Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home camera bag

Not a good month for me, so decided to engage in some retail therapy and get a replacement for my old Lowepro Stealth Reporter 200AW.

Crumpler had recently updated their range of bags to incorporate what they call a "silencer" which fixed one of my pet peeves - the sound of velcro riiipping when I opened their bags (one of the reasons why I sold off my Budgie Smuggler years back. The silencer design uses a piece of ballistic nylon to cover the velcro when moments of silence are required.. e.g. when you are sneaking in the forest to take a shot of a bird and need to pull out your camera.

After much agonizing about whether to get the smaller 5 Million Dollar bag or the larger 6 Million, I decided to get the Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home bag since it came with a shoulder pad AND it allowed me to fit in a netbook if I chose to to. In terms of color, I was deliberating between the dark brown bag or the black one.. in the end I went with black as I thought the cool green inserts looked better than the traditional Crumpler powder blue.

So, what are my thoughts about the bag.. well, nothing bad to say actually. It allows me to carry the two main configurations that I use - the street shooter/travelling configuration of a DSLR body and a small prime plus a wide angle on the side and a small tabletop tripod and flash in the other pouch or the birder configuration of a DSLR body and my 80-400mm lens. In my opinion, it is too large for rangefinder style micro 4/3s cameras like the Panasonic GF1 and the Oly EP series - the 4 or 5 million dollar home would be better bets. However, it is a pretty good fit for a GH1 with a couple of lenses.

The padding is adequate, and typical of many other good camera bags out there, there are many handy pockets to store a small notepad and memory cards. It is missing some features I like on my SR200 - namely, the belt loop, tripod straps and the waterproof cover - I have to say so that I have never used any of these features on my SR200. Practicality, however, isnt the reason why people buy Crumplers, there are other bags out in the market that have more fetaures, have better weatherproofing, better strap.... people buy Crumpler bags because of the coolness factor and I think that this bag looks way cooler than my old Lowepro...

Burmese food at Peninsula Plaza

Since my 2 cube mates in the office are Burmese, we often make a trip to the Burmese food capital of Singapore, namely, Peninsula Plaza once in a while during lunch. One of my favorite foods is Shan noodles. Apparently, the Shan people stay near the border of Myanmar and Vietnam so the noodles taste similar to dry Vietnamese rice noodles. The major difference as far as I can tell is the type of fish sauce that is used and the fact that Shan noodles don't taste as bland. Worthy of a try next time you are in the area.

VW Golf GTI MK V

Golf GTI. All the car a person needs. That's what Jeremy Clarkson mentioned, not in those exact terms, but its definitely what I feel about mine.

It ticks all the right boxes (at least for me):

• Power - check.. not the most powerful but enough not to complain most days
• Practically - check.. as a people mover, it isnt the biggest and it doesnt have the 7 seats which would be nice to have it you need to ferry children and other family but seriously how often would you do that... as a load carrier its great. I even brought my new Herman Miller chair back home in one.
• Fun - check... nippy handling and great road feel and steering feel. Not as good as a good rear wheel drive though but definitely not something I complain about a lot.
• Comfort / Luxury - hmmm.. I have a Mk V and not the new Mk VI which has a new fangled adjustable suspension setup that can change the damping rate from Comfort to Sport on a whim. The Mk V also doesnt have the thickened glass windows that the MK VI does to cut out outside noise. To be absolutely honest.. this is not a car that can cocoon you and destress you on the ride back home after a brutal day at work. Its ok but definitely does not tick the comfort box.

I still love mine though..

Nokia N82

Been using this phone for the past 5 months. Tough tough time to get used to it after using a Sony Ericsson for so long. For the longest time, I couldnt get to grips to locking the keypad, why can't these phone manufacturers standardize these keystrokes?

Anyway, the phone is a cracker in some areas - the camera especially is most possibly the best in the market now and the browser is really good for browsing and reading web feeds - and a dud in some areas - the keypad is really uncomfortable to use due to the narrow keys and the GPS takes ages to acquire a satellite signal.

When I bought the phone, the initial plan was to use it for a while and switch to something else quickly. But from the looks of it, this phone is a keeper. Its not a perfect package by all means but it does the job of a phone well and with the camera being as good as it is, I can use it as my everyday camera.

