Starting the Search for the 7D

The original post can be found in my tech blog here.

Yes. I have decided that this will be the camera I will be working towards. I estimate that I will be able to afford it by June. In the meantime, I have to start saving and do the appropriate research for it. There have been numerous reviews both in print and on the internet that I have gone through and the more I learn about it, the more I think that this is the camera for me.

I am sure readers would be asking a few questions up front. 1) Why Canon? 2) Why cropped-frame rather than full a la 5D mark II? 3) Why upgrade at all? I will try my best to answer.

Why Canon? The long and short of it are the lenses. I have 7 lenses already in the range, a couple of them of the L variety, with another couple being EF-S, which can only be exclusively used with the APS-C (Canon cropped-frame body). I love those lenses. I have also developed presents and assembled camera profiles on Adobe for the Canon body. And this makes a lot of difference in my post-processing workflow. Although there are similar profiles for Nikon, I am not that familiar with them. Certainly I can't afford new set of lenses. And as far as how my system was built, 80% of the investments have gone towards the lenses. Another thing is familiarity. I have been a Canon user since 89, from the days of T-70.

Why cropped-frame? I have realized all along that landscape was not my forte. Yes, I have got some of my landscape pictures published, but landscape for me takes too much commitment. Gone were the days when I was climbing the Yorkshire Dales and the Peak District. I still have the gears for them if I have to, but I prefer portrait, candids and macro nowadays. For this, the 1.6x crop factor in the APS-C body present an advantage. My 70-200 L now extends to 112-320 instead. Should I get the 300mm prime in the future, that will extend my reach to 480. Yes, although that means cutting short on the wide-angle side, I think I will accept that.

Why upgrade? Or specifically what's so special with the 7D? It was not the megapixel count. It was not the HD movie. It was not the 8 frame-per-second capability. For me, it is the integrated wireless flash trigger system and the newly improved autofocus tracking system. It's a personal thing. The high ISO performance and the higher megapixel were certainly the bonus. I have never been a fan of live-view but the bright 100% viewfinder certainly got me hooked. In et meantime, I shall keep on dreaming!

Irfan's Birthday Party

Suraiya enjoying her foodIt was a bit of a drama last night with taking Irfan to the Casualty and all. He was much better when he woke up this morning but with a slight temperature. But energy level was good. He was eager to attend his party. However the first order of business was a quick follow-up at the Gleneagles to see how he is.

Nice cutleryThe party was planned to start at 11, but we only managed to get to the Casualty at 9.45. Luckily we were able to finish everything by 10.30 and arrived at Bangsar Village 5 minutes before the party. Thanks God, the staffs at Fit For 2, where we had the party was efficient and everything was ready to go.

The cake was waitingWe did not invite many guests. Just the grandparents, aunties, uncles and first cousins. All 25 of us all together, enough to bring the place down. We arranged for the food and cakes to be at Fit For 2, followed by a trip across to the indoor playground and Kiz Sports. Unfortunately, a couple of the cousins were not well and can't join in at the playground. The ones that did however were ecstatic.

Running around with his light saberHowever, Irfan's mood was not very good through out. He still got the temperature and he was not keen to cut the cake. We therefore took the cake back home later and had that at home. The food for the kids at the arty was excellent and I ended nibbling most of them. The mini-pizza and macaroni was excellent. The hit however was root gala. I had chili corn carne, but since I had to buzz around, I ended up having them cold. Was not nice. The rest of the food was OK.

After hanging around at the gym, we finally left by 1.30. Irfan and Idlan enjoyed the light saber they had courtesy of Mami Julia. They were running around with it outside the gym, hitting each other! The slideshow of the event was uploaded here.

Irfan in Casualty Again

Irfan woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and started coughing and wheezing. Zoomed him off to Gleneagles. A nebuliser after, he was much better and we just arrived back home. The wheeze was gone and he was settling back to sleep now. This put a bit of dampener as we were all set for his birthday party tomorrow morning in Bangsar. Hopefully he will be OK. We had to see the doctor again around 9 am for another check up. To see if he is still wheezing.

Ang Pow from patient

Disclaimer: of course the content was sent straight into the ward coffer! I don't do rasuah ah! Nanti kena tangkap!

Chinese New Year fever is gripping the ward. The number of Mandarin I consumed was enough to fill my yearly quota. Having gastritis now. The turn-up for this morning's clinic was also smaller than expected. I am therefore dreading next week's clinic as those who ran out of medications will come flooding in. Plus my colleagues will be on leave with me holding the fort! 

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Expansion on the Private Wing

I went to review a patient in the private ward first thing this morning - karching! The ward itself is being renovated and a new ward is being opened on the 9th floor to supplement the couple on the tenth.

Certainly the private rooms appear nicer and more organised but I still can't see myself managing my cancer patient up there. The commitment needed maybe too much as things may go wrong in the middle of the night and I will be unable to give full attention to them and my current workload on UMMC side. I don't want anyone to lose out. Referals should not be an issue. So is outpatient clinics.

The only way I can see myself looking after private inpatients would be to do a complete overhaul and leave UMMC. You can never say never but I am quite content with what I am and planning to do in te near future. So, for the moment, there will be many more trips to see referral cases but that's about it.

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