I would say its pretty expensive for a padded insert but the quality of the product is very good.  It's soft and the paddings are very flexible. Unlike those Made in China ones found on ebay which cost 2/3 of the price (for similar size) and those paddings are just hard like hell. If you bent one it will surely get stuck in that shape.  Unlike this one.  Very very good for my usage as most of my equipment varies in shape and sizes.

The other good thing about the insert is the outer fabric.  Its hard to explain but the material feels very good to touch and it's doubled layer with some form of water resistant coating.  Not as hard or plasticky then those China ones.  One bad thing is that it does not have a top padding like those found on ebays. But as shown on the picture, the outer fabric extends and serves as a top.  Just need to pull the strings on the side and it will enclosed nicely.  No zippers and I actually prefer it to be this way as I could access my stuff more faster and easier.

Initially I thought the bag would be bigger and I was a bit concerned if it could fit all my MF gear in it.  The main reason I bought this insert is that I planned to convert my Brompton T bag to a camera bag.  Yes, I do plan to use this setup do cycle around Singapore and take some photos. :P

The insert fits nicely into the T bag and it still have room for other thingies.  I am pleased.  Now, it's just wait to have some free time to go out, cycle and shoot... :)

I could remove the lens and 120 film back and pack them seperately but this means whenever I reach a location.  I need to unpack it and hang it on my neck for the rest of the day until the shoot it over.    If I need to move to another location, I need to pack it again.  Which is slow and tedious.  I can't just throw the whole damn thing into my bag and move on.

Even my Lowepro backpack can't fit the camera with lens and back properly.  It's really fustrating.  I read about converting the camera to a light weight flat top version over here and I decided to operate on my spare Super 23 body.

The reasons I chose the 23 over the Universal is 2 fold.  Firstly,  I could only shoot film on it and I tend to use the camera more like a view camera rather than a Rangefinger.  Secondly, it has a bellow which I find it to be more useful in shooting as a view camera.  I would have more control over the perspective I want to shoot.

The mod was quite simple yet destructive.  I unscrewed the top and removed the RF unit block.  It has only 3 screws holding onto it.  I then removed most of the levers and parts left and then here the tough part.  The front metal frame holding the glasses for the RF window.  The glasses were actually glued to the frame so I use som flat tip screwdirvers and tore them off.  I kept the RF block and the various screws, springs and levers as spare parts for my Universal.  I then send the camera to a local metal workshop and asked the guy to cut off the top part of the camera for 20 baht (I gave him 50 baht after the did a fantastic job of filing off the sharp corners.  

I then took some modelling epoxy clay and filled out the holes on the top to prevent light leaks.  Then I just painted over the exposed metal with black paint from my leftover model paints.  Viola!  A much smaller, squarer and lighter "Beast".  

Comestically, the top part still looks a bit wierd.  Maybe later I will look for a piece of aluminium to cover it up but at the moment, it sure is a lot neater to pack in my bag.  I could even fit it in my Thinktank 35 Urban Disguise!

Lastly, I took 2 old cheap and underutilzed Chinese lens plate (markins compatible) and screwed them on the side and bottom, Making it convinient for me to attach it to my tripod.   This modified 23 will surely be deployed very often soon :)

No issues with the camera, initially I thought there might be fungus or hazing in the elements but on closer inspection, it was fine.  

I actually took it out recently while I was back in Singapore and shot a roll of Tmax with it.  You can see the results over here in my FB album. Surprisingly good results.  No exposure failure although it was totally automatic in metering.   There were however, some shots with focusing errors as there is no way you can really know if you're focusing on the correct subject in the small viewfinder.

The zoom is crazy... 38mm to 160mm... Not too sure about the max aperture though.  I guess its a slow f6.3 or more at the tele end.  The built in flash automatically pops out when you power on it.  There is a dial to turn off the flash or set it to red eye.  Very basic stuff.  The best though is that it has a bulb mode!  Quite wierd to see such automatic cameras to have a bulb mode.... 

Overall, its actually quite fun to shoot with it.  I spend a whole month in April shooting with it and managed to finish the roll and brought it back to Thailand to develop and scan the negatives myself.  Its now back in my dry cabinet and it might see some action some other time.    This is the first project I mentioned about in my previous blog.  Developing and scanning the results of this little camera.  More to come later.

It was a good break for me actually.  Although it was hot like hell over here, I managed to finished some personal projects that was on hold for quite some time.  I will write about them when I'm back in Singapore.   

