Apple Store Singapore

Apple opened their first official South East Asia store in Singapore. Located right at the heart of Orchard Road, the store proved quite tricky to find. Yes, there was the big Apple logo at the front of the building - typically an all-glass facade - but it proved difficult to spot.

Ironically, I had to use Waze to find it.

The main entrance to the storeWhat was there? Nothing special actually. The only item which caught my eyes were a portable printer, connectable via wifi where you could print directly from the phone wirelessly.

It uses heat to print, so there were no need for ink. Unfortunately I didn't have time to explore the device. It uses a disposable cartridge for the prints, which may be tricky to get hold of in KL.

The unmistakeable symbolOn the retail floor. Yes, the staffs were wearing red.They displayed the usual fare but nothing I wouldn't be able to find back home. But what was unique about the store was the upper floor. To get up, you would use the gorgeous stone staircase, at each end of the store. That was where they had an open space, used for events and product discussions. I had to queue to get upstairs and decided to give that a miss.

I ended up coming out of the store without spending a dime. Frankly, there was nothing there which I craved. Maybe next time ...

Across to Times Square

The devil is in the details. That was how the saying went. At first glance, the decorations at Bee Jay's Times Square appeared modest and plain. But if you look more closely, it was very well put together with plenty of elements to explore.

Well done!

The foyer appeared very plain with stalls built up to mimic the high street of the old town. But each space were filled up with small little items to reflect the good times of the 60s. Replicas aplenty, from an old saloon to grocery shops, certainly there were plenty to see.

I spent a good half an hour there when I visit just looking at what in display. It happened to be a weekday, hence the place wasn't as packed. There were also some food truck parked outside at the main entrance of the mall, attracting the crime say from the foyer. I had my own sweat time to explore the area.

I have also uploaded a video of the decorations on YouTube if you guys fancy a look.

Pavilion Decorations

It looks like it was raining rose petals. It wasn't just me, but many others felt the same. Chinese New Year was around the corner and as usual, Pavilion KL had always put in their shift in making sure that their decorations stayed classy. I must say that they did it again.

Since it would be the year of the dogs, there were not many statues around. There was one outside Starhill Gallery which I saw. But to make sure the Moslems don't get upset, they put up statues of the deities instead. Understandable.

The Centre stage had the usual elevations for shows and what not. The decorations started in earnest from the fountain by the Bukit Bintang entrance. There flowers aplenty leading into the mall, with plenty of Instagram opportunities.

I didn't see any events when I was there since it was actually a weekday. Might as well as it wasn't too crowded when I visited.

With the expanse, I had the chance to test out the wide angle lens on the GoPro. The photos turned out really well. The videos were nice as well. The next couple of weekends would be peak shopping before the New Year. Expect the place to be packed from now on.

The GoPro Captures - Part II

From Part I

As for the bad parts, I'm sure there were plenty of YouTube video about them. But on a personal level, I found that the shutter lag - especially capturing RAW - can be a problem. This made the GoPro not the ideal camera for street photography. The moment may have passed on by the time the shutter clicked.

The RAW file also wasn't universal. I wasn't able to open it on my main workflow - using Aperture. Best to capture in jpg in my opinion.

You can see the flare at the topThe subject appears super-big when you come closeAn indoor capture at ISO 1100The captures may be oversaturated for some people. Luckily, using Aperture, I was able to dial down the colour making it more natural. This may be a plus though if you were doing architecture or landscape. On my cityscape photos, it worked a treat. I felt that it was a feature.

It looked like they are adamant about not parking there ...The nice contrast of blue and yellowWalking further alongFinally I find opening the doors for the charger on the GoPro could be a bit tricky. I supposed that was the trade-off since the unit on its own is water-resistant up to 10 meters. With the right technique, it was manageable.

Another indoor shot. This time inside Central Market.Waiting for my tram ride ....I can't miss a shot of the Twin Tower in the sunshine ...On balance, I was more than happy with my purchase, especially as I got it at a discount complete with a free memory card. It was hard to understand why GoPro as a company was struggling since the product was great. Moving into drone sector was a sensible move but maybe they were not able to complete with the likes of DJI. Hopefully they would continue to survive and come up with Hero 7 some time in the near future ...

The GoPro Captures - Part I

When I bought the GoPro Hero 6 Black, I didn't realise how good the photos were going to be. They passed my expectations to be honest in such a compact and easy to carry unit.

The photos were never going to be better than my Alpha 7R mark II with Zeiss Batis wide angle combo. In the right light, the results were just as delightful. With any fixed aperture lens, you would not be able to gain extra sharpness by stepping down the aperture. There were no optical zoom features and the electronic stabilisation only worked for the videos, not photos.

Captured from my balconyThe street of Orchard. The camera did not cope with high dynamic range that well.I did some post-processing dodging to bring out the coloursLet's start with the pluses. The whole setup was light and easy to use. There were not many buttons needed pressing. Just power up and you were good to go. If you needed to toggle a few of the options, the touch screen was a boon.

The lens as I mentioned was much sharper than I expected. Since it was a wide angle, at any distance, you were very likely to get all your subjects in focus. Point and click at its finest.

Nice effectFrom the top. Captured at ISO 800.A semi close-upThen came the part of transferring the captures either to your smartphone or computer. For the phone, I just switch on the built-in wifi on the GoPro, select the GoPro app on my iPhone. I was able to transfer the photos in seconds.

Bicycle in the crowdI must say I have no issue with this perspective ...The shadows seemed to be captured well at low ISOBack at my study, I used the supplied USB 3 to USB-C cable and using the GoPro Quik app, the transfer was just as straight forward. Charging the GoPro was also easy since it worked with any USB-C charger cables. It worked with my Samsung cable.