What To Look Out For When Buying A Digital Camera, If You Are A Novice Like Me

I have been thinking of getting a replacement camera for some time now. Not easy, especially for a novice like me. I do not want to spend too much as I hardly use my first camera and am not so sure I am going to take a lot of pictures with the second one.

However, I feel a good camera should be able to capture the pictures that tell your stories, even for a novice. The picture should be your eyes to the world, even if it is blurry, and that is the phenomenon I want with my new simple point and shoot camera. Am I having my head in the clouds?

 

What You Should Consider   

What You Should Consider

• Lens Focal Length (how much you can see) the lower the better for focal length, 28mm or less, a shorter length gives you a wider angle view.

Lens Focal Length (35mm)	Terminology	Typical Photography
Less than 21 mm	Extreme Wide Angle	Architecture
21-35 mm	Wide Angle	Landscape
35-70 mm	Normal	Street & Documentary
70-135 mm	Medium Telephoto	Portraiture
135-300+ mm	Telephoto	Sports, Bird & Wildlife

Apertures (in f-numbers), or f-stops are lens openings that control volume of field. The aperture range indicates how much the lens can open up for light to pass through. E.g. going from f/4 to f/8 increases the depth of image. With aperture priority you are able to keep the foreground sharp while blurring the background, but with greater depth, both objects can be focused. Need practice though. To capture fast-moving subjects, you need the shutter priority to do that. Changing from f/4 to f/2.8 would mean halving your shutter speed from 1/125 sec to 1/250 sec. The smaller the number, the larger the lens opening.  Does your new camera have selections for aperture and shutter priority?

• ISO, or sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO number, the faster the camera sensor absorbs light, but this comes with some drawbacks, image noise or grainy images. So hopefully, the manufacturer of my new camera balances that nicely for me.

• Shutter Speed. How fast your camera starts up and shutter speed lag (the right moment for the right image needs a fast shoot or speedy multiple shots). You should check out how fast the shot is taken, using auto focus mode. You don’t want to miss that spur of the moment shot.

• Megapixels, the higher the mega pixels the higher the resolution of your pictures. This means better pictures but at larger sizes.

• Is your camera too big and heavy for your needs?    

• Is the battery rechargeable and long-lasting?

• Is the optical zoom sufficient for you? Without a higher optical zoom, you won’t be able to take that close-up shoot. It should come with an image stabilizer for a sharper image as any slight shake, and you get a blurry image. Try out the auto focus at full zoom, to check too. Preferably, it should have a manual focus for those special pictures to override the not so flexible auto focus.

• RAW mode, taking ‘raw’ data pictures, without compression. Loss-less quality shots allow you to edit them without losing quality (compressed is fine with some excellent photographers too).

• Check out the storage card format and capacity.

• Will you be taking videos? Can you zoom, or auto focus when taking videos?

• Try out camera; see how it is in low light. Does it have the flexibility of taking in low light? Larger sensors are important for capturing quality images. How does the camera perform in bright sunlight.

All in all, it would depend on your needs and budget. The higher specs may not come cheap and of course it should be a joy to use.
 

My selection for my budget of around RM800 :

Canon Powershot Elph 300 HS

Panasonic Lumix DMC FH5, FH25 or FH7

Panasonic Lumix TZ18

Sony WX9

Sony WX7 (no RAW) rrp RM899

Competition Act 2010

This isn't very fair, is it?

Our Competition Act 2010 will start rolling on 1^st January 2012.

The Act (in the US, they have their Anti Trust Laws) basically is to promote fair competition.

The Competition Act 2010 strives to provide a business environment that ensures fair play, without favoritism, deter abuses by major industry players or anyone for that matter. It will help promote a market environment and check monopolies. A free market environment will promote fair competition and do away with any barriers to entry.

Free market,‘jangan pakat’, no partnering to benefit themselves at the expense of consumers.

Hopefully, the leveling of playing fields and fairness in the provision of goods and services will bring about dynamic competition, innovation and improve competitiveness. This will ultimately benefit the public or consumers and small businesses.

This is also an opportunity to enhance our productivity, skills and competencies and businesses can then become more globally competitive, especially in the current challenging economic environment.

Bear in mind, though that competition too can destroy those who are inefficient, slow to response, not strong enough nor competent enough to embrace the challenges.

Adopting the right practices to improve productivity, processes, new techniques and to innovate will be necessary to fight competition and move Malaysia forward toward a successful direction for the future.

Koh Samui Here We Come

Koh Samui Here We Come

Joining My Friends

Emotions went back and forth when my ex-colleagues invited me to join them on their annual trip to Koh Samui. Shall I, shall I not. I have never joined any of their annual trips.

Having been working with them for the past seven years; reason, my 24/7 is fully taken up by work, family and sleep, no time to indulge and pamper myself.

The opportunity and temptation to experience the camaraderie, of being with friends on an exotic island was too much to resist. Yes, I am going, I told them, from then onwards there was no looking back.

The Journey

Our outbound bus journey started at around 8 p.m. on 7^th Sept. 2011, with everyone very excited. Bags of belongings together with personal comforting pillows were packed for a restful journey.

