Bali Photographer / Thoughts and Portfolio

I have been so amazed with image quality resulted by prime 50mm lenses, making it my favorite lens especially for still life and full-body portraiture. During my days with Nikon I have owned and extensively used almost all 50mm variants the manufacturer has had including MF Nikkor 50mm F/1.2 AI, MF Nikkor 50mm F/1.4AI-S, MF Nikkor 50mm F/1.8 AI-S, AF Nikkor F/1.8D, and the latest AF Nikkor F/1.4D. When I finally decided to go for Canon, 50mm lens is among the first glasses to appear in my shopping list.

Financial reasons forced me to go for the cheapest Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 MK II, an extremely light little stuff with all plastic body priced at about $80 brand new. So small and lightweight that a fellow Bali photographer called it bottle-cap lens. Whilst many online resources, reviews, and other Canon users adore this lens, I have been disappointed right on the first shoot I took. I borrowed a couple similar lenses belong to my friends to make sure that it was not about the particular unit I owned. After about a month I was pretty sure that it was not a keeper, and started to research for replacement.

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Saturday afternoon of the last weekend was spent with a few Bali photographer fellows at The Sol, a beach front restaurant where we used to hang out for good food at affordable price, drinks, chat, and shoots. Beauty of sunset at Canggu Beach, a spot on the mile span of golden sandy beach along Bali south-west coast is always fabulous. Every time I had a chance to bring my camera there always results in unique fabulous shots. Last weekend was quite special as my friend has just bought a brand new Canon 70-200mm F2.8 (IS) L, the best and most expensive Canon lenses at its focal range.

Obviously landscape is not the keyword for the lens, so after a few trial shots with his lens, I went back to my own old el-cheapo old-crack gears. My own project was landscape with slow shutter to bring dramatic silky effect out of the wave. Rocky beach with quite hard wave was among the perfect scene for this kind of shot, and stunning sunset brought fabulous color into the scene.

Tripod was essential for shooting at very slow speed, so I set my Manfrotto 190 XProB up on the rock. I had a little setup change in my tripod which sometime I may write about. Camera in use was Canon 5D with a Canon 17-40mm F4 L. It was the first time I brought my new Canon for landscape shots. I was still using Nikon D200 and Sigma 10-200mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG the last time I came down to Canggu. Read the rest of this entry …

Following introduction of the new Nikon D700 I started seeing reviews comparing it to its big brother Nikon D3 and the legendary affordable full frame DSLR from its rival Canon EOS 5D. Lately introduced back in June 2008, the camera which is referred to be a D300 with full frame sensor is now available in stores. Current price tag is USD 2,999.99 at Ritz and GBP 1,532.45 at digitalrev.com.

Actually I do not think it as a fair apple to apple comparison. Nikon D3 is Nikon’s top-of-the-line camera for professionals whist D700 is basically an advance amateur grade D300 with full frame sensor. As of Canon 5D, whilst it features full frame digital sensor, it hit the market three years back, and obviously carrying older technology compared to Nikon D3 which is released at the end of 2007 as well as an even newer D700. Well, may be that’s not quite true, knowing that D700 is practically D3 sensor planted in D300 body, technology-wise, they are at the same generation. Read the rest of this entry …

Promised to the be the most magnificent Balinese ceremony in the history, the event took enormous worldwide attention. Way before a lot of websites have started to write about it whilst travelers and photographers prepared themselves to witness the rare moment. I prepared myself by locking leave log in my office to ensure that nothing came out at the last minutes.

Advance preparation did not help me from making mistake however. With a few Bali photographer friends I went up to Ubud a little too late, resulting in parking our car far away from the event. It took us almost an hour on foot, half of which trapped in thousands of crowd. A friend who brought along a tripod and a portable ladder was forced to leave both of them back in the trunk.

Quite a coincident that the event took place only a few days after arrival of my new Canon 5D replacing my old Nikon D200, so it was my first Canon project. I spent the nights before to familiarize myself with its character, menu structure, and so forth. But a little time with the camera only on my front yard did not give me a lot. Read the rest of this entry …

Whilst my mind has been firmly locked to trading my Nikon setup with Canon’s full frame, I realized that it would be hard to do, especially as I am not prepared to spend any additional money. I could only afford a trade, I released my current Nikon D200 and lenses ranging from ultra-wide to mid-range telephoto with similar set from Canon.

My Nikon D200 had a vertical grip with an extra battery attached, the brilliant professional lens 80-200mm F/2.8D ED, ultra-lightweight 35-70mm F3.3-4.5, small but razor sharp 50mm F1.4, beautiful ultra-wide Sigma 10-20mm, and a pair of speed-lights.