And here's a great photo of Didi poking away on his sister's ipod... :P

Which makes it really difficult for us to instill discipline and order in him.  He tends to whines a lot even if we try to talk some sense to him.  My mum say this is the rebellous stage and I was a pain in the ass too during this period.... :P

Anyway, little things (that dosen't suits him)sets him off into a angry fit and tantrum.   If you try to grab hold of him he would start punching and biting.... really can kena left right center.  I ask my mum I got so violent anot and she said that was unlike me:P I whine but I don't turn violent leh...

Wife's not helping that much too.  She normally gives in to his demands everytime he throws his tantrums.  

I quarreled with her a few times when I tried to implement some discipline on my son.  Think this one will be really challenging.  He used to be the mellow and quiet one but now become a real headache for me liao..

Anyway boy is not as fast as his sister in speech.  He still have some issues forming sentences but he would have no issue when he wants to play the Ipad, ask for food/milk and toilet breaks.   He still displays a keen sense in his surroundings and although prefers to play alone, he enjoys his sister's companionship.  This is always the case when girl girl was away in school and he was at home and kept whining about his sister's whereabouts.  

I hope this bad behaviour is just temporary and I am trying to talk some sense into my wife of not relenting to our son's demands.  This will only fuel his arrogance and I fear for him if he goes to school with such attitudes.

The thermometer registers 35 degrees but the air is so warm that even with the fan blasting at full speed actually makes the whole room worst.  The idea was to dial at a slower speed so there is a constant breeze of air movement.  Wonder how anyone can survive outside in the rice fields over here...

The first part of this series will be about my girl.

Girl girl is back in school yesterday.  She's in her new school just a few blocks away from our house.  She could actually walk there if she wants to:P.  I was a bit concerned about the new environment because it is a government school and not the old semi-private school.  The change was necessary as the old school made some administrative changes and a lot of the good teachers left.  Moreover, they just had a 200% price hike!  Money is not a issue but still with that amount of money I could actually apply for a full international school in Chiang Rai.

Since I'm not around and most of her friends in her old school applied for this one.  We enrolled her here.  It's pretty good environment but girl gril complained about the toilet.. :P  We have to explain to her that it's due to the number of students in the school.   It's a pretty big class of 38 students but I would say the competition would be great too.  2 of her old friends are in the same class as her and she was quick to make new friends. (Not too worried in that department) 

The Barbie doll toy I bought for her was a sucess.  Although technically it's still not her birthday yet.  She has opened it and we had some fun time decorating the dress.  One bad thing is that the inks from the pens tends to smudge and spreads if you apply too much pressure.  So in the end instead of getting beautiful patterns you get blotches.  But after some coaching from me, she did pretty well... (for her age :P)

Its pretty great to be back at home,  I started shooting again with my Mamiya Press and I plan to bring that back to shoot.  Funny thing is that although its hot here, we are in constant overcast so my new 24mm Zeiss was not in the field.  I was also too busy with girl girl's 1st day in school and my problematic boy boy which I would write about later.... headache....  

TBC

Girl's birthday is on the 18th May.  (The main reason why I would be going back on the 10th May).  So naturally, I need to get her a birthday gift for her.  I asked her on the phone and she gave me the usual answer... I want a Barbie doll!

I actually don't really like toys without any form of education or stimulation in it.  Figurines are actually one of them as I find it as just a fad (because of TV or a movie).  But my sister reminded me that dressing up dolls and playing with them is actually a good form of brain stimulation and creativity.  That kind of seal the deal for me so I got her a Barbie doll set.

Not just any Barbie doll set but a Design your own Barbie doll set!  

I found this at Tampines Toy'r'us and I was quite happy Mattel thought of such a wonderful idea.  It even comes with refills sets for additional dresses, templates, markers or stickers!  Pretty good toy!  I got the starter set for her.  It comes with the doll, 5 blank coloured dresses,some stickers, markers and 2 templates for her to design and colour.  Girl loves to colour so its really god send.  I also have some permanent sparkling colour markers I got for my Instax photos and this should be able to be used on the set too.  Which means she would have more that 3 choices of colour markers for her dress. :)

I plan to guide her in the process of making it when I'm back with her.  (Actually I want to play oso :P hehe)

I think this is a better set then those pre-made sets on the shelves.  Yes, those are more colourful but less meaningless then this one.  All dresses are a personal design and totally unique.  How cool is that? :)

 Girl's toy was easy.  But not for my 3 yr (coming) old boy.  Need to get one for him just in case he snatches his sister's.  It's the age of not too small and not too little :P.  Hard choices.  A transformer toy would be too difficult for him and those toddlers toys would be too mudane to him.  Wife and girl girl mentioned to me over phone he loves Ben 10 cartoon so I also got him a doll..... 