I personally could not get much sleep partly due to the hard seats and partly due to my short legs.

The journey through the night was pretty uneventful, except that we had to go through 2 immigration points, one Malaysian and one Thai at the borders. We were guided by 2 Malaysian tourist guides and 2 Thai tourist guides who humoured us and explained everything.

We arrived at Donsak Jetty in the early hours of the morning, boarded a ferry, had a comfortable ride as the sea was calm and arrived at Koh Samui at around 7.30 am after about one and half hours ride amidst the cool morning breezes and waves gushing against the ferry and experienced a beautiful sunrise over the ocean.

Sunrise when approaching Koh Samui contributed by Ms. Ng SL

Sunrise at Koh Samui contributed by Bosco Lai

Sunrise at Koh Samui contributed by Ooi CY

Arriving at Koh Samui Jetty, contributed by Ms. Ng

Sights and Sounds of Koh Samui

The island is idyllic. The sound of waves rolling on the beaches, sun rising on the horizon, laughter and splashes on the beaches by holiday makers create an irresistible relaxing atmosphere.

The two days were filled with sightseeing trips. We went visiting 3 Buddhist temples,  the Wat Phra Yai and Big Buddha, Wat Plai Laem & 18 Arms Buddha, Kunarama Temple & Mummified Monk. We or rather some of our colleagues rode on elephants, enjoyed durian treats at the Wang Sao Thong Waterfall. 

Wat Phra Yai & Big Buddha, contributed by Ooi Chai Ying

Buddhist Temple contributed by Ooi CY

Wat Plai Laem_18 Arms Buddha contributed by Ooi CY

Hinta Hinyai Lovers' Rocks contributed by Celine Goh

Group photo at Hinta Hinyai Rocks contributed by Celine Goh

Hinta Hinyai Rocks contributed by Ooi CY

Wang sao Thong Falls contributed by Celine Goh

Our sightseeing itinerary usually ends with us rushing back to Weekender Hotel and getting ready for a splash or swim at the beach or hotel pool.

Lamai Beach, Koh Samui contributed by Ooi CY

Weekender Hotel Pool, contributed by Celine Goh

Big Crab Restaurant, contributed by Ooi CY

After dinner we would survey the night streets outside the Weekender Hotel which were lined with traders hawking their wares, handicrafts, trinkets and souvenirs.

Night Street at Koh Samui, contributed by Bosco Lai

Street Market, contributed by Ooi CY

Souvenirs Shop contributed by Ooi CY

The bright lights of the streets, the bars, dancing girls, massage parlours, restaurants and street foods kept us entertained and happy throughout the night.

Fire Thrower, Lamai Beach Party contributed by Ooi CY

Bargaining to slash prices seemed more interesting than the actual purchase as we haggled with the vendor to buy whatever caught our eyes and fancy. Squeals of excitement and shouts of satisfied glee were echoed when we have a good deal.

Colours of Traders, contributed by Bosco Lai

Beautifully Lights on Display, Koh Samui, contributed by Bosco Lai

Floral Soap Carvings contributed by Bosco Lai

We were lucky to be able to join the Lamai Beach Party on Friday night where guests were treated to displays by Fire Throwers, ‘Kung Ming’ lanterns, Limbo Rock, fireworks, listening to music, making the night more exuberant and excitingly vibrant. Drinks flowed throughout the night, spirits lifted and elated. Everyone was happy as laughter rang through the night air.

Colors of art and handicraft beautifully captured in some of my colleagues photos stay etched in my mind.

We were all tired out as the holiday came to and end as we gathered outside the hotel one final time, Saturday morning, boarded our bus with our now heavier bags filled with products of Koh Samui, said our goodbyes and proceeded to the jetty for our return journey.

A Ferry Passes By contributed by Yeap BC

Most of us were tired out, but we did not pass off the opportunity to take a few more photos to carry home our memories.

Colors of art and handicrafts were  beautifully captured in the photos taken by my colleagues,  which were enthusiastically shared around, perused and discussed with delight . The sights and sounds of Koh Samui stayed etched in my mind.

As they say, ‘Pictures speak a 1000 words.’

We briefly stopped at Hatyai, to pick up some more local products to share at home. The journey home was tinged with nostalgia as our holiday ends and reminiscences of home.

     My special thanks to all my friends for sharing with me 

    a great holiday and those beautiful pictures. leehwa 

My First Bread Adventure

Bread making? Why not, my family loves bread.

,

my first bread

It all started with my retirement, how else would I have the time to make bread; and thanks to my dear sister, who treated me to the first home-made bread, fresh from the oven, oops … …fresh from the bread maker. The aroma of freshly baked bread and oh… those crunchy, tasty bread crusts, I definitely never tasted crusts like these before….. even hijacked some additional crusts from my niece. Anyone who loves bread could never say, no ….to freshly baked breads.

Do I have a bread maker, sadly no. Thinking of getting one though, but how often would I be making breads, would I get too lazy once the novelty wore off? So does my love for bread making matches that of eating fresh breads?