Sony Ericsson phone video taking capabilities

The ability for my phone to take good videos is important to me since I am not one to lug around a huge videocam. Good enough for me is AT LEAST QVGA resolution although this is pretty archaeic compared to the megapixel war manufacturers are fighting. My fav phone brand - Sony Ericsson seems to be embarrassed about their phone video recording capabilities. From the website, there are no specs to indicate the resolution or FPS video specs for their phones. Compared to Nokia, which has a rash of VGA capable phones (N93, 95 etc), SE is really far behind.

I have compiled a selected list of phones (current and future as of April 2008) and their video recording specs. Please help me with your comments if I make a few mistakes here or if I have left your phone out..

QCIF (quarter CIF - 176x144, a truly pathetic resolution that can only record stamp sized videoclips)
- K800i/K810i
- K750i
- most other phones not listed otherwise

QVGA (320x240)
- K850i
- K660i
- W890i
- W910i
- P1i
- C902
- C702

VGA (640x480)
- Xperia X1

Life with a Honda Civic 2.0Si

The first drive back home with this car was ok. Salesman gave the usual walkthru at Kah Motors Ubi, I got into the car and made the long drive back to the west. Car felt good.

But little by little, the bumpy suspension, squeaky brakes, misaligned steering, "clacking" windshield wiper rubber, windows which got stuck while winding up and the pong whenever the AC starts up in the morning started to get to me. All within the first month of ownership.

I have always wanted a Honda Civic way back in the late eighties when I drove a friends fourth gen hatch. The rear opening window was a great idea and the nice ride and great 1.6L engine (this was before VTEC) was smooth and zippy.

Unfortunately, this 8th gen Civic gave me all sorts of niggling reasons to get rid of it. Its a tin can.

5 months on, the suspension has softened and I am getting quite fond of the smooth and powerful engine. But I have a sneaking feeling I will get rid of this car before long. VW Passat seems a logical choice. VW GTI still calling for me...

Naim and B&W

Naim 5i/CD5i + B&W 705s on Target stands (lead filled). Using standard Naim interconnects with 3m NACA5. "Rack" is an Ikea filing cabinet :p.

Been living for this set for more than 2 yrs now. Dunno if its my ears but its sounding tired to me. Maybe its just "hifi-degradation" - your own set will always stagnate in terms of the absolute sound experience while your mate's (or dealer's) set will nearly ALWAYS sound better or just plain different. I had some initial reservations about the bass from the 705s, but after loosening up, the bass is alright with a sweet mid-range. However I have been hoping for floorstanders for some time for a really powerful sound. I find that this combo sounds best on instruments and on faster pieces of music.

Hope the new place will have space for me to space out the speakers more - to about 6ft apart. It would be great to get a real cabinet and move the equipment to one side also with a carpet in the middle, should help with the sound somewhat. What I really want though is this - Chords with 800 series B&W...

2008 Mazda 3 mini-review

We did a test drive of the 2008 Mazda 3 the other day. I cannot think of a better choice for someone looking for a keen drive that costs less than SGD60k, and yet is practical for people-carrying. A good suspension setup, fine steering and ok looks both in and out round out the plus points for this car. Good enough boot space and cubby holes as well. Other specs - 0-100kmh is 11.5s, fuel consumption is around 12km/l with the provided 16in wheels.

The only weak link was the slightly anaemic 1.6L engine, however, the saving grace was that the engine was smoother, and not as weak and raucous compared to the Ford Focus. Also, the car isn't exactly a looker as well, the bodykit makes the design look busier than it should and it looses out to more organic designs like the Honda Civic but then, it is nearly 20k less than the Civic and therefore makes good economic sense.

Best color for the car: Black or the Dark Grey.

2007 BMW 320i mini review

In between Harry's classes, I typically have 1.5 hours to burn. I usually waste time window shopping during the short amount of time to myself but last Sat, I stepped into Performance Motors to test out the BMW 320i since I knew they had an Singapore Air Show edition selling for SGD127k apparently sans Xenons and Cruise control. The "regular" 320i costs SGD134k.

Performance Motors sales people are among the most unwelcoming around. They typically loiter around the main door, sizing up each person who enters - and probably wondering - does this bugger have the money to afford a BMW? After spending a good 20min in the showroom, mainly stepping in and out of every BMW model, someone finally approached me and a sales person was assigned to me - a man with grey hair.

