For any experts out there ….

I bought a Fotodiox adapter that allows me to put Nikon lenses on my Sony NEX 5 camera.  However, I jumped the gun on this and didn’t really read up on it in advance and discovered now that it’s too late.  More expensive adapters include an aperture control ring; this one doesn’t have one.  And it’s important because:

*  Nikon G lenses don’t have an aperture ring on the lens

*  When you take a Nikon G lens off the camera, the aperture goes to the smallest opening

So when I put the lens on this adapter and put the lens and adapter on the Sony, I’m stopped all the way down to f/16 or f/22 depending on the lens.  Which of course is of only limited use at best.

So my question is:  is there some way to get the Nikon lens to remain in the wide open position when off the camera – aside from constant pressure from my finger on the aperture level on the back of the lens?

Or do I just stick this up on eBay and then go out and buy one of the more expensive adapter rings?  (sigh)

from here

15 Facts About Net Neutrality – big infographic

Economic Liberty Under Threat From Affordable Housing – from Big Lychee (or Hemlock as most still refer to it):

The Post article is a reminder of how the Big Lychee, like Macau, is effectively being prostituted to the crooks and parasites who plunder China and need somewhere to stash their loot.  More than a third of new Hong Kong luxury properties went to Mainland buyers in the first half of the year, as did a smaller but rising share of cheaper homes. And what do they get in return for buying grotesquely overpriced living space from the tycoons? Hong Kong ID cards, courtesy of our government!

After years of throwing stones at each other, Roger Waters and David Gilmour appeared onstage singing four songs together at a benefit concert.  Years ago it would have just been a news item in Rolling Stone, now you can see some video of it online.

This is rather clever – a video/music parody of Lady Gaga’s and Beyonce’s “Telephone,” as a promotion for a company doing online corporate social games.

ISO comparison between 7 EVIL (electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens) cameras.  Perhaps it’s not fair to give away the results so let’s just say it further confirms my choice of the Sony NEX-5.

Speaking of images, click over here for a collection of photos of “Little Shu Qi,” Mavis Pan Shuang Shuang.

And another great strip in the What the Duck series.

That’s all for now!

Home early today because I wasn’t feeling well – hence the amount of blogging this afternoon (after an extended nap).   And then around 6 PM took a look out the window and ran to grab the camera.  The “regular” shot is a completely unretouched JPG – 18mm on the 18-55mm zoom, f/7.1, 1/320 of a second, ISO 200.  (Yeah, okay, still shooting on auto.)

And then a panorama shot grabbed a few seconds later.   Clearly there’s a difference in the sky in the second shot.  When shooting in panorama mode, there are no manual options available (aside from which direction you want to pan in) and the camera “chose” 1/160th of a second at f/6.3, which is why the sky is washed out.

(Unlike an earlier post, this time I uploaded the full sized photos here.  So click on them and (hopefully) enjoy!)

I really haven’t had as much time to shoot pictures with the Sony NEX-5 as I would have liked.  Between being busy at work and the extreme heat and humidity, I’ve had to content myself with just a few opportunities here and there.  I have decided that I’m happy enough with this camera to “invest” – meaning that I went out and bought the only other lens specifically made for it, Sony’s 18-55 f3.5-5.5 OSS zoom lens. And it’s quite good.

Tonight on the way home, I pulled the car over in a couple of spots, first along Victoria Road and then at the Kennedy Town New Praya.  I know these shots are nothing ground breaking but felt like sharing.  These are all JPGs, moderately retouched in Picasa.  I do need to start using RAW here.

Dramatic sky.

Loving the panorama feature.

This one here is fully zoomed in – 55mm, 35mm equivalent focal length 82mm.  This is a nice example of how unexpectedly sharp this lens is – I’m shooting from way across the water, obviously, and if you look at the larger version of the photo you’ll see how nicely detailed the bridge supports are.

This is heart-breaking.  Well, no, not really, but still.  I saw those low clouds around that mountain to the left and wanted to capture that better.  But with just an 82mm equivalent lens and all that stuff in the way, it just wasn’t going to happen, at least not the way I would have preferred.  (Plus … I’m shooting through a chain link fence.)

Yes, Kennedy Town is now in the process of giving way to gentrification.  (In the larger version of the photo you’ll see an airplane overhead.)

