Fuji x100 - Review

The Fuji x100.

It is a compact camera with an SLR-size APS-C sensor and traditional analogue control dials, that hides ground-breaking technology inside a retro-styled body with looks to die for. It's Fuji's first camera with a large, APS-C sensor aimed at professionals and advanced amateurs for like 5 years.

There are a few things that attracted me to this camera. It’s a retro-styled camera that squeezes an SLR-size APS-C sensor into its compact body, and sports a fixed, fast F2 maximum aperture semi-wideangle lens with a classic 35mm-equivalent field of view.

I've always wanted a small camera with the following features:

Manual Focus
Shoots Raw
APS-C Sensor or Full Frame
Fast Lens (F2 or higher)

And once I saw the x100 and how it looks, I MUST GET IT.

For a start, the x100 is not hard to look at. Here are some photos.

There are so many accessories for the x100 and it has the world's first Hybrid View Finder.

So What is the HYBRID VIEW FINDER?

It combines a conventional direct-vision optical viewfinder with a high-resolution electronic viewfinder, offering the best of both worlds. The optical view finder can also digitally overlay gridlines and other important information, making it strangely fascinating. It can also change to a digital view finder is also very high resolution and it gives you a better view in dark conditions.

Styling

The styling of the x100 works. It looks like a 1970 camera, the aperture controls, shutter speed dials and other controls are in pretty good locations, making it easy to use. There is a place to even for the flash in the small body, the place you would find the viewfinder in the old rangefinders.

Key features

12.3 megapixel APS-C sized CMOS sensor
Fixed 23mm F2 lens (equivalent to a 35mm lens on full frame)
2.8" LCD screen, 4:3 aspect ratio, 460,000 dots
Hybrid optical / electronic viewfinder
OVF with 0.5x magnification, projected framelines indicate approx 90% of field of view
EVF with ca 0.5x magnification, 1,440,000 dots
Traditional-style control dials for shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation
ISO 100 (L), 200-6400, 12800 (H)
Flash hot shoe and built-in flash
Built-in neutral density filter (3 stops)
1280x720 HD movie recording with stereo sound (24 fps) H.264 .MOV (max 10 mins)



Here is a sample of a video of the x100



It records very fast with the press of the button, and focuses continually even in low light.


Here are some sample photos.

Indoor photos.








Night Photos











Day photos











Portraits















I feel that the quality of the photos are pretty good, most of the shots are done at ISO 3200, or ISO 1600 at night and yet you do not see much noise. The color is very vivid, and images pretty sharp.

Pros:

APS-C sensor in a small body
Good noise reduction
Fast f/2 lens
Beautiful and simple to use
Incredible Hybrid viewfinder

Cons:

Slow focusing
Manual focus is hard to use (or just sucks)
Macro Range 10cm - 2m
Maximum shutter speed at f/2 is 1/1000s (max speed of 1/4000s only for f/8 or smaller)
Relatively expensive at US$1200

I feel that the x100 tries to be all smart to control the light and the camera actually does not allow you to do artistic overexposed or underexposed silhouette shots. Even with manual aperture controls and shutter speed, the camera still seems to process the data when it makes the shot.

Overall:

This is a great travel camera and it does street photography really well. It is small and light for something with an APS-C sensor and it is pretty to look at.

I would give it a 8/10

Immortals - Movie review

Immortals (2011)

Theseus is a mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion, who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity.



I'm not even going to seriously review this. I was shocked when I was in the cinema today. Initially, I thought it was like 300, with Inception music, but I was wrong.

I don't even want to explain the story. There is none! Everything does not make sense and the more they try to be serious, the more hilarious it gets. One thing though, the movie is very GORY! Lots of guts, blood and bodyparts everywhere.

Everything is predictable. The minute you see a virgin, you know she will not be for long, and they ACTUALLY SHOW IT, her ass and all!

The gore is not scary, but as it is trying to be artistic and serious, it becomes hilarious. Everyone is laughing at the over the top action sequence and gore.

It does teach you a valuable lesson though -- NEVER BE A TRAITOR / DEFECTOR. You will see the most horrible consequence, and it is graphic, did not even try to do any face away or off camera shots. A REAL OUCH moment.

Everyone seems to have great abs. It like everyone in the movie pauses to pose for the camera when they stop walking and show off their modeling pose for Abecrombie 500BC...

Nothing much else to say about this movie. 3D does not really add that much, but I do appreciate 3D ass cheeks, which makes me want to watch Sex and Zen in 3D.

Overall -- 3/10

If you want a comedy, go for it, it is brainless, gore and fun.
Otherwise, avoid it.

-- Robin Low

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas Movie Review

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

I am very surprised at the pace of this movie. I did not like Harold and Kumar 2, but I felt that there was a change in pace and the way this new movie is presented, and it was a pleasant surprise.

With a cast of Danny Trejo, and all of the original cast, this movie has the same old feel as the original movie. In this movie, NPH is not so funny and his role is indeed very minor.

The pacing of the movie is pretty good. At the start of the movie, Harold and Kumar are not together, and it starts out pretty slow. Every 10 minutes something outrages happen, and in the spirit of the movie, it is always about getting high. There is a hilarious joke about the baby getting high on weed, heroine, and estacy pills.

The story also gets increasingly outrageous, and there is a lot of funny surprises, twists and turns in the story which will keep you entertained.

Storyline
Six years have elapsed since Guantanemo Bay, leaving Harold and Kumar estranged from one another with very different families, friends and lives. But when Kumar arrives on Harold's doorstep during the holiday season with a mysterious package in hand, he inadvertently burns down Harold's father-in-law's beloved Christmas tree. To fix the problem, Harold and Kumar embark on a mission through New York City to find the perfect Christmas tree, once again stumbling into trouble at every single turn. Written by Mandate Pictures

Overall, I would say catch this movie when its out, watch it, you'll enjoy it!
Rating 8.5/10

-- Robin Low

In Time Movie Review

In Time

Director: Andrew Niccol
Writer: Andrew Niccol
Stars: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried and Cillian Murphy

In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth. Here, Will Salas finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage - a connection that becomes an important part of the way against the system.


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When I first read about the synopsis, I was thrilled about the idea, and wanted to watch to see how it goes. It does make sense as you see a lot of people wasting their lives away, spending their time on video games, YouTube and other random stuff. Time is a currency, and when time is the only currency, people might appreciate it more.

The movie was a little brave to take such a premise and run with it. And Justin Timberlake did not do much in helping make the role more convincing either. The dialog, and pretty much everything in the movie seemed a little unreal, and not in a good way.

The acting and plot at times become so bad, that I actually laughed hard. For people with minutes to live, they sure kiss a lot! Overall, I thought the idea was rather good, and the movie could be so much better, however the cast and the way this story is told on the big screen killed it.

I'm sure the book was much better. (I'm not even going to rate it -- Don't watch)

-- Robin Low

Halloween in Salem

Tis the season to be in Salem.

And here are some reasons to go.

1) Its Freakin' Halloween
2) Food is good.
3) There is a carnival??
4) 3D Haunted House is out of this world
5) Packed with activities!!! REALLY

-- Robin Low