The test car was a light green 320i. Initially step off was weak and the steering felt oh-so strange after 3 yrs with a Jap car. The steering is missing the accuracy and fluency of the old 3-series I reckon. The engine - supposedly a more powerful version of the old Valvetronic model wasnt too impressive as well - where was the damn power?, I felt. All the time, I was wondering.. what the heck is BMW doing? The interior was so-so, the exterior styling is weak (especially the rump area) and the stereo is still the same underperforming one. Bottomline - I dont think any BMW with a 4-cyl is worth buying. In fact, I would only truly lust over the Z4 coupe. However, my sis's 523i was a much more involving drive compared to this 3-series. How the mighty have fallen.

Best color for the car: Graphite. Nobody does metallic grey better than BMW.

Vietnamese Noodles at NUS Arts canteen

These are some great dry Vietnamese Beef noodles at $2.50 only. The fish stock tastes great with the coarse noodles being "al dente" and the beef is nicely BBQed. The whole dish is topped with mint leaves, bean sprouts, fried red onions and chopped peanuts. Much tastier than the version at Pho-something place at Holland Village. The Saigon style rolls behind arent too bad as well at only $1.50, an absolute steal with the free soup if you ask me.

2008 Nikon Lens Setup

Right now, my lens collection (situation?) looks like this:

AF Primes >>>>>
24/f2.8D
50/f1.8D
85/f1.8D
105/f2.8D

AF Zooms >>>>>
12-24/f4G DX
20-35/f2.8D
18-70/f3.5-4.5G DX
24-120/f4-5.6G VR
70-210/f4-5.6D
80-400/f4.5-5.6D VR

MF lenses >>>>>
35/f2.8
50/f1.8
100/f2.8
75-150/f3.5

My most used lenses are the 18-70mm on my D70 and the 50mm coming in a close second. For occasions, I usually pick either the 12-24mm or the 24-120mm but not both. For travel, I usually bring these two lenses or if I am really travelling light, just the 18-70mm. On occasion, I have brought both my F100 and D70 on a trip, in these cases, I will mount the 24-120 on the F100 and the 12-24 on the D70 however the 12-24 will still work with the F100 from 18mm onwards. I have only brought the 70-210mm on a trip once and even then hardly used it. My 80-400mm is my "zoo" and birding lens and the 105mm is my product shot lens. Which leaves me with the 24mm, 50mm and the 85mm. These primes are light, portable and fast and I use them when I want to test my creativity in shots and also indoors.

My MF kit - I ran out of film in March after Europe so I havent been shooting much, however, I tend to use the FEs more than the F3 for some reason, maybe its because of their light weight. My most used lens in the MF kit is probably the 35mm however, the picture quality of the 75-150 leads me to keep that in the bag as well.

I have had these lenses for some time and at no time have I felt that I needed anything more. Of course, I lust for better versions of the lenses I have e.g. 17-35mm f2.8D to replace my 20-35mm, 85mm f1.4D to replace the f1.8 version that I have, 70-200mm f2.8G VR to replace my 70-210mm etc and so on, but my limited shooting just doesnt justify getting better lenses. These are also heavier and I prob will never bring them out for travel etc.

In time, I want to add a small pair of Nikon Monarch 8x42mm binoculars, and I might get a D300 (can reuse CF cards from the D70).

Personal wine tasting notes

My wife love grapes.

She also loves wine which is good for me since we get to share. 2007 was a good year for us wine-wise, I got to taste some wines which would otherwise be out of reach to me. I havent been a wine drinker for that long to give expert wine opinions to anyone. But I know what I like and wine drinking perferences evolve, these are some of my notes so far of what I had so far:

1. French Bordeaux red - really complicated. To understand Bordeaux wines, you probably need many many years of tasting and a wine degree. A good start however, would be Wikipedia, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_Wine_Official_Classification_of_1855 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_wine. The most important thing to note for French wine is the concept of "terroir", wine tastes different because of the region where the grapes were grown. French wine just tastes different. The most outstanding wine I have tasted so far was Chateau Haut-Brion 2003. Although relatively young and accessible, this wine had it all, it tasted good at the beginning, goes down nicely and had a great ending that persists. At 900 bucks pop, not something you will taste every week. Not a First Growth, but I kind of liked Chateau Lascombes as well. These are wines that should be decanted well and can be enjoyed by themselves, or with good cheeses.