Yes, I know it's a figurine.  I broke my rules but hey, ain't rules meant to be broken? :P  Hope he likes the "Fourarms" 

Some family updates.  Wife just got herself involved in a minor bike incident just on Monday.  Thanks to the almighty power of "blessings" on the bike she was not seriously hurt.  Just some bruises and cuts.  Apparently she was riding uphill when another bike with load of stuffs tried to cut her lane and she jumped off her bike.  Kids were at home while this happened.  Bike was damaged and she now wants to sell off the"unlucky" bike for a new one......

Boy boy shifted to a new pre-school and he seems to enjoy the new surroundings.  Got more toys in this new school.

Girl started her summer camp in school.  It's called a summer camp but in actual fact is another tuition and prep-course for her Primary 1 entrance.  Yup... going to P1 in May...  Time really flies...

I myself, bought some upgrades to my new bike.  A touring bag with carrier block, some new set of roller wheels and a copper suspension block.   Still waiting for my Brooks saddle to arrive though... :P   I also sold off my 24-70mm lens and got a Distagon 24mm prime for my a900.  I tested it on some mundane shots and so far it looks really promising.  Will write about it in another entry. 

In 2 more weeks I will be back in Thailand again.  Mum will be following me this round but my missus did warned me about the crazy tempreature over there.  Over 40 degrees celsius!  Man... that's hot....But I'm excited, finally get to see my family again.   Happy!

So let me be frank, I do love my country and I do enjoy certain perks of being a Singaporean.  So this post is actually what I do love and really appreciate when I am back in Singapore.   

1) The diversity of food.  Period.  It may not be the best, but being a cosmopolitan and multi-racial country, we get to have different varieties of food available at our convenience.    The choices we have are really quite astounding.  From Middle Eastern food all the way till South Korean cuisine, you name it, we have it.  Not authentic you might say but at least there is a choice.

2)Our Internet.  Fast and considered reliable.  If you have been staying in Thailand you wouldn't have complain much.  Price point is also consider affordable for that speed.  And most important of all, it's not blocked or filtered like in Thailand. (maybe some porn sites but at least not a 100% block)

3)Our passport.  Practically can go any other countries without applying a VISA.  

4)Efficient gahment services (applying new accounts for utilities, getting married, certified and etc).  Surprising to see I praise this, well... its actually quite efficient when we go by the book.  That means no oddities or special requests.  You can consider it to be way more efficient than the Thais or even Malaysia (try applying for a lost passport in Thailand or Malaysia... tons of hurdles)  But of course when if you are applying something not under the SOP (Standard Operating System)  then prepare yourself for high blood pressure replies and services...

5)Public utilities (electricity,gas and water).  Very very little screw ups.  Way better then Thailand of course and I appreciate that.

6)Clean streets.  Some like it, some don't but I do appreciate the clean environment.  All thanks and kudos to our foreign friends who took the task to keep our place clean.  It's a tough job to keep such a dense city clean and surprisingly we are doing that quite well....

7)Our police and efficient SCDF.  (This is actually a mixture of good and bad....) but I'm leaning to the like side (even though they really screw up big time on certain things)  at least the low ranking cops don't take bribes or abuse their power like they do in Thailand.  Overall, my impression on them are still quite professional.  But they are some silly incidents like CSJ and the Mas Selamat incident.  But overall, I still trust them (so far)if I need help and that is quite essential.

8)Our taxis.  Another surprising entry but actually our taxis are one of the better public transport I would say.  Yes, it's difficult to look and book for one during peak hours but at least if the service is not up to standard you have a means to complain.  And moreover,  you get to hear some very interesting and entertaining conspiracies/rumours from the uncle or auntie.... :P

9)Our CPF.  (another big surprise!) To be frank, it's actually a good system for us to save money for retirements and for purchasing a house.  But I kind of think it's being abused by our current gahment right now.    I still think it's a good vehicle to save our money.  The idea is good, but the implementation wise is a bit errrrr....

10) Our people.  (Older generations in their 60s or older) These are the pioneers who made SG today and most of them are being left out of our gahment's so called progress.  Most of them are kind hearted, down to earth, hardworking people and I really really enjoy talking to them.  Just talk to one of them and you would know how come PAP still wins every election.  It's because they are just so nice.....

and lastly a bonus... hehehe

11)Our exchange rate!  Singapore money more expensive, the merrier I am.  I can buy more things cheaper from the states and I could change more money to spend in Thailand :P

Ok.. I can think of some more but this are the 1st 11 things that came into my mind.  So don't ever say I never say good things about SG hor!

