Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category
Sunday, July 13th, 2014
Did you know that there is an actual town in Austria which is called “Fucking”? And less than two hours’ drive to the east from Salzburg, you’ll hit the mountain named “Loser” which is also a popular ski resort.
Pit stop at Fucking, Austria. Photo taken with a Sony A7 with Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS full-frame E-mount zoom lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
Fucking is a tiny miniscule hamlet about 40km to the north of Salzburg. This Austrian town is about 40 minutes’ drive from Salzburg.
Located close to the border between Germany and Austria, the town comprises a cluster of houses on either side of the road.
I wonder what else is not allowed in this idyllic town. But seriously, that’s just a sign to tell you that you’re leaving Fucking behind you. Photo taken with a Sony A7 with Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS full-frame E-mount zoom lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
It is so tiny that less than 200m after passing the signboard that marks your entry into the town, you see the signboard that marks your exit from the town.
I’ve driven around Europe a fair bit and passed through many one-street towns – but Fucking is one of the tiniest we have driven through.
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Tags:A7, Apple, Austria 2014, Burghausen, Carl Zeiss, Franking, Fucking, full-frame, Galaxy, Germany, GO 2020, GPS, hell, iPhone, navigation, photography, photos, PND, potd, Samsung, Sony, TomTom
Posted in A7, Apple, Austria 2014, Cameras, Events, Gadgets, GALAXY, GPS, Holiday, MIL, Photography, Photos, POTD, POTD, S5, Samsung, Sony, TomTom, Travel, travel | No Comments »
Friday, July 11th, 2014
The updated and easy-to-navigate iOS apps for both Getty Images and iStock by Getty Images feature an improved image search, curation and collaboration experience to help creative storytellers bring their ideas to life wherever they are.
Update (17 July, 2014):
The updated and redesigned Getty Images iOS App is now free to download from the iTunes App Store.
With improved image search, a smoother interface and a more intuitive user experience, users can collaborate with colleagues and clients to help bring ideas to life no matter where they are.
The iStock app can be downloaded for free from the iTunes App Store today.
Getty Images, the global leader in digital media, has unveiled a redesigned iStock by Getty Images iOS app with a more intuitive experience and smoother user interface.
“The world’s best creative minds rely on Getty Images for our unique, inspiring content and our refreshed apps make it easier to use than ever,” said Matthew Bencke, Senior Vice President, Product and Customer Experience at Getty Images.
An updated and redesigned Getty Images iOS app will follow on July 17, allowing users to embed and share Getty Images’ immense collection of the very best and unique imagery – at no cost – for non-commercial use on websites, blogs and social media channels, while on the go.
According to a report from Nielsen, in Southeast Asia smartphone owners spent more than three hours per day on average on their smartphones in June 2013 and app usage is burgeoning.
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Tags:Apps, Getty Images, iOS, iStock, photographs, photos
Posted in Announce, App, Apps, iOS, newArrivals, Photography, Photos, Software, Website | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014
Photo of the Day: We chanced upon this charming town while driving en route from Munich to Salzburg. The castle sitting on top of the hill looked majestic while the houses along the river looked so colourful and quaint.
Burghausen Castle, which has a length of over 1,000 metres, is one of the longest castle complexes in the world, sitting along a narrow ridge above the town. Photo taken with a Sony A7 with Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS full-frame E-mount zoom lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
We were driving from Munich to Salzburg when we chanced upon the quaint little town right beside the fast flowing Salzach River, which marks the border between Germany and Austria in these parts.
This photo was one of the first few shots that took with the Sony A7 that I had brought along for the trip.
The compact full-frame mirrorless interchangeable lens camera did not disappoint and impressed with fast focusing, strong low-light performance and good detail throughout the rest of the vacation.
This photo was taken using the Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS full-frame E-mount zoom lens, which was really versatile for both street photography, portraiture and landscape shots.
If you’re looking for a compact travel camera but still desire good image quality, do check out the Sony A7.
The route that we were driving was a bit off the beaten track and we hadn’t expected to come across any touristy places along the way.
So imagine our surprise when we drove into this charming little town that was obviously a tourist destination.
After driving across the bridge straddling the Salzach, we stopped by the river bank and snapped some photos of Burghausen and its castle from across the river.
We didn’t realise at that time that by crossing the bridge, we had crossed from Germany into Austria, and that we were snapping photos of the German town from the Austrian bank.
The Austrian village on the other side of the river is called Ach and is so tiny you won’t find it if you do a search for it on Google Maps, although it’s actually marked on the map.