At any rate, I am enjoying this camera much more than the Panasonic GF-1 that I owned for just a short time.  Straight out of the box I’m getting decent results.  Now I need to get more comfortable with it to switch over to RAW and manual settings, that will come soon.

Yes, another Saturday, another trip to Mong Kok.   We parked in the Langham Place Mall, simply because we’d never been there.  The mall is huge and it was packed and shortly after getting in, we got out as fast as we could.

Hungry, we chose a spot at random on Portland Street and got lucky because we loved it.

Here’s a panoramic shot of the interior. (Click on it to see it full sized.)

They had a partial English menu with pictures – partial because there was a separate menu listing all of the bubble teas and coffees on offer that was Chinese only, with almost no pictures.  Anyway, there was a small Sichuan section on the menu and we took a chance with this dish, which had 6, count ‘em, 6 chilis pictured next to the dish.

And it turned out to be authentic, hotter than hell, honest to goodness Sichuan food, a huge spicy hot bowl of thin sliced beef with all sorts of veggies.  We also got an order of wontons in chili oil with spring onion and ginger and a dish of prawns with cashew nuts & chilis.   It was all good.  It was all, actually, very good.  Three dishes together with an ice lemon tea and an ice coffee with all sorts of stuff in it came out to under $200.  This was some seriously tasty food served by friendly staff in a old fashioned, comfortable and clean spot.  We are definitely going back.

As always on a Saturday, Sai Yeung Choi South Street was wall to wall people.

The rainbow reproduced via Keds sneakers, in a shop that finally had the Vans in the style, color and size my gf was looking for.

We also found this shop, BXS I think it was called, selling a line of clothing and items labelled “Mini Che” – cartoon versions of Che Guevara and I gotta confess, it was some damned cute stuff, cheap, we filled up a bag or two while there (not any of the stuff in the photos though).  I have to admit, the entire concept of taking Che, either a beacon of justice or insane murderer depending on your outlook, and turning him into a lovable cartoon character, appealed to some side of me.

Check the sign out for this sauna on Portland Street – “Hong Kong Style Service – Most Cheap Money Only.”   Given the location, one could make an educated guess about what kind of service they offer?

Let’s hear it for Dick Hui – Mathemagic Power!  Appropriately next to an ad for the Modern Toilet Restaurant.

I wasn’t offended by the cartoon Che merchandise but this bugged me – an expensive sports car with the personalized license plate “NO MONEY.”

And actually, the car’s owner came by just after I took the picture – someone I’d guess was well under 30.  Did daddy buy the car for him?  Is he a banker or a real estate speculator?  No idea.

P.S. I am, as you guessed, enjoying the crap out of the Sony NEX-5 camera.  It’s super light to carry around and the photos are nice and sharp for the most part.  Loving the panorama feature and the supplied software does allow me to “play” it as a scrolling image on my PC, though I have yet to find a way to export that to share anywhere.  Only a couple of problems so far – at lunch on Friday when the auto white balance was way, WAY off and also, unless I’m missing it, not able to change the focus point once the camera thinks it’s found the right spot.  Will play around some more on Sunday.

First off, the manual that comes with the Sony NEX-5 is practically worthless.

Reason 1: I attach the flash (comes with the camera, not an $$$ extra), try to select auto flash mode, camera says that mode is not available in my current shooting mode, I select every other shooting mode, still seems to be the same, nothing in the manual that covers this.

Reason 2: Panorama mode – For in camera playback, you can either view the entire shot at once or there is an option to “play” it, to scroll across the image. I have not yet worked out how to get this “play” feature over to the computer. I can see a directory that has some very tiny video files in it along with some files with proprietary extensions and am presuming the data I want is here. I’ve installed the software that came with the camera but not in a mood to reboot the PC (sigh) so no chance to see if this is the “missing link” yet. Again, nothing in the manual even remotely addresses it.  (In case you’re wondering, the camera seems to delete the individual jpg shots that make up the final composite.)

I was planning on stopping off somewhere vaguely scenic on the way home to take some test shots but tonight was a “red” rain storm. In fact, driving was even worse than during a recent “black” storm. Visibility during most of the drive was horrendous – which didn’t stop some Einsteins, mostly in Mercedes or Alphards, from doing their usual 80 kph weaving in and out of traffic tricks. A tree came down on Sai Sha Road, blocking half the road and other sections of the road were this close to being flooded out.