:P

Fully Unfolded

As the idea of getting foldie comes back to me, I started to think about the Brompton folding bike and other brands such as Dahon and Birdy. I have a friend who is also using a Dahon and I asked for his opinion on his bike and he's quite pleased with it.  I started to do more research about the bikes.  I would prefer something that would folds neatly and perform better than my Strida.

Yesterday was my day off and I started a round island trip looking at the bikes from 3 different shops.  I narrowed down to the Brompton and Dahon.  I was leaning towards the Brompton as it really really folds up into a very small package (which is my 1st major citeria).  Then I learnt about a Brompton clone called Flamingo Nex 7 which looks mightly similar of the Brompton fold and at least half the price point of the Brompton.  Money was still a major issue, I'm willing to spend but I have a limit as I still have not earn enough OT to get such big ticket items yet.  I was planning to go down to another bike shop in the West that has the Flamingo Nex 7 to take a peep but that silly old me went to the local bike forum togoparts.com.  Itchy hand I went in and searched for a WTS (Want to Sell) thread for a Brompton.  Bing!  Returns 1 under utilised black Brompton M6R at a pretty good price.  Still above my budget but out of curiosity and (trying my luck).  I messaged the guy and asked for the best price (which is my budget).  Took a minute and he replied he is willing to let it go at my price!! Whee... took a cab down and checked out the bike.  Paid and left :P

Folded My first encounter with the Brompton was actually in 2008, when I visited Diginexx to get my Strida.  The owner of the shop showed the Brompton to me but the price tag was just too high for me to justify one at that time as I was only planning to use the bike mainly for commuting between my house and office.  After riding on the Strida for a year plus,  I found that the size of the folded Strida is not as elegant and also it's a bit big and cumbersome to carry around (I could only wheel it).  Not the case for Brompton.  It's slightly heavier but because of it's compact size, I could carry it easily when folded and even wheel it by just extending the seat post.  The other thing is the 6 speed gear which means climbing a hill (around Bedok Reservoir Road) is no longer a pain the ass for me old fat arse.  I always have a hard time along that stretch on my single speed Strida.

I bought the bike at Senkang near Hougang and there was a bike connector.  I took out my handphone and was pleased to find out that the connector would lead me to Hougang Ave 10 which I could hitch a bus back to my office in Kaki Bukit.  I unfolded the bike (many thanks to Gary who sold me the bike and provided some good tips in folding and using the bike) and took a short ride to the bus stop via the park connector.  Its good!  The initial acceleration is less then the Strida but much smoother ride.  Even though its on 16" wheels.  It was a 10 min ride to the bus stop.  I was taking it easy as I was trying to get used to the gearing system.  

I folded the bike and board the bus and dropped off at Ubi.  I decided to take a test ride home on the bike.  The whole journey was about 40mins.  I was not speeding, just crusing along the pavement as I was really testing out the bike and looking out for a better path to get back home.  

I think the current construction around the area meant I have to take a big detour to get back to Bedok Reservoir Road.  There were a lot of rude speeding cyclists I met along the way and I don't really dare to cycle on the road as I did not have my helmet on with me.  Moreover, I have not been cycling on SG's road for more than a year.  All in all, I enjoyed the ride and the bike as well.  Some people disliked the mustache handle bars but I kind of like it a lot.  It allows me to have a much upstraight riding position.  There are some minor peeves on the bike I wish it could be better.  First are the cheap plasticky shifters for the gears, seriously, for this price I hope it could be better, it looks like it would snap easily.  I think it would be difficult to swap them as I have read that most of their parts are proprietary.  Another peeve is the umarked seatpost.   Think I need to use a marker to mark my height.  I stopped twice just to adjust the height of the seat.   Other than that, its a good buy.  Ride is really smooth and the frame is well formed and sexy.  All in all, I love it.  I planned to get a few upgrades.  First, I need some lights!! Then a Brooks seat for my butt.  The seat is good but those Brooks leather seats just look awesome!!  Then a bag or luggage carrier!  I guess I still need to spend a lot more than I expected :P

Parking Mode

PS: Apologies for the lousy photos of the bike in my room, I was actually hiding it from my mum.  Well, let's just say she still sees it in the end and immediately after that was followed by a barrage of nagging of how dangerous it is to commute with a bike on SG road.... :P