Melaka Heritage Town with FujiFilm Setup

I took a short weekend trip with my family to Malaysia's Melaka city. We drove to the city from Singapore and took about 4 hours to reach. Driving on the North-South Highway is smooth and easy.

I packed in my ThinkThank Retro 5 with X100(23mm), XE2 with 12mm and 55-200mm. This is my "full" battle order for photography. I have been to this city for a couple of times and I love the heritage and culture of the place. This city was awarded the world heritage town in 2008.

The history of the town spanned from the old kingdom, Portugal , Dutch and finally British rule till the independence of Malaysia.

I love the streets and took many photos. I visited the wet market the locals go daily. The old city has it's charm which is hard to find in Singapore or even some of other cities in Malaysia.

For this  trip, the 60% of the shots are made by the old X100 in Velvia film mode. The rest are with the XE2 with 12mm and 55-200mm in Classic Chrome film mode. X100 is my preferred choice of camera when I am out with my family. It is light and look like a old film camera. People don't really pay attention to it.

This page has 84 photos ..do enjoy the charm and do visit this place soon.

inside the biscuit shop

The prominent red shop houses- The entrance to the old town. Once you see the rows of houses..the sense of nostalgia will set in.  

Riverside dining

One of the old shop still doing it's trade along the red shop houses

One of the colourful gate and door

Inside the Nonya/Baba Museum 

The narrow road of Melaka

Colourful lanterns

One of the wall separation from the next house

Windows of the shop houses.

Streets food found along Jonker street. These food are reasonable in price and great in taste.

A view from our hotel - The Sterling

View from the window from hotel dining.

Breakfast at The Sterling

Traditional Breakfast 

Entrance to the Old Wet Market

Colourful old bike- 

Art along a stairway well..shows people in Melaka love this place alot.

We chanced upon this old wet market which is very near our Hotel. Nice to witness the locals way of life in Melaka

Fried bean Sprouts with salted fish--Yummy!!

Traditional biscuit 

Friendly fruit juice hawker

shop owner closing - Little India area in Melaka

One of the Old Wanton mee shop in the area.

Came across a new shop selling soap in Jonker Street. Love the decor inside. All shot by 12mm zeiss/

I came across a abandoned house and took some shots in it.

Old streets view of Melaka- The narrow road and run down houses have its charm.

The Night market at Jonker Street. The most famous street there. The traffic will be closed from 6pm at every fri/sat and sunday.

Tourists and locals enjoying the karaoke night by the old folks.Charming.

Melaka river at night. The famous Church in Background.

The hotel we stayed this time round. Another charm.

Going back to the same place to shoot- Changi Sunrise

There are some good locations for sunrise and sunset shoots in Singapore. After going there for the first time, I will always go there again if time permits. This is because the lighting, the sea tide and weather are important elements that will affect your final image output. The foreground elements can be different too. Each shoot has always yield a different output.

I have been to this Changi Point area for many times. There were times, when there is no sunrise as the sky got too cloudy. There were times,  I was late and missed the golden hour. There were times, when weather was good, the tide was too high. There were times, every element was there but I didn't compose my shot well.

Just like life, photography is a journey or process. I have enjoy the planning, the driving to the quiet place in the early hours, and enjoy the drive to the place. The traffic was smooth and listening to the radio while driving was a way to relax my mind.

Once there, I will walk around to find a point of interest and setup in the dark. Getting to know your equipment well is very important. The last thing to do is to waste time finding the controls.

This time, the shoot at the same location, I would say is one of the best. Will there be another better images in the future? I believe there is. The best is yet to come.
All taken by Fuji XE2, 55-200mm, 12mm zeiss and X100.

Fuji X100 at Shenzhen/Guangzhou

As this is a 100% family trip, visiting relatives and going to tourist spot,I decided to go light with my favorite choice X100, a single lens and body setup to China. No zoom lens to assist me, I just go with the flow of the trip.
My XE2 , 12mm and 55-200mm are kept in Singapore. Without much equipment choices, I am force to "zoom' by my legs, decided not to take certain shots and think more before the shutter is pressed. No stress or pre-planning.

The original X100 (2011) with the 12MP 1.5x crop sensor is still a capable piece of equipment, Bad weather, strong shadows, low lights and single focal limitation are not a issue while using it.

My favourite spec of the X100 series is the build in ND filter which I assign it the Fn button. For strong light situation, I can still shoot at wide open with this ND filter. No need to screw or unscrew an external ND filter is a great advantage as not to miss any moment. This is one of the best idea/item for a camera.

Here are some of my favourite from the trip from a perspective of 35mm focal view.

Shooting in good light

Shooting in good light is one of the most fundamental objective in photography. Although equipment is an important asset to start with, getting to the scene at the right time and right weather is a challenge. Having to work and commitment to family time, there are only a few chances I have in a year to really get myself to pursue photography. Photography is not just getting a sharp/correctly expose photo. It is about how one see the scene by his/her feeling at that time and appreciate the surroundings.

 I am one that really appreciate mirrorless system as they are small, I can pack them in any bag, if there is a slot of time, I will rush to the location for a quick shoot. Not like during my DSLR days where I have to plan ahead and packed the big lenses and body for events and outings.

Below are some shots by Fuji XE-2 with 12mm Zeiss and X100.(35mm)

How to make Fuji X 55-200mm to become a vesartile lens

I do not shoot very often and shoot only at pockets of time due to my family, church and work commitment. Having too many lenses in my dry box is a waste of money in my opinion.

So to make my favorite 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 fuji lens for close-up and macro, I use the extension tube 10mm/16mm and also the Raynox 250.

The extension tubes are not the original Fuji brand and was bought in ebay. These tubes have the electronic connection thus autofocus or changing aperture is still possible. These tubes are best used for subjects like small animals or reptiles. The main function of the tube is to make the focus distance much closer to the subject where the original lens cannot do. The effect is great and as the tube is hollow(no glass) the image quality is at it best.

For the raynox, it can make the general 55-200 range lens into a macro lens. This Marco filter has been around for quite a few years and many great images were taken by this filter. Some adapt to it to compact cameras and bridge cameras.

See the examples.

55-200mm with Raynox 250

10mm tube

10mm tube Plus raynox 250  

Raynox 250

Tube 10mm