My congratulations to all my colleagues. Five years was no light affair. All the best to our future endeavours.

Photography is a ridiculously expensive hobby. Cameras are actually comparatively cheap compared to the ever critical lenses that you mount on your camera bodies.

But some old film-era 35mm format lenses can be had for relatively cheap prices on EBay if you're lucky. And as habit would have it, I landed myself an old Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 lens for something like $30. Mounting this on my G1 gives me 2/3 stops more speed than the other Canon FD lens I first bought, a 50mm f/1.8.

I suppose, the whole topic of mounting old lenses on modern digital bodies is one of debate. Some people absolutely love this ability, while others seem to loathe it. As for myself, I think I would rather have native lenses. But considering that the Four-Thirds version of the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 appears to go for something like $600 after a quick search on Google, I somehow think it's ok to relegate myself to old manual focus lenses. (Not that all manual focus lenses are cheap though! Some people use Leica lenses, and I've even seen some really nice photos from crazy C-mount lenses with apertures like f/1.1!)

And then there's the much praised Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens. A fast normal prime. Very nice. Not too pricey at something like $300-400. But it's enough to still make me content with manually focusing a Canon FD 50mm f/1.4.

Of course, not everything is perfect using Canon FD lenses on m4/3 cameras. Being designed for full-frame 35mm cameras, these lenses at their widest apertures actually tend to let in too much light resulting in some internal flaring/softening of the image. Certainly, Canon EOS users might also notice similar phenomena when using full-frame EOS mount lenses on an APS-C body. Of course, maybe not as pronounced.

In some photos (like the one above) it's not all that noticeable. In others, it's very noticeable. And with the f/1.4, it's much more noticeable than the f/1.8 lens I was using before. In some situations, it's actually a nice effect. It has the ability to give a photo a bit of a dreamy look, which may or may not be suitable for different cases.

Stopping down creates some extremely sharp images, but in that case I might as well use my kit lens.

Nevertheless, the ability to use an aperture of f/1.4 allows for better chance at hand-held shots in lower light without sending the ISO speed through the roof.

Owning the Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 makes me less inclined to pick up any native m4/3 fast primes until prices come down a bit more. The 20mm f/1.7 will be on my short-list. Otherwise, my lens kit is more or less rounded out now, covering a focal length range of 14mm to 200mm (28mm to 400mm in 35mm terms). A standard zoom, telephoto zoom, and a fast prime in a length comfortable enough for portraits.

Now to continue to work on my composition.

Check out Facebook for my latest photos from the UWCCF Winter 2010 retreat (outdoor shots were with a different lens though). Any comments on composition would be much appreciated. Perhaps too many are "snapshot" in nature. But candid portraits are not something you can plan so well? Regardless, I kind of like the ability to frame so tightly with the 50mm focal length (100mm in 35mm terms). I find that it gives a rather personal feel to some of the photos.

好记忆给的温柔让我感动。
可是也给我很烦恼的现在。
让我想知道未来的我是什么样的人？

如果你可以把记忆丢掉的话，这是好的方法吗？ 还是好可惜？

华文有许多成语。 也许有一句成语让我说这样的感觉。 有没有？

我在新加坡工作的时候每天晚上看电视。 新加坡政府的MediaCorp有很多有意思的电视节目。 英文、话语、马来语都有。 还有都是新加坡制造的。 那时候有一台好可爱的节目名称叫“书包太重：My School Daze”

这台节目关于新加坡学生的生活。 关于父母给小孩们子的压力。 还有社会给父母的压力。 特别是新加坡人生活的压力。 很像”小孩不笨“的故事。

我最近发现上网能看这台节目（在tudou.com）。

虽然我没在新加坡长大，看这样的电视节目让我记得我是小孩儿的时候。 那时候我妈妈买了许多新加坡math assessment课本。 记得有时候我不懂一些maths的问题。 我自己和我妈妈都觉得很烦恼。 我很烦恼因为真的不懂那种的问题。 妈妈很烦恼因为他也许想我的努力不够。

看书包太重的时候觉得这样的想法是在新加坡很平常的。 哈哈有一点儿nostalgic的感受

It's always all for our own good. At least, as far as 我们的父母 understand it. 当然不是他们总是决定对的。 可是这是他们的爱。

My mind is pretty blank these days. I want to post something here that seems more happy than my more recent posts. But I don't have anything good to share.

I just wanted to post something here to fill the space. And when I selected this photo, I figured maybe I'd just write about it.

My friend, coming back from Hong Kong, brought back gifts for a lot of people. For me, I received a few items from this legendary company called Muji. Well, actually I never knew much about this company before, but I remember a year or two back my friend was talking about Muji pens.

And now I finally get to experience all that is the Muji pen. Well, all that is the Muji pen and pencil, and also just a pen. The really cool item is this writing device that is both a pen and a pencil. Only, it's not shown in the photo below.

I looked up Muji on Wikipedia and was intrigued to find that they actually produce a large amount of household consumer goods. Not just stationary. And what's interesting is that they are known not for their branding, but for the lack of branding. Most companies that are popular and sell well are often driven by their brand. But Muji is distinctly unbranded in their products. In some sense, that's what makes their stuff so cool. Their stationary, for example, is designed with a very clean industrial look. There's no text on the product, but yet, it looks high quality enough that you know it didn't come from some no-name dollar-store brand.

Apparently there are Muji stores in Singapore. The next time I'm in Singapore, maybe I'll look around for this brand-less store.