I'm sure you've heard that Canon has recently unveiled their newest camera, the Canon EOS M. I've already posted my first impressions (based on specs and articles on the web) about the EOS M on Slide and Tap. Also, this is an extension of my previous blog post Camera Options For Me (And You) where I share what cameras I'm looking forward to.
There is already a lot of information about the EOS M posted on the web from tech and photography websites. No need for me to summarize it. What I'll talk about in this post is the significance of this camera especially for Canon users and why I'm adding this to my options for a camera.
Size and Portability. One of the biggest points to owning an EOS M. This is in comparison to a DSLR that I can't even bring everyday with me. It's not really safe to bring a DSLR with me everyday and even if I want to, I can't bring it with me to the office. No cameras allowed. A camera that is relatively small as the EOS M can change this. Sure it's not entirely pocketable especially when a zoom lens is attached but it's no DSLR to the eyes of the public and security guards.
Image Quality. Unlike the typical P&S cameras, the EOS M uses an APS-C size sensor, the same as those on entry to mid level Canon DSLRS, and Canon's latest DIGIC 5 processor. That's why it's not totally that small. The models that were mostly reviewed were pre-production models but if the current DSLRs that uses the same sensor and image processor can be used as basis, then I can safely assume that the pictures coming out of this camera will be fantastic.
Side note, I don't know why some people don't understand why we're glad that Canon used an APS-C sensor on this camera stating that the Sony NEX came first. We're not really saying that it came first, we're just glad that Canon didn't use a smaller sensor because we all know that sensor size does affect image quality (although now, smaller sensors are catching up a little to DSLR sensors).
www.dpreview.com
Those are the main reasons I'm adding the EOS M to my camera options. The compatibility to EF and EF-S lenses of Canon's DSLR lineup is a big plus. This is like the Olympus OM-D E-PM5 interchangeable lens system but with a more discreet look because of the almost-S100 form factor. I don't mind the lack of an optical viewfinder, I can live with that. What I'm worried about is the battery life. But we'll see come October or Q4 of this year when the final EOS M camera will be released to the public. As early as now, I can recommend this camera because I know that I might get this one in the future.
My featured photographer today is Ezgi Polat. I know very little about her other than she lives in Germany but what I'm sure of is that she's really really good in taking photos. They may seem random or just everyday portraits but when I look at them, I know there is something more behind each picture. Hers are simple, non-vibrant photographs that makes very good use of available light. Yep, she sees good light and she sees it well. Something I want to learn as well. She shoots film (I don't know if exclusively) and I'm not sure if she does digital post processing but her final images looks spectacular! I want my life to be recorded in photographs and I want it to be done this way.
Among other things that I'm doing right now, I'm also on the hunt for a perfect messenger bag. Of course perfect being subjective. I've had my Celio messenger (?) bag for more than a couple of years now and it served me well through a lot of rains and hellish heat in the metro and it's still in good condition, aging quite well. I think it's not real leather or else it would have cost more but it feels like one. Even the shoulder strap is made of the same material and is comfortable even without a shoulder pad. The buckles aren't rusting and isn't smelling metallic even after being subjected to the weather. It's a really small bag, able to fit my planner and a small foldable umbrella. That's the thing though, it's too small for me now, I need a bigger bag that can carry more stuff incase I need to. Before I thought going small is OK, and it was, but now I changed my mind.
This all started when I saw a thread in The Verge forum talking about laptop bags. Actually even before, I've contemplated on getting a bigger bag because there are times when I had to carry another bag because it couldn't fit on my daily bag. That thread reminded me to do so. My requirements for a new bag are
Should look good on both casual look and with corporate attire.
Material should either be waxed canvass or leather.
Preferably with a shoulder pad.
Should be able to fit a small bond paper without the need to fold it.
Can carry a 13-inch laptop. (that 13-inch laptop is another story)
Optional, can double as a camera bag.
I have set my eyes on a couple of bags because of their looks but I don't think I'll be getting any of them because of one reason, price! True enough that expensive things looks gorgeous! So these bags are mostly my baseline on what my new bag should look like.
Billingham's Hadley Small (Or Large but that's 15")
I've always wanted this bag ever since I saw it featured on DigitalRev. It's actually a camera bag but doubles as an ordinary everyday bag but simply pulling out the sleeves. Don't you think it looks good? Because I think it does. Doesn't look like a camera bag at all. Stealthy in that sense. Leather plus Fibrenyte material and brass fittings equals really good quality and screams in price as well. Another downside is it's too small to fit a 13-inch laptop unless I pick up an 11-inch Macbook Air.