Anyway, here’s a panorama shot that I took in the office today:

As always, click on the image to see the full-size version.  I’d like to emphasize that this was shot handheld.

Now a couple of other random shots of little consequence.  This cropped image of a tree at Cyberport I think shows how nice and sharp the NEX-5 and 16mm lens are.

And just one of those things, in this case a bit of street art, that I passed every day in Quarry Bay for 8 years and mostly took for granted but actually quite like:

The jpeg is unretouched except for cropping.

And now a photo of a completely different sort, one I didn’t shoot myself but took from here:

This is “young model forerunner” Vonnie Lui Hoi Yan at a press conference for an upcoming film, (ahem) 3D Sex and Zen.  It doesn’t take much imagination to guess what they’re using the 3D for.  Ms. Lui commented that she “was chosen as the Hong Kong bust goddess” at some event in Taiwan.

Which then brings to mind Taiwan actress Shu Qi.

Image taken from here, a report in which Aaron Kwok says, “Previously her Cantonese was not so fluent, so she always made words sound dirty.”  Yep.

Another recent item about Shu Qi caught my eye, one in which she was asked her opinion of pseudo-models such as Chrissie Chau.  (She approves.)  And someone asked her if she would shoot a “sexy photo album” and she responded she would “in my next life.”  It seems she hopes that everyone has forgotten that she first came to fame by posing fully nude at the age of 17 for a series of albums initially published in Taiwan (and still available on some newsstands in HK after dark).  And then did a few soft-core Cat III films before becoming one of the very few actresses in the region to cross over to more legit productions from this kind of start.

No point to any of the above, just felt like running a picture of Ms. Shu.

And here’s Mavis Pan Shuangshuang (yes, one can make at least one or two jokes about her name); she’s been tagged “Little Shu Qi” by the press although I don’t see anything little about her.  (Pic taken from here.)

I went a little bit insane tonight and bought the Sony NEX-5 camera with the 16mm lens.   While I did not love the Panasonic GF-1 camera and sold it after a few months, I was attracted to this because of the larger APS-C size sensor (the largest available in one of these so-called EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lenses) cameras), HD video (albeit 1080i), respectable high ISO performance and some of the special effects built into the camera.  No pictures to upload tonight but look for some by the weekend.

There is also a boxed set that includes both the 16mm lens and an 18-55mm zoom lens.  That set is completely sold out in Hong Kong and word is that it will be one month until it’s back in stock.  I can hold off on the zoom for now, especially because Sony is planning on releasing an 18-200mm zoom in September and I’ll want to see what that’s like.   With the 16mm lens, I can fit the camera into my pants pocket as long as I’m wearing somewhat baggy trousers.

Sitting in a restaurant tonight, I decided to try out the panorama feature.  It’s easy enough for a five year old to figure out; I didn’t need to look at the manual.  Just selected the option, followed the on-screen prompts, did a 180 degree arc around the restaurant, and there it was – an extremely wide-screen 180 degree view of the place.  I also had the option to view it larger sized, the camera “scrolling” around the stitched-together photo.  Incredibly easy and nice result, though I have no idea of how it displays on a computer (or a blog for that matter).

Aside from “intelligent auto,” the camera has the full range of PASM modes and can save RAW as well as JPEG.  And another major point in its favor for me, one can use SD cards as well as the misbegotten Memory Sticks.

So far, it seems really sweet.

Not really sweet was the restaurant we ate in.  This friend of mine, a westerner who actually lived in Thailand for two years, for some reason is in love with Wanchai’s Chili Club restaurant.  I’ve tried it twice in the past and didn’t really want to go back.  One time was with a Thai girlfriend who tasted the food, wrinkled up her nose and said, “This is not Thai food, this is Chinese Thai food.”  I think it’s been at least four years since I ate there and he said, “Maybe it’s changed, maybe it’s better since then, I love it!”

