Tennis Gear...

Since resuming regular play in October, I've been experimenting quite a bit with my gear, and fortunately by December had made my pick. I'm now using a Wilson KSix.One Tour 90 (the famed Federer stick) strung with Gosen OG Sheep Micro 17 synthetic gut at 55lbs, and Yonex Supergrap white overgrip.

Amidst all the experimenting I have tried out many polyester strings, and a few synthetic guts, in a variety of tensions. The polys (Luxilons in particular) were nice for a few strokes, but it had the effect of hurting my arm over extended play. Tried it in hybrids with synthetic guts to reduce the stringbed stiffness and while to some extent it lived up to its promise of having the best of both worlds (ie control, spin, comfort, durability) I felt the stringbed was rather inconsistent.

Polys main strength is durability, and as I cannot remember when I had ever broken a string (usually I would have cut it out when it began to fray or lose tension) hence its main advantage was lost on me. Went back to what I knew best; synthetic gut. My first choice was the tried and tested Prince Synthetic Gut Duraflex which was still pretty good, but the Gamma TNT2 and Syn Gut Wearguard left me disappointed. Multiple positive reviews of the Gosen prompted me to give it a shot, and so far it's been great. So great I bought myself a reel.

The common reaction I get (or my other K90 wielding friends) when we tell people our choice of racket is that it's really heavy, or I must be a great player. Unfortunately while the first is true, the second is not.

It is indeed heavier than your usual tweener racket at 320gms vs the sub-300gms league, but as its head light manuevrability isn't a huge problem. Plus the stability, feel and control you get is unparalleled. Had a friend who tried it out just for fun and ended up buying one himself, despite his earlier skepticism at the weight and thin beam.

I feel quite comfortable with my current setup, and will probably get hold of another K90 before it disappears from the market. The new BLX range from Wilson is out, but it doesn't look like I'll be hopping on board. Initial reviews speak of a very similar racket with the K90 (with some pointing out that it could be nothing more than a paintjob) with a more muted feel, whereas feel by the bucketload is what drew me to the K90.

Update: I have since tested out the BLX90, and it was remarkably similar to the K90, though it did feel a bit more maneuverable, most likely due to a minor change in balance. It is also indeed significantly more muted in feel, which should make it more palatable to the general populace. Overall not blown away as it felt very similar to the K90 and lacked the feel which I prefer. What did impress me were the strings that it came with namely the spanking new Luxilon Adrenalines. Testing a set in hybrid now with the OGSM, will update later.

From The Dark Side... To The Dark Side...

Here's to make clear I do not have a fixation with anything Star Wars...

After 9 years of being a Nikonian, I have finally moved from Nikon (known in certain photographic circles as the Dark Side) to Canon (also known in certain photographic circles as the Dark Side).

Confused? Apparently the term applies interchangeably depending on who you talk to... Reason Canon is known as such is due to their (previous) dominance in the digital photography world. And reason Nikon is known as such is because of the prominence of Canon's white L lenses (which makes Nikon with its predominantly black lenses the Dark side...)

To cut a long story short, I dumped the last vestiges of my Nikon system; the D60, Tamron 17-50mm and SB400 in early January. In place came the Canon 450D, Canon 17-40L lens and a Nissin Di622. It wasn't really a pain as most system changes go, as over the recent years I have been slowly selling off most of my Nikon stuff...

Why??? (amidst ugly looks from my Nikon-toting friends...) I chose to go Nikon in 1999 when I ventured into SLR photography due to their supposed ruggedness and superiority in lenses ie good and affordable. Canon seemed then to be very commercialised and it showed in their plasticky products. Also back then for whatever reason most Canon bodies bar the top ones didn't have spot metering.

Recently, the tables seemed to have turned, and Nikon is increasingly trying to milk consumers for all they're worth. (as evidenced by the D3X pricing fiasco...) Of late, Canon lenses on the whole are also cheaper than Nikon's. Witness the 17-55mm lenses of both camps. Nikon's is a f2.8 and costs the better part of 5 grand. Canon's is similar except for one crucial aspect; it comes with IS (Image Stabilizer) and you can actually get change from 4 grand. To add insult to injury, there are claims that the Nikon's optical quality is not as what its price tag suggests...

So far I've been pleased as punch with the 450D. Pictures are amazing, and I can shoot up to ISO1600 with little noise, which I had great difficulty with the Nikons (be they D60 or D80, apparently the D300 is a different story). The 3" LCD is also a nice touch, unlike the dreary Canon LCDs of yore.

Complaints? Mainly the size of the grip. I have to learn to hold it in a different way from the large-gripped Nikons. After a while I learnt to live with it...