Ona's Brixton
Another camera bag with that looks. I actually had a camera bag like this before so I know how it feels to carry a bag like this. It's not as flexible as the Billingham Hadley Small because the pads are built into the bag though I can remove the separators to make space. This can fit a 13-inch laptop together with a DSLR and a couple of lenses. It's made of waxed canvass to protect it from the weather and has brass buckles as well. Price? Expensive.
Abingdon's Laptop Bag
This time it's a true laptop bag and this is actually quite big at 15 inches. I'll have no problems with capacity on this one. Same material, waxed cotton canvass, some leather, and brass fittings. Maybe too big for my taste but looks good. Price? Half as those on top but still expensive for me. Maybe if I can see the material, it might convince me. Maybe too formal.
Earnest Alexander's Hudson Olive Wax Twill Messenger
I've saved the best for last. This big and pricey bag is made of waxed canvass, some leather and some brass. Same thing as above. It's 16-inch wide and can fit a 17-inch Macbook Pro (I think). This is something I'll use if I want to bring everything with me. This can double as a camera bag by just getting some protective padding for my camera gear. Too large and definitely too expensive as well. I'd rather buy a new lens, or a camera, or take someone to some fancy dinner and still have some left with the cost of this bag. But you can't argue that this doesn't look beautiful because it's so simple, it's gorgeous. From their website We hate flashy logos, We put ours discreetly ont he inside.
So with those bags as my standards, last week I looked around Ayala malls and some other malls that are accessible to me on a daily basis only to find out that no store has any that looks like the bags I mentioned. Celio has a good messenger bag, can fit 13-inch, but not waxed meaning if it rained, the contents will be drenched as well. I think it costs the same as my current Celio shoulder bag. Kenneth Cole does have a messenger bag with good quality, a bit on the heavy side though, both in weight and price. In short, couldn't find any locally. Even online. So I had no choice but to go international and Ebay US have a lot of affordable options for me. Now, how to get them from there to here.. and if you have any suggestions, please do tell me and I thank you in advance.
Finally got to watch the latest Spider-man movie, the remake The Amazing Spider-man, last night with Petite. We were suppose to watch it last Tuesday but the rains always got in the way and we're literally doing a rain check. Good thing last night decided it stopped, we were thinking that some higher power doesn't want us to watch another big movie because of the way we treated The Hunger Games (in short, I didn't like that movie). Happened to us for a couple of movies before this one.
Now about the movie, I like it! It's simple, not that many gimmicks and it's a proper spider man with a web slinging device, not like the first Spider-Man. (To be fair, at least it was the first). I don't really read the comics so I didn't have any expectations to this movie and Petite was actually filling me with the details about who Gwen Stacy is so I wasn't asking why no Mary Jane. A little funny scenes in there too especially when he just found out he had super human strength. What I know is that the Spider-man character is playful and childish and in this movie it shows. Good fight scenes as well! Not that it needs mentioning but CGI has come a long way. There are also some good first-person scenes in there. It's your typical action hero movie with a slice of drama on the side so if you haven't seen it yet then you'll know what to expect.
In the end, it left me feeling the same way I did after I watched The Dark Knight. True that the Dark Knight has a deeper story than this and the Joker trumps the Lizard but I think this is how it should have been done for Spider-man, although Petite told me that this movie is based on the remake in the comics. I actually want to watch the sequel even if I have no idea who the next villain is. I read it somewhere that there will be a couple sequels to The Amazing Spider-man.
Note: This was posted last February 5. Reposting here.
Vincent recently opened his new restaurant Afters Espresso and Desserts last January 31st and he invited me to their grand opening. Here are some photos from that event. Congrats Vincent and can I already ask for a discount?
Afters Espresso & Desserts
20 Lansbergh Place, Tomas Morato Ave. cor Scout Castor St., 1103 Quezon City, Philippines
So I celebrated my birthday at work today. Can't help it, today is a Tuesday (mid week) and half of my team managed to book yesterday and today as their day off earlier this year. That meant that I couldn't leave my post. It also meant that I was mostly alone in the morning because the guys are out. At least I was able to concentrate on my own work load and managed to finish some stuff as well as handle everybody else's work. Stamp it with the sign that says "Productive!". I didn't plan anything today either because I know I'll be preoccupied with work and I wasn't sure if I will be able to leave early anyway. I did though. Good thing as well since I don't want to be stuck in traffic sitting in an uncomfortable chair on my way home on my birthday. I had dinner with my family. Then it as time to to relax and prepare for bed because it's another day at work tomorrow. No rest for the wicked. I was able to reply to all the greetings on my Facebook page as well as on Twitter. I like personal greetings as well as via phone call or text messages. I feel that they are more personal. Nevertheless, I'm still happy for my friends who took time to greet me. My birthday wish is... the one I wrote in my journal last night.
