Louis Vuitton Series 3 Exhibition at Singapore Marina Bay Sands 28 Nov - 23 Dec 2015

"Louis Vuiton Series 3" is a modern and unexpected reinterpretation of a fashion show, this exhibition, following on from SERIES 1 and SERIES 2, invites visitors to discover Nicholas Ghesquière's inspirations for his Fall Winter 2015-2016 ready-to-wear collection as the Artistic Director for women's collections at Louis Vuitton.

The exhibition will be held at Crystal Pavilion South, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, adjacent to the Louis Vuitton Marina Bay Sands Island Maison [Take the South side lifts to B2 and the entrance is next to it and Zara] and will be open to the public with free admission from 11am to 11pm on Sundays - Thursdays and 11am - 11.30pm on Fridays - Saturdays, from November 28th to December 23rd, 2015. You can register for a visit or guided tour here LINK

on level 2 before you exit, they are giving out some cool stickers. 2 themed ones and 2 alphabets. R for me and E for the missus :) oh and posters are available here too

LV logo in neon at the entrance area

very cool 365 degree video wall in the first room

the trunk

& i chance upon a beautiful sculpture. this sculpt is based on model Marte Mei van Haaster

closer

one of the staff there admiring the piece too (nothing staged here ;)

headin to the next room.. artists'hands

the screens show artisans creating le petite malle and the dora

i loved the lighting throughout the exhibition and this room was tres cool too

next up infinite show and you have an exhibition area with models on screens

wonderful lines in here

me

some pics from the walk in wardrobe room... the beckham

marine creatures on the lovely dress

and the super white room

which is the accessories gallery

hmm reflecting me

that lovely sculpt again

last bit... one of the artisans creating some le petite malles on site which was cool

all the parts present to assemble it

another shot with the bag

& one shot in the shop

final shot of the wall

and the sculpt :) 

Hands On Take of the Sony RX1R Mark II & Some Pix From Sony Digital Workshop

Origami Tobiichi cosplayed by Trixie @ Sony Digital Workshop [Shot with A7S and Leica Summicron] 

[other shots from this shoot below but first let's have a quick look at the Sony RX1R MkII]

The Sony RX1R Mark II is an amazing technological feat [full frame in that size and lot of new functions/features from trailblazing tech] and a camera that takes great images, just noting what was achievable with the excellent Mark 1, but you already knew that ;) 

Interested snappers descended on objectifs for the chance of test driving the new RX1R MkII

objectifs is a centre for photography and film

cool and interesting films and books there for film and photography buffs but i digress

sony staff got us registered and invited us to catered food

and Sony staff Esther and pro photographers Kevin Wee from IPA LINK and Danny Santos II LINK shared 
about the Sony RX1R Mk2. Kevin almost becoming invisible in the dark :)

and then to some hands on time with the camera... BUY BUY BUY!

As you know (or may not), I am no stranger to fixed lens cameras having both the Fuji X100T LINK and Ricoh GR LINK. From an image quality (IQ) standpoint, i would think the Sony RX1R MkII bests both these APS-C contenders and it goes toe to toe with the Leica Q in the full frame arena. Sony allowed us to fondle the cameras but unfortunately no SD card insertion means no pix to do comparos with. 

Side note, I did have a chance to get Leica Q raw and jpg files from test driving the Leica Q and honestly wasn't super impressed. There was significant distortion for the 28mm focal length lens (even after in-camera correction) and was one of the reasons I went with what Leica was good at, which is to many the ideal 35mm film cameras and lenses, the M system. 

But back to the RX1R MkII (which could have been just called RX2R?) 
Positives
+ Resolution: 42.4 mp full frame glory. You can blow up huge prints if u want to! good for pros and photographers selling their prints
+ Size and weight: the body on this is tiny but the lens has some girth and depth to it which means it's not pants pocketable. For the best pants pocketable compacts, I think the RX100Mk3 and Mk4 and Ricoh GR are it.  
+ In-built EVF: the separate EVF accessory on some camera models put me off them and it's a good 0.74x evf
+ Variable Optical low pass filter: u can adjust for detail or address moire with this. quite an interesting feature
+ 399 phase detect af points and 25 contrast detect for overall faster AF - Continous AF and tracking focus can give you 5 fps which is very cool 
+ Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm f2.0 fixed lens so it's paired well with the body
+ Super quiet leaf shutter: Produces very little shutter sound on clicking the shutter button. imperceptible to i think anyone other than the photographer

Negatives (note these are just my personal opinions which may not ring true for you)
- Ergonomics: as mentioned a couple of times already it is a really compact camera and it has a sizable lens on the front so that means not much real estate for people with big paws to grab and have a good hold of the camera. if u have smaller hands than this is a non-issue. just handle it for yourself to assess this. Comparing with the Ricoh GR then, I can hold that one handed no problem but I would have trouble holding this one handed.
- 80+ mb RAW file sizes and >10mb jpg files... u need a LOT of storage and a LOT of processing power 
- Launch price is S$4,999 which may be on the high side for some but is kinda justified with what it offers. I believe the street price for a new Leica Q is now S$5.6k and of course in terms of the APS-C contenders, a used Fuji X100T is about S$1.1-1.4k range (i think) and  Ricoh GR is around the S$600 level with the new GRII in the S$900 range. 