So to make him happy, my gf and I joined him there tonight.  I said, “You love this place, you do all the ordering.”  Blech.  He’s a big fan of this “charcoal chicken” dish, which was just a hacked-up chicken that certainly didn’t taste of charcoal grilling and barely tasted of any marinade or spice at all.  The skin was not crispy, not even cooked long enough to melt away the fat.   He also loves the giant king prawns they serve there, 3 for $130, shoved on a stick and grilled without any spice, not even salt or pepper, just a tiny bowl of fish sauce on the side, though the prawns themselves were nice enough, just boring.  He got a Thai beef salad, nowhere near as spicy as I’m used to on this dish, and while some might be happy that there was so much beef on the plate, I could barely find any salad in the bowl.  The only thing my gf and I liked was the fried rice.

So until I finally get off my lazy butt and get over to Kowloon City for what’s supposed to be the most authentic Thai food in HK, I’ll stick with Thai Farmer and Thai Hut, thank you very much.

Via Scott Kelby’s blog, the funniest cartoon series about photographers I’ve yet encountered, What The Duck.

Some examples:

The above one, wow.  I get a similar feeling when people comment on my photos on Flickr by writing, “Nice capture.”  I presume they mean well but it bugs me.

A couple more.  Enjoy!

Somehow I survived the week.  No, I’m not going to bore you with the details.  Instead, here’s a round-up of stuff that caught my eye over the past several days.

First, from Modern Toss, via Boing Boing, The Periodic Table of Swearing:

Next, from Failblog, this wonderful excerpt from a history book.

Yes, it does say, “walking out from his mother’s Patriotic and Revolutionary Vagina.”  No, source isn’t noted, so no idea where this is from or if it’s for real.

How to opt out of Apple’s iAD data collection.  If you’re using a mobile Apple device, you probably want to do this.  It only works on devices running iOS 4.

How Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix grossed $938 million worldwide but Hollywood accounting practices show the film $167 million in the red.

From the SCMP, the China Institute of of City Competitiveness, a non-profit think tank based in Hong Kong that assesses various conditions in cities in the region puts Macau ahead of Hong Kong in government integrity – based on the fact that Hong Kong has “rowdy” protests.  Taiwan ranks ahead of Hong Kong in terms of “competitiveness” (I’m sure it reads better in Chinese).  And Hong Kong is behind both Shanghai and Shenzhen in terms of innovation.  They also say that Hong Kong is not one of the “top ten harmonious cities” to live in – Jinghua, in Zhejiang province, is number 1.  Yet I don’t think I’ll be moving there any time soon.

Speaking of competititititivity,Joyce Lau on her blog posts one of her recent IHT articles discussing how Hong Kong has become a major hub for art auctions yet is unable to produce any world class art locally.    I could probably write an extremely long piece myself on why I think this is but I’ll save that for another time.

Back to Boing Boing, where they have this beautiful photo from JPL of a “Magic Dragon” constellation.  You can see it pretty clearly in the infra-red version of the photo below.  I think I know what my next tattoo is going to be.

Planning a trip to Miami any time soon?  Then you’ll want to read Disco Rick’s Top Ten Strippers Under 40.

Prince declares the Internet is over.  He’s shutting down his web sites and distributing his new CD as a free give away with a British newspaper.  Yes, you can find it online via the usual suspects.

Got an Octopus card?  Ever stop to wonder what they do with all that data they’ve collected about your spending habits?  According to the SCMP, if you’re in the Octopus reward “scheme,” you can opt out of letting them share your data with their “partners.”  This is wrong.  The default should be opt out, not opt in.

A Hong Kong lawyer says it’s suspicious that all the people who bought flats at 39 Conduit Road and then backed out, helping Henderson to inflate the cost of luxury housing in Hong Kong, as if it’s not already high enough, all used the same law firm and all presented documents that used the same words and phrases.  Oh really, Sherlock?  Ya think?  Meanwhile the government has asked Henderson to explain why they refunded deposits after the “sales” of these 20 flats fell through.  Henderscum.

An online gallery of almost all the covers from the great magazine Omni.

Photos and info for the 5 top places for beef brisket noodles in Hong Kong, according to CNNGo.

Last for now, the American Society of Cinematographers polled their members on the best cinematography in film in the past 10 years.  The top 5:

1. Amelie
2. Children of Men
3. Saving Private Ryan
4. There Will Be Blood
5. No Country For Old Men

So how was your week?