Today mark's the UN's celebration of the World Human Rights day. In effect, many people today lack the very knowledge of the rights that one might hold, whether it may be their own personal rights as a consumer, a voter or just as a normal citizen.  But truth be hold, amidst many of what some might consider a "drivel" of misguided information put forward to unsuspecting people, many of them are clouded by a mist of twisting and spinning stories to lure them further away from the truth.

Quote from the UN's website:

The promotion and protection of human rights has been a major preoccupation for the United Nations since 1945, when the Organization's founding nations resolved that the horrors of The Second World War should never be allowed to recur. 

Respect for human rights and human dignity "is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world", the General Assembly declared three years later in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1950, all States and interested organizations were invited by the General Assembly to observe 10 December as Human Rights Day (resolution 423(V)). 

The Day marks the anniversary of the Assembly's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Over the years, a whole network of human rights instruments and mechanisms has been developed to ensure the primacy of human rights and to confront human rights violations wherever they occur.

Respect for human rights and dignity is of the essence but unfortunately it isn't practiced so much around here with statements such as "balik tongsan" coming from the very people charged to helping us preserve our rights.

Too much has happened over the weekend and too much has been reported on the media. Of course everyone wants to know what is going on and with the Internet being so easily available nowadays, who ever believes what they read in the newspapers. How much so can we trust these so called "credible" sources of the media?

I rather read my news online because I believe that the level of trust I have for these spin doctors have reached an all time low and as someone once told me that it only takes a minute to destroy a lifetime built reputation.

Anyhow, let us not stray from the fact that today is the World Human Rights day so let's celebrate the fact that we are still in a democratic state but yet mourn for the things that are happening around us. Perhaps these photos might tell a better story indeed.

My first ever DSLR was the Nikon D40 which I purchased in January. Since then, I started my interest in the area of photography. Being a relatively middle income earner and knowing the exorbitant prices that revolves around this new hobby of mine, I faced a problem.

The Nikon D40 didn't have the autofocus motor built in the body. I guess this was Nikon's way of reducing costs but it came as a problem for D40/D40x owners, they had to buy either Nikon's AF-S type lenses or perhaps a cheaper alternative would be the Sigma HSM type lens.

But, I am not here to talk about the D40 shortcomings.

Tamron, another 3rd party lens maker has finally decided to jump onto that bandwagon to manufacture a lens capable of having the autofocus function with the Nikon D40. In any sense, this is a good business move by Tamron because they are catering for a large market (the D40 has a huge market because of its price worldwide) of consumers.

AF18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II

"The AF18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro is the ultimate high power zoom lens boasting the world’s greatest zoom ratio(*1) of 13.9X, a milestone that Tamron, the pioneer of high power zoom lenses, has achieved by commanding its technologies to further expand the capabilities of high power zoom lenses."

With this in mind, I think Tamron has a winner provided that the price of this lens is priced well as it is definitely a good travel lens. It gives a nice wide 18mm as well as a long telephoto (compared against the usual 18-200mm lenses). Let's see how this will fare against Sigma's travel lenses.

Back on the other spectrum of the price range would be something which many people have been waiting for, the Nikon D3. The first full frame DSLR for Nikon, the D3 marks an important milestone for Nikon and I am sure many people would be more than happy to jump on the new bandwagon.

Well, if you are still clueless about the Nikon D3, don't fret. Head over here to see how the D3 would look unboxed!

Related links:

• Engadget


• Tamron Press Release


• ShutterAsia's Nikon D40/D40x supported lenses


• Nikon D300 high ISO performance at ShutterAsia

If any of you budding photography enthusiasts out there require a need of a good fast telephoto lens but don't have the budget to fork out large sums of money, well Sigma has the answer for you.

Sigma today announced the launch of two new telephoto lens, the APO 50-150mm F2.8 II EX DC lens and the APO 70-200mm F2.8 II EX DG MACRO HSM lens.