I started looking through my limited bread recipes, mine you, I have not baked any breads before. What I need is something simple, not too complicated for my first time, and that could be pop into the oven without a loaf pan.

The Adventure Starts

The recipe, simply ‘The Bread’, that I got from the internet seems to fit what I was looking for.  The only thing I have to buy is yeast; I do not have to look further than my kitchen for the rest of the ingredients.

The Bread

Ingredients :
2 cups of hot water	2 tsp. salt	½ tsp. oregano
2 tabsp dry active yeast	1/3 cup vegetable oil	5-6 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar	½ tsp garlic powder

Method

1. Mix all ingredients except the flour together.
2. Then add 2 cups of flour and mix well for about 2 mins.
3. Slowly add the rest of the flour, one cup at a time.
4. Knead well.
5. Place the dough in a well oiled/buttered bowl, turn over the dough so that the top of dough is greased. Cover it and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
6. Turn the dough onto a floured board, knead and divide the dough into 6 balls.
7. Form balls into thin ropes; braid them on a well oiled cookie sheet. Tuck bottom ends in.
8. Let rise for another 30 minutes.
9. Bake at 375 deg. (190 deg C) for 15-20 mins.

I would like to apologize for not having the original recipe, as I was unable to revisit the website.

 

While preparing for lunch this morning, I could not help thinking about when will I be motivated enough to open that packet of yeast that I had bought.

As the original recipe, looks too much for starters, I decided to start off with half the portion and instead of following the exact recipe, I thought I could proof the yeast first.

Instead, I killed the yeast with water that is too hot.

Wondering whether it was my own stupidity or the yeast that has been on the shelf too long, I decided to try to proof the yeast again and this time round, I used warm water instead of hot water, and voila…. the mixture foamed beautifully after ten(10) minutes. Although the original recipe asks for hot water, the mixture of the first seven(7) ingredients (excluding the flour only) would not be hot enough to kill the yeast.

Other than some minor glitches, the rest of my bread preparation proceeded satisfactorily.

Some things to look out for

Using cup measurements was not so accurate for me and I found that my dough a bit wet and had to add more flour to make kneading easier. Maybe it would be better if I had converted the cup measurements to weights,

You could check out this very useful website for more conversions. http://www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml

Ingredient	1 cup	1/2 cup
Flour, all purpose (wheat)	120 g	60 g
Flour, well sifted all purpose (wheat)	110 g	55 g
Sugar, granulated cane	200 g	100 g
Confectioner's sugar (cane)	100 g	50 g
Brown sugar, packed firmly (but not too firmly)	180 g	90 g
Butter	240 g	120 g
Vegetable shortening	190 g	95 g

I decided to bake a trifle longer because of the wetness and find the crust a little bit too brown. I could not help wondering about the flavour as I had substituted the oregano with some mixed spices.

 My First Home-Made Bread

I love it, it looks great and it tastes great. It won me a couple of fans too.

My Favourite Ice Kacang

If the Penang Assam Laksa is the seventh among the world’s fifty most delicious food, then Ice Kacang could easily be one of the world’s most delicious desserts. It definitely tops my favorite dessert list.

Ice kacang is a sweet blend of fine crushed  ice and condiments of fruit, pea nuts, red beans, sweet corn,  chendol (green colored rice strips), jelly, fruits of the nipah palm (attap chee), grass jelly, evaporated milk, coconut milk, gula melaka and syrup.

The fruits, the nuts, seeds, sweets and beans usually sit at the bottom of a bowl, or cup, heaped with crushed fine ice, with the coconut milk and milks drizzle on top.

My treasured memories and palate centre overflows with images of this sweet dessert. Its flavour and textures are so inviting.

The best Ice Kacang is from a stall under a shady tree along Jalan Kulim, a few hundred meters after the District Hospital, near Clinic Dr. Joe Fernandez at Bukit Mertajam.

It has my very best vote as the Ice Kacang uncle at the stall has concocted this sweet dessert in the perfect mix that has drawn many followers.

Very delightfully satisfying…………as it melts inside your mouth. It is so-delicious it keeps me coming back for more.

Be thankful for the gifts you received

The gifts that I received were beautiful and of course useful for most people, and for me too.

The sad thing about it is that the money spent on it was collected from a group of friends, although the amount of contribution may not be much for some, it is more substantial for others.

I have given some of them to relatives; otherwise I would have to find some easily accessible space to keep them. Easy access would mean that you could make better use of them. I would be lazy to use them if I have to dig and rummage for them through my cabinets.

Could not help reflecting on why someone did not send me a set when I got married,……

ha ha ha…….but then they would not have kept up their aesthetic looks for so very many years………....mind you, would they have looked so good today? :-):-):-)

more special gifts from special friends  for me

In some ways it is like the government spending our taxes on something that does not really benefit……do not get me wrong, I said in some ways only, hope I do not ruffle the wrong feathers.

Having said that, isn’t it the thought that counts.
You know the happiest person, is the person receiving them.

Thank You My Dear Friends.

Roses represent the lovely thoughts from my dear friends. Orange roses, indicate enthusiasm, desire and fascination