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:22:04 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/18569684/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/18569684/ Fri, 30 May 2008 00:38:30 PDT [link] - gave me a solution to the noisy imagess Olympus makes:!! It's a plugin which works with photoshop and a few other image-editing software packages, and you can buy it here - [link] - it is definitely worth the price if you are really into photography and you don't have a decent enough DSLR like a Canon or a Nikon.

]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/17969111/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/17969111/ Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:24:04 PDT
Well, my first disappointment was that although the lens has a WIDE zoom range (27 - 490 mm if I'm not mistaken), it is not very sharp and images are 'soft'. This is bad for a macro photographer because the fine details of subjects aren't sharp.

The second disappointment is due to the small CCD size and high megapixel rate, probably. Olympus increased the resolution from 7.1 megapixels to 8.0 megapixels without increasing the size of the CCD.

At 50 ISO there is very little 'noise' but at 200 ISO there is enough noise to render a cropped macro photograph useless. At 400 ISO you can forget about posting your photographs on deviantart because they are incredibly grainy. Because of this, it is hard to take close-up photogaphs at dawn or dusk as the light isn't enough and at an aperture of 8.0 and 50 ISO, the shutter speed is reduced to 1/30 - 1/50 seconds which is too slow to capture good shots of bugs moving around.

In broad daylight, however, at 50 ISO and an aperture of 8.0 the shutter speeds can reach 1/640 seconds and the image quality is great.

The camera has an anti-blur option which comes in handy when using the super 18x zoom, but it adds noise to the image, making it more grainy. It's best to turn the anti-blur option off and use a tripod.

There is a Noise Reduction mode (if you can find it under the haphazard menu system) which is supposed to reduce noise but I haven't tried it out yet.

The saving grace of this camera for a photographer who is really into photography yet cannot yet afford a DSLR is the option to save images in the RAW format, but it takes about six or seven seconds to save a RAW image. The ultra-zoom lens has a really long range, which is an attraction at first, but unless you use a tripod it is impossible to get clear photographs of birds and such.

]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/17906743/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/17906743/ Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:06:17 PDT
I actually did a little dance around my little room when the lady from the shipping company told me it had arrived.

I woke up at 4 A.M. today and was willing the sun to rise earlier than it usually does, which, of course, it didn't.

I did get eight not-too-bad photographs which is pretty good for the first day!!

There is a lot of noise in the photographs, and I have a feeling this is because Olympus overstretched the limits of a small CCD sensor by upping the resolution from 7.1 to 8.0 megapixels. I will try reducing the resolution tomorrow but that does not do much good because when you buy a camera that says 8 Megapixels you expect 8 big fat megapixels!!

]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/17341990/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/17341990/ Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:33:52 PDT
The store told us that they wouldn't deliver to Johnny Air Cargo because they're a third party. Johnny Air Cargo is the company that was going to ship the thing frim the US to the Philippines because packages sent by FedEx and DHL get held up at customs and the officials open packages without the owner's consent and charge insane 'duties and taxes' way above what is prescribed.

They only let us know TEN days after we'd placed the order, which was very kind of them. Now we need to find a private address in the U.S. that they can ship the stuff to, and the person residing at that address would have to send it to Johnny Air Cargo in NY, and then Johnny Air Cargo will then have it sent to me.

I thought 15 days was a long enough wait... now it's going to be more like a month!! Ah well, that's the way the wind blows. I have the best luck.

]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/17181320/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/17181320/ Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:34:49 PST
]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/17142378/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/17142378/ Sun, 02 Mar 2008 02:35:21 PST
Well, my glee is due to the fact that I can now buy a new camera - I'm looking at the Olympus SP 560 UZ because I already have the underwater housing for it - that wasn't stolen when my old camera was.

But.. while the camera costs $350 online, it costs over $700 here in the Philippines. I can't buy it online and have it shipped here because the customs officials are corrupt thieves. I've asked around and most people have stronlgy suggested against it... which means I have to resort to asking my friends for help!

Does anyone know anyone (haha) who's coming to the Philippines from the US or from Hong Kong? And who'd be willing to carry a camera with them? Please please please let me know if you do.. I would be forever indebted to whoever helps me out

]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13754958/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13754958/ Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:28:20 PDT
Adev, one of my good friends at uni, has offered to let me borrow his Nikon D70 so I can continue taking photographs. I've thanked him, but not quite enough!! I'm a lot happier now that there's a new avenue!!

]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13740858/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13740858/ Sun, 15 Jul 2007 05:25:29 PDT
I also happen to like its features... it's a bit on the slow side, but it worked perfectly for me.

I wonder if it'd be alright to tell my relatives something like, "umm, how about a cash gift towards my camera fund instead of buying me something for my birthday?" Never done it before, and I don't feel quite right doing it...

What I could do though, is simply begin to start saving and when I've got enough, I can buy the camera. The problem is, though, that while the camera costs about $450 - $499 in most US stores, here in the Philippines it costs more than US $700. I don't understand why, but for some insane reason, good cameras are freakishly exensive here.

For now, I've just gotta start saving, and wait.

]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13631363/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13631363/ Fri, 06 Jul 2007 08:13:04 PDT
My dad promised he'd buy me one 'someday' - six years ago - and now, my excitement on having finally recieved it has proven to be... well, stupid.

I took it to the uni campus to take photographs in the little forest up the hill, and someone stole it right out of my backpack when I popped out of class for a bit. There was loads of other stuff in the room, iPods, cellphones, cash, but this was the only thing stolen.

Can't even begin to describe how terrible I feel.

]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13575024/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13575024/ Mon, 02 Jul 2007 08:16:23 PDT
I watched 'Transformers' last Sunday with a bunch of friends from Church - and loved it!! It's like a grand visualsation of a boyhood fantasy... incredible. ]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13561001/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13561001/ Sun, 01 Jul 2007 07:46:31 PDT
This weekend's been quite exciting though... breaking in the new camera, considering the prospects.. of things to come, photographs that could be taken, beauty to capture... now all I need is a break.

Shouldn't be too long before I find an excuse to do so. ]]> ~alokethebloke http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13548518/ http://alokethebloke.deviantart.com/journal/13548518/ Sat, 30 Jun 2007 06:52:27 PDT
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