Pimp My Lens

Just like watching those shows where they break down a perfectly normal and new cars and totally redesign the finishing just so it ends up "not the normal", I suddenly decided I was gonna do something about my 70-200mm's ugly black hood. Normal is simply not enough.

So following the tradition of pimping rides, I walked into a car accessory shop and got myself an RM8 vynil car sticker. The best design they had was in the form of flame design, and I thought the red and yellow contrasted well against a black background.

Then I came back home, rolled up my sleeves an got to work. The had been die cut, so that makes it easier cut out, well, half the job is done anyway. Sticking is trickier as being a semi-perfectionist, I had to make sure the sticker goes down both sides symetrically.

Ended up spending 2 hours, re-trimming the stickers individually as some of them were joined to the larger part of the design.

In the end, I got what I want. Actually even the vynil gloss of the sticker gave quite a good 'feel' to the hood design. Though I'm not sure how long it will last, stuck onto the hood like that. Hehehe...

Oh well, I can always wait till it spoils and replace it with another design!

Mommy and Little Celeste!

Mommy and Celeste enjoying a light moment, reading together.

New Lens : Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-f4.5

Alright! I've sold off my Canon EOS 30, Sigma 18-125mm, and Canon EF24-85mm for a total sum of = enough money to buy a sharp Sigma 17-70mm. It was my first idea to get a 17-40mm f4 L lens but I've weighed both the pros and cons... I could do with the additional 30mm. The magical number which bridges across to meet my 70-200mm f4 L lens!

Despite the aperture not being constant, it features a f2.8 at the widest, better than the 17-40mm's f4! And if I had the 17-70mm's focal length at 40mm, I bet I could get at least an f4, on par with the 17-40mm.

I'll just have to face the fact that the 17-40mm is still the sharper lens, but what the heck the 17-70mm is damn sharp too! I guess it's like comparing a samurai sword and a razor blade. Though I may not shave myself with a samurai sword, both cuts like nobody's business... hehehe.

And btw, the 17-40mm retails for RM2100 (second hand) and the 17-70mm at RM1300 (new). So, no more questions I guess...

In addition to this, I'm selling off my Canon 420EX flash, faithful but lacking somewhat in customisable features. And the overpriced 580EX is on the way... Well, what got the ball rolling for this was the fact that I visited Digicolor and wonderful shop which sells cheap China-made accesories and bought a transmitter and receiver for my flash and was instantly hooked when I tried it on my camera. Instant magic. Can't wait to try out some more. But the 420Ex didn't allow me to change the f stop settings...

Wedding Anniversary

Coincidently, today's our 3rd wedding anniversary. Woah... has it been this long? Our little girl is now 1 and half years old. I guess it has been. You know, I am so touched that my wife have not asked for so much of me. Funny enough, that makes me feel guilty all the time.

Well, I took her for her favourite Japanese Buffet at the new Shogun Restaurant, a sister restaurant to Saisaki. And she loved that. Have thought about what to buy for her but for her that's not very important. And guys, believe me, this is a tougher request as it only means that you need to work harder at showing her how much you love her. No tangible item in this case can replace that.

3 years down the line, and I still have to get the hang of being a good husband and a good daddy to my little girl. It'll come to me...*love*

So sleepy!!!

Aiyah... you know it lah... me and and a couple of million people in this timezone. World Cup insomnia... Stayed up till early this morning to watch Zidane head butt an Italian player... Hahaha! That was hilarious, much more interesting to watch than the Italian winning the world cup. I think 80minutes of the game has gone to his head. What a way to finish the World Cup, by being sent off in the last 10minutes of the game. Oh well, I guess he's bigger than the game.

Enough of this French old man... alright I was up till 2 am furiously trying to finish two articles for Click! Magazine. Having a third magazine to write for really puts a test on my focusing skill. Yeah, may seem easy enough, but doing it after a hard day's work, having little Celeste to play with and then getting too sleepy to do proper writing, is quite a task!

Get a copy of this from the newstands guys, and tell me how much I suck at it... hehehe..

Ok ok... tonight got to start working on articles for the other two... more fun!...