I’m lucky to have the opportunity to preview camera hardware earlier than most consumers and also to get extended hands-on use with the new devices. Recently, I took the Sony NEX-7 camera out and I wrote about my experience with it. I shared my experience on Sony’s Illuminate blog.

Trial by Fire

My first feature was titled “Trial by Fire” because it was just that. I received the camera in hand and was going to go out and shoot Thaipusam celebrations with my trusty Canon setup. It would have been a lot more bulk to tote around and half knowing the venue to shoot Thaipusam was going to be crowded I wasn’t exactly looking forward to carrying the Canon bulk and lenses. I learned what little I had to learn about the camera handling and functions only a few hours earlier in the day about the NEX-7. I packed a small satchel to carry the NEX-7 fitted with the 50mm f/1.8 lens, water bottle and a plastic bag for keeping my flip-flops.

You can read the full article at Illuminate.

A Photo A Everyday

A few weeks later after getting to know the NEX-7 handling and features I found the NEX-7 became my “Everyday Camera”. Even when I am not on assignment or out to capture everyday life I am outfitted with some camera gear, usually my full sized DSLR. I didn’t see it as a chore because I love photography. It can get tiresome but passion (some say obsession) will always triumph until the body physically cannot endure toting the equipment. Now, that isn’t to say I’m packing a lot as I don’t usually. It is usually just a single lens, full frame dslr, a couple filters, shutter release  and tripod.

So, the NEX-7 didn’t change much in the way of gear packed it lightened the load and bulk of the full sized dslr package. So, how did I fare with the NEX-7 everyday. You can read the full story over at Illuminate and see the kind of shots the NEX-7 can produce from the 24.3-megapixel APS-C sensor.

Sony’s NEX-7 was habitually with me with the kit lens and often the 30mm f/3.5 macro. I found the 30mm focal length to be nice for most situations except for the wide landscape and architecture shots. The added advantage of having was having the macro capability. Don’t we all just love to take shots of insects or items that would look great blown up on the screen with intricate details.

Soaking in the Rhythm & Blues

I’ve never taken a hybrid camera system like the NEX-7 out to shoot a concert, well, I don’t attend too many concerts unless they are Media invites. So, when Rock & Roots 2012 was in town and it was featuring Earth Wind and Fire who wouldn’t want to go bask in the music and if the opportunity to snap some shots presented itself all the better.

Armed with the NEX-7, kit lens and the 50mm I set out to shoot two of the performances. You can check out the full story over at Illuminate and have a look at the photos and video taken with the NEX-7.

Big Brother

I’ve since traded up to the bigger brother of the NEX-7 and am now toting around the Alpha A77 with the kit lens 16-50mm f/2.8. It is a pretty cool setup and I think many hobby for fun shooters would have a nice setup with this kit. As with Sony (Minolta heritage) you do end up with the non-standard flash mount. If you aren’t shooting studio setups that require flash triggering I don’t think it will matter so much. Even then, you can always get an adapter to setup a trigger or buy a native mount trigger.

Stay tuned for more news and blog posts on my experience using Sony’s Alpha A77 setup.

Direct link to Sony’s Illuminate blog.

http://illuminate.sony.com.sg

I was a little late getting around to seeing and personally documenting the final days of the KTM railway station and tracks. I did go earlier with a group of photographer friends but we did not snap much. Instead, we enjoyed the food from the Tanjong Pagar station. Let me see if I can’t dig up those few shots and tag them along at the end of this post.

The government said dismantling would begin and the corridor would be open for a short time. So, with the station closed and no fear of running trains everyone flocked to the corridor of green, rust, rocks and abandoned buildings. It got really crowded as I could see from some photos printed in the local newspapers and also posted up on my friends FaceBook pages.

It took some time before I got around to getting out with my camera to snap some photos of my own and by that time the dismantling had overrun the Bukit Timah station. This left a small gateway from Rifle Range Road up to and slightly beyond the Rail Mall up to about Ten Mile Junction. I walked and took some photos in rememberance. With the hype and crowds gone many of my photos are devoid of people. So, in some way being later to the game has benefited me by not having shot after shot of others with their camera or pet in tow.