View of Burghausen Town across the Salzach River. By driving across the bridge, one crosses from Germany into Austria. Photo taken with a Sony A7 with Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS full-frame E-mount zoom lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
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Tags:A7, Austria 2014, Burghausen, Carl Zeiss, castles, full-frame, Germany, photography, photos, potd, Sony
Posted in A7, Austria 2014, Cameras, Events, Gadgets, GALAXY, Holiday, MIL, Photography, Photos, POTD, POTD, S5, Samsung, Sony, Travel, travel | No Comments »
Friday, June 27th, 2014
The new 36.3-megapixel D810 caters to both enthusiasts and professionals. It now records Full HD (1080p60) video and offers a wide ISO range from ISO 64 to ISO 12800 (expandable to ISO 32 to ISO 51200). Hits the shelves in late July.
Singapore price TBA. US price US$3299.95.
Update (15 July, 2014):
The new Nikon D810, before we got our hands on it.
The Nikon D810 was officially launched in Singapore today at the Altimate lounge club in 1-Altitude at Raffles Place.
The DSLR will be available at S$4,888 (body only) from 17 July onwards.
The new Nikon D810 will be available in Singapore in late July.
The FX-format D810 replaces the D800 and D800E and does away with the OLPF (optical low-pass filter) in its 36.3-megapixel (7360 x 4912) CMOS sensor.
The Nikon D810 is powered by EXPEED 4 engine.
It features the EXPEED 4 engine from the D4s to give a bigger ISO range, better image quality and metering and faster burst speed.
The Nikon D810 ships with an electronic first-curtain shutter option, has a redesigned mirror mechanism to reduce vibration, and includes Auto ISO in manual mode.
For video, it can relay uncompressed HDMI output to an external recorder with simultaneous video display on the camera’s rear LCD display and external LCD monitor, while recording to the internal card (compressed).
(more…)
Tags:cameras, D810, DSLR, full-frame, Nikon
Posted in Announce, Cameras, cameras, DSLR, Gadgets, gadgets, newArrivals, Nikon, Photography, Prices, Specifications | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 27th, 2014
Sony offers professional quality in your pocket with wider, brighter lens and built-in viewfinder in the compact body of the RX100 mark III.
Available in Singapore from June: S$1,199.
Sony Singapore invited us down for a hands-on on the camera which had just arrived earlier this morning.
The current RX100 II will continue to be sold with its price reduced from S$999 to S$899.
Both cameras will continue to be sold on the market with the RX100 II catering to compact camera users while the new RX100 III targets users looking for better performance and image quality and using it as a second camera to their DSLRs.
Here are the main features.
- Bright, wide angle ZEISS® Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F1.8-2.8 lens
- Clear, retractable OLED Tru-Finder™ with ZEISS® T* coating
- 20.1 effective megapixel back-illuminated 1.0-type Exmor R™ CMOS sensor and powerful BIONZ X processor
- 50 Mbps high bit-rate Full HD movies with XAVC S support
- LCD flips for easy selfies
- 4K still image output
- Evolved manual controls and new custom button
Here are the specifications of the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 III.
(more…)
Tags:cameras, compact, Cyber-shot, launch, price, RX100, Singapore, Sony
Posted in Cameras, cameras, Compact camera, Cyber-shot, Events, Gadgets, gadgets, Launch, newArrivals, Photography, Prices, Sony, Specifications | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 20th, 2014
Sony has unveiled its most advanced compact camera using the 1-inch sensor. The RX100 III should be available in Singapore at the S$1,100-S$1,200 price range.
Update (27 May, 2014):
The new Sony RX100 III will be available in Singapore from June at S$1,199. The current RX100 II will continue to be sold with its price reduced from S$999 to S$899.
The new Sony RX100 III has a 24-70mm equivalent range, and maximum aperture range of F1.8-2.8.
The lens is much brighter than the 28-100mm, F1.8-4.9 lenses in the existing two RX100 models.
RX100 III with flippable LCD display.
Although the RX100 III uses the same 20.2MP BSI CMOS sensor as the RX100 II, it features the latest Bionz X processor and a pop-up electronic viewfinder and a faster lens.
The LCD display can now be flipped up by up to 180° for taking selfies.
The RX100 III includes Wi-Fi and runs Playmemories Camera Apps.
Video now includes full-sensor readout at 1080p and stored at up to 50Mbps in the XAVC S format.
(more…)
Tags:cameras, compact, Cyber-shot, RX100, Sony, specifications
Posted in Announce, Cameras, cameras, Compact camera, Cyber-shot, Gadgets, gadgets, Photography, Sony, Specifications | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 29th, 2014
The new Samsung Galaxy K zoom packs in the image quality of compact cameras with the smartphone features of the Galaxy line of Android smartphones. Price & availability TBA.
The Samsung Galaxy K zoom will be available in three colours: Charcoal Black, Shimmery White and Electric Blue.
Samsung Electronics has announced its new “camera-specialised smartphone” – the Samsung Galaxy K zoom.
Side view showing the lens retracted and deployed.
