January, 2008
You are looking at posts that were written in the month of January in the year 2008.
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Recent Posts
- Google gives 80 GB space for US$20 / year!
- Megumi as of 07 Nov 2009 (Saturday)
- First Impression! Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR DI-II VC (Part II)
- Fotolah.com - 500 Registered Members now! 马来西亚中文摄影论坛！
- First Impression! Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR DI-II VC (Vibration Compensation) LD Aspherical (IF) Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital DSLR
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Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF5.0
Posted on January 31st, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF5.0
A new 5 megapixel mini digital Rolleiflex, for those who knows the difference!
Specifications
- Effective Image Size: 5MP （2304×2304 pixels)
- Lens: 4.9mmF2.8
- Focus Distance: 10cm to infinity
- Memory Storage: miniSD
- Monitor: TFT 1.1 inches
- Body Colour: Black and Red
- Battery: CR2
- Weight: 100 grams
- Origin: Japan
BlogMalaysia.com
Posted on January 31st, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Blog.
I relaunched BlogMalaysia.com last week, after a database corruption and lost over hundred of entries in BlogMalaysia.com.
What is BlogMalaysia.com?
It is a website that list out all the URL address of bloggers in Malaysia. More like a yellowpages.
After the relaunched, I reconfigure the system to allow only registered members to post links. Why register? By registering an account at BlogMalaysia, member can later login to edit the Links if there is any changes to the descriptions or new URL of your blog. Without registration, this cannot be done and can’t be edited by the blog owner. In long run, this is a better way than having blog owners contacting me each time they want to change or edit their blog information.
It has been a week + since I relaunched the site…so far there are 13 members/links registered. Almost like one new member a day…hmm…not as fast as I would have hope for.
I have been promoting BlogMalaysia.com at PhotoMalaysia.com and ShaShinKi.com, these two websites have many visitors daily. I have thought of using paid advertising to promote the site…but it is a bit burden for me at the moment…so will let BlogMalaysia.com grows by its own for the time-being… 
If you have a blog and are reading this…do head over to BlogMalaysia.com and register your blog there. It is Free and it promote your sites to more visitors and audience without having you to pay a cent.
Gold from sky…
Posted on January 29th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Family.
Since Chinese New Year is around the corner…and my friend, Brian, suggested me that I should change the snow flake to gold falling from sky…so yeah…here’s gold from the sky! 
(This is the extreme case where I set “too much” gold…can you count how many? :D)
Happy Chinese New Year 2008!
Tamron SP 17-50mm F2.8 for Pentax K mount
Posted on January 29th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
Finally…Tamron announced that the popular SP 17-50mm F2.8 Lens will be available in Pentax K mount from 7th March 2008!
SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II （Model A16）
This is one of the BEST Selling lens at ShaShinKi.com, best budget lens with F2.8 aperture and no compromise in image quality! It sure is going to be of HIGH DEMAND initially…definitely worldwide shortage for stock in the first few months.
Even as of now, Canon and Nikon mounts of this lens are constantly sold out in many places.
Official news:
http://www.tamron.co.jp/news/release_2008/0128_a16p.html
Tamron SP 70-200mm F2.8 Shipping Date - 7th March 2008
Posted on January 29th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
Tamron has just announced the shipping date of Tamron SP 70-200mm F2.8 which will be available from 7th March 2008.
First available in Canon EOS mount, follow up by Nikon, Sony and then Pentax mounts.
The lens was first announced in March 2007 under development. Using 77mm filter size, removable tripod collar, MSRP at 10万4,790円 (around RM3.2k). Street price should be 70-80% of MSRP, which means the lens is sure going to be a hit!
Tamron is well known for creating good value for money lenses!
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
Posted on January 29th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
Announced today as well…the…
AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
Not really something that boils my blood again…but VR sure is tempting…and the zoom range looks good as a multi-purpose lens.
If Nikon hoped to have another big sales of this lens like the previous AFS 18-200VR…they are going to be disappointed I believe.
RRP: £429.99/ €642.00
My DREAM LENS! Nikon AFS 60micro!
Posted on January 29th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
Yes, my dream lens! My blood boils when I read the news! Nikon is coming out with an AFS 60mm micro version! Horray!
I am going to buy this lens new! Yes! Best lens for portrait and macro and children photography! Going to be very much fun and great for Megumi!
Will be available in March 2008…hmm…that’s still two months away… 
Too bad…no VR…but nevermind. The lens should have constant fixed length, that should be nice.
Nikon new range of tilt shift lens!