2. Australian Shiraz - most people in Singapore start with Australian wine for no better reason than it is readily available in supermarkets here and because of its easy drinkability. The most distinctive type of wine produced in Australia is made using the Shiraz grape (better known as Syrah, actually Shiraz is a city in Iran where the name was taken). This wine typically is drunk young - about 2-3 yrs old, and besides classics like Penfold's Grange - tastes better young in my opinion. The wine is typically strong and distinctive in flavor, when I first drunk Shiraz, I thought it tasted "spicier" and drier than Cabernet Savignon. I personally think Shiraz goes well with Asian food, especially stuff like Cantonese food although I have cheese with it occassionally. Some examples of good Shiraz I have tasted - the Penfolds Grange/St Henri, Leewin Estate Art Series. Most of the other labels I have tasted are drinkable but not memorable e.g. Mad Fish, Vasse Felix. Maybe its me but Australian wine alcohol levels are rather high compared to other country's wines, 2 glasses and I feel it a bit more. Best drunk relatively warm at around 20degC.


3. Argentinian Malbecs - I really like this. The zinginess of this wine is great for drinking with steaks and red meat. So far, I have only tried a $20 bottle from NTUC and also a nicer $60 dollar bottle.


4. Canadian Ice Wines - I think the wines from Inniskilin use Riesling to make it. Too sweet sometimes but nice after a meal. Nice when served really cold, can taste a bit cloying when warm. Great with my home baked carrot cake.


5. New Zealand Savignon Blanc - great wine to go with a light meal like a caesar salad on a hot day or seafood - think fish and chips. Serve from the fridge - around 10degC? Have had nice ones from Coopers Creek but nearly all from the Malborough region in NZ are good. Avoid overly expensive ones e.g. from Cloudy Bay unless u can afford it.


6. Western Australian Rieslings - I have tasted Rieslings from Germany and they werent half as good as the one I tasted from Margaret River especially the ones from Howard Park. Rieslings taste like an in-between wine from Chardonnay and Savignon Blanc and they go nicely with grilled pork chops.

Other notes

----> we typically dont drink much Chardonnay (typically over oaked) or champagne (only a little during special occasions). The bad ones taste something awful.

----> A good wine I tasted recently was Leewin Estate's Cabernet Savignon 1998. Leewin is more well known for their Chardonnay but I really liked this one.

2007 Suzuki Swift mini-review

We have been on a car hunting spree recently. After heading to the Suzuki showroom at least 2 other times without doing a test drive (Champion Motors staff look very bored and the place is truly dreary!), we finally mustered up the courage to ask for a drive of the Suzuki Swift 1.5A last weekend.

The car itself doesn't look small up close - namely because it is tall but the interior is tiny. The boot especially is really tiny - much smaller than the Honda Jazz and the Golf. I would place the boot to be the same size as the Mini-Cooper - which means really small. Being a family man - things like "can it fit a pram" will concern me and the boot space looks barely able to accommodate. Suzuki provides a 2 level rear boot shelf though, so u COULD probably fit a pram below and groceries above on the shelf.

Don't expect too much in terms of interior build quality - nearly everything is nasty nasty hard plastic. The steering wheel, although ugly, feels pretty good though.

During the test drive, which was strictly via the route (grouchy old sales man really irritated), the car exhibited exceptionally zippy handling. I haven't tested the Mini but it sure was close to go-kart handling. Again, the car was let down by the engine. Hardly a bad engine, it was fairly revvy and nice but to be frank, the power wasn't there at all. I would recommend anyone considering the 1.5A to get the 1.6 Sport version instead, however, the pricing of the sport version at 63k is a bit steep. The 1.5A version that we tested went for around 54k (still steep if u ask me, Champion is making more money than it should with their cars, go PI!).

I liked the Swift. It really is, at half the price, the poor man's Mini (the Cooper costs SGD103k). Unfortunately, because of the space it provides, it is great only as a second car for family men.

Best color for the car: White or Blue Graphite.