Check out my photo gallery. I wish I had had time enough to walk the entire stretch because there were definitely things worth shooting and preserving.

I have some personal favourite shots. The featured image  (rusted persepective tracks going off to a dark background) came out well and I don’t even recall having done any post processing. I did turn up the saturation and contrast in the photo profile. The majority of the shots are manual focused with a 50mm Industar 61L/Z lens mounted on my Canon EOS 1DMk3. The Industar lens is a M42 mount.

The dragonflies are nice as well as I had yet to see and shoot the blue coloured one and I like the Rail Mall steel bridge (portrait orientation).

Do you have a favourite. Point it out and let me know.

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Last year’s Month of Photography Asia 2010 featured Mattias Klum who shot in jungles not that different than the jungle and terrain that the photographers of the Vietnam war and Indochina conflict. The big difference, in the jungle of Borneo Mattias fought with nature and the elements with 21st century equipment. For the 135 photographers missing and featured in Requiem they fought a mysterious foe and the jungle elements. Many did not make it back but what they left behind are split second instances captured on film that will be remembered forever.

I took the opportunity to relish in the photo taking by putting myself in the shoes of that era photographer. I donned my recently acquired used Nikkormat FT 35mm film camera and a roll of black & white 36 exposure film (Kodak Tri-X ASA400). No flash gun no fancy light meters and no additional support. I did have some artillery support by way of my 10 frames per second Canon 1DMk3. I needed to make sure that if my film taking wasn’t up to spec I’d at least have some digital shots. I’m happy to say that my photo taking skills with the manual camera is not that bad. Take a look at the scans from my Canon MP996 multi-function printer/scanner (I won this in the Canon PhotoMarathon 2010 contest and it is finally getting put to good use).

Listening to Tim Page speak about his ordeal in the field and even relate the stories of the photos and the photographer I wondered to myself if there were ever another World War or a conflict that asked me to wield a camera to record the events, would I do it? *ponders some more* Well, Tim did help answer the question and said, “No photo is worth dying for”. However, here is proof that 135 photographers died to make these lasting memories. Why did they do it – conscription or passion? In the day of digital, is it worth dying for the 21-megapixel image? That begs to question, would digital as a medium survive in a jungle conflict like Vietnam? That would be an interesting evaluation for the photojournalists (maybe they still carry a film camera?) that are now deployed in war torn Afghanistan.

Tim by the way is now sporting a digital Leica as you can see I snuck a few of him as he was composing in his viewfinder.

		This space intentionally left blank . . . hahaha I just didn’t have any more portrait orientation photos to place here.

Let us not forget Singapore’s contribution to this documentary effort. Three Singaporeans died, Mr Charlie Chellappah, Mr Sam Kai Faye and Mr Terence Khoo.

Exhibit Details

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) Galleries 1 and 2
80 Bencoolen Street, Singapore 189655

Multi-storey car park and street parking available
Nearest MRT: Bugis, Bras Basah, City Hall
Buses:

Exhibition open daily from 11am to 7pm, from 13 Jul 2011 till 21 August 2011

Editors Note:  I’ll tag digital colour images in an album in a few days. You’ll find the feeling of the story is quite different after seeing the colour shots. Let me know if you thought (felt) this as well. Stay tuned…

If you live in Singapore you know that Singapore’s Shell petrol stations are co-located with 7-Eleven stores. I do not remember who Shell was working with before but that doesn’t matter at this point.

Shell ran a promotion whereby if you spent S$50 you receive a ‘Stamp’ and a card with which you keep the stamps. When you accumulate 3 stamps you can redeem the filled card for an S$8 discount. This was offered across the island and not by a specific store location. You know sometimes you get offers that are only valid at a specific location, well this was across the board.

Here’s the blow by blow of account of my dissatisfaction.

Filled up the petrol tank with over S$100 worth at Shell Payar Lebar / PIE

7-Eleven/Shell staff indicated there were no more stickers and indicated that a initial and chop (ink stamp) would suffice, some of her communication was unintelligible because she rambled off in in Mandarin which I do not understand. I only asked if can still redeem up-to the end of the promotion date and she nodded.