APO 50-150mm F2.8 II EX DC HSM

 

 

The Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the new APO 50-150mm F2.8 II EX DC HSM lens.
This large aperture telephoto zoom lens is designed exclusively for digital SLR cameras with APS-C size sensors and its compact, lightweight body provides freedom of movement and versatility. The minimum focusing distance of 100cm/39.4in. and the high-resolution power layout have improved the strength of the lens in close-up photography. This lens offers a large aperture of F2.8 and its large depth of field offers greater freedom of creative expression. It has a maximum aperture of F2.8. Four SLD glass elements are used for maximum correction of chromatic aberrations. The super multi-layer lens coating reduce flare and ghosting and ensure sharp images throughout the entire zoom range. The lens design incorporates an inner focusing and inner zooming system. As the overall length of the lens does not change during focusing and zooming, convenient handling is ensured. The HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) system allows quiet and high-speed auto focusing with full time manual focus override by just rotating the focusing ring. The addition of the optional 1.4x EX DG APO or 2x EX DG APO Tele Converters produce a 70-210mm F4 AF tele-zoom lens and a 100-300mm F5.6 AF ultra-telephoto zoom lens respectively.

* Vignetting will occur if the lens is used with digital cameras with image sensors larger than APS-C size or 35mm SLR cameras.

 

APO 70-200mm F2.8 II EX DG MACRO HSM

The Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the new APO 70-200mm F2.8 II EX DG MACRO HSM.This large aperture zoom lens has improved optical performance and retains close-up ability with a minimum focusing distance of 100cm/39.4in and maximum magnification ration of 1:3.5. This lens is suitable for taking all type of subjects such as portraits, landscape, and close-up pictures. Two SLD (Special Low Dispersion) and three ELD (Extraordinary Low Dispersion) glass elements provide excellent correction for all types of aberrations. High image quality is assured throughout the entire zoom range. The super multi-layer coating reduces flare and ghosting. This lens incorporates HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor), which ensures a quiet and high-speed AF as well as full-time manual focusing capability. The lens design incorporates an inner focusing and inner zooming systems. The overall length of the lens does not change during focusing and zooming, ensuring convenient handling. A removable tripod collar (TS-21) is included as a standard component. When this lens is used with the optional 1.4x EX DG APO or 2x EX DG APO Tele Converters, it becomes a 98-280mm F4 AF telephoto zoom lens or a 140-400mm F5.6 AF telephoto zoom lens respectively.

For a while now, I always contemplated whether getting a telephoto lens is actually worth its pric. I guess that with the new upcoming 3rd party lens from Sigma, the expected prices for these lens should be in the range of RM3k+ and above.

What makes these lens a Christmas item wish list is that, for budding photagraphy enthusiasts (like me), who want to shoot weddings (also like me), would want a cheap alternative to shoot those up-close portrait shots of those moments under low light. The f/2.8 will definitely offer good performance without maximizing one's ISO setting.

Now that I have hinted, it is only 21 more days till Christmas and I would be more than happy to accept this *grins*.

Related links:

• Sigma Corporate website


• Dpreview's post

From my last post, you would have guessed that I attended another workshop. This time the workshop was free. But to be completely honest, it wasn't a workshop. It was a talk by Zung of The Photoz. When I say it was a talk, I could be wrong in some areas whereby there were some sharing but mainly most of the time, he showed his collection of his work.

Some comments I have heard about Zung from some of my friends was that his work was good but not extraordinary. Other comments were favourable on the other hand, with people complementing his style and his artistic talents.

Well back to the workshop cum talk cum slideshow viewing session. The event started late because everyone was stuck in the huge traffic jam from KL thanks to heavy rain. I had a tough time travelling straight from work, the Elite highway was pretty congested as well.

It was pretty pleasant to sit in front (being a little kiasu that night) as compared to the other workshop with Ulf Recher and I couldn't even see much at the front. Zung, came in a little late but he recognized me as I met him and introduced myself during David's wedding in Penang a couple weeks back.

Anyhow, how this relates to the title was that in the course of the workshop cum talk cum slideshow viewing session, there was a workshop being offered. A proper proper workshop which costs a bomb and it lasts for 6 weeks and includes two on-site photoshoots. I knew that if I did take it up it will definitely be a large investment for me but I guess that I would rather spend the money on the workshop than get myself a lens.

What made me take the plunge was that I saw some of his previous student's work and they were quite good and interesting.

Check them out here.

• Eug & Yin


• Korean Couple


• From this moment on


• Mien & Simon


• ROM on Putrajaya Cruise

All of these photos belong to one of Zung's student. You can check out his website here.

In preparation for a wedding I got to shoot on the 14th-16th of December, lets see how much I can motivate and hone my skills in time for that shoot.