Posted on January 29th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
Nikon is going to announce a series of tilt shift lens in year 2008 for its F mount line up, from 24mm to 45mm to 85mm with ED coating.
First view with photo here is the PC-E NIKKOR 24mm F3.5D ED.
No surprise these lenses are the Nikon effort and strategy to strengthen their full frame D3 DSLR “military”. We should be expecting more full frame professional lenses coming from Nikon soon.
Nikon D60 DSLR
Posted on January 29th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
Some images of the upcoming new Nikon D60 DSLR…
Highlights:
- 10.1MP
- Anti-dust with airflow technology for dust blowing
- New GUI (graphical user interface)
This camera is meant as the replacement for D40/D40X.
Ang Pow 2008
Posted on January 28th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Family.
This year…ShaShinKi.com went a step further by providing dedicated unique angpow packets to customers.
We use Gold Stamping printing and longer type of envelope, which costs us quite a lot for each angpow.
Design is pretty simple, hope you all will like it.
my sister (2nd sis in UK) news…good news!
Posted on January 28th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Family.
Few days ago my sister in UK confirmed that she has good news.
Congrates to both her and her hubby!
May God be with them and their baby, protect them in good health and growth. Guide them all the way. Lead them to the righteous path. In Jesus name I prayed. Amen.
Chinese New Year 2008
Posted on January 24th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
Chinese New Year is around the corner…in Malaysia, I am sure people (Chinese) are busy doing shopping now. This coming weekend should very crowded in shopping malls.
My wife told me I should change and update ShaShinKi logo to reflect CNY now…Christmas has long gone. Yeah…after server back online, I did the logo design two days ago and here’s the result, two versions:
Front page (large one with 700px width):
Shop (smaller one with 500px width):
For the shop version, I can’t use the long word of “FU” (which means prosperous in Chinese) because it will make the header too big, taking up too much space and not so nice. So I shrink the word. Besides that, do you notice any other difference? Yes…there is…look carefully…
No animation type this round as I find it a bit distracting and not so professional look. 
Happy Chinese New Year to all my friends and family!
Server Hardisk Failure on 21st (Mon) Jan 2008
Posted on January 24th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Computer / IT.
This is the first time I am experiencing this. Yeah…my server hard disk failed on the morning of 21st Jan 2008 while I was doing some backuping work.
Yes, I have foreseen the hardisk to fail. cPanel software that I use for my server has sent me two warning on 18th Jan 2008 (Friday) and 20th Jan 2008 (Sunday).
I contacted my server provider a day before I received the warning, as my httpd service couldn’t be started. It was some conflicts between my SSL certificate and the httpd service. It seems that my SSL certificate has corrupted. Most probably is due to the hardisk problem already, but my provider checked and said they found no error. So I just leave it apart.
Of course, after receiving the cPanel warning, I contacted them again and the advice is to backup my files “IMMEDIATELY”. Yes, one shouldn’t delay any further when this warning comes up.
I am not experience enough to know how to backup my entire server effectively. The backup feature in WHM doesn’t seem to work to my understanding. So on Sunday night, I backup manually the database and home directory of two of my most important sites: ShaShinKi.com and PentaxWorld.com.
On Monday morning, I am on the way to backup more of the other sites that I have on the server…too bad I was not in time to grab them all.
I lost an important site of mine…CaptureSG.com. Though the site is very quiet and not growing as what I have hoped for, but there are some very dedicated members that still help out in the site. I must say I am sorry not being able to safeguard the data well…
On Monday morning, my database suddenly can’t be accessed. I restarted mySQL but failed. Then I tried restarting httpd, failed again. Now both database and http can’t be accessed. FTP still working fine, and I manage to copy some other backup of ECMalaysia and BlogMalaysia. However, their database are gone (for the better future I believe).
To be continue…
Winter 2007/2008
Posted on January 23rd, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Family.
This is the first heavy snow in winter 2007/2008. Not the first snow, but the first heavy snow.
Was waiting and hoping to have this kind of heavy snow…glad that finally able to see and experience it “again”. Yes, in winter 2005/2006, there is an even heavier snow and it was right before Christmas.
Winter 2006/2007 was a warm one. No heavy snow and melt right after it snowed.
The heavy snow happened on Sunday morning (20th Jan 2008). Megumi, Lydia and I still drive to church, as the snow isn’t very strong yet and the road was still not frozen. During the Sunday service, the snow continue. After church, around 12noon, the snow became even heavier.
Right after Sunday service, youngs and olds all starts the snow fight!