Singapore Prawn noodles

Just found a blog that has good prawn mee reviews (http://lovesingaporefood.blogspot.com/search/label/prawn%20noodles).

Not to be confused with fried Hokkien noodles, the typical Singapore Prawn noodle store includes whole prawns (or slices of de-shelled prawns) together with thick yellow noodles in a nice fragrant stock made from prawn shells. They sometimes add pork ribs or pork slices, kang kong and some even include fish cake. This dish typically comes dry or in a soup.

If you want really good tasting soup stock, go at the end of the day when it is the tastiest because the soup has had the longest time to absorb the flavor of the prawn shells.

The stores I typically go to in Singapore for my Prawn noodle fix are:

- Adam Road Noo Kee (best so far, 8/10?, however, some say standards have dropped)
- Zion Road (nearly as good as Adam 7.5/10, branch of the Adam Rd store?)
- Whitley Road Big Prawn Mee (8/10, next to Novena IRAS, still very reliably good)

I have also tried the Prawn noodles in

- Jalan Sultan Prawn mee, near the Kallang MRT station (prawns not always clean, had a royal rash once)
- Beach Road Blanco Court, opposite (just soup not bad)

and they royally SUCK.

Digital Cameras with Rotating LCDs

In my opinion, rotating LCDs (Canon calls them vari-angle LCDs, other manufacturers call them flip and twist LCDs) are an essential feature for digital cameras. They bring many advantages to the photographer e.g. being able to shoot from high/low angles, take self-portraits, offer some protection for the fragile LCD during travel, reducing the "arms outstretched staring at the LCD look", allowing stealthy photography. To me, a small pocketable digicam with a WA lens and a rotating LCD (ideally with image stabilization or vibration reduction) would make the ideal travel camera. Most of the cameras I owned previously have this important feature - e.g. Canon A610, Olympus c5060.

Which is why I feel it is a shame that camera manufacturers have neglected to include this feature into new releases. Canon, for example, had a large range of cameras with the feature (including the A-series, S-series and the G-series) before pulling the plug on this with current releases e.g. the A710IS, G7/G9. Only the S-series has this feature by default and also selected A-series cameras. Apparently, there are some patent issues that restrict other manufacturers to include the "vari-angle" design into their cameras... boo on you Canon.

I have included a small manually compiled list of current digicams with a rotating LCD (readers please contribute with other cameras which I may have missed out), a big "boo-hoo" to DPReview for not including this in their features search, cmon guys its time to update your search criteria.

Canon
- Canon PowerShot A650 IS
- Canon PowerShot S5 IS
- Canon PowerShot TX1 *not really a camera this..

Nikon
- Nikon Coolpix S10

Olympus
- Olympus E-3

Sony
- Sony Cyber-shot H9 (only allows tilt, better than nothing I suppose..)

Bowling at Warren

Brought Harry to bowl again at Warren. Bowled a terrible 120+ average and as usual made the same release error of forcing the shot > not relaxing my arm on the throw and subsequently following through straight up instead of rotating my arm/wrist anti-clockwise. Everything went into the 3-7 pocket. grrr

Harry was bowling better though with the bumpers. :)

Was reminded why I stopped bowling previously, irritating bowlers on the right who don't follow lane etiquette. There was also an irritating operator who made noise when we used the bumpers when Harry wasnt bowling :p.

VW Golf GT mini review

1.4 liters isnt a lot. A large PET bottle of Coke is already 1.5l.

Which is why it is amazing that that same exact 1.4l can power the new VW Golf GT from 0-100kmh in 7.7s. I had a test drive today at VW Singapore and the power that this little gem can produce is truly amazing. The SGD80k Golf 1.6 FSI I drove beforehand had a full 200cc over the GT, and it felt pretty good. However, the SGD98k GT felt like a totally different car altogether even though it looks externally not much different from a regular Golf. It handled better, it was more precise and the power... oh boy the power...

Of course, it isn't just the TSI engine that makes such a difference between the GT and the regular 1.6 Golf. The GT has VW's 6 speed DSG (think smooth gearchanges) and also VW's sports suspension that lowered the car by 15mm in addition to a nicer cabin with sports seats and nicer steering wheel. Which all serves to add up to one big question - why choose the 120k GTI over this baby?