The Galaxy K zoom is a smartphone that blends advanced digital camera technology with Samsung’s Galaxy mobile phone experience.
As a camera-specialised smartphone, the Galaxy K zoom offers an advanced technical camera system designed to offer the control and functionality of a dedicated camera, ensuring that the important moments are captured with good clarity.
The Galaxy K zoom is equipped with new retracting lens technology that provides 10x optical zoom in a slim and chic body.
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Tags:cameras, Galaxy, K zoom, Samsung, smartphones
Posted in Android, Cameras, cameras, Compact camera, Events, Gadgets, gadgets, GALAXY, Launch, Phones, Photography, Samsung, smartphones, Specifications | No Comments »
Friday, April 25th, 2014
Created in collaboration with Audi Design, the Leica T will be launched with two lenses available: Leica Vario-Elmar-T 18–56 mm f/3.5–5.6 ASPH and Leica Summicron-T 23mm f/2 ASPH.
SRP:
- Body + 18-56mm lens: S$4,950
- Body + 23mm lens: S$5,250
Update (29 April, 2014):
The Leica T was officially launched in Singapore today. The camera will be available in Singapore from 26 May 2014 at Leica Stores located at Raffles Hotel Arcade, Mandarin Gallery and ION Orchard.
The Leica T will be available in either a natural aluminum finish, or anodized black.
Two additional lenses are also scheduled to appear in time for presentation at Photokina 2014 on 21 September.
- Super-Vario-Elmar-T 11–23 mm f/3.5–4.5 ASPH wide-angle zoom
- Vario-Elmar-T 55–135 mm f/3.5–4.5 ASPH. telephoto zoom
The mirrorless interchangeable lens Leica T camera features a 16-megapixel APS-C-format, CMOS sensor.
Opportunity to hands-on the Leica T.
On Wednesday 30 April 2014, from 10am – 4pm, lovers of pure photography and budding enthusiasts alike can hand-on the Leica T at an open house at the National Design Centre.
It is the first system camera from Leica to feature an integrated Wi-Fi module.
Pictures and videos can be wirelessly transmitted straight from the camera to a smartphone, tablet or computer, and can then be shared by email, or on Facebook or other social media.
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Tags:availability, cameras, launch, Leica, MIL, Singapore
Posted in Accessories, Announce, Availability, camera flash, Cameras, cameras, Gadgets, gadgets, Leica, MIL, newArrivals, Photography, Photoshop, Prices, Specifications | No Comments »
Saturday, April 19th, 2014
Good Friday is observed primarily by Christians to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Cavalry.
For Christians, Good Friday is a time for reflection. Photo taken with a Samsung GALAXY Note 3 smartphone at Pasir Ris Beach, Singapore. Photo credit: John Tan.
The year of the crucifixion is estimated to have occurred in AD 33.
A Christian friend of mine says that Good Friday is a time of reflection on what his saviour had done for him.
Good Friday is a public holiday in many countries, including Singapore.
Tags:beach, Christians, photography, photos, potd, seaside
Posted in Events, GALAXY, Holiday, Note, Phones, Photography, Photos, POTD, POTD, Samsung | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 8th, 2014
Seagate has launched in Singapore the Backup Plus Slim (500GB, 1TB, 2TB) and Backup Plus Fast (4TB). Available now at Challenger stores. Both are USB-powered and do not require its own power supply.
Seagate Backup Plus Fast (left) comes in black with 4TB while the Backup Plus Slim (right) ships in red, blue, black and silver with 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities.
Both enable backup from mobile devices via the local Wi-Fi network or via the Internet.
| Seagate Backup Plus portable 2.5-inch HDD |
| Slim 500GB |
S$89 |
| Slim 1TB |
S$119 |
| Slim 2TB |
S$239 |
| Fast 4TB |
S$449 |
| Seagate Backup Plus desktop 3.5-inch HDD |
| 2TB |
S$169 |
| 3TB |
S$229 |
| 4TB |
S$289 |
The Seagate Dashboard software enables the drives to easily backup photos and videos from Facebook and Flickr albums, and facilitate uploading to cloud services such as Dropbox or Google Drive.
The Backup Plus Slim is suitable as a mobile storage solution for the consolidating photos, videos and other files that are spread across multiple devices, social networks and personal computers.
It comes with USB 3.0 interface and Seagate boasts that the 2TB version is the world’s highest capacity drive fitting into a 12.1mm form factor.
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Tags:Backup Plus, Fast, hard disk, HDD, mobile, portable, Seagate, Singapore, Slim, storage, USB
Posted in Accessories, Android, App, Browser, Events, Gadgets, gadgets, iOS, Launch, Mac OS, newArrivals, Photography, Prices, Seagate, Specifications, storage drive | No Comments »