Other minor issues are flash related. In aperture priority mode with external flash attached, it would go to crazy low shutter speeds ie 1/15, unlike Nikon which would default to at least 1/60. It can be set to default to a locked 1/200, but in some lighting conditions this would not let in enough light, and force the flash to fire at maximum, hence harsher shadows etc. Also Canon does not make a cheap tiny convenient flash like the SB400, forcing me to go to Nissin. Didn't want to spend too much on this as I don't really shoot flash that often... But as the Nissin offers really nice features ie tilt and rotate, built in diffuser and bounce card, can't complain aside from the size...

So from this day on, the pics you see on this site are very likely to be the product of the CMOS sensor and the DIGICIII processor...

Photo Gear Talk...

This will basically document the stuff I have at any point in time. It is most telling that I change stuff very often, but then luckily I almost never lose any dough on them...

Sep 2008
Nikon D40, Nikon 18-70mm f3.5-4.5, Nikon SB-400, Crumpler 5MDH, Nikon 80-200mm f4 AI, Manfrotto 190PRO

Oct 2008
Nikon D60, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8, Nikon 18-70mm f3.5-4.5, Nikon SB-400, Crumpler 5MDH, Nikon 80-200mm f4 AI, Manfrotto Monopod 676B

Nov 2008
Nikon D60, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8, Nikon 18-70mm f3.5-4.5, Nikon SB-400, Crumpler 5MDH, Manfrotto Monopod 676B

Jan 2009
Canon 450D, Canon 17-40mm f4L, Canon 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS, Canon 50mm f1.8, Nissin Di622, Manfrotto Monopod 676B, old Tatonka bag

Feb 2009
Canon 450D, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8, Canon 430EX, Manfrotto Monopod 676B, Bagman CA05

Jan 2010
Canon 450D, Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC, Canon 430EX, Manfrotto Monopod 676B, Bagman CA05

Amazing isn't it, the gear changes in February alone? Almost all the lenses I had in January have been sold. It's pretty normal as I am new to the Canon system, so a lot of trial and error. For now I think I've reached a sweetspot, and this setup should stay for now. Maybe a 50mm f1.4...

New toy... for Daddy...

Bought a Casio Exilim S600 compact camera (or as Casio calls it, a card camera). I've always been strongly against compact digicams, mainly because the sensors are tiny (compared to an APS sized sensor in most SLRs), and hence leads to noise, small dynamic range, and increased possibility of reduced sharpness.

However, this time I capitulated as I needed video, and specifically looked for cameras that can shoot VGA video (640x480) at 30fps. Other requirements include being able to take decent still pics (so a dedicated videocam was out...), being small enough to pocket, takes SD cards (so Fujis, Olympuses, Sonys were out). Final candidates were the Canon Powershots (too big), Ixuses (too pricey), Nikon Coolpixes (hopeless) and Casio Exilims.

I currently own a Canon A80, which was fantastic as far as compacts go, and offerred lots of manual controls too, but ultimately let down by its inability to shoot decent video, its large size, and tiny screen.

Saw a used Exilim S600 on sale, did a lot of reading up on the net, and so far the reviews I've read has mostly been favourable. Good video, good stills, takes SD, great battery life (though proprietary battery) and fantastic built quality! And for the price I bought it, it was beyond reproach. Picked it up Saturday after I dropped off wifey and babies at 1U. Had to go to Taman Sri Sentosa to pick it up, and in the process getting lost couple of times...

The condition was excellent with only a few small wear marks on corners. First impressions were very good, very very solid (it's made of stainless steel after all...), large bright screen, and it looks really good. Here's a pic I took off Steve's Digicams site, where I read one of the reviews. Yes, mine's the same color too.

Casio Exilim S600 Blue...

Started shooting as soon as I got home, and pictures appeared nice and vibrant, though I haven't gotten around to really looking at them yet. Videos were good, with decent exposure and very smooth due to the 30fps.

***Update 1: I subsequently sold this off for about the same price I bought it, but threw in a charger I bought off Ebay for RM5. Got another S600 on Ebay for the same price I sold this at, plus shipping from the USA! It included the whole package, box, cradle and everything. Only difference was this one is plain stainless steel, no paint on it, which I prefer.

Replaced with this...

So far it's seen quite a lot of use, and usual compact pitfalls aside, have performed admirably. Parents took it on holiday with them and were absolutely delighted with it.

***Update 2: Sadly, this was lost on a trip to Eastern Europe by my parents in October 2008. The camera aside, it was worse as it contained all of their holiday photos, and they only lost it in Dubai on transit for a flight home. Suspect it was a pickpocket...