Almost a week passed and I needed to fill up with petrol so I stopped at the Shell station at Bukit Timah Hill

1. Went to pay and use my Shell Fuel Save voucher with the initialed and store chops but the cashier refused to honour the voucher.
2. Cashier went on to say that the voucher is not valid because it does not have stickers and will only be honoured at Shell Payar Lebar.
3. I asked where does it indicate that the voucher is only valid at a specific branch and clarified that the promotion period is still valid.
4. Cashier could not answer and I asked to speak with store manager for clarification.
5. Store manager also gave me the same story and did not even attempt to help other than to wait idly for my full payment.
6. I asked to have the Shell Customer Service number and they say they don’t know why I don’t try calling the Shell Escape card hotline.
7. Called the hotline number 1-800-372-2733 and after my long explanation of why I called they couldn’t help me either because it is a head office complaint.
8. Copied down the number and called the head office.

I spoke with a Customer Service Professional I’ll refer to as Mr A. Mr A was quite apologetic but said he couldn’t do anything but take the complaint and file it for action. He did recommend that I just hold the voucher and use it when I need more petrol because there was another 10 days before the promotion ended. Timing did not leave this open as an option because I was about to fly off for 16 days.

Mr A took down my mobile phone number, email address and statement. He said he’d copy me on the filed report and indicate it was urgent.

Here is the email that he promptly sent with the filed report and copied to undisclosed recipients.

Here is the contents of the R2.2 Customer Activity Form that is attached to the email.

I have yet to receive an email, a phone call or something like good old postal mail from Shell an explanation for doing business in the manner they have. I don’t really want to know if it was Shell’s fault or 7-Eleven’s fault. Just make sure and get your act together.

Here are the points I take offense to:

1. How can a company as big as Shell and 7-Eleven run a promotion and not have enough stickers? If I recall correctly the promotion was to run up until 6 June 2011. It was still May 2011 when I could not receive any more stickers.
2. Why do you assume I will always go back to the same station?
3. If your promotion terms and conditions changes you better post them in big bold letters somewhere where people can read because the 7-Eleven staff are not able to communicate properly the new conditions.

One upset customer doesn’t seem to matter to their bottom line. Not a single call, return email, nothing!

I wrote back to Mr A when I returned from overseas to follow-up (I’m the complainant and I’m following up – sheesh!) with an email that just disappeared into cyberspace’s black hole. You’ll note my Outlook 2010 indicated I replied to Mr A’s message and flagged it High Importance.

Is there a moral to this story……*dead silence*

Do I pump petrol at Shell any longer? No.

Do I recommend Shell to other drivers? No.

Do I buy stuff from 7-Eleven any longer? Sometimes, but if I can avoid it I will.

4 shots stitched with Panasonic PhotoFunStudio HD 5.0

]]> http://jamcansing.com/2011/04/08/panoramic-sunset/feed/ 0 http://jamcansing.com/2011/01/31/photo-contest/ http://jamcansing.com/2011/01/31/photo-contest/#comments Mon, 31 Jan 2011 04:55:21 +0000 JamCanSing http://jamcansing.com/?p=778

If it isn’t obvious I pursue my photography with a passion. It currently doesn’t bring home enough bacon. I do feel that as long as I continue to shoot at every opportunity I’m growing and learning. I’ve been shooting a lot of event photography and a lot of it is candid with limited light or a single flash light source. You can see some of the shots up on the Bukit Timah Facebook page. In case you this is your first visit I have taken part in a number of photo contests and have been successful with one that I participated in for the first time last year – the Canon PhotoMarathon 2010. You can see the official results here. I place third in the Open Category theme ‘Clarity’.