I had a fun conversation earlier.
friend: Ei Happy birthday!
me: Thank you! Can I ask for a birthday gift?
friend: What do you want? (Subject for approval)
me: I want a lot of stuff. I'm sure none will be approved.
friend: "a lot of stuff"? I'm not your mom! hahaha
me: hahaha. You asked!
friend: yeah but it's for approval.
me: no way out eh? hehe
friend: you can try.
me: it's a trap.
friend: LOL
I should have posted this on my birthday but wasn't able to finish on time. Anyway, it's still May and after more than half a year, I've compiled a new set of songs. Here is my new playlist with links to youtube videos (some are audio only and some are live performances). Some of these songs were already posted on my FB and Twitter feeds and there a couple of songs that might sound out of place. A
Special mention to the following bands/artists
Carousel (I just learned about them recently. Video on the end of this post.)
In my previous post, I said that tablets are the bridge between mobile phones and laptops. It’s the perfect mix between mobile phone’s mobility and a laptop’s processing power. The latest tablet from Microsoft, the Surface, just made my point even clearer; You can see it from the photo above. And I have to say that I like this new Mircosoft Surface! If you want to go in to the tech specs of Surface, you can read it all here.
There are two models of Surface, one will be running Windows RT on an ARM chipset and the other will be a Windows 8 pro and Ivy bridge combo and both are Wi-Fi only if I’m not mistaken. What I’m eyeing for is the latter because what I want to experience is a full desktop work place. You see, I’ve been working in a Windows environment even before I started my professional career. There is no escaping Microsoft Windows because it has been widely adapted by corporations worldwide. Even though I own a Macbook Pro and loving the Mac OS environment, I still can’t shake the feeling that I will still need a Windows platform (maybe a gaming rig, well, for gaming purposes). It’s not really the gadget per se that is attractive to me, but it’s also the OS. The upcoming Windows 8 OS has dual interface, one in touch-screen form (like the one you see above) and the other in a normal desktop mode (with the toolbars and stuff). At first I wondered how the heck would that work but then it Microsoft demoed how it will. It’s something that is very familiar to me and something I know works (well, when I say works I meant relatively to my experience on working on a desktop environment, not the BSD or the system locks.)
What I don’t like with tablets is their apps, I doesn’t appeal to me how an app can make me productive. If you want good software that can deliver, you get desktop applications, but as of this writing I’m sure there are tons of apps out there that would slap me in the face for saying it and I’ve seen videos about such apps. Do note that I’m just a novice in the tablet environment, yapping my mouth from outside the gate. My co-bloggers here has more knowledge on apps for tablet use. Also, you can’t blame me for pointing that out because most apps I see on my friends’ tablets are games, Twitter and a browser. Maybe we’re just slow to adapt the use of a tablet to our daily lives. That is why when I saw the demo that the Surface can give me the familiar desktop environment and is able to run Adobe’s Lightroom, my eyes sparkled because I saw something I’m looking for. And to top it off, it still works as a tablet with a true tablet touch interface that is of Windows 8′s flexibility. Isn’t that a great deal?
And then there’s the keyboard. Yes, that simple addition of a keyboard makes sense. Because it’s just easier to type on a keyboard than on a screen. You have got to admit that I’m right here. Having a separate keyboard from your screen gives you more screen space because since it’s already a 7″ screen, it will get smaller when the keyboard is on. And if you type on the screen, you tend to look down to look at the screen as you type horizontally on your lap, or on a table. Try typing with the screen up and your head straight and it’s your wrist that will suffer with this setup. See my point? But even though I made a good argument with this, I will still call this based on preference because I’m sure there are lots of people who are perfectly fine with typing on a tablet (and are now hurting their necks). And besides, we have add-ons to tablets with bluetooth keyboards and stands that does make them bulky. Thing is, Microsoft included those “options” in the stock package because I think they know people need those (or maybe they just want o make their tablet worth while instead of becoming just another tablet in the market).
But it’s not all good news for me. Microsoft hasn’t announced the price yet of this device (I was waiting for the “shipping now” phrase from the keynote but no one said it) and it is rumored that the Surface with Windows 8 pro would cost the same as Apple’s Macbook Air, most likely the 11-inch models. Now what we have there is a true laptop and even though it’s bigger in width, it’s still has a thin profile and very much a portable computer with a whole lot of RAM and screen space. So… I’m back to Apple then. From Apple’s iPad to Microsoft’s Surface and now Apple’s Macbook Air. huh? But let’s see how those two will do in a comparison test, when Microsoft decides to release their Surface on the 4th quarter this year. Another thing to worry about are the availability of apps in the environment under Microsoft. Today, the best mobile environment in my opinion is that of Apple’s iOS and closely followed by Google’s Android (basically, they are the only two environments competing anyway). Microsoft has to catch up with those two giants of the mobile OS if it wants to make the Surface a hit to the consumers.
