Post Call Sunday

The call last weekend was a strange one. It was busy during the day but in the evening, things just chilled out. I was able to watch United's game at the lounge and had a decent uninterupted sleep.

The post- call day being Sunday also helped a lot. That allowed me to take my time doing the rounds and get on with my day. I happened to wake up early, and despite having to hop over to Ara Damansara to see a referral, I was done well before noon.

I took a quick nap during lunch time and soon got bored. The weather was pretty decent - it had been gloomy and cool in the past week - and decided not to stay in.

I first drove to APW where Riuh was going on. Had some coffee there before setting off to Bukit Bintang with my camera. Before I knew it, I was exploring the decorations and making enquiries on GoPro. All in a real nice pace. I even had the chance to have a look at iMac Pro at one the shops.

Anita prepared dinner that evening and asked me to get home early to eat. Kind road traffic allowed me to return in plenty of time. It certainly was a full afternoon ...

Slick Operator

My Mac Pro would turn 5 years-old in April. I bought it during the MSH Meeting in 2013. It was still doing a great job but I had issues with space at my new study table. An iMac Pro would definitely clear some of the clutters. That was what got me interested.

Last weekend, I had my first encounter with the machine at on of the Mac dealer in town. Same size as the iMac 27 inch, great screen and all that. But the main muscles were on the inside. The workstation grade processor, full SSD storage with 32 Gb RAM, etc.

And that was only the basic model. And it was going at RM 21000!

That was some serious money. That cost more than my Mac Pro. Looked like I could never afford that ...

The KLPF 2017

*The event was held in November 2017*

It was in Pudu last year. And this year the venue changed again, to Publika near Hartamas. I managed to get there on the final day and from what I could see, it was near the end. Some of the exhibitors had started packing up.

On the whole, the setup was a strange one. They had a stage by the Publika entrance and the organiser utilised both White and Black Box as well as the corridors in between. Certainly it wasn't purpose-built. The stalls were peppered around the spaces while certain corners were turned into lecture rooms. Not ideal with the light and sound pollution. It was tricky to listen to talks at times.

Started out at the courtyard The list of contributors Inside the Black BoxBut I was very impressed by the quality of work on display. The printing were mostly excellent and the organiser really put the effort on getting plenty of photographs for exhibition. You could see photos on display everywhere from the walls in the hall as well as at the annexes outside.

I only spent an hour there and I was surprised that Alice Smith having their photography club present at one of the booths. I spent some time chatting with one of the teachers as well as an old boy who was now pursuing a degree in Photography in Hong Kong.

One of the many talks ...Exhibits everywhere ...Even my boy's school took part ...Not as big as the ones when it was hosted in Mid Valley. Back then, you could find all sorts of things to try. I remembered having a go at the Ricoh GR for the first time there. I was hoping to be able to hold the GF50s. Unfortunately none was available although I could see plenty of Fuji products at the exhibition. Maybe sponsorship these days were limited.

That's brighterPeering inMore talks ...If you were exploring around for a gear, don't think that the KLPF is the spot. If the organiser was clearer on their objective and vision, I think the festival can really move further ahead. Hopefully they remain at the same spot next year ...

Maison at Pavilion

Since my father in law been discharged, getting some time away from the house with Anita had not been straight forward. We managed a couple of hours last weekend since Anita wanted to do some shopping at Pavilion. We ended up having a late lunch at one of the new café there called Maison.

Located on the second floor of the complex - where there used to be an Italian café - the place was only recently opened. They served mainly desserts and sandwiches with a distinct French flavour. The set menu they had there was reasonably priced and since Anita was starving, she went for the lunch set while I just ordered one from the standard selection set.

A nice ambiance

For that, we got starters, mains and dessert - and a generous portions at that. Plus coffee or tea at the end.

Anita went for roasted Angus beef and it was enough for the two of us to share. I had some chicken terragon which actually wasn't as great as the beef. The dessert was a delight. We had bread and butter pudding with some gorgeous vanilla custard to top it.

My chicken tarragon Definitely worth a visit. Nice ambiance, friendly waiter and waitresses - all local. Good took some time to be prepared but it was worth the wait ... Definitely with come back and try another item from the menu.

You Handsome Devil

I attended a product launch the other night. It was for the brand new Leica camera, the CL. A mirrorless interchangeable lens APS-C camera which was compatible with the Leica TL lenses.

Typical Leica, they didn't come cheap.

There used to be a couple of Leica Stores in town, but the one at Starhill had closed a couple of years back. The one left was located at Avenue K, right next to KLCC. That was where the launch was done.

Don't press that!!!!An Executive from Leica Asia Pacific was next giving some corporate spiel Some real-life samples from a local photographer Wong Mun KeatA simple affair mainly to introduce the new camera. The event started off with speeches from the Leica Excutives, both local and regional, followed by a brief talk by a local photographer, Wong Mun Keat telling us his experience of having the new camera along for a week. He shared some sample images as well and gave us a bit of flab our of how it was like with the new kit.

The camera could be bought with a brand new pancake lens kit - and f 2.8 Elmarit - or alternatively with a standard zoom lens. I noticed that most of the better images were taken using a higher-end Summilux. That would mean investing in an extra lens to get the best out of us camera. That combination, plus the trimmings could easily set me back RM 25000, which frankly still be inferior to the setup I have at the moment.

The bottom line is the quality would not be as good as the M system and its lenses. Yes, you do get autofocus but the camera just felt front heavy with the wide lenses. Plus, there was no stabilization on the basic system. And since I preferred a 28mm look anyway, using my Leica Q made more sense if autofocus was needed.

That doesn't mean that the CL system was bad. Far from it. If I didn't have the Q, I would've bought the new kit and gave it a good go. With the pancake lens, it just felt great on the hand. Plus you still get glimpses of famous Leica colour. So far, there are no addition to my camera cabinet ....