Best color for the car: Chili Red or Black.

Chicken Rice wars... in Singapore

There are so many chicken rice stalls in Singapore, you could probably eat at a different store every day in a year and still not eat them all. This is not even counting the variations of chicken rice - e.g. Malay style, Indian brani style.... Please do not do that since u would surely fall flat due to heart disease or something. Chicken rice is a pretty fatty and unhealthy food.

Since I want to maintain a healthy lifestyle... yeah right.. I only eat chicken rice ever so often... hmm maybe once in 2 weeks? But I am pretty sure I have tasted some really good chicken rice over the years. Some of my favorites are:

1. Boon Tong Kee - Thomson branch opposite Novena Church. I really dont fancy the other branches... especially the upscale ones.

2. Loy Kee at Whampoa - best for the non-roasted version. I actually prefer the chilli at Loy Kee compared to other places

3. Tong Fong Fatt at Ghim Moh Market - really tasty rice in this one.

4. Margaret Drive store (on second floor) - this one is famous because of its tie ups with the other store (same store??) for wan ton soup. Nothing really special about this version.

5. Hainanese chicken rice at Alexandra Market - I like this one because $3.50 buys u a huge portion with achar and a MSG laden soup.

6. Blk 33 Dover Rd - there are 2 stalls here visible from the carpark as you drive in. I think both are nice but I like the one in the middle for its roasted version. Try the watermelon juice at the drinks store next door as well.. great for $1.

Mini-Zs from Kyosho

Lots of people play with RC toys and when these get too boring or break, dump them for actual cars. For myself, that was also the case, however, I still have my Audi Quattro car from my childhood days in my dad's place.


In my case, I have gone back to RC with Mini-Zs. However, like Kyosho has written in their catalog, Mini-Zs can't be called RC Toys. They drive like mini-cars (or 1:28 scale versions) and follow the same driving dynamics because of proportional steering and the way the cars are designed. Well, not really. Mini-Z cars have much more power in proportion to their weight unlike normal cars (power to weight ratio). For example, I can easily break traction and slide on a slippery surface like the wooden floor of my living room especially with the reverse gear which has that much more torque.

A Readyset Mini-Z kit comes with a radio transmitter and a single car cover on a chassis all ready to go except for adding batteries (8AAs and 4AAAs) and screwing in the antenna.

Mini-Zs come in many chassis types -

1. MR-01 (the original config with batteries one on top of another),
2. MR-02 (different battery config and batteries side by side),
3. MR-015 (same battery config as MR-01 but with different/cheaper electronics and no brake) which are rear wheel drive cars, and
4. MA-010 which is front wheel drive.

and mounts - i.e. RM - rear mount "engine"/motor, MM - mid mount, and HM - high mount (actually rear mount also).

I bought a lovely red Lamborghini Jota MR-015MM i-Series (which is kind of like a lower spec Mini-Z for beginners) for $139 in Singapore and a really cool black Enzo MR-02MM. I also got a whole bunch of covers, a red Enzo, a black and a silver Mclaren F1, a black BMW M3 and a white VW Golf GTI - Kyosho calls them Autoscale models just for the heck of it and bcos I love the look of model cars. My plan is to get a display case for the cars plus my other 1:24 scale die-cast models - a black Porsche Carrera, a green Lamborghini Murcielago and a black BMW Z8. I figured since I am hitting middle age and cant afford any of these in real life.. what the heck..

Some links to Mini-Z guides I found..

http://mini-z.home.att.net/

http://www.dansdata.com/miniz.htm

Ferrari Enzo Test Car (Kyosho Mini-Z MR02MM)

The Ferrari Enzo is one of the premier supercars in the world today (out of production) capable of 0-62mph times of 3.6s and a top speed of 217mph. Even though others might be faster e.g. the Mclaren F1 (243mph) and quicker to 62mph i.e. Bugatti Veyron (2.5s, the Bugatti also can reach 254mph), I dont think any supercar can match the sheer looks and presence of the Enzo. Even the name Enzo sounds good. Imagine telling pp that you have a Veyron.. the looks you would get.. what Veron huh... blahaha

Well, I can boast that I have 2 Enzos... a Black Test car version and a Red one for everyday driving.. ha!