After weeks of research, I decided to reverse the setup. I had rather cheap ultra-wide and professional telephoto lens. Being focused more to landscape, architecture, and product photography, I only did telephoto like birds, sports, and wave surfing for fun. I expected the new setup to be the opposite way round, professional ultra-wide is essential, cheaper telephoto is acceptable. Read the rest of this entry …

The large the image sensor the better the result is. Nothing new about it. That is the very reason why in the old film days, medium or large film sized used by Mamiya, Hasselblad, Holga, Rolleiflex, and so forth results superior images compared to standard 35mm DSLRs. Digital is no exception. The best will be camera with large digital sensor like Hasselblaad or at least a digital back attached to large or medium format camera like Mamiya. Even the cheaper second option costs at least eight grands, so it is definitely note my league.

So after having comfortable feel with DSLR, I started to look into full-frame, which even not as large as medium or large, offer double sensor size compared to DSLR with crop factor. Until introduction of D3 - Nikon’s first full-frame DSLR - Canon is the only DSLR manufacturer offering full-frame. Kodak used to offer one but seems to be discontinued. Read the rest of this entry …

Why would you haul a heavy professional lens only to use a half of it? Why would you spend a fortune for ultra-wide lens only to go as short as normal lenses do? Don’t you think it a waste of energy and money? You may start wondering what I am talking about. Right, I am actually repeating words thrown by a number of professional photographers about using a cropped digital sensor.

To cut the production cost and make consumer DSLR more affordable, manufacturers produce smaller image sensor, which then getting popular as DSLR with crop factor. Practically it is just as simple as cropping a small fraction in the middle of standard-sized sensor. Standard sensor size is 35mm, the normal standard of film size. Read the rest of this entry …

After introducing D3, the first camera with full frame sensor in its DSLR family, along with introduction of its second full frame DSLR D700, Nikon introduced the brand new D900 speedlight. Introduced in Amsterdam on July 1st 2008, among new and improved features over D800 is its full compatibility to FX sensor, Nikon’s name for its full frame digital sensor.

July 1st 2008 Nikon Europe introduced the latest state of the art lighting flagship, the Nikon SB-900. The new SB900 offers exceptional high-speed, high-power operation combined with an extended zoom range. The SB900 also incorporates a moving diffuser and light source that can zoom from 17mm to 200mm in just 1.2 seconds while maintaining an even light distribution. The versatile new flash provides a choice of three illumination patterns (center-weighted/standard/even) that can be selected to suit a particular subject. Read the rest of this entry …

Photography is all about image quality, and the more I learned the more I understood why people spent a lot of money for medium or large format camera. Whilst I am dreaming of something like Hasselblad or at least an old Mamiya with ZD or PhaseOne digital back, I am highly considering a full-frame 35mm DSLR. Problem is that whilst it does not cost as much as a digital back, full frame DSLR is rather beyond my budget as well.

I have been a Nikon fanatic since I the first time I grabbed a camera back in 1983. Currently using a D200, I definitely looking at the first Nikon 35mm DSLR, the new D3. However, I do realize that its price tag is by far beyond my reach. So I am seriously considering Canon 5d, which used ones are sold at about the same price of brand new Nikon D300, about one third of a Nikon D3.

Here comes the issue. Beyond technical consideration, my reluctant came mostly from the fact that the only full frame DSLR I can afford was made by Canon. So it is all about changing religion. I can of course do the same as very few photographer do, own and use both. But I am not that rich, I have to sell my Nikon and all of it lenses to be able to buy the Canon.

Why would I want a full frame? Here is the main reason. I linked to the image from Ken Rockwell’s website as I do not have a 35mm camera myself.

Sharpness

Sharpness is actually one of the two keywords initiating my will to go full-frame. Especially in in large blast, comparing sharpness of D200 to 5D is nothing but shameful. Sharpness is how sharply all details, regardless of their fineness, are rendered. Sharpness is a much more complex issue than a simple resolution number. It’s a lot more than the 14% difference in linear pixel count between these two cameras.

The simple explanation is that we don’t have to enlarge larger formats as much, which makes lens performance much less important. Even at much less than the limits of resolution, practical lens performance is much better with larger formats because the lens doesn’t need to resolve as much as sharply to give the same great, or better, image. Read the rest of this entry …

As an integral part of the 30th Bali Art Festival 2008 the organizer invites photographers to participate in Photo Competition with the following details:

1. Theme
30 years of Bali Art Festival.

2. Object
Qualified photography objects are all activities related to the 30th Bali Art Festival 2008 which can include performing artists during the event starting from the carnival in the opening ceremony on June 14th 2008 through the happening event on July 7th 2008, as well as the visiting audience. Read the rest of this entry …