I would encourage anyone to participate in contests because if you have trouble focusing (no pun intended) when you go out on your own personal shoots the contest will narrow down the subject matter or theme. Don’t feel restricted by the subject though. There are many ways to interpret this and you may find that thinking out of the box gives you an edge. Take for example the TAFEP (Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices) Photo Contest. It is focusing on ‘Fair Employment’ and even though it is specific you can interpret it in many ways and this is how you get to differentiate yourself with your submission. Do pay attention to the Rules & Regulations and take note of how the contest will be judge. Some of the contests are based on ‘Likes’ versus a judging panel so those are wholly a popularity contest – the more friends you have that you can get to vote for you makes you the winner. So don’t be a whiner when the results are published.

• Follow the links to the TAFEP Photo Contest and to help you out a bit let me highlight the key points.
• Any amount of submissions as long as they are sent by a different email address (More chances to be short-listed)
• Winner is then decided by popularity vote on Facebook after judging is done by NTUC, MOM, and SNEF.
• Prizes are pretty good…it’s cash and an iPad

You can download details of the TAFEP photo contest here.

You can check out photos I submitted for the Canon PhotoMarathon 2010 contest here.

Good luck!

A short update on Resorts World Sentosa Universal Studios Singapore (RWS USS) and their response.

First, they did not respond to my blog post which I had high hopes but if they aren’t careful what they put in black and white they could just get more egg on their face.

I did call their hotline number and Customer Service Officer (CSO) did inform me that I could go down to USS and purchase tickets at the ticket counter. Hmm, take time off to go down to Vivo City and monorail across ($3) and I whatever it would cost me to bus, taxi or drive down. There is also no guarantees of being able to get tickets for a particular date. The CSO said that according to her system there were tickets available for 14, 15, 16 but did not show any available for the 13 (Mon) or 17 (Fri).

I made my way down and RWS USS was thoughtful enough to place signage indicating that tickets for that day were sold out. I went down on Monday 13 Dec. When I got to the ticket counter the ticketing agent asked which day I’d like tickets for except for that day. I told her that a CSO told me only Tues, Wed or Thur tickets available but ideally I’d like Friday. She said no problem tapping on her keyboard and asked how many tickets. *@(#&!)_~!~!~!  These were the expletives going through my mind when she said that but I calmly said I’ll take two adults and one child and paid up.

On my way back I thought I’d take a peek at the gates and wander around a bit to see how the crowd grew. I hung around for almost 45 minutes and did not see masses of people entering the gates at 11am in the morning. Okay, so it may be a little early but if I’m going to a theme park I would wanna start as early as possible to get to all the attractions.

So, the online ticket system is SOLD OUT, the hotline CSO did not help me with anything other than informing me that I can go down and purchase tickets from the ticket booth and I would have to blindly visit and buy whatever is available. What was available is what I wanted all along?!

On Friday, 17 December 2010 I was able to go to RWS USS and see the shows and ride some of the rides.

On Saturday, 18 December 2010 at 11:45am a CSO called me and sound sincere, with empathy, about my problem and asked if I need help getting tickets. I told her she was a tad slow and I had already got tickets and visited the park. It took them 4 days to get around to responding which is not a good thing. Good that they did respond.

The CSO went on to say they’ve taken my feedback seriously but as the system is outsourced it will take time to implement any changes to the system. If anyone decides to do the online ticket purchasing in about 6 months time maybe they can feedback to me if it is any different. I’m not likely to be going back or recommending friends/family to visit RWS USS. Maybe when they get their Battlestar Galactica ride open I’d recommend it to the thrill riding friends.

So, end of story…I don’t think so. I receive another call on Monday, 20 December 2010 from another CSO asking if she could assist me in getting tickets. I told her that I didn’t need any more help and that someone else had already offered. It appears that they have three disparate ordering systems and at least two different sets of people looking after the welfare of the patrons because surely if in the organisation that should be employing a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management System) they would know that someone had already called me back.

Needless to say, the second call didn’t make me any happier a customer. I wasn’t rude but I was to the point with the CSO and kept the call as short as possible.

I hope that whoever is looking after RWS USS and their strange ticketing system gets their act together because this does the Singapore image no good. Me writing about it doesn’t do them much good either even though in the big scheme of things I’m only a small fry.

In the end, we had a pretty good time as a family but it would have been nice not to have the extra unsettled-ness worrying about ticketing and jumping through RWS USS hoops to get there.