PhotoMalaysia Exhibition at The Star Newspaper
Posted on January 17th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
Yes, PhotoMalaysia Exhibition at The Star Newspaper today at The Star - Metro section! Centre page spread to one and a half page.
Thanks to PhotoMalaysia member - magic - who is also The Star photographer - for covering the event.
You can dowload full PDF file at:
It is definitely another milestone for PhotoMalaysia introduces itself to the Malaysia audience. Hope 2008 will be a big grow year for PhotoMalaysia!
Original news at:
Memory card speed test
Posted on January 16th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Computer / IT, Photography.
How fast is your memory card? How fast is your camera writing and reading speed? How fast is your computer writing/reading speed? How fast is your card reader?
Does it really matter?
A friend of mine, Aaron Kok took up the trouble and spent time to do the test below. Hope you will find it useful.
Camera - 1D Mk3
PC - Sony Vaio notebook - Centrino 2ghz
Card Reader Tested
- Buffalo PCMCIA CardBus (RCF-CBA)
- Buffalo MCR-A27
CF Card Tested
- Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB
- Sandisk Extreme III 2GB
- Lexar Pro 2Gb 80x
- PenDrive 4Gb 155x
SD Card
- Kingston 2Gb Elite Pro SD
Tests are NOT scientific, just done to satisfy myself to purchase cheaper cards 
. Tho keep in mind on reliablity. So far only cards have failled me is kingston CF and Lexar Pro. Kingston was exchanged for Sandisk and Lexar was replaced. Lexar works fine now.
Buffer Clearing Tests. 6 shot burst. Time calculate from 1st shot till camera stops writing via the write light..
Test done by taking photo of a clock and taking final shot when buffer clears. Error of approx +-1 sec. All these are done via eyes and just the windows clock, not an actual timer.
Compact Flash
- Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB - 6 seconds
- Sandisk Extreme III 2GB - 6 seconds
- Lexar Pro 2Gb 80x - 10 seconds
- PenDrive 4Gb 155x - 20 seconds
SD Card
- Kingston 2Gb 50x Elite Pro SD - 6 seconds (it feels as it it clears much faster, will need to do more bursts to test)
There are differences in some card when it clears the buffer. Some will show the buffer dropping smoothly, some clears 1,2, then wait, then clears another 3, then wait and clears ones.
Card to PC - 200MB Multiple RAW Files
Buffalo PCMCIA
- Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB - 20 seconds
- Sandisk Extreme III 2GB - 20 seconds
- Lexar Pro 2Gb 80x - 25 seconds
- PenDrive 4Gb 155x - 30 seconds
Buffalo USB
- Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB - 15 seconds
- Sandisk Extreme III 2GB - 13 seconds
- Lexar Pro 2Gb 80x - 20 seconds
- PenDrive 4Gb 155x - 18 seconds
Credits to:
my girl and I…
Posted on January 16th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Family.
Pretty late now…2.02am in Japan…need to go to bed or else tomorrow (should be today) no energy to go to work (study).
Let me end tonight blog with “my girl and I”…
Goodnight…
Hiroshima Oyster
Posted on January 16th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Family.
Have you tasted Oyster baked live before? Yes, raw oyster still on the shell BB. Add nothing (some like lemon).
Yeah, often seen on TV…we bought two pieces for JPY420 yen, finally got the chance to try it ourselves (Lydia and Lydia…for the two pieces. Nah…I don’t really like raw food :P).
You? You can imagine the taste by studying the photos below…enjoy!
From the right…
From the left…
Nah…cannot tahan already. Itatakimas!
“junk food”?
Posted on January 16th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Family.
Megumi likes to bite things…anything that she can grab she will put into her mouth and taste it.
So, instead of just biting and tasting toys…we thought of getting some biscuits for her. Junk food?
No lah…should be pretty healthy food I think. I tasted it myself, very crispy, will melt in the mouth after reacting with saliva. Taste like milk powder but not sweet. Quite nice actually but a bit sticky.
First…we gave her the biscuit…yeah, as expected, went into the mouth immediately!
Incredible design of Canon EF85mm F1.2 L II
Posted on January 16th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
Found this photo in my hard drive…so instead of just deleting it…I thought I should at least give it a chance to share to the world…
Yes, I took this photo quite some time ago.
You can click for very high resolution file (1500×1500 px)
Take note of the circuit/electronic contacts. It is located on the rear element itself. For F1.2 aperture, the lens element has to be very big, hence no space for the electronic contact except on the lens itself. Incredible design.
我不是sumo san
Posted on January 14th, 2008 by foong.
Categories: Family.