Apart from those possible drawbacks and possible options against the Surface, I still like to get my hands on one. It can do what a desktop computer can and it is smaller and more compact than those “net books”. That’s how I see Mircosoft’s Surface.
_
If you haven’t seen the ad for the Microsoft Surface, then click below. And below that, is Microsoft’s Surface keynote.
This was my first post in Mikoy's blog Slide and Tap.
Camera technology is keeping pace with the fast advancement in technology and is also following trends of the latest gadgets. It is evident in the latest entry level DSLR from Canon, the EOS 650D/T4i DSLR. Among it's features is an 18 Megapixel Hybrid CMOS sensor witha the power of Canon’s latest DIGIC 5 processor, a burst rate of 5 frames per second (on a xxxD body) plus a swivel screen that we’ve seen from it’s bigger and older brother, the 60D. Also, as a new standard to DSLRs, this camera can also shoot video. But other than those, EOS 650D sports a technology that is bound to be applied to this level of cameras sooner or later and that is a touch screen interface.
Touch interface is now widely adapted to a lot of gadgets, most are on mobile phones, and it’s no surprise that they would try to incorporate it to DSLRs as well. Arguably, having this in a DSLR is either a good thing or probably just a gimmick to entice new customers. For me it’s a good thing since the small body of the xxxD line of Canon cameras have limited space in the back for buttons and this just makes use of that 3-inch screen well. Of course there are still buttons for those of us who still prefer a tactile response on their cameras. Changing settings or browsing through pictures with a simple touch of finger to the screen doesn’t seem much though since we’re all used to it by now so most people wouldn’t care if they have this in their camera. Even point and shoot cameras have adapted this for quite some time now.
www.nextwavedv.com
But there is one feature with this model that surprised me, even though I expected it to happen soon anyway, and that is Touch Shutter. What it does is it allows you point at any part of the image you see on your LCD screen in Live View and the camera focuses on that part and automatically takes a picture based from your settings. It’s the the next step from the Live View feature that was introduced to DSLRs 4-5 years ago. It’s a good feature and I actually like it because it is as close to a WYSWIG type of capturing a images we can get with this camera since the 650D has 95% viewfinder frame coverage, meaning there is this 5% that you can’t see in your viewfinder that might be a difference between having a foot or not in your frame. This feature also makes it easy for you to take overhead (hail mary) shots because with the swivel screen, you can just raise your camera, tilt the screen, and see where your camera is pointing then with touch shutter, pick the subject and the camera takes a picture or taking worm's-eyeview photos without the need to drop to your belly on the ground. It also means that you don’t need to press the shutter button when taking a shot. Composing with this feature is definitely a lot easier and I can imagine this to be very helpful to macro photography. Open Live View, turn on the touch shutter and select the focus then BOOM, you have a picture.
Since it’s a new feature, there is bound to be some things with it that needs ironing out. Kai from Digitalrev pointed (no pun intended) this out in their review of the 650D and Touch Shutter has shutter lag, something that shouldn’t exist on DSLRs. It means that it takes sometime for the camera to focus on the point you selected on the screen before it actually takes the picture, something you'll be familiar with if you've used old point and shoot cameras. Having said that, this feature won’t be useful to street photography unless you’re shooting still-stills, as seen on the video.
Canon 650D/T4i Hands-on Review by DigitalRev
But there is something more about the touch shutter that doesn’t really sit well with me even though I think that it’s a really convenient feature. Touch shutter takes away the feeling of looking at the viewfinder and pressing the shutter button while you’re face is planted on the back of your camera. I don’t know how other photographers feel about this simple gesture but it’s something I like when I use a DSLR, this is coming from a person that values the sound of a shutter in a camera. Call me old school, relative to this feature, but I like framing my images in the viewfinder and pressing the shutter button. It has a mechanical feeling to it when I take a picture from that perspective and it also feels that the camera is an extension of my body. Kai also pointed out in his video that it looks like Canon thinks of this feature as something that pro-photographers don’t really need that’s why Canon haven’t applied this to their high-end cameras. Or maybe Canon is making sure that Touch Shutter works perfectly before they add this features to the future 1Ds, 5Ds and 7Ds. Maybe it will become a standard feature and I'll get the hang of using Touch Shutter since I mentioned that it’s actually a convenient way to shoot sans the shutter lag, but there is still something inside me that prefer my face to pressed at the back of a black box with my eye on a prism in the viewfinder framing the world on small box and having to half press a button to focus then pressing it completely to capture the moment.
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★★★★☆
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