My ever faithful Olympus Mju II

I love carrying my Olympus Mju II camera around for its lightweight and reliability. And I love Lomography's now extinct X-pro Chrome 100 film. I still have a few rolls left with me :) I am one happy ahjumma !

Here is my most recent roll from various locations.

 

Cute wall art from Mugshot Cafe in Penang. I love the hanging red cloth. It's so much like Chinese horror movies.

 

Random sign near my in-laws place in Penang.

 

 

Empire Damansara during Chinese New Year break. They have replaced the brollies with red chinese lanterns.

 

Minus the lantern, this place looks like Europe.

 

The infamous DPAC or Damansara Performing Arts Centre.

 

One of the many steel staircase in Empire Damansara.

 

It says Heritage Lane. But it's in Empire Damansara. The arch is near Texas Chicken.

 And a shot of Bangkok of  course.

Yashica Minister III - 1st test roll

Finally got around to finish the first roll of Lady Grey 400 on my serviced Yashica Minister III. I love the results but my sifu said it's best to shoot a roll of color to see whether the camera is fully working. I'll do that on the second roll.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the 1st roll and hope that you like it as well.

 

96 at SOHO Mt Kiara.

 

Steel Cups in Nilai.

 

My sister at Strawberry Farm, Genting Highlands.

 

My parents in retro style at Strawberry Farm, Genting Highlands.

 

My brother. Is he praying or is he shooting a photo? In Nilai.

Random shots with the Olympus Mju II

I loaded a roll of Lomography Color Negative 400 into my Olympus Mju II back in July and only managed to finished snapping the 36 exposures in early September. Reason ? I am not confident with the film. I have my reasons. Previously, I loaded a couple of those onto my La Sardina and shit did not come out right. Maybe it's me (the snapper), the hardware (camera) or the software (film) ? Who really knows. Film cameras and humans are temperamental.

This time around though, the results are acceptable but I would blame myself for the inconsistent results. My analogue guru KY asked me, "Did you snap as though you're using a digital camera?" and I said "Yes, boss".

"No wonder your photos turn out like this. You have to take your time and look throught the viewfinder, allow enough light to enter and compose your photo before snapping. These things are old, take it slow."

I will remember this for life. It is actually good advise. I've been too kan cheong.

 

Kafe Mews at Lebuh Muntri, Penang. We stopped here for drinks and cakes after our visit to the nearby Camera Museum.

 

Consistency is what Antipodean Cafe Bangsar is all about. Love the coffee here. Kao like how I like it.

 

Maritime Museum in Melaka. Ahoy! It was a cloudy weekend.

 

I can't remember the name of this building despite working nearby and pass by this place every single work day. I call this photo Plant vs Building inconjunction with the now popular Plants vs Zombies II.

 

The pool area of The Westin KL. My friend's husband and her son was swimming at that time. It was good fun!

 

Toy Soldiers by Martika comes to mind when this photo was taken. Mr Jones' Orphanage in Bangkok is a place for indulgence especially for ladies.  They specialises in milk drink products (both hot and cold) and cakes, cakes, cakes....

 

Barricade me, baby! was taken outside of MBK Bangkok.

 

Colorful taxis awaiting for customers outside of Siam station in Bangkok.

It's nice sometimes to have a variety of photos from different destination in and out of Malaysia. I will keep taking photos from different cameras to further understand them.

My experience with La Sardina The Guvnor

The La Sardina was a gift, to read more click here. And I did a lot of reading and stuff about it before putting in my first roll of film. I enjoy the process of research before doing it or else I'll regret it big time when nothing comes out. And I'll just give up on it. In order to prevent myself from doing that, I study. Sounds like a lot of work for a toy camera but I love it so shut up and keep your thoughts to yourself.

I came across a few blogs and most of them said that their first 2 rolls came out blank. I was worried and had to make sure that I got it right or else I'll cry. Mine came out with images BUT it's SIGH. Maybe I put too much expectations on it.

Here are some images from the first roll and the bad thing is I can't remember what film I use. Double fuck!

 

Starbucks at night with Fritz the Blitz (flash).

 

Random shot of recycling bins. Outdoor evening shot with cloudy sky.

 

Also taken with Fritz the Blitz.

 

Double exposure. One day, one night.

 

Taken indoor with yellow lighting and Fritz the Blitz.

By the end of the roll, the photos are shit and I've put it in Bulb mode (without realizing it) for daytime shooting. Slap myself silly!

I will still try the La Sardina and this time be very careful with every shot.