很多人以为诺诺很胖. 我也担心她变成过胖儿了,所以常常观察她的体重和身高的发展,并讯问了诺诺医生. 结果是…..
PhotoMalaysia @ New Straits Times
Posted on January 13th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
As informed by our forum member, silentshutter, we are proud that PhotoMalaysia has once made itself to the major newspaper, New Straits Times, New Sunday Times, on 13th January 2007 in Malaysia!
Scan/Photo by: azerak01
The news can also be read online at NST Online:
2007年的最后一天
Posted on January 13th, 2008 by foong.
Categories: Family.
2007 年的最后一天,我们一家三口临睡前来了个大合照. 那天我们以祷告结束了2007年,开始了2008年的第一刻.
BlogMalaysia.com - Malaysia Bloggers Directory!
Posted on January 12th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Blog.
BlogMalaysia.com - Malaysia Bloggers Directory!
What’s the hottest thing on planet now?
Yeah…blogging…
A new phrase in the late of 20 century, so very popular now in the 21st century.
What is blog? It is more like a diary, a personal webspace to post one’s thought and sharing. Blog becomes so popular with the boom of internet and many free blog space given out by big companies (eg. Google).
For those who have their own domain, the most popular free blog management software out there is probably Wordpress. Yes, free but so feature rich! Yes, I am using Wordpress for my blog as well. It manages my blog nicely, and the new version has some simple but practical WYSIWYG features for me to type my blog entry sufficiently.
Now…back to the title of this post - BlogMalaysia.com!
I got this domain from Brian (founder of PhotoMalaysia.com) last year, after Brian decided to discontinue free blog offering and let the domain expired. The domain was registered by Brian in July 2004, and was expired on July 2007. Brian has to pay a little extra money to renew the expired domain after it expired (US$10 or US$15 penalty?) and renew with one year fee (US$8.99) to get back the domain, and later transfer it to me. For me to receive the domain at my registra, I have to add another year of subscription. Of course I paid all the suspenses. For me it is still very cheap to get a nice domain name. Quite impossible to register such domain name again nowadays, as most are already grabbed by others.
So, what am I going to do with the domain? My personal blog? Nah…I don’t want to use that domain name as my personal blog. I actually plan to make a Malaysia Blog Database or Directory, with as many Malaysians blog URL as possible. I found a nice software for the project, and found a nice template design for it…but not as perfect as I hoped. Modification and study structure of the software are a must, if you want your site to be unique and looks good, you need to pour in your effort.
I did a basic design for it few months ago…and try to gather as many bloggers info as possible to key into the database. But one thing I knew, I can’t survive like this. I don’t want to key in the info myself, I want bloggers to come and register their URL themselves at BlogMalaysia.com!
How? Honestly I have no idea. It is hard to promote a new site…very hard actually. Online forums will definitely not allow me to promote BlogMalaysia.com for free, and I do not have a budget for advertisement (maybe I shall find some budget for advertisement…).
Today, since I was quite free and have the mood (most importantly), I revisited BlogMalaysia.com and did some changes to the template design. Below are some of the improvements that I have done in the last couple of hours (yeah, learn something new too):
- Edited site preview with previews from new source (previous girafa preview is no longer available).
- Make site preview image clickable to the actual URL. I have wanted this feature since day 1, but don’t know how to do it. Today I manage to solve it out myself.
- Make Latest Links clickable to the actual URL. Was having problem previously with broken links.
- Added favicon.
- Added little “
” mark to each line in the right sidebar. This makes the side bar easier to view and click.
I shall think of what to add next…if you have any suggestion, feel free to comment.
PhotoMalaysia at Sinar Harian Newspaper
Posted on January 11th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
PhotoMalaysia 2008 Exhibition “WHAT NOW!” has been reported in a tabloid, SINAR HARIAN, on 10th January 2008.
Original news posted by PhotoMalaysia member, salimdom, at:
http://www.photomalaysia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40356
(correction in the news: PH Chan (maxby) is the director of the exhibition project, but the founders of PhotoMalaysia are Brian and myself. )
High resolution picture can be read at:
http://shashinki.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/photomalaysia-sinarharian-highres.jpg
Fujifilm F40FD firmware v1.10 update to SDHC memory card
Posted on January 9th, 2008 by KhoKing.
Categories: Photography.
If your Fujifilm F40FD can’t work with your SDHC 4GB memory card (or larger), you then need to update the firmware to the latest version v1.10.
Download at:
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/JSP/…
Please read the instruction in details. Connect to power socket when upgrading the firmware, fail in the middle will result your camera NOT USEABLE anymore!