thiscowispurple.com » Stuff

Work

Yann Howe — Fri, 14 May 2010 01:07:00 +0000

Its really not that bad. I was up late 2 nights in a row before day 1 so it took me another 3 to get back to normal sleep patterns but I feel pretty good now in the morning. The commute is not longer than it is going to NUS but its more crowded and I find it slightly idle other than reading or listening to music on my iPod shuffle.

Work is slow but I’m trying to learn stuff day by day. I’m finally understanding all the complaints about no time and all myself but I guess I don’t really mind too much yet. Its 9am and nobody is in yet.. haha.. oh well.. Need a LAN cable to update the fresh install of linux I did last night so I’m just idling outside and catching up on some RSS feeds I haven’t seen in a while. Cool. Now if I could just have the chance to take some pictures outside the office while it is still daytime that would be nice..

Haha.. how to take photos like tony hoffer

Yann Howe — Sat, 01 May 2010 08:32:35 +0000

Its pretty educational and somewhat amusing at the same time.

Photography 101 from Tony Hoffer on Vimeo.

Prints

Yann Howe — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:24:01 +0000

William made some prints for me, pretty nice! Matt paper and deep blacks are good. There’s still something off though, not sure what it is.

Tomorrow I’ll start my day early again! Very early.. Which brought me to my next thought.

Verse of the moment:

63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

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Moving On

Yann Howe — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:48:06 +0000

Going to climb mountain in 3 hours. hahaha.. sigh.. I’m tired but don’t feel like sleeping kind. Anyway I kinda looked through some old posts and seeing where I’ve been really helps me see where I am now. Its really quite interesting to have recorded down so much of my life in gory detail. The rants, the thoughts, the messages.. haha.. And it all started cos I wanted to use this camera tomorrow

and looked through some army photos.. then some posts.. then a few more.. haha.. in the end I read quite abit. ANYWAY.. here is a pic from the camera so many years ago.. I have yet to dig up the really epic one I like very much but this will do for now, a very (un)dramatic shot from out of some of my FOFO(fighting on fortified objective) training.

Goodnight one and all!

Effective Focal Lengths

Yann Howe — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:50:52 +0000

I noticed my canon G9 zoom moves in steps and so I was interested to know what the focal lengths are like on it. The lens itself is a 7.4-44.4mm and obviously is not swappable. Took a picture at every step and checked the EXIF data for the focal lengths then calculated the effective focal lengths based on a crop factor of 4.55 based on other’s reports. Here are the details for my own (and perhaps other’s) reference.

Camera Pouch

Yann Howe — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:47:27 +0000

1 of my 2 purchases this trip (the other was a polo tee)

The toothbrush is for cleaning up old gunky chalk left by other climbers. The inside is like fleece and is probably a good material to clean smudges with on my G9. The zipper is waterproof and the mouth should be just wide enough to easily take out and put back the camera. Works great with my olympus..

Nalgene Bottles!

Yann Howe — Sat, 31 May 2008 13:15:03 +0000

Finally got my water bottle’s big brother! Hmm.. there was only one left though.. So I won’t have one for myself.. but never mind! I like the small one better, can fit into the messenger nicely and can use as cup.

Grassy Ipod Dock

Yann Howe — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:27:53 +0000

Okay, after I sent back the ipod dock I was quite sian I paid so much shipping for nothing without realising it. I should have kept the dock and given or sold it away.. So, I just went the DIY route and made my own dock. Why I didn’t do this in the first place is cos most docks have a line out that I can plug into the speakers in addition to USB for syncing.. whereas now the one I’ve made out of a normal ipod cable, dock adaptor and scraps is really only for syncing. Oh well.. Without further ado.. here it is! The grassy iPod dock!

The original idea was a small hill with the ipod on top with a diorama or a picket fence with an ipod sign on it. But.. i have no tools so even making this spartan thing was so incredibly slow and difficult i got fed up and just stuck all the grass on with hot glue. Heh.. still, I’m happy my ipod has a place to sit when on my table.

And Now.. the End is Near..

Yann Howe — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:14:19 +0000

My Olympus c5050 will be retired soon after roughly 8 years of service. Bought somewhere in 2000 I believe. It was a shared family camera until about a year or 2 ago when my brother got his own camera. After that there was a time I brought it everywhere I went. Took a couple of thousand photos with it in that short time. Its still in good repair even after the lens assembly has been replaced 3 times (not our fault each time) but I don’t want to use until it spoils so I’ll be replacing it and keeping it as a backup.

With what you ask? I considered for quite a long time (since a couple of months back) between this

this

and this

The GX100 and GRd2 are really really great stuff, they cost about 800-900 each. They are slim and fit into pockets, about have a resolution of about 10mp each. The GRd has a fixed lens though (no zoom) which hopefully would result in better optics and being more tough since less moving parts. The GX 100 doesn’t come with that monstrously ugly viewfinder (optional part) but I’ve heard great things about its quality and stuff. All 3 models are black (notice any pattern? ha..) and generally not so appealing to anyone other than me.. haha. I love the look of all 3.

I settled on the Canon G9. Why? firstly, its cheaper ($600 cos I’m getting from the US. Its $800 here) and can do just as much as the ricohs other than fit into my pocket. Its got a hotshoe for my brother’s flash (550ex), does RAW and is.. well.. a canon. I’m quite sad it has no 4×6 ratio, but it can do 16×9. I’ll just have to crop everything manually if I want any ratio other than a boring 4×3. No swivel LCD too. I guess my sneakyshots have to be less from the hip now.

So there. Its coming back with YX if its in stock so I’ve got like double happiness. hahaha.. If not it’ll just take a while more for me to get it.

Made a Flash Diffuser

Yann Howe — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:58:30 +0000

Used a curtain hook and a peice of plastic.

Top lighting

No lighting, long exposure

Flashed with no diffuser

Flashed with diffuser

Looks like its not so great yet, the falloff at the corners is terrible! I’m guessing its the choice of plastic and the fact that this version is flat (i made a curved one before this)