Gerald from SDW closing a sale? 

and some random shots from the outing with the A7S below... 

Ta Sony!

Just talking about digital cameras, having owned Nikons (APS-C DSLRs), Fujis (compacts), Ricoh (GR), Olympus (micro four thirds), Canons (compacts), Panasonic Lumix (compacts and M4/3), I am extremely impressed with what Sony has done with it's Alpha 7 / A7 series of cameras with the A7, A7R (for high megapixels and resolution) and A7S (for sensitivity and good high ISO and available light shooting) and look forward to more coming from them in future. Oh and in terms of the SDW courses LINK, it's a great benefit for the photographer community in Singapore too (although the registration/login system can be improved). 

Sony is definitely showing the way right now and making all the right moves and if u want to argue about it... i know some ladies who might just set u straight on that ;) cheers, raph

vocaloid... 

Ahoy! Target Sighted for 2016! Seiko Turtle 6309 Reissue is Here [SRP773, SRP775, SRP777, SRP779]

my old turtle... Seiko 6309 [My review can be found here LINK]

Images and Specs of the new turtles Below From Seiko Austria site LINK

Caliber 4R36

• Automatic winding with manual winding mechanism
• Power reserve 41 hours
• 24 Jewels
• Day / Date
• stop seconds

44.3 mm stainless steel case

• Rotatable bezel
• Hardlex mineral glass
• LumiBrite luminescent hands
• LumiBrite luminous indices
• Screw down crown
• Screw caseback
• Water-resistant to 200 meters

Pricing

• RRP: € 419 for the Rubber band / accordion band versions buckle clasp
• RRP: € 459 for the stainless steel bracelet versions with folding clasp and push button release

Coming in 4 cool versions likely in Jan 2016 / early 2016

Positives:
- cool variants on the 6309 turtle with blue, gold accented version and a pepsi bezel one. 
- most of it is true to the original which is a good thing
Negatives: 
- that not so great prospex logo... i never liked it and would be happier without it
- why is the lollipop on the wrong end? 
- old one line is better than the 2 lines on the dial
- price can be seen as a bit on the high side for Seiko

UPDATE: Some live pix here LINK hmm not so keen anymore from these pix. the original looks better to me so no need to get the new one. 

SRP773 

SRP775

SRP777

SRP779

Bond... James Bond... Spectre Singapore Premiere and A Fine Bond Omega Watch

The Briefing on 3 Nov 2015, 21:20 GMT-8 

Mission Dossier: Spectre

My thanks to Omega (Fiona and the great team at Omega SEA) for the invite down to the Singapore premiere of Spectre, the 24th Bond where we see Daniel Craig reprise the role and i must say he did an excellent job of it. i really enjoyed the references to Bond films from before. Blofield, his pussy cat, Spectre and the meeting table of villians, the fight on the train, the festival at the start and nod to Baron Samedi, the cars, the locations and much more... great for this Bond fan :) oh and in terms of the things to put on the wish list... the Aston (well, both of them) and the Omega Seamaster Limited Edition, a great looking timepiece with old skool charm and on a proper NATO, a lot to like.

To shots of the night then and we started off with dinner at Jamie's Italian at Vivocity. Dinner was great coz of the cool dinner company, Jonathan from Millenary and Marina and Josmin from Regent Media. 

Let's get to the briefing proper... M was off duty so Mr Jose de Cardoso, President Swatch Group SEA, got the job done

reflecting on his time as a '00' agent perhaps?

and we then went on to collect our goodies from Q branch... [wishful thinking on my part ;) ]

first though some good food in preparation for the mission... looking forward to some good eating at Jamie's Italian

we'll start with a signature antipasti plank ~  San Daniele Prosciutto, Pistachio Mortadella, Bresaola & hot Soppressata served on a 
plank with mini Buffalo Mozzarella & Pecorino & Chilli Jam, pickles and olive selection ans crunchy summer slaw [quite a mouthful :)]

the 2 mains at my table... great looking burger (i didn't taste this) beef with melted fontina cheese, salsa, hot Soppressata, pickles,
 chilli & crispy fried onions... may have to go back to have a try as u know i do love the taste of a good burger :)

and my main which had a great sauce though the pasta could be just a tad softer, the prawn linguine ~ fried garlicky prawns, shaved fennel, tomatoes, 
chilli and rocket. didn't take a pic of the dessert, a big and lovely tiramisu that was good. 

and then it was time for Spectre! the Bond theme song by Sam Smith was a bit weak sauce at the start awesome! (hey it grew on me :) and i loved the rest of it!
for this Bond lover, Spectre comes in at 007 out of 009 stars or 00.7

Daniel Craig did an excellent job once again... so did Director Sam Mendes

and some words about playing Bond

and now to the watch (sans alarm and the boom)

007's watch of choice that tells the time

this ranks high on the 'recommended buy' list for sure

looking forward to the next Bond and hoping Mr Craig does decide to take it up again, even if it's just for the $$$ :) cheers, raph

a look at 20 years of Bond Watches