Singapore in Mourning (Passing of Lee Kuan Yew)

When most of the Singaporeans are waking up on the Monday morning 23rd March 2015, it was not the normal one. From all over the news and social media, we heard the news of our Singapore's Founding Father passing on news. I am deeply sadden by the news.

He founded Singapore in 1965 after Singapore gained independence from Britain and separated from Malaysia. As I am born in 1973, I may not have seen the early struggle of our tiny nation island, I have definitely benefited from his leadership. Living in Singapore is just plain great. I am able given the opportunity to do what I dream of and aspired to be. I am able to walk in the city with pride. Although initially I am afraid of doing my National service during my 20s as a Combat engineer specialist, I understand the importance of defending my country and loved ones here as I matured into the later years. And I am proud that I have served the nation.

In many ways, how we speak, how we interact, how we live and how we work have definitely some influence from our founding father Mr Lee.

 Buying a property and starting a family are within easy reach with the help of the CPF system and good healthcare system(service improvement since the 80s). The city is well planned, as one can do shopping the city now and in the next 30mins of travel we can reach a beautiful garden without any inconvenience. There are greenery and small pockets of plants everywhere (even at a corner of a highway). Moving around the city is easy although there may be some jams especially when an accident happens. At times, I am guilty of taking things for granted here and the recent passing of Mr Lee reminded us that this island has nothing much to begin with and we need to continue to nurture and continue to build it up for the next generations to come.

All our progress, peace and prosperity come with One man vision. That is Mr Lee Kuan Yew!

Green Crested Lizard- Fuji Xe-2 with 55-200mm plus Extension tube 10mm

I have gotten one set of extension tube 10mm & 16mm for Fuji X mount from the Ebay recently. They are not the original brand. These items from Ebay is cheaper. There are electronic contacts to the lens and body, therefore after mounting, there will be auto-focus and all controls are as per normal.

The main purpose of these tubes are to increased the minimum focus distance of the lens. So that I can move closer to the subject for a better close-up shot. The bigger the number of the tube the closer one can gets.

I had a great chance to test the 10mm tube with Fuji Xe-2 and 55-200mm. The results are good and sharp. The 55-200mm never ceased to impress me. Even with the new pro 40-150mmF2,8 weather-seal lens is available, this first tele zoom from the X series is still a gem. All are shot in natural light and in auto-focus. This green crested lizard with lunch on it's mouth was spot on some rock formation in Singapore Botanic Gardens,

The bokeh of the 55-200mm is creamy on this example due to the background distance from the lizard. I have to take care of the bright background as the lizard was in the shade.

Green Crested Lizard- One of my "desired" subject in Singapore. This lizard is hard to spot here compared to the changeable lizard.

10mm Extension tube

The set of tubes

The sharpness of the 55-200mm. Never fails to impress me.

Landscape with x100

Here is a shot taken while I was having a family picnic at Gardens by the Bay East.

Street shots of Chinatown

Using the X100 classic as a go around camera during my family outing to Chinatown. The place is in preparation for the start of the Lunar New Year night market which will last from this coming Saturday till the Lunar New Year eve in Feb. If you are looking for interesting things to shoot, this is one of the better chance here in Singapore.

All shot by X100 (35mm focal length), convert to B&W by Lightroom.

New Marina South in Singapore

Since the Marina Coastal Expressway was opened last year, there is a new photo opportunity near the mouth of the exit towards city direction. This place is walking distance from the Marina South Pier MRT station. I had a chance to shoot the area with Fuji XE2 and Zeiss 12mm.

The Classic One Hundred (X100)

I had a few months of encounter with the original X series of Fujifilm in 2011. I was then attracted by it's good looks which I described it as a modern camera dressed in a grandpa suit.  Most of the initial images were shared here http://www.pbase.com/jkhw73/x100. However after reviewing the images, I was very impressed by the output and low light performance in terms of high ISO.

It was and is still a niche camera. The 3rd generation X100T has many improvements but remains faithful to it's original roots- A fixed- lens with great manual direct controls, sharp and unique image output thru the fix lens 23mm . The fixed lens is a true asset built-in. As I already has a XE-2 with 3 lenses, I always wants either a 27mmf2.8 or a 23mmf1.4 to go as a "restricted" one lens one camera shoot to polish my vision and think before shoot style.

I sold it in early 2012 to get back to a interchangeable lens system. I went to the mirrorless m43 and then to the fullframe DSLR Nikon.  Until my DSLR was dead due to an accident in Gold coasthttp://orislight.blogspot.sg/2013/12/end-of-d600-of-fujifilm-xe-1.html

As the used price of the X100 went down  in SGP after people are busy upgrading to X100T and selling the X100s or X100, I decided to get back the X100. It is around the price of the 27mmf2.8 but with an body attached.:-)

The X100 images are special and it is really hard to put it in words:-)

First Sunrise shots of 2015

Its the start of the year and the weather is gloomy or rainy due to the monsoon season. However during the last Saturday morning, we were greeted by a good sunrise. All shot by Fuji Xe2 with Zeiss 12mm.
Happy New Year!