Lomography Tungsten 64 on Olympus Mµ II

I took a trip to Bangkok 2 weeks ago with Mr Hubs. The last time we went was around end of 2008 or early 2009. Can't really remember coz it was too long ago. This time around, we stayed for a week. Walked a lot, didn't do much to be honest. The best though is our trip to Ayutthaya. 1 hour away with taxi and we rented a taxi with free wifi from 7.45am to 3pm for 2700 Baht. (approx. RM280.80) We sent out around to 5 Wats and a Floating Market there. So it's well worth it.

Although our initial cheapskate plan was to take a train (like KTM) and buy a 3rd class ticket with no aircond for 15 Baht each (approx. RM1.56). And the journey's about 2 hr 50 mins. And lots of tuktuk rental from there on. We chose not to and we're glad coz it's the raining season.

I've got some rolls of film processed and want to kick my stupid ass for not checking the settings of each camera properly before using it. I want to cry to be honest. All is quite blurry except for my Olympus Mµ II camera. I set my La Sardina to Bulb for Daylight exposure arrrgghhhhh MF!!! FML!

Anyway, here are some shots that I can accept.

 

Majestic prang.

 

Rows and rows of Buddha figures that are not destroyed during the war. Donned in bright yellow cloth.

 

Random bricks. Reverse bokeh.

 

Clock tower at Chatuchak Market. One of the many popular meeting point in the ever busy weekend market in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

Colourful taxis outside of Chatuchak Market, Bangkok, Thailand.

 

Victory Monument. The busiest area in the whole of Bangkok as it is the public transport hub.

 

Random electrical cables outside of Exit 1 of Kamphaeng Phet MRT Station. We were taking a breather and an iced cold bottle of mineral water waiting for the day to end.

 

Busy roads near Indra Square, Bangkok, Thailand. View point from a pedestrian bridge.

I want to end this and say that Tungsten 64 is still my favourite slide film. It has not failed me yet. But I now know I dislike Lomo's negative film and their redscale. Those should be discontinued.

Introducing La Sardina The Guvnor

Hey y'all! There's a new family member to my camera collection and I'm excited to share it. It's Lomography's La Sardina The Guvnor. A gift from Mr Hubs :) I've always wanted a La Sardina for it's cute little sardine can size and quirky design. The Guvnor is a special edition made in conjunction with the London Olympics and the home of the biggest Lomography and Lomographers.

Look no further but feast your eyes on this beautiful camera.

 

La Sardina The Guvnor in its box. Love the vibrant blue and street names printed on it. I HDR-ed the photo coz it's one of my favourite photography filters.

 

It is indeed the Ultimate Analogue Deep-Sea Gem. Sardine = Fish that swims underwater , Geddit ? Lame...haha

 

Unboxed. It comes with Fritz the Blitz flash that requires CR123 battery. It's about RM12-15 each. You can find it at any Ace Hardware store in Malaysia. It comes with 4 color filters which fits perfectly with the flash.

 

A close-up view of the body of the camera. Don't you just love it?

 

It comes with a manual and waranty and stuff. Beautifully packed.

 

The outer part of the manual. Sardine cans over the years, all over the world. Go grab yourself a sardine sandwich now will ya?

Can't wait to play with this :)

Minolta 110 Zoom SLR - 1st test shot roll

My hub bought me a vintage Minolta 110 Zoom SLR for Christmas. I love the unique shape of this camera. Its dimension is 53.5 x 108 x 132mm and weights 430gms. Quite a heavy baby to carry around and it uses such small film. It is powered by two 1.5 volts silver-oxide batteries. (S76 or A76 here in Malaysia) It was a hassle to find its batteries in Malaysia at first because it is the flatten pancake batteries that is hard to find. But we found some at a shop in Subang Parade, selling calculators. And we recently found out that Daiso and Radio Shack carries a lot of this kind of batteries.

Just to share a brief history of this camera if you're interested to know. It is an inexpensive first ever 110mm film format SLR camera produced in the world by Minolta (1976 or 1977). Therefore, it has been around for 36 or 37 years. Previously, the 110mm film format was discontinued due to its lack of popularity. But thank you to Lomography for bringing it back! And I got this camera just in time to test out the new films.

I bought the Lomography Color Tiger 110 because it was the only film available then. It does not disappoint. I was keeping my fingers crossed everytime I take a shot and hope for at least a decent shot. The end result? I got mine back better than I hoped!

Here are some shots around Penang when I did my photowalk :

I've just reloaded the camera with Lomography Redscale Negative Lobster ISO 200. And hopefully it will turn out well. Til then.